What another interesting week!\u00a0\u00a0This past week was spent preparing for the main experiment that we are going to be conducting this summer.\u00a0\u00a0Our main focus this week was testing the new bladders for our artificial sea water. We had much more faith in these bladders than we should have.\u00a0\u00a0The cubitainers that we have been using have some rigid support to them and can be easily fit into a plastic crate.\u00a0\u00a0The bladders on the other hand have very little support and the water sloshes around as we are trying to carry them in their flimsy storage containers.\u00a0\u00a0The bladders still may be our best option though, when the channel that we are putting them in is not far lower than the chambers were we are conducting the experiment.\u00a0\u00a0As explained in my last blog, there must be a height difference between the reservoir of water and the base of the chamber in order for the water to flow in and out.\u00a0\u00a0There are some places that are rather level where we need a flatter container to make sure that this happens.<\/p>\n
So, the majority of the week was spent testing three different bladders\u00a0that we had in the lab and out in the field.\u00a0\u00a0After our lab experiments we determined that two of the three bladders would work best because they were more stable so we set out the next day to test them in the field.\u00a0\u00a0Once we got to our site which is called Winant Marsh, up the estuary about half way, we realized some additional problems with the bladders.\u00a0\u00a0Because they weren\u2019t stable the\u00a0nozzle that was connected to a hose that connected the chamber with the bladder kept bending in weird ways under the pressure from the hose that we kept getting an air lock.\u00a0\u00a0After some messy alterations we were somewhat satisfied with the way the experiment was set up so we left to wait out the high tide.<\/p>\n
In the afternoon, we came back to take down the equipment and analyze our data back in the lab.\u00a0\u00a0It quickly became apparent that the water pressure from the tide did not sufficiently force the artificial sea water out of the bladder and in to the chamber.\u00a0\u00a0The next day, we also discovered that there was a leak in one of our bladders that caused it to gain a sufficient amount of water from the high tide.\u00a0\u00a0To make things worse, the bladder that worked the best was not being made any more so we\u2019re not able to get as many as we need!<\/p>\n
Because of our test, this next week will be interesting.\u00a0\u00a0Jodi has some ideas as to how to make the bladders work better and we can hopefully find out how we got a leak in our bladder.\u00a0\u00a0Currently, I am working on a logistical outline for one of the experiments that is coming up and I will be reviewing that with my mentor early this week.\u00a0\u00a0But man! It is way more complicated than I would think! I usually don\u2019t know what to expect in the coming days, but as time goes by I\u2019m getting more and more used to the way things work around here.\u00a0 I can\u2019t wait to see what I learn next!<\/p>\n
I hope you all had a great holiday weekend!<\/p>\n
Check out my personal blog: Sara Duncan<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What another interesting week!\u00a0\u00a0This past week was spent preparing for the main experiment that we are going to be conducting this summer.\u00a0\u00a0Our main focus this week was testing the new bladders for our artificial sea water. We had much more … Continue reading