• Question: have you ever had a bad injury from mixing chemicals

    Asked by PVP_RUGGERS121 to Andrew, Jade, Jessica, Kevin, Lynn on 17 Jun 2015. This question was also asked by kirbykirbo00.
    • Photo: Andrew Fensham-Smith

      Andrew Fensham-Smith answered on 17 Jun 2015:

      Nope thankfully never anything too bad! Calcium hydride goes a bit nuts if you mix it with water so you need to be careful when you’re doing that. I’ve used a few phosphorus compounds where I had a fire which was scary, and I know some people in my department who have come quite close to getting injured because of things exploding or catching fire. If your careful and you know the dangers of what your dealing with, you often won’t get into any big trouble!

    • Photo: Jess Wade

      Jess Wade answered on 19 Jun 2015:

      I’ve felt a bit drowsy! Lots of the experiments we do have to be in special environments to protect the molecules we are looking at, but they are not always the best environments for the humans doing the measurements. We try to be as safe as possible. I do some measurements in a room with yellow lights that is to try and protect our solar panels. They make my eyes go funny, so when I go outside to get on my bike it takes a bit for my eyes to get back to normal!

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