When I first started in the gc area of my previous lab I was in charge of training the interns in the other areas of the lab, but I’d give an impromptu tour of the gc/gcms/gcmsms area of the lab, I’d explain the gc as “the magical science gnomes work in this box, we bring a technician in here once a year to make sure they’re fed and given fresh water”, and had no idea how to explain an ms let alone an msms/triplequadrapole. By the end I could hand wave away the gc (along with do the yearly maintenance), I do a pretty good job at explaining the ms without relying too much on the term “magic” (but it totally is) and the msms? That shit is so close to magical that I think it always will be explained with some use of “magic”. I understand the theory behind it, but how the hell does it do what it does??