A Bit of Simple Chemistry Helps

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While it is right to be cautious when dealing with unknown substances, the fear and panic caused by some spilled liquid or a bit of white powder in circumstances having no possible connection to a terrorist act, is unreasonable.  Just the word "acid" can cause some people to panic.

Some accident scenes involving mystery substances have brought out emergency response teams, fire trucks and rescue workers in protective suits and sent scores of people to hospital in shock and panic.  In many cases a simple chemical test or even an observant eye could have allied all fears.

There was a case where the white powder spilled from the deployment of an automobile air bag caused emergency workers to cordon off the area, strip clothing from injured victims, and send people into emergency showers.

The fleet of ambulances taking people to hospital could have been avoided if a bright high school chemistry student had been on the scene.  The white powder turned out to be talcum powder, which is used in air bags as a lubricant.  A simple litmus or other indicator test could have quickly shown that the white substance wasn’t the sodium hydroxide that the response team suspected.  And even if it had been sodium hydroxide, which is a by-product of air bag deployment, dousing it with a safe acid solution would have quickly neutralized it.

So next time you encounter a spill, apply common sense and simple chemistry before you panic.