Many people know that gases contain mass and volume, what some people might not know is that they can be measured by the temperature of the gas. As the gas increases or decreases in temperature the volume of the gas also changes, even though the gas particles will have the same amount of mass that they had before. The gas particle’s mass is known as Molecular Mass, no matter what the temperature or pressure the gas has been submitted to the gas particles will always stay at the same mass they were from the beginning. 

The parts of a mass flow meter contain a tube with a sensor and a component that monitors it. The tube contains a coil of metal that has the ability to be heated so it will increase the temperature of the gases passing through it and a sensor at the end that then can find out the volume of the gas or the molecular mass. This data is collected is then displayed on the gauges on the either the monitoring component or a computer that is connected to the system. 

To measure the flow of the gas, the gas is sent through the tube that is inside of the mass flow meter. The temperature of the gas increases when the coil gets hotter, which in turn makes the volume increase too. The person operating the mass flow meter is the same person who decides how hot the gas inside the tube will get. This temperature is usually what the volume and mass are at under regular conditions. The sensor that is on the end of the tube begins to read the volume as the gas passes by so it can then make the final determination of what the volume or molecular mass is. The concentration of the gas particles within the volume shows how much the gas is actually flowing. 

More parts can be connected to the mass flow meter so you can get more information about the substance inside of the tube. This information could be the total amount of gas that is being used over time, this has a tendency to be useful in monitoring the gas usage. A standard mass flow meter can only show the amount being used at that time, but with an additional part you could tell how much gas was being used over a long period of time.