• Question: Has one of your experiments ever gone terribly wrong.....?

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      Asked by jamieser to Matt H, Helen on 24 Jun 2013. This question was also asked by homelesspanda.
      • Photo: Helen Pritchard-Smith

        Helen Pritchard-Smith answered on 24 Jun 2013:

        Yes, i was using a glass insert in one of my autoclave reactions (see my page for an image). My reactions are carried out at high pressure so you have to cool them down then vent (remove all the CO2) from them at the end. I thought all the pressure had gone but i had made a polymer that had trapped CO2 under it so when i opened the lid the glass insert flew up and hit the metal lid and shattered covering me in glass and cancer causing liquid. The lab had to be evacuated and i threw away all of my clothes.

        I now don’t use a glass sleeve/insert so it wont happen again.

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