resistance is futile

August 31, 2006 at 9:47 pm | | everyday science, lab safety, nerd

I needed to illuminate a vial of frozen dye solution with a laser and view the fluorescence. But I didn’t have enough hands to hold the vial, turn off the lights, and hold a long-pass filter (to block the excitation light). So I thought, What would W.E. Moerner do (WWWEMD)? Suddenly, I knew what I had to do: tape the filter to my safety glasses. Genius! (In the past, W.E. has encouraged me to tape diffraction gratings to my glasses and look in the microscope.)

glasses_filter_detail_small.jpg
Figure 1. The contraption.

This worked like a charm: I simultaneously protected my eyes and blocked the excitation light with a wink of an eye.

glasses_filter_small.jpg
Figure 2. My friends call me “seven-eyes.”

Feel free to use this idea next time you get sick of holding an optical filter in front of your eyes. Just send the royalty check to me.

7 Comments »

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  1. Cutting edge, my friend. I want to see the experimental section of your next paper.

    Comment by william — August 31, 2006 #

  2. You sort of look like a Borg – minus the implants…

    Comment by charles — September 1, 2006 #

  3. charles, i have implants. tons of them. they’re just all below my shoulders…

    Comment by sam — September 1, 2006 #

  4. If you were truly committed to science, you would have taped it directly to your cornea. Imagine all the phenomena you could have missed due to interference from those safety glasses.

    Comment by kendall — September 1, 2006 #

  5. Hi Sammy. Those glasses look cute on you. Your hair looks great too. Love, Mom

    Comment by Denise Lord — September 3, 2006 #

  6. Thanks, Mom.
    Just like Andrew’s dad.

    Comment by sam — September 8, 2006 #

  7. […] but there were some good finds. W.E. bought a “broken” green laser pointer for $15, and “fixed” it by flipping the batteries to be in the correct orientation. I found a great pair of magnifying eyeglasses, which didn’t even need tape: […]

    Pingback by Everyday Scientist » electronics flea market — September 23, 2006 #

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