Question: Did you ever accidentally or intentionally mix chemicals just to see what would happen to the bacteria or just for fun? Did it ever explode? If it did, how did you feel? Is it scary or something you like to laugh about later?

Robert Hampson answered on 19 Nov 2014:

I do occasionally mix chemicals for fun. Generally I know what is going to happen though. Mixing things with an unknown result could be dangerous – the results could be toxic or explosive or corrosive – but generally it is fairly boring. Most stuff doesn’t react with everything. You have to seleect special things to get them to do interesting reactions.

I often work with stuff that bursts into flames in the air, or is highly toxic, or is explosive. Occasionally there is the odd near miss, we laugh about them and learn from our mistakes to make sure they don’t happen again!