DIY mass spectrometer measures potassium in dietary salt substitute

Ғылым және технология

How to build and operate a simple mass spectrometer. Please ask questions in the comments, as always. (I had to re-upload this video to fix the ending --I'm very sorry if your early comments were lost!)
Scientific American article: www.scientificamerican.com/ar... $7.99 is a good value for the entire back issue in plain PDF format, and an example of a publisher being reasonable. I'm happy to support this.
Original Dewdney paper: sci-hub.tw/doi.org/10...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotope...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionizat...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyroradius
/ appliedscience

Пікірлер: 1 400

  • @Direkin
    @Direkin4 жыл бұрын

    Previously on Applied Science: "I would have used a mass spectrometer, but I haven't built one yet". And here we are.

  • @farvatron

    @farvatron

    4 жыл бұрын

    That's too good!!! Now I want a timestamped url link whatsit! lol LOVE this channel!

  • @farvatron

    @farvatron

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@Stefan_Kawalec legend! :)

  • @talesdemidioful

    @talesdemidioful

    Жыл бұрын

    You are above the pH

  • @WilWinston
    @WilWinston4 жыл бұрын

    I believe you are correct that the large peak is the 39 M/Z and the shoulder on the front of the peak is the 41 M/Z I am a retired Field Engineer from one the worlds largest manufacturers of mass spectrometers. Your mass spec resolution of about 2 M/Z is very impressive. you may increase your resolution by replacing the source 'side shields' with small magnets on either side (most of our sources utilized magnets in the source in this manner to increase the beam focus) The small peak at a calculated M/Z of about 47 it is likely CO2 from an air leak. In troubleshooting ms systems the CO2 peak was a ubiquitous signature of an air leak. Building a GC or HPLC front end is a walk in the park compared to a mass spec. I I can supply you with some components at 'cheap-to-free-prices' if you are interested.

  • @hedgeclipper418

    @hedgeclipper418

    4 жыл бұрын

    This sounds to me like the simplest explanation, but do you really think the CO2 peak at M/Z = 44 could be observed all the way over at M/z = 47 when the K+ peak was pretty much dead on at M/Z = 39?

  • @nickmo439

    @nickmo439

    4 жыл бұрын

    We need videos on that topic ASAP 😉

  • @hedgeclipper418

    @hedgeclipper418

    4 жыл бұрын

    @Miroslav Kašpar I have the same question. Seems unlikely, but at the same time CO2 is really the simplest explanation.

  • @wurrzful

    @wurrzful

    4 жыл бұрын

    I would guess that CO2 is indeed the explanation. the fact that it is not spot on like the potassium is likely due to the potassium-specific massage of the constants in the formula. I'm sure you could massage things so that both CO2 and potassium fit nicely, which actually would be a rather nice calibration for your device :)

  • @__shaun__

    @__shaun__

    4 жыл бұрын

    perhaps co2 produced by filament burning itself/sample?

  • @IanJohnstonblog
    @IanJohnstonblog4 жыл бұрын

    I wish there was a “I couldn’t love this more” button on KZread.

  • @S-K.

    @S-K.

    4 жыл бұрын

    Favorites! I think favoriting videos can affect the outcome/publicity a video gets!

  • @devinslurry365

    @devinslurry365

    4 жыл бұрын

    You should change your name to ion Johnston. Surely that would boost your resume at the least.

  • @rkan2

    @rkan2

    4 жыл бұрын

    Probably what Patreon can be used for..

  • @TechIngredients
    @TechIngredients4 жыл бұрын

    This was very well done and very enjoyable to watch. You have to be near the top of the list of people that will never, ever, ever give up! Cheers

  • @corlfranco9371

    @corlfranco9371

    4 жыл бұрын

    loosing his sanity for us

  • @yetanotherPC

    @yetanotherPC

    4 жыл бұрын

    Well this makes sense! I see the many similarities between your channels

  • @svchineeljunk-riggedschoon4038

    @svchineeljunk-riggedschoon4038

    4 жыл бұрын

    Hi! :)

  • @kev4241

    @kev4241

    3 жыл бұрын

    no doubt, perfect for experimental physics

  • @halonothing1

    @halonothing1

    Жыл бұрын

    You could easily say this about every video on this channel. This is one of the few (or only) channels that's never had a video I didn't enjoy. Even for topics I'm not that interested in, the video usually piques some level of curiosity by presenting it from an applied point of view, rather than the school approach of saying "it works this way, just take our word for it". Before they trust you with labs, anyway. And the videos are so information-dense you can watch them 5 times over and still learn new things, as I did with this one just now.

  • @noahmccann4438
    @noahmccann44384 жыл бұрын

    5:16 “Nothing is an impossibility, so we try to do the best we can” - that is remarkably inspirational

  • @AppliedScience

    @AppliedScience

    4 жыл бұрын

    Yeah when I said it, I was thinking that nothing = lack of anything (a perfect vacuum), but, yes it has a few different interesting levels of interpretation.

  • @Jimmeh_B

    @Jimmeh_B

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@StellarSurge Ironic, that you chose your handle.

  • @evilcanofdrpepper

    @evilcanofdrpepper

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@AppliedScience Talk to the guy who runs the KZread channel Thought Emporium, he makes tons of scientific equipment from scratch on the cheap. He created a cheap Gel Electrophoresis and doc for it and I know that it's not a chromatograph but I bet if the two of you start talking about it you could create one in under a month. He has more of a focus on Biology though but Im sure he could make use of a Chromatography station if he had one. Same goes for a mass spectrometer now that I think of it lol. Speaking of it, can we see what shows up when you run a bare tungsten electrode in it without anything else to see if something about those parts is putting extra ions into the system to cause the smaller bump? Something tells me that Scientific American never thought that anyone would ever actually try to build one of these mass spectrometers. I hope with help and ideas from everyone we can get it working better. I was thinking about covering the end of the rubber stopper with something in an attempt to lower the off gassing but I don't know what would be better. Keep up the unintentionally awesome inspiration and keep making awesome things! here's a link to the video on his Gel Electrophoresis video to make things easier if you don't already know who I'm talking about. kzread.info/dash/bejne/pYd_ztVrm7GpZLg.html

  • @noahmccann4438

    @noahmccann4438

    4 жыл бұрын

    Miroslav Kašpar yes, as he mentioned above. I did understand the original intent, I was just also implying that it could be interpreted as an inspirational message.

  • @calholli

    @calholli

    3 жыл бұрын

    lol.. 'nothing' meaning absolute zero-- that's what he meant

  • @ScrapScience
    @ScrapScience4 жыл бұрын

    Measuring sodium might be a good way to check whether that second peak is just an echo. Sodium pretty much just has one naturally occurring isotope, so if you see a second peak that would confirm your theory of there being some kind of echo artifact.

  • @charliesteiner2334

    @charliesteiner2334

    4 жыл бұрын

    Yeah. Or even easier, what happens with potassium if you shift the DC voltage? Does the mystery peak shift correctly? 47 amu is something like Titanium, or maybe SiO, or Tungsten 4+, so not totally impossible.

  • @sophiophile

    @sophiophile

    4 жыл бұрын

    "....That would support* your theory...". FTFY.

  • @jeffsweeney312

    @jeffsweeney312

    4 жыл бұрын

    Also, Hypothesis, not theory.

  • @Mainzbas

    @Mainzbas

    4 жыл бұрын

    i would also suggest to measure a tin or barium compound because they have a lot of stabil isotopes, so you could test your separation and get an idee if the shoulder of your peak for the Potassium is the second isotope. To get an idea of the ratio of isotopes maybe it would be better to count the area of the signals instead of the height?

  • @cogoid

    @cogoid

    4 жыл бұрын

    As _WilWinston_ has pointed out in his comment, most leaky vacuum systems show a CO2 peak, which has m/e=48. Such mass spectra are most commonly seen not in "real" mass spectrometry but in RGA (residual gas analysis) which is a specialized from of mass spectrometry for troubleshooting vacuum systems and process equipment -- there you ordinarily look at all the usual contaminants from the atmospheric air, absorbed water, etc.

