A quadrupole mass spectrometer (MS) is being used in a range of experiments throughout the undergraduate curriculum. The extreme mobility, simplicity of operation, robustness and rapid start-up time of the instrumentation allows students in the Advanced Freshman Laboratory to determine atomic and molecular weights. In the Organic Laboratory students carry out a GC-MS of their reaction product(s) and interpret a cracking pattern, while in the Advanced Experimental Laboratory the MS is used for quantitative analysis and as an exemplar of interfacing. In the Intermediate Laboratory, which stresses Inorganic Chemistry, students take the mass spectrum of ferrocene. Also being developed are: 1) simple rapid sampling techniques to aid teaching/demonstration; 2) a graphics package which displays the flight of ions through the quadrupole field; and 3) experiments which illustrate simple periodic trends and bonding properties.
