CHEMICAL ACCIDENTS INVOLVING MINORS CRAIG BURNS Cerro de Pasco Corporation, La Oroya, Peru
THE president of a large United States chemical company recently wrote, "It is my opinion that no boy should be allowed t o experiment with chemicals except under the supervision of an adult trained in chemistry. What little they may learn does not balance the hazard."
science suffersfrom anemia, and pointed out with alarm that our schools are not graduating enough scientists. He went on to show that young people need more enthusiastic stimulation in scientific fields. Mr. Thomas' comments, directed to members of the teaching profession, can also have meaning for parents. Many boys and girls are discouraged from an active interest in chemistry because their parents, just like the chemical company president quoted above, feel that chemistry is too dangerous, and that "what little they may learn does not balance the hazard." The answer to the question "Do you think that chemical experiments are too dangerous to balance what a boy might learn from them?" needs to be based on thoughtful consideration of what data are available. Over the past six years the author has come to know hundreds of amateur chemists throughout the world. Each boy or girl has his own laboratory-an accident occurring in that laboratory is an extreme rarity. Not one of these adolescents has had a serious accident. Yet the newspapers from time to time carry ghastly reports about boys with "chemistry sets" who suffer mangling and death as the result of chemical experi9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 ments. Let us analyze these accidents and their reAge lationship to the hobby of amateur chemistry. T i Agn of Boy (or Girl) Involved in a Chsmioal Accident Information on 50 authenticated chemical accidents ~t the ~~~~i~~~ chemical 128th meeting, involving minors in the United States, Canada, Engin ~ i ~ ~charlea ~ ~~ 1~ ~ 1~ ~lh i~ ~ .of ~land, Australia, ~ ~ and New . Zealand has been collected. Each accident has been investigated as to age of child, ~~~~~~t~ &e&ical company, iisviewthat place of accident, chemicals involved, extent of injury, . . . . . . : , ., supervision present, previous training in chemistry, and incentive. The results of this analysis are presented in Figures 1-7. The ages of boys and girls involved in chemical accidents correspond to the ages when scientific interest awakens. If we wish to make a positive answer to the question posed, we may conclude that the best time to interest a boy or girl in amateur chemistry is from his thirteenth to seventeenth year, an adolescent fouryear period of inquisitiveness. We must not be led astray by Figure 2. Just because 12 per cent of those 50 accidents occurred in a school does not mean that there is a great hazard in school chemistry laboratories. First, consider the tremendous number of high-school and college laboratory students. Taken in this light, school chemistry laboratories are amazingly safe. The chemicals used in high-school laboratories are mostly innocuous; only on rare occasions does a student concoct a mixture against the rules and his own better judgment which results in an accident. If a boy is going to experiment with chemicals, there riwre2. sitaof chemical A O C ~ I ~ ~~ ~ ~~ MS~~~ O ,I. S . ~ is~ only ~ one place to do this, and that is in a laboratory. SO8
VOLUME 33, NO. 10. OCTOBER, 1956
A home laboratory need consist only of a table or bench and some shelves, hut it should offer some isolation, some privacy, yet have adequate ventilation. Bedrooms, bathrooms, living rooms, and kitchens are not places for chemical experimentation. Accidents occurring in these places indicate that the parents were indifferentt o their son's experimentation, or, more likely, that he did not have a laboratory at all. The accident was the result of a dangerous impulse. There are thousands of boys and girls with home laboratories, mostly in basements. Yet of the 32 per cent of chemical accidents occurring in a basement, as shown in the chart, only 22 per cent occurred in a basement laboratory. We must conclude that home amateur chemistry is not as safe as chemical experimentation in a school, but let us become familiar with the chemicals themselves before we judge further. Potassium chlorate, gunpowder from shotgun shells, phosphorus (usually red), and powdered magnesium metal were responsible for 74 per cent of the rhemical accidents investigated. There are hundreds of readily available inorganic chemicals and thousands of organic compounds. Out of this vast list, only three chemicals cause us concern because of their repeated presence in chemical accidents. Surely this information is important and should be acted upon. The 22 per cent of accidents listed under "other" in Figure 3 are broken down as follows: agent unknown, 8 per cent; and 2 per cent each for the following chemical or manipulation: (1) heating a carbon dioxide cartridge, (2) boiling ether to dryness, (3) handling home-made mercuric fulminate, (4) demonstrating metallic potassium, (5) striking home-made nitroglycerin with a hammer, (6) burns from spilling alcohol, and (7) burns from sulfuric acid. As a result of these 50 accidents (46 of them were explosions), 26 per cent of the experimenters died. Sixtyseven persons were injured, for a boy exploding a bomb usually has a friend or two present. Serious acid burns or loss of eyesight, both common fears of parents, are extremely rare. There was no loss of life or limb from any of the four accidents which were not explosions. The question of supervision is rather difficult to d e cide. Figure 5 summarizes the presence of supervision in relation t o chemical accidents. Supervision is a relative matter. Let us here give a description of four accidents in detail: (1) Two boys, both age 13, in Detroit made a mixture of potassium chlorate, sulfur, and charcoal, then added a few match heads, and stuffed the mixture into a seven-inch length of S/pinch pipe. They were working in the basement and had the pipe securely held in a vise. The mother of one of the boys was near-by, about six feet away and busy canning fruit. The boys put a cap over the end of the pipe and were tightening the cap with a pipe-wrench when an explosion occurred. One boy lost three fingers, his companion and his mother were both injured by flying pieces of metal. Even
