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amateurneuron t1_itom4py wrote

It's a spectrometer. By measuring how different individual wavelengths of light interact with a chemical, you can make a profile of its atomic makeup. How accurate the device is depends on several factors, including which kind of spectroscopy the device is using, how pure the sample is, and what kind of substance it is. The device is almost certainly better at detecting drugs and explosives, for example, but would likely struggle to identify something more complex like mashed potatoes.

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sdfgh23456 t1_itprnxr wrote

So if I wanna get my explosives through, mix them into some mashed potatoes, got it.

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Find_a_Reason_tTaP t1_itp2857 wrote

It would be able to say with fair certainty that it is not a known explosive or drug due to wavelengths that are missing though in the case of unknown items.

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PlaidBastard t1_itomv9x wrote

Likewise, it wouldn't probably be great at, for example, telling you which alloy of aluminum something you found in a scrapyard is, unlike some other ways of zapping things to know what they are.

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