RM's+Week+of+March+3,+2008

RM's Logbook


 * Monday, March 3, 2008**

Today, I created a couple new pages and updated my logbook. DL told us that those competing in the science fair will give presentations on their projects this Thursday and Friday. Next week, or possibly this week, the rest of us will also give a brief summary of our projects to the rest of the class. I also read AL's logbook to give myself insight into what I will have to do to prepare for the science fair next year.


 * Tuesday, March 4, 2008**

Today, I didn't have much to read or update. I feel that because most of my work is done at the lab, it's difficult for me to really accomplish as much in class. It would be nice if I could go in a couple more times a week; however, right now, it wouldn't be feasible. Anyway, I googled some articles to see if I could find any more articles that related what I'm doing to changes in temperature, pH, and electric fields. However, since I guess that these possibilties haven't yet been explored as much, there's not too much on the web that helps me.


 * Wednesday, March 5, 2008**

Today, I found an article that really might affect my project. Professors and researchers at Duke University are using different DNA superstructures to build nanowires rather than the simple double-stranded DNA. It allows for more diversity and greater control. It's very interesting to see the various way my project may branch out. I'm going to ask Dr. Sarveswaran tomorrow if such a simple DNA superstructure was used before. [|Here's] the link.


 * Thursday, March 6, 2008**

Today, instead of going straight to the lab, I stayed in class to hear my peers' presentations and give some constructive criticism. EL and DH presented their projects, with PowerPoint presentations and explanations of their projects and their projects' futures.

When I went into the lab, I put four silicon samples in an ethanol and APTES mixture. I used 1400 microliters of ethyl alcohol, 580 microliters of 18 mega ohm water, and 20 microliters of APTES to obtain a 1% APTES solution. I let the wafers sit in the solution for 30 minutes, then rinsed them with 18 mega ohm water and dried them with nitrogen gas. I placed them in plastic containers, labeled them, and put the containers in a dessicator.


 * Friday, March 7, 2008**

Today, I updated my logbook.

Week of February 25

Week of March 10