Which of the following best describes Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS), recently mentioned in news ?
(a) A technique used to accelerate nuclear reactions in particle colliders
(b) A method for detecting and measuring rare isotopes with high precision
(c) A type of mass spectrometry used for identifying heavy metals in soil
(d) A system for enhancing the resolution of electron microscopes

Question

Which of the following best describes Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS), recently mentioned in news ?
(a) A technique used to accelerate nuclear reactions in particle colliders
(b) A method for detecting and measuring rare isotopes with high precision
(c) A type of mass spectrometry used for identifying heavy metals in soil
(d) A system for enhancing the resolution of electron microscopes

ONLiNE UPSC · Accepted Answer

The Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology (TNSDA) has sent 23 charcoal samples to the Beta Analytic Laboratory in the United States for dating through Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS).
AMS is a highly sensitive analytical technique that uses an ion accelerator as a powerful mass spectrometer. Its primary purpose is to separate and directly count the nuclei of rare, often long-lived, isotopes in a sample, even when their abundance is extremely low. This capability makes AMS especially valuable in fields like radiocarbon dating, cosmogenic isotope dating, and tracing environmental or biomedical samples.

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Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS)

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M Question 1	⏱ 0
Which of the following best describes Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS), recently mentioned in news ? (a) A technique used to accelerate nuclear reactions in particle colliders (b) A method for detecting and measuring rare isotopes with high precision (c) A type of mass spectrometry used for identifying heavy metals in soil (d) A system for enhancing the resolution of electron microscopes