Chemistry Accidents in the 50s
So today I found the most amazingly surreal paper from the 50s which discussed chemistry accidents that had happened in the last few years from across the US, UK, NZ and a number of other countries. It was a weird look back in time to attitudes around safety and access to chemicals and the (often morbid) cartoon graphics were just incredible given the subject matter.
I am absolutely desperate to figure out what the hell kind of chemistry experiment these kids were doing at the movies that got them injured
- This has to be the most morbid bar graph I've ever seen.
- I had heard from a teacher who came to my first school having taught in the states that there was a national ban on the use of K in schools. Can anyone confirm this? It would be a terrible shame if this happened off the back of papers like this that recommended .."no beginning student need use potassium metal or see its action on water. The action of metallic calcium on water is equally instructive and completely safe."Whilst I'd agree students handling potassium isn't a great idea, they should definitely see its chemistry first hand."Why need red phosphorus be present in a high-schoolchemistry storeroom? Better, have on hand the chemical necessary to prepare synthetic rubber or plastic.".. well because it's a beautiful and fascinating element which undergoes some impressive reactions and can stimulate some deep and engaging discussions on periodicity and bonding. I sincerely believe all students ought to be able to see first hand each of the elements in that period (it wasn't until last year I had the pleasure of holding a piece of silicon in my hands - what an incredible element!) and experience some of the chemistry they undergo to help them apply and extend the theory we teach them.
- it was hard to distil some of these into 140 characters .. in case it wasn't clear, the intention was not that the father died .. but it happened anyway.I love the idea that the best place to do this was in the middle of Denver airport. I'd like to see how close you could get to the airport with a home-made rocket these days.
... no really.
someone needs to go back in time to that moment and ask that boy what he thought was going to happen when swinging an axe at his hand .. which contained a bomb.
All this was brought into a 21st century context though when I saw a bunch of boys smashing flowers off a bush with a big stick. One generation ago, those lads could have walked into the "druggist" and walked back out with some potassium chlorate. Now that's a sobering thought.
