I mixed calcium carbide with water inside a glass bottle. Then I closed its lid. Then I waited until I got really concentrated acetylene. What I got was a scar on my right arm, a smaller one just above my upper lip (nowadays hidden by the beard), and a big scratch on my prescription glasses — without them I’d be probably blind from my left eye.
From that I’ve learned some valuable things:
I’m a muppet.
I’m a bloody muppet.
My mum was also a muppet, for letting me fuck with calcium carbide, sodium nitrate, concentrated sulphuric acid, sodium hydroxide, concentrated ammonia, gunpowder etc., since my teen years. (Guess where I got the calcium carbide from? Her brother’s garage!)
My dog (rest in peace, Lana; you were the greatest girl) was probably traumatised with loud noises because of me. Now thinking, Lana was also with me the time I melted lead and poured sulphur on it, and instead of getting galena I got a whiff of Hell on my face.
You can tell people a different story every time they ask you about the scar, and they’ll buy it. The one I just told was the true one, though.
Glass containers are fragile from the inside.
Anyway, that’s my “nitric acid acts upon trousers” moment.
At least in theory it could work, given it’s similar to how people make niello since the antiquity, but I forgot to take into account oxygen — the sulphur caught fire.
I told you, she’s totally yandere! She tied me and carved her initial on my arm with a knife!
No, wait, I did it to myself, as a proof of love. No, wait, I did it for the sake of the secret organisation I used to belong to, as an identification mark. Sorry, actually I got it in an accident, as I was covering a puppy with my arm. No, wait, it was chemicals, but I was developing a cure for cancer, not dumb stuff like mixing calcium carbide with water! 😜
Mine is from when I was 14:
I mixed calcium carbide with water inside a glass bottle. Then I closed its lid. Then I waited until I got really concentrated acetylene. What I got was a scar on my right arm, a smaller one just above my upper lip (nowadays hidden by the beard), and a big scratch on my prescription glasses — without them I’d be probably blind from my left eye.
From that I’ve learned some valuable things:
Anyway, that’s my “nitric acid acts upon trousers” moment.
Was it supposed to form Galena and you messed up the process, or did you think it should but were wrong from the outset?
At least in theory it could work, given it’s similar to how people make niello since the antiquity, but I forgot to take into account oxygen — the sulphur caught fire.
TIL. Thanks for the explanation (and your stories)!
(Also, thanks for using the em-dash — I feel like too few people use it these days and hate that it has come to be considered an AI indicator.)
Suuure it is 😉
I told you, she’s totally yandere! She tied me and carved her initial on my arm with a knife!
No, wait, I did it to myself, as a proof of love. No, wait, I did it for the sake of the secret organisation I used to belong to, as an identification mark. Sorry, actually I got it in an accident, as I was covering a puppy with my arm. No, wait, it was chemicals, but I was developing a cure for cancer, not dumb stuff like mixing calcium carbide with water! 😜