Science Lesson "Excitement"
Discussion
Right, one of the other threads was complaining about it only being rockets on here so I thought I'd start a thread where we could regale each other with stories of entertaining incidents from our science classes. Just thought of this as my eldest starts his mock GCSEs on Monday & has been asking me about chemistry.
In my first year at secondary (Year 7 in modern speak) we had convection demonstrated to us in Science using a jig that simulated the central heating in a house. The glass tubing contained a liquid that changed colour from blue to red as it got hot thus demonstrating how the heat transfer occurred around the system. The only down side of this was the liquid was highly flammable and was heated in the jig by a Bunsen Burner.
So the inevitable happened, whilst Mr Wright was waffling on about the system the liquid boiled, expanded, shot out of the top of the jig and was ignited by the Bunsen. The jig was about two feet tall and was engulfed in flame that shot up another two feet, nearly to the ceiling it seemed. It also spread out to cover the adjacent desks as the plastic fluid reservoir weakened and spilt more fuel on the conflagration. (un)fortunately Mr wright was pretty good with the fire extinguisher and the class room was saved, though I did have a friend who would show anyone who cared to listen his scorched pencil case for a while.
Sometime later we had one lad who though the hydrogen generating experiment who be more interesting if instead of igniting some hydrogen collected in a test tube he just shoved the lighted spill straight into the hydrogen generating apparatus. He didn't do a very good job of explaining "just what the bl**dy hell he thought he was doing" in front of the rest of us. still, it was a good demonstration of rocket propulsion as some of the glassware was fired across the lab and smashed against the wall.
Ahh, strayed back to rockets.....
In my first year at secondary (Year 7 in modern speak) we had convection demonstrated to us in Science using a jig that simulated the central heating in a house. The glass tubing contained a liquid that changed colour from blue to red as it got hot thus demonstrating how the heat transfer occurred around the system. The only down side of this was the liquid was highly flammable and was heated in the jig by a Bunsen Burner.
So the inevitable happened, whilst Mr Wright was waffling on about the system the liquid boiled, expanded, shot out of the top of the jig and was ignited by the Bunsen. The jig was about two feet tall and was engulfed in flame that shot up another two feet, nearly to the ceiling it seemed. It also spread out to cover the adjacent desks as the plastic fluid reservoir weakened and spilt more fuel on the conflagration. (un)fortunately Mr wright was pretty good with the fire extinguisher and the class room was saved, though I did have a friend who would show anyone who cared to listen his scorched pencil case for a while.
Sometime later we had one lad who though the hydrogen generating experiment who be more interesting if instead of igniting some hydrogen collected in a test tube he just shoved the lighted spill straight into the hydrogen generating apparatus. He didn't do a very good job of explaining "just what the bl**dy hell he thought he was doing" in front of the rest of us. still, it was a good demonstration of rocket propulsion as some of the glassware was fired across the lab and smashed against the wall.
Ahh, strayed back to rockets.....
I remember our physics teacher demonstrating that despite what Hollywood made out (Goldfinger In particular) you can't normally see laser beams themselves. He set up a laser to fire down the length of the classroom - no goggles of course. Then he knocked a couple of board rubbers together to form a cloud of chalk and suddenly the beam could be discerned. I wonder what if anything they use to demonstrate that now.
Then there was the old fume cupboard favourite of sugar and sulphuric acid.
Like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK4z_YhtTBM
Then there was the old fume cupboard favourite of sugar and sulphuric acid.
Like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK4z_YhtTBM
At the end of a lesson one of the less bright lads decided he would try to earn some brownie points and help out by cleaning up some of the glassware. Unfortunately one of the reagents was concentrated nitric acid and he didn't wear gloves, the result wasn't pretty and he was a minor celebrity for a week or two showing the state of his fingers as they healed.
