Issues with the 600 MHz NMR in SBC!
What happened?
On Monday March 31st, a mistake was made during a liquid helium refill of the 600 MHz NMR in SBC. Our cryogen supplier delivered a different style of dewar, which caused the NMR lab staff to mix up the liquid and gas ports on the dewar (see picture below).
So instead of filling our 600 MHz NMR with liquid helium, we filled with gaseous helium!
Normally, this mix up isn't that big of a deal. Anyone who has ever played with a helium balloon knows that it will float up to the ceiling if it is not tied down. The same thing happens with NMR magnets. In fact, the vendor includes retractable bolts on the feet to hold the magnet in place during fills. Unfortunately, Sarah and I were discussing baseball and we forgot to engage these bolts! Furthermore, the weather was nice so we opened the sun-roof to our lab for safety reasons.
I take full responsibility for not paying close enough attention when the magnet floated right out of the NMR lab!
Sarah and Laurie ran outside to try to grab the magnet before it got away, but were too late!
All they could do is watch the magnet fly away!
The magnet took quite a journey! It was windy so we followed it as it visited several notable sites on campus, including Allen Fieldhouse, Memorial Stadium, Strong Hall and Fraser Hall!
Fortunately, we did some quick calculations based on the effusion rate of gaseous helium and determined how long the magnet would be aloft. Then calculating the wind speed and direction we were able to guess within a few hundred yards where the magnet would finally come to rest, which was where the Wakarusa River converges with the Kansas River just north of Eudora, Kansas!
We were able to load the magnet into my truck and get it back to Lawrence. We'll clean it off and recharge it, if necessary. Unfortunately, this instrument will be unavailable for the next couple of months!
The KU NMR core lab staff is really embarrassed by this fiasco. We feel like fools! We sincerely apologize to all of the researchers at KU solving serious problems for our state, nation and the world. We will do whatever we need to help collect data on the other instruments in the fleet until the 600 is operational again. And we promise that we will never make this mistake again!
Justin Douglas
Director, KU NMR core lab
4/1/2025