Advanced Lab Course

Responsible: Dr. Wolfgang Plaß, Timo Dickel, Prof. Dr. Christoph Scheidenberger

II. Physikalisches Institut

Place: Lecture Hall Building, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 14, Room 26

Supervicor: Julian Bergmann (Room 27b, Phone 33250, Email)

Appointment: Individual arrangement

Lab Course Duration: 5 - 6 hours

Mass spectrometry is an important and widely used analytical method that allows to measure the mass-to-charge ratio of ions, to identify and quantify unknown substances and to study their structure. Extremely small amounts of substances (about 10-14 moles) are sufficient for analysis; analysis can often be performed on-line and in-situ.

Applications range from physics (determination of nuclear masses), chemistry (structure determination of molecules, investigation of reaction processes, determination of enthalpies and binding energies) and biology (peptide sequencing) to astronomy, geology (age determination), medicine (blood analysis) and industrial applications (monitoring of chemical and biological processes).

The aim of the experiment is to become familiar with the basics of mass spectrometry. A time-of-flight mass spectrometer developed at the II Institute of Physics is used for this purpose. It is to be commissioned, calibrated, and used to determine the composition of air, to determine the relative isotopic abundance of krypton, and for trace analysis of organic compounds. In addition to theoretical and practical knowledge about (time-of-flight) mass spectrometry, knowledge about fast detector systems is also imparted.

Instruction: Download (PDF)

Example evaluation by using Origin: Youtube

Microsoft Teams Team: Link