> Distilling off diisopropyl alcohol from Calcium hydride under Nitrogen should be a simple experiment - until such time as the needle blocks and a little pressure goes a long way.
>
> Round about 4.30 pm GMT I was working in the fumehood next to Chris Nichols when he applied a heat gun to his short path distillation, resulting in an explosion which set fire to a large quantity of volatile solvent, burning off a decent amount of his fringe and sucking the air out of his lungs. We got it under control pretty quickly, emptying two powder extinguishers into the fumehood and choking everyone with a cloud of white particles.
>
> Meanwhile I can't stop shaking while I type and nearly two hours have passed.
>
> Chris is OK, but everyone got a terrible fright.
>
> I realise this isn't a particularily relevant post to anyone elses life, but I felt the need to tell someone about it. Man, That scared the bejeezuz out of me.
>
> Roll on Halloween, eh?
>
> Bourne

I know the feeling... I once drove a tugboat into a 7 fts tall buoy on the St-Laurence...

Well, actually, we were pushing a raft from Hull to Qc City, a scout project. And I happened to be steering at the time. We were a bit out of the channel, cause the Coast Guard had warned us of a few cargoes we didn't want to get too close to... So I was steering, and I spotted this buoy about a mile ahead. Q18. Sweet name for this man-made iceberg... Anyway. I lost sight of it for a while, and when it reappeared, it was damned close. The captain gave a few wrong orders to me (IE, go up to 12000RPM, hard to starboard, while we later determined that we should have gone the other way, wich was what I was doing at the time.

Anyway. Rammed the buoy hard... The tugboat got ripped appart from the raft (5 tons boat, I think, and 45 tons raft).

I was SURE I was going to die, and practically had to pry my hand from the wheel & Throttle stick afterward... Shock for a long while, too.

Anyway, I understand how you feel... Personnaly, the best way to get over it (Well, for me) is to think about it for a while, and not be affraid to do chemistry again. Eventually, you'll get over it, but you might still be scared of fire for a while.

Eti"Coffee cup overboard!"enne