Jerry Springer's Zen Guide To HPLC / High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography Troubleshooting

by
H. Kent Craig



...If The Problem Is...
...And The Possible Cause Is...
...Then The Probable Solution Might Be...
Leak at detector Catastrophic ~ detector-seal failure Meditate then upon the navel of female bisexual stripper for fifteen minutes. Then replace detector-seal, using an enhanced sealing mixture composed 50/50 of the sweat from a one-legged Innuit midget and the excrement of a randomly selected audience member, to insure proper seal-lock.
Broad peaks Analytes eluted early due to sample overload Contemplate upon the bare nipples of a pre-op transsexual for seven and one-half minutes. Then dilute sample with piss from foresaid transsexual after a night of beer-drinking with him/her/it on a 10-to-1 ratio, then reinject.
Poor sample recovery Adsorption on tubing Kill your nearest enemy with a single stroke from your samurai sword. Then use inert (PEEK) tubing, made from the catheter of an 84-year-old grandmother who's married to her 13-year-old great-grandson.
High back pressure Microbial growth on column Transcend by arranging yellow, white, red, and black flowers into a spray of colors, symbolizing the universality of humankind. Then use at least a 10% organic modifier, distilled from the salivic spray of a four-hundred-pound+ woman who lives in a trailer park just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio and which has been sterilized by her simultaneous constant stream of profanity which propelled her oral spray originally. Also, add 0.02% sodium azide, refined from the navel lint of a Ku Klux Klan'er who's married to his favorite hunting dog, to the aqueous mobile phase.
Slow column equilibration time Reversed-phase ion pairing...long-chain ion pairing reagents require longer equilibration time Conduct a perfect tea ceremony, to help find your center. Then, have a female trisexual stripper scrap dried cum off her week-old-worn G-string to add to an ion-pairing reagent with shorter alkyl chain length.
Changing retention times Contamination buildup Do a calligraphic scroll expression with brush and inkblock of your inner-most fears. Then have all the guests up on stage engage in one of your trademark pro wrestling-genre chair-throwing, hair-pulling fights, scarring your HPLC unit into accidentally "flushing itself" out.
Noise Periodic ~ pump pulses Climb to up near the top of Mt. Fuji, then hold hold your grasped hands above your head while you sit under a small, cascading waterfall for three days. Then have a wannabe barely 18-YO pornstar guest show she's up to the task by having her manually blow-purge the air from the pump.
Ghost peaks Oxidation of trifluoroacetic acid in peptide mapping Do zazen until your Master tells you your mind is clear. Then have one of the many PhD's in chemistry who regularly appear on your show prepare a fresh batch of trifluoroacetic acid on stage while topless and simultaneously kissing her topless girlfriend who's yet to reveal she's been cheating on her girlfriend with her pet hamster.
Peak tailing Silica-based column ~ degradation at high-temperature Practice your archery until you can place at least one arrow per brace on the target while shooting blindfolded. Reduce temperature to less than 500 by having Brandi Bigguns nestle the column between her 66xFFFFFFFFF breasts while being spanked by an audience volunteer.
Lack of sensitivity Injector sample loop underfilled Help the first poor peasant you find by offering them whatever money you have on your person, and asking their forgiveness for not having more, before retreating to the monastery to contemplate the cedar tree in the front grounds. Then overfill the loop with sample as an obvious solution, you idiot! C'mon now, you are bound to be at least slightly more intelligent than an average show guest, I hope!





    {Back To Humor Page}     {To Personal Page}     {Feedback}