Today’s Run:  4.21 miles

We are a family who likes our gadgets.  I prefer my Vintage Radios and Victrola’s whereas my husband like REAL MEN electronics gadgets.

Today found us driving our 1985 Ford F150 over to Mississippi State University. That is only about 25 miles from our house, not a huge distance so the drive was not the problem.  It was what we were getting that concerned me:  A Mass Spectrometer!

“How big is it?”  I asked my husband.  “Um, big”, was his reply.

“Will it fit in the pickup?” was my next question.  “I hope so.” he said.

So, we drove to MSU and went through security, backed up to the loading dock and here comes this forklift with this very large, very tall…thing…on it.  Surly that is not the Mass Spectrometer!  Nope, it was just PART of the Mass Spectrometer.

There were four components to this thing.  All of which involved the use of a forklift.  Now, granted, two of them a couple of guys could just lift onto the back of the truck but where’s the fun in that!?!  A forklift is much more cool!

We loaded down the truck (literally) and drove home.

My husband has unloaded the two smaller pieces but the two larger ones remain a dilemma.  We may have to gather a few people from our neighborhood and work together and get those things out of the back of the truck.  Should prove to be an interesting endeavor.

Oh!  What is a Mass Spectrometer?  It is an analytical technique that produces spectra (singular spectrum) of the masses of the molecules comprising a sample of material. The spectra are used to determine the elemental composition of a sample, the masses of particles and of molecules, and to elucidate the chemical structures of molecules, such as peptides and other chemical compounds. Mass spectrometry works by ionizing chemical compounds to generate charged molecules or molecule fragments and measuring their mass-to-charge ratios.  Are not you glad you asked?

Here is a pic of the larger components in the back of the truck.