@user430580 It was ok. I don't think anyone needed to go to hospital, but it was a long time ago. It was a boys school, and most of the guys thought it was pretty funny, and were glad to have an hour or so out of class. The school grounds are huge (it was formerly an agricultural school, with space for livestock & crops), and that building is on the side of a hill, with good air circulation, so it
Some of the kids were amazed that something could have such an intense disgusting smell. But the chemistry nerds knew there are far more disgusting smells.
@user430580 I remember my grandpa using a glue that had a simple benzene compound solvent, I forget which one. Definitely almond, with a strong hint of cherry. But you could tell it was probably not a good idea to breathe too much of it...
> The (+)-isomer, occurring more commonly in nature as the fragrance of oranges, is a flavoring agent in food manufacturing [...] The less common (-)-isomer has a piny, turpentine-like odor, and is found in the edible parts of such plants as caraway, dill, and bergamot orange plants.
Some books claim that the (-)-isomer is responsible for the fragrance of lemons, but that is wrong. It's an error from the 1970s that multiple authors have propagated without actually checking it by experiment. :(
In fact, I was going to repeat that factoid here myself, and was surprised to discover that it's a myth!
@user430580 In the SO Python room, we have a Salad Language. sopython.com/salad As the link says, many of the words have fallen out of general use, but several of the salad words are still used regularly by the old-timers.
@PM2Ring Maybe I am immature, but I think it is very funny :D some time ago I have read on the Internet how in one school they had exercise about extracting essential oils from plants with boiling hot solvent (probably ethanol). Everyone brought lemons, oranges, mint leaves, etc. but one guy brought garlic. Soon after he started his extraction, all the mild and pleasant notes of minty citrus were overflown by heavy and nauseating smell of garlic, some people were gagging, and the smell
...lingered for a few days, and they instantly implemented a rule that garlic is forbidden from then on.
@PM2Ring That's interesting, I may be wrong but I remember how I heard somewhere that one enantiomer of menthol is responsible for mint smell, the other enantiomer for cumin smell. Limonene is also quite similar to menthol in its molecule shape, it is fascinating how your nose is able to differentiate and produce such different sensations for each.
@PM2Ring I just want to say, I really appreciate how you make this chat room brighter with interesting information you post, and also how you take a subject that someone else wrote about and then you expand it in a beautiful way
@PM2Ring It's weird how many toxic chemicals have pleasant or otherwise attractive smells even though they cause harm. Dimethylmercury, one of the most toxic organometallic compounds known, is said to have a sweet and pleasant smell, even though it is so toxic that just spilling a few drops on your hand can cause fatal mercury poisoning!
@user430580 Do a search for descriptions of the smell of pyridine. Some of them are hilarious. It's like rotten fish...
@user430580 Yes, dimethyl mercury is evil. There's a well-known tragic case of a woman who accidentally spilled a few drops on her latex glove.
But I prefer to avoid talking about sad stuff. I'd rather cheer people up than make them sad. Of course, it's important to be aware of dangers, etc. But I prefer to be positive, when I can.
I don't totally avoid sad stuff. Some of my favourite songs are sad. But I have to be in the right mood for them.
So getting back to fun chemistry...
A few months ago, I saw a YouTube short that reversed the classic sodium + water demo.
The guy had a large beaker full of molten sodium. He tossed a large ice cube into it, from a safe distance. It exploded instantly, shattering the beaker.
You also need to read Max Gergel's Excuse Me Sir, Would You Like to Buy a Kilo of Isopropyl Bromide? It's hillarious. And a little scary to read about the blasé attitude to safety and environmental protection they had back then.
Here's a sneak preview, which includes a link to the whole PDF. You don't need to be a chemist to enjoy Gergel's memoir, but a bit of chem knowledge helps. https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2010/05/27/max_gergels_memoirs?r3f_986=https://www.google.com.au/
Another classic is John D. Clark's Ignition!, about early research into rocket fuels, by one of the pioneers. The book has been recently reprinted, so it's for sale at the usual places, but it's not too hard to find a free PDF...
As John Clark said of chlorine trifluoride in Ignition!: It is, of course, extremely toxic, but that’s the least of the problem. It is hypergolic with every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. It is also hypergolic with such things as cloth, wood, and test engineers, not to mention asbestos, sand, and water-with which it reacts explosively.
Derek Lowe's article on chlorine trifluoride is excellent. I stole the above quote from it. Sand Won't Save You This Time
I'm going to use this prompt instead: A vivid visualization of fluoroantimonic acid, a superacid, reacting violently with a piece of iron. The iron is gradually dissolving, giving off a haze of fumes. The acid is shown as a clear, viscous liquid in an industrial-grade glass container for safety. The reaction sparks as the metal is aggressively eaten away, resulting in a dramatic display of chemistry at work.
That's funny how it was interpreted because, as far as I know, fluoroantimonic acid is one of the rare examples of acids that can actually dissolve glass
@PM2Ring Action Lab is one of my favourite youtubers, some of his videos are really genuinely original ideas that I've never seen elsewhere, and he explains it really clear for me. This liquid sodium video is crazy, the molten sodium shower is mesmerizingly scary :P I also really giggle at how he refers to ice cube as "a chunk of solid water" I mean he is not technically wrong :P
@PM2Ring On the Internet they always refer to pyridine as stinky, fishy decay smell, I have never smelled it IRL, but I can imagine. Have you smelled it yourself? Funny how often adding just one nitrogen atom can make a molecule smell like fish (or just one sulfur atom for rotten eggs)
@PM2Ring That's an interesting article, I remember how I read somewhere how this substance was being researched by Nazis in WW II, but they abandoned the idea of using it because even for them it was too scary
@Hokon Hello and welcome to the chat, always nice to see new people join in!
@PM2Ring BTW I cannot find the video right now, but Action Lab said in one of his (another) sodium experiment, paraphrasing: "some experiments belong to the inside of the house, and some to the outside, and after many accidents I learnt that sodium experiments belong to the outside" :P
Ah, sodium and its little tantrums when it meets water or air! I once tried to find a quiet, safe spot in the lab for sodium experiments, but, much like a capricious student, it always found a way to cause a scene. Sometimes it's best to just give up and watch from a distance, preferably behind a see-through blast shield. It's a shame there aren't any suitable sodium experiments to do inside a nice cozy armchair.
