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The WiZard is In
International Hazard
Posts: 1617
Registered: 3-4-2010
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Jack in the box
ARMED SERVICES EXPLOSIVES SAFETY BOARD
Nassif Building
Washington, D. C. 20315
OPERATIONAL INCIDENT REPORT NO, 111
Detonation in "Catch Box"
Description:
As part of a routine safety inspection, a technologist lifted the
lid of a catch box to check the box and contents. While he was lowering
the lid, an explosion occurred in the box, hurling the 38-lb. aluminum
lid (28" x 54" x 1/4") into his face.
It is believed that non-explosive intermediates combined with the
contents (lead salts) of the catch box producing explosive material one
of which was lead azide. The friction of closing the aluminum lid
detonated some of these crystals.
Preventive Measures:
1. Catch boxes will be eliminated from laboratory installations.
2. All chemical wastes will be destroyed chemically before being
ditched.
(REPORTED BY MANUFACTURING CHEMISTS' ASSOCIATION, INC.)
Reference Number of thts Report: 01-111
Duplication of this report is authorized.
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MeSynth
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Posts: 107
Registered: 29-7-2011
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Mood: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZltqlVuDIo
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My first bad day was when I was concentrating sulfuric acid in the back yard in my first set of newly purchased glassware when I heard the door bell
ring. I look into the house through the window to see that it was the pest control guy. I freaked out and blew out my bunsen burner, grabbed the flask
with a towl, and then grabbed everything else I could see and ran inside the house with it. As I ran into the house I forgot to grab an empty flask
that I had out there for some reason and my foot hit it. When it slid away it tipped over and a large portion of the lip broke off and sent a crack
down the side. After laying down the stuff I was using inside the house I ran out and grabbed the broken flask and the chunk that broke off. Soon
after I shut the door the guy comes around and sprays the house. My first sad moment in chemistry.
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redox
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Location: The Land of Milk and Honey
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Mood: Chalcogenetic
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Quote: Originally posted by MeSynth  | | My first bad day was when I was concentrating sulfuric acid in the back yard in my first set of newly purchased glassware when I heard the door bell
ring. I look into the house through the window to see that it was the pest control guy. I freaked out and blew out my bunsen burner, grabbed the flask
with a towl, and then grabbed everything else I could see and ran inside the house with it. As I ran into the house I forgot to grab an empty flask
that I had out there for some reason and my foot hit it. When it slid away it tipped over and a large portion of the lip broke off and sent a crack
down the side. After laying down the stuff I was using inside the house I ran out and grabbed the broken flask and the chunk that broke off. Soon
after I shut the door the guy comes around and sprays the house. My first sad moment in chemistry. |
Ow, it always hurts when glass breaks.  What kind of flask was it? A cheap
erlenmeyer? Or a 3-neck 12 liter RBF?
My quite small but growing Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/RealChemLabs
Newest video: Synthesis of Chloroform
The difference between chemists and chemical engineers: Chemists use test tubes, chemical engineers use buckets. |
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overload
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Registered: 9-7-2011
Location: USA
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Mood: miserable fat slave
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| Quote: Originally posted by redox | | Quote: Originally posted by MeSynth | | My first bad day was when I was concentrating sulfuric acid in the back yard in my first set of newly purchased glassware when I heard the door bell
ring. I look into the house through the window to see that it was the pest control guy. I freaked out and blew out my bunsen burner, grabbed the flask
with a towl, and then grabbed everything else I could see and ran inside the house with it. As I ran into the house I forgot to grab an empty flask
that I had out there for some reason and my foot hit it. When it slid away it tipped over and a large portion of the lip broke off and sent a crack
down the side. After laying down the stuff I was using inside the house I ran out and grabbed the broken flask and the chunk that broke off. Soon
after I shut the door the guy comes around and sprays the house. My first sad moment in chemistry. |
Ow, it always hurts when glass breaks. What kind of flask was it? A cheap
erlenmeyer? Or a 3-neck 12 liter RBF? |
lol! like I would have a RB 12 liter 3-neck F just sitting around! XD it was a 500ml erlenmeyer. I was so new that I actually believed that I could
fix it with only a propane blow torch.
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asilentbob
Harmless
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Mood: *sigh*
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Whenever we broke or chipped any glassware in the lab I did undergraduate research in we would slam it down into the broken glass receptacle...
Results in a more densely packed package lol.
So many ideas... too few dealing with chemistry.
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The WiZard is In
International Hazard
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Registered: 3-4-2010
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Mercury perchlorate
Pitt grad student burned in chemical explosion
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11230/1168173-53.stm#ixzz1VaI...
