National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

When you buy produce at the grocery store, you may use a scale to weigh your fruits and veggies. NIST helps ensure the accuracy of these scales through an instrument called the Kibble balance. Relying on electromechanical power and gravitational forces, this exquisitely accurate machine turns the precise definition of the kilogram into physical reality. The balance, which lives in an underground lab on our Maryland campus, is also extremely sensitive. It can detect external “noise,” or environmental disturbances, such as people walking in the hallway, and it can even record the seismic shock waves from earthquakes as far as Asia. Researchers can detect these disturbances in their measurements down to 0.000000001, or the ninth decimal place. But researchers have a variety of ways to account for these disturbances, so they don’t affect the measurements. Learn more about the kibble balance: https://lnkd.in/dzz4Aj64 #Metrology #Metric #Balance #Mass #Measurements

They rank among the darkest and coldest places in the solar system: thousands of lunar craters, most of them at the moon’s south pole, never receive direct sunlight and lie in permanent shadow. That’s exactly why NIST physicist Jun Ye and his colleagues suggest these craters are the perfect place to build a critical component for an ultra-stable laser.  This laser could lay the foundation for a GPS-like signal for spacecraft to navigate the moon’s surface, highly precise measurements of the distance between satellites, and the first atomic timekeeping signal on another celestial body.  🔗 https://lnkd.in/eZkWkYcG

When a hurricane sweeps away a neighborhood or a high-rise collapses in the middle of the night, it’s important to understand what went wrong and how to prevent it from happening again. Tanya-Brown Giammanco is NIST’s director of Disaster and Failure Studies. The work of her and her team helps make the buildings around us safer. You can learn more about Tanya’s research here: https://lnkd.in/dvxYamya

These stainless-steel beads form a powder that is over six times finer than flour, meaning each individual particle is too small to see with the naked eye. Powders like this are the basic building material of a type of metal 3D printing called "laser powder bed fusion" or (PBF-LB). It works by spreading out a thin layer of metal powder and using a powerful laser to melt the powder together into a specific shape. Then the process continues by laying down a fresh layer of powder on top and repeating. Each layer is leveled off by a wiper. It’s like the way you might level off a cup of flour with the back of a knife. To make a good 3D-printed part, it's important that the powder is spread in an even, consistent way. Now, thanks to NIST research, we can watch the powder spreading and study its behavior. This work will improve the consistency and quality of metal 3D printed parts.

NIST researchers recently sent a package of house dust into space, in collaboration with NOAA: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration and Rhodium Scientific.  That may seem like an odd choice to pack in a space suitcase, but house dust is one of the most complex and best chemically understood reference materials we have here at NIST. The dust’s journey to space may help us better understand how space flight and time in space affect materials.    https://lnkd.in/emyXTB9n    #Space #SpaceTravel 

The “forever chemicals” known as PFAS are commonly used in firefighters’ protective gear to repel moisture. But these long-lived compounds have also been linked to an increased risk of cancer. NIST researchers conducted a series of studies to understand how much PFAS is present in firefighter gear. Their latest study looks at how wear and tear affects PFAS levels in the hoods and gloves worn by structural firefighters (firefighters who work in buildings) as well as the lightweight clothes worn by wildland firefighters. They found that after wear and tear, PFAS levels increased in hoods and gloves but decreased in wildland gear. Understanding these changing PFAS levels will be an important factor for people who make, buy, or wear firefighter gear. Learn more about the new study here: https://lnkd.in/euK_EKu6

We're mapping out the chemical makeup of the illicit drug landscape in near real-time through NIST's Rapid Drug Analysis and Research (RaDAR) program. Our researchers work with local, state and federal partners to provide quick, comprehensive and actionable data to address a rapidly evolving public health crisis. With this data, it's possible to track new substances of concern (such as animal tranquilizers used as cutting agents) as they enter the supply in one area of the country and estimate when they might reach another area. Making public health professionals aware of what's coming can make a difference in how they treat patients entering health clinics and hospitals. The measurement work by NIST is done in this laboratory. Here, we use instruments called direct analysis in real time mass spectrometers (DART-MS) to analyze drug residue samples. The black tubes are portable snorkels, which suck in the vapors generated during the DART-MS analyses to keep our researchers safe from possible exposure.

Building safety tip for disasters: Set up weather alerts for your family. Some disasters, like fires and tornadoes, can strike suddenly, sometimes only giving you minutes to react. May is Building Safety Month. You can help make your home safer today by setting up multiple ways to receive warnings, such as a NOAA weather radio and mobile "push" alerts. Don't rely on sirens alone! Visit https://lnkd.in/ghWjGSD for information on how to set up different types of weather alerts. #BuildingSafety365 #StrongCommunities

Take a peek inside the NIST Fire Research Lab. This facility is dedicated to understanding how fire behaves and how structures respond to fire. It houses four exhaust hoods to filter smoke, gases and other combustion products during fire research experiments. The large high-bay test area (shown here) has the lab’s largest exhaust hood. It also has a unique concrete floor and surrounding wall, allowing researchers to construct various building structures for fire experiments. For example, they’ve built part of a kitchen, part of a house’s exterior wall, and an entire floor of a building. They’ve also conducted a large car burn and a 20-foot pine tree burn for wildfire research.

Here is a translation from your friendly Gen-Z social media team: "To be honest, NIST is underrated."