Sciencemadness Discussion Board
Not logged in [Login ]
Go To Bottom

Printable Version  
 Pages:  1  ..  12    14    16  ..  38
Author: Subject: Bad days in the lab or with glassware?
DJF90
International Hazard
*****




Posts: 2266
Registered: 15-12-2007
Location: At the bench
Member Is Offline

Mood: No Mood

[*] posted on 7-4-2012 at 11:53


Yep. I'm lucky I didnt leave any other condensers hooked up to the water recirculator. I'm pissed off enough as it is.
View user's profile View All Posts By User
Arthur Dent
National Hazard
****




Posts: 553
Registered: 22-10-2010
Member Is Offline

Mood: entropic

[*] posted on 7-4-2012 at 11:57


Quote: Originally posted by DJF90  
Expensive mistake...

Oy ve! I understand that not all people can have a lab indoors, but leaving expensive stirplates and valuable precicion glassware in a cold damp environment where freezing can occur is not a good idea by any definition...

This unfortunate Friedrichs condenser is a perfect example of gear that should have been washed, dried out, packed in newspaper, boxed and put away in the warm environment of a house during the cold winter days.

the only stuff that I leave in the cold of winter are plastic bottles of Hydrochloric Acid, anything else, especially glass bottles and anything that could be affected by corrosion, is strictly kept indoors. If you don't have room for it, the only thing I can say is make room for it somehow!

I feel your pain though, that looked like a massive condenser!

Robert




--- Art is making something out of nothing and selling it. - Frank Zappa ---
View user's profile View All Posts By User
DJF90
International Hazard
*****




Posts: 2266
Registered: 15-12-2007
Location: At the bench
Member Is Offline

Mood: No Mood

[*] posted on 7-4-2012 at 14:48


Its the dual-coil condenser on a buchi. I left it hooked up to the water recirculator (inside an unheated outside building), with the water turned off, but it didnt drain and I didnt think about it at the time. I only got back home today and found it "not in working order".
View user's profile View All Posts By User
Hexavalent
International Hazard
*****




Posts: 1564
Registered: 29-12-2011
Location: Wales, UK
Member Is Offline

Mood: Pericyclic

[*] posted on 8-4-2012 at 10:15


Haha, what a shame! How much will a replacement cost for your model . . .can a very good glassblower somehow mend this one somehow?



"Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." Winston Churchill
View user's profile View All Posts By User
DJF90
International Hazard
*****




Posts: 2266
Registered: 15-12-2007
Location: At the bench
Member Is Offline

Mood: No Mood

[*] posted on 8-4-2012 at 10:27


Mending it will be out of the question, it'd be far too tricky. The best that could be made of it is to salvage the taps and joints. Not very nice to laugh at anothers misfortune really. I have a friend who is helping me procure a replacement. Failing that I'll save for a new rotavap.
View user's profile View All Posts By User
Hexavalent
International Hazard
*****




Posts: 1564
Registered: 29-12-2011
Location: Wales, UK
Member Is Offline

Mood: Pericyclic

[*] posted on 8-4-2012 at 10:48


Quote: Originally posted by DJF90  
not very nice to laugh at anothers misfortune really


I beg your pardon?




"Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." Winston Churchill
View user's profile View All Posts By User
DJF90
International Hazard
*****




Posts: 2266
Registered: 15-12-2007
Location: At the bench
Member Is Offline

Mood: No Mood

[*] posted on 8-4-2012 at 11:51


If you insist I explain...

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ha-ha

Check it out.
View user's profile View All Posts By User
Hexavalent
International Hazard
*****




Posts: 1564
Registered: 29-12-2011
Location: Wales, UK
Member Is Offline

Mood: Pericyclic

[*] posted on 8-4-2012 at 12:49


I only got back home today and found it "not in working order".

This is what I meant as funny.




"Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." Winston Churchill
View user's profile View All Posts By User
INORGANICUM
Harmless
*




Posts: 11
Registered: 12-3-2012
Location: United Kingdom
Member Is Offline

Mood: GOOD

[*] posted on 8-4-2012 at 13:33


£595.00 hotplate/stirrer, after 4 can's of special brew I decided to test out my new purchace and boil a flask of H2O, I plugged it in and turned it on, At the same time I remembered it was from the US.

Just as I flicked the switch with no voltage reduction in place. POP with a puff of smoke it went. I still can't believe my stupidity to this day.

