11 August 2006

The labs at Miramar are spacious and rather well-designed. Gloves are available for students who want them, but they're rarely used because the chemicals aren't all that dangerous. In titrations, however, it's easy to spill some acid or base onto one's fingers. With an acid, it's pretty easy to tell if you've spilled some and it can be washed off quickly before it does any harm. With a base like sodium hydroxide, however, the spill doesn't hurt right away. It just feels like a slippery harmless liquid. If left unrinsed for a few hours, the caustic NaOH gets into the skin and results in serious blisters or dermatitis. Some students would rather be safe than sorry.

DWL