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torquillYou don't have to be a chemist to appreciate this one.
Disposing of old diethyl ether... lumberjack-style. (I got the link from In The Pipeline, where Derek has a running "How Not To Do It" series.)
The thing to keep in mind: Ether is what they used to use as an anesthetic back in the old days... and it's very, very flammable. It even breaks down to form hydrogen peroxide, which is none too stable itself. There were no explosions in this story, but it wasn't for lack of stupidity.
Derek also covered the Texas A&M liquid nitrogen incident, which is a real classic. Check out the rest of that category; some of his entries do take some organic chemistry background to fully appreciate them, but most of the time he writes it to be accessible enough for most people.
Disposing of old diethyl ether... lumberjack-style. (I got the link from In The Pipeline, where Derek has a running "How Not To Do It" series.)
The thing to keep in mind: Ether is what they used to use as an anesthetic back in the old days... and it's very, very flammable. It even breaks down to form hydrogen peroxide, which is none too stable itself. There were no explosions in this story, but it wasn't for lack of stupidity.
Derek also covered the Texas A&M liquid nitrogen incident, which is a real classic. Check out the rest of that category; some of his entries do take some organic chemistry background to fully appreciate them, but most of the time he writes it to be accessible enough for most people.