We were burning various foodstuffs to discern their calorific value, with said foodstuffs being placed on the workbenches. These are the same decades old workbenches that had all manner of chemicals placed on them over the years as well as many a-sweaty adolescent elbow. What did our teacher say we could do? Eat anything that hasn't been burnt from the workbenches, to which of course we obliged ourselves. Unfortunately our teacher didn't return the next term 
Then of course there were the kids who left the gas taps on over break time for the next class to walk into...
Then of course there were the kids who left the gas taps on over break time for the next class to walk into...
1st year at 'Big School' I joined an organisation euphemistically called the 'Radio Society' which gave un-supervised access to a Science Lab during lunch break. A couple of older lads decided to make a small quantity of nitroglycerine. The resultant brew was in a small phial placed in a wooden bench top box with a stool inverted over the top. We cowered below bench tops a couple of aisles away waiting for the explosion. When nothing happened, one of the older lads gently tapped the box with a broom handle - a huge explosion ensued, with flaming shards of wooden box flying across the room, and the stool hit the ceiling. When the noise and flaming fury abated, we cowered still, awaiting the displeasure of one of the School Masters as the staff room was directly above the lab. When no one appeared (they must have all been in the pub!) a rapid clear up took place followed by a smart exit.
3rd year, our Chemistry Master liked to encourage independent thought, so used to allude to compounds with 'interesting' properties. One of these was Nitrogen TriIodide, so come break time, cue the more inquisitive members of the class swotting in the Library for the formulation. The next few weeks saw an rash of thefts of the necessary ingredients from the reagent shelves followed by lots of small explosions all over the School as the unwary opened doors or picked up brief cases whose handles had been smeared with NI3. Yellowy/purple stains on the contact areas abounded!
Happy days
3rd year, our Chemistry Master liked to encourage independent thought, so used to allude to compounds with 'interesting' properties. One of these was Nitrogen TriIodide, so come break time, cue the more inquisitive members of the class swotting in the Library for the formulation. The next few weeks saw an rash of thefts of the necessary ingredients from the reagent shelves followed by lots of small explosions all over the School as the unwary opened doors or picked up brief cases whose handles had been smeared with NI3. Yellowy/purple stains on the contact areas abounded!
Happy days
On the last day of the school year our physics teacher would get out all the toys and generally entertain the class, we'd make giant bubbles with the gas taps and ignite them across the ceiling, there was a spark generator that we'd use for dishing out electric shocks, and igniting giant bubbles of gas.
We also did a thing with a large tin, a gas pipe and some custard powder, I'm not sure now exactly what went on but we basically made a huge coloured dust explosion and destroyed a metal milk tin.
There were CO2 cartridge rockets on wires that we'd send across the room as well.
We also did a thing with a large tin, a gas pipe and some custard powder, I'm not sure now exactly what went on but we basically made a huge coloured dust explosion and destroyed a metal milk tin.
There were CO2 cartridge rockets on wires that we'd send across the room as well.
Nothing so loud that I recall from school. Only thing I DO remember is the chemistry teacher chucking the various explodey metals into water, resulting in a fizzle, or a bang, the last one of which he underestimated the power & it blew up the glass tub of water he chucked it in.
Also cutting up rats, which I understand from the Sarah-Jane Smith episode of Dr Who isnt done any more
Also cutting up rats, which I understand from the Sarah-Jane Smith episode of Dr Who isnt done any more
I remember them cutting off a piece of lithium and dropping it in a tub of water. Then it zipping about in a cloud of steam & burning hydrogen.
I seem to recall a girl had her hair singed a little and one of the curtains caught fire.
Alias218 said:
We were burning various foodstuffs to discern their calorific value, with said foodstuffs being placed on the workbenches. These are the same decades old workbenches that had all manner of chemicals placed on them over the years as well as many a-sweaty adolescent elbow. What did our teacher say we could do? Eat anything that hasn't been burnt from the workbenches, to which of course we obliged ourselves. Unfortunately our teacher didn't return the next term
We used alcohol to burn the food stuffs I think. Peanuts IIRC. An of course alcohol flames are pretty much invisible. I seem to recall a girl had her hair singed a little and one of the curtains caught fire.
