have you ever blew something up ? – Medical Research 2020

Question: have you ever blew something up ?
- Keywords:
  experiment,
  explosion
Asked by anon-249951 on 6 Mar 2020. This question was also asked by anon-250140.
- Katrina Wesencraft answered on 6 Mar 2020:
  
  I’ve never caused an explosion (on purpose or by accident!)
- Nathan Kindred answered on 6 Mar 2020:
  
  It wasn’t really a big explosion but I did make a glass bottle of agar overheat and smash when I was a lab assistant!
- Samir Hopestone answered on 6 Mar 2020:
  
  Not in my current role, but when I was a teenager we used to do backyard chemistry experiments in the garage and somethings may have exploded!
- Robyn Kiy answered on 6 Mar 2020:
  
  I’ve knocked a few things over and dropped a couple of things too, but never blown something up!
- Jennifer Roe answered on 6 Mar 2020:
  
  There are some flammable solutions where I work but so far none have ignited.
- Andrea Kusec answered on 6 Mar 2020:
  
  Not on purpose – although in my teenage years I made one of those homemade volcanos and that blew up more than I wanted it to!
- Paige Chandler answered on 6 Mar 2020:
  
  There’s a trick you can do to startle people when you’re in the lab – you put some dry ice (frozen carbon dioxide) into a tube, and sneak the tube under someone’s lab bench. As the dry ice melts, it turns back into carbon dioxide gas, which makes the pressure inside the tube build until the lid of the tube pops off with a POP! It’s safe, but a bit cheeky to do to someone!
- Sarah Clarke answered on 6 Mar 2020:
  
  Only my toaster at home – at work I’ve been okay!
- Ioana Grigoras answered on 6 Mar 2020:
  
  Nope, never happened, but I did once flood my lab because I forgot to stop this machine that was filtering water. I had to mop the whole thing out before anyone else saw it.
- Kate Mitchell answered on 8 Mar 2020:
  
  I’ve made hot chocolate overflow in the microwave – very messy! – but nothing in the lab.
- Ebrima Danso answered on 8 Mar 2020:
  
  Yes I did by accident. I dissolved Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) in distilled water. I covered the top of the container which was a measuring cylinder with parafilm. The container became hot and when I shaked the container, the hot liquid solution splashed out on my lab coat and on my covered shoes. I was not hurt but I will never do that again. I advised all other staff to dissolved NaOH in a bottle with a tight fitted cap.
- M S answered on 9 Mar 2020:
  
  Not me…but once a lab member nearly set the lab on fire……
- Sophie Arthur answered on 9 Mar 2020:
  
  I’ve never caused an explosion myself. But I remember being in the lab one and I was using a piece of equipment that was just rocking the liquid around my experiment back and forth, and all of a sudden I heard this bang, turned around and there was a small plume of smoke coming from it because the fuse had blown on the equipment. That is the closest I have come apart from chemistry demonstrations in school
- Sarah Brown answered on 13 Mar 2020:
  
  No but I have definitely broken my fair share of equipment (by accident of course)

Question: have you ever blew something up ?

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