Working mass Working mass Working mass, also referred to as reaction mass, is a mass against which a system operates in order to produce acceleration. In the case of a rocket, for example, the reaction mass is the fuel shot backwards to provide propulsion. All acceleration requires an exchange of momentum, which can be thought of as the "unit of movement". Momentum is related to mass and velocity, as given by the formula "P = mv," where "P" is the momentum, "m" the mass, and "v" the velocity. The velocity of a body is easily changeable, but in most cases the mass
Secondary ion mass spectrometry the SIMS type, there are three basic analyzers available: sector, quadrupole, and time-of-flight. A sector field mass spectrometer uses a combination of an electrostatic analyzer and a magnetic analyzer to separate the secondary ions by their mass-to-charge ratio. A quadrupole mass analyzer separates the masses by resonant electric fields, which allow only the selected masses to pass through. The time of flight mass analyzer separates the ions in a field-free drift path according to their velocity. Since all ions possess the same kinetic energy the velocity and therefore time of flight varies according to mass. It requires pulsed secondary ion