Foiling the Attraction

Hello,

The magnet 'being put to bed' in aluminum
foil. This weakens the field, but prevents chips
of magnet being lost.

There are some days in science when you get a lot of highly scientific work done. There are others where you get on the bus at the end of the day and say to your friends:

"I spent all day searching the internet for the plastic body of a railway engine."

That was Wednesday's task. It was a little trying, if just because to be held up by such a trivial-seeming task is a little irksome, but 100% necessary - after all, what's a superconducting train track without a good train. The limitations were that the body had to be LIGHT, NON-MAGNETIC and the RIGHT SIZE. You'd be amazed how many toy shops I rang around.

By Thursday morning, though, this was sorted and I began to fill capillaries with the salts used in the synthesis, in preparation for beamtime on Monday; it's a trial time for next weekend. 

However, I was interrupted as I was given safety training for the beamline rooms. You remember the quote I gave from my supervisor at the beginning? The rooms which receive beam, known as hutches, have to be searched for people (and bodies) before the beam is switched off. Pretty serious stuff, given the consequences if anyone is missed. To avoid cutting corners, there are searching buttons which have to be pressed around the beamline rooms.

The magnets can then be positioned on a piece of track. Care has to be taken
though - they snap together with a surprising amount of force.

Friday began me watching a gas cell experiment being prepared; this is similar to what I was hoping to do next week, so the experience was a good indication of the work that goes into it. I then went back to my capillaries so there would be something to do the work on.

That all done, my afternoon was spent re-wrapping the magnets in foil; previously, they wouldn't lie flat, unbalancing the superconductors. I also checked the magnetic field around the track, since at the centre, the magnets can reach up to 160 mT (5 mT is considered strong). Luckily, the strength is very short range, so I was able to use my phone to take picture without risk of scrambling it.

Type soon!

PS. Halfway through my placement now! And things starting the pull together.