samples for NMR experiments in wood rack
Date: mid 20th-20th Century
Inventory Number: 2004-1-0410
Classification: Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
Dimensions:16 x 21 x 5.8 cm (6 5/16 x 8 1/4 x 2 5/16 in.)
DescriptionTwelve test tubes for solid samples to be placed into the Rf coil (2004-1-0408b) in NMR experiments in Physics 191r. Half of them are labeled and many contain powdered chemicals. They are stored standing upright in a commercially made "FISHERbrand" wooden test tube rack, with room for 15 tubes, which came with the acquisition.
The six labeled tubes read: "D2O [deuterium] 5/93", "water", "Cu metal", "Cu 4-28-81" [?? hard to read], "LiF", "Cu 4/93." Of the six unmarked tubes, two are empty, two contain black powder (probably iron), and two contain green powder (probably some copper compound). The rack also holds a sealed glass container of pure mineral oil, and one standard gypsum crystal specially mounted for placement in the Rf coil. (The crystal was accidentally broken off its mount in August 2008, and placed in the unoccupied 15th slot in the rack.)
The gypsum crystal had been glued on a black (plastic?) rod that was screwed into a clear (lucite?) rod, with a rectangular collar of lucite, like a thick microscope slide, at the point where the two rods touch. This rectangular collar would be seated in place on the top of the Rf coil in order to support the crystal at the proper height inside the coil. The rod can turn while the collar, thereby allowing the experimenter to rotate the crystal inside the Rf coil. The student could tell how far she had rotated the crystal by counting the number of clicks made by the toothed wheel affixed to the rod -- each click represented a certain fixed amount of rotation.