Doctor Swift
Our Chemistry teacher had formerly worked in industry, and evidently had a pretty casual attitude to the usual rules of the lab since he'd eat and drink in it. He was rarely seen without his mug of tea and perhaps a biscuit or two.

I remember one occasion where we were doing something involving a vacuum pump, and he'd left his mug of fresh tea next to the fume cupboard and wandered back to the prep room to fetch something. We were all sitting around unattended and bored; the pump was running, the ever-present tea was as present as ever, so one of us took the hose from the vacuum pump and dumped the end in the mug.

I don't know quite what we'd expected to happen, but the draw of a vacuum pump is quite considerable and with a loud SCCCCHHHLLLLUUURRR noise most of the mug's contents instantly vanished.

With some alarm the end of the hose was pulled from the mug and shoved hastily back into the fume cupboard.

Doctor Swift returned from the prep room, and surveyed his mug and the sad dregs of the tea within. He shot us a suspicious look, but by then we were all looking as vacantly innocent as only a classroom of kids who know something is up can be.

So he continued with the lesson. I doubt any of us could remember what the lesson was actually about, because vacuum pumps are designed to pump air, not liquid, and what filled our attention most was not the subject of the lesson but the tea leaking steadily from every seal on the pump.

Probably turned out to be rather expensive, I suspect...
(richardm, Mon 2 Feb 2009, 10:41, 1 reply)

ah, abusing the vacuum lines
Our college chemistry labs had "suction taps" alongside the gas taps. I still kick myself for never hooking one up to the other and seeing which one runs out first.
(The Incredible Sulk Finally remembered his password on, Mon 2 Feb 2009, 11:23, closed)