During the most part of this week I've been locked up inside laboratories doing some very delicate experiments, with the "Laser on" warning light going on outside the door, so that others would think twice before disturbing.
Everything was going very well, and I was feeling very productive for getting so much done within a couple of days, and was just about to wrap up the first stage of my set of experiments. I only had to do an extra set of analysis of the teeny weeny Silicon samples that I prepared so carefully...and patiently!
So I put them under the microscope, which is connected to a PC, a CCD camera and a spectrometer. After adjusting everything, I hit the "Acquire Data" button on the software programme. Tuk..tuk....peep...tuk..tuk....peep........that's the spectrometer analysing the sample and the computer outputting the graph....after a few minutes of tuk tuks and peeps, the computer showed me what the final graph looked like........... "What the...??!!!*&^#"
I didn't need my well experienced colleague to tell me that that is not what we are expecting!
hmm...ok, so back to the begining, adjustments......laser, camera, focus the microscope, cables...etc etc.... ok! Hit the button "Acquire Data"
tuk...tuk....peep...tuk...tuk....peep......
Final graph...."Darn!! What in the world is going on?"
So we were running around the set up, scratching our heads trying to figure out what's wrong.
After about two hours of tampering around, we discovered that the laser we were using was 15 mW in power, which is about 50 times more than what it should be!!!!!!!!!!!
How the hell that happened we don't know, but what it means is that not only were we subjecting our eyesight to potential damage but were burning holes right through my precious samples all this time!! Oh Joy!!!
I'm No Dog Hater...
4 years ago
1 comment:
ooooooooooooh!!! :)) so sorry maam!! :)) that is always annoying when you expect to finish work real soon, knowing that you've got a lot done and that you can go home with the feeling that you've got everything done nicely!! But then something pops up to disrupt everything!! :)) such is life!! :)) heheee :)) I hope you sample is ok and these tests give you good results when you do it again! :))
BTW, purnima is in hospital cuz she has dengue... she is out of danger now but her platelet count went really down... She is in Durdens and now I think she is shifted to a normal ward (she was in the ICU)...
There is an interesting blog that I read from time to time... thought that maybe you might also find it interesting: http://bedouin-staircase.blogspot.com/
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