Sabbaticals Day #3 – Being Sadistic

In my humble opinion, being sadistic is the main purpose of this ‘Genocide’ (Genecet Biotechnology Pte. Ltd) course. Well, what we did yesterday is handling extremely volatile liquids like hexane and acetone. They can burn easily if you shake them vigorously or place them under the hot sun, not to mention inside the microwave. Maybe those terrorists cooked hexane and acetone in the car parked near the Jakarta Marriott Hotel.

Here we have hexane and acetone, standing side by side on the laboratory table. Well, after investigating the liquids (by my own), hexane gives a nice smell (looks like I’m addicted to glue-sniffing, as my friends say it stinks) while acetone gives a cool feeling as it vapourises instantly under room temperature. Hmm, I wonder whether adding a lighted match in the photo would be better. Anyway, those liquid are really very volatile!

Hexane: A colorless flammable liquid alkane derived from petroleum and used as a solvent.

Searched via Google and quoted from Cogsci.priceton.edu

A flammable, volatile liquid used in acetylene cylinders to dissolve and stabilize acetylene under high pressure.

Search via Google and quoted from Engineersedge.com

Oh yup. Justin tried to take some of the acetone back home because I feel much cooler than ethanol. Maybe he needs them badly that he simply grabbed a not-for-laboratory-sue plastic bottle and poured acetone into it.

The poor plastic bottle ended up reacting with the thought-it-was-unreactive acetone vigorously and the acetone even managed to bore a big hole on it. Really stunning this I’ve ever seen so I grabbed my camera without adjusting the focus.

Justin was shocked to see this and the inner layer of the plastic bottle became very very slimy. Yucks. And he spent a lot of time overcoming the mental barrier and finnaly took the courage to dump it into the dustbin.

When Mrs Lim was busy teaching I somehow wandered off myself, and start fidgeting and playing with the magnectic stirrer. I filled a beaker full of water and placed a piece of magnect into the beakers. Deep inside the machine there is a rotating metal plate so in corresponding to the metal piece’s rotation the magnect stirred up the water in there. Ooh~ I see a little ‘aqueous tornado’ in the beaker! Doesn’t sound to be sadistic but worth a mention =)

Next time when you’re in the laboratory try simething fun to play with. NOTE: teddY should not be held for any mental or physical damage to his blog readers.