Questions tagged [safety]
Questions regarding chemical and lab safety. This includes questions about proper lab procedure, safe chemical handling, and such.
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How dangerous is Naphtha?
According to a safety datasheet of Naphtha, it's fairly dangerous stuff (including genetic defects). But, as they say, the dose makes the poison, just how much dose should I be worried about?
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How does formalin affect lab plastics? Why are they labelled "dead"? [closed]
I work in a microbiology lab which often grows bacteria in cultures. I've noticed that some of our equipment is labelled "Dead" because it has come in contact with formalin. The explanation ...
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When does "always add acid" not apply? [duplicate]
I've been taught a LONG time ago to AAA "Always Add Acid". I've recently come across what feels like an exception to that rule when making piranha solution (you add the H2O2 to the acid). I'...
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Chloramines & Nitrogen Trichloride vs Stainless Steel [closed]
We've recently experienced excessive corrosion on stainless steel within indoor pool environments. We believe this is due to chloramine (gasses) in the atmosphere. To test this, I plan to create a ...
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How to estimate the hazardousness of the smoke of a lipo fire?
As generally known lithium polymer batteries (lipos) may catch fire, for example as consequence of deep discharge, overcharge, (internal) short circuit etc.
As a hobby rc car driver, I am thinking ...
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Drying salts with HCl solution
I'm following a protocol from some old literature (1962), and I want to make sure I'm being safe. It asks you to dissolve some salts in 150 mL water + 25 mL concentrated HCl, then evaporate to dryness ...
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Four year old opened but rarely used bottle of 99,9% Isopropanol: Risk of peroxides? [closed]
Let me begin this post by stating that I do not know basically anything about chemistry, which is why I am asking for your help. Please be kind :)
Today, I saw the following post on Twitter and Reddit ...
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Ductless fume hood for dissolving aluminum foil in hydrochloric acid
I work at a food manufacturing plant and we use Tetra Pak packaging for our liquid foods. There is a layer of aluminum foil within the packaging material that we need to dissolve out of the package in ...
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Advice on Evaporation / Leakage of Marquis and Ehrlich's reagents
I had ordered both Marquis and Ehrlich's reagents from a manufacturer and they came in eye dropper like bottles inside of prescription pill like bottles. The perscription pill bottles also had cotton ...
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Are there any real dangers to using lead fishing sinkers to hold a shower curtain in place?
I am hoping someone can help me consider if there are any factors that would make the use of lead fishing sinkers such as these in the shower risky enough to stop doing it. Specifically, they are ...
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Safely dilute this 35% hydrogen peroxide solution to 3% and store after opening (no stabilizer)?
The problem: eating yellow curry with naan and no spoon for the first time resulted in a wonderful dinner but some permanent yellow stain on my cotton shirt. I assume it's coming at least in part from ...
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Are there real chemistry bottles with this kind of label? [closed]
I watched a movie recently which had a close-up of this weird bottle:
The way it reads is very strange to me. Is this just complete movie nonsense, or are there really bottles in real life sold with ...
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Is there an international standard for rating the danger of chemical elements?
I'm writing a small little tool (something like an interactive periodic table) and I wanted a good "guesstimate" of the danger of certain elements, to visualize across said table.
I could go ...
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Why can't we use concentrated acids to test for carbonates?
According to BBC Bitesize:
Carbonate ions, $\ce{CO_3^{2-}}$, are detected using a dilute acid. Bubbles are given off when an acid, usually dilute hydrochloric acid, is added to the test compound.
Is ...
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Does wet fabric filter smoke better than dry fabric?
I have heard in various situations people use a wet fabric to breathe better in situations where a lot of fire-based smoke is present (like near wildfires). I wanted to know if there was any truth to ...
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Does removing hexavalent chromium from a welded stainless steel part using phosphoric acid neutralise the CR(6) toxicity?
We had a meeting today and talked about solving some issues improving the quality of life of our worker.
We were talking about hexavalent chromium. We already deal with the welding fumes, but as I ...
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Why don't we use sodium bicarbonate to neutralise base spills?
According to this document on lab safety (http://faculty.washington.edu/korshin/Class-486/AEESP-safety-notes.pdf), it says to not use $\ce{NaHCO3}$ to neutralise specifically base spills, stating &...
