From sci.chem Tue Nov 12 18:32:13 1996
From: n5p2y5gv@abaco.coastalnet.com (Patrick Simcox)
Newsgroups: sci.chem
Subject: Re: Lab Accidents.......
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 03:36:15 GMT
Organization: Global Information Exchange Corp.

rwpick01@ldd.net (Randal W. Pick) wrote:

>All *true* chemists must have had at least one or two spectacular accidents while they were in 
>school learning the science and craft. Here's one of mine (let's hear yours):

I have had the experience of several accidents, and while such events
are instructive, I would rather pay a bit less for learning...

I was performing a vacuum distillation of a material which had an
impressively high boiling point, even under high vacuum.  Something
like 220 C.  Idiot me, it never occured to me that the cooling liquid
around the condensor needed to be hot.  So the distillate crystallised
in the condensor, eventually blocking it.  Which caused the pressure
in the pot to build up until the thermometer was blown out.
Fortunately, the joint wasn't clamped down, which is something of a
habit for me, or the whole pot would likely have blown apart.  Well,
worst case anyway.

When I was an undergraduate, I was working as an assistant/gopher in a
natural products lab.  After assembling a THF still, we would take the
sodium flakes that were left over along with any towels and other
equipment to an isolated part of the lab and spray small amounts of
water on them to react any excess sodium.  Our professor walked in one
day while we were about to do this and when he found out what we were
doing, said that was a bit involved, just take the stuff and throw it
in the sink.  Which he proceeded to do before we could stop him.
There was acetone in the sink from washing glassware (the sink didn't
drain particularly well).  The resulting fire was both brief and
spectacular.

Another accident occured just the other day.  I had a static discharge
followed by explosion in a 15 gallon kettle while doing some pilot
work.  Fortunately, no one was hurt but this is the kind of thing that
has you rethinking your career options.  The kettle was grounded but
it never occured to me (or I should point out, the chem engineers I
work with) that the glass in the kettle would probably insulate the
reaction mixture from the ground.

Lab accidents are something to learn from so similar mistakes can be
avoided in the future.  It isn't what you know that will kill you.
It's what you didn't bother to find out beforehand.