If you have been around a chemist or chemical engineer for long enough, you will probably hear the term “DI water” mentioned at least once. This term stands for distilled deionized water, which essentially means really, really pure water. It is used when working with chemicals as it will not contaminate solutions with minerals or other impurities.
Today, my lab ran out of DI water, and I was the lucky one selected to go get more. I had to walk to another building carrying an empty jug. It was raining when I went, and the irony of the situation hit me. I was walking through rain in order to get water.
This is the sort of thing which only happens when you work in a lab with chemicals: your water has to be “special”, even when there is water everywhere. It reminds me of a play on the old sailor’s story. Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to use for my experiments.
– Gavin
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