My PI and PHD student finally came back from the conference, and we started using the ICP to analyze our samples. Primarily, we worked in a much larger lab on the 3rd floor, where the rest of the Park Group conducts experiments.
ICP is the abbreviation of Inductively Coupled Plasma mass spectrometer. It is used to detect metals and several non-metals at extremely low concentrations. The machine ionizes the samples with inductively coupled plasma (a type of plasma source in which the energy is created by induction) and then separate the ions using a mass spectrometer.
The process involves high temperature heating in the upper chamber and a cooling mechanism below it. So as I was standing in front of the ICP, it was like being in two worlds - one sweltering and one cold.
I would say the ICP process is rather straight forward - prepare samples, position test tubes, enter commands in the computer program, and GO! But since each sample takes 6-10 minutes and I need to make sure nothing goes wrong during the process, it needs to be watched over. One night, I even had to stay until 8pm to wait till the experiment was done. But the fascinating thing about ICP and the computer program is, I got to watch the testing needle dip into each test tube accurately, knowing exactly where the samples were positioned, and all I had to do is watch this happen.
The rest of the week, I spent time reading papers from Dr. Park and helped Camille dumping some chemicals.
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