Eli L-F Profile picture
Jul 29, 2020 6 tweets 2 min read Read on X
We discovered what was wrong with the grounding in the lab! Strap in #newPI friends, for a cautionary tale. 1/6
Having a clean electrical ground is really important for everyone who does sensitive measurements. Electronics can interfere with each other through the ground, causing spurious signals. So we like to have grounds that are completely isolated from the rest of the building. 2/6
I knew this when it came time to build my lab, so I insisted on 3 independent ground panels, each connected to its own copper spike driven into the earth outside. (Why 3? I eventually want 3 fridges in the lab, each with their own ground; need more $$ first!). 3/6
The architect originally designed 3 panels all connected to the same copper spike. "Oh no no!" I said, "We need them all to be separate on their own individual spike." They redesigned it and I forgot about it, hubristically confident the problem was solved. 4/6
Yesterday I discovered that the 3 spikes...were all driven into the ground about 2 inches apart, right next to other building grounds. They're effectively all shorted to each other through the dirt. This has been causing issues! 5/6
So I'm off to beg the college to shell out precious pandemic $ to drive new ground spikes, in order to correct for the incompetence of the original architect/contractors. Please learn from my mistakes! 6/6

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More from @EliLevensonFalk

May 11, 2022
They're here! Once again, my quantum mechanics students made QM memes for extra credit while studying for their exams. Prior threads are in the QT and here:

Without further ado, let the memes commence!
Read 98 tweets
Sep 29, 2020
The midterm exam for my QM class is tomorrow, and I told my students they could get a bit of extra credit for making memes. So, as a treat for you all, a thread: Image
Image
Read 48 tweets
Aug 2, 2020
Man if people are mad about mathematicians using the same symbols to define different operations, wait until they see what we physicists are doing to the letter delta
Actual footnote from my dissertation: Image
And yes, 2+2 = 5 for some definitions of "2", "5", and "+"

Just because real number arithmetic is the only thing you learned in school doesn't mean it's the only possible way to do math.
Read 4 tweets
Jun 19, 2019
On moderation in politics, a short thread: let's say there's a house on fire. The fire is manageable at the moment, but it's spreading rapidly. 3 people are trying to decide what to do about the fire.
Person A recommends dousing it with as much water as possible
Person B starts poring gasoline on the fire
Person C says the fire is a problem, but hooking up the water hose is hard, so instead recommends spitting on the fire

Person C is not a moderate! They're a radical!
Just because they're less radical than person B doesn't mean they're moderate! The middle ground is not always moderate! Incremental solutions to climate change aren't moderate. Accepting growing inequality isn't moderate. Doing nothing about structural racism isn't moderate.
Read 4 tweets
Feb 7, 2019
Oh hey @IBJIYONGI fancy seeing you in LA Image
We're 10 minutes into this talk and axions haven't been mentioned once. I demand a refund.
"If galaxies were closer to each other we definitely would be at Andromeda by now, and we probably would have messed it up, so it's a good thing."
Read 6 tweets
Feb 2, 2019
Tom Brady is made of 99.9% pure football, but unfortunately the .1% has shitty politics. So to make up for rooting for him, I'm giving love to the defense: $10 for every Patriots sack, forced fumble, interception, and 4th down stop, donated to The @TrevorProject. #AGoodGame
A lot of near-misses, but none of the stats I called out have happened yet. However, I think a scoreless quarter is worth $20
There's a sack, so we're up to $30.
Read 8 tweets

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