科学与数学blogs.sciencemag.org
我不愿碰的东西：溴的高价态
Things I won't work with: the higher states of bromine (2019)
2019 — 2024，它一次次回到首页
黑点是上首页（≥ 50 分）的那次投稿，空心点是没冲上去的投稿，点越大分数越高。
导读
这是 Derek Lowe 的“Things I won't work with”系列中的一篇，讲溴的高氧化态/高价位化合物，以及处理它们时为何危险到近乎荒唐。文章把化学细节和实验室黑色幽默混在一起，说明有些试剂连专业化学家也不愿碰。
为什么经久不衰：它把极端危险的化学写得既长知识又非常好笑，而且核心的安全警告不过时：有些东西不该靠胆量去操作。
HN 评论精选
液态溴单质已极难安全移取，挥发和腐蚀性足以让整个实验室瞬间撤离。
别忘了普通液态溴单质本身的危险。它看起来就是沉重、发红、冒烟的可怕液体——事实也确实如此。浓硝酸也重、也有刺鼻红烟，但它是透明液体，你还能用移液管操作；溴不行。你也许以为能像吸其他液体一样把溴吸进移液管，但一旦把移液管从原瓶拿开，它会在转移前自己喷出来。它还会破坏接触到的任何东西，大部分精心量取的溴迅速蒸发，立刻触发强烈的逃生本能。即使在通风橱里，大部分蒸气被排走，实验室另一头的人闻到第一口后不到一秒也会冲出门。别问我怎么知道的，只能说当年有个研究生有点不靠谱……
fuzzfactor查看英文原文
Keep in mind the risk with just regular liquid elemental bromine. Seems like a heavy red nasty fuming liquid because it is. Concentrated nitric acid is heavy too, has aggressive red fumes of its own kind but it is a clear liquid. And you can pipet nitric acid. But you can't pipet bromine. If you try it, you might think so at first since bromine can be drawn up in to the pipet like any other liquid, but once you remove the pipet from the source bottle, it expells itself from the pipet before any transfer can be made. With nature at work, it begins destroying anything it had come in contact with, while the majority of the carefully measured quantity rapidly evaporates and instantly triggers the evacuation instinct with great encouragement. Even when handled under a fume hood, where most of it goes up the hood, people at the other end of the lab will be out the door in less than one second after the first whiff. Don't ask me how I know but there was this graduate student who was a little bit of a loose cannon . . .
有实验室背景的人会心一笑，并把“绝不碰”清单延伸到编程和数据伦理。
我在转行做计算机之前是生物化学家。这篇文章笑死我了。“它会在天花板上到处‘焕发活力’……”没错，我吃过苦头。这就是为什么他们收走了我的本生灯，给了我一只鼠标。说真的……程序员、设计师、创业者们，你们有哪些绝对不碰的东西？我的清单：没有良好集成字符串类型的语言写的 Web 代码——我要是用 strcpy() 就是给自己背上画靶子；任何声称有惊人新数据/媒体压缩技术并要融资的人；把人们的数据从受保护领域（比如受 HIPAA 保护的药房系统）转移到不受保护的领域（比如直邮营销）。
OliverJones查看英文原文
I started out a biochemist before I discovered computers. This article is rofl funny. "invigorate itself all over the ceiling..." yeah, got the t-shirt. That's why they took away my bunsen burner and gave me a mouse. Seriously.... fellow programmers, designers, entrepreneurs. What are the things you won't work with? For my part: Web code written in any language without a well-integrated string data type. strcpy() is a target painted on my back if I did that. Anybody who claims they've got amazing new data- or media= compression technology and wants funding for it. Transferring peoples' data from a protected realm (like a HIPAA-covered pharmacy system) to an unprotected realm (like direct marketing).
文章用“给迅猛龙做绝育”形容防护装备，被读者奉为化学写作名句。
“愿意做诸如重新蒸馏无水 HF 这种事，而且你全程都得穿得像要去给迅猛龙做绝育。”这是自《Ignition》里把跑鞋列为关键实验室设备以来最好的化学描述。
sandworm101查看英文原文
>> ...a willingness to do things like redistill anhydrous HF, and you will at all times want to be suited up like you’re going to going to spay a velociraptor. Best chemistry-related description since the one in Ignition about running shoes as vital lab equipment.
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