What is time of flight?

Time of flight measures the duration it takes for an object, particle, or wave to travel a specific distance through a medium. This measurement can determine velocity, path length, or the physical properties of the medium and particles. Techniques involving time of flight can detect traveling entities either directly or indirectly.

What we know

• Time of flight is defined as the time taken by an object, particle, or wave to travel a distance through a medium. [1, 2]
• Time of flight information can be used to measure velocity, path length, or properties such as composition and flow rate. [2]
• Traveling objects in time of flight measurements can be detected directly, such as via an ion detector, or indirectly, such as through scattered light. [2]
• In time-of-flight mass spectrometry, an ion's mass-to-charge ratio is determined by measuring the time it takes to reach a detector after acceleration. [3]

Where to go next

• a case in pointHow does time-of-flight mass spectrometry work?
• the bigger pictureWhat is physics?
• how it workedHow are particles accelerated in mass spectrometry?
• compared withWhat are direct and indirect time of flight methods?
• an unexpected connectionWhat is flight-time equivalent dose?

Sources

• [1]time of flight (Wikidata Q3983322) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Time of flight · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Time-of-flight mass spectrometry · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Flight-time equivalent dose · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Physics · CC BY-SA 4.0