/oss/taxonomy/term/6404/all en /oss/article/contributors-general-science/why-scary-lab-accidents-happen <p>If a chemist has never been in a lab accident, he has been lucky. Of course, luck is more likely to come to those whose mentors have learned from bad experiences and to those who have taken preventive measures seriously, despite their anal nature. Chemical reactions create products with behaviors that differ from those of the ingredients. That’s what makes them intriguing, and it’s also what makes them potentially dangerous. No matter how simple and controllable a reaction seems on paper, when it’s carried out in real life, the exact conditions determine its rate.</p> Fri, 21 Jun 2024 20:57:40 +0000 Enrico Uva B.Sc. Dip. Ed. 9986 at /oss /oss/article/contributors-general-science/teaching-also-learning <p>I have spent many years teaching chemistry to high school students and always enjoyed carrying out demonstrations. For students, watching chemicals perform their magic live is far more memorable than looking at equations on the blackboard. But teaching is also learning, as I discovered years ago when I wanted to show my students how soft a metal sodium is, and of course I planned to subsequently demonstrate its classic, fiery reaction with water. Sodium reacts with water to produce sodium hydroxide and hydrogen gas which ignites due to the heat generated by the reaction.</p> Tue, 16 Aug 2022 20:47:44 +0000 Enrico Uva B.Sc. Dip. Ed. 9201 at /oss