Never yell "shit shit shit its on fire!!" in a crowded lab
It doesn't help anyone.

Sticking my head into a fume cupboard is not a good Idea at the best of times.

Its less sensible when you have left the top off the bottle of ether and the fumes are making you feel giddy. But anyway this experiment needed to be heated by waving a Bunsen burner around underneath it. I lent in to get a better reach so I could ensure even heating.

The suddenly a jet of flame seared across my view. I jumped back yelling "ohshitohshit its on FIRE!" as two feet of fire blasted across the fume cupboard.

At some point the Bunsen's gas hose had come away from the wall and the gas coming out of the gas tap had ignited leading to a spectacular pyrotechnic display.

Sheepishly, with everyone looking at me I turned the gas off. It was at this point I noticed the top was off the nearly full ether bottle. This would explain the good feeling I used to have about this experiment.

Ether is not only mega flammable, but it has a very low 'flash point' that is had it been any closer to the flame jet it would of exploded. Exploding ether is bad enough, if it exploded near this particular experiment I would be at point blank range for a blizzard of glass shards and boiling acid.

Cotton lab coats sadly do not offer the protection you might think. I doubt very much that I would be typing this now had that bottle been but 2 inches closer to me at the time.
( willenium Fist bump for verification, Sun 15 Feb 2009, 17:43, 6 replies)

Someone did that in my first year of uni
with a Bunsen, looked very impressive too! ANd my lecturer stuck his head in our fume cupbaord the other day, I thought that they should know better than to do that...!

*click*
(Petite chien is going to do science to it, Sun 15 Feb 2009, 19:20, closed)

gaz me with details
It may have been me that you saw
( willenium Fist bump for verification, Sun 15 Feb 2009, 20:13, closed)

Our chemistry teacher at school
went to hospital five times last year after lab experiments. With one, he opened conc HCl and ended up breathing in hydrogen chloride gas (which, for those who don't know, mixes with the water on the surface of your lungs making acid.) Another time, someone had done something wrong in a reaction, getting a completely different (unknown) product. His response? "Let's mix that with this and see what happens." Cue the room filling with clouds of smoke, half the science labs closed for the rest of the day, and another trip to hospital.
(Pretty strangers and promises, Sun 15 Feb 2009, 22:57, closed)

At
Least cotton doesn't melt, stick to you then remove areas of skin when it's pulled off.
(Benzyl, Sun 15 Feb 2009, 23:00, closed)

You'd think that
Once you get into the labs in industry, that the wrecklessness and danger of student chemists would not apply any more.

You'd be wrong!

I've worked in the labs of some very respectable blue chip companies, and seen the odd explosion (Ether naturally!) and heard stories from others.
The one that sticks in the mind is the chemist who got sprayed by much nasty caustic stuff due to a explosion in a fume cupboard. If it wasn't for his complete disregard for personal hygene, he would have been quite badly scarred! The thick layer of body grease gave the chap about 30 seconds protection to get under the emergency shower!
Result, ruined clothes and a bit toasty at the edges but perfectly OK otherwise
(Sir Tainley Barking Ezekiel 23:20, Mon 16 Feb 2009, 10:20, closed)

I worked at a small biochemistry company a few years ago
the new lab manager insisted on strict use of goggles at all times, because he'd once seen a test tube shatter while on a centrifuge and hit a woman full in the face with acid.

She'd been wearing safety goggles so she kept her eyes, the rest her face wasn't too pretty though.
( chenobble rocking his explorer beard on, Mon 16 Feb 2009, 12:30, closed)