• Question: have you ever done a big experiment?

    Asked by The Jackson 5 to Abbey, Aaron, Keith, Natalie, Pete on 12 Nov 2015. This question was also asked by leanne, WILDCATS14, Hollyking, F-E-L-I-X, cricketboy.
    • Photo: Aaron Boardley

      Aaron Boardley answered on 12 Nov 2015:


      I now mainly work with other scientists to help them share their work, rather than doing experiments myself, so I have very few big examples I can point to.

      One of the biggest projects I was working on was in a previous job where I was writing computer software to predict what would happen underground if you buried nuclear waste there. Although I was only working on the computer software, other people were out in the field taking measurements, digging holes, and looking at the different options. If you consider that the site was nearly 700 metres underground, you realise what a big project this was!

      For projects of this size, teamwork is important. I was only working on a small part of it. The same is true of lots of big experiments – individual scientists or teams of scientists will work on a small part of it, that adds up together to a big experiment. I’m sure the other scientists have done bigger, and cooler, experiments than me though!

    • Photo: Natalie Garrett

      Natalie Garrett answered on 12 Nov 2015:


      Most of the work I do involves microscopes, so I tend to look at small things (like living cells in dishes, for instance). However, the equipment I use is bolted onto a 3 meter long stainless steel bench, and we have a large room to house it all inside. Also, the work I do is part of a larger project involving other universities and also private companies, who all do different kinds of experiments and we work together to solve problems.

      So to answer your question, my experiments look at small things, using large equipment, as part of a larger group of scientists working together.

    • Photo: Keith Franklin

      Keith Franklin answered on 12 Nov 2015:


      I have done a very long experiment – where I cooked some chemicals up and heated them in an over for 2 years to see if I could turn them into a special kind of rock.

      It is quite a long time to wait, so it is big in terms of time.

      Any experiment which no-one has ever done before is cool, because you’ll be the person person to find something out!

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