From sci.chem Thu Nov 14 17:26:14 1996
From: jwosni1@po-box.mcgill.ca (Jordan Wosnick)
Newsgroups: sci.chem
Subject: Re: Lab Accidents.......
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 05:34:22 GMT
Organization: McGill University

I might as well add one to the list...

Here at McGill we have a full-year lab course for 3rd-year chem majors that
involves organometallics, general inorganic stuff, and organic reactions. As a
result, everybody's doing different things at once, and things tend to get a bit
colourful...

One of the most popular labs involves making diphenylsilanediol from the
bromobenzene Grignard reagent and SiCl4. People tend to mess up the experiment
by turning the N2 flow too high, which evaporates away a lot of the ether and
ruins the reagent.

One person in the lab a couple of weeks ago did this and then proceeded to pour
the syrupy, useless Grignard reagent into the sink... It was quite a show. There
was a huge amount of smoke and a LOUD noise. The crazy thing was that despite
the stories that rapidly circulated, someone nearly did it again the other
day... I guess the goal of a lab course is partly to learn (from your
experiences, and others') what NOT to do.


___________________________________

Jordan Wosnick
McGill University, Montreal, Qc.
jwosni1@po-box.mcgill.ca