Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Dry Ice Thief - Darwin Award/Dumb Crook nominee?

Metacelsus - 17-6-2013 at 18:26

First, some background:

I have a summer internship in an organic chemistry lab at a local university about a mile from my house. The building is unlocked during business hours, and has a dry ice cooler in the sub-basement that, until recently, did not have a lock. Chemists would just come down and get dry ice when they needed it.

So, last Friday evening, about half an hour after I left my internship for the day, I heard an explosion coming from the direction of the university. I was mildly worried, but overall I didn't think much of it.

Today at my internship, we had a group meeting, which is unusual because we usually have them on Fridays. The main point of the meeting was to discuss the events of Friday evening. Someone apparently stole about a kilogram of dry ice from the cooler and placed it in a metal container with a tight-fitting :o lid, which he then put in his backpack.

Miraculously, he survived the resulting explosion, which occurred while he was walking home, and nobody else was hurt. Although the person (whose name I don't know) was not killed, and thus is not eligible for a full Darwin Award, I think that he would make a great "at risk survivor".

http://www.darwinawards.com/stupid/

Unfortunately, I don't have any documentation, so this might not get very far. He might be more eligible for the "dumb crook" award, which I've already submitted him for, though:

http://dumbcrooks.com/

elementcollector1 - 17-6-2013 at 18:54

Damn, I wish I had access to infinite dry ice.
On a related note, did he know what dry ice was?

Fantasma4500 - 18-6-2013 at 04:51

''Masturbating driver''
thanks fo the links, alot!!!

but there wasnt any cameras or anything pointed towards our little thief?? that would be hilarius to see his reaction to this mysterious event happening in his backpack