4 ms·

Once in my second year chemistry lab, we were doing a final lab exam and there was this stuff in a brown flask labelled bromide. Normally you waft the smell of

Once in my second year chemistry lab, we were doing a final lab exam and there was this stuff in a brown flask labelled bromide. Normally you waft the smell of chemicals as part of the evaluation. I ALMOST wafted bromide until I asked if it was okay and the instructor said DO NOT DO IT. I immediately changed majors.

anigbrowl 12y ago
Smart move. I know someone who wasn't as forward-thinking as you and ended up with a massively attenuated sense of smell.
- notastartup 12y ago
  that's not all...so many incidents. broke beakers a couple of times, accidentally unscrewed someone's wind blowing rubber tube (after you cleaned beakers with buckets of acetone) that started to dance like a headless worm destroying someone's work, my curiosity destroyed someone's yield that took several hours of careful process because I thought it looked so 'cool', dipped my hand in some nasty shit that supposedly carcinogenic and then told to just wash it out with soap, destroyed a dozen thermometer, overheated solution that boiled and caused smoke, broke a piece of glass we were heating that landed on a partner's arm, all for a fucking yield at the end that determined what grade we were going to get on the bell curve. The lab assistants and instructors were also not very friendly or happy people. Says to ask for help but doesn't like to answer questions or help. We would start our lab sessions after lunch and come out when it was dark, rainy and foggy (typical Vancouver weather) out on to a campus that prided in brutalist architecture straight out of concentration camps. I still shudder at those years of trying to be a molecular biochemist. Clearly, I was not fit for it in the labs or the lectures. Then I switched to Economics and couldn't believe how easier school got. So infinitely easier...

4 ms·

Once in my second year chemistry lab, we were doing a final lab exam and there was this stuff in a brown flask labelled bromide. Normally you waft the smell of

by notastartup 12y ago

anigbrowl 12y ago
Smart move. I know someone who wasn't as forward-thinking as you and ended up with a massively attenuated sense of smell.
- notastartup 12y ago
  that's not all...so many incidents. broke beakers a couple of times, accidentally unscrewed someone's wind blowing rubber tube (after you cleaned beakers with buckets of acetone) that started to dance like a headless worm destroying someone's work, my curiosity destroyed someone's yield that took several hours of careful process because I thought it looked so 'cool', dipped my hand in some nasty shit that supposedly carcinogenic and then told to just wash it out with soap, destroyed a dozen thermometer, overheated solution that boiled and caused smoke, broke a piece of glass we were heating that landed on a partner's arm, all for a fucking yield at the end that determined what grade we were going to get on the bell curve. The lab assistants and instructors were also not very friendly or happy people. Says to ask for help but doesn't like to answer questions or help. We would start our lab sessions after lunch and come out when it was dark, rainy and foggy (typical Vancouver weather) out on to a campus that prided in brutalist architecture straight out of concentration camps. I still shudder at those years of trying to be a molecular biochemist. Clearly, I was not fit for it in the labs or the lectures. Then I switched to Economics and couldn't believe how easier school got. So infinitely easier...