On the Calibration of the Mass Spectrometer for Measurement of Partial Vapor Pressures

Abstract

A fundamental problem in the mass‐spectrometric study of the vapors in equilibrium with condensed phases at high temperatures is the determination of the absolute instrumental sensitivities to the several species in the vapor. An analysis is presented which shows that calibration for all the individual species can be accomplished without additional information if the absolute total rate of effusion is obtained as a function of temperature and is combined with mass‐spectrometric measurements of the relative intensities of the individual species. General equations are derived and two procedures for treating the case of two species are presented.