Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry
The GC-MS is made up of two major building blocks: the gas chromatograph and the mass spectrometer. The gas chromatograph uses a capillary column which depends on the column's dimensions (length, diameter, film thickness) as well as the phase properties (e.g. 5% phenyl polysiloxane).  The difference in the chemical properties between different molecules in a mixture will separate the molecules as the sample travels the length of the column. The molecules take different amounts of time (called the retention time) to come out of (elute from) the gas chromatograph. This allows the mass spectrometer downstream to capture, ionize, accelerate, deflect, and detect the ionized molecules separately. The mass spectrometer does this by breaking each molecule into ionized fragments and detecting these fragments using their mass to charge ratio.