Labs sure are noisy places! But if you really love the "hands-on" aspect of the gig, you can't stand to walk into a lab devoid of all the onomatopoeic chatter our instruments and equipment make.
The whoooosh...pop | click! of an NMR spectrometer engulfing samples
The sci-fi whirs and sputters of fraction collectors and Biotage robot arms
The omnipresent susurrus of fume hoods and make-up air
The reassuring oily gurgle of a well-maintained high-vacuum Welch pump
The crystalline *ping*ping*ping when hot molecular sieves meet cold glassware
The unmistakable FWOMP of an imploding Dewar bath
The "shwack, shwack" noise as you put on protective gloves
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| "Listen! [Doo-wah-ooh] | Do you want to hear some glassware? [Doo-wah-ooh]" |
Happy listening!
-SAO
The best noise is the sound of an NMR tube sliding into the machine. As an undergrad it was the first thing that made me really feel like I was actually doing research.
ReplyDeleteThe worst noise has got to be the sound of metal on dry ice though. Even nails on a chalkboard don't compare.
I find it equally grating! Good one.
DeleteMy personal favourite was the UV/Vis Microplate Reader. The endless cascade of "PhrrrPreet, PhrrrPreet, PhrrrPreet..." as the Microplate wells were read one by one never failed to make me sink into a dreamy state of research bliss.
ReplyDeleteAhh, microplates! Forgot about those, despite one that operates just across the room from me. Good capture of the sound with that word!
DeleteDoing experiments at a beamline on a Synchrotron is pretty darn deafening. Constant airflow and the continuous hum of hundreds of computers and fans.
ReplyDeleteI like the noises that automated flash chromatography systems make (like the Combiflash RF), because it reminds me of all the work the system is doing that i had to do when running a column normally, and it happens much faster.