The WiZard is In
International Hazard
Posts: 1617
Registered: 3-4-2010
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
The deadly mortar and pestle
The Boys' Journal
Literature, Science, Adventure, and Amusement.
London 1867.
DETONATING POWDER WHICH TAKES FIRE WHEN RUBBED IN A
MORTAR.
Take six grains chlorate potash carefully powdered, and three of
charcoal; place them on a piece of paper and gently shake them
together; now add two grains of sulphur; when all are rubbed
together in a mortar the powder takes fire with an explosion.
If explosions without fire are wanted, merely place a few grains
of chlorate potash and lump sugar in the mortar; and if it does
not act well, add now three grains of sulphur, when successive
explosions will take place like the report of a pistol. Care must be
taken only to use a few grains of each in the mortar, for if a
larger quantity is used there is danger of breaking up the mortar.
I once knew a youth who used about a teaspoonful of each
powder, and the result was a terrific explosion—the mortar being
broken into a number of pieces and sent all over the room,
fortunately, without farther damage.
[Edited on 21-5-2010 by The WiZard is In]
[Edited on 21-5-2010 by The WiZard is In]
|
|
|
chemrox
International Hazard
Posts: 2961
Registered: 18-1-2007
Location: UTM
Member Is Offline
Mood: LaGrangian
|
|
and these explosions happen while you're standing there holding the mortar and pestle? grinding away so to speak....
"When you let the dumbasses vote you end up with populism followed by autocracy and getting back is a bitch." Plato (sort of)
|
|
|
bahamuth
Hazard to Others
Posts: 384
Registered: 3-11-2009
Location: Norway
Member Is Offline
Mood: Under stimulated
|
|
A fellow student did just as stated in the journal, added more than a ccm of sugar, chlorate and sulfur, shit blew to pieces.
Thank god no one was hurt, the mortar and the pestle was shattered to little ceramic shrapnel. Worth to mention we had thick leather gloves and face
shield as precaution for just that when we tried that stuff..
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
|
|
|
The WiZard is In
International Hazard
Posts: 1617
Registered: 3-4-2010
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
Lured to his death by a mortar and pestle
Western druggist
1887
But even the old maxim "Be sure you are right and then go
ahead," cannot be implicitly relied on unless with it follows that
keen perception of details, which in pharmacy, unless skillfull
exercised, may result in disastrous consequences. The fearful
fatality which befell a young man in this city may be indirectly
traced to this habit of hurry. Presenting a prescription to be
dispensed at a certain pharmacy he availed himself of a privilege
habitually accorded him of "peeping behind the scene" to see
what was going on. Espying an iron-mortar he naturally felt a
desire to handle the pestle and although warned by the clerk "not
to touch it," the temptation was too great and one blow of the
pestle caused a violent explosion bursting the iron-mortar into
fragments, putting out the lights and demolishing the windows.
It was the evening of "The Fourth" and the mortar contained a
mixture of potassium chlorate and sulphur, having been placed
there for some unaccountable reason by the clerk. The young
man was so severely wounded by several pieces of iron entering
his body, that, although attended by the best medical skill, he
died a few days afterward in intense agony.
While the victim himself was of course to blame, no less
responsibility is attached to the clerk. Aside from permitting a
layman behind the counter (a thing which cannot always be
prevented) the clerk or dispenser is morally responsible for the
accident in leaving so explosive a mixture in an iron mortar at all,
and especially in the presence of an Impetuous youth to whom
the fascinations of the laboratory had been revealed. The fact
that the two substances were put together in the mortar makes
the inference clear that they were to be mixed with a pestle, and
a person so utterly ignorant of the very first rule In regard to the
mixing of substances for colored fires is also wholly incompetent to
be left in charge of a drug store.
