Welcome to the first post on our blog.
Jackie and I (Anna) are about 5.25 hours in to a hopefully 6.25 hour stint in the balance room. We have weighed 35 filters so far, and have 48 to weigh in total.
What are filters? Why are we weighing them? Why does it take so long?
These are questions you may be asking yourself, and they are good ones. As part of our project, we are measuring improvements in indoor air pollution as a result of using the ONIL stove. The way we are measuring indoor air pollution is by measuring particulate matter (PM). We assess particulate matter by placing a filter in a contraption called a cyclone and sucking air through it with a pump for 24 hours inside the home. In order to figure out how much particulate matter was collected in the filter, we need to weigh it before and after.
In order to prepare the filters, we had to set them out in petri dishes over the weekend. Now we are weighing them, which sounds easy and fast, but is actually extremely TEDIOUS. We have to calibrate the scale, pass the filter through a strange de-static contraption, put the filter on the balance, wait for it to settle on on a number, record it, take it out, and then start the whole process again. TEDIOUS.
It is also very cold (20 degrees C), and I'm waring gloves on my feet to keep them warm. Jackie is much faster and more accurate at this than I am. This should not come as a surprise to any of my old chemistry lab partners.
In other news. . .
- Today we learned how to use the spirometer!
- We are gathering equipment, supplies, etc slowly but surely.
- Our IRB was approved on Friday.
- We leave on Wed in the middle of the night.
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