Lab Progress:

This week in the Halas lab, we spent most of our time analyzing date from last week’s experiment.  Analysis kits are great because they put everything into nice, easy steps.  Of course, then the kit doesn’t work the way you expect.  Here’s what happened…

First, we were able to create steam from the urea solution, but the vapor didn’t travel all the way through the condensing column.  The vapor would condense in the original flask, then drip back into the starting solution.

Second, the kit we are using is meant to test for ammonia.  It appears that urea will react with the kit as well, so we had to account for all of the background from the starting solution.

Now, with all of that said, we were able to decompose the urea into ammonia using carbon nanoparticles!  As the reaction (laser treatment) time increased, we saw more ammonia being produced.   The ammonia concentration increased in the solution and the condensed vapor!

Round Robin Tours:

Thank you so much to everyone who were kind enough to walk us through their labs on Thursday!  I got to see so many different types of research:  nanofibers being sewn into clothing, fruit flies, amino acids, hyrogels, viruses, and lab techniques that are way more advanced than I was in school!  I even got a chance to revisit my old stomping grounds before I started teaching: BRC Lab 310!

Oh, and I want to apologize for keeping everyone out in the heat.  My lab works with solar energy, so we have to be outside….