[sahmeepee]

You probably need a sputter coating machine too for most applications, and, at least in some cases, tricky consumables like liquid nitrogen.

I'm with you in wishing that they were more accessible, though. So many people want to do skydives, bungee jumps etc. that have never experienced the thrill of exploring the anatomy of tiny insects in incredible detail. They don't know what they're missing! That's before you even get onto cool stuff like WDS/WDX which I remember thinking was like science fiction when I first saw it.

[nullc]

> tricky consumables like liquid nitrogen

LN2 costs like $1/liter-- it's cheap.

[Aurornis]

The LN2 itself isn’t the problem.

It’s the appropriate container, handling equipment, PPE, and safety technique.

Unfortunately, as some of these things get cheaper you start attracting a different level of hobbyist who are less interested in learning proper handling technique and safety precautions. Not all of them, but enough that it becomes a problem.

I’ve seen this play out across a couple of my hobbies in the past decade. When things were hard to access, the people who put in the work to get there had an appreciation for doing it properly and being respectful of the environment and community. Once it becomes cheap enough you get a lot of weekend warriors trying to run through the process as fast as possible while seeing how many corners they can cut. Things get ugly.

[nullc]

Fortunately dewers have become a lot less expensive too. I'm not sure that we really need to be that concerned with the safety of LN2 while cars and ladders still exist.

For a SEM where LN2 is only going to get used in a cold trap or for flash freezing a sample, I think the HV risk dwarfs the LN2. ... or maybe the risk of a vacuum mishap causing a fire in the diffusion pump.

(or, if it's using a TMP instead of a diffusion pump-- a vacuum mishap causing a rapid unplanned disassembly)

[II2II]

I was mildly surprised when my university supplies office offered to sell some liquid nitrogen to me, no questions asked. Which was disconcerting for few reasons: I asked for dry ice, I lacked a dewar, and I would have to transport it on a subway. All they knew was that I was collecting supplies for a science demo. Granted, a demo using liquid nitrogen would be much more fun. It simply wasn't an option on short notice.

[nullc]

A thermos works fine. Safer if pretty underfilled. I'm not surprised by the response, to people who work with it regularly it's not a big deal. It's not like they were offering it to kid. That you knew enough to find it concerning is good enough. :)