this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2024
100 points (100.0% liked)

Science

13033 readers
47 users here now

Studies, research findings, and interesting tidbits from the ever-expanding scientific world.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:

Be sure to also check out these other Fediverse science communities:

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
alyaza@beehaw.org
Gaywallet@beehaw.org
remington@beehaw.org
100
Decades of research destroyed after freezer fails at Swedish university (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 9 months ago by BuddyTheBeefalo@lemmy.ml to c/science@beehaw.org
23 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] IrritableOcelot@beehaw.org 6 points 9 months ago

I can answer questions 2 and (tentatively) 4!

When freezing samples, they are cooled rapidly to form vitreous (noncrystalline) ice. If the ice warms enough (and that temp is still well below 0°C), it can transition into a crystalline form. This makes the ice expand and become spiky, which can damage proteins and cells.

For differences in LN2 usage, not every dewar is created equal. Age, the degree of vacuum between the walls, and the distance between the inner and outer walls can substantially affect the thermal conductivity, and thus the boil-off. Differences in how they are capped (which by nature can't be vacuum-insulated) can also change their efficiency.