High-level Cosmogenic Laboratory

The high-level lab contains one fully exhausting, polypropylene laminar flow hood. We use this lab to extract meteoric 10-Be samples and dissolve quartz for purity testing. The high-level lab has its own dedicated oven, centrifuge, and lab ware. The lab is supplied by building deionized water which is polished with a Milli-Q Gradient unit. There is a glove box dedicated to packing high-level samples. The lab can also be used for 36-Cl analysis of rocks.

The high-level lab is compact and designed for one person use. The MilliQ Gradient dispenser is located on the side of the hood. The window on the right borrows light from the write up area.	Here, the hood is set up for the extraction of 10Be. Nikki is wearing full protective gear to grind meteoric 10Be fusion cakes which have been leaching in MilliQ water over night on the hotplate.
Jaron is weighing in samples for meteoric 10Be analysis, recording the masses directly onto the laboratory computer. Dedicated drying oven is behind him.	Here's the fusion torch in action with a crucible held in a ceramic ring. Note that Nikki is working the controls from outside the hood with the sash fully closed.
This is the Dragon's breath, a four headed, custom made torch that allows us to do fusions remotely and greatly reduce the hazard of handling molten KHF.	We dissolve quartz for purity testing in batches of 30. Here, Eric Portenga is pulling teflon lids after the quartz has digested for 8 hours. This will allow the HF to evaporate.

Last modified April 06 2010 05:45 AM