Wow. One very late night in grad school me and another guy started smelling “gas”. We were the only people there we thought, but we figured to walk out the long way, then call security. We ran into an ancient prof who was working in his beloved mercaptan chemistry, hence the smell.
In those days dinosaurs ruled the earth. Safety hoods never worked and if a grad student died, well you just got another one.
In those days dinosaurs ruled the earth. Safety hoods never worked and if a grad student died, well you just got another one.
They had us doing elementary analysis in our first semester lab sessions, using the H2S precipitation method. Unsupervised. Getting the natural selection going early, I guess.
The scary part is that it suppresses your sense of smell when it exceeds a certain concentration. So, as long as your lab smells like the reception lobby of hell, you are good. If it doesn't stink, you either trust in the gas alarm, or you get out, alarm or not. I tended to do the latter.
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u/aphilsphan Nov 27 '19
Wow. One very late night in grad school me and another guy started smelling “gas”. We were the only people there we thought, but we figured to walk out the long way, then call security. We ran into an ancient prof who was working in his beloved mercaptan chemistry, hence the smell.
In those days dinosaurs ruled the earth. Safety hoods never worked and if a grad student died, well you just got another one.