Chemistry Labs Incidents Anyone?

A.LOB

I find chemistry class most prone to a bit of fun - whether you're trying to blow benzoic acid crystals through a filter without goggles, annoying potassium, desperately trying to cover a new acid mark on the table or demonstrating the screening effect with people outside.



Anyone have any stories to share?

sunnyjim

Sounds like someone is looking for some stories for a project.

Kevster

I melted part of my left hand by accidentally spilling burning Magnesium onto it. There's still a dent in my hand from where the tissue was melted/evaporated-away.

DemocAnarchis

sunnyjim wrote: »

Sounds like someone is looking for some stories for a project.

Yep, smells like it to me.

Firstly, blow benzoic acid crystals through a filter? That doesn't make any sense. You don't "blow" anything solid through a filter. (You might use a pump and an inline filter to remove particulates from a large amount of liquid). Secondly, without safety glasses/goggles? Are you serious? I don't even step up to a fume hood without goggles on, nevermind work with a hazardous solid under pressure that might become airborne.

Annoying potassium? What does that even mean? Acid mark on a table? You don't work with acids on the bench unless they are extremely dilute. Even if you did mark the table with some solvent, so what? Why would you try to cover it up? Same with "screening effect", I have only ever heard that term as a synonym for shielding effect, can't see how you demonstrate that, or how said demonstration is dangerous.

Finally, accidents in chemical labs happen, but I certainly wouldn't call them a bit of "fun", moreso something you should try to minimise as much as possible.

sunnyjim

I assume anyone who's had a "H&S in the lab" talk has heard about the girl being impaled through the intestines and kidneys by a ****** *****. Happened a while ago in ***. Ouch.

Heggy

This sounds like Leaving Cert Chemistry, that's why everything's so unsafe. We have a fume cupboard, no one's been near it for years, goggles? me arse. Everyone just sits with them on top of their head.
2nd year, a stoppered test tube of nitric acid was left sitting about, one of the delinquents of the class immediately poured it over someone's bag, leaving it a nice orange.

QueenOfLeon

A.LOB wrote: »

I find chemistry class most prone to a bit of fun - whether you're trying to blow benzoic acid crystals through a filter without goggles, annoying potassium, desperately trying to cover a new acid mark on the table or demonstrating the screening effect with people outside.



Anyone have any stories to share?

Ahh, chemistry class, weve had a few minor incidents! Anytime anyone mentions the experiment of making oxygen, brings back great memories
Last years teacher, on the verge of retiring and really not caring what we got up to, was also clueless bout anything to do with chemistry so he would leave the chemicals etc on the table and we would attempt the experiments...
For the oxygen one, we had everything set up, all that was left was to add the hydrogen peroxide. The first pair took the bottle he had left out...1 fella poured it in while the other was ready to shove the stopper on it....
There was this bang and black smoke went everywhere...when it cleared, we see the fella holding the flask, black stuff all over his arms and face, this black soot-like stuff covering the table and black spots all over the roof....they're still there today a year later!!
The reason...the H202 was about 20 times more concentrated than the book had said...:p

A.LOB

sunnyjim wrote: »

Sounds like someone is looking for some stories for a project.

No afraid not. - Though thats an idea!

And Democ, accidents happen.. the things people do can be plain stupid but its taking the entertainment from what was not so funny a situation at the time after!

A bit of stained skin and potassium jumping out of the fume hut is not leathal, if you're fast enough

And screening effect is quite entertaining to demonstrate.. nominate some people for the nucleus. And set up your n=2 and n=3 level.. begin rotating and consider your trends chapter sorted.

cavedave

<urban legend>
a friend of mine was a postgrad. He moved a bookshelf and found a cupboard behind it. He open it up and finds a small storage space. Nice he thinks so he asks all the old heads in UCD about it. These guys have been in the building as long as there has been a building and none of them knew anything about it. He starts going through the bottles and is left with one big bottle with an unknown clear liquid in it. He does all the tests he can think of that don't involve opening up the bottle, no joy. So he rings up the chemical dumping/collections people. Turns out that unless he knows what it is they cannot collect and destroy it.
So he closes the cupboard door and puts the bookshelf back over it.
</urban legend>

Fringe

Friend of mine broke a pipette while trying to fit the suction thing and got a huge deep cut in his finger. There was so much blood all over the place and we could see a lump of flesh hanging off his finger.

Another guy forgot to turn on the water for refluxing. I watched his experiment and saw the fumes slowly rise up. As soon as they came out, the whole thing erupted in flames.

norrie rugger

DemocAnarchis wrote: »

Acid mark on a table? You don't work with acids on the bench unless they are extremely dilute. Even if you did mark the table with some solvent, so what? Why would you try to cover it up?

Ha Ha, you have obviously never been in a 1st year Biology degree class, chemistry practical.
1 girl did not want to que to use Nitric acid (I think, been a looooong while), went to fume hood, half filled a litre beaker and came back to the desk.
Her fingers had turned green the next day followed by blisters and pealing.
Also, I think, had burns through her lab coat

napapa

was working with aromatic acyl azides a while back carbon nitrogen ratio 3:2, had it on rot evap turned up heat, BOOM :eek: 8 stiches in arm! thank god for safety glasses