Transcription
I'm Robert Bruce Thompson. This is the Home Scientist video series, brought to you by Maker Shed.
In this first segment, we're going to look at an important aspect of laboratory work, and that's lab safety. The primary component of lab safety is what's called PPE, or personal protective equipment. And there are three components of that.
First, goggles. I don't know if you can see the details on the video, but these two goggles appear very similar. The difference is, these goggles have many rows of tiny holes poked in them. They're intended to protect only against impact hazards, such as using a grinder or power tools of other sorts, and they are not lab safety splash goggles. Anything that splashes on them can run right through all of these tiny little holes and into your eyes. So the first thing to do when you look at a goggle is to make sure that it is a laboratory splash goggle, like this goggle. And you'll notice, instead of tiny holes, this goggle uses what's called cap vents, which prevent liquid that splashes on the goggle from running, running down inside the goggle. So, first thing, very important, get splash goggles and make sure that they are laboratory splash goggles, ANSI Z87 rated.
Second aspect is, uh, gloves, to keep chemicals, toxic and corrosive chemicals, off your hands. And basically, there are many different types of gloves that are used in labs, but the two most common in use in home labs are disposable gloves like these, and what may appear to be just general household gloves, which are also sold by laboratory suppliers. We generally use the disposable gloves. They come in two sorts: the latex gloves, and these which are called nitrile gloves. Nitrile gloves cost about twice as much as latex gloves, but, uh, they're still pretty cheap. We picked this box up at Costco, 100 pairs of gloves, excuse me, 150 pairs of gloves for 15 bucks. So a pair is 10 cents. This is the first line of defense in terms of keeping stuff off your hands, not just toxic and corrosive chemicals, but things that are contact sensitizers that you could later develop an allergy from. So it's very important, always wear gloves when you're working in the lab.
The third aspect of PPE is protective clothing. You'll notice right now I'm wearing an ordinary long-sleeve shirt. It is, uh, 100% cotton. Actually, I think it's 99% cotton, 1% polyester, but that aspect of it is very important because cotton does not take flame easily. It does not react with most chemicals easily, so it, uh, provides a protective layer for your skin. Make sure whatever you do, not to wear polyester items, or any other sort of artificial fiber items in the lab. They can melt, they can burn, they don't provide a lot of protection, they react with a lot of common laboratory chemicals. So we wear pure cotton. We're also, uh, full-length pants. I wear jeans commonly in the lab, and boots or shoes that cover your feet. No sandals. Finally, if you have long hair, either tie it back or wear a cap to hold, hold it in place. I've seen women, and back in the 70s when I was in college, men often had very long hair, and I've seen it catch fire from a Bunsen burner in lab. So whatever you do, tie your hair back, keep it away from flame.
Okay, two final items that you'll need in terms of laboratory safety. First, an ABC-rated fire extinguisher, because accidents do happen, and if something catches on fire, you want to have the means to put it out yourself. And second, a first aid kit, because accidents do happen in a lab. Usually, they're of the nature of minor cuts and burns, but you do want to have whatever you need handy to treat those.
In the next segment, we're going to take a quick look at, uh, one common occurrence in a lab, and a second one that we hope never happens. So what happens if worse comes to horrible and you do spill something on yourself? Well, the water faucet is your best friend. I have here about 50, 60 milliliters of concentrated hydrochloric acid, and I'm going to demonstrate. As you notice, I'm not wearing gloves. I am wearing goggles. And here's what happens when you pour it on yourself. And I can tell right away that it's not water. It's very astringent, and now it's starting to sting. So by this time, you've had time to get over and run cold water. Okay, it has stopped stinging entirely, but keep running cold water over any, uh, toxic or, uh, corrosive substance that you get on yourself. Do it for several minutes, at least. Also, we have here another friend, arm and soda, arm and hammer baking soda, and this stuff neutralizes acids extremely well. Just make a paste, and any remaining hydrochloric acid is converted to sodium chloride, ordinary table salt, and it's about completely neutralized. So that's what you do if you get a hazardous chemical on yourself. You rinse it off.
Let's say the unthinkable happens. You get acid, a base, or another corrosive substance in your eyes, either because you weren't wearing goggles, or because your goggles weren't sealed tightly, or they failed, or, or for some reason. What do you do? Well, you immediately rush to the sink, turn on the cold water, full blast, and you do this. You cup your hands, and you keep the water flowing. Try to open your eyes. You may have difficulty, it may sting, but you want to get as much as possible cold water into your eyes for as long as possible, for at least 5 or 10 minutes, until you've washed all the toxic or, or corrosive material out of your eyes. This, incidentally, is why, of course, I didn't really use any kind of corrosive material, but this is why it's a really good idea to have a second responsible person present in the lab when you're working, because if you do get something in your eyes, you may not be able to see the sink, you may be in such pain that you, you can't figure out which way is up. So always work with another person, if not in the lab with, at least within easy earshot.
Okay, this has just been a real quick overview of laboratory safety. If you only remember one thing from this video, please remember this: wear goggles anytime you're working in a laboratory, because splashes are, are unpredictable. They can happen at any point. You can be boiling something and have it spatter. Things happen unexpectedly. You only have two eyes. Always wear goggles.