[BrunoFilip]

Hello everyone, so I have a question...

For example, if you go in nature and pick some herb, is there a way to determine what molecules
are in that herb ?

Or if you want to test a pill and see what is in it?

Or you want to test a gold nugget and see exactly what is in it beside gold ?

Or if you want to know exactly what you are eating and you want to test
for example a piece of bread or  a popcorn and see what chemical compunds, molecules are in it?

What are these devices called?
Are they very expensive ?
Are they accurate and will show every single thing thats in some material or are there molecules/atoms that could hide to such device?

[Borek]

There is no one, single device, that will work in every case.

Price of the more fancy ones can be easily in the range of M$.

In a way one of the most expensive devices built ever (LHC) is just a device to see "what's inside", although it aims not at molecules, but several levels deeper

Some information to get you started: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectroscopy