NEMO-Chemistry
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Home chemistry Death Dumfries and galloway
I live in dumfries and galloway, on the BBC its been reported a home chemist has been found dead after spilling a liquid in his lab.
They have no idea what it is yet or how it happened. Initially the age wasnt given, i live in D&G, so no its not me 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-43598762
[Edited on 2-4-2018 by NEMO-Chemistry]
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elementcollector1
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I'd be quite concerned if it was... then again, a legally dead home chemist might slip under the radar a bit easier.
Elements Collected:52/87
Latest Acquired: Cl
Next in Line: Nd
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CobaltChloride
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I don't think he's necessarily a home chemist seeing the police didn't report on any laboratory equipment being found in the cottage. I sincerely hope
this death doesn't make the chemical he was using unavailable to UK home chemists because they're already overly limited on what they can buy.
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LearnedAmateur
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Best to wait until the substance has been analysed and toxicology performed but really it could’ve just as easily been a natural/unrelated death and
he simply happened to spill a benign liquid as a result - heart attack, stroke, heroin overdose, who knows. I hope this doesn’t end up being spun
against home chemistry either, us Britizens know what the mainstream media is usually like..
In chemistry, sometimes the solution is the problem.
It’s been a while, but I’m not dead! Updated 7/1/2020. Shout out to Aga, we got along well.
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NEMO-Chemistry
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Well none of this is official but came from a good source......
100m exclusion zone around the house and the local hospital put on code black!! Guy was alive but dies at the scene.
Chemical spill was on the floor...First aid emergency people turned up first (normally the fire brigade), smelt chemicals and all hell broke out after
30 mins treating the guy on the floor.
Because cause of death is not 100% known they still pushing chemicals etc, i am told the smell was Chlorine and the substance likely to be bleach!
this explains why there was a puddle on the floor and people treated the guy for 30 mins before he died.
He was in his 60'3 from what I hear, so looks like a big over reaction by the police doing an evacuation that scale!! Source works in A&E at the
hospital not medical staff but hears alot
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CobaltChloride
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This means either that the death is unrelated to the chemical, or that he unknowingly mixed ammonia/strong acid with bleach and made toxic gases. If
it is the latter, it's completely the man's fault for not reading the label on the bleach which should explicitly state that it shouldn't be mixed
with other cleaning products as toxic gasses might be formed.
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LearnedAmateur
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Even so, you need quite a bit of bleach to make enough chlorine gas for a poisoning, let alone to kill you unless you’re sucking it straight out the
container. Here in the UK, bleach is generally 5% hypochlorite, you may be able to get 10% here and there but I’ve never seen any. Plus, I’ve made
chlorine gas (using about 50mL bleach) via this route before, got a good whiff of it but never felt any ill effects - not sure on the chloramine side
of things but I’d be skeptical that chlorine/chloramine was the only factor if at all, then again his age/possible medical conditions may have
played a role.
In chemistry, sometimes the solution is the problem.
It’s been a while, but I’m not dead! Updated 7/1/2020. Shout out to Aga, we got along well.
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NEMO-Chemistry
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No the bleach is unrelated, he was mopping the floor! no one else got sick he had a stroke but none of this has been put out!! Infact the police
insist they still dont know whats in the bottle marked bleach that was knocked over!!
But they are concerned about the chlorine smell.....
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CobaltChloride
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That seems quite silly of them at the surface level, but maybe there is some law that forces them to do it this way.
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CobaltChloride
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But I think that the smell and the fact that it is labeled bleach are enough to conclude it is, in fact, bleach and not some mysterious chemical. And
having a stroke and knocking over a bottle of bleach does seem much more plausible than being poisoned by some chemical.
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Mr. Rogers
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Evacuating neighbors due to a "spilled liquid" sounds like they might suspect a warfare agent.
[Edited on 16-4-2018 by Mr. Rogers]
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Bert
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Public safety people are conservative by nature, even more so when they are also basically ignorant of chemistry.
Someone in civil service doesn't want to sign off on there NOT being a dangerous chemical incident until he has a lab report to confirm (or to cover
his ass, perhaps?).
(Edit)
NH3 + ClO− → NH2Cl + OH−
No matter what everyone "knows" about mixing bleach with ammonia the bleach/ammonia reaction releases chloramine, not Cl2.
Though damn the difference anyway, it can still kill you.
[Edited on 4-16-2018 by Bert]
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