• Different method setups can accommodate solid, liquid, or gas phase

In the GC component, the sample is vaporized and accelerated with a carrier gas (typically He or Ar) into a chromatographic column, where the sample particles begin to separate based on their variable interactions with the column walls. They are carried onward to pass through an ionizing domain, which imbues the incoming particles with charge.

Finally, the sample ions continue to travel through an electrostatic field, which filters them according to their mass / charge (m/z) ratio. They arrive at a detector which reads out the number of incident particles associated with each mass increment, to produce a spectrum of peaks at the characteristic m/z ratios of all chemical constituents of the sample.

GC-MS is distinct from ICP-MS in that it captures more molecular structure information for organic samples, and can be used to separate and quantify compounds in chemical mixtures.