Downtown Khazan: Ice Cold Utopia

[Beadle]

Latest Immortal Hulk.

spoilers:

Hulk inhales a character who can transform into different gasses/mists, currently in the form of sulfuric acid. He breathes the character out into another enemy's eyes. The misty/gas character then says 'I'm becoming alkali, it'll neutralize the burn!'

end of spoilers

Protip - consult someone who A - understands science, and B - has an actual working knowledge of such things rather than a theoretical one, before writing about science. I'm pretty sure, for example, that Beadle is cackling while reading this.

Putting a basic solution strong enough to 'neutralize' sulfuric acid into someone's eyes is like taking someone who is on fire and stuffing them in liquid nitrogen. It'll put out the fire, sure, but.... In this case, absolutely it'll neutralize the sulfuric acid. That comes with a couple of caveats.

1. A neutralization of this sort, with sulfuric acid, is a highly exothermic reaction. Which means heat. Lots of heat. Maybe not so much 'heat to the point of the eyes boiling' with just 'misty' sulfuric acid, but it's not going to help;
2. Unless one absolutely gets the exact amount of basic solution into the person's eyes to neutralize the acid perfectly, it likely means there's an excess of basic solution. Want a good example of what basic solution does? Try bleach. So they're swapping acid in the character's eyes for effectively bleach in the character's eyes. This isn't a good exchange.

There's a reason why every, single health and safety document for this kind of situation is 'Flush eyes with WATER'. Flush the stuff out, not 'attempt to neutralize within someone's eyeballs'.

Ugh. Kids, don't do this at home.

Just seen this.

Bwahahahahaaaaaaa!!! XD

I mean... wow. There is a reason that alkaline lakes - which are comparatively mild alkali compared to something that’s neutralising an equivalent volume of a respectable concentration of sulphuric acid (yup, I’m still gonna spell it with a ‘ph’... which I guess is ironic for an acid or base) - are only inhabited by flamingoes and a few tiny invertebrates.

Nothing else can take it. It’s brutal stuff.

And yes, very exothermic. Not burning hot, but even if it was perfectly judged to EXACTLY neutralise the acid, probably warm enough to evaporate off the resultant water, leaving behind a delightful salt crust.

It’s hilariously bad.

[master of read]

Latest Immortal Hulk.

spoilers:

Hulk inhales a character who can transform into different gasses/mists, currently in the form of sulfuric acid. He breathes the character out into another enemy's eyes. The misty/gas character then says 'I'm becoming alkali, it'll neutralize the burn!'

end of spoilers

Protip - consult someone who A - understands science, and B - has an actual working knowledge of such things rather than a theoretical one, before writing about science. I'm pretty sure, for example, that Beadle is cackling while reading this.

Putting a basic solution strong enough to 'neutralize' sulfuric acid into someone's eyes is like taking someone who is on fire and stuffing them in liquid nitrogen. It'll put out the fire, sure, but.... In this case, absolutely it'll neutralize the sulfuric acid. That comes with a couple of caveats.

1. A neutralization of this sort, with sulfuric acid, is a highly exothermic reaction. Which means heat. Lots of heat. Maybe not so much 'heat to the point of the eyes boiling' with just 'misty' sulfuric acid, but it's not going to help;
2. Unless one absolutely gets the exact amount of basic solution into the person's eyes to neutralize the acid perfectly, it likely means there's an excess of basic solution. Want a good example of what basic solution does? Try bleach. So they're swapping acid in the character's eyes for effectively bleach in the character's eyes. This isn't a good exchange.

There's a reason why every, single health and safety document for this kind of situation is 'Flush eyes with WATER'. Flush the stuff out, not 'attempt to neutralize within someone's eyeballs'.

Ugh. Kids, don't do this at home.

that is the most cracked out thing i've ever heard of. and i'm a big fan of snowflame.

[Postmania]

I mean... wow. There is a reason that alkaline lakes - which are comparatively mild alkali compared to something that’s neutralising an equivalent volume of a respectable concentration of sulphuric acid (yup, I’m still gonna spell it with a ‘ph’... which I guess is ironic for an acid or base) - are only inhabited by flamingoes and a few tiny invertebrates.

Huh, didn't know flamingos were that special

[master of read]

one piece, 1012: nami......is...........PISSED!!

[Sharpandpointies]

Just seen this.

Bwahahahahaaaaaaa!!! XD

I mean... wow. There is a reason that alkaline lakes - which are comparatively mild alkali compared to something that’s neutralising an equivalent volume of a respectable concentration of sulphuric acid (yup, I’m still gonna spell it with a ‘ph’... which I guess is ironic for an acid or base) - are only inhabited by flamingoes and a few tiny invertebrates.

