• Question: How did you end up setting fire to your desk in chemistry?

    Asked by argyle to Sarah on 21 Sep 2017.
    • Photo: Sarah Finnegan

      Sarah Finnegan answered on 21 Sep 2017:


      We were doing an experiment in chemistry and I had finished early. I had a busen burner in front of me and while I was waiting for everyone else to finish I decided to mix things up a bit by combining a few extra of the chemicals together. The whole thing began to smoke and I quickly took it off the flame, putting it down on the desk. I must have already spilt something on to the desk because when I put the beaker down the whole thing made a big hissing noise, gave off a load of smoke and scorched a big mark into the desk. They couldn’t get rid of the burn… and I was not allowed to sit at the back of the class anymore….

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