tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post1919961961422297759..comments2024-03-27T21:23:40.339-04:00Comments on Chemjobber: Enjoy some glassmakingChemjobberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15932113680515602275noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-4792954708838822162014-07-11T20:20:41.389-04:002014-07-11T20:20:41.389-04:00When I was a freshman chem major I surprised my ad...When I was a freshman chem major I surprised my advisor by making a perfect spiral GC column on my third try (our campus wasn't busy enough to have a glassblower). I'd done a fair amount of work with glass while I was in middle school and high school so I wasn't afraid of a little fire.<br /><br />A few weeks later I was visited by one of the P-chem professors who asked me to make a mercury vapor lamp for him. Off to the library I went to read about metal-to-quartz seals. Strangely enough, they weren't too concerned when I told them I needed a cylinder of hydrogen and some platinum salts.<br /><br />My first oxygen-hydrogen flame was quite an experience. Holy smokes! It took me about eight weeks, but I finally got the thing finished. What a project! But we did some neat photochemistry on the cheap... You could have gotten a really fast tan from that lamp -- I rigged up a surplus motor-generator set for the power supply. IIRC, it drew about 5-10 kilowatts.Oldnukenoreply@blogger.com