Yesterday, running a reaction get through 30mL of my reagent and the emission of my nanocrystals are already in the range that I want but it wouldn't hurt to make it a bit more red . So I decide to add only 20 mL more instead of the remaining 30. I do so and everything is fine but the emission hasn't really shifted (only redder by 1nm). Which is great, so I decide to add the last 10mL. Upon heating the reaction mixture goes cloudy and the emission dies.
It appears to maybe be recoverable but who knows until I am done with the cleanup. Well, today I am in the lab setting up for this mornings reaction. It involves a metal reaction vessel with 4-neck glass lid, a motorized stirrer and a heating mantle designed for the metal reaction flask. So I add my reagents, turn on the stirrer, start putting the heating mantle on. Bad idea, spinning stir rod plus off center force equals CRACK there goes the center 24/40 neck. This SUCKS! The glass lid is brand new, a replacement for one that cracked previously due to getting water from the cooling bath splashed on it when it was at around 250oC. . Then things get worse. I take my reaction down sit it on the bench and as I am showing the broken neck to my boss, I hit the stir rod poking out of the flask. There goes 300+mL of solvent and Cadmium Oxide ALL over my fume hood. Yay, time to clean up toxic metals. On top of that 2 weeks ago, I cracked a piece of tube on a vacuum trap and 3 days ago I broke a beaker. I feel like these past few weeks can't get much worse.
I am sure guess I was due for it, over 6mo without breaking anything, but this feels like a bit much. 3 weeks ago my boss was mentioning putting me up for a promotion, now I am sure he is wondering why he even hired me.
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Topic: Don't you hate days like this? (Read 2763 times)