The combined use of electric fields, magnetic fields and laser light affords us an ever-increasing level of control over the properties of atoms and molecules, enabling reactivity to be probed as a function of their various degrees of freedom¹. Here, we discuss how electrostatic deflection^2,3 can be employed to disentangle the reactivity of molecules in different rotational states⁴, or with different spatial orientation of their constituent atoms⁵. [more]