[inuhbad]

I'd have to say the most dangerous stuff I've used personally is high concentration nitric acid, and a variety of Chlorine-based chemicals at a factory where I used to work in high school.

[hermanntrude]

i often use gaseous chlorine... i guess that'd pretty bad too... got a lungful of it last year... yuck... oh my god it hurt too

[nitric]

ive used bromine alot of times, sadly i dont have the capabilities to make it adhydrous or i would have, ive seen HF as a rust remover( wow) and have made a little hydrogen cyanide( LITTLE!!!!) Thats all

[nitroglycol]

Most dangerous stuff I've used was probably 31% HCl or solid NaOH (ok, pretty mild compared to some of the stuff listed above). I've seen way worse things, though, at a hazardous waste transfer station I worked at a few years ago. We got all kinds of lab packs coming in, often packed by non-experts (who else would have put white phosphorus, which has to be stored in water, in the same pack as metallic sodium?) Besides those things we got concentrated mineral acids fairly often, other nasty inorganic compounds ( comes to mind, though I think there were some cyanide salts at one point too) and flammable and toxic solvents (pyridine, for instance). Probably the worst I saw there was a bottle of HF (37% I think). Didn't open that bottle at all, though; we repacked it in a special lab pack of its own and shipped it off to parts unknown.

This post has been edited by nitroglycol: 31 January 2009 - 02:37 AM

[hermanntrude]

nitric said:

ive used bromine alot of times, sadly i dont have the capabilities to make it adhydrous or i would have, ive seen HF as a rust remover( wow) and have made a little hydrogen cyanide( LITTLE!!!!) Thats all

I have 17 bottles of pure bromine in my lab. I try not to touch them.

[nitric]

if i had 17 bottles of pure bromine id use them :P, plenty of brominations and debromination procedures i could do, also ive also had flash point benzene in an experiment accidentally

[John Cuthber]

It's difficult to put them in any real order but I wasn't exactly happy working with flurosulphonic acid perchloric acid, HF, bromine, nitroglycerine, PETN, TNT, RDX, picric acid, EGDN, tetryl, RMX, RDX, tetrachlorodibenzodioxin or ricin.

On the other hand I think more people are killed by alcohol than by all those "nasty" chemicals put together.

[visceral]

Hydrofluoric acid. Not a lovely molecule..

[nitric]

wow, john cuthbers delt with the not just nasty but just down right dangerous compounds, though TNT isn't as dangerous as perceived,as long as you don't detonate a shock wave next to it, but ethyl alcohol has killed more people than all of those put together....

[javagamer]

John Cuthber said:

It's difficult to put them in any real order but I wasn't exactly happy working with flurosulphonic acid perchloric acid, HF, bromine, nitroglycerine, PETN, TNT, RDX, picric acid, EGDN, tetryl, RMX, RDX, tetrachlorodibenzodioxin or ricin.

You listed RDX twice. Also, to add on to what nitric said RDX is also incredibly stable. Apparently C-4, consisting primarily of RDX, can be shot with a rifle and lit on fire without detonating.
Also, nice point with the alcohol. :)

[DrDNA]

Hydrazoic Acid (HN3); the propellant that makes air bags inflate.

I have several colleagues that lost fingers to exothermic reactions that got away from them while using this stuff.

[John Cuthber]

javagamer said:

You listed RDX twice. Also, to add on to what nitric said RDX is also incredibly stable. Apparently C-4, consisting primarily of RDX, can be shot with a rifle and lit on fire without detonating.
Also, nice point with the alcohol. :)

I was just testing to see if anyone read the list. :-) The RMX should be HMX.

[npts2020]

Water is one of the most dangerous substances I have ever handled, cleaning up a spill of primary coolant (water that has been through a reactor) at a nuclear power plant.

[DrDNA]

"Drowning
Deaths per year: 4,000

This includes all sorts of drownings in boat accidents and those resulting from swimming, playing in the water, falling in, or even having a bath. The human body is what, 70% water? And we begin our lives in a watery environment, there's lots of oxygen in water what's the deal? Something for the scientists to work on."

http://www.soyouwann...identsfull.html

[npts2020]

DrDNA said:

"Drowning
Deaths per year: 4,000

This includes all sorts of drownings in boat accidents and those resulting from swimming, playing in the water, falling in, or even having a bath. The human body is what, 70% water? And we begin our lives in a watery environment, there's lots of oxygen in water what's the deal? Something for the scientists to work on."

http://www.soyouwann...identsfull.html

:D You would have had a hard time drowning in the puddles I dealt with. However you could have easily exceeded your allowable annual radiation dose at a single clean-up if you were not careful or didn't know what you were doing.

[John Cuthber]

OK, but it wasn't the water that was a hazard was it?
What radioisotopes were you sloshing about?

