The laboratory notebook entry
Four sheets, one session, split by when each is filled in rather than by subject. LN-1 goes on the bench before anything is opened, while the hypothesis is still a prediction. LN-2 and LN-3 are filled as the work happens. LN-4 is written once the result is dry and judged.
Print the ones the session needs: a session with no chemistry needs no LN-2, and a session that produces nothing to look at needs no LN-3. LN-1 and LN-4 are the two that always apply, because they are the prediction and the verdict.
The one thing the sheets cannot enforce is the one that matters. Fill them in at the time. A page completed from memory afterwards loses the field it exists for — the thing that went wrong at twenty minutes and was forgotten by the time the strips were dry.
Printing, versions, and why nothing on a sheet explains anything: see printable worksheets.
Pure Silver · The laboratory notebook entry
LN-1
Before — the session, the material and the chemistry
One session. Filled in with the bench still dry.
Sessionbefore
What this session is forbefore
Materialbefore
The chemistry on the benchbefore
| Solution | Formula version code | Dilution as used | Volume in the vesselmL | Mixed on | Measured pH | at°C |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pure Silver · The laboratory notebook entry
LN-2
As you go — what was weighed, and what was done to it
The same session, at the bench.
What was actually weighedas you go
| Substance | Formanhydrous, or which hydrate | Quantity the source gives | Mass actually weighed | Made up tomL | Balance used |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Processas you go
| Step | Product or formula version | Dilution | VolumemL | Temperature start / end°C | Time | Agitation or method, named |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Develop | ||||||
| Stop | ||||||
| Fix | ||||||
| Wash | ||||||
| Wetting agent | ||||||
| Dry |
The baths, beyond the tableas you go
Pure Silver · The laboratory notebook entry
LN-3
As you go — what you saw, and what came out
The same session, from the first change to the dry result.
Observations, at the time they happenas you go
| Time | What you saw | Against what reference |
|---|---|---|
Resultafter
Pure Silver · The laboratory notebook entry
LN-4
After — the analysis, and the one change
The same session, once the result is dry and judged.
Analysisafter
Nextafter
Pure Silver · The laboratory notebook entry
LN-5
Measured density and exposure
One instrument or material, one dated measurement session.
Conditions and traceabilitybefore
Measurementsas you go
| Sample / step | log exposure | Density reading 1 | Density reading 2 | Mean / uncertainty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Decisionafter
Where the fields come from
Every field on these sheets is one a written page of the course asks you to record. Those pages are linked here, and the build fails if one of them stops existing.
- Part 2 — commissioning your laboratoryOpens the notebook, the labelling scheme and the calibration log, and rules up its tables before the work starts.
- Part 4 — precipitating the silver halidesThe volumes and concentrations you actually made, the time of mixing, the room temperature, the light source, and any tube you disturbed.
- Part 4 — the latent image made visibleStrip label, paper and batch, exposure steps, lamp distance, the dates of exposure and development, developer temperature, and the storage between.
- Part 5 — coating your first emulsionOne batch-record entry per coated sheet, written as you go, from the melt temperature to the one change for the next sheet.
- Part 5 — chloride contact printing emulsionThe batch record in full, from the masses weighed to the silver waste collected.
- Part 5 — chlorobromide warm tone emulsionThe developer condition for every print — dilution, temperature and time — recorded as carefully as the emulsion was.
- Part 6 — processing your first filmOne notebook entry written as you go — film, developer, dilution, volume, temperatures, the time and its source, agitation, stop, fix, wash, result, one change.
- Part 8 — mixing d23 and d76The processing record, one per roll, and the negative record written before you scan anything.
- Part 8 — aerial oxidation experimentA session header, the masses actually obtained, a colour log by reading time, an activity log by strip, and what went wrong.
- Part 9 — experimental design for the darkroomA hypothesis, a control, one changed variable, and the developer named by version rather than by formula.
- Part 15 — film and developer characterisationRetains measured density readings, the exposure scale and the instrument conditions with the experimental session.