Chemical Forums
General Forums => Generic Discussion => Topic started by: BrunoFilip on August 18, 2017, 01:13:22 PM
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Hello everyone, so I have a question...
For example, if you go in nature and pick some herb, is there a way to determine what molecules
are in that herb ?
Or if you want to test a pill and see what is in it?
Or you want to test a gold nugget and see exactly what is in it beside gold ?
Or if you want to know exactly what you are eating and you want to test
for example a piece of bread or a popcorn and see what chemical compunds, molecules are in it?
What are these devices called?
Are they very expensive ?
Are they accurate and will show every single thing thats in some material or are there molecules/atoms that could hide to such device?
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There is no one, single device, that will work in every case.
Price of the more fancy ones can be easily in the range of M$.
In a way one of the most expensive devices built ever (LHC) is just a device to see "what's inside", although it aims not at molecules, but several levels deeper ;)
Some information to get you started: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectroscopy