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In the olden days, detecting a forgery was difficult at best if not a completely hopeless task. In fact, some conspiracy theorists posit that the Mona Lisa hanging the the Louvre is a fake. Modern x-ray imaging has shown that the Mona Lisa is in fact a Da Vinci painting, but x-ray imaging is not the best or final indicator of whether a painting is a forgery. Now, that people know what x-rays reveal about the Mona Lisa, they could try to do a forgery that mimic an x-ray's findings. Forgers are clever that way. However, by studying the paints used on the Mona Lisa with a Raman spectrometer, scientists could create a fingerprint of sorts that would allow them to distinguish the paint used in the Mona Lisa from other paints that might be used to make the forgery. Not only is Raman spectroscopy useful in detecting forged paintings, but it can be used to determine the authenticity of other disputed items as well. I will not pretend like I have an in depth knowledge of the inner workings of a Raman spectrometer. I suspect few people who are not trained in producing or using a portable Raman understand exactly how the work. This much I do know: when you use Raman spectrometers to study elements and minerals, you will find that the different elements and minerals react to the laser light used in Raman spectroscopy in different ways. By learning to distinguish how different elements react, you can use a handheld spectrometer to identify the minerals and elements in a mystery substance. Thus, you could use a spectrometer to examine the Mona Lisa--without damaging the painting, I might add--and identify the elements and minerals that form the makeup of the Mona Lisa. You could then compare your findings against an examine of a suspected forgery and determine if the same paint or even the right kind of paint was used to create the forgery. Raman spectroscopy has been used effectively to identify forgeries in the past. People do not only forge paintings. People could try to artificially change the color of a diamond to make it worth more money than it would be otherwise. While their efforts might fool the naked eye, colored diamonds have a distinct fingerprint when identified under a Raman spectrometer. When you try to artificially enhance the color of a diamond, the process of artificially changing the color of a diamond effects the diamond in a different way than the natural process. A Raman spectrometer can be used to bring out these differences. Another example of how spectrometers can be used comes from the pharmaceutical field. Prescription and patented drugs can be huge money makers. It is not uncommon for people to try to cash in on the money to be made by selling these drugs by forging the drugs. Since they do not have the exact recipe for the drug, it is not uncommon for people to mess up the formula or not even try to get it right. Even though their forgeries could potentially fool the naked eye, they cannot fool a portable Raman spectrometer. As demonstrated, Raman spectrometers have many beneficial uses. They are a huge asset to modern forensic scientists, and they can help to learn more about the makeup of atoms. Although many people in this world have no idea of the existence or uses of a spectrometer, they are still out there quietly helping to make the world a better more authentic place for us to live. Next time that you see a masterpiece painting on display, you can be glad that Raman spectrometers are out there protecting the world from forgers.
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