I'd be interested to know what the HF concentration was - if it's just 1% or 2% stuff for cleaning it's *possible* they could take it without knowing what it was.
If it's anything stronger, then since they're apparently still alive and uninjured (well, no reports in the paper of people turning up at hospital with HF burns), they must have known what they were taking.
If it was 54 litres of highly concentrated HF, and they handled it without knowing what it was, then surely police would have been looking for a crater, not a guy with burns?
I really hope it was dilute stuff. It shouldn't be possible to steal 54 litres of concentrate that easily — think how bad it would be if some terrorist crop-dusted a town with the stuff!
According to this (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/3537594.stm), they transferred it from the original container into smaller containers! I used to have to dress up like a rubber fetishist to use tiny amounts for rock digestion. Or maybe the lab supervisor just liked the look of me in arm-length gloves and a huge apron.
I spent a summer in a chemicals bulk-to-lessbulk place between school and uni. There was quite a range of dangerous stuff there protected by not much more than a few cheap padlocks. Concentrated acetic, sulphuric, nitric acids in large carboys. A massive tankful of concentrated ammonia. Various powdered stuff in half- and full- hundredweight sacks. Mind you that was a little over 30 years ago now, I expect The Rules got tightened up a bit since then.
The hydrofluoric acid lab roughly speaking above my head (looks like you're not in the same Earth Sciences group as me, judging by your userinfo) is a constant source of fire-alarms.
Being a theoretician, I just walk around hoping no-one's going to accidentally blow me up. Happily, they've not managed yet (clearly they need better aim...)
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-08 07:42 am (UTC)I'd be interested to know what the HF concentration was - if it's just 1% or 2% stuff for cleaning it's *possible* they could take it without knowing what it was.
If it's anything stronger, then since they're apparently still alive and uninjured (well, no reports in the paper of people turning up at hospital with HF burns), they must have known what they were taking.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-08 09:03 am (UTC)I really hope it was dilute stuff. It shouldn't be possible to steal 54 litres of concentrate that easily — think how bad it would be if some terrorist crop-dusted a town with the stuff!
(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-08 12:48 pm (UTC)Norfolk, though.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-08 01:30 pm (UTC)There was quite a range of dangerous stuff there protected by not much more than a few cheap padlocks. Concentrated acetic, sulphuric, nitric acids in large carboys. A massive tankful of concentrated ammonia. Various powdered stuff in half- and full- hundredweight sacks.
Mind you that was a little over 30 years ago now, I expect The Rules got tightened up a bit since then.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-08 02:33 pm (UTC)Being a theoretician, I just walk around hoping no-one's going to accidentally blow me up. Happily, they've not managed yet (clearly they need better aim...)
- A