Friday, July 13, 2007

 

KOH Facial

Seeing as how Dawn was the only responder, she gets to hear her choice.

We do our reactions in silver (Ag) tubes that we weld shut and then heat up to 300-500 degree Celsius and 10,000 - 20,000 PSI. They retain some pressure inside the tubes mostly from the decrease in entropy, or just because. We all know this and are careful to wear eye glasses and lab coats when opening our Ag tubes. Some tubes are small and we only put in 0.4 mL of water and others are larger and hold 4 mL of water. This was a large tube and it contained 4 mL of 10 M KOH (potassium hydroxide).

I make my initial cut into the tube to start the opening process and nothing happens. I turn it and make another cut. Release the pressure! I feel a small shower of wet. Oh shit. Okay think. This doesn't burn yet but it will. It splattered on my cheeks and some on my neck. Eye wash! No, the eye wash drains into the floor and will make a huge mess. It isn't that kind of emergency. Ow! It's starting to burn! Take off my shuffle who got hit but is no worse for the wear. Sink! Turn water on and use the hose to direct water at my face. Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh. Much better.

Since it was only a small amount, albeit fairly concentrated, I knew water would get rid of it and I didn't want to waste time looking for sodium bicarbonate (aka baking soda which is a natural buffer and can neutralize an acid or a base)

My eye goggles saved my eyes from getting a direct shot but my face was uncovered. My t-shirt was saved by my lab coat but it's just a t-shirt. The ipod has some marks on it but it still works just fine. Phew, that was close. I looked at my goggles after and there were 8-9 spots of it directly over my right eye. That would've been bad, Seth can't really see anymore bad.

From now on I will be wearing the full face shield that we have to open tubes from now on. Yikes.

Moral of the story: Wear your safety gear at all times and you might be able to see on the way home.

I love this blog. It's my own little Freedom of Speech zone. But it isn't just mine, it's yours too. You are free to say anything you want here, anything at all. I might not agree with it or understand it but it is your right to be able to say it.

I was rewatching Fuck last night and I loved one of George Carlin's clips. It was how we learn the bad words. When we're young words are just words and we have to be taught their meanings. You don't know a word is bad until you say it and someone tells you not to, and it reminded me of the first time I ever said fuck.

This story takes place at our old house (we lived on that cul-de-sac and Dad worked at the church just to the left) I was 6 or 7 so that puts us smack dab in the middle of 1985 or 1986. My dad, brother and I were in our room and Dad was telling us a story. I can't remember the story at all but something was gross, so Brother said "Yucky!" Not wanting to be outdone I said "Yucky trucky!" cuz rhyming is cool. My brother comes back with "yucky ducky!" so I naturally pick the next letter in the alphabet and say "yucky fucky!" completely oblivious to the meaning of the wonderful word I just made up. SETH! I don't ever want to hear you said that word again! my dad firmly tells me. Whoa, that was pretty forceful, that's some word. So I kept it in my head for years and years and finally got comfortable enough to start using it here and there. Not around kids or people who take great offense to it, but the last part is pretty tricky. How do you know who will be offended by it?

It's a very special word because not everyone uses it and even people who do use it, don't say it all the time. Alanis said something to that affect in the documentary and she's right.

So I'm dedicating my 3 year blogiversary to Li Zhao, the First Amendment and to you, my loyal band of readers!

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