#a chemist joins EH&S lol

[dreadfutures]

I made gallons of aqua regia in grad school and I have regularly worked with piranha my whole career, it's what you gotta do lol

I know plenty of people who work with HF daily. I do not; I do not want to come close to dealing w the consequences, which are somewhat immediate and fatal. With *strong acids* such as AR and piranha though, it will be painful and unpleasant and scar you but it won't kill you unless you ingest it or lie like unconscious in a pool of it.

There are ways to fully protect yourself from AR and piranha, like using compatible gloves and double gloving, changing your gloves often, using protective sleeves over your labcoat, keeping your hood sash down, wearing a face shield if you're that scared of it, and not *dumping* incompatible materials into it (such as organics).

Like you are doing something very wrong if the materials are posing a serious hazard to you such that you're afraid to be in the same room. I don't even know how it's possible to get a fire or an explosion with Nitric acid or piranha except if you're *completely oblivious* to the hazards. If you know the hazards and follow the protocols you're going to be fine.

I know the hazards and protocols of HF, and same with organomercuries, but I don't want the responsibility and concern of *immediate and painful death* to be a constant worry so I refuse to work with them. That's fine too.