Oxford Day Three: JET and quiz time

Today was another fantastic day in Oxford. Again the breakfast began the day which was the same cereal and juice. This time I decided to have two packs as I was feeling particularly hungry, which did not turn out to be a good idea as I drenched my Alpen in milk. I don't usually drink any cow's milk at home so throughout the day I had awful stomach pains, which probably means I am mildly lactose intolerant. Anyway, that is probably TMI.

First we had a lecture on Nanomaterials by Jude Britton, a PhD student. It was an interesting lecture as she talked us through what a nanomaterial is (a material that is one billionth of a meter) and why they are so useful - properties quantise, can be used in drugs and surface area increases exponentially.  We talked about some of the techniques that her department uses to observe these tiny, tiny particle, such as Scanning Electron Microscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy and Scanning Probe Microscopy. Her research group covers various nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotubes, chalcogenides and graphene.

Next was a lecture delivered by David regarding presentation skills.

Before lunch, we finished off our research in preparation to our visit to JET at Culham. Lunch again was disappointing, but luckily they had watermelon - my favourite - and I had slices of that.

Afterwards, we went on the coach to JET. At this time I was feeling pretty nauseous but I kept this to myself. We were equipped with hard hats and entered the facility. We could not view the actual JET as they were preparing it for running or something like that, so we just walked around the big hall with all the different spare parts. We viewed the control centre as well as the training facilities for the operators of the robotic controls for inside the Tokamak. I have more written up about nuclear fusion from Oxford Day One, so please check that out if you are interested into why we visited the centre.

Dinner included some nice steak, potatoes and some vegetables for once: courgette. Afterwards was our quiz night and I was part of the Cumberbitchezzzz/Jar Enthusiasts. We didn't win but it was fun whilst it lasted. Next we played some truth or dare which ended up with me in a bin and  then an awful chair-moving-around game. Now I am tired and going to sleep.