Week 3 update

Midway through last week featured the beginning of the next stage of cleaning the GO. The dialysis. Dialysis has begun for a few of the Hoffman samples, and by the middle of this week, the rest of the Hoffman samples will go through the process. Near the end of the week, dialysis for the Staudenmaier will begin. There is a lot of material for Staudenmaier, so I expect it to take a little more than a week, unless I obtain additional clamps to do more than one dialysis at a time. Also, after dialysis will come lyophilization (freeze drying).

Last week, I was instructed on how to measure contact angles, so once we coat our membranes with GO we can measure how hydrophilic or hydrophobic the membrane is.

During the course of a lot of working and reading, I found time to have a little fun. I played piano in the cafeteria. When I play piano I don’t mind people being around, it is only when they walk up to me and stand over my shoulder that I start to get nervous. I also went to the pool and hung out with some fellow REU students. In addition, I was fortunate to hang out with my mentors and fellow REU students again for a brown bag lunch. Finally, I played basketball. My knees and ankles feel like they went through more than a game of 21 though.

Thank you for reading, more updates coming so 🙂

 

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