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Mass Spectrometry Quiz

Mass Spectrometry Quiz

Test your knowledge on mass spectrometry and its history

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  • 1.
    Which mass spectrometer was carried by the American spacecraft Viking 1 sent to the planet Mars in 1975?

    Your answer:
    Correct answer:
    Viking 1 carried two mass spectrometers, both equipped with double-focusing analyzers and electron ionization sources. The first spectrometer with a Mattauch-Herzog geometry was designed by Alfred Nier; it was intended to analyze the upper atmosphere of Mars. The second one with a Nier- Johnson geometry was part of the GC/MS apparatus designed by Klaus Biemann. It was used to analyze the regolith and the atmosphere at the landing site.

  • 2.
    The first on-line coupling of gas chromatography to a mass spectrometer was reported in 1959. What type of spectrometer was used for this purpose?

    Your answer:
    Correct answer:
    The first GC/MS experiments were carried out by Fred McLafferty and Roland Gohlke at Dow Chemical with Bill Wiley and Ian McLaren at Bendix Research Laboratories. They used a Bendix timeof- flight mass spectrometer, which had been commercially introduced in 1956. The instrument was fast enough to keep up with the changing output of the GC column.

  • 3.
    What principle of positive ray detection was used in the first Thomson's parabola spectrographs?

    Your answer:
    Correct answer:

    In the spectrographs used by Thomson until 1910, the rays of positive electricity were detected by the phosphorescence they produced on a willemite screen. The screen was made by grinding rare zinc mineral willemite into a fine powder. After shaking in alcohol, the suspension was allowed to deposit slowly on a glass plate. Later, a photographic plate inside the spectrograph was used for more sensitive detection.

  • 4.
    Lunar craters are usually named after scientists and explorers. One of the craters on the Moon is named after a prominent scientist in the field of mass spectrometry. Who is named after?

    Your answer:
    Correct answer:

    Aston is a 44-kilometer lunar impact crater located along the northwestern limb of the Moon. The crater was named in honor of Francis W. Aston.

  • 5.
    Chemical ionization (CI) is a soft ionization technique used in mass spectrometry. Who discovered it?

    Your answer:
    Correct answer:

    Chemical ionization was discovered in the laboratories of the Humble Oil and Refining Company in Baytown, TX. Munson and Field’s seminal paper on chemical ionization was published in 1966.  [https://doi.org/10.1021/ja00964a001]

  • 6.
    The quadrupole mass filter has been known since the mid-1950s thanks to the work of Wolfgang Paul. The motion of ions in a quadrupole field can be described by solving second-order differential equations. When were these equations solved mathematically?

    Your answer:
    Correct answer:

    The solution of differential equations of this type came from the French mathematician Émile Léonard Mathieu (1835-1890), who studied the mechanical vibrations of the elliptical drumheads.

  • 7.
    Which element has the largest number of stable isotopes?

    Your answer:
    Correct answer:
    Naturally occurring tin is a mixture of its ten stable isotopes and they are found in the percentages as follows: 112Sn (1.0 %), 114Sn (0.7 %), 115Sn (0.3 %), 116Sn (14.5 %), 117Sn (7.7 %), 118Sn (24.2 %), 119Sn (8.6 %), 120Sn (32.6 %), 122Sn (4.6 %), and 124Sn (5.8 %). Molybdenum has six stable isotopes, ytterbium seven.

  • 8.
    Who first reported the fragmentation after the gamma hydrogen rearrangement to an unsaturated group via a sixmembered intermediate?

    Your answer:
    Correct answer:
    It was first reported by Australian A. J. C. Nicholson in 1954 (Trans. Faraday Soc. 50: 1067-1073). The reaction description was published five years later (Anal. Chem. 1959, 31: 82–87) by the American chemist Fred McLafferty, by whose name we now refer to the rearrangement (McLafferty rearrangement).

  • 9.
    What is the base peak in the mass spectrum?

    Your answer:
    Correct answer:

    The base peak is the peak with the greatest intensity among all peaks in the spectrum. The intensity of each peak in the spectrum is expressed as a percentage relative to the intensity of the base peak.

  • 10.
    List these compounds according to their increasing mass: hydrazine (H4N2), oxygen (O2), methanol (CH4O).

    Your answer:
    Correct answer:

    The monoisotopic masses of these compounds are 31.989829 Da (oxygen), 32.026215 Da (methanol), and 32.037448 Da (hydrazine).

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