a river a’flowing
In just the first week on the job, I was warned about the “possessed” environmental chamber. At times, it has been known to suddenly change temperatures without the screen showing the corresponding temperature increases or decreases; one instance involved a general negative 40 degree test that abruptly dropped to less than negative 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Odd.
However, I hadn’t experienced such strange quirks with the chamber, at least until today. I walked back to the test lab, where all of the chambers reside, to check on a test that is in prep, when I noticed this mentioned chamber doing something very strange. As a brief explanation, to heat things up there are massive furnaces always on tap, and for freezing chills we use liquid nitrogen. When I walked into the lab, this chamber was spewing out gaseous condensation (the stuff your breath becomes in colder weather).
I didn’t recall anyone doing any major freeze testing, so I checked the electronic keypad for the information available. It declared that the test inside was at a toasty 300 degrees Fahrenheit (a typical heat-aging temperature for our products) and was running just fine. Being the only one around, I made the quick decision to turn the machine off, but just in case I wasn’t losing it, I looked at the hard data stream that records the true temperature non-digitally on the back of the chamber. As soon as I saw the value, I shut the machine down instantly and moved away. It stated that the temperature inside the chamber was negative 223 degrees Fahrenheit.
Once Charlie (test lab manager) returned, I told him what had happened (even still, the chamber was still launching condensation everywhere). He told me to stand back and he carefully opened the chamber door. In an instant, the whole lab was full of freezing, condensing air, as if God himself sighed with great emphasis into the room. The lab temperature dropped about 7 degrees in just a minute or so due to this psychotic environmental chamber.
So, that’s how I had fun today at work.
And tonight, Rianna and I chatted, as is becoming usual of Wednesday nights. Once I get an espresso machine, she promised to teach me the ways of the latte world. I love having insider resources 