Extreme Physics Teachers Narrative
Extreme Physics Teachers
I have just received my masters in Nano-Technology and would like to dedicate this moment to remember some very inspirational Physics teachers.
Mr Winnit
As required of all teachers at all-male boarding schools, he wore a tweed jacket with leather patches at the elbows. His jacket however was 10% tweed, and 90% patch. The reasons for this lay within Bunsen burners, and hydrochloric acid.
This was a guy who'd balance Bunsen burners precariously in order to get them closer to the fractionating columns (for example), and who's instinct to catch falling objects was never over-ridden by the clear knowledge that the objects where spewing a blue flame or worse...
The science labs, had BIG mahogany benches, and the teacher's desk had a glass splash-shield attached to ensure that none of us fell foul of flying acid or Bunsen burners, and a deep sink in the middle...
On the day in question, Winnit was demonstrating the more exciting substances that we had in store.
Said substances were:
Sodium; kept under oil to keep it away from water and Phosphorous; kept under water to keep it away from the air, namely oxygen...
Two jars... two very, VERY different jars.
Winnit stabs a bit of sodium with a scalpel and shows it to us... and then opens up the jar, and drops it back in. Sodium reacts violently with water in an exothermic reaction that creates hydrogen and the subsequent heat ignites it. If you drop a lump of sodium into a swimming pool, it will actually wiz around on the surface of the water, and eventually explode with a BANG.
If on the other hand you're sufficiently stupid to drop it into a glas jar with water in it...
Winnit temporarily lost his cool, and knocked the jars into the sink: Water will kill fire, at least that the theory anyway. But the sodium jar smashed into a sink adding extra water to the mix.
Fortunaly with this amount...
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