mass spectrometer: Meaning and Definition of

mass' spectrom'eter

Pronunciation: [key]
  1. a device for identifying the kinds of particles present in a given substance: the particles are ionized and beamed through an electromagnetic field and the manner in which they are deflected is indicative of their mass and, thus, their identity.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.