The method works because the electrical field polarises the electriccharge on water molecules in the air around the icy tip and then draws them in electrostatically.
My proposal with this fellowship will use the novel method of applying an electricfield gradient instead of chemical substitution to induce charge carriers in large gap insulators, and thereby create new superconductors.
Mass spectrometry works by evaporating molecules, giving them an electriccharge, and then applying an electricfield to them and accelerating them through a vacuum chamber to a detector.