I Am The Anger

During the final experiment yesterday, something went wrong. Large amounts of liquid (50+ mL) had leaked from the sample compartment of the instrument I was working with during the course of the final hour or so of my experiment. Beside the obvious sucktitude of time and sample having been spent in vain, we had some concern as to what caused this. Moreover, the reduction in fluid volume pretty much meant that there was real danger of uncontrolled scattering into free space from the laser which makes up part of the instrument. Our immediate concern was whether there was a leak in the trough, which would suck major-league. After having cleaned up the mess (and turned off the laser), we filled the sample compartment with fluid and monitored the liquid level. Half an hour in, there was no discernible leak, which is strange, considering the large spill from an experiment which lasted one hour. Plus, the trough is made of a teflon derivative, so any leak should be pretty damn obvious.

This morning, all the liquid was still in the trough, which pretty much leaves one possible conclusion: Some motherfucker mosied on into that lab and bumped into the instrument, before shuffling off without so much as an attempt to notify anyone or to clean up the mess. Considering the fact that this particular instrument is placed on a vibration-free desk really serves to illustrate the force with which said oxygen thief must've bumped into the instrument.

Needless to say, I really want to catch the miscreant who caused this. In an ideal world, I'd do so with diplomatic immunity and a baseball bat, but I'd gladly settle for whatever pain and misery I can exact in the unlikely event that I figure out the identity of the perpetrator.