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Author Topic:   using your cd-rom to test for anthrax
riVeRraT
Member (Idle past 416 days)
Posts: 5788
From: NY USA
Joined: 05-09-2004


Message 1 of 45 (301457)
04-06-2006 7:28 AM


I wish I could find the story, but I can't. I think I saw it last night on the science channel.
This guy developed software to test over 150 (adding more) different powdered substances using a blank cd, and your cd drive in your computer. It is really meant to have a quick way of testing any powdered substance that might come in the mail, etc.
You take a blank cd, put a drop of water on the inner circle, add the suspected substance. Bake in an oven at 75F for 20 minutes. Add a protective cover, and insert into your cd rom drive. With the software it uses the laser in the drive which has a resolution to 300 nanometers? to read the image left by the stain. Then a spectrograph of sorts pops up on your computer, and you can just compare images. I think it even tells you what it is, if it recognizes it.
I thought that was cool. What a practical application of science, using common items.

Replies to this message:
 Message 2 by nwr, posted 04-06-2006 8:46 AM riVeRraT has not replied
 Message 3 by crashfrog, posted 04-06-2006 8:58 AM riVeRraT has replied
 Message 6 by jar, posted 04-06-2006 11:11 AM riVeRraT has replied

  
riVeRraT
Member (Idle past 416 days)
Posts: 5788
From: NY USA
Joined: 05-09-2004


Message 4 of 45 (301497)
04-06-2006 10:42 AM
Reply to: Message 3 by crashfrog
04-06-2006 8:58 AM


I watched them do it on the science channel.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 3 by crashfrog, posted 04-06-2006 8:58 AM crashfrog has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 5 by Wounded King, posted 04-06-2006 10:59 AM riVeRraT has replied
 Message 13 by crashfrog, posted 04-06-2006 2:22 PM riVeRraT has replied

  
riVeRraT
Member (Idle past 416 days)
Posts: 5788
From: NY USA
Joined: 05-09-2004


Message 7 of 45 (301510)
04-06-2006 11:16 AM
Reply to: Message 5 by Wounded King
04-06-2006 10:59 AM


No, last night. I can't seem to find any info to back up what I saw.

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riVeRraT
Member (Idle past 416 days)
Posts: 5788
From: NY USA
Joined: 05-09-2004


Message 8 of 45 (301515)
04-06-2006 11:20 AM
Reply to: Message 6 by jar
04-06-2006 11:11 AM


Re: sorry but this one seems just plain funny.
jar, you are funny.
Instead of trying to prove it wrong, try to imagine how it would be done. It was the science channel, not E!
You don't ahndle it, only qualified people can.
The oven they used was a labrotory oven, kind of looked like a toaster oven, probably used to speed up culture growth.
The cover was a thin pastic film, so that you wouldn't contaminate your drive.
They probably use the inner cirle because there is no information there, and need a clean read. You can instruct your cd-rom to do whatever you want, if you know how to program it. It was within the inner 1 inch of the cd.

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 Message 6 by jar, posted 04-06-2006 11:11 AM jar has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 9 by jar, posted 04-06-2006 11:31 AM riVeRraT has replied

  
riVeRraT
Member (Idle past 416 days)
Posts: 5788
From: NY USA
Joined: 05-09-2004


Message 11 of 45 (301593)
04-06-2006 2:08 PM
Reply to: Message 9 by jar
04-06-2006 11:31 AM


Re: sorry but this one seems just plain funny.
Ok dude, your right, it's all a lie.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 9 by jar, posted 04-06-2006 11:31 AM jar has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 12 by jar, posted 04-06-2006 2:15 PM riVeRraT has not replied

  
riVeRraT
Member (Idle past 416 days)
Posts: 5788
From: NY USA
Joined: 05-09-2004


Message 14 of 45 (301609)
04-06-2006 2:25 PM
Reply to: Message 10 by kjsimons
04-06-2006 11:36 AM


Re: sorry but this one seems just plain funny.
It may have been 175F, my kid was talking to me while I was watching the show. They did say 20 minutes, and not to hot to melt the cd.
I thought 75F sounded odd, but all they needed to do was dry the stain.
The oven in this link looks like the one they used in the program, which starts at 50C.
http://www.ascoindia.com/...ms/laboratory-electric-oven.html
But they did use a standard PC with a cr drive. Something about the laser being able to read the signature left behind by the stain.
They did perform the whole operation on the show, it was the science channel, and I think it was beyond tomorrow, or discoveries this week, I don't remember, I was surfing.

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riVeRraT
Member (Idle past 416 days)
Posts: 5788
From: NY USA
Joined: 05-09-2004


Message 15 of 45 (301613)
04-06-2006 2:28 PM
Reply to: Message 13 by crashfrog
04-06-2006 2:22 PM


It's not an optical scanner, it's an interferometer.
right I understand that, I said like a spectrograph. I don't know how it works. They viewed a graph in the end product. Maybe the light is being blocked in a certain measurable manor?
I don't doubt that it could be a hoax. If it is, they presented it like it was real, I was so amazed, that is why I brought it here.
But the program was not a hoax type program. Ghost hunters is.

