White Yeti
National Hazard
Posts: 816
Registered: 20-7-2011
Location: Asperger's spectrum
Member Is Offline
Mood: delocalized
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Isopropyl intoxication (or not?)
I've been working with isopropyl alcohol over thanksgiving break and tried to make a sort of alcohol burner that acts much like a bunsen burner, but
uses liquid fuel instead. I succeeded in making a sort of burner that can display the spectra of element salts very clearly, (Cu, Sr, Na etc...) and
that has an essentially colourless flame. It can heat graphite to ~900C and melts aluminium quite well. It can heat steel rods to a dull red and boil
water at a spectacular rate. If you want pictures, I would be glad to post them.
But just today, I left the lab dizzy and confused after working with my newly developed isopropyl burner. I figured that ventilation would not be
necessary because I was dealing with small amounts in a large room (big mistake). I apparently got used to the smell of isopropyl vapour and spent an
hour in a poorly ventilated room that gradually filled with alcohol vapour.
What I mean by confused, is jumbled thoughts, no focus, a hard time writing (and spelling correctly) and what should normally take 10 min suddenly
takes half an hour.
I was wondering if inhaling isopropyl vapour could really affect cognition so profoundly, or if the problem lies elsewhere.
I know I made a mistake, I should have ventilated the room.
"Ja, Kalzium, das ist alles!" -Otto Loewi
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Neil
National Hazard
Posts: 556
Registered: 19-3-2008
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
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Or perhaps CO...
Do you feel drunk or stupefied? Most alcohols get you drunk-ish
http://www.uptodate.com/contents/isopropyl-alcohol-poisoning
where as monoxide
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/carbon_monoxide_poisoning/art...
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IrC
International Hazard
Posts: 2710
Registered: 7-3-2005
Location: Eureka
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Mood: Discovering
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I'm convinced it was CO from burning. I use Isopropyl like water all over for cleaning electronic things. I even keep spray bottles to zap roaches.
Drops them faster than raid without all the poison and allergy problems. Acts more rapidly on roaches than any poison I have ever seen. They contain
so little water I have actually seen them walk through a running microwave unscathed. I use 91% and I believe it sucks them dry so fast they lock up
and stop.
Yet I have never had your issues with it, I have felt that way from CO.
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" Richard Feynman
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Bot0nist
International Hazard
Posts: 1559
Registered: 15-2-2011
Location: Right behind you.
Member Is Offline
Mood: Streching my cotyledons.
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I concure, defiantly sounds like CO. Improve your ventilation and all should be well. Sounds like you've rigged up a nice little burner. Can't attest
to roaches, but IPA does a number on house flies. They drop like, well, flies when they buzz through a cloud of 91% IPA. Got to watch for flash fires
when fly hunting with isopropyl though, lol.
U.T.F.S.E. and learn the joys of autodidacticism!
Don't judge each day only by the harvest you reap, but also by the seeds you sow.
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