Author Topic: Lab Accidents (Read 2279 times)

Douchermann · « **Reply #60 on:** September 11, 2009, 07:07:19 PM »

2/5 on a 275 and the place was filled with smoke? Hmmm, and no pain. Perhaps you got off luckier than previously thought. I wonder what the smoke could have been, it doesn't seem feasible that it was mercury chloride, at least if there was a lot of it. Like heisenberg said, there could only have been a gram (or less) that sublimated. How much smoke left the building when you ventilated it, and how quickly?

poisoninthestain · « **Reply #61 on:** September 11, 2009, 07:08:57 PM »

Basstabone, from experience NEVER boil HgCl2. I've recorded in my lab notes that at ~100C over for 3-4 hours there is ~60-80% loss of unpurified chloride through sublimation.

Just buchner filter the whole mess(could also save the solution for for rxns where water is not critical) and keep the filtrand. Or do what I do, place in an aqueous solution for future use and use as is when the time goes saving you the hassle of workup.

As Douchermann already said earlier elemental mercury isn't as toxic as most people make it out to be.

HgCl2, next to organic(especially methylated) organic mercury compounds is one of the most toxic.

Go to the ER, man.

Better safe than sorry. Although in all probability you should be fine so long as you keep exposure in that room to a minimum. As those before me have said it's mainly cumulative.

You'd only have to worry about acute exposure if you felt nasty symptoms from then til now.

As far as cleaning up the room goes, keep all those windows open for at least a week's time.

I don't know about room temp but if that room is anywhere near hot on a bright sunny day you're in store for some intense product in the air.

Always do anything with HgCl2 under a hood or outside...or somewhere expendable.

basstabone · « **Reply #62 on:** September 11, 2009, 07:42:14 PM »

Alright well heres the game plan. I'm going to our university hospital tomorrow to get checked because all this has freaked me out (as it should). I'm gonna get a mercury detection kit and soak some of my drapes in water and test them and ive already begun cleaning the entire room (full safety equipment)

Sedit · « **Reply #63 on:** September 11, 2009, 07:43:41 PM »

Wonderful, so you might have had a whole gram of material vaporized in the room

You guys are missing something here... The total yeild should be as Doucherman said 13.5 grams he now has roughly 4 grams of HgCl2 unaccounted for. When the LD 50 is measured in ug when inhaled IIRC. I would worry a bit about lossing 4 grams of it. Not to mention he said he had to scrape up those 9 grams and that it was splattered all around. That means that his exposure over time is going to go up until his body absorbs alot of that material that is all over his house.

I know people like to over estimate dangers and thats a great thing I believe but dude I honestly feel you are in a very bad situation because you chose to do this where you sleep IE inside of a residence.
Never eat where ya shit.

Douchermann · « **Reply #64 on:** September 11, 2009, 08:14:36 PM »

@bastabone - That's a good plan. I would suggest moving all furniture outside for cleaning - makes it easier

@sedit - The procedure he is speaking of typically loses the Hg salt in the first and second steps. It's usually dumped down the drain or lost mechanically. I'm never able to get quantative yeilds either, and I don't attribute this to sublimation. However, next time I perform this, I might dry and weigh each step.

Sedit · « **Reply #65 on:** September 11, 2009, 09:02:45 PM »

Understandable but since its unaccounted for in this case It warrents more consideration I think.

I posted an observation over in poisoninthestains threed that proved that HgCl2 subliminates out of solution no matter how slow you evaporate it. I placed a bowl with it over a warming plate that was full of water. The temperature was kept well below boiling or any chance of mist to rise above the solution yet a plexi glass plate placed over the top till condensation formed and was allowed to dry showed needles of HgCl2 on it. This personaly disturbed me quite a bit because it means even in the final stretch you must be very careful with this as it does not like to stay put the way we want it to.

If he was boiling the solution you can bet your ass there is a good deal of HgCl2 contamination around the direct area at the very lest.

Vesp · « **Reply #66 on:** September 12, 2009, 03:59:55 PM »

Especially with the carry over effect.. little bubbles popping and kicking crap into the air...
If you don't think this is significant.. put a torch over a boiling salt water solution... turns bright yellow from the sodium...

Sedit · « **Reply #67 on:** September 12, 2009, 05:09:16 PM »

Hmm... That could quite possibly be able to give this guy an idea of how contaminated the area is if he has any idea how to build a cheep spectroscope and view the flame of swabs taken from different areas of the lab to see if Hg or possibly even Cl lines are present. Im pretty sure you could get enough results from even a trace sample enough to let you know if there is contamination or not.

I still think a chemical means of test would be the best way but this is always an option.

Vesp · « **Reply #68 on:** September 13, 2009, 07:16:48 PM »

cheep spectroscopes I think can be made using CDs.. I don't know how well they'd work though..

Sedit · « **Reply #69 on:** September 13, 2009, 08:00:53 PM »

Ehhh.... effective but no where near good ... I go with a fixed in prism for this kind of work. If your gonna make it may as well do it right so you can use it for other chemistry down the line.

