During my first year in the lab, I was fascinated by dry ice. I had never worked with it before and thought it was one of the coolest things in the laboratory.
One day, I decided to save a chunk so I could use it later. I sealed it in a biohazard bag, put it in the lab freezer for safekeeping, and promptly forgot all about it.
A few days later, a loud bang echoed through the lab. Everyone stopped what they were doing and started looking around for the source. After some investigation, we discovered that a sealed biohazard bag in the freezer had exploded.
As it turned out, the dry ice had sublimated, pressure had built up inside the bag, and the bag had finally reached its limit.
The source of the dry ice was never officially identified.
I certainly didn’t volunteer any information.
Submitted by:
Pamela King
Laboratory Technician
Kentucky, USA
