Week 4: Working with chemicals

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Sunday, June 28, 2020

By:

Alex Mikulich

This week has been pretty exciting, I have moved on from working with salt water and salt propanol to working with rhodamine-6G. When I ordered it off the internet, it came with a safety sheet that recommended a fume hood and a formal laboratory, but all I have is a garage and work table. My mentors have assured me that it is okay to work with as long as I use gloves and wear a mask, which is what I did. I have been conducting more tests over the weekend into the coffee stain effect, and rhodamine should give us more insight, as it is flourescent.

I have also met with my other interns for bad physics movie night, where we watched The Core together. We have to make a 60 second video about the scientific inaccuracies, which I am looking forward to. After that, I will make a physics-related demo for the SOCK competition for AAPT. One thing that has always fascinated me is gyroscopes, and how they work. I know that bicycle wheels are a great way to demonstrate the effect, and look forward to filming it.

Overall, I am happy with my progress and look forward to more experimentation!

Alex Mikulich