I couldn't possibly remember the amount of glassware ive broken, but reflux condencers is my forte for breaking glass.
View user's profile View All Posts By User
Hexavalent
International Hazard
*****




Posts: 1564
Registered: 29-12-2011
Location: Wales, UK
Member Is Offline

Mood: Pericyclic

[*] posted on 9-4-2012 at 08:01


Nasty, Inorganicum! Was there no protection on the circuitry in your hotplate/stirrer . . .can it be replaced, or is it under some kind of warranty? That cost seems to imply that you got it new. Personally, I once bought a US-plugged 20V adjustable bench power supply for electrolysis etc. . . I was only informed of its origin when it arrived and I had to order an adapter from eBay to suit. It does however mean that I can usually buy any bit of electrical equipment from the US now if needed, which is a nice feature for the lab . . .diverse electrical sockets, I call it:)

Personally, I can also report the resignation of a 1L 19/26 RBF from service today. . . .my fault I guess for dropping it when I fell over the step down into my lab:(




"Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." Winston Churchill
View user's profile View All Posts By User
White Yeti
National Hazard
****




Posts: 816
Registered: 20-7-2011
Location: Asperger's spectrum
Member Is Offline

Mood: delocalized

[*] posted on 9-4-2012 at 11:46


Quote: Originally posted by INORGANICUM  
£595.00 hotplate/stirrer


A $600+ stirplate/hotplate and it was not fuse protected? I don't own a hotplate myself (I'm in the process of making one), but most things are fuse protected these days, you know, in case someone had too many beers:D and decided to plug it into an outlet and let twice the current run through that unfortunate piece of macinery:D




"Ja, Kalzium, das ist alles!" -Otto Loewi
View user's profile View All Posts By User
Pyro
International Hazard
*****




Posts: 1305
Registered: 6-4-2012
Location: Gent, Belgium
Member Is Offline

Mood: No Mood

[*] posted on 9-4-2012 at 16:12


i used to have alot more accidents than now.
when i was 15-16 i worked in the living room quite a bit, and i spilled quite a few chemicals on the VERY expensive carpet. the worst ever was when i dropped a 250 ml erlenmeyer (luckily only 50 ml full!) of bleach and something else on it! luckily the glass didnt break, but i threw 4 Gal. of water on it and then dried it out, i got away with a mild discouloration. IMPORTANT LESSON: don't work on an expensive carpet!
and the next bug incident was when the cleaning lady spilt 2 Gal. of high grade navy paint on the ash floor, it took hours to remove.




all above information is intellectual property of Pyro. :D
View user's profile View All Posts By User
Hexavalent
International Hazard
*****




Posts: 1564
Registered: 29-12-2011
Location: Wales, UK
Member Is Offline

Mood: Pericyclic

[*] posted on 12-4-2012 at 01:24


Nasty, Pyro!

Yesterday I was removing a stir bar from an Erlenmeyer . . .the magnetic field took the neodymium magnet out of my hand towards the stir bar inside the flask, shattering the outside of the glass. Nasty, really, as it was holding some aqueous sodium hydroxide!




"Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." Winston Churchill
View user's profile View All Posts By User
OctanitroC
Harmless
*




Posts: 21
Registered: 20-4-2012
Location: Near the nadir of a triangular state
Member Is Offline

Mood: Reduced

[*] posted on 22-4-2012 at 13:04


My hand a few days after learning the hard way that NaOH+NaCl has a nasty combination of low surface tension and good solvating properties. No sir, not doing that flame test again. And getting a better pair of gloves.

photo (1).JPG - 72kB




And then I discovered this charming young man had stolen my kidney!
View user's profile View All Posts By User
Pyro
International Hazard
*****




Posts: 1305
Registered: 6-4-2012
Location: Gent, Belgium
Member Is Offline

Mood: No Mood

[*] posted on 28-4-2012 at 15:13


thats even worse, were your hands soapy?




all above information is intellectual property of Pyro. :D
View user's profile View All Posts By User
Hexavalent
International Hazard
*****




Posts: 1564
Registered: 29-12-2011
Location: Wales, UK
Member Is Offline

Mood: Pericyclic

[*] posted on 29-4-2012 at 04:08


For a while, yes . . .I was luckily wearing gloves, but I still ran to the sink and flushed my skin thoroughly for about 15 minutes.



"Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." Winston Churchill
View user's profile View All Posts By User
Teen Chemist
Harmless
*




Posts: 42
Registered: 27-4-2012
Member Is Offline

Mood: Effervescent

[*] posted on 29-4-2012 at 05:44


Hexavalent that would really have ruined your day if you werent wearing gloves.
I have in the last 3 monthes broken about 6 test tubes a 100 ml beaker and an Erlenmeyer flask.
Luckly the test tubes were cheap probably why they broke so easily. I droped the beaker from about 3in and it broke. The flask wasnt my fault a spectator bumped it.
View user's profile View All Posts By User
White Yeti
National Hazard
****




Posts: 816
Registered: 20-7-2011
Location: Asperger's spectrum
Member Is Offline

Mood: delocalized

[*] posted on 29-4-2012 at 07:31


Quote: Originally posted by Hexavalent  
For a while, yes . . .I was luckily wearing gloves, but I still ran to the sink and flushed my skin thoroughly for about 15 minutes.


