So I am beginning my 2nd week of my new job for the summer, which is a research job under the Chemical Engineering department at UND. Many very kind people were interested and asking me as to what the research that I would be assisting on would pertain, and I told them it was agriculture related and might have something to do with synthetic fertilizers. I have since learned that that is not at all what I am doing, and struggling through science journal publications has been most, if not all, I have done the past few days. These journals are to provide me with background information on aerosols and (oh gosh, here I pause to go look up a few of the many acronyms....) SMPS and CPC instrumentation.
The word
aerosol refers to any relatively stable suspension of fine solid or liquid particles in a gas. This could be organic material like sea spray, tiny plant debris, soil erosion, pollen, etc, or could come from human activity such as diesel engine exhaust, wood smoke, etc. Aerosols are studied because they have an array off effects on human life and ecology: being the culprit of smog, many lung and other cardiorespiratory concerns, acid rain, and harmful atmospheric reactions. And, according the the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, aerosols are the largest source of uncertainty for scientists when assessing human caused climate change. So the more known about the behavior of aerosols, the better!
The intent of the experiment is to understand how aerosols interact with one another in a controlled environment that is designed to mimic the atmosphere.
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| This little room within a room is the chamber that has a 10 cubic meter teflon bag inside it. The experimental equipment is all inside the chamber and runs continuously. It is hooked up (online) to the computer below, where you can watch real time results. Pretty neat! |
The instruments that I have been learning about and recently introduced to (very physically unassuming and surprisingly small) are able to take samples of aerosols and actually define the relative size of the particles (suspended in air, for instance) and then
count the number of these particles. Which is AMAZING, because these particles in the the minuscule units of
1x10-6 meters in diameter! So these instruments are hooked up to a giant inflatable bag in the chamber, pictured above. The bag contains the particles (again, hoping to control as many variables as possible). The bag is first filled with air, and then injected with various aerosols, sometimes diesel exhaust, sometimes Ammonium Sulfate, sometimes other chemicals depending on what the experiment hopes to accomplish. Data is then analyzed to see what the size distribution of the particles are (are they coagulating to form secondary aerosols? Reacting? etc.) and determine particle density in the air.
The size of the particles are tested because:
- The size of the particle determines how deep in a human's lungs the particle can go (excited to learn more about this!)
- Bigger particles deposit out of the atmosphere (due to gravity and overcoming air resistance)
- Smaller particles cause more collisions (higher rates of coagulation)
- And many others....
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| This is the inside of the chamber. You can see the bag that the air and aerosols are injected into, the UV lights lining the walls, and one of the two AC units in the room to keep the temperature constant. The wall is lined with reflective material to maximize the UV. |
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| Here is the computer that does that fancy stuff. The wall in front of the computer is one side of the chamber. The white prism looking things are the UV lights. |
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| The diesel engine that is run when testing diesel aerosols. |
There is a serious learning curve ahead of me, especially the preparation of the equipment. As of today I got to see the process run twice, but the first time no aerosols were injected as the purpose of the run was to clean out the bag (turn on compressor, wait 15 minutes, turn on dryer, release built up air, wait an hour. Close air, open input valve, wait for bag to fill for about 1.5 hours. Come back and do something fancy on the computer. This is where I'm at. The fancy computer stuff is pretty important, I think.). The second run I got to prepare the Ammonium Sulfate solution for injection (the grad student I am helping was very trusting) and make a crack at starting up the machine on my own, which I impressed myself by remembering a lot of!
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| The view of the rest of the room that houses the chamber, a room that houses a lot of other cool experiments (like a 3 story distillation column!). I also like that the room has a lot of yellow, as well as cool science. |
In other news I'm mostly moved into my apartment! The kitchen stuff is put away, so that's one battle won, and I am finally in possession of a bed and a dresser, so most of my possessions are off of the floor (including me, I've been on the ground on an air mattress for a week)!
Also, my roommate and I were forced to occupy a different apartment than we were originally assigned, so anyone that I gave the other address will be sent a short card to update them on my current address. Long story short, after signing all the necessary paperwork and getting our keys for the original apartment, we show up to where we think we will be living and meet someone else who is very comfortably already living there. A nice man named Tom who isn't moving out until the end of June, by some wild and still not-quite-funny mistake. So we're in a different building now. No hard feelings, housing department. And Tom, our deepest apologies for waking you up so early on a Friday on which clearly didn't have plans.
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| We've had some gorgeous weather :) |
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| I like my view rather a lot! |
It's been nice to have fewer things laying around my apartment (especially when I didn't have any furniture in my room). I'll probably do a apartment post later!
Happy science-ing (and struggling minimalism)!
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| A nice little geese family that lives by the English Coulee. Mom and Dad goose and 5 little grey pre-teen geese! :) |
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