I used to understand a little bit of science when I was at school. I once wanted to become a doctor... but then I decided I didn't have the patience. Scientists have a skill I don't, I guess I could have learnt it, but now it's too late for me. Yesterday I proved myself right in that belief.
Bored as I was while my sister prepared her cells to freeze them, I walked about looking for stuff that could be fun. Liquid nitrogen (-196ºC) was the first dicovery, but I needed an expert to handle it, so I let my sister freeze gloves in nitrogen while I watched mesmerised how the liquid disappeared as it hit the ground, or a table. So. Much. Fun. But dangerous. If liquid nitrogen get into your eyes, you should start saying goodbye to the amazing gift of sight. No kidding.
So I finally found something fun-but-not-dangerous that I could enterntain myself with while my sister worked: Parafilm. Quoting the company that created it: "Parafilm® M is a versatile, moisture-resistant, thermoplastic flexible plastic for a wide variety of clinical and industrial applications, Parafilm M® film has been used with confidence for years in scientific research and medical settings".
To make things easier, Parafilm is a plastic tape that you can stretch to protect things such as bottles. If used correctly, and I want to emphasize that, correctly, it can protect anything from getting wet, but I lacked the skill to use it correctly.
And then... then's when I had "the brilliant idea": Why not cover my cell phone in parafilm and put it in a sink full of water? Excellent idea. My sister helped my to cover it from left to right, but then I was left alone to finish the job and cover it from top to bottom. That was the begining of the end. Believing I had done it right, I dipped my telephone into the water, and left it there while laughing a little bit histerically (I did not trust myself, but my sister insisted...). A minute later I take the phone out of the water and checked the results of my experiment... THERE WAS WATER INSIDE THE SUPPOSEDLY WATER RESISTANT PLASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I panicked and tried to get the phone out of its cover, but one of the properties of parafilm is that it is very difficult to break it once it's stretched. So I start screaming, finally manage to break the plastic and contemplate my very wet cell phone. There was water inside the battery, and between the buttons.
I have never felt more intelligent in my life. I dried the sad little device as quickly as I could. It is still working. Had I broken my cell I would have never been able to forgive myself, it would have felt like I had murdered it by drowning it into the water.
My legal mind first thought of suing the company, but they are intelligent (unlike me) and they limit the liability of its product to its "correct use", dipping cell phone into water is not considered one of those correct uses.
Still, I have another experiment in mind to carry out next time I go with my sister to the lab: Cover the cell phone in parafilm with so many layers that if you bang it against the floor it won't break. Bets are accepted, will my cell die this time?
Have a nice week,and wish me luck, the results of my exams are coming out on thursday. Next update will be in march, next weekend I'll be in Brussels!!!
*** Parafilm: http://www.parafilm.com/Fl
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