If Eddie were a bit more self-promoting, he might have pointed out this
paper:
http://journals.iucr.org/d/issues/1997/06/00/gr0718/gr0718.pdf
Snell et al. (1997). Acta Cryst. D 53, 747-755.
Where they found that crystals growing in space could "tell" when the
astronauts were exercising (low frequency vibrations). But I admit they
did not test the effects of fire alarms.
-James Holton
MAD Scientist
Edward Snell wrote:
On nucleation I’m not sure if there is any effect – I suspect you’ve
got far more trouble from Brownian motion. For growth low frequency
vibration (picking up the tray and putting it down) has much more
influence than high-frequency (e.g. fans or motors). The liquid acts
to damp most of the high-frequency effects. I would not worry about
the effect of the fire alarm, just the process of putting it in!
Cheers,
Eddie
Edward Snell Ph.D.
Assistant Prof. Department of Structural Biology, SUNY Buffalo,
Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute
700 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, NY 14203-1102
Phone: (716) 898 8631 Fax: (716) 898 8660
Skype: eddie.snell Email: [email protected]
Telepathy: 42.2 GHz
Heisenberg was probably here!
*From:* CCP4 bulletin board [mailto:[email protected]] *On Behalf
Of *Jim Pflugrath
*Sent:* Friday, January 22, 2010 10:11 AM
*To:* [email protected]
*Subject:* Re: [ccp4bb] question on the effect of a fire alarm on
crystallization
I do not know the effect myself, but the idea of "vibration fee" has
been tossed around a while. I believe that no vibration reduces the
amount of nucleation that one might get, thus a vibration-free
environment is detrimental when screening for hits. If you already
have a method to grow crystals, then I can be convinced that a
vibration-free environment might be helpful.
Some of my best crystals have grown after subjecting the trays to
physical or thermal shock. Since those observations, I never work
about vibrations or temperature control. I think about it, but I do
not worry about it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From:* CCP4 bulletin board [mailto:[email protected]] *On Behalf
Of *Jacqueline Vitali
*Sent:* Friday, January 22, 2010 8:14 AM
*To:* [email protected]
*Subject:* [ccp4bb] question on the effect of a fire alarm on
crystallization
Dear all,
Does anyone know the effect of a fire alarm placed in the same room
where one grows crystals?
(1) On trays placed inside styrofoam boxes
(2) On trays placed inside an incubator which has not been tested as
vibration free.
Thank you.
Jackie Vitali
