100 injured in chemistry experiment in Germany,

Over a 100 people are thought to have been hospitalized at a university in Germany in Dresden where a chemistry experiment went wrong,
Its thought that it involves arsine. with several of those hurt showing Severe symptoms, en.wikipedia.org...


Will update when it hits the net,


Some footage from German news,
www.youtube.com...




Here are some photos from the area,
brennpunktfoto.de...

Short after 17.00 clock it came in the chemistry -building of the Technical University of Dresden on the mountain road 66 next to the Auditorium Center in an accident in the chemistry laboratory at the injured were about 70 people. As part of an internship program for new students in chemistry , an experiment was conducted in which a previously unknown entfleuchte poisonous gas. According to eyewitnesses, was arsine - a poisonous gas - escaped.

brennpunktfoto.de...

For people unfamiliar with Arsine:

Arsine is the chemical compound with the formula AsH3. This flammable, pyrophoric, and highly toxic gas is one of the simplest compounds of arsenic. Despite its lethality, it finds applications in the semiconductor industry and for the synthesis of organoarsenic compounds.[1]

Wiki

And of course, another name for it which makes the toxicity self explanatory:

Arsenic trihydride

Ok its just started to hit the web,

Some 70 people may have inhaled the leaked chemical, and were being examined and rescued by doctors and health workers. The road to the chemistry building was temporarily blocked due to the rescue operation.

Some eye witnesses said the leaked chemical was arsine, which is highly toxic and can cause damage to the liver and kidney and pulmonary edema.

Police said about 30 ambulances and buses were on the site, ready for transporting some victims to hospitals in Dresden, the capital city of the Saxony State. No death was reported at the moment.

english.cri.cn...

And for people like me who didn't know what pyrophoric meant...

A pyrophoric substance (from Greek πυροφορος, purophoros, "fire-bearing") is a substance that will ignite spontaneously in air. Examples are iron sulfide and many reactive metals including uranium, when powdered or sliced thin. Pyrophoric materials are often water-reactive as well and will ignite when they contact water or humid air. They can be handled safely in atmospheres of argon or (with a few exceptions) nitrogen. Most pyrophoric fires should be extinguished with a Class D fire extinguisher for burning metals.

Yeeks! This sounds very very nasty. Firemen in "full body armour"? I hope for a safe and swift resolution.
ETA So basically we have a poisonous, possibly gaseous, spontaneously combusting substance toxify a room while an experiment was taking place with a fair sized audience. What were they thinking? What in the name of all that is Holy were they experimenting?

Yep sounds pretty crazy and I'm pretty miffed at how such a thing could have happened with freshman students if indeed that's the case,

Surly safety would be the utmost importance with that level of learning, Hopefully they are all ok!

reply to post by asala

Indeed. I had never heard of Arsine before so was grateful for your linked wiki article. When I read that, well, jaw-dropping is quite an understatement. While I am sure everyone knew what they were doing the risk of "playing" with dangerous substances in a group should rule out this kind of test.

An analogy might be letting a baby play with a closed pack of razor blades. The potential for disaster is there. Statistics...

Way back when I was in school, Chemistry used to be "my thing". Straight A's and the only subject I ever got an A in. I started the advanced course in prep for Uni and then I did something so incredibly stupid it convinced me to drop out and leave school. To keep it short, in effect I poured Sulphuric Acid over my hand. A simple mistake with a simple substance... Ouch!

reply to post by LightSpeedDriver


That's not "a mistake." That's carelessness, plain and simple. The person handling the chemicals in this case should be charged with negligence.