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Do NaHCO3 and cyanoacrylate react? [closed]
I just saw this video about using baking soda + cyanoacrylate(CA) glue as a substrate+resin.
Neat, but do CA and $\ce{NaHCO3}$ react in any way?
If so, what does the equation look like and what is ...
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Why is cyanuric triazide environmental friendly and less toxic?
This is the first line on Wikipedia:
Cyanuric triazide ($\ce{C3N12}$ or $\ce{(NCN3)3}$) is described as an environmentally friendly, low toxicity, and organic primary explosive with a detonation ...
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Is 25% aqueous ammonia solution considerably less safe than concentrated HCl
I plan to sterilize and clean some deer bones for display in my amateur chemical lab. The needed concentration of ammonia is only about 2,5% but it would be significantly cheaper to buy more ...
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Does acrylic resin in acetone react with the same acrylic resin in ethyl acetate?
I am not at all familiar with organic chemistry. I am working in museum conservation where an acrylic resin (such as Paraloid B-72) is mixed acetone and sometimes ethyl acetate to produce a resin for ...
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What is the flash point of acetylene?
On episode s10e11 of the show Criminal Minds, a confrontation occurs in a freezer full of acetylene gas. In this confrontation, the main character confidently fires her gun because the freezer was &...
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How to store ammonium perchlorate?
How should ammonium perchlorate (AP) be stored safely? The AP at PEPCON was stored in plastic and aluminium containers. I seem to remember that the very material of the storage containers (i.e. ...
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Is it possible to store a Tween 80 stock solution?
I am making a stock solution of Tween 80 (0.05 % w/v) and each experiment requires just 15 ml of the stock solution. Is it possible to make a large batch (about 100 ml) and store it somewhere? If so, ...
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Will my method for catching lead dust work?
I am a hobbyist and a crafter working with cast models. These modles are up to 80% lead, with the rest being tin or similar soft metals. They are made in a mould, so they often have mould lines that ...
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How is Magnesium Ethoxide appropriately prepared, stored and used to dry ethanol?
I found many procedures vaguely describing the preparation of magnesium ethoxide from elemental magnesium in excess dry ethanol in the presence of I2 as activator (in absence of air), I also know that ...
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Can glycerin crack a glass when heated? [closed]
Is it safe to put glycerin in double wall glass candle ( between the walls ) for decor purposes. I know they put it in vapes and double glass wall coffee tumblers. Is there a possibility of it to ...
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Would a 0.3 micron filter be effective in blocking formaldehyde fumes produced by curing cyanoacrylate?
I’m looking into purchasing a mask that blocks particles larger than or equal to 0.3 μm in size. I’m hoping it blocks the formaldehyde fumes produced by curing cyanoacrylate.
How effective such mask ...
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Can Bromophenol Blue Sodium Salt, and Pentane be safely mixed/in contact with each other?
I'm trying to determine if powdered Bromophenol blue is safe to mix with Pentane. I would only need a tiny amount of dye, just enough to tint the pentane.
I need to use pentane for it's specific ...
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Where in the apartment to store isopropyl alcohol
I want to have some 99% isopropyl alcohol for cleaning purposes and I'm wondering where to store it since in my apartment I don't have a storage room or much space.
I've read it needs to be air tight ...
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Is boiling aqueous solution of copper(II) sulfate safe?
I want to create saturated coper(II) sulfate solution in order to grow crystals. Is boiling a solution of copper sulfate at home safe? Are there any risks? Is the vapour pure water?
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Possible Plumbing Acid through Leaky Pipe in Floating Ceiling, How to Test/Clean?
So I had a plumber in the other day, and I don't know if he used acid drain cleaner or not. The pipe where the possible leak is, is over some drop ceiling (vinyl or expanded polystyrene).
Before I go ...
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Are intermediate bulk container units suitable for storage of isopropyl alcohol? [closed]
I'm working in water treatment construction and my boss is going to be stocking isopropyl alcohol (IPA).
He wants to store the chemical in bulk, with amounts ranging from 5000 L to 10000 L in IBC ...
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Why are strong oxidizing agents "incompatible" with ferrocyanide according to SDS?
