Sciencemadness Discussion Board

yet another reason to be chemophobic

Pyro - 7-9-2013 at 15:26

this is the latest rumor going around, even my mother believes it!

''I was approached yesterday afternoon around 3.30 pm in the Coles Parking
lot at Noranda by two males, asking what kind of perfume I was wearing.
Then they asked if I'd like to sample some fabulous scent they were
willing to sell me at a very reasonable rate.
I probably would have agreed had I not received an email some weeks go, warning of this
scam. The men continued to stand between parked cars, I guess to wait for
someone else to hit on. I stopped a lady going towards them, I pointed
at them and told her about how I was sent an email at work about someone
walking up to you at the malls, in parking lots, and asking you to sniff
perfume that they are selling at a cheap price.


THIS IS NOT PERFUME - IT IS ETHER!


When you sniff it, you'll pass out
and they'll take your wallet, your valuables, and heaven knows what
else. If it were not for this email, I probably would have sniffed the
'perfume', but thanks to the generosity of an emailing friend, I was
spared whatever might have happened to me, and wanted to do the same for
you.''

it's so sad, everybody believes this and becomes afraid of it--->everybody who hears about you making it becomes scared

Mailinmypocket - 7-9-2013 at 15:53

Oddly enough lots of people seem to think that a quick sniff of ether, in the way one smells perfume, will knock you out cold and then- rape time! I have yet to see a person who samples perfume by huffing it, good lord lol

Chemical names are scary, that's all that matters to most people unfortunately.

Sublimatus - 7-9-2013 at 15:59

The same with chloroform. One smell will not knock you out.

Pyro - 7-9-2013 at 16:43

a while ago, before i got totally hooked by chem, a friend of my dads bought a 65m canal barge and asked my dad to inspect as he's a captain. I was there too and in the engine room I found almost half a dozen 1l bottles with illegible labels, so I opened a half full one and had a good deep sniff (stupid I know, I used to think all solvents had good smells before I started chem), only to discover it was ether, but i stayed completely concious.

Did anybody know this? I thought only ether in cans was used to start engines but apparently you put it on a rag and hold it over the air intake.

12AX7 - 7-9-2013 at 23:32

I've heard the ol' rag starter trick described before.

The aerosol style is more common around diesels these days, but... well, what would you expect they used back then, I guess? :)

Regarding the OP, the hazard is more about bodily contact. A whiff may not be sufficient, but approaching a stranger puts one within reach; it's a lure to grab victims. The result may very well be anesthetic (forcing the victim to breathe through a soaked rag), or just a regular old mugging. Bad science, but the right conclusion.

Tim

[Edited on 9-8-2013 by 12AX7]

unionised - 8-9-2013 at 04:32

http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/perfume.asp

Pyro - 8-9-2013 at 04:57

at least it's been proven wrong, but people are still hearing and believing it which makes the fear of chemicals even greater

bfesser - 8-9-2013 at 06:05

Haha. Back in O. Chem. Lab., classmates would often ask me for advice when the TA was away. While evaporating off solvent after extractions, they'd often ask "Is there still ether in this?" I'd take their flask, sniff it, and advise accordingly.

Rich_Insane - 19-9-2013 at 08:10

Er. I am going to sheepishly admit that every so often I take a good whiff of ether. I really like the smell of it for some reason. I've never passed out or felt remotely intoxicated.

In my more foolish days, I had a bad habit of putting my nose too close to bottles (as a means of identification)... I had maybe 100 ml or so of chloroform, but the ink on the label had somewhat washed off... Needless to say, things began to spin quite rapidly, but I didn't pass out.

Fantasma4500 - 20-9-2013 at 08:02

i remember when my teacher gave me a rag with something smelling like gasoline on in class and i smelled it, asked if it was gasoline.. he said its ether, nearly shat a snowman, didnt think twice over it, i never really searched up HOW MUCH you need to inhale of it, although..

chemphobia is funny, because everything youre sorrounded by is a chemical.. LOLS

people are afraid of what they dont know about, but since when was ignorance ever justified?

MichiganMadScientist - 20-9-2013 at 13:45

I've rarely had the benefit of working in any homelab that had even the most dismal of ventilation. Usually, near-windowless basements. Obviously, I never attempt to perform any reactions there that would cause issues (I do all of those out on my patio). Having said that, I have attempted on many occasions to fill a 5 gallon glass jug full of starter fluid by simply spraying the aerosal cans into the glass jug. My basement very quickly becomes filled with ether fumes. My eyes will burn. The smell is almost sufficating. At some point, I'll open the one tiny window the basement has, and then leave the room until the fumes clear out.

Having said this, I've never felt even slightly woozy or the such from the fumes. Of course, I'm of a formal chemistry education background, so I'm not approaching any such chemicals from an ignorant standpoint. It always amuses me when I hear that some newbie member here is scared to go near 0.1M HCl. Certainly, it's important to be safe and wear gloves, but obviously such a weak solution is unlikely to inflict any sudden change upon brief exposure to skin. :)

hyfalcon - 20-9-2013 at 15:33

I was working with aqua regia today. Chlorine fumes rolling out the top of the 2-necked flask. Takes a lot to get platinum into solution.

smaerd - 20-9-2013 at 17:35

I've worked in an academic lab with maybe 2 Liters of ether being refluxed, poured, used for extractions(sniffed at close range), spilled, etc, with no real ventilation. Only after about an hour did I start to get slightly slap happy and sensations characteristic of ethanol intoxication. It's hard for me to imagine a quick smell of ether doing anything serious to anyone. Sounds like a scare tactic to me. Even today I close up smelled (not using the waft technique) dueterated chloroform to see if it had an noticeable odor difference between regular chloroform. Didn't notice a thing.

Agricola - 28-10-2013 at 13:32

It is possible to knock out, or even kill, with chloroform, see the attached paper by Gaillard.

To see how chloroform was used to cause anesthesia, see the attached paper by Cheeley.

Clearly, some concentration of chloroform must be inhaled for some time for the effects to take place. Have a look again at the paper by Gaillard: the victim was 156cm and 37kg and the attacker was 186cm and 100kg. The victim should be much weaker than the attacker for the latter to keep the former breathing the chloroform vapor for enough time to cause unconsciousness.

Ether is similar to chloroform but the former needs more concentration x time (ct) to cause anesthesia and much more ct to kill (references lost) than the latter.
Quote:

Posted by Pyro

I found almost half a dozen 1l bottles with illegible labels, so I opened a half full one and had a good deep sniff (stupid I know, I used to think all solvents had good smells before I started chem), only to discover it was ether, but i stayed completely concious.


Pyro did not lose consciousness in a very short time despite the very high ether vapor concentration inside the half-full (of liquid) bottle. This is informative. Pyro, how old and heavy you were? Were you on an empty stomach? Did you feel anything?

[Edited on 28-10-2013 by Agricola]

Attachment: chloroform_cheeley1950.pdf (208kB)
This file has been downloaded 473 times

Attachment: chloroform_gaillard2006.pdf (109kB)
This file has been downloaded 590 times

Agricola - 5-11-2013 at 16:33

To see how ether was used to cause anesthesia, at least in my part of the world, see the attached paper by Storni.

Attachment: ether_storni1944.pdf (91kB)
This file has been downloaded 419 times