Count me in! We have lots of muck and mire in NYC to investigate. Conversely, we also have many delicious varieties of olive oil. :)

I want to test one!

Hooray!

If you are asking me if I would allow you to send me one of these kits, for free...sure. How could I say no? I'll see what I can do with it.

I have done a lot of water quality analysis work using double beam UV/V spectrophotometer to determine phosphates, nitrates, nitrates, ammonia using standard methods. I will get your desk spectrophotometer kit and compare against Hitachi U-2000 (double beam UV/V spectrophotometer) and Hach DR-2000(single beam V spectrophotometer) and see how it compares. Most of these methods have been adapted to use for school and concern environmental groups and as screen or even bench mark tests are quite suitable. It certainly will require chemicals to react and produce colours that can be measured by the desktop spectrophotometer. This could be a way to use a calibrated spectrophotometer. "Lab community are still using light bulbs for absorption spectroscopy, and many new spectrometer makers are not sure what to do once they've calibrated their spectrometer." It would certainly require a lot of adjustments. Well is just a thought.

Hey Matt - well, not free, but as you can see the cost is going to be pretty darn low.

@Paquicamus - sounds awesome! Could you link to some of the methods you mention? Perhaps they'll influence the ones we're developing. In particular I'm interested in the nitrate method, though it's unrelated to the oil detection.

matt_p this is scott, gulf coast, i have most of these materials, or their analogues

what i don't have is time

nice, count us in for testing. based in yogyakarta, indonesia. perfect addition to our current research during hackterialab 2014.

@dusjagr Marc, awesome! Hey, also can you post that picture of your custom hackteria foldable spec i saw on Facebook to this site so we can cite it?

I think he already did: http://publiclab.org/notes/dusjagr/04-29-2013/redesign-of-the-foldable-mini-spectro-to-hold-a-cuvette

Here is an updated file: http://hackteria.org/wiki/index.php/DIY_spectroscopy#Updated_version

hey jeff, hey scott, i am (still) willing to purchase a kit to help this get off the ground. i'm hoping to have more time in...april. scott, lets get together and work on this sometime down the line.

any winter camp this year? PublicLab spring break maybe? wooooooooooo!

I saw that note -- thanks for updating it with your update! But i was asking about this great picture of a foldable spec with the hackteria logo on it from Marc about a month ago--I particularly like this image!

I think I just need some cuvettes. I have the laser and spectrometer. Oh, and perhaps some standard samples.

I would like to be part of the testing project. I'll buy the kit. When will it be available?

Great -- Mathew just ordered all the parts yesterday; once they arrive we'll put up an order link on the store. Thanks, this is exciting!

Markdown: An oil train, presumed to be full of bakken Oil, spilled on tracks between Red Wing and Winona MN along the Mississippi River. I photographed the site, and the putrid orange oil. I would like to use the kit to help find out how much oil is spilled, what is in this orange stuff, and get an idea how much might go in the river and affect the river, which is a major migratory flyway

For everyone who wanted a sampling kit, the parts for 20 have arrived. e-mail us and we'll share a private purchase link kits@publiclab.org

Alpha oil testing kits now available!

http://store.publiclab.org/products/spectrometry-sampling-kit

Tip on 405nm UV LED which then has wide-band RGB phosphors for visible light: http://www.open-photonics.com/featured-technologies/high-cri-leds

American Science and Surplus is out of the square glass bottles: http://www.sciplus.com/p/WHITCAP-BOTTLE_48212

I called them and they said that the manufacturer discontinued them.

Did Public Lab buy them out? ; )

Any thoughts on a replacement? I'd like to keep a stock of them in house.

is this the one that is shown in the picture at the top?

It's 45mm tall, and 3.5ml.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/STANDARD-GLASS-CUVETTE-OPEN-TOP-WITH-LID-10MM-3-5ML-/261133481707

actually, we did buy out all the rest of their stock.

also, the recommended laser pointer comes with 5 different tops. are those necessary or will the standard tops do?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/405nm-5mW-Violet-Purple-Blue-Ray-Blue-Laser-Pointer-Pen-CR-/181395482090

you just want a beam. the other tops that are cats and stars and octopuses are not helpful.

would the ones from ebay that I posted in the comment above be a good replacement?

Cats you say? Then the cat gobo is for sure 1000% necessary. What kind of science are you people running!?! I'm surprised the spectra are appearing clearly at all.

Actually @stevie and @natalie are sourcing new bottles right now, maybe you can get in on the order. We're hoping to switch to nail polish bottles, and Stevie found a good place to buy them already... Stevie, did you have a chance to post them on the wiki page Natalie mentioned?

Cuvettes, although they are what are used in labs, kind of suck -- amazingly they leak! And are way overpriced. The nail polish bottles are ~$0.50 each.

I want an octopus-shaped laser!!! I've used some of those funny-shaped ones to spread the laser out more, since although it's less bright, it means it's easier to line up with the spectrometer slit.

We're also talking about using UV LEDs, so that may be an option too, although we haven't been able to get them as bright as the laser, using "bouncer" flashlights.

I did post the ones we were looking at on the page here: http://publiclab.org/wiki/oil-testing-kit#Parts+list

Or the direct links to the ones we were looking at are here: http://www.ebottles.com/showbottles-bottle-1556-kw-ELIQUID_VIALS.htm

http://www.ebottles.com/showbottles-bottle-1329-gclid-Cj0KEQjwopOeBRC1ndXgnuvx8JYBEiQAq4RPt_MBIoRstpRXJzK66iXV1lbaZ6J7TWOot8oR6wDas7QaAops8P8HAQ-kw-NAIL_POLISH_BOTTLES_WITH_BRUSHES___GLASS.htm

also, I like the broader laser idea as well, for lining up purposes... of course, and Not because there animals in the office who might be fun to tease with beaming octopi.

Boom.

a confusion about the parts list on the line about the laser:

"or http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/350812684726?lpid=82 to buy just one cuvettes"

two things that could use clarification:

1) The laser pointer link is for 3 pointers of different colors, but you only need the 405nm, right? The caps are optional but some people have expressed use for them. What about these links instead? Bummer. No animal gobos. Sad face emoticon.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2in1-5mw-Blue-Violet-Purple-Laser-Pointer-Pen-With-Star-Cap-405nm-Best-Selling-/301258047058

or if you want more caps:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/6-in-1-5mW-405nm-Violet-purple-Blue-Laser-Pointer-with-5-Patterns-Star-Caps-/371078275357

2) did you mean "to buy just one laser pointer" instead of "to buy just one cuvettes"?

Hi, Benjamin - I think we're now going off the parts list on the oil testing kit page: http://publiclab.org/wiki/oil-testing-kit#Parts+list

Yes, I think we meant pointers! Could you post your two links to the wiki page? Thanks!

sure thing. maybe add something on this page that says "most recent parts list here" where here is the wiki page.

indeed. Updating now!