A University of Pittsburgh researcher suffered minor burns in
a chemical explosion Wednesday morning at a science building
on campus.
The graduate student, a 30-year-old man, was working in a
room on the 11th floor of the Chevron Science Center when a
beaker containing mercury perchlorate hydrate broke, Pitt
spokesman John Fedele said.
He suffered burns on his face, chest and arms and was taken to
a hospital, where he was in stable condition. The student was
wearing appropriate safety equipment, Mr. Fedele said.
Police and emergency crews evacuated the building on Parkman
Avenue, as is standard procedure in such incidents, Mr. Fedele
said. He was unsure how many people were inside.
A hazardous materials team was also called. The building was
not damaged, and no one else was hurt.
The university is not in session; students are returning to
campus to start classes Monday.
---
Mercury perchlorate? Could be, however, magnesium perchlorate a common desiccating agent seems upon my
mind as more likely.
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MeSynth
Hazard to Others
Posts: 107
Registered: 29-7-2011
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Mood: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZltqlVuDIo
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| Quote: Originally posted by The WiZard is In | Pitt grad student burned in chemical explosion
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11230/1168173-53.stm#ixzz1VaI...
A University of Pittsburgh researcher suffered minor burns in
a chemical explosion Wednesday morning at a science building
on campus.
The graduate student, a 30-year-old man, was working in a
room on the 11th floor of the Chevron Science Center when a
beaker containing mercury perchlorate hydrate broke, Pitt
spokesman John Fedele said.
He suffered burns on his face, chest and arms and was taken to
a hospital, where he was in stable condition. The student was
wearing appropriate safety equipment, Mr. Fedele said.
Police and emergency crews evacuated the building on Parkman
Avenue, as is standard procedure in such incidents, Mr. Fedele
said. He was unsure how many people were inside.
A hazardous materials team was also called. The building was
not damaged, and no one else was hurt.
The university is not in session; students are returning to
campus to start classes Monday.
---
Mercury perchlorate? Could be, however, magnesium perchlorate a common desiccating agent seems upon my
mind as more likely. |
This happens if your not concentrating on what your doing. Say you take a beaker containing a liquid and are about to pour it into another beaker with
another liquid in order to start a reaction. If you begin to pour the liquid while your thoughts are on the reaction and the reaction products instead
of on the preplanned act of pouring the beaker you are increasing the chances of you dropping the beaker or catching it on something and spilling some
of the contents ect.
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Mixell
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Broke a 1L beaker while cleaning it, and later managed to get a bit of nitric acid into a cut that was made when I was collecting the beaker shards...
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Endimion17
International Hazard
Posts: 1468
Registered: 17-7-2011
Location: shores of a solar sea
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Mood: speeding through time at the rate of 1 second per second
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| Quote: Originally posted by Mixell | | Broke a 1L beaker while cleaning it, and later managed to get a bit of nitric acid into a cut that was made when I was collecting the beaker shards...
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HA-HA!
j/k  I know how painful that is.
Few days ago I was trying to fix a glass stopcock. The plug was stuck. I've tried gently heating, bathing and cooling in oil, creating a temperature
difference between the shell and the plug, but nothing helped.
Since nothing helped, I applied force using this thing (I don't know the English term) and a pair of aluminium sheet covered steel pipes with proper diameters, according to the plug and
sheet.
At first, I used the temperature difference, too. Froze the stopcock and used force while heating the sheet.
But the damn thing didn't let go so I used plain brute force. Eventually, the sheet partially shattered and some parts fell off. Most of the sheet was
still on the plug and was holding so strongly I had trouble removing it with pliers. It was indeed jammed for good. The smell was organic, akin to
resin or even tar.
I have no idea what the hell previous owner used to "lubricate" this. Might as well used superglue. 
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The WiZard is In
International Hazard
Posts: 1617
Registered: 3-4-2010
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alway wear clean socks to work - you never know what can happen
Acid?! I would have thought alkali.
SO: Textbook of Military Medicine
Attachment: Acid foot.pdf (200kB)
This file has been downloaded 596 times
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#maverick#
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Registered: 7-4-2011
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Mood: hybridised
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what the hell is it with me and breaking volumetric flask broke another one this time a 1 liter one i iz sad
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Damitwhy
Harmless
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Registered: 14-8-2011
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Freezer And Oleum
After many hours of experimental heating of Sodium Pyrosulphate to obtain Sulphur Trioxide and realising product would solidify in the condenser when
it was too cool, produced A pretty good result of fuming Sulphuric Acid...
