# Do electrons affect atomic mass?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-electrons-affect-atomic-mass/780065>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 17, 2017, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-electrons-affect-atomic-mass/780065 "2017-02-17T16:01:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-electrons-affect-atomic-mass/780065/21 "2017-02-19T22:29:33Z")

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OK, then, I stand corrected. I would have thought that the easiest way to do that would be using the old-fashioned method of burning it and measuring the gases.

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**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-electrons-affect-atomic-mass/780065/22 "2017-02-19T23:22:49Z")

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> [@Chronos](#):
>
> OK, then, I stand corrected. I would have thought that the easiest way to do that would be using the old-fashioned method of burning it and measuring the gases.

Combustion analysis is good because it speaks to the bulk purity of the sample, which a high res mass does not (it just says, unequivocally, that your compound is present). Plus professors tend to like them because you need good basic technique to prepare a sample for combustion analysis - it needs to be pure, dry, and [usually] crystalline. This last part is a major drawback as many organic compounds are oils, which don’t tend to give as good combustion results.

High res sample preparation is trivial in comparison and the measurements are very fast these days, so it’s a lot easier to obtain (assuming one has a modern MS to hand, which not everyone does - combustion analysis equipment is far simpler).  
You occasionally run into problems with a particular series of compounds not ionising well, but the versatilty of ionisation techniques makes this quite rare IME. Can happen for certain classes of compounds.

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**Author:** ![Qwakkeddup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/90ced4/32.png) [@Qwakkeddup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwakkeddup)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2017, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-electrons-affect-atomic-mass/780065/23 "2017-02-21T02:56:34Z")

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Not trying to derail, or hijack, but I just spent five minutes staring blankly at the title.

Do **elections** affect atomic mass?

Think I will see myself off to bed now. :smack:

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**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2017, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-electrons-affect-atomic-mass/780065/24 "2017-02-21T03:01:08Z")

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> [@Qwakkeddup](#):
>
> Not trying to derail, or hijack, but I just spent five minutes staring blankly at the title.
> 
> Do **elections** affect atomic mass?
> 
> Think I will see myself off to bed now. :smack:

Conclaves can affect mass. They’re midway between electioneering and electrical engineering: When they elect someone, they release the magic smoke.

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