Mass spectrometry is more often applied to molecules than to atoms. We will see in Chapter 3 that the molecular weight of a molecule is the sum of the atomic weights of the atoms in the molecule. The mass spectrum of H2 is taken under conditions that prevent decomposition into H atoms. The two naturally occurring isotopes of hydrogen are 1H (atomic mass = 1.00783 amu; abundance 99.9885%) and 2H (atomic mass = 2.01410 amu; abundance 0.0115%).
(a) How many peaks will the mass spectrum have?
(b) Give the relative atomic masses of each of these peaks.
(c) Which peak will be the largest and which the smallest?