  • @thethoughtemporium
    @thethoughtemporium4 жыл бұрын

    I like how we all joked that you'd said "yet" in the tennis ball video when you mentioned mass spectrometers. And now you've gone and done it! Amazing. Been wanting to do this for years but the difficulty and tedium to constantly take it apart and put it back together always scared me off it. I think in a couple years I may end up building one now! Though I'm excited to see the follow up you mentioned. Quadrupole? Some RF magic? Lots of ways to make a mass spec, so I'm stoked to see what you choose. Have you picked up a copy of "building scientific apparatus"? there's a whole section on mass specs. As to the 47mu peak, what about titanium? titanium dioxide is known to be a filler in salt products. It also has 1 common isotope at exactly the right spot, and then 2 much less common heavier isotopes and 2 lighter isotopes. Peak would look similair. If this can't resolve the potassium peaks I bet it can't resolve the titanium peaks well either so they get glomed together.

  • @noahhounshel104

    @noahhounshel104

    4 жыл бұрын

    I might actually lean towards the idea that it's Titanium, if it's possible to actually get a sample of this looked at by a real spectrometer it would answer whether or not it's just a ghost really easily!

  • @Muonium1

    @Muonium1

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@noahhounshel104 Well he built his own scanning electron microscope, so now he can just build his own EDX energy dispersive Xray element analyzer to add on to it!

  • @measl

    @measl

    4 жыл бұрын

    *A birdie?*

  • @irvincoria1887

    @irvincoria1887

    4 жыл бұрын

    What are the odds that in all 3 experiments the KCl salt used had the same ratio of titanium to potassium? I don't think that is very likely.

  • @eelcohoogendoorn8044

    @eelcohoogendoorn8044

    4 жыл бұрын

    Feels like too much titanium; according to the ingredients such flowing agents tend to be less than a percent.

  • @jrrymiller
    @jrrymiller4 жыл бұрын

    SA did an Amateur Scientist gas chromatograph "The Amateur Scientist How to construct a gas chromatograph that can measure one part in a million By C. L. Stong" September 1967 I was festinated by your presentation.

  • @mattshilling

    @mattshilling

    4 жыл бұрын

    That’s awesome. I really need to go back through these Amateur Scientist articles, seems like they’ve got some sweet projects I could work on.

  • @rickfreeman5866

    @rickfreeman5866

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@mattshilling Hi Matt, I remember one of these articles that measured 'proton precession', the basis for today's MRI medical scans. My friend performed that experiment while I built a binary adder out of WW2 surplus relays, switches and pilot lights.

  • @dmsaintrain

    @dmsaintrain

    4 жыл бұрын

    Also, "How to Build a Gas Chromatograph and Use It to Separate the Components of Mixtures", Stong, C. L., June, 1966.

  • @bdnugget

    @bdnugget

    4 жыл бұрын

    You can buy gas sensors for under 20 bucks like the TGS-813 for example. Making a chromatographic column for gases is also fairly simple, just take some plastic tubing and fill it with sillica or even more ghetto and oldschool, bentonite clay from kitty litter. Flow a carrier gas through it, which can just be air from a cheap aquarium pump and inject your sample in there. The real problem in GCMS and LCMS is interfacing it with the MS, since the MS operates under high vacuum and your LC or GC operated in solvents or gases. In LCMS it commonly get's nebulized and shot past a tiny ESI pipe which goes to the MS, and because that's under vacuum, it sucks some of the spray into the MS while the majority just goes to waste. Maintaining vacuum this way requires a good pump.

  • @materialdialectics
    @materialdialectics3 жыл бұрын

    I'm not sure there's a word to express how impressed I am by this. You take DIY to a whole other level.

  • @rusticagenerica

    @rusticagenerica

    3 жыл бұрын

    You can say "STUPENDOUS" or "SURREPTITOUS".

  • @RB9522
    @RB95224 жыл бұрын

    I built a Liquid Dye Pulse Laser based on an Amateur Scientist article in about 1970. As far as I'm concerned, you are the New Amateur Scientist!

  • @twn10

    @twn10

    4 жыл бұрын

    Richard Burgan Hi, can you shed some light to us how you built the laser? Amazing thing.

  • @homosapiensqp3225

    @homosapiensqp3225

    4 жыл бұрын

    .

  • @RB9522

    @RB9522

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@twn10 The article is in February 1970 Scientific American. C. L. Strongs column "The Amateur Scientist". It might be hard to obtain the quartz glass parts that were available as a kit for a while right after the article's publication.

  • @teresashinkansen9402

    @teresashinkansen9402

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@twn10 You can go to Sam's laser FAQ to learn more about them, and there is Yun Sothory's excellent website about scratch made lasers out of easy to get materials, with his instructions i made my first flash lamp pumped dye laser. You can also make a relatively easier but much less powerful dye laser by first making a nitrogen TEA laser and then pumping the dye with it, just be careful tho this pulsed lasers look cute and inoffensive but will blow a hole right thorough your retina quite easily. www.repairfaq.org/sam/lasersam.htm laserkids.sourceforge.net/

  • @chemwahoo
    @chemwahoo4 жыл бұрын

    Some fun vacuum tips from a spectroscopist who has lived in HV for the last decade or so. The rubber/PVC limitations you were seeing are likely not due to the hose clamps; I've achieved 1E-6 to 1E-8 using similar materials in a pinch. The main issue is the both absorb water like no tomorrow. The rubber stopper didn't noticeably affect the system [as much] because its higher density, lower surface area as is likely nitrile. Most soft plastics (teflon, soft pvc, vinyl) are also *very* permeable to atmospheric gases. The 1E-4 vaccum limitation is likely due to a combination of two things. 1. (less likely)small imperfections in solder joints. If you have a decent gague you can check for this by spraying a light gas(He) or methanol on the solder joints and looking for the gauge to bounce. 2. (most likely) Water. Copper *loves* water. You said you are having the break the seal every 5 min or so which is instantly recoating the surface with water each time you do. Typically with our [Steel and Al] chambers first pumpdowns can take between an 30 to overnight to get past 1E-4 depending on heating/pumping speed. Subsequent pumpdowns are much faster. Not using copper, letting a dry purge gas flow between vents, or installing a butterfly valve between the ion chamber and main vacuum line would all drastically help. (Oh also the rubber stoppers are going to be a huge source of water). TL;DR water is evil.

  • @RichardKinch
    @RichardKinch4 жыл бұрын

    "I'm going to show you how to build a mass spectrometer in the home shop." [*Proceeds to produce a turbomolecular vacuum pump from yard sale junk pile.*]

  • @aliabbas-ps4ii

    @aliabbas-ps4ii

    3 жыл бұрын

    You are amazing... I'm a service engineer and have worker with several mass systems from Agilent, thermo, Shimadzu... but to see some one building a mass unit... thats astonishing

  • @TheNefastor

    @TheNefastor

    3 жыл бұрын

    That Tek scope alone is worth more than a BMW...

  • @schmetterling4477

    @schmetterling4477

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@TheNefastor And you can do the experiment just fine with a $20 Amazon scope kit.

  • @AureliusR

    @AureliusR

    Ай бұрын

    @@schmetterling4477 I strongly doubt that, they don't have the resolution or bandwidth (or voltage handling) to do something like this.

  • @schmetterling4477

    @schmetterling4477

    Ай бұрын

    @@AureliusR Yeah, they do.

  • @ericcodner7627
    @ericcodner76274 жыл бұрын

    We built a mass spec based on the Dewdney paper in my intrumentation class about 10 years ago. We also saw a double peak but since the machine went together literally minutes before the end of the semester we simply accepted the idea that the peaks represented the two isotopes. There are two GC articles in the complete Amateur Scientist collection CD-ROM. The gas flow through both designs is quite a bit higher than an MS detector will accept.

