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Eye witness report from the Hands-On PlasmaLab@TU/e Course 2012, part 1

Eye witness report from the Hands-On PlasmaLab@TU/e Course 2012, part 1

FUSENET sponsors the Hands-On PlasmaLab@TU/e course in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The course gives students the opportunity to get acquainted with a variety of plasma experiments. Three of the students that work together as a group, report:

  • Rasha Emara, Cairo, Egypt
  • Nora Lazanyi, Budapest, Hungary
  • Joana Lopes, Lisboa, Portugal

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Monday 27/8 we all arrived to Eindhoven Technical University, TU/e, the gathering point was in the TNO building which is not far from the Eindhoven train station... luckily!

Entering the TNO building each one of us had different expectations about the course and even different backgrounds. Moreover, we also came from places all around the globe!

The organizers welcomed us and gave us the opportunity to get to know each other, the weekly schedule and the instructors of the course. After the introductory presentation, which opened our appetite to the course and raised our expectations, not only the appetite for the course but also our appetite for our first Dutch lunch was increased, that was just at the right time, because our instructor announced the lunch break!

The lunch break was a good opportunity to have a little chat and get to know each other on friendlier basis.

After lunch we started our first experiment which was the Paschen curve and here we go... We already created plasma! How easy....
 

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A plasma was created!

 

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Visible evidence

 

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The Plasma is probed with an electrode: the Langmuir probe

Fortunately today we had to perform only one experiment which gave us a chance to go back and explore our hotel (which is very nice and cozy, by the way). Now it is time to have some rest and to prepare ourselves to continue the journey next day.

Good night!

Rasha, Nora and Joana.