A Note on the Significance of Appearance Potentials of Ions in a Mass Spectrometer

Abstract

The significance of appearance potentials determined by the two common methods is treated with the aid of some simplifying assumptions. Arguments favoring the general use of the more commonly used method are given, and it is pointed out that the initial part of the appearance potential curve of an ion cannot generally lead to unambiguous conclusions concerning the nature of the ionic state involved in the production of the ion.