Illustrating the Basic Functioning of Mass Analyzers in Mass Spectrometers with Ball-Rolling Mechanisms

Abstract

A unique demonstration with ball-rolling mechanisms has been developed to illustrate the basic principles of mass analyzers as components of mass spectrometers. Three ball-rolling mechanisms mimicking the currently used mass analyzers (i.e., a quadrupole mass filter, a magnetic sector, and a time-offlight) have been constructed. Each mechanism was designed to separate balls with three different weights (representing three ionized analytes with different weights) in an attempt to imitate the separation process employed by real mass analyzers. This demonstration helped students understand the basic principles of mass analyzers.

Instructor’s Reference for Integrating Mass Spectrometry into the General Chemistry Classroom

“…One approach is to facilitate student analysis of mass spectral data from interactive websites . Various physical simulations and analogies have also been proposed for in-class demonstrations to illustrate the operating principles and/or underlying chemistry of mass spectrometry. − Unlike in these approaches, however, the purpose of the information outlined in the present work does not aim to specifically improve a student’s understanding of mass spectrometry itself; instead, mass spectrometry is simply proposed as a bridge for (1) sparking students’ interests and understanding of chemistry as a central science relevant to many interests and career goals and (2) helping to solidify understanding of theoretical concepts from general chemistry by means of manipulation of realistic data for problem solving.…”