Mass spectrometry- how to identify if the mass spectrograph of a purified sample is a certain chemical given main mass components?
Yea, I’m doing a soil analysis event at a science competition tomorrow (high school level) and one of the event descriptions is as follows: “given the main mass components of a pesticide, students will be expected to identify if the mass spectrograph of a purified sample from a soil sample is that pesticide.”
Seems easy enough when I think about it…what do you know? Can you help me out?
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I really should know how to do that. I’m glad my AP Chem teacher doesn’t Fluther.
I dealt with this once. There is more information about mass spectrometry here. I’m guessing you won’t have to actually use the equipment, though. You will probably be given a graph, and from the peaks upon the curve, you’ll figure out what elements or compounds exist in the soil and in what quantities (See the section on “Interpretation” on the site I linked to earlier). From there… well, work your magic! You probably have to know what typically goes into pesticides to figure it out. Or maybe you’ll have a the spectrometry of a control soil to compare to.
I hope this helps. It’s been a good long while since I studied chemistry, so, Flutherites, feel free to let me know if I’m completely of the radar.
Good luck!
like shadling said, you have to analize a graph (spectra) with several peaks that represent components of a molecule. On the y-axis of your specrea is % abundance of each component, and on the x-axis is the m/z (mass/charge) of each component.
You need to compare that spectra with the Reference Spectra from a library which identifies the pesticide, and check to see if they match.
You should visit the link that shadling posted, it is very well written
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