Buh! Organic is just chemistry for those who're scared of maths. Analytical is where it's at, fo shizz! On another note, I've also been ingesting a hell of a lot of strong acids recently. Not nice Pouring the 14 molar HCL into the mini-test tube the other day, without gloves, and with no funnel, and from a big stopper opening - well that was quite scary. Also when I chuck stuff away after use and I see gas rising out of the sink towards my head, that's not good either. I swear the 1st year labs here are more deadly than Iraq.
Just go do physics, ya mathematical heathen. There's elegance in organic chemistry. Clearly your labs skills are weak, youngling. Stay away from the flouric acid or chloroform, that's all I can say.
I remember visiting an ICI lab down south where the really wimpy chemists donned gloves and face mask to put milk in the coffee. A far cry from our Sheffield steelworks lab where the tea-spoon was often used to measure out chemicals.
Don't you have chlorinated and non chlorinated waste pots in the back of your fume cupboards to chuck the nasty stuff?
Fume cupboards?!? Think you're overestimating lab safety here. We have a sink built into the desk. Done with something? Chuck it in the sink and try not to breath in the chlorine gas, if you're smart enough to realise that it's chlorine gas. There's elegance in play-doh too y'know
I found on taking AS Chemistry in my second year of A-Levels, was pretty simple as I'd already done AS Physics the previous year, and one of my teachers 'jokingly' summed up AS Chemistry in one hour. I never realised how right he was until I sailed right through 1/2 the year without even looking at a textbook! Also, check this out XKCD - Purity
This is completely wrong! Sulphuric acid is a completely different compound to hydrogen sulphide. If you were to remove all the water from a solution of sulphuric acid and water, you'd still be left with sulphuric acid, not hydrogen sulphide. Sulphuric acid does react with water, protonating it, but it doesn't form any kind of covalent bonds. You might be getting confused with hydrogen chloride (HClg) which, as a dry gas is completely harmless. But when solvated in water, forms hydrochloric acid (HClaq). This is just really stupid to be honest. I've seen the burns that conc acids can cause and it's really not worth the risk. I use ~19 molar (>95%) sulpuric acid and boil it up with hydrogen peroxide several times a week, but I at least wear the right kind of equipment.
I agree, extremely dumb. At my last lab we'd have been given a bollocking for doing anything without gloves on, and the lab tech would get pissy if you were pouring anything over a couple of mols in strength without using a funnel, or the correct size of equipment so as to not be spilling drops all over the place. That said, my old chemistry tutor at that place had a couple of nasty acid burns on her fingers, so she'd obviously learned the hard way and ensured the labs were safety-obsessed.
High school enriched chem will teach you most of the stuff you need to know about these sorts of things (I don't know how that compares to A level chem in the UK) Wikipedia is also a great place to look up chemical even thought you can't use superscript