509
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* 70
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Potassium G u n ~ o w d e r PhosMagneaivm (from phorus, metal (powchlorate sulfur shells) red and dered) carbon yellow
+ +
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ZAYO
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2% ether, 2% He fulminate, 2% metallic K, 2% /,nitroglycerine, 2% COr cartridze, 2% alcohol. 2% HzSOa, 8% unknown causes (4 oaaesl. Eguro 3. Ch.micals causing Accident. Involving Mino"
though an adult was present, supervision was lacking because the adult was not actively supervising and had not been trained in chemistry. (2) I n a college chemistry laboratory in Idaho one student, age 19, was "just fooling around" with several other students while the laboratory instructor was busy at the opposite end of the room. The student was heating a test tube containing a mixture of red phosphorus, potassium chlorate, and manganese dioxide. The resulting explosion inflicted lacerations of the boy's abdomen, chest, face, and head. Five other students were injured slightly. Here the supervisor was trained in chemistry hut could not cope with a scheming experimenter. (3) At the Denver airport in 1953, a 42-year-old junior high-school teacher had gone along with his
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24%
111%
Minor lacerations injuries Severe
12%
0
Loss of
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fingcra
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6%
6%
Loss Losr of of both one hands hand
Figure 4. Extant of Injury
16-year-old son who was bent on setting off a homemade rocket. The father went along to "keep the experiment safe." An explosion of the rocket sent parts of the steel pipe into the father's chest, killing him. The son received a part of the charge in his leg, resulting in a compound fracture. (4) Two girls and a woman teacher in Chicago were burned when an ether distillation blew up. (It is sur-
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JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
prising the number of teachers who are not aware of the he must have thought that rocketry was safe. The explosive peroxides present in ether, and do not realize majority of druggists will not sell a boy potassium cyathat ether should never be distilled to dryness.) Here nide, but many of them, unaware of the danger, will sell trained supervision was present, but faulty technique him potassium chlorate. For the prevention of accidents, previous training in the aspect of danger is very caused an accident. Could all four of these accidents have been avoided? important. Previous training in chemistry alone does From the cases cited above, it would seem that "super- not solve the problem. vision by an adult trained in chemistry" is not the Let us look carefully a t the subject of incentive. answer to the dangerous aspects of chemical experimen- This appears to be the most important factor in chemtation. I t is desirable, unquestionably, but not prac- ical accidents involving minors. Some illustrative extical in solving the problems involved, as will be seen amples are instructive. Two girls, ages 16 and 17, had received permission readily by looking a t the chart on incentive. from their high-school chemistry teacher to take chemicals from the school to undertake a "home project." They were making matches in their mother's kitchen. An explosion occurred whiie they were working on the sink with red -phosphorus, potassium chlorate, and ground glass! I n London in 1954. two brothers in a vacant lot were trying to get a piece of pipe loaded with potassium chlorate, sulfur, and charcoal to explode. Two workmen who were passing by told them to add nuts and bolts t o the pipe. This they did, and then threw the pipe against a wall, but it failed t o explode. John, the older brother, picked up the pipe and later said, "As I began screwing it to see if we could get it to work, there was a terrific bang and I saw Derek on the ground." Derek died in the hospital. 8% Supervision 6% Supervision 88% No adult superpresent and trained Dresent but unviaion A 14-year old Massachusetts boy packed a pipe with trained potassium chlorate, sulfur, and charcoal. I n a field Figure 5. Pzaance of Supervision i n Charnisal Accidents Involving near his home he held the pipe in his left hand and Mino.. struck it with an ax held in his right hand. The resulting blast shattered the pipe. Fragments tore into Investigation of incentive causes us to realize that the boy's body ripping off his index and forefingers and previous training is not a factor in the cause or preven- part of his palm. The ax flew up fracturing his skull. tion of chemical accidents. Figure 1 shows that most Obviously, these accidents might have been preaccidents occurred with boys from ages 13 to 16. vented if the chemicals involved had not been available. Most of these boys had no formal training in chemistry, For this reason, some chemical companies feel that the which is usually a senior high-school subject for stu- best way to combat "dangerous incentive" in the adolesdents from 16 to 18 years of age. Prohibiting a boy cent is to refuse to sell him any chemicals a t all. This from having a home laboratory until after he has studied action (or lack of it) might be effective if all sources of chemistry in school is questionable. The fruitful supply were shut off, but is this possible? And need years for science stimulation are already past. the entire supply of chemicals be shut off when only What we wish to question here is, "What kind of phosphorus, potassium chlorate, and magnesium metal previous training?" The Denver father killed by his (plus gunpowder) are responsible for three-quarters of son's rocket had had basic training in chemistry, yet the accidents? Chemistry teachers are not entirely free from blame in this matter of "dangerous incentive." Sometimes their fault lies in the attempt to make the subject "interesting," or in failure t o keep control of supplies. Surely chemistry has advanced sufficiently so that from the wealth of material available safe, constructive experiments can be substituted for the older, often
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Figure 6.
P ~ e v i o u sTra
