A-Accelerator+Mass+spectrometer

=__Isotope and Radioactivity__= = = =Name of radioactive isotope/electromagnetic radiation/scientist:= =  L.W. Alvarez and Robert Cornog of the U nited States first used an accelerator as a mass spectrometer in 1939 = = = = = =Explanation of interesting facts: (how used/works.experiments/discoveries)=
 * 1) it is differ from other forms of mass spectrometry in that it accelerates ions to extraordinarily high kinetic energies before mass analysis.
 * 2) it is a technique for measuring long-lived radionuclides that occur naturally in our environment.
 * 3) There are other ways in which AMS is achieved; however, they all work based on improving mass selectivity and specificity by creating high kinetic energies before molecule destruction by stripping, followed by single-ion counting.

=3 Advantages of using the radioactive isotope/radiation/benefits of discovery=

1.AMS uses a particle accelerator in conjunction with ion sources, large magnets, and detectors to separate out interferences and count single atoms in the presence of 1x1015 (a thousand million million) stable atoms.

2.Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) quickly became the preferred method for radiocarbon dating because it was so much quicker than the traditional method of scintillation counting, which counts the number of 14C atoms that decay over time.

3. =Is the radioactive isotope/radiation/discovery still used today? Explain=

=References= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerator_mass_spectrometry

=Diagram/image (include source and caption)= Type in the content of your page here.