Thread: practical idiots

Today in my chemistry class.

Synthesis of Asprin

2, hydroxybenzoic acid
+ 4cm ethanoic anhydride
+ phosphoric acid

Heated it to 60 under reflux
cooled it
added ice cold distilled water
Filtered it off in a buchner funnel.
Extensive washing with Distilled water

I did all of this whilst my lab partner pissed around with the ice bath i made. Clearing up time he wanted to make it look like he was doing something. Took the buchner funnel with all our product in, down the sink.

end result FAIL, dont you hate idiots

My deepest sympathies. Sounds like Harry Potter's frustrations with potions...

Sorry to hear. Once in a chemistry class the joker I was working with managed to set the bench on fire, messing with the gas taps. He claimed it was an accident, and was lucky not to be expelled. Pfff, some people.. :?

at least you can now say you would have gotten a great yeild, if it wasnt for your pesky labpartner!

pity that. spilled mine once, washed it off the bench adn collected it. still worked!

Lol about the bench on fire. Yeh a few years ago the teacher made the grave error of leaving the room. next thing you knew flame throwers everywhere =).

Yeh it would of been a godd yield, it was all sparkly which meant we had some nice crystals.

Worst thing was he didnt realise he was wrong. He thought the precipitate was waste and that we wanted the liquid :? a mix of random acids and distilled water, yeh that would cure my headache

yeah, one time our teacher was cleaning up our room and somebody left a
big spill of 3 mol hydrochloric acid on the bench, she swept her arm along the bench table type thing cleaning up other spills, and a couple minutes later noticed a burning sensation on her arm. When she looked...there was a large chunk of her sleeve missing...figures she got angry at us the next day.