From: ILPI Support <info**At_Symbol_Here**ILPI.COM>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Likely Rainbow experiment injures 12 three year olds at Houston daycare
Date: Wed, 17 May 2017 09:13:29 -0400
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: C1C1A5F2-B540-4FBA-A5CE-C3912C49EF68**At_Symbol_Here**ilpi.com
In-Reply-To


Going far out on the limb of conjecture here (which I normally try to avoid) - I have to ask why did they do it outside?  The colors in the demo are *much* more easily seen in a darkened room. Which suggests that the persons approving and/or performing the demo recognized that there was a danger significant enough that it couldn't be done safely inside.  Because outdoors you can't burn the building down, right?  And what could possibly go wrong with a volatile and flammable liquid that burns with an invisible flame, an obviously (pick all that apply when we learn more:) inept/untrained/clueless/callous/inexperienced teacher, and a bunch of 3 year olds who you're teaching to play with fire?

Rob

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On May 17, 2017, at 8:53 AM, TILAK CHANDRA <tilak.chandra**At_Symbol_Here**WISC.EDU> wrote:

Rob:
 
Hope the teacher and the school administration is aware with previous rainbow incidents. If not, that is a type of carelessness/bad safety culture. By just maintaining few feet distance between the students and the demo could have prevented this incident (may be common sense). Adding more fuel (ethanol/methanol) on a hot surface is the cause of the incident (my guess).
 
Tilak
 
 
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU] On Behalf Of ILPI Support
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2017 6:13 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Likely Rainbow experiment injures 12 three year olds at Houston daycare
 
Very preliminary information, but look at the quote by the five-year old witness:  http://abc13.com/news/12-children-injured-by-blast-during-experiment/1999709/
 
"Fire was changing colors and the last one wasn't working, so we put it a little bit more, and then it exploded," said Kate Earnest, a 5-year-old who was part of the group that participated in the experiment. "That's how the other kids got burned, and they were crying."
 
=46rom the school's web site, http://www.mdpc.org/ministries/children/the-yellow-school/ "The Yellow School is an early childhood program for children 3 years old through kindergarten."  My god.  What utter stupidity and ignorance.
 
Another news reports says it was the school science teacher.  Who, one presumes, somehow thought this was age-appropriate despite the long and public track record of what happens with this demo over and over again.  Obviously this is not a target audience that any of us could probably have ever reached with our best efforts and national campaigns, and how this person could find information on how to perform the demo with also encountering the multiple reports of injuries and danger is beyond me:  https://www.google.com/#q=rainbow+demonstration and https://www.google.com/#q=rainbow+methanol    No wait, of course - go to YouTube and this is what you get: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rainbow+flame
 
I hope the Houston prosecutor doesn't give this teacher a free pass.  He or she should be criminally prosecuted for wanton endangerment which is, apparently, in most jurisdictions defined as "conduct which creates a substantial danger of death or serious physical injury to another person."  It's time to stop calling these injuries "accidents"
 
Rob Toreki
 
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