As I'd been at it from 10pm till 9am I made the silly mistake of Glass Stoppering the receiving flask and popping into the Freezer under the fume hood
awoke that afternoon to evaluate my full nights work only to find the Fuming
Sulphuric Acid wouldnt fume any more and its volume had increased...
I've learnt the Freezer is much to damp an enviroment for Oleum
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Bot0nist
International Hazard
Posts: 1559
Registered: 15-2-2011
Location: Right behind you.
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Mood: Streching my cotyledons.
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That sucks man. Did you do a titration before and after storage? Did you lube your glass stopper joint with silicon or
H<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>? Maybe in a sealed bag with a good desiccant in the freezer would help.
U.T.F.S.E. and learn the joys of autodidacticism!
Don't judge each day only by the harvest you reap, but also by the seeds you sow.
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simba
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Killer shard
So the other day I was gonna do some quick experiment, and was setting up everything to get it started.
I picked up my sep funnel and noticed I forgot the base and clamps to hold it up, but then I was in a hurry and didn't want to go get them, so I just
fitted the sep funnel in a hole on my sink and thought it would hold it up well.
After a few seconds...crack. It broke, and a shard flew on my forearm cutting my wrist. Needless to say it was a bloody scene, I quickly wrapped some
piece of cloth around my arm to stop the bleeding and ran to my neighbour's house, which is a nurse, and then she took care of me. 
The only good thing about the story is that I didn't have to go work that week. 
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resveratrol
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i remember one time in undergrad organic lab, i had just recrystallized something from toluene I think...I poured the crystallized solution into a
bucchner filtration setup (i had let the flask fill up over the course of the lab without dumping it mind you).
I wasn't giving full attention to what I was doing, and the level of solvent in the flask had risen to the level of the gas inlet (where the vacuum
pump was connected), so the vacuum pump started sucking up solvent - which would be okay if it weren't for the fact that the excess fluid cache on the
side of the pump was taken off (for some reason)....so the unit sprayed solvent ALL over me. luckily it wasn't acidic, and it smelled kind of
pleasant.
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Chordate
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I broke TWO 14/20 short path distillation heads with ground glass thermometer joints in the same day last week, they were on the shelf next to each
other and I grabbed one, knocked the other off the shelf, instinctively lunged to grab at it and dropped the first one in my hand. They both hit the
ground and broke simultaneously. Ouchie.
I decided that it was a bad omen and scrapped all my work that day. It still stings.
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bbartlog
International Hazard
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A chicken broke my 2-neck 2 liter RB flask. Normally I put all the glass back on shelves or in cabinets when I'm done, but in this case I left the
empty flask sitting out on a roll of tape (a fairly stable base, absent other factors). But since some of my chickens have started roaming around
inside the pole barn that I use for chemistry, this proved unsafe, and one of them apparently knocked it to the floor and broke it.
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Arthur Dent
National Hazard
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If that would happen to me, there would be some barbecue sauce and cole slaw in the future of that bird.
Robert
--- Art is making something out of nothing and selling it. - Frank Zappa ---
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bbartlog
International Hazard
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Well, the individual perpetrator can't be identified, and I'm not going to roast a flock of fifty laying hens to avenge one broken flask. But they
will eventually get sent to the western end of my farm, where they will no longer be able to trouble my lab space.
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mr.crow
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I keep forgetting about those stupid little stirbars and they wind up in the drain >: (
Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble
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Arthur Dent
National Hazard
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Well, if the pipes are made out of cast iron, maybe they're still there and you could retrieve them with a magnet tied to a string. But most drain
pipes are black PVC, so I guess they're swimming with the fishes...
Robert
--- Art is making something out of nothing and selling it. - Frank Zappa ---
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Neil
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Check your drain trap.
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mr.crow
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Fortunately most of the time they get caught in the drain, only one has actually been flushed.
I should get into the habit of using the HDD magnet to hold it in place. Or get a stirbar retriever to take it out first.
Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble
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UnintentionalChaos
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Don't ever shake a flask with a stirbar in it...I had a rather large stirbar in a 1L, 4-neck RBF and one good shake while cleaning put it cleanly
through the side wall. I almost cried. That was my fanciest flask and one of only 2 1Ls that I owned. I picked up a 3-neck 1L on ebay though, to
replace it, so all is okay...just cost me $30.
Department of Redundancy Department - Now with paperwork!
'In organic synthesis, we call decomposition products "crap", however this is not a IUPAC approved nomenclature.' -Nicodem
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DJF90
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Same thing goes for a sep funnel. Always pour your reaction mix from the flask to the sep funnel through a plastic funnel with a narrow enough
aperture to catch the stirbar - result: no breakages upon shaking.
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