Gas taps set lit to was regular in chemistry.
Heating test tubes ends up in a bunsen burner flame before passing them to your lab mate.
Likewise using the bunsen burners to heat up metal stool before people sat on them.
Swapping labels on acids and alkalis so that titrations went spectacuarly wrong.
For some reason the girls were sat on the front row of the benches so flicking acid at their backs to make them take their school shirts off was a popular idea.
Chemstry teacher showed us the 25g Potasium / 5g Sodium burns with water and demonstrated reactivity "up the periodic table; next is Ceasium, if I can get some I'll how 1g I think he had, blew a double belfast sink apart".
Protactinium source went missing from the the school gieger counter set. Only then was it realised it should have been handled as a "sealed sauce".
Sodium went missing from the chemistry store, next morn head asked why there were dead fish in the nearby canal.
School projects like designing a self-extinguishing cigarette (1980s seemed to have lots of drunks die smoking tabs on their sofas) - buying rolling papers and tobacco with school money! (Sucess criteria was defined as a cigarette that stopped smouldering after being dropped within 15 seconds - answer that met is was the "magnesium speed spliff" a fag that burnt itself out in 10 seconds due to the prescence of magnesium powder in with the tobacco - a slightly reduced smoking experience howver).
Going on a school trip to the local sewage works and at least 50% of the class returning with some sort of significant "jobbie" contamination in their clothes, person or hair.
Vets son repeatedly bringing in dead cats for the Physics teacher, in remade large chocolate boxes (milk tray was the favourite) to see if the physics teacher could explain what had happenned.
In line with above "Crawleys gun", a miscreant lad that wasn't ever going to get a good mark in A-levels brought his dads shotgun in and threatened the physics teacher that he better get a good mark or not, or the physics teacher might end up dead, or not. We never found out the end of the experiment due to obvious suspenion.
Yep, school science is very good fun.
Heating test tubes ends up in a bunsen burner flame before passing them to your lab mate.
Likewise using the bunsen burners to heat up metal stool before people sat on them.
Swapping labels on acids and alkalis so that titrations went spectacuarly wrong.
For some reason the girls were sat on the front row of the benches so flicking acid at their backs to make them take their school shirts off was a popular idea.
Chemstry teacher showed us the 25g Potasium / 5g Sodium burns with water and demonstrated reactivity "up the periodic table; next is Ceasium, if I can get some I'll how 1g I think he had, blew a double belfast sink apart".
Protactinium source went missing from the the school gieger counter set. Only then was it realised it should have been handled as a "sealed sauce".
Sodium went missing from the chemistry store, next morn head asked why there were dead fish in the nearby canal.
School projects like designing a self-extinguishing cigarette (1980s seemed to have lots of drunks die smoking tabs on their sofas) - buying rolling papers and tobacco with school money! (Sucess criteria was defined as a cigarette that stopped smouldering after being dropped within 15 seconds - answer that met is was the "magnesium speed spliff" a fag that burnt itself out in 10 seconds due to the prescence of magnesium powder in with the tobacco - a slightly reduced smoking experience howver).
Going on a school trip to the local sewage works and at least 50% of the class returning with some sort of significant "jobbie" contamination in their clothes, person or hair.
Vets son repeatedly bringing in dead cats for the Physics teacher, in remade large chocolate boxes (milk tray was the favourite) to see if the physics teacher could explain what had happenned.
In line with above "Crawleys gun", a miscreant lad that wasn't ever going to get a good mark in A-levels brought his dads shotgun in and threatened the physics teacher that he better get a good mark or not, or the physics teacher might end up dead, or not. We never found out the end of the experiment due to obvious suspenion.
Yep, school science is very good fun.
StanleyT said:
Sodium went missing from the chemistry store, next morn head asked why there were dead fish in the nearby canal.
