I recently spoke by email with Bob Worley as he prepared an article, But Surely That’s Banned, sharing some thoughts on chemical safety for teachers from his UK perspective. Part of the discussion revolved around our shared concern for using methanol for demonstrations. The Fire Tornado demonstration, that was part of the September 2014 Nevada museum incident, can easily be found in written form and video in a quick Google search.
Another chemistry demonstration accident has happened. This one was at a museum in Nevada. In preliminary reports, it looks as if several children were injured. One child was held overnight in the hospital.
My students and I intend to use a high-speed camera to film a variety of chemistry experiments in slow motion. The first reaction we have decided to film is the “Whoosh Bottle”. You can read more about this particular experiment in an article in Journal of Chemical Education here. NOTE: O