Spectrometer
/spɛkˈtɹɒm.ɪ.tə/ noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 An optical instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances; typically it will plot a graph of absorption versus wavelength or frequency, and the patterns produced are used to identify the substances present, and their internal structure.
- 2 spectroscope for obtaining a mass spectrum by deflecting ions into a thin slit and measuring the ion current with an electrometer wordnet
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"Using a special instrument called a spectrometer, observations of Eris show it has frozen methane on its surface."
Etymology
From spectro- + -meter.