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To: Doren who wrote (92899)	3/1/2010 12:21:02 PM
From: Stock Puppy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 213177

chemical detection and analysis is probably a long way off yah - kinda. But it depends on what you want to detect. If you're looking for a specific compound or class of compounds, some can be detected with a small sensor and might just fit into an iPhone. You can play your tunes and it can warn you of a Sarin attack. You could have something that detects specific compounds or classes of compounds - depends on what you're looking for. A device that can detect and analyze any material (or "a wide range of materials") is a long way off - not even considering miniaturization. Different analytical techniques are often required for identity and then sample often requires some preparation to minimize things that cause false positives or otherwise interfere with signal. One type of miniaturization: en.wikipedia.org Electronic nose: en.wikipedia.org shuttlepresskit.com This is the one where they analyzed money and found cocaine most abundant on $5 bills. Problem is instrument that the DART (and other newer methods of open air ionization) is attached to (mass spectrometer) is rather hefty: en.wikipedia.org Although there are portable mass spectrometers: kore.co.uk But then generally the "lighter" mass spec need standards to compare what you're analyzing - out the wahzoo. Sometimes something you might think is simple to detect - isn't. Take oxygen - I have oxygen sensors, they go bad after 2 years. Some technoolgies for detecting O2 last longer, but they all go bad. Even Canaries. But this isn't PhysOrg so I'll stop now :-)