LABORATORY SAFETY RULES
- Read the following story;
- on notebook paper list all lab safety violations, number each one.
- highlight on this handout the broken safety violations.
- DUE: 9/10/2013, TUESDAY
The bell
rang, students sat in their seats, and they began to write down their homework.
Ryan eagerly asked Mrs. Remis, “What are
we doing today?” Mrs. Remis impatiently
said, “As always Ryan grab your chair, check on the white board and let me get
us all started.” Ryan responded, “Oh
yeah, there it is, we have a Chemistry lab.” Mrs. Remis gave the class a brief overview of
what they would be doing during the lab and she stressed to the class, “Please be sure to follow appropriate lab
safety procedures.”
Ryan and John
sprinted to a lab station, yelling, “We got this station!” Once at the station,
Ryan asked John if he read the lab last night for homework to which John
replied, “Nope, did you?” Ryan responded
to John’s question by saying, “Are you serious, I never read anything for this
class.” They both looked at each other and decided to just start the lab. “Ryan,
you go get the chemicals and I’ll light up the Bunsen burner,” said John. Even
though all of their classmates went to the safety goggle cabinet prior to
starting the lab, Ryan and John decided not to go. John said in a smug way, “Forget the goggles;
we are too cool to wear those things.” Ryan
walked up to the front lab bench where the chemicals were, removed the lids,
picked up the flasks, and started to smell the different chemicals. “I am just
going to bring back the ones that smell the best,” said Ryan. Little did Ryan
know that one of the chemicals was sulfuric acid, and after taking a deep
breath, he thought that his nose hairs were on fire. “Hey Ryan, you didn’t even put the lid back
on,” yelled Mrs. Remis. Ryan ignored Mrs.
Remis and somehow he made it back to his lab station without passing out. Upon
making his way back to the lab station, Ryan saw John trying to light the
Bunsen burner. “John, John, your hair!” Ryan yelled in an excited voice.
“That was a
close one,” said John. “My mother has been telling me to get a haircut. I guess
I really need one now that I just lost a big chunk of my hair.” The two
partners then proceeded with the lab. Ryan reached across the flame in order to
get a beaker filled with acetic acid while John grabbed a test tube to put the
chemical in. “Oops!” said Ryan, “I just
spilled some of the chemicals on the tabletop. I’ll just wipe it up with my
shirt sleeve.” “Should you tell Mrs. Remis?”
John asked. “No, it isn’t a big deal, I
already wiped it up,” Ryan nonchalantly said. A few seconds later, Ryan said,
“Man, my arm is warm.” In an excited
voice, John said, “Oh my Gosh, look at your shirt, there is a hole in it. That chemical
you wiped up must have eaten through your shirt. How is your arm?” Ryan said, “It hurts a little, but I will be
fine.” “Should we tell Mrs. Remis?”
asked John. “No, I’ll be fine,” Ryan
said confidently. The lab partners then poured some chemicals into a test tube
to begin heating. “Ryan, do you see that crack in the test tube?” questioned
John. “Who cares,” Ryan whispered. “As
long as the test tube is not leaking, it must be fine.” The boys proceeded to
heat the test tube. Ryan asked, “Is anything happening?” “I don’t know, point the test tube in this
direction so that I can look into the opening,” John replied. “Maybe we should just add some of the other
chemicals if nothing is happening yet,” said Ryan. “Should we ask Mrs. Remis?” wondered John. “No,
she is annoying,” Ryan smugly said. Ryan then continued, “She will first ask us
if we read all of the procedures and then he will say, ‘I put a lot of time and
effort into writing these labs for you guys and the least you could do is read
them. If you have read it and then have additional questions, I would be more
than happy to help you, but you have to do your part first.’ I certainly don’t want to hear all of that, do
you?” “Definitely not, I hate when
teachers go ranting,” said John. The lab
partners proceeded to add some random chemicals to the test tube. Shortly thereafter, the contents of the test
tube began to bubble over. “Wow that was amazing!” Ryan yelled. “Yeah, that was pretty cool, but it is
everywhere,” John said in a concerned voice. “Good thing we have all of these
papers laying around our lab station because most of the chemicals have just
spilled onto them. We can just throw all of the papers into the garbage,” Ryan
said confidently. “Hey, it got onto my
planner,” John said in an annoyed voice. “Who cares, just go to guidance and buy
another one for four dollars and fifty cents. Oh, I’m sorry, I mean you can get
one for four dollars and Fitty Cent. Get it, Get it!” Ryan said in a joking
manner. The students began to clean up
the spilled chemicals when John said, “This stuff smells really good, kind of
like lemonade.” “Well, if it smells like
lemonade, it must be lemonade, just taste it,” Ryan said in a convincing
manner. John proceeded to taste the
chemical mixture by sipping what was left in the test tube. “Oh man, the bell is going to ring soon,” Ryan
said in a rushed voice. “Just leave it,
I really want to go to lunch because it is Taco Day,” John said. “Are you sure?” Ryan questioned. “Yeah let’s just get out of here; the next
class is going to be doing the lab again anyway, so they can clean it up,” John
said. Without washing their hands, Ryan
and John left the classroom and headed to lunch.