  • @William_Hada
    @William_Hada4 жыл бұрын

    I would love to build one of these! Awesome video! The clear PVC tubing has lots of phthalate plasticizer oil in it which is relatively low molecular weight and would volatilize easily under such low pressure. The black rubber has no plasticizer and is highly crosslinked to to point where it is essentially one giant molecule

  • @Richard.Andersson

    @Richard.Andersson

    4 жыл бұрын

    Different rubbers also absorb moisture or other volatile chemicals more or less easily, which will evaporate in the vacuum later on. Hence the type of rubber is also important. (Also the filler in the rubber plays a roll)

  • @janami-dharmam

    @janami-dharmam

    4 жыл бұрын

    "The black rubber has no plasticizer and is highly crosslinked to to point where it is essentially one giant molecule"- in that case it will be hard like a rock and practically unusable.

  • @paulmoir4452

    @paulmoir4452

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@janami-dharmam The scar on my face which was partly caused by the ductility of UHMW would disagree. (Also, a comment only to be found on this channel.)

  • @emilychb6621

    @emilychb6621

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@janami-dharmam Huh? You can make rubber without seperate plasticiser molecules easily. The 'plasticiser' would be part of the rubber polymer.

  • @emilychb6621

    @emilychb6621

    3 жыл бұрын

    And even giant molecules can be 'soft'.

  • @CuriousMarc
    @CuriousMarc4 жыл бұрын

    Fantastic work as usual. From the time when Scientific American was the most awesome science journal, written by actual scientists for people that really wanted to understand things. Like viewers of this channel for example. Oh, do I miss it. Now it's a sad ghost of its former self.

  • @Rangeldangeldodo
    @Rangeldangeldodo4 жыл бұрын

    Razer blade slits - classical DIY solution in optics... love it!

  • @pabloascencio7397

    @pabloascencio7397

    4 жыл бұрын

    about the thickness of a razor blade, made from razor blades

  • @TheCarterhcole
    @TheCarterhcole4 жыл бұрын

    With the right foresight with designing the vacuum line, its easy to use a diff pump where you need to frequently release vacuum. If you put a stopcock between the diff pump and the working line then you can close off the pump to the line, release the vacuum, and keep the diff pump refluxing. This way you can do whatever work you need and then reopen to the diff pump and it should pull down within minutes. You can keep a diff pump refluxing 24/7-365 as long as youre not pulling shit into it and keep it under vacuum (if you heat the oil under atmosphere it will char). Mine has been running for ~3 years continuously with no maintenance (though the roughing pump sees regular oil changes). Cold trapping also helps, but I have cheap and abundant LN2 so thats probably not worthwhile. Never used a turbomolecular pump so I cant comment on whether this is "better" or not, it's just what I have access to Not sure if this is already known to you, but thought I'd chime in as a chemist who works on highvacuum lines frequently :) I'm also a bit surprised that you had such large issues with tubing. I am able to maintain 1x10-6 torr with tygon tubing segments (rest connected with ground glass or o-rings). Definitely out to low millitorr you should be able to use clamped tubing (most schlenk lines in chemistry labs feature tubing similar to what you used, and 50mtorr is achievable on a good line--and that is pump limiting not leak limiting)

  • @CafeBikeGirl

    @CafeBikeGirl

    4 жыл бұрын

    He should be able to hit -5 torr with that turbomolecular pump in about

  • @excitedbox5705

    @excitedbox5705

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@CafeBikeGirl diffusion pumps are much higher volume though than turbo pumps per size. I have seen videos where the gauge plummets like a rock when they open up the diffusion pump and that is on a much larger chamber than that little pipe. Problem is that out-gassing is not free flowing gas so it takes time. To get lower he would also have to do a bake out to get rid of humidity.

  • @CafeBikeGirl

    @CafeBikeGirl

    4 жыл бұрын

    No doubt that a bake out will help clean out all the crud in the system from initial assembly and make sure he's not getting stray signals from stuff outgassing but it's a molecular flow system, he's not going to get any more flow than what that KF25 connector allows which is going to be something like 30 or 40 liters per second. The pump he's using appears to be comparable to 140 l/s pump (for N2) Even then the analyzer portion is not going to flow any more than the ~1/2" T-fittings allow. Unfortunately his sample delivery isn't going to support doing a bake out during a measurement run but he should be able to squeeze out another order of magnitude on the vacuum with a little effort. My real point was that for $20-40 he could significantly reduce a potential source of gas load, and to your point if he hasn't done a system bake out yet that could reduce it some more without adding complexity. Backfilling with nitrogen would be a big help but he would need to add a valve for that (preferably two) and be very careful not to shock the turbo. These things would get him more working time with his sample.

  • @maartenaerts2344

    @maartenaerts2344

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@CafeBikeGirl & ​ @excited box I truly enjoy your discussion above, as well as some other interesting notes above. I believe I can even follow, though it's 'not quite' my area of expertise. Of course, thanks to @applied science for an excellent video and a beautiful build!

  • @jonwnye
    @jonwnye4 жыл бұрын

    I use IRMS nearly everyday in the lab, but seeing a homebuilt one with an excellent explanation is great. Gonna show this to pretty much everyone who asks what I do for a living. Would love to see a a GC setup in a similar vein.

  • @jamesbrown99991
    @jamesbrown999914 жыл бұрын

    To rule out differences between forward and reverse scanning directions, you could use a sawtooth deflection voltage. This will remove the reverse direction almost completely.

  • @devrim-oguz

    @devrim-oguz

    4 жыл бұрын

    Exactly, like raster scan

  • @MrRolnicek

    @MrRolnicek

    4 жыл бұрын

    Or ... his oscilloscope looks fairly smart. if it can output data in real time (or record and output later) you could literally separate the graph into lines drawn by the sweep in one direction and the lines drawn in the other direction. Depending on his setup he might be able to do that for the already made measurements.

  • @whitcwa

    @whitcwa

    4 жыл бұрын

    A sawtooth would also provide a linear sweep instead of the sine wave sweep.

  • @__dm__

    @__dm__

    4 жыл бұрын

    Getting that to work just right in his system where he uses a transformer in series with the signal is going to be a bit challenging...

  • @jamesbrown99991

    @jamesbrown99991

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@__dm__ Why is it challenging?

  • @StreuB1
    @StreuB14 жыл бұрын

    You are using a commercial light bulb filament as an electron sprayer. The filaments as well as the envelopes of commercial bulbs have additives and one in particular is used for oxygen scavenging. What you are likely seeing in the 104v return is zirconium which is used to scavenge minute free oxygen atoms.

  • @monster2slayer

    @monster2slayer

    4 жыл бұрын

    Zirconium has a mass of 91 amu. Even if it were doubly charged that would get you to m/e 45.5. Also the isotopic distribution doesnt look like zirconium at all

  • @BRUXXUS
    @BRUXXUS4 жыл бұрын

    I love the fact that with enough time and dedication pretty much anyone could just.... you know, build their own high tech lab equipment. Does this work perfectly? Not really, but the fact it's detecting anything even near the expected result is just incredible.

  • @heavencloud92
    @heavencloud924 жыл бұрын

    I don't have an article to link you, but a simple gas chromatograph is fairly easy to make. Generally speaking you have three parts: the sample inlet, the analytical column, and the detector. Since you already have the detector you need a closed system with an adsorbent that is temperature controlled, flow to move things through it, and a way to introduce sample. I've made columns out of 1/16" to 1/4" copper and stainless tubing packed with silica gel, molecular sieve, alumina, and so on. The stationary phase and length largely depend on what you are going to analyze. A small insulated box works for holding the coiled column and can be temperature controlled with heat tape or heater cartridges and monitored with a thermocouple. If the length and diameter of your column are small some people have simply run current through the conductive column to heat it.

  • @heavencloud92

    @heavencloud92

    4 жыл бұрын

    Hydrogen vs nitrogen is tough for a carrier gas. Since nitrogen is a larger molecule the gaps between them are bigger so it's less efficient than hydrogen, but since hydrogen is so small and you're intentionally introducing it to your mass spectrometer it will really make your turbomolecular pump work. Gas purity is also of the highest importance. Hydrogen can be generated much cleaner than nitrogen can be purified so that might make a big difference. Speaking of clean you need a way to introduce the sample without letting air get into the system that would damage the tungsten filament, and without massively disrupting flow to the system. Multi position valves work well, or an injection through a pierced septum are typical. For the analytical column to function effectively the sample needs to be primarily in it's gas phase, so you want to start at a temperature where your lowest boiling point analytes will be a gas and gradually increase your temperature from there to volatilize the rest of the sample. The ramp in temperature also speeds the rate that compounds elute from the column, so you can play with that rate to get better separation between compounds.

