Mass Spectrometry - The Science of Weighing Atoms and Molecules
Dr. Douglas F. Barofsky
Short Abstract:
Mass spectrometry, a branch of analytical science, makes it possible for scientists to determine genetic diseases in newborns from blood spots; to detect and identify the use of steroids in athletes; to monitor the breath of patients by anesthesiologists during surgery; to determine the composition of molecular species found in space; determine whether honey is adulterated with corn syrup; to locate oil deposits by measuring petroleum precursors in rock; to monitor fermentation processes for the biotechnology industry; to detect dioxins in contaminated fish; to determine gene damage from environmental causes; to identify potentially pathogenic bacteria in the air; to establish the elemental composition of semiconductor materials; to detect explosives at airport security? Dr. Douglas Barofsky, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at Oregon State University, will describe in rudimentary language how instruments capable of weighing atoms and molecules can be built and used to perform all of the preceding tasks.
Long Abstract:
Atoms and molecules compose every material object in the world, including each of us. Mass spectrometry is a branch of analytical science devoted to developing and using instruments capable of measuring the masses of atomic and molecular particles in physical and biological samples in order to deduce the identities or abundances of the atoms and to elucidate the structural properties, deduce the identities, or determine the concentrations of the molecules.
By virtue of the fact that mass spectrometry can qualitatively and, in certain cases, quantitatively analyze all elements and nearly all molecular compounds regardless of the physical state in which they are found, its presence in the realm of analytical science is ubiquitous. It finds basic applications in physics, chemistry, and materials engineering and practical applications in forensic science, food analysis, pharmaceutical analysis, environmental science, space science, metallurgy, geochemistry, biochemistry, genetic engineering, biomedicine, and clinical analysis.
In the first half of this talk, Dr. Barofsky will review the essential elements of atomic and molecular structures and explain in simple language how these structures can, loosely speaking, be weighed through the application of electrical and magnetic forces. In the second half, he will present brief examples of how mass spectrometry is applied in the fields of geochemistry, pharmaceutical science, and forensic science.
Dr. Barofsky is Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at Oregon State University. He studied physics at Washington State University and Pennsylvania State University and physical chemistry at the University of Bonn in Germany. He invented and built his first mass spectrometer in 1965 while studying for his Ph.D at Penn State. He is a fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany, holds an honorary Ph.D in Ion Physics from Uppsala University in Sweden, and is a member of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry. He was born on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington and, in 1959, was one of 28 graduates from Gold Beach Union High School on the southern Oregon coast. He is a life-long enthusiast of the great Northwest outdoors.