Since the only canister which had 1/4'' tubing was the sample that was suppose to have atmospheric argon, we tested this one first (all the plumbing we had done was with 1/4'' tubing, for all the other ones we'll probably have to use a union which will connect 3/8'' tubing too 1/4'' tubing). We connected the atmospheric argon canister to our new contraption, which allowed us to pump down on the system, and use the mass specrometer without taking either one off. So one all our piping was leak checked and vacuumed, we started the mass specrometer. This was by far the coolest part of the week, where we got to see some real results. We opened the canister valve which allowed the gas to diffuse through our plumping and then we closed off the canister so we wouldn't lose any more gas.
The gas we wanted to sample using the RGA was in our tubing lines so we first checked the pressure which we had conveniently hooked up within the tubing. Unfortunately, their was only about 4 inches of mercury absolute in the entire canister. This meant we wouldn't have much to sample using the RGA, but we used what we had. With the atmospheric argon trapped between two valves and an RGA port connected between them as well, we began to feed the RGA the argon gas which we hoped was truly atmospheric argon.
Returning to what exactly we were sampling for...
The idea is that primordial gases found in the sun were the first gases on Earth. These gases contained Argon in specific isotopic ratio. Primordial gases contained negligible amounts of the Argon-40 isotope. The early gases are thought to have degassed from the center of the Earth into the atmosphere. The Argon-40 to Argon-36 ratio of atmospheric is supposed to be around 295. This high amount of Argon-40 is attributed to different things that I will probably discuss later. This isotopic ratio changes significantly in the crust, and mantle regions of Earth. Based on this, we can try to draw some connections between the origins of our planet, and what it is composed of. Note: This project is also connected to the Dark Matter project, but has opened up a whole new area to us and it is intriguing to see what we are able to find. This connection, I will discuss in a later post after I discuss it more thoroughly with Geoffrey.
Back to the results. The isotopic ratio of Argon-40 to Argon-36 observed was around 300, which confirms that the first sample canister was indeed atmospheric argon. This sets a good baseline for the rest of our experiments. Since we know that the system worked this time, it gives us more confidence with future results. I am currently on a family trip and will not be back in lab until Wednesday, August 17.
The gas we wanted to sample using the RGA was in our tubing lines so we first checked the pressure which we had conveniently hooked up within the tubing. Unfortunately, their was only about 4 inches of mercury absolute in the entire canister. This meant we wouldn't have much to sample using the RGA, but we used what we had. With the atmospheric argon trapped between two valves and an RGA port connected between them as well, we began to feed the RGA the argon gas which we hoped was truly atmospheric argon.
Returning to what exactly we were sampling for...
The idea is that primordial gases found in the sun were the first gases on Earth. These gases contained Argon in specific isotopic ratio. Primordial gases contained negligible amounts of the Argon-40 isotope. The early gases are thought to have degassed from the center of the Earth into the atmosphere. The Argon-40 to Argon-36 ratio of atmospheric is supposed to be around 295. This high amount of Argon-40 is attributed to different things that I will probably discuss later. This isotopic ratio changes significantly in the crust, and mantle regions of Earth. Based on this, we can try to draw some connections between the origins of our planet, and what it is composed of. Note: This project is also connected to the Dark Matter project, but has opened up a whole new area to us and it is intriguing to see what we are able to find. This connection, I will discuss in a later post after I discuss it more thoroughly with Geoffrey.
Back to the results. The isotopic ratio of Argon-40 to Argon-36 observed was around 300, which confirms that the first sample canister was indeed atmospheric argon. This sets a good baseline for the rest of our experiments. Since we know that the system worked this time, it gives us more confidence with future results. I am currently on a family trip and will not be back in lab until Wednesday, August 17.
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