Chemguide: Support for CIE A level Chemistry

These statements deal with mass spectra and their interpretation.

Before you go on, you should find and read the statement in your copy of the syllabus.

The content in bold type in the statement is only for those doing the A2 part of the course, and is actually repeated in more detail later on in the syllabus. If you are doing AS only at the moment, ignore it for now.

Notice that you aren't required to know how a mass spectrometer works, but it would make sense to read about it quickly out of interest, so that you have at least a vague idea of how a mass spectrum is produced.

I suggest that you look at the following pages of Chemguide:

For AS:

Explore the first two pages on the mass spectrometry menu. You should read the first page quickly without trying to learn it. You will need to fully understand the second page.

For A2:

Explore the remaining pages of the mass spectrometry menu.

If you want more examples of finding relative atomic masses from mass spectra, you will find some in Chapter 2 of my A level chemistry calculations book. See pages 21 to 25, and problems 23 and 24 at the end of the chapter.

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