A day in the life of a research chemist

I have recently discovered @qurator and this is my Monday Missions entry. You can check the rules of this contest on their article: Qurator's Monday Missions | A day in the life of a...

Introduction

Since I joined the secondary school I knew I wanted to do a career related to science and technology. I also liked studying other subjects, like history and philosophy, but they didn´t get my attention as much.

During the last year of high school, the subject I liked the most was chemistry. For me it was the perfect equilibrium between memory and calculation subjects.

The first year of university was a mixture of different science topics, with pure chemistry only representing 24 out of 60 ECTS credits. The second and beyond were hard, but I don´t want to remember that dark times at the moment. Today however, I want to jump directly to my end of degree and end of master works, to the research on a chemistry lab, and describe a typical day there.

Research at lab

The first thing I do when I arrive to the faculty is to wear my lab coat and security glasses. Then I go stairs down to the lab and wear latex gloves and security glasses. I open the -80ºC freezer, where I put the most sensitive samples, and pick up my sample jar. I do it fast in order not to get burnt by the cold. Then I separate the sample plastic tubes and put them on a water bath to speed up the unfreeze process.

ICP-MS used. IMG source

Then I enter the ICP-MS room and make the first steps for startup. I open the argon gas line and let it purging. Next I get back to the preparations room and make a set of calibration solutions, with different concentrations of selenium, in the same solvent I used for my samples. When the samples are melted, I put them on an ice bath. Half of them are not transparent, so I have to filter them.

After 20 minutes of purging I have all the solutions ready, so I try to start the ICP-MS. I switch on the fume extractor, the water schiller and the air conditioner (this device is very sensitive towards temperature changes) and press the ignite button. The plasma torch brights for a few seconds and then vanishes. The starting sequence has failed, the first try usually doesn´t work.

I purge the argon line for another 10 minutes and try again, this time the torch remains on for 15 seconds but vanishes again. At the third attempt the startup sequence is completed. The 8000ºC inductively-coupled plasma of argon gas is stable and operational.

Plasma torch startup sequence. Photographs made by me.

While waiting for the 15 minutes warm-up, I check in my notebook that I am correctly following all the procedures. Then I put the tuning solution in the sample introduction capillary tube, a mix of dissolved metals provided by the ICP-MS manufacturer. After a few minutes, I get a technical report with a dozen of parameters. I print it and check that the most important values are similar to the last operation date. The analyzer is ready for taking measures.

Then, I start measuring the calibration set, in increasing order of concentration. I have to measure again the first point because it is the most sensitive to alterations. Next I represent the data in a graph and I draw the regression line using Excel.

After the calibration, I check again that the samples remain transparent, because solids can clog the capillary tube. I make the measures and wait one of two minutes to let the device stabilize. Then I put the tuning solution again and print the generated report. Now I can finally put the ICP-MS on stand-by by shutting down the plasma torch, fume extractor water schiller adn air conditioning. The vacuum pumps must remain always active because the mass spectrometer detector requires extremely low pressure to function.

I feel relieved after turning off that equipment that cost EUR 150 000 and that is not cheap to have switched on either. I go down to the cafeteria to eat and rest for a while. When I go up I have to process the data obtained and clean the material used, but that is the least interesting part of the day.