  • @AshkanKiani
    @AshkanKiani4 жыл бұрын

    It would've been nice to see another graph with a different compound to see if the same mirroring effect existed. That would probably be the strongest evidence. As another commenter mentioned, it could just be another ion (such as Ti) present. So if another graph presented a peak at 104V, then it may not be mirroring, but another ion. Whereas if the position were slightly different, it could be the mirroring you mentioned. If you could come up with a compound which would present a more unique double hump of two distinct peaks, then I imagine it would be the strongest candidate. But, then again, I don't offhand know of any solution you can make with two dissimilarly weighted elements (but I'm not a chemist).

  • @yayforfood100

    @yayforfood100

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@Vallecaucanisimo I believe it was around 47, which would make it titanium

  • @jimaspinwall7814
    @jimaspinwall78144 жыл бұрын

    I used to service both quadrapole and magnetic sector mass specs - one way to learn science and chemistry backwards. Freaking impressed you built this at home... "in the backyard" of two infamous mass spec makers - Finnigan and HP!

  • @lb7325

    @lb7325

    4 жыл бұрын

    Good on ya Jim. Maybe he can add an argon plasma interface to make things really interesting. I'm a retired mass spec tech/engineer

  • @iambiggus
    @iambiggus4 жыл бұрын

    'It's been days... or hours.' Lol, gotta love projects like that.

  • @tihzho
    @tihzho4 жыл бұрын

    Amazing work! Judging from the size of your turbo pump the level of vacuum is only that pump is able to keep well ahead of the leaks and outgassing! Copper outgasses a lot (oxygen free copper is better), aluminium brass or 304 stainless steel would be a lot better! The solder is not that much a worry but the flux is. I used to work on this stuff........god 35 years ago!!

  • @CafeBikeGirl

    @CafeBikeGirl

    4 жыл бұрын

    Yea, I'm sure his pumping speed is whatever a KF25 will provide at that temperature and the little copper T-connections on the analyzer. I'm curious how he obtained one that big for "home use" in operational condition.

  • @ThunderDog
    @ThunderDog4 жыл бұрын

    Applied Science video = turn off everything that could be remotely related to a distraction and try to follow along with a pure genius. Love this channel!!

  • @jeremyarmstrong7857
    @jeremyarmstrong78574 жыл бұрын

    This guy is on another freaking level. Diy mass spectrometer, diy electron microscope. Like can literally builds whatever he wants

  • @cortez3001
    @cortez30014 жыл бұрын

    Ben, you are such a genius, man! I've seen some really elegant and enlightening 'do it yourself' solutions in your channel. Thank you for making it available to the world! As you talked about the comment section, I felt encouraged to share an idea I had a long time ago, that I've never researched on how to do it for - I have to admit it - lacking just the type of knowledge that you've been showing to have. I think most DIYs people are like me, having a basic understanding of electronics, how to make PCBs, how to follow instructions, etc. But to materialize more sophisticated ideas is something else... So, since I believe the idea is useful, on behalf not only of myself, but the rest of us, DIY enthusiasts, please, teach us how to make the following: A device able to power other unmantained devices with an output of 500 Watts or less for extended periods of time (say, every year), when fuel cells and batteries can't possibly do the job and for places were fossil fuel generators, solar cells, wind and geothermal power can't be used or, for whatever reason, are not feasible. Some examples I can think of: underground or underwater measurement devices, underground shelters with refrigerators, energy safeguard for cave exploration, marine biology monitoring, underground panic rooms, and so on. I'm aware that one thing that would suit such requirements would be a radioisotope thermoelectric generator, but it doesn't seem to make any economical sense, probably not even being achievable in an amateurish DIY scale...

  • @christianh2581
    @christianh25814 жыл бұрын

    Amazing work! I just want to add that it is possible to analyze substance mixtures even without a gas chromatograph (As Ben has said there are a lot of different MS techniques). To do this the molecules are ionized with less energy, such that they do not break apart into the individual elements, but instead such that different sub-parts stay together (like CH3, CH2, OH and so on). This gives a fingerprint for each molecule. With those fingerprints (relative peak height for the different masses) you can assemble a system of linear equations. Then you analyze the substance mixture, you solve the system and you get the proportion of each substance in the mixture. Also there are spectrometers that have a gas-inlet, which allowes to analyze gas mixtures continuously. This can be used to monitor chemical reactions in almost real time.

  • @jacobrezek1924
    @jacobrezek19242 жыл бұрын

    “nothing is an impossiblity. so we try to do the best we can” my motivational quote for the day

  • @nicktohzyu
    @nicktohzyu4 жыл бұрын

    i'd really like to see that glass diffusion pump working

  • @samykamkar
    @samykamkar4 жыл бұрын

    Yes!!! Have been looking forward to this video, and so appreciate the post-validation breakdown.

  • @robmckennie4203

    @robmckennie4203

    2 жыл бұрын

    but most of all, samy is my hero.

  • @henrydane6702
    @henrydane67024 жыл бұрын

    As a physics undergrad student I find a lot of your work fascinating, especially this. Your ability to keep your videos focused on the scientific work, in conjunction with your attention to detail makes for really engaging content. I am very much looking forward to future mass spectrometer content. Keep up the spectacular work.

  • @markheller197
    @markheller1974 жыл бұрын

    Holy cow. Those articles in the back of SA were inspiring. For that matter so are you!

  • @Krmpfpks
    @Krmpfpks3 жыл бұрын

    This is one of the best DIY achievements on KZread, congrats. Maybe even the best together with Jeri Ellsworth etching her own transistors at home.

  • @PaulGreeve
    @PaulGreeve4 жыл бұрын

    Brilliant! Thank you. Finally I understand how these work.

  • @hanabihanabi1060
    @hanabihanabi10604 жыл бұрын

    Hi. Been watching for sometime now and I like your channel. I have worked with mass specs for a long time even designed magnetic sector and crossed E-B field devices. Most of my work has been in residual gas analysis. I think I can help with two of your issues, which were present in the earlier work. 1) Try a pin hole not a slit. The slit is fine for optics but with your variable mag field the slit is sending a flat ribbon-ish stream of ions which pass thru different mag fields reducing your resolution. You may also be defocused and with the variable field you could have distortion which creates multiple images at different energy levels producing the ghost peak. Again a point source will help as will a more uniform mag field. 2) If you scan the energy slowly the input capacitance disappears in your charge / current amp. When you deliver a pulse of charge, the amp is acting more as a charge amp. The gain of a charge amp is Cf/Cin, or Rf/Ri whichever is smaller. By going to a DC measurement you remove the pulse nature and hence measure current. We used to use Keithly 602 electrometers. 3) I have suggestions for mods to your ion source and adding a focusing element after could also give you much better results. Niether of these is difficult. Einzel lenses are very easy to design and build en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einzel_lens. 4) I await your time of flight mass spec, I was on a team that flew one to Hally's Comet once a long time ago, in a galaxy far... Hanabi

  • @jackmclane1826

    @jackmclane1826

    Жыл бұрын

    One of the most underrated contributions in a YT comment section! I also agree on the first point. ;)

  • @hanabihanabi4728

    @hanabihanabi4728

    Жыл бұрын

    @@jackmclane1826 Thank You for your kind words. Ben kind of put out a teaser on a different kind of mass spec, which I presumed was TOF. These are easy to build, but do not have much resolution. On the Haley's comet device, an instrument on the European spacecraft to the comet, we used a tungsten impact plate. At 70 km/s the dust grains would vaporize on impact. We used a PMT to detect the flashes (our part of the instrument) and set 0 time, then an electrostatic field extracted the ions and accelerated them towards an electron multiplier which detected the ions. From F=m*A you could extract the ion's mass/charge ratio with tungsten as a calibration standard mass. Fun days those!

