Stupid Things You've Done and want to Share with the World

[theonlysaneone]

Hydrochloric Acid is rubbish haha. We poured about 2 and a half bottles of the stuff into a plant once and it took ages just to -begin- to die. Then it came back to life!

Sounds like you had the low-octane version. I had a towel begin to dissolve in my hands from trying to wipe up some spilled HCl (because I am stupid).

HCl has a high Ka, and is therefore considered a strong acid. When molarity is high enough, it'll start to eat stuff.

NaOH (lye) is equally bad. I got some on my hand once and it burned my skin. It wasn't REALLY high molarity, but it was still pretty strong.

Interestingly, HCl is the acid in stomach acid. It's what dissolves your food.

[TDG]

Hydrochloric Acid is rubbish haha. We poured about 2 and a half bottles of the stuff into a plant once and it took ages just to -begin- to die. Then it came back to life!

Sounds like you had the low-octane version. I had a towel begin to dissolve in my hands from trying to wipe up some spilled HCl (because I am stupid).

HCl has a high Ka, and is therefore considered a strong acid. When molarity is high enough, it'll start to eat stuff.

NaOH (lye) is equally bad. I got some on my hand once and it burned my skin. It wasn't REALLY high molarity, but it was still pretty strong.

Interestingly, HCl is the acid in stomach acid. It's what dissolves your food.

Which is why 1M HCl tastes like aftertaste of vomiting.

The more you know!

[Skynetmain]

Continuing the chem theme: a couple geniuses got booted from my JC during my last semester there for combining the cleaning power of ammonia with the whitening power of bleach. Don't know why that is bad? Go study the history of chemical warfare.

And nominating myself for this award now: this morning I got up early for a flight later today, so I go to the computer to kill time. Normally, I get the internet signal via a router, but I had taken that down since I am getting a new router and giving my old one to my mom. Instead, I was getting the signal directly from the modem. For some reason, pages weren't loading. The modem was hooked up properly. The computer was fine. I didn't get it so I figured I'd go back to bed a bit more after disconnecting the modem so my dad can use it while I am away. Soon after I put my head on a pillow again, it hit me. I had to reset the connection by unplugging the modem. An action I had to on a regular basis since our signal occasionally gets messed up out here in the boonies. I guess I did need more sleep.

[Helena]

Hydrochloric Acid is rubbish haha. We poured about 2 and a half bottles of the stuff into a plant once and it took ages just to -begin- to die. Then it came back to life!

Hyrdrochloric acid is ebil AND rubbish lol. I had this metaly stuff in a test tube and I poured (too much) acid into it and it fizzed everywhere and I tryed to collect the hydrogen gas from the tube by putting my thumb over the top. But the stuff was so hot I was had to move my thumb and acid and metaly stuff went all over my hand. Yay.

As a general rule, anything that can be set on fire WILL be set on fire during my class's chemistry lessons Gosh. We are rebels.

Me too! *high five* It's like "Ooh, wood. Let's burn it!" or "Can I burn this leaf plzkthanx" or something.

[Pudding]

Ah, chemistry--you make fools of us all, and that's why I'm majoring in you!

The first time I did a flame test, I couldn't understand why all the flames were turning out a lovely shade of violet, with a few other tones occasionally showing up.

In general, it's a bad idea to label your potassium sulfate solution as water.

[Tymaporer]

Johnny was a chemist's son,
But Johnny is no more.
For what he thought was H2O
Was H2SO4.

[Asthaloth]

Johnny was a chemist's son,
But Johnny is no more.
For what he thought was H2O
Was H2SO4.

Oooh Science limerics?

There once was a man named Brite.
Who could travel much faster than light.
He left one day,
In a relativistic way,
And returned the Previous night.

[CWisgood]

Ah, chemistry--you make fools of us all, and that's why I'm majoring in you!

The first time I did a flame test, I couldn't understand why all the flames were turning out a lovely shade of violet, with a few other tones occasionally showing up.

In general, it's a bad idea to label your potassium sulfate solution as water.

Potassium is LILAC in flame test. :O

[shapu]

I always thought of it as more of a mauve.

[Rissa]

I feel rather surrounded by nerds.

[Twinkle]

Moving on from the trend of the colours of chemistry, I recently started a new job as a "Meeter and Greeter" at a phone sales store. A gentleman walked in the door this weekend and I started to pitch to him like a good little employee. Turns out, the poor old gentleman was the branch manager and was far too polite to stop me mid-spiel...

[Tymaporer]

I feel rather surrounded by nerds.

Eh, me too, don't worry. I'm taking chemistry this year, but as I said, I've never worked with chemicals or anything, nor will I. We're doing ionic bonds or something.

But for me, this is nothing. Here's where you go if you want to know what it's like to really be surrounded by nerds. I hang out there sometimes, mostly to watch and feel like an airheaded moron.

[Pudding]

Ah, chemistry--you make fools of us all, and that's why I'm majoring in you!

The first time I did a flame test, I couldn't understand why all the flames were turning out a lovely shade of violet, with a few other tones occasionally showing up.

In general, it's a bad idea to label your potassium sulfate solution as water.

Potassium is LILAC in flame test. :O

I always thought of it as more of a mauve.

Okay, in the future I shall be more precise about the way I describe colors on message boards. (The sad bit is, I picked out the color I dye my hair based on how pretty I find this flame. Perhaps I should just refer to it as Special Effects Virgin Rose? )


(In case anyone's interested: that's actually KCl, but looks as close to what we're talking about as anything I can find in 20 seconds of googling.)

My lab section wound up about 2 weeks ahead of the others, so the week after we did flame tests, our prof got us to identify the compounds in sparklers and other little firecrackers that he'd bought.

...it's not a very good idea to set off firecrackers indoors, especially not next to the open glassware cabinet.

[shapu]

Ah, chemistry--you make fools of us all, and that's why I'm majoring in you!

The first time I did a flame test, I couldn't understand why all the flames were turning out a lovely shade of violet, with a few other tones occasionally showing up.

In general, it's a bad idea to label your potassium sulfate solution as water.

Potassium is LILAC in flame test. :O

I always thought of it as more of a mauve.

Okay, in the future I shall be more precise about the way I describe colors on message boards. (The sad bit is, I picked out the color I dye my hair based on how pretty I find this flame. Perhaps I should just refer to it as Special Effects Virgin Rose? )


(In case anyone's interested: that's actually KCl, but looks as close to what we're talking about as anything I can find in 20 seconds of googling.)

My lab section wound up about 2 weeks ahead of the others, so the week after we did flame tests, our prof got us to identify the compounds in sparklers and other little firecrackers that he'd bought.

...it's not a very good idea to set off firecrackers indoors, especially not next to the open glassware cabinet.

FWIW, chlorides do not emit light in a visible spectrum. The color of KCl in a flame test is the same as the color of any other simple potassium salt.

[Lee]

Cracked up at the mention of cod in a fancy resturant.