# just for the fun of it, what is your scaryest chemical



## ericrm (Nov 29, 2012)

what is your scaryest chemical hot/cold concentrated diluted what ever

for me it was concentrated sulfuric ... i was so scared of it that i build my first fume hood mostly (with door that closed)just because i wanted to try the wet ashing(for those who will look at this method- it can do a massive boil over of hot concentrated sulfuric acid... go with with the regular ashing) 

but im not scared of it anymore i just see it as a chemical and take extra precaution when i endle it... (i put a full face when transfering it bottle to beaker, this is the kind of respect that this chemical deserve)

now i got a new horrible , flesh destroying , oxydizing meany ,hydrogene peroxide :lol: , not the regular 3% the 30% that stuff seem totaly harmless at first (this is also why i find it so terrible, i dont give it the chemical respect that it must have)
for those who laft ,i dont find the picture but i have a burned finger about 3/8 by 1 inch that the skin was peeling off in the shower about 1/32 inch deep because of it. i had spill some on the side of a beaker (i didnt whear glove ,it is just oxygetated *water...* and rather than wash my hand i just rubed it on my pant and go on until it start to tickle more and more... eventualy i has turned brown and peeled off...

i would add that if you gave me the choice of putting my hand in 30%sulfuric acid or 30% hydrogene peroxide, i would go with sulfuric acid..

so what is yours worst chemical?????


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## butcher (Nov 29, 2012)

For me I guess it would probably be the silent killers, like gases you cannot smell or cannot see,
these killers which can come from reactions with acids or just melting stuff.


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## Woodworker1997 (Nov 29, 2012)

Dihydrogen monoxide :lol:


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## Noxx (Nov 29, 2012)

Dimethylmercury.

Absorption of doses as low as 0.1 mL has proven fatal.

The symptoms of poisoning may be delayed by months, possibly too late for effective treatment.


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## Geo (Nov 29, 2012)

nitric acid hands down.theres other chemicals and acids and bases that can main and disfigure but the smell of nitric acid fumes means death to me. it may not dissolve your hand or foot but it will kill you in a slow horrible way. drowning on your own body fluids. its not the lack of oxygen that kills you as you can be given oxygen and on a shallow breath be ok, rather the the body's inability to expel carbon dioxide. carbon dioxide poisoning or "hypercapnia" http://www.buzzle.com/articles/carbon-dioxide-poisoning.html is caused by and because of pulmonary edema.


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## cnbarr (Nov 29, 2012)

For me, I would say a bag of lime with a shovel sitting next to it!!! That's a scary combination.


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## Palladium (Nov 29, 2012)

Hot sodium hydroxide!


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## glondor (Nov 29, 2012)

The one I dislike the most is hot A/R. Not really scared of it, I do treat all chemicals with respect, There is just something I don't like about it.


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## Smack (Nov 30, 2012)

Doe's alcohol count? It's killed more people than any other chemical ever will I suspect. How's that for fun :mrgreen:


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## nickvc (Nov 30, 2012)

I have worked with virtually all the chemicals used in recovery and refining including cyanide, I can smell it and I dont like it, but for me it's hydrofluoric acid that gives me the wobbles.


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## Irons2 (Nov 30, 2012)

Arsine. One good whiff will kill you. It takes about 5 or 10 minutes to take effect, and by then, you will welcome death. It's a horrible way to go.
One small overdose sent me to Hospital with tens of thousands in medical bills to deal with.
Be very careful working with ores. Ones containing Arsenic compounds are nothing to fool with. Selenium is another related Element that works in a similar fashion.


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## rshartjr (Nov 30, 2012)

Smack said:


> Doe's alcohol count? It's killed more people than any other chemical ever will I suspect. How's that for fun :mrgreen:


I'm fifteen years, four months, & twenty-four days sober this morning, so that's less of a direct threat to me anymore. (At least until I have to contend with the drunken idiots who get behind the wheel and hit the roads.)


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## grance (Nov 30, 2012)

I'm comfortable with my saftey precautions and chemicals, Its when im casting copper and aluminum ingots I get that fear tingle in my stomach. I dont know why but moltin metal of any kind is mine.


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## Geo (Nov 30, 2012)

grance said:


> I'm comfortable with my saftey precautions and chemicals, Its when im casting copper and aluminum ingots I get that fear tingle in my stomach. I dont know why but moltin metal of any kind is mine.



i hear you on that one. i was melting aluminum in a homemade furnace (a 100# propane tank mounted horizontal on "I" beam and a drive axle crossways for a pivot).the aluminum puddles in the nose and makes a good 10 pound pour.motor stators was used as a counter weight. i had a transmission in the tank and it was ready to pour. i placed the mold under the nose and tilted the tank forward. the large internal steel parts of the transmission rolled to the front jerking the handle from my hand and hitting the edge of the mold.it threw a whole mold full of melted aluminum every where and splashed down from my neck to my boots. it went through my apron and my "T" shirt like it wasnt there.my son was standing to my left and as luck happens sometimes,he was holding a bucket of water to fill the "dunktank" we put ingots in once they were solid. as soon as the tank hit the mold with a loud bang, David threw the bucket in the air drenching me in water. it couldnt have worked better if we had planned it. thankfully i only received a few small burns on my neck and chest that didnt even bubble into a blister. to me, things happen. i added more counter weight and kept on melting.


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## grance (Nov 30, 2012)

wow luckey


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## etack (Nov 30, 2012)

I hate sulfuric it makes me itch when I work with it. Can't stand the stuff. I haven't worked with all that many types of chemicals.