I managed to smuggle a thumb sized lump of Sodium from the lab, gathered a few mates at breaktime and dropped it down an outside drain. It fizzled a bit undramatically so I turned around to walk off as the whole drain blew upwards with a massive bang, spraying corrosive liquid up the back of my nylon school trousers. Somehow, even though it caused a big commotion, nobody important found out even though it made a right racket and I spent the rest of the day walking around trying not to turn around in front of any teacher.There was a year when because we used to set fire to everything all the time in the science labs, we even got to the point of smoking in the during the lesson and the teacher didn't notice (or didn't care). I think we were 12 at the time!
paulrockliffe said:
On the last day of the school year our physics teacher would get out all the toys and generally entertain the class, we'd make giant bubbles with the gas taps and ignite them across the ceiling, there was a spark generator that we'd use for dishing out electric shocks, and igniting giant bubbles of gas.
We also did a thing with a large tin, a gas pipe and some custard powder, I'm not sure now exactly what went on but we basically made a huge coloured dust explosion and destroyed a metal milk tin.
There were CO2 cartridge rockets on wires that we'd send across the room as well.
Custard powder is a fine organic dust, it has a very high surface area to volume ratio so when you mix it with plenty of air it can burn very rapidly. We also did a thing with a large tin, a gas pipe and some custard powder, I'm not sure now exactly what went on but we basically made a huge coloured dust explosion and destroyed a metal milk tin.
There were CO2 cartridge rockets on wires that we'd send across the room as well.
Yes, I've tried it
Anybody else made nitrogen tri-iodide?
Tempest_5 said:
it was a good demonstration of rocket propulsion as some of the glassware was fired across the lab and smashed against the wall.
Ahh, strayed back to rockets.....
Well Mr Tempest the first mistake on a Science forum, is not defining what Rocket propulsion is. Just assuming hot gasses being expelled does not equate to something being rocket propulsion................I know I will get flamed for saying this but what the heck Ahh, strayed back to rockets.....
A few events that caused amusement as a student: O level chemistry where we were gathered around the front to watch an experiment about smelting and iron ore. Watching the teacher take a large 5 litre round bottomed flask, "the only one we have so this is why I need to demonstrate", and drop the rock down the neck, into the flask, and of course through the bottom onto the desk caused great amusement.
This was the same poor chap who came upon us seeing what different colours we could get a penny to be by heating it with a bunsen. "Oh, that looks interesting" and promptly picked it up.
Another was in A-level physics. Can't remember the experiment exactly but I remember it involved a 1.5 m glass column that the teacher carefully carried, waist height, into the prep room (i.e. through a doorway).
ETA: just remember the O-level chemistry guy was the same who in sight of something probably trivial decided to pull the bunsen from the gas supply. Without turning it off. Caused more damage to the wall than the over-boiling beaker or whatever it was would have done.
This was the same poor chap who came upon us seeing what different colours we could get a penny to be by heating it with a bunsen. "Oh, that looks interesting" and promptly picked it up.
Another was in A-level physics. Can't remember the experiment exactly but I remember it involved a 1.5 m glass column that the teacher carefully carried, waist height, into the prep room (i.e. through a doorway).
ETA: just remember the O-level chemistry guy was the same who in sight of something probably trivial decided to pull the bunsen from the gas supply. Without turning it off. Caused more damage to the wall than the over-boiling beaker or whatever it was would have done.
Edited by V8LM on Wednesday 25th April 22:45
Not school, but we did have a leak of concentrated (98%) sulphuric acid at work. The room it was in had a sump and about eight gallons of it drained into this sump.
Our plant engineer though it was a good idea to wash the spilt acid on the floor into the sump using a fire hose.
Cue exothermic reaction in the sump, looked like something from Quatermass as the sump started to boil, spitting gobs of acid into the air.
Good job the room was underground with a hatch above to watch the fun.
Our plant engineer though it was a good idea to wash the spilt acid on the floor into the sump using a fire hose.
Cue exothermic reaction in the sump, looked like something from Quatermass as the sump started to boil, spitting gobs of acid into the air.
Good job the room was underground with a hatch above to watch the fun.
Gassing Station | Science! | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff