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Asked by anon-258692 on 14 Jul 2020. This question was also asked by anon-258177.
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Katherine Haxton answered on 14 Jul 2020:
I want to answer other humans but that’s a bit mean! Quite a few of the chemicals I’ve used are quite dangerous, and would possibly be deadly if I used them wrongly. I nearly made an explosive by accident once if that counts.
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Tiffany Chan answered on 14 Jul 2020:
Mm, not sure about the deadliest, but a lot of the chemicals we use in the lab are very toxic.
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Julie Watts answered on 14 Jul 2020:
When I worked in industry I used with an acid which can give very nasty burns (it can dissolve bone), but can also cause cardiac arrest and kill you if it gets through your skin into your body.
In research I used another acid known as aqua regia, it is a yellow colour and gives off nasty fumes, it can also give serious burns and has to be handled very carefully.
Probably the most dangerous thing I work with now is liquid nitrogen. This can also cause burns (cold burns, not hot), but it can also kill you. When using the liquid nitrogen in a container on a bench it evaporates quickly and displaces oxygen in the air which can cause suffocation, as humans need oxygen to breathe. Most rooms are big and the amount of liquid nitrogen is too small to cause these problems, we also make calculations to check we are not using too much. However, we also have oxygen sensors in the room, linked to an alarm which sounds loudly and a light flashes in case the oxygen levels do start to drop. We also work in pairs, so that there is someone to fetch help if needed.
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Alex Ttofi answered on 15 Jul 2020:
I agree with Katherine – Humans are the source of most problems. I’ve handled radioactivity, nasty chemicals, bugs and microbes and seen venoms in the lab. You take care with those and follow procedures as you know what you are dealing with. Humans can never have a procedure!
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Andy Kowalski answered on 15 Jul 2020:
Have worked with Potassium Cyanide as this was a reagent in a chemical reaction which we did in our Second year of organic labs, also worked with Sodium Cyanide which one of our postgraduates students was working with as part of his Masters and PhD’s studies and my job was to make sure that all reacted material was managed safely and excess cyanide neutralised.
As in both cases you don’t need much cyanide to cause death so all procedures including weighing and disposal were managed in a well ventilated fume hood.
Also worked with Mercury which was used in Amalgams with Zinc to create reducing mixtures “in situ” and again dangerous to health.
Also worked with Nickel carbonyl analogues which needed to be safely disposed off after use.
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Rachael Hallam answered on 15 Jul 2020:
I’ve worked with lots of nasty chemicals – strong acids, bromine compounds, formaldehyde, but luckily never had any accidents.
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Will Breeze answered on 15 Jul 2020: last edited 15 Jul 2020 8:39 am
Good Question!
In terms of shear toxicity it would have to be Di-Phosgene or Nickel Carbonyl. Both are deadly at vey low doses and have to be stored in protected enviroments. A close runner up would be Carbon Disulphide, also very toxic. I also used Cromium(VI)Oxide as an undergaduate.
The most corrosive materials I have worked with are Sodium Hydroxide, Aqua Regia (a mix of concentrated nitric and hydrochloric acid), nitric acid, and ammonia. Ammonia is probably the most dangerous as it gives off toxic fumes and has to be refigerated.
Flammable/explosive materials I have worked with include Diethyl ether, which boils at 25oC to form an explosive mixture in the air, and Dichloromethane which also boils quickly, catches fire easily and is poisonous as well!
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Aisling Ryan answered on 15 Jul 2020:
Lots of the chemicals I use on a daily basis can cause cancer or skin irritation or are toxic. Chemists learn all about health and safety before we do any lab work. We have fume hoods which are basically like a compartment in the wall that has a window in front of it that can slide upwards so we can put our arms into the fume hood to use it. We use the fume hood for as much of our work as we can, but especially if we are using dangerous chemicals. (I have some pictures of my fume hood on my profile if you click ‘see more’ on the My Typical Day section.) When I am using a really toxic and cancer causing chemical I will only ever open it in my fume hood and I wear two pairs of gloves and tuck my sleeves into the gloves! One dangerous chemical I use is called dicyclohexylcarbodiimide, but for short most chemists just call is DCC 🙂
Acids can be quite dangerous too. Thionyl chloride is probably the most dangerous acid I’ve used, or else concentrated hydrochloric acid (HCl). Usually when we use HCl we use dilute stock solutions that are 1 M or 0.1 M, but when I am re-making my dilute stock solutions I need to use the concentrated HCl to make them, so I have to be super careful when I am using it that I don’t spill any! -
Martin Ward answered on 16 Jul 2020:
In my area I have worked with a number of powerful chemotherapy agents and experimental pharmaceuticals – these can be highly toxic even in small amounts if they were to be accidentally absorbed/ingested.
Comments
stevethomas commented on :
Probably low-flying aircraft. I did one survey job in a single-engined helicopter flying at 400ft above ground over primary rain forest. At times I had to lean out of the open door to raise and lower a magnetometer. I was *very* careful to be strapped in!