spectrometer
Sign in to savethumb|An X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy|XPS spectrometer
AI overview
A spectrometer is an instrument that analyzes light or other radiation to identify what materials are present and their properties. It matters because it helps scientists and researchers understand the composition of substances across many fields, from medicine to materials science.
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Article
12 sectionsContents
- Types of spectrometer
- Optical spectrometers or optical emission spectrometer
- Optical absorption spectrometers
- Optical emission spectrometers
- Magnetic resonance spectroscopy
- Electron spectroscopy
- Mass spectrometer
- Time-of-flight spectrometer
- Magnetic spectrometer
- Resolution
- See also
- References
thumb|An X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy|XPS spectrometer
A spectrometer () is a scientific instrument used to separate and measure spectral components of a physical phenomenon. Spectrometer is a broad term often used to describe instruments that measure a continuous variable of a phenomenon where the spectral components are somehow mixed. In visible light a spectrometer can separate white light and measure individual narrow bands of color, called a spectrum. A mass spectrometer measures the spectrum of the masses of the atoms or molecules present in a gas. The first spectrometers were used to split light into an array of separate colors. Spectrometers were developed in early studies of physics, astronomy, and chemistry. The capability of spectroscopy to determine chemical composition drove its advancement and continues to be one of its primary uses. Spectrometers are used in astronomy to analyze the chemical composition of stars and planets, and spectrometers gather data on the origin of the universe.