Recommended Standard 232

I've built two more probes in the last week, each with slight differences. Cheryl needed a 35cm probe, aroung 30cm more than I expected. I was unsatisfied with the quality of this second one, so I made a third one, which is the best, while still mediocre. Still, with the simplicity of the Langmuir probe, I think that aesthetic beauty isn't a priority. The obvious hack jobs are illustrative of my need to get better at building. I'm looking out for a project that perhaps I can do at home.
This week I also spent a lot of time reading through the manual for the GT6K. Justin did great job documenting everything necessary for the probe driver. He even made a disk with all the manuals, software, and other useful things. I can't imagine the confusing mess before everything was assembled. Even now, its all over the place. I've understood enough to at least start the diagnostics. When I came in the morning, there was a small problem: The wire I needed, RS-232, was nowhere to be found. After looking all morning and most of the afternoon, I just started making my own, and I will hopefully finish it by tomorrow. I was rushed tonight to try to finish half of it and consequently made a sloppy job of it. Obviously, planning is something I need to work on. Admit ignorance!
I met Jake Edmand today. Since he came late in the year, and finals and vacation are around the corner, I don't think he'll accomplish much before the new year. Still, getting used to the lab was something that took me a while, and even if its just surfing the web in the control room, being in the lab is beneficial. Yesterday and today, he has been learning about plasma characteristics, diagnosing and terminology, as well as how the Langmuir probe works. It will be fun to work on different sides of the same project with someone of my own lowly knowledge set.
Yang Zhang went off to LA to do one of the last experiments for his thesis. Both he and McWilliams will be gone for a few days.
I've been learning how to use a slide rule. They are so cool. Old school. I'm thinking of bringing it back.
Also, I'll have spent around 17 hours in lab this week. Go me!

Langmuir Probe Built

I finished building my probe today. Nothing more than some soldering and spot welding. The challenge will be installing the probe driver.
The GT6K, as its called, can make precise motor movements inside a vacuum. From there, the langmuir probe will help us track the induced current vesus voltage and position inside the vacuum. The probe is actually fairly new. Only last year did Justin C. Feng write a manual for the installation and data gathering procedures for the GT6K.
I noticed there was an ethernet port on the probe. After talking to different students around the lab, I decided it was possible to configure the probe to be operable via the ethernet port, which would bypass 1980s equipment the size of refrigerators. One day hopefully I will be able to control the probe from home, which would especially be useful on cold mornings.
I am no longer the new kid on the block. Jake Edmand joined us this week. He is also a freshman, and I'm sure we will be working on a lot of the same projects.
Finals are coming up, but they wont be time consuming. I have an essay in existentialism, an exam in Calculus (I scored a 108% on the last midterm) and an open book and open note final in Geography.

I'll be home by Thursday.

Principles of Plasma Diagnostics

I have been studying the rudimentary tendencies of plasmas. Now I will be working under Cheryl Johnson, an undergraduate senior, taking data for a distribution of Xenon-Argon Plasma.
Before I can take the data, I have to make the probe I'll be inserting into the Plasma. The probe is just a Langmuir probe - essentially a wire sticking into the plasma. Once made, I can stick it on a shaft that will adjust how deep it sticks into the plasma. The voltage difference tells us the electron temperature and ion density and some other data based on known distributions... I think.
Specifically, I'm not sure exactly what data I'll be looking for, so since Monday, I've been looking at Principles of Plasma Diagnostics by Hutchinson to prioritize my data and understand what characteristics are needed for the probe. If there are specific trends I want to find, some design elements might compromise that data. Pretty nifty.
Thanksgiving is getting in the way, but I'm looking forward to a 4 day break. Vincent has also been around the last couple of days, so instead of going to the lab, we've been exploring.

Langmuir Probes

After a month of studying the kinetic theory of vacuum pumps and pressure, Dr. Roger McWilliams, my research professor, has prescribed the study of Langmuir probes, which detect electron temperature and ion density in plasmas. Since looking at the vast amount of information related to the probes, I've been more subject to the futility of my ignorance. This futility, paired with Rebecca's encouragement, sparked the start of this blog. If nothing else, this journal can serve as a record of my goals set and accomplished. In explaining what I've learned, I'll demonstrate my understanding? Maybe I might even be encouraged (hopefully not the opposite) by my progress. In any case, it'll be good entertainment.
I have become a big fan of my intro to existentialism class. So far we've studied Kierkegaard, Kafka, Nietzsche, and Sartre. Before this class, my impression of existentialism was that is promoted nihilism and the pointlessness of life. Happily, its the opposite. In some form or other, every existentialist we've studied has only offered a style of thinking which encourages self-fulfilment. Nietzsche through the Übermensch, Kierkegaard through the Night of Faith, Sartre through renunciation of bad faith, Sartre through... becoming a giant bug?
In any case, I decided to try to use some of the general ideas of existentialism as a tool for efficiency. I started writing down all my goals, long and extremely short. Moreover, I started writing down the qualities I saw in my utopian self, my idea of my transcendence. Then, renouncing all laziness, I worked on this list as one would a todo list.
Man, its hard! With the arguable exception of working out every day, only my mental strength could be a barrier to accomplishing my goals. Yet after a few days of making sure everything I did was accomplishing something, I was exhausted. It was dumb, like a skinny kid working out really hard one day and feeling the effects of it the next, and consequently swearing never to work out again. My behaviour has been sinusoidal since.
This morning I wrote down my todo list again, but in two sections.
1. Things I Should Do (the capitals make it look cool) and
2. Things I Can Do
What I have in mind is that I can start slow. Do the things I should do, then do what I can do, without making the same mistake the overzealous skinny kid does when he decides he wants to be strong and muscular. As time goes on, I'll learn to do more of the things I can do without feeling exhausted.
Hopefully. I can already tell I'll laugh at this in a couple of years.


I need to go and add "write to blog bi-weekly" to my list.