• Question: How much time done you spend on one experimemt on average?

    Asked by dr1ft3r to David, Luna, Mark, Melanie, Probash on 17 Mar 2011 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Luna Munoz

      Luna Munoz answered on 11 Mar 2011:

      That’s a really good question! In terms of hours, I would say about 320 hours. Wow! Now that I wrote that I wonder how I get anything done in my life. 😉

      It takes about 3 months of work to have each person fill out questionnaires, do a ‘game’ on a computer, maybe while they are strapped to some equipment that measures their heart rate or bodily activity. We might even videotape them.

      Most of the work comes afterward, so I would say triple those hours to then get the values collected into a computer program!

    • Photo: David Pyle

      David Pyle answered on 11 Mar 2011:

      It really varies!

      I don’t really do lab experiments – as mostly I work on things (rocks) where the natural experiment has already happened; or I work in the field (e.g. measuring gases) while the natural experiment is happening.

      My task is usually to try and work out what happened, and when. The things that take time are analysing the chemical compositions of rocks, and the things they are made of: glasses and minerals. To measure the elements present in a rock is quite easy. It takes a few days to clean the rock sample, and grind into a powder. We then use an X-ray machine to measure the composition of the powder: we bombard the sample with high energy X-rays and look at the spectrum of emitted X-rays that comes off. The wavelength of the X-rays is a fingerprint for the different elements present.

      I have also used very high energy X-rays to look at the chemicals present in single crystals of quartz. A few years ago, someone discovered that very small amounts of titanium (Ti) will fit into the structure of quartz; and that the amount of titanium mainly depends on the temperature.. so if we can measure the Ti in the quartz from an old volcanic rock, we can work out the temperature at which this happened. It turns out that to do this well, you need very high energy X-rays – and the best place to make these measurements is at the Diamond Light Source synchrotron. Here a beam of electrons is spun round a large loop (about half a kilometer long), at almost the speed of light, and as the electron beam is bent round corners, X-ray energy is emitted.. An experiment on Diamond typically lasts 3 days, but during this time we’ll be making about 1 measurement on a spot about 3 microns diameter every 2 – 3 seconds.. It’s a typical rule of thumb that the smaller the spot you want to measure, the larger the instrument you need to measure it!

      Field measurements can be a bit more involved – and might take two to three weeks to collect enough data, depending on how well the equipment works.

    • Photo: Melanie Stefan

      Melanie Stefan answered on 11 Mar 2011:

      My lab experiments usually take between a couple of hours and a few days (luckily with some waiting time in between, so I can get some sleep!). My computer simulations take between a few minutes and a few weeks to run.

      A typical project to answer a specific scientific question would involve several of these experiments and simulation, plus planning them, analysing the results and troubleshooting if some bits of it didn’t work out. All in all, that would take several months to a year.

    • Photo: Probash Chowdhury

      Probash Chowdhury answered on 14 Mar 2011:

      It varies really. With all experiments I have to write the instructions (protocol) for all the scientists involved to follow and after the experiment I have to gather all the data from the other scientists and write a report. In addition to these writing parts, an experiment can last anything from a day to 2 years!! 🙂 Obviously the longer the experiment the longer the protocol and report.

    • Photo: Mark Vesey

      Mark Vesey answered on 17 Mar 2011:

      I don’t really do experiments – my job inolves more coordinating and planning work required to be done to keep fcilities running.

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