Issue 14
Cold
Rhoda Novak
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Although I was still in high school, the graduate students at the University of Florida treated me as a junior researcher. On a hot Friday afternoon, I learned a real advantage of working in a Solid State Physics Lab in the sweltering heat, but I doubt the professor ever found out how we used his precious equipment.
Although the lab was marginally air conditioned, we were always hot and thirsty. The vending machines outside the lab sold half pint cartons of tropical fruit punch. We'd cut a hole in the carton, insert a pencil and submerge it into supercooled liquid nitrogen. Hundreds of degrees below zero, the liquid did its magic. After a few seconds, the fruit punch had frozen and the stick was firmly in place. We pulled the cartons out with tongs and waited for them to warm up enough to peel the cardboard carton off. Holding the stick, I enjoyed the rewards of working with modern science - instant tropical fruit punch Popsicle.
~Rhoda Novak
Rhoda Novak was one of the few women to study physics in the Sputnik era. She works in the aerospace industry and mentors future scientists.
© 2003 by Rhoda Novak. All Rights Reserved.
© Copyright 2003 by Cayuse Press. All Rights Reserved.