  • @erikev
    @erikev4 жыл бұрын

    You could easily make many of your problems go away. We built one at the university. We built one 8 meters long. The sample was in a metal box the size of a matchbox and vaporized with heat, then ionized and accelerated. It could run for weeks. A heating filament in a radio tube was used, not a lightbulb. If I recall, it was a much better electron source than what a light bulb wire can be. An electron trap catches the electrons, and the now +1 ionized sample are accelerated in a normal direction of the electron flow. The accelerating voltage was 800V. We used an electric field to cancel out the magnetic field, and varied the electric field. Also used two quadropoles to focus the beam (or maybe on to just flatten the beam for better resolution, the second would be for signal strengthening.). I would also try out using a Microchannel Plate or nightvision sensor to measure many channels. I have never tried this, but it would be fun to test even a back illuminated CCD/cmos sensor. If not a dynode. Or try out an avalanche photo diode APD with the window removed. Disclaimer: This was done decades ago, before I worked as a design engineer at Tektronix.

  • @MisterRorschach90
    @MisterRorschach903 жыл бұрын

    Never felt more proud in having been subbed. This dude built a mass spectrometer. Seriously.

  • @chrisaa746
    @chrisaa7464 жыл бұрын

    The cork is likely Buna-N which a common vacuum o-ring material and it is low outgassing, the others are Viton a Fluorocarbon, and silicone - so no surprise Buna-N works as a feed thru material. The Silicone hose however was a surprise that it did not work, even with a simple hose clamp - I do use vacuum grease on the hose connector so the hose clamp does not create a fold on the inside of the hose during clamping, The charged plates for focusing the ion beam not working is interesting, perhaps electro-magnets like a crt. perhaps I don't understand, I will have to look at my RGA now Ha! I really love your videos, thank you!

  • @KallePihlajasaari

    @KallePihlajasaari

    4 жыл бұрын

    I think he said the clear tubing was PVC 6:26 and the cream tube was 'professional' vac tubing that was also wanting though he did not indicate the material.

  • @chrisaa746

    @chrisaa746

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@KallePihlajasaari Yes, the white cream is likely silicone, comes in red too. I use it on my scroll (roughing) pump for the turbo and again on my diffusion pump's roughing pump as well.

  • @chrome4096
    @chrome40964 жыл бұрын

    Every topic you cover just amazes me. I like to think of myself as a science and maker guy, but you have amassed soo many tools and insights that I'm just baffeled at anything you come up with. wanting to start my own channel for a while now, but apart from budgetary constraints, which can always be worked out by the help of friends I unfortunately haven't the space so far.... nonetheless keep up ypur awesome work

  • @HappyMathDad
    @HappyMathDad4 жыл бұрын

    Scientific American, the favourite magazine of my youth. The first thing was to go to the very end and read amateur scientist and mathematical recreations. Then read the rest. I just loved it. And it's so cool to see it referenced here. Hats off!!!!

  • @jonpeltier5768
    @jonpeltier57684 жыл бұрын

    So happy and grateful that you share these projects, Ben. The way you produce your videos is so very warm and inclusive. You make me feel like I'm standing right there in the garage.

  • @DarrenDIY
    @DarrenDIY4 жыл бұрын

    Jesus christ, you're the only one on youtube that does this type of advanced physics, i like. Thanks👍😍😀

  • @ElementalMaker
    @ElementalMaker4 жыл бұрын

    I need to see a video on that glass oil diffusion pump! How cool!

  • @pdrg
    @pdrg4 жыл бұрын

    Incredible content, thank you and to all your patrons

  • @johngreen4610
    @johngreen46104 жыл бұрын

    I've been watching your channel for some years now. Great videos, learned much, even been inspired. I don't believe I've commented till now, no sense sticking ones nose unless one has something worthwhile to say, but something you said in this video inclined me to stick my nose in. You said that you are contemplating producing a similar video using a laser to produce the ionization. About 5 or 6 years ago while dealing with some mineralogy problems I cast about looking for some method of doing some elemental analysis. I rejected a number of methods including mass spectrometry. The method I decided upon was Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy LIBS as it seemed to be the easiest to implement on by meager budget. I suspect that this is the technique you are contemplating. The system I built was surprisingly simple to build. It involved a q-switched Nd YAG laser from an outdated range finder from the M1 Abrams tank program along with the associated pulse forming network and trigger module. Total cost of that stuff, about $250. I also used a HV transformer from a junked microwave oven, a 5 amp 120 v variac which completed the laser part of the system. The original spectrometer was fashioned from some PVC pipe, a couple razor blades. and an old pre-recorded DVD. There are some limitations of a simple system like this but so far I have analyzed hundreds of samples and I am building a library of elemental spectra. I am currently working with a numismatist on analyzing revolutionary war era pennies. BTW FWIW I believe that I must have bought the last laser of this type as I can no longer find any though General Dynamics is upgrading hundreds of M1 tanks for several orther contries. If anyone knows if these may become available on the surplus market please post here. Video I uploaded years ago: kzread.info/dash/bejne/jK52taWrg5uscbw.html Ben if I can help in any way let me know.

  • @HerraTohtori
    @HerraTohtori4 жыл бұрын

    The second spike looks almost like a second order diffraction maximum. You have a slit (two, in fact) in the device and you're pushing particles through it. There's going to be diffraction pattern of some kind... the question is, would that effect be big enough to be detected in this way? Or is that just shown as "blurry spikes"? Based on my calculations, a 39 amu, 1 elementary charge ion gains a velocity of about 24,969 m/s over an electric field of 126 volts (and it will have energy of 126 electronvolts). At that speed, a particle with mass of 39 amu will have a deBroglie wavelength of approximately 4.1e-13 metres. You mentioned that the width of the slit is about 3-4 thousandths of an inch, which comes to about 0.1 millimetres. Since the disparity between the gap width and the wavelength is so large, I don't think there should actually be a lot of diffraction, but still, the diffraction angle can be calculated. With the above wavelength, the first order diffraction angle would be 2.35e-7 degrees. Estimating the length of travel for the ions as about 0.1 metres from emitter to detector, the actual distance between diffraction spikes should be in the order of 4.1e-10 metres, or about 0.41 nm. That seems like too small a difference, so this is likely not the correct answer. But it would be really cool if it actually was that! It might be worth doing the math on how this diffraction would affect particle path and what voltage would result in the diffracted particles hitting the detector. The assumption of a constant radius of curvature would only apply if the beam is very tight, unless I'm mistaken. If the angle of the particles arriving to the magnetic field varies, then different velocities (that is, different emitter voltage) can cause them to hit the detector. Although simpler explanation is probably contamination, like another commenter said, possibly titanium from the filament used to heat up the sample. Also, are you getting a spike for chlorine? It should be at about 131 volts, by my calculations; that is the voltage that gives chlorine ions the velocity at which they have a matching curvature with potassium ions at 126 volts, so they should be hitting the detector at about that voltage range.

  • @maximilianlindner

    @maximilianlindner

    4 жыл бұрын

    That is actually quite clever.

  • @JohnVKaravitis

    @JohnVKaravitis

    4 жыл бұрын

    tl;dr

  • @bluesteel255

    @bluesteel255

    4 жыл бұрын

    The chlorine atoms would be bent in the other direction due to their charge so they do not make it through the tube curve

  • @HerraTohtori

    @HerraTohtori

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@bluesteel255 Yes, but you could just switch the positions of the transmitter and the receiver - or change the direction of the magnetic field, if that's feasible. For calibration purposes, the latter would be better. But both should work equally. EDIT: Actually, assuming the chlorine ions are negative, you'd also have to invert the voltage of the emitter so that the point of origin is negative voltage (ground) and the slit is positive voltage. Negative ions would travel in the opposite direction in the electric field. You would also get a negative voltage at the receiver end. But these are fairly minor calibrations.

  • @CafeBikeGirl

    @CafeBikeGirl

    4 жыл бұрын

    For that matter clean the ion source and prepare the sample with distilled water that doesn't have chlorine to see if the spike drops.

  • @royJohannes1
    @royJohannes14 жыл бұрын

    I did my thesis on building a compact spectrometer using a CCD sensor. It was great fun.

