Actually our school was rather special. Once, during a lesson, we were interrupted by the department head, trailed by three or four suits. He was holding a large (1.5l) beaker, containing crystals or powder of some kind, and a smaller glass beaker with a thick liquid. He waved the master to carry on.
He walked to the front fume cupboard, put the beaker in, and poured some of the liquid in (measuring? LOL, as if...). Out pumped thick brown gas - aha. Cu or some salt thereof and conc nitric --> NO2. Nice, toxic, corrosive...
Once the fumes had filled the cupboard and were spilling out, he switched on the extractor fan, which slowly began removing the gas, and spoke sotto voce but angrily to the suits.
He then took out the beaker, and marched to the next corner of the room, trailing thick brown vaporous poison on the way.
And repeated the earlier performance.
He did this again in the last cupboard, leaving an even thicker trail behind, seeming oblivious of this, the coughs of his trailing visitors, the stare of our master or the poorly suppressed mirth of the 20-odd pupils...
Finally he walked out, leaving the beaker in the first cupboard, our master torn between astonishment and anger, and most of us bursting with laughter.
This was, it transpired, how he demonstrated to the school governors that the fume cupboards were insufficiently powerful.
What a training we had.
2^2^2^2 stands.
1 - Obviously, it's 4^4 <g>
2 - who's threadhead here? |
