Quote:
Originally Posted by NappieB
I spent my early working career as a research chemist after leaving university. Regarding Steve's "..few different uses.." we used to freeze heavy water and sip ethanol and lemon squash chilled with ice cubes that had sunk to the BOTTOM of the glass!
Not that we were irresponsible, or wasteful or anything..
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One of my early jobs was working in a "physics lab" which was really a general science and engineering lab dealing with all sorts of things that couldn't be handled by the other departments.
Come time for the tea break we'd get a 500ml pyrex beaker, fill it with water and put it over a Bunsen. When it was boiling nicely we'd switch off the Bunsen and put a few spoonfulls of tea onto it, floating them on the top of the water. After a few minutes they would have absorbed enough water and formed a mat floating on the water, the water under it still being perfectly clear. Tap the beaker and the mat sinks to the bottom, colouring the water as it goes. Pour and serve for a great cup of tea
Mind you, that was back in the days when people weren't so concerned about Health & Safety issues. Depending on what we'd been doing we would often wash our hands in suitably diluted hydrochloric acid or caustic soda. A quick wash with that and then a through rinse and you're good to go
Most of us survived without too much damage
Steve
30-03-2008, 01:58 AM
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