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It doesn't suck.

Scritto da Ryan Hunt on .

This is how the whole apparatus looked today (minus the laptop which was still getting configured today):

Test cell 2 got a vacuum test, today, which is the best way to test for seal tightness.  We achieved 10^-5 torr, which is comparable to the first unit, because of suspected off gassing from the mica.  We were gratified that is did not suck air.

 As we pressurized with Helium and started heating we saw some condensation on the inside of the glass.  We may have to pre-bake the mica to avoid risking this causing contamination in the future.

As the power was turned on, we noticed that the resistance of this wire seemed much lower than in the first cell.  WE could actually see the wire start to glow orange.  Then we noticed the orange glow was not all the way up the wire.  It turns out that the copper wire running along the mica was expanding at higher temperature and ended up shorting out against the coil wire.  So Malachi figured out his elegant solution to hold the wires in place while gluing them with dots of ceramic.  

 

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