Chemistry trivia for consumers

That’s right Sunbear. It’s dangerous: The mixture liberates chlorine, which is poisonous in its free state. :frowning:

Chem story: Our Qualitative Analysis class final required us to identify some unknown compounds. I used a pipette to suck up some liquid, and I inadvertently raised it above the level of the liquid and got a big mouthful of whatever it was. Not knowing what I had just ingested, I immediately asked one of the lab techs if the substance in beaker number three was harmful. He checked his list and told me to finish the anaysis–no problem.

It was ascorbic acid. I didn’t catch a cold for at least 10 years after that.

Since everyone is telling their chemistry stories…

In my science class in high school we had to perform experiments and measurements on a couple of different substances. One such measurement was about heat conductibility, but we were only supposed to do it for metals. Instead, I put a small block of solid sulfur on the hot plate. A couple of minutes later there was a yellow bubbling puddle of sulfur from which was emanating a strange gas…A second after I said ‘oh-oh’ my teacher pushed me away and told everyone to back away while he ventilated the room. That was a close call; sulfur will burn your lungs.


Only humans commit inhuman acts.