Eric


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## NobleMetalWorks (Nov 30, 2012)

By far, without exception, I have a deep seated fear and respect for Hydrofluoric acid

This was taken from Wikipedia



> Hydrogen fluoride gas is an acute poison that may immediately and permanently damage lungs and the corneas of the eyes. Aqueous hydrofluoric acid is a contact-poison with the potential for deep, initially painless burns and ensuing tissue death. By interfering with body calcium metabolism, the concentrated acid may also cause systemic toxicity and eventual cardiac arrest and fatality, after contact with as little as 160 cm2 (25 square inches) of skin.



I would NOT suggest anyone use this for anything. There was a process that I came across that uses Hydrofluoric acid with another very nasty acid to dissolve certain types of metals, but the resulting risks were too high in my opinion to actually attempt it. You couldn't pay me to keep any of this on hand for any reason.

Scott


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## Buzz (Dec 1, 2012)

I'm with nickvc and Scott on this one....
Hydrofluoric Acid is evil :evil: 

I drive trains for a living and a few years ago an incident happened that still upsets me today.

There was a period when youths would board the trains and use Hydrofluoric Acid to etch graffiti onto the carriage windows.
I was busy driving one day when i started to hear someone shouting and then screaming.
This screaming sound then turned into something like i have never heard before.
Turns out this youth had been etching the windows from a pot of acid which had overturned onto his leg after we went over a bump in the track. Someone went to fetch the guard who then came to tell me we had a medical emergency on board and we needed to get to the next station asap. I called the signaller and requested emergency clearance and paramedics to the nearest station 10 mins away. We arrived 5 mins before the paramedics and it was the longest 5 mins of my life. I have never heard a person make the kind of noise this young lad was making. The paramedics hadn't got a clue what to do either and took him to the nearest hospital about 20 mins away.

We found out about three months later that he had to have his left leg amputated just above his knee.


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## steyr223 (Dec 2, 2012)

Simple green


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## ericrm (Dec 2, 2012)

thank to all,i realy apreciate to read it, so many different answer 8)


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## onewally (Dec 4, 2012)

well im not sure what the chemical was but it was floor stripper. When i was doing time they had me working in a small engine shop fixing lawnmowers and stuff like that. One day i was rebuilding a motor and ran out of degresser, so i went to the toolroom and asked the inmate there for some degreaser. well they where out so without telling me he gave me some floor stripper, i added water to it thinking it was degreaser, then stuck parts in the bucket (steal and aluminum) and started to clean. first thing i noticed was that it got warm....then the burning started and thats when i knew something was horribley wrong. the stuff burned right through my skin and keept eating its way down. Still to this day i got visable scars on my hand from where that stuff ate me up.


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## Pantherlikher (Dec 4, 2012)

For me, it doesn't matter what fluid it is. An unmarked bottle of something is the scaryest thing.
That and that dreaded inkahol. 40+ years of it before finding the reason. Now I see no reason to use it except for a nice relaxing drink now and again. Deep seeded depression fabricates reasons.


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## Palladium (Dec 4, 2012)

Pantherlikher said:


> For me, it doesn't matter what fluid it is. An unmarked bottle of something is the scariest thing.




http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=15356&p=155798&hilit=visine#p155798


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## GotTheBug (Dec 4, 2012)

Wedding cake.


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## Ragnor (Jun 1, 2017)

Arsine gas. I have been doing my due diligence and this is a serious bad thing. It is odorless and colorless and tastless. If you can smell it you had better pack up and head for the nearest dialysis center. It is 4X more toxic than hydrogen cyanide gas.It destroys your red blood cells and then clogs your kidneys with those dead cells I am planning on writing a paper on it because I feel it has not been covered sufficiently in this forum. Anyone who is interested in ore refining should know about this stuff.


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## g_axelsson (Jun 1, 2017)

Ragnor said:


> Arsine gas.


I presume that you have read about Irons close call with arsine? Halfway up on this page, but a longer description can be found somewhere on the forum.

Göran


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## FrugalRefiner (Jun 1, 2017)

g_axelsson said:


> a longer description can be found somewhere on the forum.


I have a link to it in the Why Can't I Ask a Simple Question and get a Simple Answer? thread, but it's worth repeating here:



Irons said:


> Arsine was the main culprit as well as AsCl3, and Amine based Arsenicals.. Any time volatile heavy metal compounds are created, they become a severe health hazard. Even electronic scrap contains some Arsenic because it's used as a dopant in semiconductors and Gallium Arsenide is a major component of LED's. Precipitating PMs in solutions that contain Arsenicals with Zinc, Aluminum and other base metals can and probably will generate Arsine (AsNH3). 135 PPM of Arsine in Air can kill you straight off and it's a bad way to go. About a year ago, it sent me to the Emergency Room. My urine looked like Tomato Juice and I knew I had been poisoned. My suspicions were right. You cannot believe how sick you can get until you've been poisoned by Arsenic. It's very painful. It will make you wish you were dead.


Dave


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## Tndavid (Jun 1, 2017)

Mine would have to be estrogen. Have you ever seen a pissed of estrogen vessel. Shewww wee. Stay away, I warn you!!!! :mrgreen:


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## Palladium (Jun 1, 2017)

Though i have to use it everyday in refining i'm probably most scared of DHMO exposure!
Especially for the environment!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfRGv1V9dSA[/youtube]


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## snoman701 (Jun 1, 2017)

carfentanil - drug used for very large animal (ie, elephant) anesthesia. 10,000 x more powerful than morphine. One stray drop will kill you. It's unlikely that the hospital will have enough naloxone. 

It's right up there with ebola, radioactive elements, barehanded hot lava, etc.


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## Topher_osAUrus (Jun 4, 2017)

Palladium said:


> Though i have to use it everyday in refining i'm probably most scared of DHMO exposure!
> Especially for the environment!



The ignorance of the general public is what terrifies me.
That of which is blatantly obvious in that youtube video.


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