Spectroscopy
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How do I make a scale drawing of the mass spectrometer trace which is produced by a sample of molybdenum. How do I work out how many isotopes molybdenum has?
Jenkin replies
You need the Nuffield ‘Book of Data’. You can’t predict or expect to know the answer!
Look at Table 2.1 (pages 18 – 22). You will see that molybdenum has seven isotopes with mass numbers ranging from 92 to 100. The percentage of each isotope is given in brackets after its mass number so the trace will have seven peaks with heights in proportion to their percentages.
Risk assessment
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updated: 15 October 2004
