We all remember science class, and the times our teacher dropped bits of sodium or potassium into a bowl of water. We would watch as the element skipped about, fizzing away as it burned. Well, for one teacher, this tidy little demonstration didn't go exactly to plan.

A safety glass screen is usually placed between the bowl and the students, so random bits of sodium don't jump out and scald them. One particular teacher decided that he would put the screen over the bowl, lifting it up to drop in sodium. He did this several times, so all the children could see. When he was done, he removed the screen from the bowl.

2 Na + 2 H2O = 2 NaOH + H2

Sodium in water produces hydrogen gas. And this teacher had the bad judgement to have a Bunsen burner burning near the edge of his desk. When he lifted the glass screen, the accumuated hydrogen exploded.

The students were just leaving the classroom when they heard an almighty BANG! They turned back to see the teacher on his ass looking shell-shocked, with bits of the overhead florescent lighting falling down from the ceiling.

A science teacher really should know better than to let hydrogen build up. But that said, in the same department, another teacher accidentally let a senior student make nitroglycerine. They were picking bits of lab equipment out of the ceiling for a fortnight.

This qualifies for an Honorable Mention, since none of the students were hurt (except maybe from laughing) and the science teachers really should have known better; despite their best efforts, they remain in the gene pool.

This is only a personal account told to me by my brother during his time studying Chemistry at high school.

I'm sure we all remember sitting in science class and watching as our teachers would dump a little bit of sodium or potassium into a bowl of water and we would watch as it skips about fizzing away. Well for one teacher it didn't go exactly to plan.

A safety glass screen is usually placed between the bowl and the students, so random bits of sodium don’t jump out and scald the poor little kids. Well one particular teacher (who I won't name since he still works at the school) decided that he would put the screen over the bowl, lifting it up to drop in sodium. He did this a couple of times so all the children could see and when he was done went to lift the screen up.

If you didn't know sodium + water = hydrogen, to his bad judgement he had a Bunsen burner on at the edge of the desk and when he lifted the screen the contained hydrogen ignited. I'm told that the students where just turning away when they heard an almighty bang! They turned to see the teacher on his ass looking pretty shell-shocked, with bits of the over head florescent lighting falling down from the ceiling.

As a science teacher he really should have known better than to let all that hydrogen build up but that said in the same department another teacher had accidentally let one of his final year students make nitro-glycerine unintentionally during the course of one of their experiments. They where picking bits of lab equipment out of the ceiling for about a fortnight.

I think it qualifies for a personal account since none of the kids where hurt (well maybe from laughing), and the teachers responsible really should have known better. But despite their best efforts they remain in the gene pool.

Submitted on 10/24/2007

Submitted by: Chris (A personal account from my brother, from High School Chemistry.)
Reference:

Copyright © 2007 DarwinAwards.com

Chip said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
Thanks for the hilarious personal account, Chris. My son is a high school chemistry teacher and I am always calling him the Mad Bomber so I can sympathize with this one.

Bruce said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
So was this science teacher just a history teacher who got stuck teaching science or something like that? I remember seeing this exact experiment way back when I was in school, and at least my teacher knew what the result of the reaction was. Thanks, Chris!