What was the concentration of your NaOH solution?




"Ja, Kalzium, das ist alles!" -Otto Loewi
View user's profile View All Posts By User
Hexavalent
International Hazard
*****




Posts: 1564
Registered: 29-12-2011
Location: Wales, UK
Member Is Offline

Mood: Pericyclic

[*] posted on 1-5-2012 at 11:51


I think it was about 20ml of 0.1M standard sodium hydroxide . . .not too nasty, but still something I would prefer not to have all over my hands.



"Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." Winston Churchill
View user's profile View All Posts By User
Rogeryermaw
National Hazard
****




Posts: 656
Registered: 18-8-2010
Member Is Offline

Mood: No Mood

[*] posted on 24-5-2012 at 08:35


flip flops are bad. once upon a time as a yute i thought i would try electrolysis on a molten bath of NaOH. i went to adjust the electrodes and as i pulled one from the bath, a blob of molten NaOH dripped on the top of my left foot. no solution here it was pure NaOH. i still have a very deep and rough scar about the size of a nickel. live and learn eh?
View user's profile View All Posts By User
chemrox
International Hazard
*****




Posts: 2961
Registered: 18-1-2007
Location: UTM
Member Is Offline

Mood: LaGrangian

[*] posted on 23-6-2012 at 00:57


I just had one of those days: watch glasses and 5 ml beakers all over my benches and tables trying to find a solvent or solvent pair to recryx my intermediate product. It put me in a frustrated mood. Trying another solvent paair and watching polymerization begin along with the unexpected develpment of two phases didn't prepare me for having one of my two female 24/40 stoppers jump off the evaporator smashing the hard-to-find stopper along with a beaker on its way down. This was so inspiring i decided to catch up on washing my glass and managed to break a couple more beakers. A seried of little things like setting up a filtration and finding no paper to fit the chosen Buchner. Giving myself a lecture/pep-talk on the value of optimizing work-ups... lets see the reaction took three days of which 2.8 days were refluxing the first solution with a Dean-Stark. The next three steps went as planned; evaporate, wash, extract, dry, evaporate, check with TLC oh boy now comes the fun! Maybe I'll try DMF next. Acetic acid dissolves it in any concentration.. maybe something simple like ether/acetone. I hadn't tried that pair yet (had to crack open a new can).



"When you let the dumbasses vote you end up with populism followed by autocracy and getting back is a bitch." Plato (sort of)
View user's profile View All Posts By User
Eliteforum
National Hazard
****




Posts: 571
Registered: 18-11-2002
Location: United Kingdom
Member Is Offline

Mood: Enjoying the journey

[*] posted on 23-6-2012 at 02:14


^ PPPPPP!

Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance!




All that glitters isn't gold.
View user's profile View All Posts By User This user has MSN Messenger
Eddygp
National Hazard
****




Posts: 858
Registered: 31-3-2012
Location: University of York, UK
Member Is Offline

Mood: Organometallic

[*] posted on 23-6-2012 at 03:49


Heating a non-Pyrex test tube, and cooling it down in cold water. The test tube cracked open...



there may be bugs in gfind

[ˌɛdidʒiˈpiː] IPA pronunciation for my Username
View user's profile View All Posts By User
Rogeryermaw
National Hazard
****




Posts: 656
Registered: 18-8-2010
Member Is Offline

Mood: No Mood

[*] posted on 17-7-2012 at 08:41


had a one liter bit of pyrex glassware shatter on me boiling down a bleach solution to make chlorate. fortunately no glass on or in me but some burns from the boiling fluid and steam. face and left arm. good thing for goggles. eyes are safe. no idea why it broke. i didn't move it or slosh the liquid. didn't bump it with anything. just time for something to happen i guess.

[Edited on 17-7-2012 by Rogeryermaw]
View user's profile View All Posts By User
mr.crow
National Hazard
****




Posts: 884
Registered: 9-9-2009
Location: Canada
Member Is Offline

Mood: 0xFF

[*] posted on 17-7-2012 at 11:37


Oh no im always worried when this thread gets bumped up again

Is it a real pyrex beaker? Is it a real hotplate?




Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble
View user's profile View All Posts By User
 Pages:  1  ..  12    14    16  ..  38

  Go To Top