On Tuesday and Wednesday, we spent all day getting organized and ready for our data collection on Thursday and today, Friday. We finalized the checklists, inventory, and organization. We, on wednesday, went outside RIT and did a practice experiment to further familiarize ourselves with the GRIT and other instruments. We made a checklist about the steps to follow for every instrument, and then walked through them to make sure that they were correct and sufficient. We researched for more things to buy as we went along, as some things came up and we thought they would help usnfurther . We took into factors that could ensure the quality of our measurements as well as make them more feasible.
On Thursday, I met my coworkers in the lab at 7:30, and we put away the things that were charging overnight, We loaded all the things into one of the graduate students' truck and the rest of the things into our advisor's personal minivan. We went on a road trip to Chimney Bluffs, and then looked for a place to set up. It was tough because all of the places we wanted to set up at were at the bottom of a steep hill, and we can't transport our equipment down those. As a consequence, there was only one place we could set up at, so we did. We got everything out of the vehicles, assembled the GRIT, and then brought it all down. We took a sample of the sand and double bagged it, and then set up the GRIT. we then set up another spectrometer that constantly took measurements from a white plague for reference while simultaneously having the GRIT running. I helped set up both of these, and then I helped monitor the second spectrometer to make sure it was still running, and I watched mg coworkers operate the GRIT.
A lot of times, they asked what exactly it was that we were doing there, and so I had to explain it repeatedly. All I really said was that "we are taking spectral measurements of the sand, and we hope to be able to use these measurements to predict the potentional for erosion on this coastline." Sometimes they asked for more information, but this was usually enough for them, thankfully.
After we finished the experiments, we packed everything up, and then put it all away again, and then went back to RIT. When we got back, we unloaded some of the things, and left some things in the minivan because we planned to go out to Hamlin park on Friday. I went home after this 13.5 hour work day and passed out on my not so comfy bed.
On Friday, the graduate student with the truck was becoming a father (congratulations) so we could not go out for data collection that day. We stayed inside the lab and took more measurements of the sand. We were ready to put the sand in the drying oven, but the plug for the oven is different from the typical one and would not fit anywhere in the lab. So we asked our advisor and another man who knew the building and had access to all the labs, and they both gave insight about other ovens in a lab in the basement. The plan is to use the oven in the basement in lieu of the bigger, better oven in our kab. Oh well. After that, we put the sand in a storage refrigerator in that room, and we plan to use the oven on Monday. We went shopping at home depot and a couple of other stores for cleaning supplies and trays to put the sand on for putting it in the oven. After we get all of the stuff out of the black room part of our lab, we will clean the floor and the GRIT. That probably won't be for some time, and this week is my final week,so I don't think I'll be doing this. After all that was finished, we called it a day and we left to go home at around 1:30 or 2:30. We were all tired from waking up early anyways.
Sorry that this update is very late, but I've been a lot more busy recently, not just because of the internship, but with other work and events as well. Thank you for being patient, and sorry for the inconvenience :)
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