ScienceHideout - 7-11-2011 at 18:11
Even though I have bio this year, my favorite person in the whole school is the chem teacher, Mrs. HL (Everyone calls her HCl). It is no doubt she is
mid 60's... lots of experience. She is a fun, nice lady (who just got a hip replacement... doing better) and is no more than 5' tall.
We were talking about lab accidents. She had this colleague who was making a solution in the hood of H2SO4. He carefully walked the H2SO4 to the hood
to make a solution. He was about to take it back, when the handle finger thumb thing fell off the 2.5L bottle. We have all mopped ourselves into
corners, but this was different. H2SO4 ate the bottoms of his shoes and some of his pants, and he was alone. So, to avoid the puddle the only thing he
could do is flood the room, so he turned on all of the hood's water jets and clogged the sink with paper towels. After he got out of this mess (with
no burns!) he was discussing it all AT LUNCH... lol. Well, at least the floor is pretty clean.
A couple morals...
a) Although it gets the floor shiny, H2SO4 is not a reccomended substitute for Mr. Clean.
b) Always make sure someone is near the lab
c) Provide a plastic container as secondary containment when transporting acids.
So... I ask you. Anything you've learned from your older friends?
A couple more things she taught me...
Weigh NaOH on the lid of the container
The pennyhead is so you can hold it between your fingers
Oh... once she got a bead of NaOH on her shirt, and she flicked it off! It was funny. She then poured the excess NaOH down the drain saying "It's good
drain cleaner". I love her! 
Adas - 8-11-2011 at 10:58
I am jealous!
MagicJigPipe - 10-11-2011 at 22:29
I wouldn't weigh NaOH on the lid of the container because, as you are doing this, the bulk is absorbing H2O and CO2.
What's the reasoning behind this "rule"?
gutter_ca - 11-11-2011 at 09:11
So.... You're learning chemistry from a chemistry teacher? Amazing!