The Notebook of a Scientist

Liquid nitrogen:

Nitrogen that is typically held at -321o Fahrenheit. Contact with it can instantly freeze tissue and objects, making it very dangerous to come into contact with. However, it is possible to roll a small bit in the palm of your hand without any issue. A layer of rapidly vaporizing air insulates the skin from cold as long as it is in motion.

Oedipus complex:

A term coined by Sigmund Freud describing a child's feelings of desire for the opposite sex parent, favoring features or quirks from said parent, particularly when projected onto potential love interests.

Gas chromatography:

Vaporization of compounds in a mixture, which are run through a machine that detects and analyzes its components.

Diamond anvil cell:

Typically, two flat diamonds that are used to compress samples up to 100-200 Gigapascals (GPa) in pressure. In comparison, the pressure at the bottom of the deepest ocean is only 0.1 GPa

PPE:

Personal Protective Equipment. The standard equipment to guard all of the dangers in a lab!

Placebo Effect:

A false response that is caused by other factors not directly relating to a test. Placebos (sugar pills) are given to a group to check for irregularities in which no effect should be observed.

Amorphous to Crystalline State:

Molecular compounds that shift from a state of disorder to that of a highly-ordered state, which typically shifts the physically properties of a material. Can be induced by temperature or pressure.

Cyclotron:

An accelerator that produces high energy particles that revolve around a circular track.

LD50:

Lethal dose 50%. A measurement of the dosage it would take to kill half of the sample population.

Theory of Relativity:

The effect of a massive object influencing the behavior of other objects around them.

FTIR:

Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. Used for analyzing the bond formulation of materials. The background environment is typically subtracted out of the measurement.

Schrodinger theory:

A particle exists in two different quantum states simultaneously until it reacts with another particle. Using his cat in a box for an example, one did not know whether the cat was dead or alive until he interacted with the box. Therefore, it was treated as both alive and dead.

Ti-5Al-5Mo-5V-3Cr:

A high-strength Titanium alloy comprised of 5% Aluminum, 5% Molybdenum, 5% Vanadium, 3% Chromium in weight. The impurities doped into the metal give it superior properties.

Graphene:

A layer of carbon in a hexagonal lattice, possessing some of the most interesting properties to date.