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riVeRraT
Member (Idle past 416 days)
Posts: 5788
From: NY USA
Joined: 05-09-2004


Message 16 of 45 (301615)
04-06-2006 2:32 PM
Reply to: Message 13 by crashfrog
04-06-2006 2:22 PM


Thank God

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riVeRraT
Member (Idle past 416 days)
Posts: 5788
From: NY USA
Joined: 05-09-2004


Message 18 of 45 (301621)
04-06-2006 2:42 PM
Reply to: Message 17 by jar
04-06-2006 2:35 PM


Re: Thank God
And that means?

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Replies to this message:
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riVeRraT
Member (Idle past 416 days)
Posts: 5788
From: NY USA
Joined: 05-09-2004


Message 20 of 45 (301628)
04-06-2006 2:54 PM
Reply to: Message 19 by jar
04-06-2006 2:45 PM


Re: Thank God
No, it's an entertainment company who does the producing, just like imax, or national geographic. It has no reflection on the program itself.
If you want to learn how it works you can follow the contact info at the bottom of the page:
Contact:
Dr. Cameron L. Jones
Swinburne University of Technology
Phone +61 (0)3 9214 8267
Fax +61 (0)3 9819 0821
This message has been edited by riVeRraT, 04-06-2006 02:54 PM

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Replies to this message:
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riVeRraT
Member (Idle past 416 days)
Posts: 5788
From: NY USA
Joined: 05-09-2004


Message 25 of 45 (301649)
04-06-2006 3:17 PM
Reply to: Message 21 by jar
04-06-2006 2:59 PM


Re: Thank God
hilarious, is that a Christian term, or is that how you love me like you love yourself?
I pretty much got it word for word how it happened, except maybe for the temp of the oven, which I may have not heard correctly.
If you weren't so busy trying to make me look like a fool, you might have learned something. I can't see how your approach is even remotely Christian.
But if I was to examine everything you said, you would find that if you watched the show, that you were completely wrong in all of your assertions, but one. Nothing was negated. They used an ordinary cd rive, that is what they said on the show, not a special one.
They also said blank cd.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 21 by jar, posted 04-06-2006 2:59 PM jar has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 32 by jar, posted 04-06-2006 5:40 PM riVeRraT has replied

  
riVeRraT
Member (Idle past 416 days)
Posts: 5788
From: NY USA
Joined: 05-09-2004


Message 26 of 45 (301653)
04-06-2006 3:19 PM
Reply to: Message 24 by Modulous
04-06-2006 3:13 PM


Re: interesting stuff/primary literature
Thank you for posting that.
They did mention that similiar technology can be used to identify bacteria.
he analog laser light interference pattern is then converted into a digital signal from the changes in voltage with this process all occurring in a matter of seconds.
According to crash this is impossible?

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riVeRraT
Member (Idle past 416 days)
Posts: 5788
From: NY USA
Joined: 05-09-2004


Message 27 of 45 (301655)
04-06-2006 3:20 PM
Reply to: Message 22 by kjsimons
04-06-2006 3:07 PM


Re: Thank God
The thing is, if it were anthrax, the last thing you would want to do is handle it, much less spin it around at very high speeds.
Hence the plastic cover, that jar said won't fit in the drive. cough cough.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 22 by kjsimons, posted 04-06-2006 3:07 PM kjsimons has not replied

  
riVeRraT
Member (Idle past 416 days)
Posts: 5788
From: NY USA
Joined: 05-09-2004


Message 28 of 45 (301662)
04-06-2006 3:29 PM
Reply to: Message 9 by jar
04-06-2006 11:31 AM


Re: sorry but this one seems just plain funny.
Well, no you can't. You cannot program a CD drive to read areas where the head cannot physically cover.
LOL
The world IS flat, really!!!
You just cannot be wrong, is that it?

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Replies to this message:
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 Message 31 by New Cat's Eye, posted 04-06-2006 4:43 PM riVeRraT has not replied

  
riVeRraT
Member (Idle past 416 days)
Posts: 5788
From: NY USA
Joined: 05-09-2004


Message 42 of 45 (301879)
04-07-2006 8:21 AM
Reply to: Message 32 by jar
04-06-2006 5:40 PM


Re: Thank God
Anyone reading that who does not immediately hear the ringing gong of a BS detector needs some lessons in critical thinking.
I am not going to even address your post.
What I usually do if someone posts something, and I think it is BS, or I don't understand it, I take some time to research it, and either learn about it, or debunk it for the person, in a nice way. Nobody knows everything, and we all need a little humble pie once and a while.
Just because I may not be able to word things well, does not mean I do not understand the concept, or what is going on. Too many dugs in my past maybe.

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