A routine chemistry experiment gone awry sent a University of Wisconsin student to the hospital with minor injuries Monday afternoon.
A female student doing research in the Chemistry building suffered minor lacerations when a vial she was working with exploded in her hands, according to Lt. Kari Sasso of the UW Police Department.
The explosion appears to have occurred as the student researcher was transferring a nontoxic solvent. The solvent came into contact with liquid nitrogen being used in the experiment and exploded, Sasso said. Emergency personnel responded to a 911 call and arrived on the scene minutes after the occurrence.
The exact cause of the explosion is under investigation, according to Jeff Zebrowski, campus chemical safety officer, though he did confirm it was not a high-risk procedure.
“It’s really too early to speculate, but for some reason there does seem to have been an explosion. It could have been as simple as a weakness in the flask,” Zebrowski said.
Zebrowski added the material being worked with was not a particularly hazardous material.
There were no other injuries and no significant damage to lab equipment, other than the vial that exploded, as the experiment was being carried out under a protective chemical fume hood built to withstand such explosions, Sasso said.
Incidents like this are not common within the chemistry department, Zebrowski said, and when an accident does occur, the university investigates in order to prevent similar events in the future.
He added the student was trained in proper procedure, as the chemistry department puts all students working in labs through a mandatory training process.
Zebrowski also said it is unfortunate events like this happen. The department takes as many safety precautions as they can, including taking all the necessary engineering controls, safety controls and other preventative measures.
“Incidents like this will occasionally occur, all we can do is figure out what went wrong and prevent it from happening in the future,” Zebrowski said.
