QuantumFog

April 6, 2007

Your mouth says "no", your sweat glands say "yes"

Yah. I know you're lookin' at this thing wondering "watahellzat?" and why does it look like it was made in a beginners shop class.

Bear with me.

I'm going to throw something a bit different at you, so don't disappear on me. This is called a "mass spectrometer".

"Whassat?" you reply.

Remember the Star Trek series where Spock is walking around on a planet taking tricorder readings? The tricorder is really a mass spectrometer. They didn't wanna to tell you that because "tricorder" is a cooler word. It's a marketing thing.

Does any of this have meaning for your life? You betcha.

To describe it briefly, this machine analyzes ions emitted from any surface, including skin. If you're taking drugs, it can tell the specific kind of drug and how much. Even after you wash. Even after you wash real good.

It can analyze the surface of vegetables for pesticides, fertilizers, type of bacteria and reveal the composition of vitamins in the plant.

It can tell what's in a pill or a sample of blood. It can detect cocaine on open surfaces or hidden explosives.

To appreciate it more, you need to know that it can take hours to transport and prepare a sample for analysis. Typical mass spectrometers are about the size of a dishwasher and weigh around 300 pounds.

This one is portable, does its job in about 1 second and weighs 20 pounds. Thank the guys at Purdue University.

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