Journal Entry:

What is the purpose of a mass spectrometer? What data does it measure?

Learning Intentions

• You will learn what what a mass spectrometer is and how it works to separate isotope of an elements or molecule.

• You will learn how mass spectrometer graph can be used to determine average atomic mass for an element or a molecule.

Closing Task:

You can complete practice problems using average masses of particular isotopes and their relative abundance to determine average atomic mass.

You can explain how mass spectrometer data can be used to determine if you have a pure substance or a mixture.

Content Standards being covered:

LO 1.14 The student is able to use data from mass spectrometry to identify the elements and masses of individual atoms of a specific element.