Got got to EADS-IW early in the morning and met Stefan and Dominik there. Stefan and I did experiments for my research right away while Dominik and Doc T discussed other things of business.
The apparatus they use to do water droplet tests is really simple. The determined volume of water is dispensed into the copper tube and falls through a pipet at the bottom where it falls onto a surface of various morphology and smoothness. Depending on the surface, the water droplet will stick to it, or roll off. The white squares perpendicular to the sample plate are an array of LED lights. They serve as the light source for the high speed camera. And they are bright!!
We ran several experiments: droplet on a flat surface, droplet on an inclined surface, among others, for various surfaces.
Thanks to the high speed camera, we were able to get slo-mo videos of the droplet impacting the surface. Have you ever seen the show Time Warp on the Discovery Channel? It's the same concept. We take something that happens in the blink of an eye and slow it down so we can study the behavior. It's really cool and if I can get a video uploaded when I get back to the states, I will.
The picture below is of the icing tunnel, this is what they use to do experiments with frozen droplets. It's like a mini-wind tunnel.
We played around with water...this is the kind of things engineers do. We play with toys. This next picture is a demonstration I will use for the lesson plan I am writing for the GK-12 INSPIRE fellowship. I've got several other sample plates that I can use to show students how the surface characteristics affect the interaction between the water and the surface.
I had a great time working with the guys at EADS-IW and it really gave me a better understanding of why I am doing the research that I am for them. Always a good thing, right?
After eating lunch with them, we took the bus/S-bahn (subway) back to Munich where I caught the bus to the airport. And this is where my story begins.
Doc T saw to it that I got it on the bus alright and the hotel said they would just bring my luggage over to the bus for me. My luggage never did show up, so Doc T went over and asked about it - yeah, the bell boy forgot. Oh yeah, oops. Ugh. So Doc T helped me haul it across the street just 30 seconds before the bus left. And I thought that was stressful...
We drove by the Olympic tower on the way to the airport so I got a quick picture of that from the bus window.
I make it to the airport in time and get through security fine. Here is how this lays down. I had a flight out of Munich at 5:30 pm which arrives in London Heathrow at 6:30 (with the time change). I then had a completely separate flight to Dublin at 9:10 pm. Since it wasn't a connecting flight, this meant I had to get my luggage, cross the border, and then re-check-in for my next flight and going back through security. In 2 hours and 45 minutes. Heathrow is a huge airport - so, I had to hustle.
As I am sitting there waiting for my flight in Munich reading my book, I heard someone say,
Passenger: Oy, a delay?
me: WHAT?!Sure enough, the flight is delayed AN ENTIRE HOUR. Shut the front door. This isn't happening.
The tears began welling up in my eyes. I rushed around everywhere looking for a customer service agent, but no one is in site. The security officer sent me back out through security (another stamp in the good ol' passport) and guess what - they couldn't help me.
British Airlines: Oh, sorry, we don't work with Aer Lingus.
me: Still bitter about the Irish, are we? [I didn't actually say that...but I thought about it]Tears again. The flight I was on to Dublin was the last flight of the night. I'm spending the night in Heathrow. Awesome. That's just bloody awesome.
Well, I'll skip all the details, but I did arrive JUST IN TIME to check in to my flight to Dublin Soaking in sweat, hair frizzed out to here, and panic in my eyes. I had to change terminals and probably run half a mile just to get to the check in counter before they closed the flight.
I have 2 bags, and I paid for 2 bags when I booked the tickets.
Customer Service Agent: Your bags are overweight.
me: No, they're under 23 kilos! I'm fine!
Customer Service Agent: 23 kilos for both bags.
me: [grumble, grumble, mutter, mutter...]
Customer Service Agent: The overweight charges will be 120 pounds. What would you like to do?She looked at me like I was completely out of my mind and I was. But I paid it, and decided to deal with the fine print about it all later. I still think she's wrong. By the way, 120 pounds = $200. Wonderful
I ran and ran and ran. Where on earth is this gate?! I seriously think I ran for 2 miles. But I made. I think the last time I was that excited to see my mom was the day I was born. Mom and grandma got huge Em hugs.
5 minutes later, we boarded the plane.
When we arrived in Dublin a short 55 minutes later, went to baggage claim. Everyone got their bags except me. Yeah, that's about right. The bag I paid for $200 to bring to Dublin isn't here. They will hopefully bring it to the bed and breakfast today. HOPEFULLY. My luck it fell out the back of the plane and is laying somewhere over western UK.
All well, Ireland is going to be amazing with or without clean clothes.
We got to our Bed and Breakfast around midnight. The owner was sweet enough to leave a key for us. I'll tell you the rest of our experience at the B&B later when I blog about Day 15, but let's just say I'm impressed!
As they say in Irish, slán! (goodbye)
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