Great care has been taken in the books and in this journal to
observe, with reference to mixing colored fire, that it must not be
done in a mortar, but with a spatula and spread out upon a sheet
of paper. For any one to use a mortar, and an iron-mortar at that
is utterly indefensible, and the perpetrator unquestionably merits
legal discipline for "criminal carelessness."
|
|
|
The WiZard is In
International Hazard
Posts: 1617
Registered: 3-4-2010
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
Hypophosphite
The Chemical news and journal of physical science 1870
Explosion Caused by the Incautions Making-Up of a Medicinal
Prescription.—M. Vigla.—The following prescription was handed to
a pharmaceutist:—Chlorate of potassa, 8; hypophosphite of soda,
4; triple syrup, 62; water, 125. The operator put the dry salts in a
mortar, and commenced rubbing them vigorously, when a most
violent explosion ensued, whereby the mortar was smashed to
atoms and the operator seriously wounded. The proper course
would have been to dissolve each of the salts separately in water.
Moniteur Scientifique, December 1, 1869.
Alumni Report
By Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science, Alumni Association
1893
M. H. Pierson, Jr., a young man learning the drug business with
our fellow-alumnus, Jacob S. Beetem, Ph.G., '78, at Wilmington,
Del., met with a serious accident on August 4, 1893, through an
explosion of potassium chlorate and sodium hypophosphite while
mixing them in a mortar. He was dangerously burned, and it is
feared that his sight is permanently affected. Organic matter
accidentally present in the mortar is believed to have been the
cause of the explosion.
St. Louis Medical Journal
1884
AN EXPLOSION. Dr. J. H. Bahrenburg met with a very serious
accident yesterday afternoon about 3 o'clock. He was triturating a
mixture of chlorate of potash and hypo-phosphite of iron in a
huge two-inch mortar at his laboratory, 919 Wash street. He used
the pestle with too much effect, and suddenly there was an
explosion ; not a fragment of the mortar could be found ; retorts
and other vessels were knocked in every direction and smashed,
sixteen panes of glass in the office windows were shattered, and
the Dr. was severely burned about the face, eves and hands. It is
feared that he will lose his eyesight. His son, also a physician,
was called in, but could not tell definitely what the result of his
father's injuries would be. The people for a great distance around
were startled by the explosion, and rumors of dynamite were rife
for a while. Daily.
|
|
|
The WiZard is In
International Hazard
Posts: 1617
Registered: 3-4-2010
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
...sending the pestle up through the ceiling
Atlanta medical and surgical journal 1875
Our Exchanges — The Druggist Circular, August 1874.
EXPLOSION OF CHLORATE OF POTASSA.—
Mr. H. A. Wetzel, traveling agent, was engaged in pulverizing
some chlorate of potassa, for the purpose of making some
fire-works. "While thus engaged the material exploded, bursting
the mortar into a thousand pieces, sending the pestle up through
the ceiling, and Mr. Wetzel was thrown backward, terribly
injured. His right arm was badly burned and cut; the lower part of
his abdomen and upper portion of his limbs were also badly cut
and injured. But the most severe injury was to his eyes, which
were so badly burned and hurt that it is feared he has lost his
sight forever. A lad of some 12 years was standing by Mr. Wtzel’s
side, watching him, when the explosion took place, and was
thrown back by the concussion and badly bruised, but not
seriously. Another lad was standing about ten feet from Mr.
"Wetzel, and was blown against the partition. The ceiling of the
room was badly shattered, and a large portion of the plastering
fell to the floor. A short distance from where the mortar stood
was a door with a glass window in it, leading to the office; this
was badly shattered. Inside the office were Mr. Allaire and Mr.
Woodward, engaged in writing. The explosion caused this room to
be filled with dust, and knocked the pendulum off the clock. In the
room immediately over the one where the explosion occurred
was a lad sitting in a chair, and the concussion caused him to
bound in the air. The cause of the explosion is not known, but a
little sulphur, heat from friction, or even dust, would cause the
material to explode.
|
|
|
The WiZard is In
International Hazard
Posts: 1617
Registered: 3-4-2010
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
A "Fourth of July celebration " in his mouth.
The Hahnemannian monthly
By Homeopathic Medical Society of the State of Pennsylvania
April 1871
EXPLOSIVE MEDICINES.—Many a loud explosion and an amusing
fright have we given to those surrounding our chemical table, in
times past, by rubbing the pestle around a mortar in which a
mere trifle of the chlorate of potash and sulphur, or the chlorate
of potash and tannin, were thrown together. Now it appears that
for group an allopathist recommends a powder of sublimed
sulphur, chlorate of potash, and prepared charcoal, to be blown
upon the false membrane in the throat in cases of diphtheria.
