Molecular Geek: winner of the 1st Annual "Hiss and Ping" Contest

The judges (Renée Webster (a chromatographer) and PFG (a NMR spectroscopist)) have decided on the winner of the 1st annual "Hiss and Ping" contest for the funniest, most accurate description of an analytical technique. Of all the nominees, 5 had the most votes from commenters; they were Molecular Geek, St. Andrews Lynx, Poison Ivy League, Peter Edwards and Jon Lam.

After some deliberation, the judges decided that Molecular Geek's entry was 'the funniest and most accurate' description of an analytical chemistry technique:

FT spectroscopy is like listening to a grand piano crashing to the ground from a 10 story drop in order to determine which notes were out of tune.

PFG had this to say:

I liked Molecular Geek's because it is short, funny, and conjures the somewhat tragic image of a piano crashing to the ground , reminiscent of a line from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Still, waste of a musical instrument aside, it is applicable to several types of spectroscopy. In NMR, multiple frequencies ("notes") are detected simultaneously as oscillating voltages in the receiver coil of the probe. We detect ("hear") all the interfering "notes" at once, so Fourier transform is used to resolve the digitized oscillations from the time domain into the individual frequencies of the spectrum. Nice job, Geek. 

Renée had this to say:

MolGeek's was the only one I laughed out loud at, I also found the analogy both apt and original.

Molecular Geek, feel free to e-mail me your address to claim your fine prize of "A 1 pound bag of hard candies, a certificate fit for framing, 50 of the finest Chemjobber business cards, a handwritten thank you note (by me) and a $10 Starbucks gift card." Congratulations, and thanks to everyone for playing.