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This was a pretty ordinary Sunday. After staying up until 5:30am Saturday night, I lay in until 11am this morning. After rising, I caught up on e-mail and LiveJournal before, as mentioned in my previous post, tidying up Skullcrusher Mountain (SCM) a bit. After throwing a couple of hours at this task, our flat now looks fairly decent[*].
In the afternoon, I came into the lab for a bit -- as mentioned in my previous entry -- to prepare the cryostat for the next cooldown. I got the helium transfer set up and then let the initial stages run on their own while I crossed the street to ring bells for Sunday services at St. Giles.
Shortly after the ringing had finished, I cycled up to Summertown and swam a mile at the sports centre. Then it was back to the University to finish the helium transfer manually. After all, the diaphragm pump cannot do it all on its own!
With the main bath finally full of liquid helium, I cycled back to SCM. There, I had dinner and spent some time with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cheshcat. I took her lyrics quiz[**] and we played two games of Bohnanza. I won the first (8 to 7) and she won the second (16 to 14).
Now I am back at the lab for the third time today. Days like this make me really appreciate the fact that my commute is nine minutes, door to door. I have just set up the pumps to remove the exchange gas[***] from the inner vacuum chamber. They will run overnight, which means that I can now go home and get some sleep!
Although nothing particularly special happened today, it was pleasant enough day... and moderately productive, too.
[*] Except for the office / guest room which, although marginally improved, is still a disaster area.
[**] If there are still any lyrics left "unclaimed", check it out!
[***] The exchange gas, which is also helium, is the medium that allows the cold liquid helium in the main bath to cool the apparatus within the inner vacuum chamber. It provides a thermal link to 4.2K, which is useful when cooling from room temperature, but fatal when trying to reach millikelvin temperatures. Hence the need to remove the exchange gas a few hours after the main bath has been filled.
In the afternoon, I came into the lab for a bit -- as mentioned in my previous entry -- to prepare the cryostat for the next cooldown. I got the helium transfer set up and then let the initial stages run on their own while I crossed the street to ring bells for Sunday services at St. Giles.
Shortly after the ringing had finished, I cycled up to Summertown and swam a mile at the sports centre. Then it was back to the University to finish the helium transfer manually. After all, the diaphragm pump cannot do it all on its own!
With the main bath finally full of liquid helium, I cycled back to SCM. There, I had dinner and spent some time with
cheshcat. I took her lyrics quiz[**] and we played two games of Bohnanza. I won the first (8 to 7) and she won the second (16 to 14).Now I am back at the lab for the third time today. Days like this make me really appreciate the fact that my commute is nine minutes, door to door. I have just set up the pumps to remove the exchange gas[***] from the inner vacuum chamber. They will run overnight, which means that I can now go home and get some sleep!
Although nothing particularly special happened today, it was pleasant enough day... and moderately productive, too.
[*] Except for the office / guest room which, although marginally improved, is still a disaster area.
[**] If there are still any lyrics left "unclaimed", check it out!
[***] The exchange gas, which is also helium, is the medium that allows the cold liquid helium in the main bath to cool the apparatus within the inner vacuum chamber. It provides a thermal link to 4.2K, which is useful when cooling from room temperature, but fatal when trying to reach millikelvin temperatures. Hence the need to remove the exchange gas a few hours after the main bath has been filled.
Tags:
- bells,
- cheshcat,
- cryogenics,
- games,
- swim
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