Should a portion of this get between the teeth in a dry state, and
the patient close the molars tightly upon it, he might have an
unexpected detonation or "Fourth of July celebration " in his
mouth.
|
|
|
The WiZard is In
International Hazard
Posts: 1617
Registered: 3-4-2010
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
Magnesium and chlorate of potash
The Photographic News for Amateur Photographers
October 16, 1896
Now that the dark winter evening are coming on, and some of
our readers may feel inclined to make their own flashlight
powders, it is just as well to record the fact that a caretaker of
the Sydney Cyclorama was killed by an explosion of a mixture of
chlorate of potash and magnesium, which he was preparing for
flashlight purposes. He had been instructed in the work by a firm
of experts, and it was part of his duty to make every week a
small quantity of flash-powder. He had been frequently warned as
to the danger in the use of the chemicals, and had been ordered
not to mix more than 2 ozs. at a time. On this particular occasion
he was using an iron mortar, and one witness stated it was the
first time he had seen this done. It is surmised that to save time
he was powdering more of the chlorate of potash than he should
have done, and was mixing the magnesium with it in the mortar.
It is as well to remember that chlorate of potash explodes, and
this poor fellow lost his life and two of his fellow-workmen were
seriously injured at the same time.
|
|
|
The WiZard is In
International Hazard
Posts: 1617
Registered: 3-4-2010
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
Tannic acid — potassium chlorate
The Medical Times and Register
April 22, 1882
EXPLOSION IN A DRUG-STORE.—While Frederick Loos, a young drug-clerk, was
compounding a throat-gargle composed of chlorate of potassium and tannic acid, at
the drug-store of Curtis W. Turner, No. 4441 Frankford Avenue, recently, an explosion
occurred, breaking glass and burning Mr. Loos about the head and both hands, the
injuries to the latter being such as will prevent their use for some time. An ounce of
each of the compounds named had been pulverized separately, and the explosion
occurred when the tannic acid was dropped into the mortar, the presumption being
that the heat generated in pulverizing the potassium by being rubbed too rapidly was
the cause of the explosion.
|
|
|
The WiZard is In
International Hazard
Posts: 1617
Registered: 3-4-2010
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
No good deed goes unpunished
New Remedies
Edited by Horatio Charles Wood, Frederick Albert Castle, Charles Rice
July 1882
Accidents from Explosions.
A SHOCKING occurrence took place at Wellington, New Zealand, on December 21st
last, by which a lady was literally blown to pieces and a building partially wrecked.
The facts are as follows : At the shop of Mr. Barrand, chemist, London Quay, some
blue fire was in course of preparation for use at the theatre. On testing a small
portion of the mixture it was found dangerously explosive, too much chlorate of
potash having been inadvertently used in the composition. Accordingly Barrand's
assistant, named Anthony, took it out in the back yard, and began to destroy it by
slow combustion. He had occasion to leave for an instant, and before he could
return, his wife happened to go into the yard, and seeing chemicals on fire, at once,
threw a bucket of water on the burning mass. A terrific explosion immediately took
place, which shook the whole city, and was heard at a distance of some miles. Mrs.
Anthony received the full force of the shock, and was frightfully mutilated. Both arms
were torn off, also one leg, the lower jaw, and the scalp. Wonderful to relate, she
lingered for some time. All the windows in the vicinity were smashed, and other
damage done. The stone mortar in which the composition had been mixed was
hurled many feet into the air, and thrown clear over the tops of the houses into the
next street. Fortunately nobody else was injured. Some points are worthy of special
attention in connection with this event. In the blue pyrotechnic compound there was
possibly some sulphate; but the question to consider is, whether explosion was
dominantly due to dissociation to the water or dissociation of the chlorate.
