From:
List Moderator <ecgrants**At_Symbol_Here**UVM.EDU>
Subject:
Re: Lab Incident: Lab explosion in Montana
Date:
Oct 24, 2009 12:41 UTC
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DCHAS-L Discussion List
In-Reply-To:
Date: Sat, 24 Oct 2009 08:41:19 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L Discussion List <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU>
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From: List Moderator <ecgrants**At_Symbol_Here**UVM.EDU>
Subject: Re: Lab Incident: Lab explosion in Montana
When I was in college we had an oven blow up in a
biochemistry teaching lab.
We were doing an amino acid preparation from some source, I don't
recall what, but it called for doing an ether/water layer, discarding
the ether and then heating the water fraction. Apparently someone
discarded the water and put the ether fraction in the oven. This was the day before
Thanksgiving vacation.
I don't know why it didn't flame out or blow up right away, but
no one was in the lab when it went. There was damage to the
oven, and glass flew all over the place, all the preps were lost. It was a good lesson in
rechecking the procedure and not being in a rush to get out the door for
vacation.
Lucy
Dillman
