Warning...flammable thread about acetone

gyocomgd

Anyone ever know anyone who lit themselves on fire with the stuff? Or caused themselves irreversible lung damage? Yes yes, safety first and always. But such fervent end-of-the-world warnings are gang-tackled here like the stuff is nitroglycerin. I doubt there are teenaged girls doing their fingernails who are warned with such five-alarm urgency as the grownups here. Reminds me of the "Close cover, always strike match away from you" deal you see on books of matches.

pontiacinf

i think back in the 80's, richard pryor popped himself with acetone, or was it propane

Outhaul

And you have a problem with warning someone about something that could be quite dangerous to life and health if handled improperly? Or perhaps you need to personally know someone who suffered damage before you concur with the scientific evidence?

I don't personally know anyone who has actually gotten killed by being run over by a car, but I'm certainly not interested in stepping in front of a speeding one to learn first hand.

Safety and health warnings did not simply materialize out of thin air. Typically, at one time or another, someone actually did something to warrant that warning. "Close cover before striking" was born out of the fact that, at one time, the heads of book matches had a tendancy to break up when struck. It was not uncommon for a burning piece of the head to ignite the rest of the book.

With regard to organic solvents, their vapor concentration is not readily apparent as the strength of the odor is not indicative of dangerous concentrations. A miniscule drop of dimethyl ether smells bad enough to clear a room, but is hardly enough to cause damage. However, some people are extremely sensetive to chemical odors so warnings have to include this.

I work in an R&D laboratory as an environmental engineer. I have seen several people overexposed to different chemicals including acetone. I have seen acetone fires and how quickly they can spread. Some of these fires began only as an overheating issue which caused the solvent to reach its autoignition point.

The great thing about warnings today is that we now pretty much know the properties of most substances and can predict, with relative accuracy, the results of overexposure. Do some of the warnings get out of hand? Absolutely. But the depths of stupidity humans are capable of lowering themselves to is unparalleled.



Cheers,

Bob

BAJJERFAN

<< <i>i think back in the 80's, richard pryor popped himself with acetone, or was it propane >>



Neither!! It was ethyl ether that he was using to extract and end up with free base cocaine!! Acetone is nothing to be sneezed at in this regard however.

MadMarty

Yes, I was working on a Franklin once and ....

Steve27

" Yes, I was working on a Franklin once and ...."

ROFL!!!

Marty, stand away from the tourch and no one will get hurt.

mozeppa

from my own experience.....

i was one who never closed the cover before striking the match.....a spark lit the whole pack ,and i burnt the crap out of my fingers.

but i don't learn too quickly,


2 years later ....did it again!

ccrdragon

had a friend in high school who took out a fair portion of the chem lab (himself included) because he had an open container of acetone 3 feet away from a lit Bunsen burner... I will never down play the warnings of dire consequences for getting sloppy with acetone!

bushmaster8

There was a kid in the 80's who was making hash oil using acetone for his extraction solvent. Apparently he wasn't too concerned about getting all the acetone residue out of his concoction before firing it up. He died of kidney failure from the acetone.

Gemineye

<< <i>Yes, I was working on a Franklin once and ....

<< <i>.............................