  • @DarthZackTheFirstI

    @DarthZackTheFirstI

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@accord3702a he probably only build the thesis from theory ;P

  • @nohphd

    @nohphd

    4 жыл бұрын

    accord3702a - There are multiple, open-source visible light spectrophotometers, using a cell phone, for the detector, a replica diffraction grating (an even a small piece of a CD/DVD!) and a razor-blade slit. Calibrated by old fashioned neon indicator lamps and a variety of LEDs across the visible spectrum. Google DIY spectrophotometer.

  • @DarthZackTheFirstI

    @DarthZackTheFirstI

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@nohphd oh thanks, i saw one of that. any idea with what i can read the time difference of the waves? never figured out how i could do that with cheap stuff if its possible at all.

  • @nohphd

    @nohphd

    4 жыл бұрын

    DarthZackTheFirst - time difference of the waves? If I am understanding you correctly, they are not scanning each individual wave over a single detector. Instead they simultaneously detect the full visible light spectrum across the imager in the phones camera. So the pixels in the “CCD” column 17 might be photons from 550 nm and the pixels in column 2745 might be photons from 414 nm. With a couple of reference lines, you can calibrate the unit and perform meaningful spectroscopy.

  • @DarthZackTheFirstI

    @DarthZackTheFirstI

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@nohphd oh maybe mixed it up with interferometry.but i just see they are using a ccd camera there too. interesting stuff.

  • @3dmaker699
    @3dmaker6993 жыл бұрын

    Fantastic job Ben. I love your videos as you explain everything so clearly.

  • @cylosgarage
    @cylosgarage4 жыл бұрын

    this is the first one of your projects that went completely and utterly over my head. well done.

  • @masonp1314
    @masonp13144 жыл бұрын

    That oil diffusion pump looks awesome!! I'd love to see a project like making your own neon sign, using it!

  • @jasony25
    @jasony254 жыл бұрын

    I like watching every minute of this video.

  • @1943vermork
    @1943vermork4 жыл бұрын

    Impressive work and formidable presentation. I’m literally out of words to describe my admiration.

  • @RedLegion
    @RedLegion4 жыл бұрын

    To say that I'm envious of your abilities would be a gross understatement. Well done, sir. Please don't stop.

  • @nohphd
    @nohphd4 жыл бұрын

    Amateur Scientist published TWO articles on DIY gas chromatographs, the first one was a hot wire thermal detector, the second was with a flame ionization detector. I built both in high school. Unfortunately the GC that front ends a MS usually uses a capillary column, otherwise the combination of carrier gas and sample will flood the MS. I ran a GC/Ms for a few years, get a turbomolecular pump instead of the oil diffusion pump. I still have a capillary GC in my garage. HP, not DIY. Also, you should be measuring peak area, not peak height for abundance. Wonderful and inspiring video.

  • @trey1531

    @trey1531

    4 жыл бұрын

    He is using a turbomolecular pump. He said in the video that he ditched the diffusion pump.

  • @nohphd

    @nohphd

    4 жыл бұрын

    Trey - au contraire Madame! @7:30 that glass thingy filled with boiling oil definitely isn’t a TM pump. He’s complaining about the time it takes to start and stop the pump when he has to reload the ion source. That butane stove he’s using certainly isn’t running any TM pump I’ve ever encountered. He did say he’d like to revisit the diffusion pump in a future video.

  • @uski

    @uski

    3 жыл бұрын

    You built TWO gas chromatographs in high school ? And for all these years I foolishly thought I was doing cool stuff myself in high school...

  • @nohphd

    @nohphd

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@uski scientific American magazine used to have an monthly column called the Amateur Scientist where they described how to make such. They had two articles on GCs, I built them both. Kind of like Instructibles today.

  • @Scrogan
    @Scrogan4 жыл бұрын

    I’d like to see your take on the standard light spectrometer, as diffraction gratings and CCDs are quite cheap compared to what the MEMS spectrometers seem to go for. Great science being done here!

  • @user-ri7fo6tp5e
    @user-ri7fo6tp5e4 жыл бұрын

    I wish I worked for you, and you just show me how to make ingenious things. Your production quality and teaching skills are some of the best I've ever come across. Please keep them coming!!

  • @3dmaker699
    @3dmaker6994 жыл бұрын

    This is my favourite KZread channel. Great project and well done.

  • @uberLejoe
    @uberLejoe4 жыл бұрын

    This is pretty cool. Also making me day dream about what I would ever need a mass spectrometer for. (other than atmospheric monitoring which I don't really care about when at home)

  • @Neptunium
    @Neptunium4 жыл бұрын

    another great video! One thing with mass spectrometer is the existence of poly atomic interference, Carbon and Chlorine could add up to look like mass 47 . Potassium is particularly troublesome in ICP-MS due to Argon interference. Or the 2 slits are creating the mirror image, but was it the same design in the previous 1970 experiment? A wider scan could reveal more interference .. great work as always!

  • @andymouse
    @andymouse4 жыл бұрын

    This is great ! I worked with various mass spec techniques for many years and this is first "homebrew" i've seen.

  • @dwinsemius
    @dwinsemius4 жыл бұрын

    OMG, I'm 19 seconds into this video and I'm already hooked. A copper tube mass spec to measure household ingredients. Go for it!!!! And then you cite one of my heroes: C L Strong.

  • @BenMitro
    @BenMitro4 жыл бұрын

    Excellent video - glad you reposted the whole vid - was so let down when the earlier video stopped mid sentence! Thanks, love your videos and your presentation style. The mirroring theory is a good one I think. To me it looks like a splitting of the beam due to acceleration voltage, via a different path through the magnetic field which, as you pointed out varies across the tube. Would a iron wedge from the end of the magnet to the tube focus the field more?

  • @SubbashPadmanabhan
    @SubbashPadmanabhan4 жыл бұрын

    Have you done a reference run without sample? Of course you might have. Its truly inspiring that you built a mass spectrometer. I understood lot of things fundamentally from your video. Thanks a lot.

  • @ts2wv
    @ts2wv4 жыл бұрын

    These videos remind me of being an intern with some fun project and four months to get some results out of an idea and a paper. Great vid!

  • @freeelectron8261
    @freeelectron82613 жыл бұрын

    Really great mass spec diy, I have come back to this one many times. AS channel rocks!

  • @SuperSuperGenius
    @SuperSuperGenius4 жыл бұрын

    I believe the peak you see at 104 V which calculates to 47 amu is Titanium that may be allowed into the filament.

  • @bobason456

    @bobason456

    4 жыл бұрын

    I'm sure he would have done a control run without loading the sample? AND/OR Sending the sample to a professional lab would not cost a lot and give you a baseline of what is in this salt substitute.

  • @CaptinJangles

    @CaptinJangles

    4 жыл бұрын

    Hmm, what gives me pause about this is the fact that the graphs between his and the other sources match up so well, and that the distortion caused by both potassium ions is present in the second hump. That would mean all 3 filaments would've had to have a similar amount of Titanium and read it the same every time. To me that implies this is more of an error with this method of collection that is endemic to the design.

  • @drawapretzel6003

    @drawapretzel6003

    4 жыл бұрын

    thats what im suspecting, i suggested to do the math to figure out what element it WOULD be if it were a real element, and find where it is coming from. All the papers seem to have it, and if they are all using tungsten electrodes, surely a nearby element would show up?

  • @mckenziekeith7434

    @mckenziekeith7434

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@CaptinJangles maybe something funny is going on with an impurity in the filament. I am sure the filament is not pure tungsten. What else would be in it? Maybe all three experimenters used tungsten filaments from bulbs, and maybe the manufacturing process of tungsten filaments has been unchanged over all these decades.

  • @CaptinJangles

    @CaptinJangles

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@mckenziekeith7434 Yeah, but to me it seems unlikely that the manufacturing process would go unchanged since the 60's. Not to mention who knows if it is even the same across different manufacturers? I mean, I'm sure it's possible. The only way to eliminate this possibility is to run it again with a different substance and see if there's another bump in the same or similar spot. My thinking, but I didn't mention it since I was afraid of looking stupid/not understanding the concept is that there's a reflection of the ion beam that echos back but weaker and at a lower voltage, or that the power alternation is not perfect and some of the ions aren't shifted as far but it leaves a similar distribution.