[Forsooth!] The accident suggests the following :
1. A compound dangerously explosive can burn by moderate combustion without
explosion,
2. There is every probability that the explosion was occasioned by hydrogen
liberated by the instantaneous dissociation of a portion of the water. It will be
inferred that such effect was more likely to have been produced from a. spray of
water than from a large body of water,
3. It is possible that the sudden shock of a comparatively large body of water
thrown upon the contents of a small mortar aided to increase the force of the
explosion. In other words, the molecular constituents of a salt, being, as it were, in a
state of high tension, or vibration, and almost ready to explode, may be driven to
explosion simply by the shock of a liquid thrown upon them. But the violent
dissociation of the elements of water thrown upon an ignited mass would itself be a
still greater shock.
|
|
|
The WiZard is In
International Hazard
Posts: 1617
Registered: 3-4-2010
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
Potassium chlorate - sodium salicylate
Bulletin of pharmacy
1898
A MIXTURE UNDER TRITURATION EXPLODES WITH SERIOUS EFFECT.-
A mixture composed of two parts potassium chlorate and one part sodium salicylate, while
being triturated on April 9 in a new wedgwood mortar by George A. Palmer, head
clerk for B. F. Quackenbush, a New York pharmacist, exploded with such violent
force that the store was badly wrecked and Palmer hurled ten feet, where he
was immediately afterward found by his employer lying unconscious and
bleeding, with his clothes on fire. The fire, which had also broken out in several
places around the store, was extinguished by siphons of carbonated water, and
Palmer was hurried to the hospital, where he is reported to be in a serious,
though not fatal, condition.
Palmer is a graduate of the New York College of Pharmacy, and is said to be a
competent pharmacist. But it would seem to us that the triturating of an oxidizing
agent like chlorate of potassium with another dry compound is an exceedingly
dangerous procedure under almost any circumstances-.
|
|
|
The WiZard is In
International Hazard
Posts: 1617
Registered: 3-4-2010
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
Fulminating mercury
The West American scientist Official Organ of the
San Diego Society of Natural History
By Charles Russell Orcutt
1888
In 1808, Barruel rubbed fulminating mercury in an agate mortar and had a
portion of his hand blown off. The next year Figuier put sixty grains of the same
stuff in a glass-stoppered bottle, and took it into the lecture room at Montpelier.
When he removed the stopper, the friction caused an explosion that destroyed
one of the chemist's eyes.
|
|
|
bbartlog
International Hazard
Posts: 1139
Registered: 27-8-2009
Location: Unmoored in time
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
| Quote: | Wonderful to relate, she
lingered for some time. |
This is one of those cases where the archaic nuance (it was a wonder) results in a passage that sounds strangely grisly to modern ears, thanks to the
changed meaning of the word...
|
|
|
The WiZard is In
International Hazard
Posts: 1617
Registered: 3-4-2010
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
Chlorate and sulphur redux
Year book of the American Pharmaceutical Association, 1918.
In:— J. Ind.Eng. Chem., 8 (1916), 517
Potassium chlorate.- Unusual Explosion of.-F.E. Rowland states
that an 8-inch pestle and its mortar were thoroughly cleaned
and about fifteen pounds of potassium chlorate was powdered
therein without mishap. The pestle and mortar were washed
and dried. A few days latter, some pumice -stone was crushed in
the same, when a violent explosion occurred. The mortar
was shattered; one piece being blown through an adjacent
window. The wooden handle was split to pieces. This enabled the
cause of the explosion to be traced. At the end of the handle,
which fitted into the socket of the pestle, quite a large quantity
of sulphur was found. Doubtless a small amount of potassium
chlorate had worked into the crevice of the joint and come into
contact with the sulphur. The jarring caused by crushing the
pumice had doubtless occasioned this to detonate. And
examination of other pestles of the same type showed them to
contain as much as 20 grammes of sulphur. The explosion
might have been disastrous, had it not occurredText with inert pumice.
In a few days, the same pestle and mortar would have
been used to powder several pounds of chlorate. The pestle was of
European make and had its wooden handle cemented to
the Wedgewood handle by use of molten sulphur.
|
|
|
|
![[*]](images/xpblue/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
