Many, many moons ago, as a graduate assistant, and, I must add, with some visual impairment, I was notorious for requiring my students in lab to wear eye protection and not just spectacles. If the student normally wore spectacles, then side shields mandatory. Else full goggles. When necessary, a face shield as well.

The importance of such ritual was brought home when one lad cranked up the flame way too high to, he hoped, speed up a distillation. Instead he sped up an explosion, which you can imagine, was heard far and wide. A picture taken shortly afterward showed the clear outline of where his safety goggles had been and where they had not. He fortunately only got a facefull of organic gook and little shards of glass. No major injury..

That picture, as far as I know some decades later, is still is displayed in the teaching laboratories at U of MN.

Some teaching aids never outgrow their utility.

Happy New Year, you all.

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

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