[inuhbad]

DrDNA said:

"Drowning
Deaths per year: 4,000

This includes all sorts of drownings in boat accidents and those resulting from swimming, playing in the water, falling in, or even having a bath. The human body is what, 70% water? And we begin our lives in a watery environment, there's lots of oxygen in water what's the deal? Something for the scientists to work on."

http://www.soyouwann...identsfull.html

:eek: BAN DIHYDROGEN MONOXIDE!!! DO IT FOR THE CHILDREN!!! >:D

[DrDNA]

MATERIAL SAFETY DATA SHEET
NSN: 681000N065440
Manufacturer's CAGE: 0TZV1
Part No. Indicator: A
Part Number/Trade Name: WATER
===========================================================================
General Information
===========================================================================
..........
........................
.......................................
===========================================================================
Ingredients/Identity Information
===========================================================================
Proprietary: NO
Ingredient: WATER
Ingredient Sequence Number: 01
Percent: >97
NIOSH (RTECS) Number: ZC0110000
CAS Number: 7732-18-5
OSHA PEL: N/K (FP N)
ACGIH TLV: N/K (FP N)
===========================================================================
Physical/Chemical Characteristics
===========================================================================
Appearance And Odor: CLEAR, COLORLESS LIQUID
Boiling Point: 212F,100C
Melting Point: 32.0F,0.0C
Vapor Pressure (MM Hg/70 F): 17.5
Vapor Density (Air=1): N/A
Specific Gravity: 1 (H*2O=1)
Evaporation Rate And Ref: N/A
Solubility In Water: COMPLETE
===========================================================================

......
..............
............................
Health Hazard Data
===========================================================================
LD50-LC50 Mixture: NONE SPECIFIED BY MANUFACTURER.
Route Of Entry - Inhalation: YES
Route Of Entry - Skin: YES
Route Of Entry - Ingestion: YES
Health Haz Acute And Chronic: ACUTE/CHRONIC: NOT APPLICABLE.
Carcinogenicity - NTP: NO
Carcinogenicity - IARC: NO
Carcinogenicity - OSHA: NO
Explanation Carcinogenicity: NOT RELEVANT.
Signs/Symptoms Of Overexp: NOT APPLICABLE.
Med Cond Aggravated By Exp: NONE SPECIFIED BY MANUFACTURER.
Emergency/First Aid Proc:
EYES: FLUSH WITH POTABLE WATER FOR AT LEAST 15
MINUTES. SEE MD (FP N).
SKIN: FLUSH WITH COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF WATER. SEE MD
(FP N).
INHALATION: REMOVE TO FRESH AIR. SUPPORT BREATHING (GIVE OXYGEN OR ARTIFICIAL RESPIRATION) (FP N).
INGESTION: CALL MD IMMEDIATELY (FP N).
===========================================================================
Precautions for Safe Handling and Use
===========================================================================
Steps If Matl Released/Spill: REMOVE WITH SPONGE OR MOP.
Neutralizing Agent: NONE SPECIFIED BY MANUFACTURER.
Waste Disposal Method: DISPOSE OF IN ACCORDANCE WITH ALL APPLICABLE LOCAL,
STATE AND FEDERAL ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS.
Precautions-Handling/Storing: BOND AND GROUND CONTAINERS WHEN TRANSFERRING
LIQUID. KEEP CONTAINERS TIGHTLY CLOSED. STORE IN A COOL, DRY, WELL-
VENTILATED STORAGE AREA.
Other Precautions: NONE.
===========================================================================
Control Measures
===========================================================================
Respiratory Protection: RESPIRATORY PROTECTION REQUIRED IF AIRBORNE
CONCENTRATION EXCEEDS TLV. AT CONCENTRATIONS ABOVE 200 PPM, A NIOSH/MSHA APPROVED SCBA IS ADVISED.
Ventilation: MECHANICAL (GENERAL).
Protective Gloves: IMPERVIOUS GLOVES (FP N).
Eye Protection: ANSI APPRVD CHEM WORKERS GOGGS (FP N).
Other Protective Equipment: EMERGENCY EYEWASH & DELUGE SHOWER MEETING ANSI DESIGN CRITERIA (FP N).
Work Hygienic Practices: GOOD LABORATORY PRACTICES.
Suppl. Safety & Health Data: NONE SPECIFIED BY MANUFACTURER.
===========================================================================
Transportation Data
===========================================================================
===========================================================================
Disposal Data
===========================================================================
===========================================================================
Label Data
===========================================================================
Label Required: YES
Technical Review Date: 25OCT95
Label Date: 25OCT95
Label Status: G
Common Name: WATER
Chronic Hazard: NO
Signal Word: NONE
Acute Health Hazard-None: X
Contact Hazard-None: X
Fire Hazard-None: X
Reactivity Hazard-None: X
Special Hazard Precautions: ACUTE/CHRONIC: NOT APPLICABLE.
Protect Eye: Y
Protect Skin: Y
Protect Respiratory: Y

[npts2020]

John Cuthber said:

OK, but it wasn't the water that was a hazard was it?
What radioisotopes were you sloshing about?

Not by the time I got to it. It was mainly cobalt-60 in microscopic particles in the water. Sometimes more than enough to max out a geiger detector.

[hermanntrude]

a lab i worked in for some time had once been checked for radiation only to discover one fume hood was fairly heavily contaminated with tritium, and had been for years, unbeknown to the dozens of people who had worked there.