Nothing else can take it. It’s brutal stuff.

And yes, very exothermic. Not burning hot, but even if it was perfectly judged to EXACTLY neutralise the acid, probably warm enough to evaporate off the resultant water, leaving behind a delightful salt crust.

It’s hilariously bad.

Yeah, heat of hydrolysis alone for Sulphuric (normally I write it that way myself, I guess I got autocorrected) is hot enough to make water boil, and the neutralization of strong bases with it is even worse, and would literally steam-burn the eyeballs if there were more of it...definitely agree that in this case, even with a mist, it would be enough to dry things out. Badly. While doing a nice little number on the eyes with the alkali/base, as well.

that is the most cracked out thing i've ever heard of. and i'm a big fan of snowflame.

It's pretty whacked, but not so out of place with people who have only a theoretical knowledge of science (and a weak one at that).

Anecdote time.

So myself and two other people from my work were doing interviews at a local university (Ottawa) for co-op students in our labs. Myself and one of the other guys wanted to go to a college, but nooooo, the scientists all said 'Get university students!' (no bias here).

So one of our questions was 'You want to take a strong acid and dilute it. What safety precautions would you take?'

Here's the thing about most university undergrads - their science lab experiments are done in extremely controlled conditions, with their apparatus already set up by the TA, the chemicals laid out on the bench (and sometimes even weighed out for them), every basically put in place for them, even the safety stuff. I've taken uni courses, and dealt with uni students for years now, I know how it goes.

So, the answers we got...ugh. Most of them were stumped. Only ONE of them managed to get 'Gloves, Goggles, Lab Coat, and do it in a fume hood'. ONE. Out of fifteen. Some of the other ones got one or two of the above (occasionally with prompting), but that's all.

One young man - very self-assured - informed us that the BEST thing to do would be to have a strong Sodium Hydroxide ready.

We kind of...looked at each other. Then I carefully inquired as to why.

'Well, in the event you spill some of the concentrated acid on yourself, you can use the base to neutralize it.'

Cue horrified looks around the table.

When we were finished that interview (he did NOT get the job...none of them did), I gently suggested that he never, ever try this as the heat of neutralization of a strong acid and strong base would burn him - badly - and that he wouldn't be able to 'perfectly neutralize' the acid, one way or the other (either he would have a nasty burn that still had acid in it, or he would have a nasty burn that had replace the strong acid with a strong base, which was...not really an improvement in any way, shape, or form).

Maaaan....

To clarify, I'm not saying these kids were dumb or anything. They were just woefully unprepared for doing actual work in labs. The university lab courses babied them through the lab portions (not in difficulty, but in preparation, handling, and safety procedures from ground-up).

Further clarification: okay, there was also a case of 'a little knowledge is a dangerous thing' with that young man.

[Len Ikari145]

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

"Pay $70 for a movie where you occasionally press buttons."

I'll pass.

[bruceleegreyhulk]

Hope they keep the action RPG combat system from the first game, I enjoyed the combat system of the first game.

[Guy1]

Resident Evil Village Spoilers

spoilers:

So it turns out Jack actually killed Ethan the first time they ran into each other back in RE7 and Ethan's been a Mold Zombie this whole time and it's only now, after going through all of the hell that is the Village, that he finally started falling apart. Even then he still had enough strength left in him to bounce back from getting his heart ripped out and go toe-to-toe with Mother Miranda, with some help, and it's only after all that and sacrificing himself to destroy a super monster, that he bites the dust. Dude went out like an absolute boss. Oh, and the help Ethan got in slowing Mother Miranda down so Ethan stood a chance? Evelyn. Little Miss E-001. She's still alive in The Mold, kind of, it's her consciousness, but she's still got enough strength in her from The Mold Hive Mind to communicate with Ethan and ruin Mother Miranda's plans. The Mold is seriously something else.

end of spoilers

[bruceleegreyhulk]

Happy birthday, Tami.

[Len Ikari145]

Happy birthday, Tami.

...What's a Kingdom Hearts character doing in in this game?


Also, Happy Birthday, Tami!

[Yun Lao]

Happy birthday, Tami

...What's a Kingdom Hearts character doing in in this game?

Kingdom Hearts?

...

Oh... ughhh, they're already dredging up Dirge of Cerberus for the remake.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Happy Birthday Tami!

[Tami]

Just got back from getting my Birthday present, my second Moderna shot. Thanks for the Birthday wishes.

[Postmania]

Happy birthday Tami!