SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS FOR CHEMISTRY DEMONSTRATIONS

Preview This section discusses considerations for conducting demonstrations safely. 

A high school chemistry teacher was carrying out a demonstration in front of his students when it exploded. The teacher was not wearing protective goggles when the explosion occurred. One student reported that the teacher was heating a mixture of potassium nitrate and table sugar when the incident happened. The teacher was the 

Labomtory Sctfetyfor Chemistry Students, Second Edition. Robert H. Hill, Jr. and David C. Finster. 2016 Jdin Wiley Sons, Inc. Published 2016 by John Wiley Sons, Inc. 

What lessons can be learned from these incidents  

As an undergraduate student it is unlikely that you will be conducting classroom demonstrations. However, you may find yourself participating in demonstrations if you assist faculty on- or off-campus in demonstrations in the community or as a member of an ACS Student Affiliate organization that gets involves in outreach programs. And, we hope that many chemistry majors will consider future careers as chemistry teachers where doing classroom demonstrations can be common. This section in this textbook is devoted to careful consideration of how to conduct chemical demonstrations carefully and safely so that injuries such as those described in the incidents above do not occur. 

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