Adam Deitsch □
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thread 1/27
Anyway, I guess I'll Live-Spout what I'm doing in this thread...
Adam Deitsch □ @adamosphere
I'm very excited to be going back into the lab to start doing some work again. I'm sad I can't do a live feed of it here.
12:55 PM - May 22, 2023
12:55 PM - May 22, 2023
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Adam Deitsch □
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thread 2/27
First, I needed to find an appropriate micropipette to measure out 0.1mL accurately.
12:58 PM - May 22, 2023
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Adam Deitsch □
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thread 3/27
Next, wait for the water purifier to actually finish its purification.
01:09 PM - May 22, 2023
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Adam Deitsch □
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thread 4/27
Boil water in your glassware to extract any residual ions that were bound to the glass and not released during washing.
01:13 PM - May 22, 2023
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Adam Deitsch □
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thread 5/27
This is the most time-consuming and annoying part...
01:13 PM - May 22, 2023
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Adam Deitsch □
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thread 6/27
Hey! We're boiling! Time for the next one...
01:26 PM - May 22, 2023
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Adam Deitsch □
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thread 7/27
Anyway, once all my glass is "clean", I'm going to aerosolize pure water and measure the particle size distribution of its residuals. Assuming it's not chaotic, I'll know it's clean and can proceed to conduct my measurements of my samples. But how will I make my samples?

#SpoutibleThreadChallenge
01:35 PM - May 22, 2023
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Adam Deitsch □
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thread 8/27
Well, I'm going to start with this study's methods. Then I'm going to do a modified method of how I conducted these previous samples (https://doi.org/10.13140/r... ), mostly limiting the change to a single variable: salt.
01:42 PM - May 22, 2023 (Edited)
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Adam Deitsch □
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thread 9/27
The salt, of course, is to "grow" my residual particles released from the cups. It's assumed the salts and cup residuals will be internally mixed, and large enough for a measurable portion of them to make it through the aerosol mass spectrometer's gatekeeper.

#SpoutibleThreadChallenge
01:48 PM - May 22, 2023
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Adam Deitsch □
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thread 10/27
Of course, now I'm stuck waiting for the thick-walled, 1-liter jar for the aerosol generator to heat until boiling. This will be the worst part...

#ThreadChallenge
01:57 PM - May 22, 2023
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Adam Deitsch □
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thread 11/27
Okay, it is kinda' fun to watch the thermals.
02:02 PM - May 22, 2023
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Adam Deitsch □
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thread 12/27
Update: the water is still not boiling. I'm *hoping* to have at least one sample run through the equipment before I leave for the day, but it's not looking great.
02:45 PM - May 22, 2023
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Adam Deitsch □
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thread 13/27
While we're waiting, let me explain how the equipment works. The aerosol generator uses about 0.1mL/min to produce fine mist. Larger droplets are collected via impaction, and recirculated back into the reservoir.
02:54 PM - May 22, 2023
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Adam Deitsch □
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thread 14/27
Of course, this leaves room for contamination from any residual particles trapped in the tubes from previous sample runs. Hence the importance of rinsing and flushing the machine before actual samples are examined.
02:55 PM - May 22, 2023
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Adam Deitsch □
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thread 15/27
Oh, we're boiling now!
02:56 PM - May 22, 2023
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Adam Deitsch □
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thread 16/27
Anyway, as I was saying...

That mist is then sent through a drier to evaporate the water and leave residual solid particles, which are then neutralized (for charge) and analyzed based on size by using a differential mobility analyzer, which selects particles by specific size.
02:59 PM - May 22, 2023
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Adam Deitsch □
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thread 17/27
These sized particles are then sent to a condensation particle counter, where they are exposed to moisture again, grown, and counted. This makes up the scanning mobility particle sizer I'm using. It then processes the data and provides a size distribution of the particles in solution.
03:01 PM - May 22, 2023
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Adam Deitsch □
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thread 18/27
The next bit happens before the CPC counts the particles. The airflow is split, and part of it is sent through a high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer, which can pick out certain signals regarding the chemcial nature of the particles. This can help inform us of their composition.
03:02 PM - May 22, 2023
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Adam Deitsch □
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thread 19/27
Unfortunately, it looks like I'm going to need to pick this up tomorrow morning. In about 20 minutes I'll rinse out the reservoir for my aerosol generator and fill it with pure water, but I'll only be using it to flush my system overnight. Hopefully everything checks out and I can proceed in the AM.
03:06 PM - May 22, 2023
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Adam Deitsch □
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thread 20/27
In the meantime, feel free to check out more information about what, exactly, it is that I do here.

https://www.atmos.albany.e...
03:19 PM - May 22, 2023 (Edited)
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Adam Deitsch □
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thread 21/27
Okay, the system is flushing. See you in the morning. Please, if you have any questions, drop them here and I'll try to answer them.

#ThreadChallenge #SpoutibleThreadChallenge #AerosolScience #AtmosphericScience #AtmoSpoutible #AcademicSpoutible
04:08 PM - May 22, 2023
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Adam Deitsch □
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thread 22/27
Just realized I ceded the #ThreadChallenge by going over 20 Spouts. Oh well. I'm still going to pump out my lab time tomorrow, even though nobody actually seems interested. 😂😭😢😳
06:45 PM - May 22, 2023
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Adam Deitsch □
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thread 23/27
AND, WE'RE BACK!

My SMPS was flushed and running correctly overnight, so we can proceed. I've got my bulk salt solution, I've got my sample cooling for 20 minutes, and I'm hooked up to the AMS. In about 17 more minutes, I'll add my soultion to the aerosol generator and spike it with 100µL of salt.
12:26 PM - May 23, 2023 (Edited)
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Adam Deitsch □
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thread 24/27
After that, it's back to boiling new water for my new sample, while running multiple cycles of my sample through the SMPS/AMS system. Most important? Writing it all down in my lab book!
12:30 PM - May 23, 2023
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Adam Deitsch □
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thread 25/27
I do love when I get equipment failure 20 minutes in and need to reset and start everything over...
01:05 PM - May 23, 2023
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Adam Deitsch □
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thread 27/27
Aaaaand the SMPS is faulty, likely becuase the aerosol generator is clogged. Time to troubleshoot again and throw all my data in the garbage...
03:01 PM - May 23, 2023 (Edited)
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