Journals 2006/2007

Mike Lampert
West Salem High School, Salem, OR

"Infrasound (low-frequency atmospheric acoustic) monitoring" October 3 - 18, 2006

Journal Index: October 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11             12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18

October 12, 2006
Pressure Testing

I am up at dawn, the rooster crowing, the church bells ringing and another hot day. My clothes are dry enough from hanging overnight. I have the car now and drive to the B&B for breakfast then head out to the site with Clint. He has a physics degree and wants his EE in digital signal processing. He has a unique hands-on, hard working ethic that is very valuable to academic professors. He recommends to students that they involve themselves with internships. There is a lot of interesting science behind infrasound. This is sound that has a frequency typically less than one hertz. It can circumnavigate the globe with very little dissipation. You can learn more about it by visiting this website: http://www.inframatics.org/ or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrasound.

A very cool thing to do is to listen to infrasound. Yes, you can listen to it if you play it back at a higher speed, just like people use to do by spinning records fast. http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20051130/sprite.wav.

We head to H1 to do a pressure test. We fill the entire system with air at 20 psi by using a portable generator. Unfortunately it does not hold. All my work yesterday has been fruitless as the caps are leaking and have to be retightened. I water test each one and after an hour I am able to stabilize the pressure. The work crew then is cleared to place the inlets on. This will allow them to get them covered with gravel. I go through the site and install the capillaries. I notice one had already been installed and this was the likely reason for the small pressure drop. I am confident the manifolds are ok and head to H2 where the others are finishing up the wiring. I help out as I can, several people show up to do an inspection, the folks from Vienna, an engineer from Praia and the electrical contractors. It disrupts things. Later we head to town.

Inspectors oversee the project so that it meets international specifications.		There is one main gas station, the receipt for gas is a lengthy hand written paper.		Getting a bit grizzly not shaving

We have lunch in Ihrma's courtyard. I am a guest. On Thursdays, Paolo takes the day off. The food is pasta first, then small fish, then beef and then green bean potato stew. I drink lots of water and it is back to the site again. I stop to get gas, I have no clue how much is left with a busted meter. The gas station attendant makes sure to let me know the cashier is not married, she smiles kindly. At the site trees are in the way so I spend an hour cutting branches. Then I wire up the solar panel and help thread wire. It rapidly gets dark and we can barely see as we head back. I follow the truck blindly in the dark with clouds of dust blocking my vision through the twisting roads. Dinner is at the Tutti Fruitti, it is eggplant, and back home at 11 pm. It is another long day.

A pig joins us for lunch.