Death of a Salesman

Let's just say that I committed manslaughter today on a good friend of mine. The evidence will be posted tomorrow because the corpse is still at my workplace.

Of course, that friend isn't human. It's the* pH probe. Yes, the new one, intended for clean samples. We've been through much, the pH probe and I, despite the short time in which we have been acquainted. Samples large and small, clear and opaque, mostly acidic and all aqueous, at a wide range of temperatures.

Unfortunately, little pH probes attached to portable pH meters are never intended for environments like a 200 L tank**, half-filled with a near-boiling solution, with a powerful mixer in the vicinity. The pH reading kept fluctuating, and I wasn't sure whether I actually dipped the probe into the liquid or not due to the steam (and a lid), so I dipped the probe in further. Unfortunately, the probe is surprisingly buoyant and doesn't sink well when there exists a strong "current". It strayed into places where it shouldn't have been - the mixer rotor. The rest, as they say, is history.

There was actually so much steam over the tank that I didn't notice the pH probe was brutally killed until I started getting even wackier readings than usual (i.e. error messages). Then I went through the stages of grief pretty quickly (I needed the pH in a hurry) and did whatever I could to compensate.

My coworkers took the news surprisingly well (we have an old probe stashed somewhere), but I am now very sad. *Sniff* What will I do without a reliable pH probe?

(I realize that the tank solution is now contaminated with bits of a pH probe, some saturated KCl, and something else - maybe AgCl or Hg₂Cl₂; considering the tank size, I am hoping that it won't be an issue.)

Incidentally, that new probe must've been the old probe's protégé or something, because the old probe hates me and does things like drifting and giving me wacky pH values which caused me to overshoot my intended pH value by two (i.e. 100 times, eep!) *Sad*. I'll have to coax it a bit tomorrow*** morning with an acid soak and a base dip.

(On a random tangent, I haven't gotten a chance to do my titration yet. I hope I'll have the time to do it soon...)

[Edited]
Sorry, picture will be forthcoming in a few days - overtime means that I crash pretty much immediately upon arriving back "home".

[Edited again]
Pictures:


*I almost wrote "my" pH probe, except, of course, it isn't.
**It's not actually a tank, and is somewhat ill-suited to the task (among other things, stuff leaches from it). But I'll call it a tank anyway.
***Yep, working on Remembrance day... *feels vaguely guilty*