CSI tv show, measuring molecules electronic gun?

[turionx2]

They use some kind of portable electronic gun in the crime scene investigation tv show to measure the different kind of levels of molecules in a substance. What is this gun called?

[John Cuthber]

It's called whatever the scriptwriter wants.

But it's not real.

CSI is not a documentary.

[turionx2]

Can anyone else confirm or deny what mr Cuthber just said?

 

Seems pretty arrogant for a tv show to show us something that is out of the realm of possibilities.

 

Do molecules have a frequency that can be measured?

[mississippichem]

Can anyone else confirm or deny what mr Cuthber just said?

 

Seems pretty arrogant for a tv show to show us something that is out of the realm of possibilities.

 

Do molecules have a frequency that can be measured?

I'll confirm.

 

There are ways of using light to determine an unknown substance. See spectroscopy.

 

What you have seen on said TV show does not exist.

[Tridimity]

Semiconductor sensors and photocolorimeters can be used to measure the levels (mg/m³) of certain gases although I'm not sure what you mean when you refer to a gun being used for this purpose.

[John Cuthber]

Can anyone else confirm or deny what mr Cuthber just said?

 

Seems pretty arrogant for a tv show to show us something that is out of the realm of possibilities.

 

Do molecules have a frequency that can be measured?

Does that mean you think all the Gadgets that Q made for James Bond are real and that bad guys can't ever shot straight?

[Phi for All]

I would think it would be difficult enough writing crime shows where actual, real forensic tools don't eliminate a lot of plot variables. It seems like inventing something magic like this would paint the writers into corners on a regular basis. Or does this "wand" break down often enough that they can't use it to solve everything?

 

Does that mean you think all the Gadgets that Q made for James Bond are real and that bad guys can't ever shot straight?

 

Poor bad guys. You train hard to be a professional villain guard, you qualify every month on the range with your Uzi, and your boss's villa has been carefully and expensively prepared to repel invaders. But when you get the hero/intruder in your sights, you spray a whole clip at him from thirty feet away and you don't hit him, not... even... once.

 

If you're lucky enough that the hero doesn't have a split second to put a single round between your eyes from on the run and over his shoulder, I would hope your professional villain boss provides professional villain counseling to help you cope with how surreal it must have been to miss every... single... time! Normally you're such a great shot, you fully expected to shred that guy with all the time and firepower you had. I mean, it was thirty-two frikkin' bullets, how could you possibly miss with ALL of them?! He was running down a hallway, dammit, why were you aiming at the walls?!

 

The professional villain counselor is hopefully a better shot.

[Tridimity]

Poor bad guys. You train hard to be a professional villain guard, you qualify every month on the range with your Uzi, and your boss's villa has been carefully and expensively prepared to repel invaders. But when you get the hero/intruder in your sights, you spray a whole clip at him from thirty feet away and you don't hit him, not... even... once.

 

 

Some shows, especially those featuring supernatural beings, go further. E.g. the good guys have an ability to instantly heal their own wounds... pretty useful for getting the characters out of a fix.

[John Cuthber]

It seems that CSI has a number of errors.

http://www.angelfire.com/jazz/jboze3131/csifacts.htm

[turionx2]

Does that mean you think all the Gadgets that Q made for James Bond are real and that bad guys can't ever shot straight?

Not at all since we know that it is fake.

 

Science is held at a high standard that we expect it to be factual.

 

Anyways, thanks.

[John Cuthber]

But CSI isn't science. Like Bond, it's entertainment.

[turionx2]

I guess fiction is more exciting than the actual profession. Its my own fault for presuming that a tv show like CSI was a representation of actual crime scene investigators and their line of work.