  • @timfagan1333
    @timfagan13334 жыл бұрын

    I built one of these for my high school physics project. My teacher was very impressed and said that out of all the things that didn't work,mine was the best.😄 Still got a high distinction grade for it though. This taught me a lot of skills and experience in experimental science and lead to a career as a research engineer. These days kids miss out on the adventure and fun with science.

  • @worldgeektube
    @worldgeektube4 жыл бұрын

    This was just fabulous. Explaining how a mass spectrometer works was great in itself and then talking through the engineering challenges of actually making one was fascinating. Finally, noticing the apparent problems in the data collected and suggesting an explanation. True science, wonderful teaching. Subscription renewed.

  • @EG-cs3wv
    @EG-cs3wv3 жыл бұрын

    You are an inspiration to me! KZread is amazing in this regard ... I can see amazing works from others and gain a lot of insight and practical knowledge. Thanks!

  • @RingingResonance
    @RingingResonance4 жыл бұрын

    Cool. Just don't build an anti-mass spectrometer and start the resonance cascade!

  • @EpecFale

    @EpecFale

    3 жыл бұрын

    Let me finish the HEV suit first.

  • @tihzho
    @tihzho4 жыл бұрын

    7:24 !!!!! Don't boil the oil!! I felt a great disturbance in the vacuum, as if millions of diff pumps suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. The diff pump oil should just have some slight movement during operation.

  • @boboften9952

    @boboften9952

    4 жыл бұрын

    IT'S A TRAP.

  • @robson6285
    @robson62854 жыл бұрын

    This was absolutely pretty smart! And yes I find it interesting, and that's an.understatement! Wauw! I hope to see more of this because I am sure I could watch this for hours and hours, best all in one go!

  • @robertcalkjr.8325
    @robertcalkjr.83254 жыл бұрын

    Thanks Ben! Your videos are always interesting and worth waiting for!

  • @hpekristiansen
    @hpekristiansen4 жыл бұрын

    You need the area, not the peak heights -maybe you are already doing that. Calibrate the spectrum axis with several know peaks.

  • @blichte1

    @blichte1

    4 жыл бұрын

    Depending upon the shape of the peaks, this isn't strictly necessary; but you are correct -- it is more proper to use the peak integral.

  • @Qpwrtm
    @Qpwrtm4 жыл бұрын

    To lower input capacity of your transimpedance amplifier and photodiode there is a technique called bootstrapping, where you put another opamp in a buffer mode over photodiode cancelling its capacity. We even used it in exomars spectrometer

  • @Basement-Science

    @Basement-Science

    4 жыл бұрын

    How well does that work for very small signals? just wondering.

  • @rusticagenerica

    @rusticagenerica

    3 жыл бұрын

    What the hell are Exomars ? Exozomes grown on Mars ?

  • @Qpwrtm

    @Qpwrtm

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@Basement-Science we only use it for small signals, so it's working pretty good, sorry for 1y delay)

  • @Qpwrtm

    @Qpwrtm

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@rusticagenerica try google, it's a space mission

  • @johnmcclain3887
    @johnmcclain38873 жыл бұрын

    I have to say, I had no expectation of running into this tonight! I've watched another guy use a "gas chromatograph mass spectrometer" many time, as a Marine, with oil samples for the engines and transmissions of helicopters, if the metal content is high, it was time to tear down and rebuild, rather than wait for it to blow. I'm very impressed with your work, and what you've put into it. As to the rubber plugs, the answer is "carbon black". I've been a mechanic all my life, in and around nasty equipment, but the dirtiest job I've ever had was at a couple of tire shops, for a couple months each. By the second day, I was gray, stayed gray for three or four weeks after moving on to another job, electronics once, and the Corps the first time. Carbon black plugs any holes, and those plugs are long enough it simply packs in. I worked on big 200 KW diesel generators for a while, and they produce a good bit of particulate carbon of that minute scale as well. Thanks for a great job, a great demonstration of talent, patience, and industry. I've got to watch my dietary intake very carefully because of multiple sclerosis, gulf war disease, from our classified, experimental anthrax vaccine, back in 89, so this is extremely interesting to me, potassium is what I'm always concerned about. Incredible!

  • @infiniteerror9085
    @infiniteerror90854 жыл бұрын

    This is the most impressive DIY I've seen. Bravo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • @Spirit532
    @Spirit5324 жыл бұрын

    A spectrometer with lasers... surely it's not laser desorption/ionization? Can't be Raman, you've done Raman before... Regarding vacuum - tube seals generally don't work well with vacuum. Air always leaks through, since there's nothing really holding it back but uneven hose clamp pressure. The reason your stoppers work is because the stoppers themselves are being pressed in by the atmosphere. This is why all vacuum flanges are flanges - to ensure the atmosphere squeezes them together. As for the rubber, most generic rubbers outgas a small enough amount to not be noticeable in this low vacuum system. That, and you have a gigantic turbopump compared to the overall size of your chamber... On that note, have you considered the possibility that something is being vaporized from the chamber(including the stopper) and is ending up on that left peak? It would also fall in line with the previous two works, since they seem to have both used rubber.

  • @sbreheny

    @sbreheny

    4 жыл бұрын

    Along these lines, what about trying it by cleaning out everything and not intentionally putting anything on the filament and see whether you get any peaks.

  • @a3xccy379

    @a3xccy379

    4 жыл бұрын

    MALDI is the acronym I guess he was referring to it is a type of Ionization technique which uses Lasers to ionize instead of the heated filament. If memory serves me right, it is matrix assisted laser desorption/ionisation.

  • @a3xccy379

    @a3xccy379

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@sbreheny I doubt that would be useful since the copper tube in itself has weathered from the inside and has thus a reactive oxygen layer which might be out gassing either due to vacuum or because of the electric current

  • @Xsodouse

    @Xsodouse

    4 жыл бұрын

    there are titanium blades, so it is possible that this material will be dragged into the process.?

  • @Kevin-xi6pj

    @Kevin-xi6pj

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@a3xccy379 atmospheric pressure LDI is likely what he is referring to in the video, fundamentally indifferent to MALDI in terms of the analytical setup (let's ignore laser choice) and is held within the subset of LDI within the acronym soup chemists work within.

  • @johnpublic6582
    @johnpublic65824 жыл бұрын

    Don't discount that the 47 is Titanium as in TiO2 as a whitening agent. It's an "inactive" ingredient so may not be listed on the package.

  • @Minifig666

    @Minifig666

    4 жыл бұрын

    Perhaps there could be titanium in the filament, or the filament support too?

  • @belg4mit

    @belg4mit

    4 жыл бұрын

    I'm skeptical of all the proposals regarding titanium because the other papers are decades old, and it seems unlikely that manufacturing processes for the proposed sources will have remained the same all this time... or that they will have been so cavalier with their use of pricier titanium in the past: inflationmonkey.blogspot.com/2012/11/titanium-almost-as-inexpensive-as-it.html

  • @JackFou

    @JackFou

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@belg4mit I'm also a bit skeptical of the proposal that the people who made these devices in the past would claim to observe two potassium isotopes without verifying whether the m/z ratio is correct. In the comparison of the spectra at 21:10, his signal looks quite a bit different than the ones from SA or John Dewdney. So maybe the were actually able to resolve the two potassium peaks and we're just looking at differently scaled x-axes?

  • @Basement-Science

    @Basement-Science

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@belg4mit TiO2 costs A LOT less than Ti metal. TiO2 is actually found directly in nature and has been mixed into anything from tooth paste to wall paint for a long time. I think it's pretty likely what he measured.

  • @bpj1805

    @bpj1805

    4 жыл бұрын

    But would "whitening agent" be 10% or more of the product?

