tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13869903.post6597632693751431502..comments2024-03-28T04:15:44.459-05:00Comments on nanoscale views: Anecdote 2: Life in a lab - the Demon Liquefier From HellDouglas Natelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340091255404229559noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13869903.post-72525138405262884062015-05-06T12:59:51.885-05:002015-05-06T12:59:51.885-05:00Anon@12:16, a fair point. It scared the tar out o...Anon@12:16, a fair point. It scared the tar out of me at the time, and I probably should not have made light of it. <br /><br />For the curious: There was a pressure switch that had to be adjusted with a screwdriver, and basically the whole system had to be fully powered and running to know when the adjustment was correct. I was smart enough to wear rubber shoes, put on an insulating glove, and of course use an insulating-handle screwdriver. However, when reaching into the bowels of the machine to do the adjustment, my sleeve pulled back, and some bare skin on my wrist brushed between something (electrically) hot and something grounded. I yelped very loudly, basically flung the screwdriver across the room involuntarily, and started swearing. One of my lab mates dashed in, out of breath, to make sure I was ok. The real moral of the story: never EVER do something like that while <i>alone</i>. That was really stupid and dangerous of me.Douglas Natelsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13340091255404229559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13869903.post-9871778265830424062015-05-06T12:16:31.018-05:002015-05-06T12:16:31.018-05:00Maybe I'm overly sensitive, but I think your r...Maybe I'm overly sensitive, but I think your remark about 208 V appears a bit too jokingly despite you saying it's "not recommended".<br />Talking about potentially dangerous situations in a less than serious way does not invite people to be careful about these things.<br />All in all (if this was 208 V from a wall receptacle, i.e. with a potential for high currents) you could have died - depending on the floor you were standing on, the type of shoes you were wearing, (or whether you were better grounded with your other hand!) and the humitidy in the lab.<br /><br />I once got in contact with an (invisibly) damaged ion pump cable at 7000 V. Luckily I had good shoes, did not touch grounded metal with my other hand, and was standing on a raised polymer floor. Hence it only "tickled all over my body". Had only one of these thing inadvertently been different, my heart would have stopped.<br /><br />I'm more about common sense than about safety rules, but the way we talk about these things have the potential to instill the right or the wrong attitudes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13869903.post-73212330384266216972015-04-29T09:18:46.652-05:002015-04-29T09:18:46.652-05:00Fantastically recognizable. Including the economic...Fantastically recognizable. Including the economics...<br /><br />Please spread these anecdotes out over a certain timeframe; it'd be a shame if we get an overdose now and are back to only physics later on.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com