The popular image of science involves a lot of high tech tools. The reality is, much like any job, you end up using some utterly mundane things. Often while fixing the high tech ones. While the Maguyveresque electronics shop manager at my grad school probably didn’t really use bubblegum and a paperclip to repair NMR probes that cost thousands of dollars, here are some examples of real uses of mundane tools in science.
You have probably used most of these
Pennies
Speaking of NMR probes, the ones I used in grad school tended to be pretty heavy. Heavy enough to need some pretty hefty supports to keep them from slipping down. We had a non-magnetic screwdriver for tightening the screw into place, but it was a bit awkward to use while holding the probe inside the spectrometer. Plus you’d better make sure that it was actually there before you start inserting the probe.
Turns out a penny is exactly the right size for tightening that particular screw. And a lot smaller to maneuver in the tight space. And being a penny, we could just leave it next to the spectrometer all the time.
It’s a million dollar instrument and our fix cost literally one cent.
The removal of pennies from circulation in Canada did not have the sort of impact on that research that you might worry about. In order to be used as a Penny of Science, the penny itself had to be from before 1996. After that, the Canadian Mint started making pennies out of zinc (http://www.mint.ca/store/mint/learn/1-cent-5300004) and merely plating them with copper, rendering them magnetic.
Styrofoam and Duct Tape
Speaking of NMR spectrometers, this discussion happened to pop on Twitter while I was writing this post. Another case of dealing with those pesky NMR probes!
As a Canadian I am contractually obligated to caption this “If they don’t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy”
Duct tape, to no one’s surprise, is often used in the lab. Probably the most common thing I used it for was when I noticed a pinhole in the glovebox gloves. Changing the glove out is a very involved procedure, and they’re not exactly cheap to replace every time there’s a hole that’s invisible to the naked eye. The piece of tape is so much bigger that it easily restores the seal.
NASA has used duct tape to repair lunar rovers. It’s been used to treat warts. Duct tape is wonderful stuff.
Vibrator
Now here’s an interesting one to have to explain on your expense report! Biologists tend to need to know if the animal they’re collecting data about is male or female. In some species, this is easy. They’ll have readily observed genitalia. Or unambiguous secondary sex characteristics. But some turtles can be rather… ambiguous on that front.
The only way to really be sure with turtles is to see the turtle’s penis. There’s actually a fair bit of history when it comes to convincing a turtle to reveal his. Donald McKnight has found a new rather simple approach. Applying a vibrator to a turtle is probably not quite what he imagined when he decided to go to grad school, but it’s proven to be a very effective method!
And really, what grad student hasn’t found themselves doing something bizarre while mumbling “Go to grad school, they said! It’ll be fun, they said!” Mine was when I wound up scrubbing the floor in front of my fumehood to clean the fallout from a spill.
Toothbrush
Speaking of scrubbing, astronauts often have to get a bit creative because… well, they’re in space. NASA can’t just send them up extra tools. Unless they email them . But before the advent of 3D printers, astronauts only had what they had on hand to work with.
The most famous example is of course the cobbled together filters that brought the Apollo 13 crew back down to Earth safely. This sort of improvisation has continued. In particular, when the International Space Station was having power issues, Suni Williams and Akihiko Hoshide went out to make repairs. They found a buildup of metal shavings which prevented the repairs at that point. Fortunately, there were spare toothbrushes onboard that were just the right tool for cleaning up the shavings. And so a $3 toothbrush saved a $100 billion space station.
Plastic Spoon
The thing about lithium aluminum hydride is that it’s a great reducing agent. But the other thing about lithium aluminum hydride is that it can spark and start a fire if you use metal tools with it. Spatulas in chem labs tend to be made of stainless steel. Now, you could buy a plastic spatula for this purpose. But it’s cheaper and simpler to use a plastic spoon. The kind you get from any fast food joint.
I have no idea if our LAH spoon was swiped from the cafeteria. It was there before I was and it’s probably still there long after I left.
Scotch Tape
I’ve saved the most spectacular example for last. Sometimes, the use of a mundane tool can lead to a Nobel Prize . I’ve discussed Andre Geim before (or rather, his hamster Tisha).
People were interested in graphene in a theoretical way for a long time. It was proposed that a layer of graphite one atom thick could have all sorts of interesting properties. Geim and Novosolev were investigating the properties of regular graphite but weren’t making as much progress as they’d hoped.They’d heard geologists often cleaned graphite using Scotch tape, and wound up looking at the material that was left on the tape.
No word on any Nobel Prizes related to staplers.
Turns out that repeated use of Scotch tape leads to thinner and thinner layers. They needed advanced equipment to actually demonstrate that what they had was the elusive graphene, but the actual isolation was done using an ordinary office supply.