Dear :

I want to share my youth experience with you. I have explained it in an article which I am sending for your consideration: please find it below.

I realize I might have died silly and become a nominee for a Darwin award, but I didn't, and even was not injured at all. Who has made so that the shards didn't injure me? I sometimes ask myself, wasn't it extraterrestrials?

Sincerely,

Der Voron

"Starcraft" http://starcraft-version1.tripod.com/

Strange occurrence

By Der Voron

I am recalling an unexplainable occurrence that happened with me in my youth, about 1990. I was very curious and one of my passions was chemistry. I tried to electrolyze water solution of sodium chloride (plain salt), and I received some amount of chlorine. I felt it was not on my level so I decided to move further to conduct an experiment with fluorine, electrolyzing a water solution of sodium fluoride in a glass container. I knew I was not going to get fluorine in that way because of its chemical properties; but I wanted to see how it reacts with water. I indeed could see that. Suddenly, the container exploded right before my eyes, but I was not anyhow injured by the glass fragments. After that I tried to find them in the room where I was conducting the experiment, but was unable to find any.

There is nothing wondrous that the container exploded. During the electrolysis hydrogen that was extracting from the cathode was accumulating in the water and partially in the air, and active oxidants like ozone and oxygen fluorides, that were extracting from the anode, were accumulating in the water and in the air:

2NaF (sodium fluoride) = (electrolysis) 2Na + F2

2Na + 2H2O = 2NaOH + H2 (hydrogen)

F2 + H2O -> HF + OF2 (oxygen fluoride) + O2F2 (another kind of oxygen fluoride) + O3 (ozone) + O (atomic oxygen) + H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) [different reaction products]

The explosion was evidently caused by reaction between hydrogen (a part of which was partially solved in the water and another part leaving it from water surface) and ozone, oxygen fluorides, hydrogen peroxide, and atomic oxygen also partially solved in the water and leaving it from the surface; that is, oxidants that were solved in the water reacted with the hydrogen solved in the water, and oxidants that left the water from the surface reacted with hydrogen which was also leaving the water from the surface.

Nothing wondrous; the wondrous is that there was no injury to me, though the explosion happened right before my face, and no shards or fragments of the container were found after that. I swear by God that this is the absolute truth.

Submitted on 06/19/2006

Submitted by: Der Voron
Reference:

Copyright © 2006 DarwinAwards.com

James said:
Neutral: Personal Account
This has to be the most uniquely written PA I've seen in a while! You sound as if you were writing from Mad Scientist Apprentice/Journeyman School! I can't vouch for the stupidity of your experiment as I know nothing about chemistry, but it certainly sounds as if you tried! I will keep this as a PA!

Jorge said:
Neutral: Personal Account

Greg said:
Neutral: Personal Account

Fitzroy said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
As far as Personal Accounts go I believe this one has its share of excellence. Given a much larger and more durable apparatus with no better precautions, the outcome could well have been lethal. Of course I'm glad it was not and we were able to get this story to serve as a warning to others intent on exploring the adventurous side of chemistry.

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