Astronomy

Reading an alien atmosphere

Send ions through a magnetic sector and scan the detector. Compare simplified Earth, Mars and giant-planet gas mixtures by their mass-to-charge peaks.

By Mykhailo Makarov

Actual application image

The model and its limits

The shared magnetic-sector radius law for singly charged ions, with a Gaussian detector slit. Mixtures are illustrative; fragmentation chemistry, ionisation efficiency and real instrument calibration are omitted. Particle travel is slowed for viewing.

Equations used in the module

Equations
r = sqrt(2 m V/q)/B; x_detector = 2 r; signal = sum(a_i exp(-(2r_i-2r_scan)²/(2 s²)))

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