Thursday, March 8, 2018

WEEK 7: Trial One Will Commence Soon

Microplastics shredded using
a grater. 
Microplastics taken from
 vacuum filter 
   I continued to shred plastics this week. The vacuum that was used to collect the microplastics ended up picking up unwanted stuff, so I spent the majority of my time tweezing out small particles of unknown material that were mixed in with the microplastics.  I have shredded a total of 2.4 grams of polyethylene terephthalate, which sounds like a small amount but it will be more than enough to commence my first microplastic extraction trial. From this point on I will be using a grater to shred the plastics because it eliminates the need to spend hours taking out particles of unwanted material and requires less energy.
 




2 comments:

  1. Im so sorry that you had to pick out so much particles that were not plastic. Really does sound like a pain in the ass. Meanwhile I wait for my Bacteria to either grow/degrade/minimize I will continue helping you shred plastic. So that you could get the trials done quicker and we could talk about presenting together at future conferences. Don't give up & hang in there (:

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  2. Yikes, that sounds super frustrating. :0 But hey, if you look on the bright side, that's always something you can add to the error section of a lab report or maybe to your poster! I don't run into you too often in lab but when I see you, you always seem to be working really hard. Keep it up! :)

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