  • @ivarsvilums
    @ivarsvilums4 жыл бұрын

    I always enjoy and am inspired by your videos. They hearken back to the old "Amateur Scientist" column that I couldn't wait to read each month in my younger days. Projects like "Build an Inexpensive X-Ray Machine" and "A Homemade Atom Smasher" would always open new frontiers of what is possible and, even if the project was beyond my reach at the time, seemed to lead to experiments and projects that I otherwise would not have thought of doing as well as using what I had at hand and seeing things in new ways. Your projects are like that. Thanks! When you mentioned building a gas chromatograph it brought back memories of a project I worked on back around 1979-80. I was working for a medical instrument company in a department charged with developing technology for the 10 - 15 year future time frame and one of the projects I worked on was a micro gas chromatograph. The goal was to create a handheld GC that could continuously analyse blood gasses from samples obtained non-invasively from a patch on the skin. The company ultimately dropped the project (ultimately the entire department was dropped and the company has gone through a number of owners) but we did create a variety of prototype pieces to test our ideas out and, by the end of the project, we were able to analyse 100 microliter samples of 4 gasses in Helium in around 20 milliseconds in continuous operation. Alas, much of our work is long lost but I have been collecting and putting online a "lost technology" archive and have a copy of an internal review document about the project scanned and posted, full of technical details, that you might find interesting and useful. You can find the scanned pages at: www.eastjesus.net/tech/microGC/GCProjectReview-cover.html A colleague from that project went on to spend a career doing research in the mass spec area and I've stayed in touch (he was here for Thanksgiving last week!). I'm sending the link to this video to him and hope that he may find time to contact you. Best wishes!

  • @PaulHigginbothamSr
    @PaulHigginbothamSr4 жыл бұрын

    You know, I enjoyed your rebuild of a second stage -100 degree beaker cooler. That was probably the best thinking and explaining of any refrigeration video I have ever seen. It was replete with first principals all the way through. VERY good job there Monsieur.

  • @JimGriffOne
    @JimGriffOne4 жыл бұрын

    If you were to use a magnetron to "heat up" the sample, would that prevent the other spike in the frequency response from appearing? (So long as it's operating outside of the frequencies you wish to measure).

  • @electronicsNmore
    @electronicsNmore4 жыл бұрын

    You are good. :-)

  • @mohammad-mahditaghipour4307
    @mohammad-mahditaghipour43074 жыл бұрын

    I learn something from this person every time..., He is so good at what he does.

  • @togirachetowa
    @togirachetowa4 жыл бұрын

    I was barely able to follow your explanations. It's astonishing to me that you can apply knowledge from so many different areas to a real world problem. Hats off. I really wish I could achive such a deep level of understanding science.

  • @DrDeFord
    @DrDeFord4 жыл бұрын

    FYI, C14 decays by beta emission to N14, not C12.

  • @LightPhoenix7000
    @LightPhoenix70004 жыл бұрын

    My initial suspicion as to the lower peak is some sort of additive. A mass of 47 corresponds to titanium, and titanium dioxide can be used as a food-grade additive. I think perhaps ordering some pure potassium chloride from one of the chemical companies and testing that would definitively rule out any additives from food-grade sources.

  • @jayk8594

    @jayk8594

    4 жыл бұрын

    indeed. he starts the video be saying he's going to verify the contents of the product, but then by the end behaves as though his bottle of "No Salt" is a reference standard! :) the picture of it on amazon lists five other ingredients, one of which is mineral oil(!).

  • @janami-dharmam

    @janami-dharmam

    4 жыл бұрын

    It is indeed easy; TiO2 is insoluble in water whereas KCl is soluble. Even 1% of TiO2 will produce a milky suspension (and not a transparent clear solution)

  • @chrispza
    @chrispza4 жыл бұрын

    You mentioned in your introduction that a mass spectrograph is commonly paired with a chromatograph. I have no experience in the field, but do have a feeling that, for a person of your abilities, a gel-electrophoresis apparatus would not present too great a challenge. And, may I say, you have overloaded my boggle-circuits. This is, in the original sense of the word, awesome.

  • @ichomann2
    @ichomann24 жыл бұрын

    Very cool & fascinating video. Intredible work you've done build a mass spec! Looking forward to more content like this!

  • @Muonium1
    @Muonium14 жыл бұрын

    *OMG HE READS AND CONSIDERS THE COMMENTS!!* DIY Functional Magnetic Resonance Imager in 2020 plz!!! 🤓🥼🧲📻🧠 upvote if you agree!

  • @AppliedScience

    @AppliedScience

    4 жыл бұрын

    There have been legit MRI (not functional) machines described using Earth's field (kzread.info/dash/bejne/aZWGraORdJfKcco.html) , as well as permanent magnets (www.opensourceimaging.org/project/instructional-tabletop-mri-scanner/) . I've been really tempted to recreate these, and it's been on my list for a long time. Getting fMRI to work would really be the next level though ;)

  • @raptor4916

    @raptor4916

    4 жыл бұрын

    Do they have schematics for DIY NMR machines

  • @backgroundkiller

    @backgroundkiller

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@AppliedScience Well actually, there is a paper that describes a full build for a Earth-field NMR, that could also be used for some image reconstruction, see: iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0957-0233/21/10/105902/meta I also texted the corresponding author and he was very kind, he also provided me a working link for the arduino code.(www.phas.ubc.ca/~michal/Earthsfield) The project is pretty sophisticated concerning the spool manufacturing, but for someone like you, it would be possible to do and may even improve on the design. Thank you for your awesome, entertaining and informative videos! Keep up your good work

  • @bojangles5503

    @bojangles5503

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@AppliedScience do some cool experiment with a gunn diode

  • @MrFlatox
    @MrFlatox4 жыл бұрын

    Awesome video ! Are you also ionizing the tungsten in the filament with this mass spectrometer ?

  • @tolipwen1487
    @tolipwen14874 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for your contribution to my edutainment! :-) There is also an SA article for making a gas diffusion pump. Decades ago a person could purchase CDs with collections of SA Amateur Scientist articles. I once dabbled in 'pushing glass' for telescope and laser optics and I learned a lot from the SA articles. Not my main source but good additional content. Please keep doing what you do! It's refreshing to see 'uphill both ways, barefooted, in the snow' treated as an invitation instead of an excuse.

  • @user255
    @user2554 жыл бұрын

    One of the best KZread science videos of this year!

  • @tom_forsyth
    @tom_forsyth4 жыл бұрын

    Gotta watch until 24:35 for the best twist ever. It was right there all along! Great stuff.

  • @craigking391
    @craigking3914 жыл бұрын

    I think the other peek is Zirconium which tungsten is coated with during the manufacturing process to protect it from moisture. .

  • @CafeBikeGirl

    @CafeBikeGirl

    4 жыл бұрын

    The mass to charge ratios don't seem to match up even if it had a +2 charge.

  • @etelmo

    @etelmo

    4 жыл бұрын

    I can't remember the context but I recall that phosphates can break down into PO+ ions when heated to high temperature in a vacuum, and tricalcium phosphate is a pretty common anticaking agent. The molecular weight of PO+ is 46.9732.

  • @dansheppard2965

    @dansheppard2965

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@etelmo Why not run the system without a sample to see if you can see any filament doping at the same point? Or, as I imagine getting the calibration right without the big K peak is tricky, just keeping it running until a small sample has all boiled away and seeing if it stays.

  • @etelmo

    @etelmo

    4 жыл бұрын

    ​@@dansheppard2965 Testing a new heating element without any sample makes sense as a sanity check, however it shouldn't be a brand new dry element; it needs to be wet with DD water and dried to replicate and control for how samples are loaded. The water is important as it will react with both the getter compound (Zirconium, Phosphorus, whatever) and also the Tungsten (producing oxygen radicals, which should react further with anything else present). Then again, as many have said it might just be a signal reflection... changing the signal path length is probably a good sanity check as it shouldn't impact the peak of a sample, only the reflection.

  • @randykintzley5923
    @randykintzley59234 жыл бұрын

    Very interesting stuff! I have so much respect for your ability and your tenacity.

  • @NoPegs
    @NoPegs4 жыл бұрын

    Every time I see a new video unveiling yet another piece of Homebrew apparatus from you, I ask myself when we'll be receiving updates from your moon base laboratory, you've pretty well bootstrapped yourself to the point of escaping the gravity well. Keep up the good work!

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