Question: what was th worst accident which you had in a lab

Fiona Hatch answered on 9 Mar 2012:

In the lab I use liquid nitrogen. This is basically the gas nitrogen but cooled down to such a temperature that it becomes a liquid. The temperature of this liquid is −196 °C . If you imagine that your freezer at home is −6 °C you can imagine how cold liquid nitrogen is!!!

If the liquid nitrogen heats up, it becomes a gas again. You’re breathing nitrogen gas in all the time (78% of the atmosphere is made from it), so it is not harmful. But if you are in a lab with all the doors closed and no windows the extra gas causes that % to go higher. This is dangerous as it will prevent you breathing in as much oxygen and so you can faint.

I was pouring some out to use for freezing some of my samples and I ended up spilling it over the floor and my shoes. In the lab you always have to wear shoes that cover your feet just in case you ever spill anything on them. So thankfully that day I was wearing boots and so my feet were fine and I only slightly felt my feet get cold. But the other worry was that I had to open the doors and make sure I was getting enough oxygen.

The main thing to remember when working in a lab is always to keep calm. If you spill something, tell someone so they know (just in case you faint, then they can come help you), and then calmly clear it up.