Abstract
A method is described which allows quantitative lines of a spark source mass spectrum on a photographic plate to be represented by three parameters only. These three parameters are the maximum absorption of the line, background, and the area produced by an integrator when the line is scanned on a microdensitometer. From these three data, plus the measured response characteristics of the photographic plate, a mathematical technique is described which yields the total number of ions which produced the line. A digital computer program is used in carrying out the mathematical method. The only assumption made is that the intensity of the beam which produced the line followed a normal (Gaussian) distribution about the point of maximum darkening.
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