Question: what is the most dangerous thing in sience

Helena Quilter answered on 8 Mar 2016:

Oooh good question! There are quite a lot of dangerous things in science, and I’m quite glad I don’t have to do them! There are some chemicals that are very toxic or poisonous which can really harm our bodies if they get near us – they have to be handled very carefully by scientists so they don’t get hurt. Some people work with nasty bacteria and viruses too and they have to be very careful not to touch them or breathe them in so they don’t get ill.

Usually a lot of the things we think might be dangerous about science are if things go wrong. I mean things like if accidents happen at nuclear power stations that might release radiation into the atmosphere. Luckily these don’t happen very often as there are lots of rules to make sure they are kept safe.

Some of the things I work with are a bit dangerous so I have to be very careful when I use them. I use some chemicals which are called pyrophorics – that means that they could set fire if they come into contact with air. I have to use these in a special environment so that doesn’t happen. I still get a bit nervous when I use these but haven’t had any accidents yet 🙂

I think the most dangerous thing in science is when people don’t really know what they are doing and aren’t being careful. I once saw someone pouring a liquid that was flammable near a bunsen burner and it all set on fire – that was very dangerous!