[simpits-chat] Long time in coming

[Brian Sikkema]

Lol. Yeah, "mysterious" purposes always lead to trouble, for me at least.
Federal arrest warrants not withstanding, they're generally more trouble
than they're worth. Fun, though! :)

We do have 3 N2 tanks in the lab, but they're kinda expensive to fill up. We
run through about $500 of nitrogen per test, roughly 2 dewers worth.
http://www.me.mtu.edu/~bjsikkem/ASPL/ - look in the vacuum pumps section to
see our dewers - nice big ones! :) (I've really got to update that site,
though). But hard as hell to haul across campus to the physics department.
They've got the corner on the local N2 market, unfortunately. But it's
definitely fun stuff. Saw an episode of Leno a while back, they were making
ice cream with it. Aparently it tasted to pretty good, but he was momentarly
concerned with the cost of N2. Then he exclaimed "Wait a second! I'm rich!
Have someone deliver some of this to my house, pronto!" Funny stuff.

Anywho, the old tank is about 5' in diameter and about 10' long. The new one
is 6' diameter and 12 long - though it looks a heck of a lot bigger than the
old one, mainly because of the door setup. On the old tank, the door is
almost half the length of the tank, whereas the new one the door is just the
end, no volume to it.

And the rocket science is always fun. Unfortunately this semester has been
so busy I haven't had too much time to work in the lab, but next semester
looks very promising. I'm inheriting a small uncompleted hall thruster from
one of the grad students, so hopefully by the end of the semester I'll have
that up and running *fingers crossed*

Brian


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rob Hommel" <rhommel at tacoma.net>
To: "Non-tech or other tech related messages for Simpits"
<simpits-chat at simpits.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2003 11:58 PM
Subject: Re: [simpits-chat] Long time in coming


> Brian:
>
> Not a problem. I would most likely get into trouble with it, doing
> something entirely foolish like making huge front surface mirrors for
> "mysterious" purposes. Deer spotting airliners anyone? Any spare tanks
> of N2 around the lab your not using I will take off your hands. Cryonics
> is an interesting subject even if you are just planning to use the N2 to
> clean pesky insects out of the shop. umm.. Giant Dewer flask needed,
> perhaps ebay.
>
> I really need to find a real reason to have toys like that around. I
> know a giant scanning electron microscope. How big was that old vacuum
> chamber again? Ever burn a hole in a grasshopper with an electron
> microscope? I was surprised to find titanium in the sample I tested
> years ago.
>
> How goes the rocket science these days Brian?
>
> Keep 'em Flying
> Rob Hommel
>