As I've mentioned in this question, I am making $\ce{Na3Fe(CN)6}$ from $\ce{Na4Fe(CN)6}$ by oxidizing the ferrocyanide using sodium permanganate. The SDS of sodium ferrocyanide as well as potassium ...
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How to safely transfer P2O5 waste from a round bottom flask to waste bottle?
The $\ce{P2O5}$ is used as a neat desiccant in the round bottom flask as part of a vacuum system and is mainly solid with some liquification after use. Waiting for it all to liquify isn't practical, ...
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Hydrogen safety during electro-chemical machining
I'm interested in doing some experiments with electro-chemical machining in my shop. The process involves running electricity through an electrolyte (salt water) to break down a metal anode (aluminum/...
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Suppressing flammable foam formation in electrolysis
I often use electrolysis to remove rust and other junk off of steel parts. My general setup is:
Electrolyte: Sodium bicarbonate + distilled water.
Anode: Plain carbon steel
Cathode: Carbon steel, ...
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Spilled denat. alcohol (5% methanol) [closed]
I spilled a small amount of denatured alcohol (~3ml) on my skin and table while prepping microscope slides for springtails. The bottle says its 95% ethanol, with unspecified amounts of isopropanol and ...
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How does this coin-and-strike-paper trick work (and is it safe)?
When I was a kid I remember a thing an adult showed me where you would take a piece of strike paper from a matchbox, rest it on a "copper" coin (I have no idea what these coins are made of), ...
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Pcb etching safety questions (HCl, H2O2, H3PO4)
I am about to embark on a pcb etching journey, however, I am not sure what safety precautions I should take when handling the products. I know that the reagents should be stored in their original, ...
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Can 5% sulfuric acid and 3% hydrogen peroxide form piranha solution?
I'd like to use 5% sulfuric acid and 3% hydrogen peroxide as an etching solution for copper. (In the past I've used dilute hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide but the generation of chlorine gas ...
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acetic acid 50% safety and storage
I need <5% acetic acid in some solutions (for microscopy) and if I am not wrong I need around 15-20% solution to be able to make these (other components like alcohols or glycerol I can find and use ...
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What antimicrobial can be readily synthesized in a school laboratory for a project on antimicrobial resistance? [closed]
I am currently a student studying at a high school hoping to do a project on antimicrobial compound synthesis to use in investigating antimicrobial resistance in E. coli strains. I am hoping to ...
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Natural preservatives of ink
Would pure compounds like thymol, carvacrol, and cinnamaldehyde work as preservatives of fountain pen ink? I'm specifically interested in three properties -
Prevention of growth (mostly fungal) in ...
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How do you make an SDS for a milligram sample synthesized for the first time?
There is this impurity detected by GCMS that we got custom synthesized at a 15 mg level. There's this absolutely tiny vial that needs to be couriered to the lab for further analysis.
Fedex insists on ...
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Why should hydrogen peroxide be added to sulfuric acid and not vice versa?
When preparing aqueous solutions of sulfuric acid through dilution of the pure acid, it is well known that we should add acid to water and never the reverse.
To prepare a solution of hydrogen peroxide ...
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I have tried to remove oxidation from a metal scraper using vinegar, now the metal looks and smells burnt, what went wrong?
I have recently tried to remove some oxidation from a metal scraper spatula by using vinegar. After leaving it there for a couple of hours I was left with a burnt smell (with a hint of burnt candle ...
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Is powdered acid dangerous? [closed]
I was told that an acid is only dangerous because it releases $\ce{H+}$ ions when in contact with water.
Therefore, powdered acid should be completely safe on skin provided that your skin is not ...
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Will Sodium Polyacrylate (SAP) absorb the gas from liquid ammonia?
I'm considering using sodium polyacrylate grains to absorb spills of a relatively strong Ammonium Hydroxide solution. Will the SAP (super absorbent polymer) only absorb the water, and in effect make ...
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Where do MSDS data sheets get their information? (How to write one)
For example looking at Sigma-Aldrich MSDS sheets, where do they cite their studies that found hazard in the chemicals? Or in other words, how does one "write" an MSDS sheet? I need to write ...
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