Sort:  

I've always pictured some "Expert" going around, eating a pepper, then quantifying the Scoville units. I wonder how that machine works?

Haha, just eating them wouldn't be precise enough.
This is the system my father bought a couple of months back, a HPLC system (high-pressure liquid chromatography):

You need to make a powder of the hot peppers and then dissolve it in a special liquid to be proceeded by the system.

It's a very expensive "toy"... You can buy such a system or a small car instead, haha!

WOW! That's some serious looking equipment.

That sounds really interesting!!!