Vesp · « **Reply #70 on:** September 13, 2009, 08:22:45 PM »

Yeah, I wasn't sure if it would be better/worse, etc.

heisenberg · « **Reply #71 on:** September 19, 2009, 11:08:53 PM »

Well, I just had a small accident a few minutes ago.

I was pipetting some bromine into a reaction flask, and the bloody thing spurted at me. I got probably about .5g or so of bromine shoot straight onto my fingers. Another 1g or so landed on the work table.

I washed the shit off as quickly as possible, and wiped up the spilled bromine as quickly as possible too. For a few minutes my skin was slightly discolored, but it's mostly cleared up.

Lesson here: bromine will spurt when in a tipped pipette.

*********************

Edit:

To clarify, by "tipped" I meant tilted. The spurt happened when I tilted the thing sideways.

Also, I had to run one of my fingers under water for about 5 minutes because a little bit of Br2 was stuck under the nail. Shit burned

.

Douchermann · « **Reply #72 on:** September 20, 2009, 07:35:45 AM »

Yar, the halides burn a little.

I had one today as well. I was distilling methylene chloride paint stripper to get pure methylene chloride. I can only find the "Krudkutter KS-3" which is gelled (but has the advantage of only methanol and methylene chloride + some gel). This usually leaves a tough gel residue in the flask, so I decided to add a little water to the flask to try and combat this gel shit. Even with an arseload of boiling chips, there was hard enough bumping to blow my 45/50-24/40 adapter, and 24/40 three way adapter out of the flask and out of the condenser on to the ground. The 45/50 shattered, but fortunately broke the fall of the 3-way so only one fallen soldier. On the upside, clean-up of the residue was a breeze!

It was a weird thing to walk in to. The room smelled of dichloromethane, and the flask was chilling out with the condenser resting on the side of it, with the two adapters no where to be found. I spent 3 minutes trying to find the missing pieces, but then realized the crunching noise under my feet was my 45/50, and the 3-way was tucked into a corner hahaha

WazOne · « **Reply #73 on:** September 20, 2009, 04:25:32 PM »

Um leaving the stock cock open when. well it should be shut!

2bfrank · « **Reply #74 on:** September 26, 2009, 09:27:48 PM »

so hes got the b-nitrostyrene in a vac dessicator, and checks to see if its dry,,totaly not thinking, and releases the vaccuum, touches the yellow substance, hmm, it feels pretty dry, give it another 12 hours, and then do the recrystallizing, so he forgets to wash his hands, and even besides, all of a sudden his face is burning, FUCk, is it burning, and then washes his hands and face, but at this point, if you wash, it seems to get worse....I am in fucking agony, I am crying, my face feels like blisters,,and can hardly see...this shit is bad..what a fucking idiot, to be touching, releasing the vacuum, so all its fumes can punch my fucking unprotected face...wont happen again,,boohoo

Douchermann · « **Reply #75 on:** October 01, 2009, 05:54:42 AM »

New accident to add. The stopcock on my separatory funnel managed to pop out, and ~400ml of nitration acids (H2SO4/HNO3) dumped all over the ice bath, mag stirrer, and table. What a terrible mess.

Enkidu · « **Reply #76 on:** October 04, 2009, 03:11:02 AM »

You guys are funny

Vesp · « **Reply #77 on:** October 04, 2009, 05:42:56 PM »

How so? Haven't you had lab accidents?

Enkidu · « **Reply #78 on:** October 05, 2009, 05:00:17 AM »

Yep, but not recently. I laugh a lot when I think back to most of them. I mean, who knew that you have to stir the glycerin/KNO3/H2SO4 mix as you're dripping more glycerin in?

heisenberg · « **Reply #79 on:** October 06, 2009, 06:58:26 PM »

Quote from: Enkidu on October 05, 2009, 05:00:17 AM

Yep, but not recently. I laugh a lot when I think back to most of them. I mean, who knew that you have to stir the glycerin/KNO3/H2SO4 mix as you're dripping more glycerin in?

"The flames were so pretty" - Enkidu

Author Topic: Lab Accidents (Read 2279 times)

Douchermann

Re: Lab Accidents

poisoninthestain

Re: Lab Accidents

basstabone

Re: Lab Accidents

Sedit

Re: Lab Accidents

Douchermann

Re: Lab Accidents

Sedit

Re: Lab Accidents

Vesp

Re: Lab Accidents

Sedit

Re: Lab Accidents

Vesp

Re: Lab Accidents

Sedit

Re: Lab Accidents

Vesp

Re: Lab Accidents

heisenberg

Re: Lab Accidents

Douchermann

Re: Lab Accidents

WazOne

Re: Lab Accidents

2bfrank

Re: Lab Accidents

Douchermann

Re: Lab Accidents

Enkidu

Re: Lab Accidents

Vesp

Re: Lab Accidents

Enkidu

Re: Lab Accidents

heisenberg

Re: Lab Accidents