Chad Cloman
It’s a spectrometer. LC/MS stands for “Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry”.
Got that from acronymfinder.com.
SoLo
Q-TOF stands for quadruple time-of-flight, so it’s a flying spectrometer… with four somethingorothers. 
Bartleby84
First let me preface this by say that I’m not a chemist. I did however cover mass spectrometry briefly in one of my college physics classes and, more better yet, my dad IS an environmental chemist and I can remember him talking about using gas chromatographs (GC/MS) since I was growing up.
Basically, an MS is used to detect what compounds (molecules) make up a solution. The particles are shot at a sensor and depending on how much they weigh (the “mass” part of MS) they will impact a detector in different places. This information is usually shown on a graph similar to a histogram or line chart. The more times a molecule of a particular mass impacts the sensor, the higher the reading at that point in the graph, creating the “peaks” in the song. Based upon these readings, a chemist can determine precisely what molecules make up a sample and in what quantity, allowing them to know just what the unknown mixture is.
Isn’t science fun? =D
sparge
To add to what Bartleby84 said:
the LC (Liquid Chromatography) part works on the principle that molecules have different degrees of solubility in a certain solvent. The solvent flows through a matrix of sorts, and the more soluble chemicals get taken along more quickly, but the less soluble ones lag behind. You can do this yourself: draw a line with a black marker on a strip of paper towel or coffee filter, then stick the bottom of the strip into a pool or water or rubbing alcohol (the alcohol works better for permanent markers). As the solvent travels up the strip, it will take some pigments with it more quickly, and some will lag behind.
richard
more lame than the bee video from yesterday. is this some kind of new rick-rolling?
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