1. Ionisation- the atom/molecule is ionised, this is done by knocking off one valence electron to give a positive charge, this occurs even if the molecule is likely to form a negative charge e.g a group one metal
2. Accleration- the resulting ions are then acclerated out of the ion source by an electric field
3. Deflection- charged particles are then deflected by a magnetic field, the amount an ion is deflected depends on its size and charge (the lighter the ion, the more it will be deflected, and the higher the charge the more it will be deflected)
4. Detection- as the ions are deflected, they are then detected by a computer, which then plots this onto a graph
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