Ladies and gentleman I present to you one of the most useful scientific instruments you can find in any chemistry lab worldwide! The Colorimeter!
I will let Wikipedia describe it scientifically for you as;
"A colorimeter is a device used in colorimetry. In scientific fields the word generally refers to the device that measures the absorbance of particular wavelengths of light by a specific solution. This device is most commonly used to determine the concentration of a known solute in a given solution by the application of the Beer-Lambert law, which states that the concentration of a solute is proportional to the absorbance." –Wikipedia 2011. (colorimeter)
Simply put. If you were to pour yourself a glass of cordial you can pretty much tell how sweet it is going to be to your taste by eyeballing the drink and noting the intensity of the colour and how concentrated the cordial flavoring is when diluted with water. This machine measures the concentration of a solution in nanometers by shining a very specific amount of light through a standard sized phial containing the liquid you are measuring into a sensor which reads how much light gets through therefore giving you a reading of its concentration!
To me it is quite a dry and somewhat boring instrument if you are not into chemistry. However the sheer usefulness of this invention really excites me in that it is invaluable to this particular field. Bottom line a VERY good idea!
Apparently a more efficient version of this device was invented by Australian scientists in Monash and when push came to shove the scientists were forced to sell the idea because no Australians wanted to financially back the project to put it into production. It was bought out for a few million by a Chinese company and they profited hundreds of millions from the patent. What a drainer lol
(Source: My chemistry teacher in Monash clayton campus.
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