Chemistry: full of surprises - by R.F.

Chemistry: full of surprises                                 by R.F.

 

One never knows quite what is going to happen when one adds ‘Part A’ to ‘Part B’, stirs the mix, watches and waits.

On this occasion it was all a bit of a surprise, especially as ‘Part A’ and ‘Part B’ were not clearly identified as to what they actually were. Still, there was a job to be done, and the will to get on with it.

“Do you know what’s in these old bottles?” my student asked.

“No idea,” I replied. “The previous laboratory occupier just walked out and left everything in a mess, and un-labelled, so we just have to guess and go.”

And so the morning went, taking various bottles of left-overs, combining these together ready for disposal. By midday the job was done. The laboratory was clean and tidy, the stainless steel benches sparkling.

“Lunch time,” my student remarked and we left the laboratory for the afternoon. 

Unbeknown to us we had mixed glue mixes with something roughly labelled ‘Nitric acid rinsings’. Slowly, and then with increasing rate the molecules at ‘Part A’ reacted with those in ‘Part B’ and made a new molecule: Trinitrotoluene – TNT!

At some time during the night TNT did what TNT does: exploded!

Next morning we were confronted with an unbelievable sight. The cleaned and spotless laboratory was a huge mess! Every surface was covered with sticky gluey goo and broken glass: shards everywhere.

“Oh, no!” my student proclaimed. “What do we do now?”

“Get out the cleaning cloths and start again,” I insisted. “What else can we do?”

“I think we have to complete an accident report,” the student replied. “We won’t be able to hide this under the carpet!”