Everything In a Popiah: A REPORT: Journey To The MCD!

Jabatan Kimia Malaysia.

A Trip to the Malaysian Chemistry Department

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Mass Spectrometry

-A technique to measure the relative mass and abundance of any atom, molecule or molecular fragment.

-Instrument: Mass spectrometer (MS)

-Operation principle:

Vapourisation->Ionisation->Acceleration->Deflection->Detection->Mass Spectrum

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It was written in Mr. Kok Yik Lim’s A-Levels Chemistry notes in Chapter 1: Atoms, Molecules and Stoichiometry. I have not seen a spectrometer; my first impression based on the number of processes involved in the operation was that ‘a mass spectrometer must be something bulky and heavy, like one of the machines in Transformer.’ Scratching my head, I wondered how does one spectrometer really looks like, and why so many processes are involved just to find relative mass of an atom or molecule, which is already shown in the very conventional periodic table as proposed by Mendeleev.

Weeks have passed, and the idea of a monstrous looking mass spectrometer just faded when approaching February. One day in February, Mr Kok mentioned that he organised a field trip for us – a trip to the Malaysian Chemistry Department (JKM) situated in Petaling Jaya, which is a 20 minutes trip from Taylors. 13 of us, including me from PM5 quickly signed up for it two days later as the list was pasted on the board in front of the Yellow Room early in the morning. How can I ever miss the once in a lifetime chance? Each of us paid RM5 for the Taylors shuttle bus service to MCD.

Finally, the anticipated day comes. On the 28 February 2009, we hurried towards class B27 for a briefing by Mr Kok. We read the hand outs printed by Mr Kok on the functions of mass spectrometer so that we will not be blur when the person in MCD starts to explain. I stared into the words, but I couldn’t get how one works. So, experiencing it is better than just plain reading.

At 2.30pm, we rode onto the shuttle bus and started our journey. We chit chatted all the way
and the 20 minutes just flew past us unconsciously. I saw the MCD building, with a big logo of words KIMIA in front of a green oval. The whole department itself not only in charge of chemical researches but also forensic tests on crimes. We had to go for a U turn before arriving to the building because the bus driver has lost his way. We arrived there at 3 pm.

We got off at a bus stop near the building and had to walk on the cemented pathway to the MCD. When we reached the guard house, we were warmly welcomed by two lady representatives from the MCD. We were brought to a door which leads us to a silent and eerie dim lited corridor in the building. The place was not cold nor warm, just some feeling which gives us goosebumps. Only our footsteps sound filled the whole corridor which only has doors to labs. The corridor channelled us to the main reception lobby. The lobby was spacious and brightly lit by the sunshine through the transparent windows. I could see my reflection on the polished brown marble tiled floorings.

We were ordered to be separated into two groups which Mr. Kok already did before we get to ride onto the bus. Our group was the first to visit the MS reached the 1st floor where the department which we are going to visit. The small lobby was as deadly silent as the corridor we’ve been just now. I looked at the signs nailed on the wall. There are branched departments which researches mainly related to the pollutants at this floor, like the water quality and pesticides. We were welcomed by an old man who is almost bald and neatly dressed. He introduced himself as the head of the departments in this floor and about to lead us to the branched department we are going to visit.

Then, we were lead to a corridor which was filled with lots of old equipments and machines that were used in chemical studies, like the Electron Microscope. We expected the Electron Microscope to be humungous, but it was just about our height! We didn’t get to explore the whole corridor due to time constrain. I saw a sign showing that an alarm will ring when passing through this door if we are radioactively contaminated. I started to get worried because we might be exposed to radioactive rays if we pass through that door just to look at the MS. We didn’t even wear a lab coat which everyone else does in the labs!

In the room, there were wires and unknown machines and computers everywhere. THE MS IS JUST THE SIZE OF MY TV! A researcher, Mr Adha was there to explain to us how does a MS work. He showed us the MS filaments and also the oven in the MS which is used to conduct vaporisation in liquidified gaseous chemicals. The MS we are shown is couple with a Liquid Chromatographer. Mr Kok explained a little on the functions of the MS to ease us in understanding what Mr Adha trying to explain. We had a Q&A session before watching a demonstration being conducted. After being programmed by the software in the computer beside it, the robotic hand swiftly picked up the bottle to be tested. After cleaning the syringe, the contents in the bottle are extracted and placed into the MS for further processes. During the process, graph pieces were shown in the computer. Mr Adha explained to us what does the graph shows like the abundance, relative mass of the substance and isotopes.

After the trip, we were guided to the cafeteria at the 4th floor which is the same floor with the food based research departments. We had a small refreshment of fried noodles and Lipton tea while waiting for the other group to see the MS with gas chromatographer. The noodles tasted good. I wondered if they did research on what substance should be placed in the noodles to make it taste good. We were given a pen as a token. Around 4.30pm the trip ended and we had a photographing session at the lobby with the head of the department we have visited. After thanking the officers and shook hands with the two lady representatives, we headed back to the bus stop where our shuttle bus was, for our trip back to Taylors.

I finally know that the MS looks like the kitchen oven and also how does a real chemistry lab looks like – silent, gloomy and risky in case of chemical contamination. But nothing beats the chemistry interest ones have. Although it was just a brief trip, but surely we have gained experiences and a handful of knowledge which is not in books and priceless as in even MasterCard couldn’t pay for it.

!!!!!!!!!!!WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

******** Things not included**********

Mr Kok had a bad TIE day. He has some problem with his tastes.
~These are the UNQUALIFIED pictures, Mr Kok.~