Here is a letter I just emailed to the National PTA. Let's hope this
helps get some progress on the issue.

Dave Lane
Principal
Clavis Technology Development

-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: Dangerous classroom demonstration
Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2019 15:31:09 -0700
From: davivid
To: info**At_Symbol_Here**pta.org

Dear PTA Gatekeeper

I write to call your attention to a common classroom demonstration that
injures students in several incidents every year. I hope that the PTA
can help end this practice by informing parents and schools of the danger.

The demonstration is typically called the "Rainbow Flame" or similar. It
involves solutions of various metal salts dissolved in alcohol that are
set on fire. The different metal salts give various colored flames,
hence "rainbow flame". If alcohol is poured near flame or other ignition
source the alcohol can suddenly erupt from the bottle in a phenomenon
called "flame jetting". The jet of flaming alcohol can severely burn
anyone in the path of the flames even as far as ten feet away.

Here are some links describing flame jetting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sfUl6GIdYo
Small Bottle, HUGE Fireball (How Flame Jetting Works)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkOX91tRb04
Dangerous ‰??Flame Jetting‰?? Phenomenon Kills Hundreds Every Year

Here are links to some recent instances of flame jetting that have
injured students

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2015/11/11/this-chemistry-fire-demonstration-has-repeatedly-burned-students/?noredirect=on

https://nypost.com/2019/06/18/student-injured-in-science-class-recalls-hopelessly-burning-alive/

https://www.pritzkerlaw.com/personal-injury/2017/rainbow-fire-science-experiment-hospitalizes-6-tx-preschoolers/

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/04/nyregion/school-experiment-that-burned-boy-was-focus-of-federal-warning.html

https://nypost.com/2019/06/20/teacher-of-chemistry-lab-gone-wrong-neglected-safety-protocols-expert/

Here is information on making classroom demonstrations safer

https://cen.acs.org/articles/93/i46/Make-Chemistry-Classroom-Demonstrations-Experiments.html?PageSpeed=noscript

http://ameriburn.org/prevention/stop-the-flame/

https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/chemical-safety/basics/flame-jetting.html

https://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/about/governance/committees/chemicalsafety/publications/ccs-chair-rainbow-demonstration-cen-comment.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkBFG1mTSBk
A Safer "Rainbow Flame" Demo for the Classroom

I ask your help in making classrooms safer for all students.

Thank You
Dave Lane

---
For more information about the DCHAS-L e-mail list, contact the Divisional membership chair at membership**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Follow us on Twitter **At_Symbol_Here**acsdchas

Previous post   |  Top of Page   |   Next post