Measuring vitmains and minerals?

Question

How do they know that product A has 50% niacin, 50% vitamin B 12, 100% calcium, 3000% vitamin C, and 10% vitamin A? Do they use the same machine that forensics uses to analyze atomic make up of debris? Like, you put product A into a machine and the machine recognizes the atomic make up?

Answer 1

There are many, many different ways chemists determine the chemical components of a given material. The field you would be most interested in is called "analytical chemistry". They use various machines that produce "spectra" to determine chemical make-up and percentages. I use NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) spectra to interpret unknown organic materials and they way in which they are oriented in space as well as their atomic constituents. Another really helpful tool is M.S.(mass spectrometry). It utilizes an electron beam to essentially "blast" the molecules apart and then analyzes the fragmented pieces. They make it look really easy on TV, as if you just stick something into the machine and it gives you a printout of what it is.

Go here for more info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analytical_...

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NMR