Thread by @realscientists

Today wouldn't be #BlackinAnalytical day (a national holiday from my perspective) without me talking about mass spectrometry!

Mass spectrometry is an analytical technique that measures the mass-to-charge ratio of ions.

As a refresher, an ion is an atom or molecule that has a net electric charge due to gaining or losing electrons.

You may hear people say that mass spectrometers (MS) measure mass, but that's not *technically true*. They do, just not directly.

You need both a mass and a charge to be detected with MS and that's because molecules with charge(s) have motion that can be manipulated/controlled in an electric field.

I won't go too deep into the physics behind that, just trust me on this one.

Curious what they look like? Here's a super general schematic of MS instruments. My favorite thing about them is that they are so versatile but they all have these main parts: a ionization source, a mass analyzer, and a detector.

I'll do mini threads on each part too!

There are a few other parts to MS instruments, like the pumps and electronics, but that's a lot of detail and a LOT of physics so we'll just stick to the good stuff today.

Also, feel free to comment below what else you'd like me to talk about with MS today/this week.