Abstract
A triple collector static vacuum mass spectrometer is described for the determination of carbon isotope ratios from 1*10-9 mol samples of carbon dioxide gas. The instrument is capable of providing a differential isotopic composition ( delta 13C value) with a precision (1 sigma ) better than 10/00/; furthermore, the long-term stability, assessed by an extended zero-enrichment test, is not worse than +or-1.30/00. Because of abundance sensitivity problems, caused by working at high source pressure, the best performance is obtained using a reference gas which is similar in isotopic composition to the sample under investigation. A low blank, stepped heating procedure is outlined for use in preparing samples for study in the instrument. Some examples of problems to which the machine has been applied are given.
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