Melted Tweezers
This week I’ve reached a new stage in my studies: I started to play with messy chemistry. In the past few days I wore strange looking protective cloths, and happily mixed acids, heated solutions, and did other neat stuff.
I got acquainted with colourful reactions (do you know what happens when you mix sulfuric acid with hydrogen-peroxide? it bubbles, smokes, heats to about 90 degrees, and melts every organic substance it touches, including you. Yes, it’s very toxic and it can also explode. Don’t try it unless you have a good respirator and you know exactly what you’re doing and why. It’s endless joy.) I spent hours dipping things and measuring stuff. After two full days I did a very stupid beginner’s mistake that took those days’ work to the garbage, and started all over again. This is how you study.
The mistake (no, I don’t refer to the one in which I accidentally switched fluoric acid wich chloric acid - this one was just stupid and will not happen again) was pretty colourful: I mixed toluene (don’t try this at home - it’s carcinogenic and requires special care) with some wierder materials; heated it and dipped my samples in the solution. I only realized I have a problem when my acid-resistant tweezers suddenly melted. A minute later I noticed that the jar that held my samples also melted. On top of the samples, that only 20 minuts before were probably the cleanest thing in the middle east.
Of course this didn’t stop me - it just made me go back to the books for a while, and then repeat most of the work. Chemistry is fun, but it’s only the first stage. The nice part is ahead of me - very soon I want to begin some experiments in biology and in physics, which will both make the chemistry look like a child’s game.
November 28th, 2007 at 1:30
I think you need to have a little more respect to the chemical lab environment.
A friend of mine lost two chemistry semesters in the Technion because he touched a glass container that was part of a closed system. Due to a reaction in the system the pressure inside was considerably lower than atmospheric pressure. The container imploded and his hand was never the same again.
And be very careful with anything that starts with H or H2 or H3 and ends with a halogen or or some ion like NO3 or SO4 or SO3. And or ends with an OH or (OH)2 etcetera. Except for HOH. Drink a lot of that.
Also stay away from phenol. It will make your hand numb AND melt it away without you feeling a thing. I’ve seen people marked for life like this.
Be very careful, and keep sharp! and away from sharp edges.
– Arik