• Question: How many things has anyone here blown up?

    Asked by conallmathurdix to Adam, Chris, Eleanor, Jessamyn, Sinead on 13 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Eleanor Holmes

      Eleanor Holmes answered on 13 Nov 2013:

      I have blown up quite a few things. Luckily most of the things I blew up are nano-sized and contained inside a very cold, metal drum so there is no danger. It is pretty shocking though to have a perfectly nice sample, pass too much current through it and then look back and see just an empty hole where it used to be. The nano-wires will literally blow off the surface they are on.

      I have also blown up our pre-amplifier. This is a machine that takes a very small current and converts it into a large voltage so our instruments can read it (just like a guitar amplifier). I put too much current through it and it beeped angrily at me and stopped working for a month. We had to replace some of the more delicate parts. No fire though, not in our lab!

    • Photo: Adam Murphy

      Adam Murphy answered on 13 Nov 2013:

      I’ve blown up quite a few things unfortunately!

      When I was doing my degree and making circuits I was always blowing up little LEDs (little lights). They kind of pop when you put too much current through them.

      Occasionally when I’m trying to bake my chips I melt them too, but I think I’ve stopped doing that and fixed that problem!

    • Photo: Christian Wirtz

      Christian Wirtz answered on 13 Nov 2013:

      I’m like Eleanor as in, I’ve blown up stuff, but on tiny scales. Fried a few electric circuits etc. That may not seem dramatic but if you’re looking at the stuff with a microscope at the time you get quite a fright!

    • Photo: Sinead Cullen

      Sinead Cullen answered on 13 Nov 2013:

      Hi Conall,
      Shockingly enough I haven’t blown anything up. I am quiet accident prone usually. I have broken a few expensive things in the lab though, which is not a pleasant experience. But you learn by doing these things too, you also learn not to break them again because they are expensive!

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