Question

Which of the following does not affect the resolution of the instrument?

(a) Changing length of electrode

(b) Changing slope of scan line

(c) Quality of machining of the rods

(d) Changing length of drift tube

This question was posed to me in an interview.

My doubt is from Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer topic in portion Mass Spectrometer of Analytical Instrumentation

Answer 1

Correct option is (d) Changing length of drift tube

The explanation is: Changing length of drift tube does not affect the resolution of the instrument. Increase in resolution results in an increase in the number of ions reaching the detector.