A mass spectrometer is composed of an inlet system (which introduces the sample to the instrument and vaporizes the sample), a molecular leak (which produces a steady stream of the vapor), an ionization chamber (where a beam of high energy electrons bombards the vapor), a mass analyzer (a series of charged plates which focuses and accelerates the beam of ions into a curved tube with an applied magnetic field which separates the ions by mass), a detector (a simple counter which produces a current every time an ion strikes it), and a recorder (which produces the mass spectrum). A schematic for a typical mass spectrometer is shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4. Schematic diagram of mass spectrometer.
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