Taking+Responsible+Risks

In chemistry, its pretty much inevitable that you'll come across some dangerous substance. I decided to focus on an experiment involving a more concentrated solution of Hydrochloric Acid, which, when combined with Sodium Bicarbonate, creates harmless salt. We've handled and used Hydrochloric Acid before, but not of a solution this concentrated, and so we had to be a bit more careful than normal - especially when the group next to us shattered their beaker in the sink. Add to this the fact that we were using an open flame to heat the crucibles, and there was quite a lot of potential for trouble.

Lighting the bunsen burner required us to estimate how much gas would be needed to create a flame. I started with too little, and the flame didn't catch, so I turned up the valve up, and ended up creating a tall flame that surprised both Isabelle and me. Combining the bicarbonate and the acid wasn't too much trouble, but the method wasn't something we had done before, so we had to estimate how fast and how quickly the reaction would occur while making sure the acid didn't spill all over our fingers.

Theoretically, the resultant heated salt would be 100% nontoxic and edible, but tasting it is not a risk that I'm willing to take.

 