Substances Catching Fire

Nature/Causes:

• Accidental ignition of flammable liquids (e.g. ethanol or ethyl ethanoate).
• Ignition of gas coming out from defective burner tubings or from opened gas tap not connected to Bunsen burner.
• Ignition of blackout curtain by focused sunlight from optical instrument.

Safety Precautions:

• For flammable chemicals, heating should always be done using a hot water or oil bath with no naked flame nearby.
• The quantity of flammable chemicals used by students during experiments should be kept to a minimum.
• In testing for flammability of liquids, care should be taken not to add additional liquid to the burning fraction.