i spent some time today rereading a lab notebook for "write it up" reasons and discovered something funny. basically, for a set of experiments that were mostly undergrad done, they needed a really low concentration of a chemical that comes as a powder. so basically, a very tiny amount of the powder dissolved in a liquid.
for those of you with no lab experience, it is VERY hard to accurately measure tiny amounts. it is both difficult on the user end and sometimes requires specialized equipment. the fact that i can accurately pipet tiny amounts is a skill i have received enthusiastic compliments on. however, measuring out something by mass? i would never even try to do this. the MUCH easier thing to do is to make a more concentrated solution of whatever powder in whatever solution and then dilute it.
however, i have recently had this issue with undergrads where they get upset and overwhelmed by protocols with too many steps. i think this is normal with people new to science (because it's often A LOT all at once), but i've also been getting it from more experienced undergrads. so my memory is
me: okay we could make a 10x solution and you dilute it, OR you can try to measure out the tiny amount
them: but a dilution is so much work :( we'll just measure it out :)
and then it was indeed HORRIBLE. i hope they learned something lmao
anyway, the funny part is i had to redo an assay way later after they graduated, and apparently i did the dilution method, which i simply do not remember because it was so easy
anyway what's the fuinjutsu equivalent of this
