RedDwarf
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How do you occupy yourself during a distillation?
Most of my inorganic chemistry or electrochemistry seems to fall into two categories:
1) I need to stay with it 100% of the time during a short period of time
or
2) I just leave it to get on with things on it's own and if it's left an extra couple of hours it probably doesn't matter.
With organic chemistry there's a lot that falls within these two groups and even refluxing can generally just be left for a specific period of time
with an alarm on my phone, however distillations always seem to fall outside this categorisation.
The need to change receiver flasks when the temperature starts to change means that it's hard to predict (even when the composition of a simple
starting mixture is known fairly accurately) when you need to be there, and watching drops falling into a flask is like watching paint dry
So what do you all do with your time when you're performing distillations and the like, how long will you leave unsupervised apparatus and how do you
stop yourself getting bored?
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Sulaiman
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1) do other small experiments
2) tidy up and wash glassware etc.
3) reading
4) contemplate life, the universe and everything
CAUTION : Hobby Chemist, not Professional or even Amateur
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j_sum1
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Watch chemplayer.
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arkoma
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music videos. It helps that I pretty much live in the kitchen/living room, where my lab table is six feet to the right of my couch(daybed), flat
screen directly in front of me. Sometimes very advantageous to be a crippled bachelor LOL
"We believe the knowledge and cultural heritage of mankind should be accessible to all people around the world, regardless of their wealth, social
status, nationality, citizenship, etc" z-lib
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nzlostpass
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I too watch Chemplayer or one of the other top Chemistry video guys eg. Nilered, Nurdrage and of course Extractions and Ire.
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Ubya
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Mood: I'm a maddo scientisto!!!
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a normal distillation for me lasts at least 6 hours (average 10) so i really need to occupy myself otherwise all the daytime is wasted. i usually do
other experiments while waiting, i watch some anime/serie, youtube videos, and if i'm really bored and nothing else to do, i try to study for my
exams
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feel free to correct my grammar, or any mistakes i make
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Herr Haber
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All of the above & TV shows.
Episodes last about 45mn so it's a good timing to go back and check.
I do also sometimes sleep with an alarm clock set for every hour. Not such a great idea and the source of "what happened here?" now and then.
The spirit of adventure was upon me. Having nitric acid and copper, I had only to learn what the words 'act upon' meant. - Ira Remsen
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fusso
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I wonder if it's possible to wire a digital thermometer to an alarm to alarm you when the thermometer reached a certain temperature?
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RedDwarf
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Quote: Originally posted by fusso  | | I wonder if it's possible to wire a digital thermometer to an alarm to alarm you when the thermometer reached a certain temperature?
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Yes, I've thought about building an arduino system that could either provide a direct alarm or an alarm on the pc downstairs where I normally work.
Unfortunately the idea has only ever joined the queue of potential projects and never got any further than that - perhaps that's something I could be
working on during the next distillation, although it's very cold in the room I use (I sometimes wonder if I need to use cooling water in the condenser
it's that cold, at least I don't need to use ice in the cooling water!)
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MrSoil
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For small scale experimental distillations, I would go for music video, exercise, or usual physical work (vacuuming, chopping wood, feeding animals,
yoga). Anything that would last few minutes.
For large scale habitual distillations, I would watch episode of some tv series (usually 45 minutes), felling trees, maintaining garden, shopping.
I would try to make distillation habitual and automatic, because safety first.
Maybe by using same volume and time each day.
Excess of liquid, so it never distills completely during one run.
Lack of energy, maybe by charging some batteries and only using them for distillation, or performing it via limited amount of solid fuel (wood, coal).
Remember, safety first.
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markx
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| Quote: Originally posted by Herr Haber | All of the above & TV shows.
I do also sometimes sleep with an alarm clock set for every hour. Not such a great idea and the source of "what happened here?" now and then.
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Ya.....dozing off during a fractionation run is not such a great idea. The universe will find immediate ways to administer punishment for such an
action 
One just has to plan ahead regarding the timing (so as not to end up guarding the process in the middle of the night) and force a habit to not trust
the system on it's own for long periods of time. Even when failsafes are active.
There are quiet ways that things can go south if one does not keep an eye on the system: sudden fluctuations in atmospheric pressure causing loss of
equilibrium in column, bubbles blocking/deblocking takeoff channels and changing the reflux ratio on it's own, silent flooding of column that
culminates in a volcanic eruption from the vent channel on top of column, loss of water pressure, failing tube connections, etc, etc. Seen and done
it all during the years
Exact science is a figment of imagination.......
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draculic acid69
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| Quote: Originally posted by fusso | | I wonder if it's possible to wire a digital thermometer to an alarm to alarm you when the thermometer reached a certain temperature?
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That's the exact sort of thing Arduinos can be used for.
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chemplayer...
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Hard rock, Rachmaninov, or a nice Jazz Interlude...
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