SERIOUSLY. We (me and Tsao Hui) just put the mythbusters to shame. Risk factor: Probably like 99.9%! The stuff we did was just crazy! We could've have died about 3 times!
Part of our experiments were to conduct a flame test on Sodium and Potassium to view its emmision spectra. Group 1 superdooper reactive metals! Well, as you would expect, the pottasium ignited to form purple flames (the colour of its spectra). But what was most shocking was some pottasium melted and fell on the table. We could litteraly see the purple flames as it burnt a hole in the table. Then came a furious Dr Hjorth with a contorted face frowning at us, reminding us repeatedly of the safety rules.
Okay so after that we burnt potassium in the fume cupboard, doing it correctly. BUT, we made a fatal mistake. We took some of the potassium ash (not fully burnt) and chucked it down the sink. GENIUS right? what if somebody switched on the tap? (Remember what happens between potassium and water!!!!) luckily it was initially dry.
We continued our experiments. The next horror was when we reacted FeCl3 with Na2O. We litteraly heard a POP sound with the mixture nearly exploding in flames! I swaaare Tsao Hui is such a brave girl. I would have fainted if i was holding the boiling tube. Thing is right, I was too shocked to faint.
WELL finally to cap of a really traumatising day, we turned on the tap at our sink, causing water to react with the pottasium in the sink. It sizzled on the water and then exploded. LUCKILY, for us it was such a small amount. We were both soooo shaken that we decided to immediatly clear up after that and go to the canteen for a drink.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment