• Question: Have you ever made a mistake what you regret in science?

    Asked by Anon to Yasmin, Natasha, Jemma, James, Davide, Craig, Charlie on 23 Jan 2017.
    • Photo: Jemma Rowlandson

      Jemma Rowlandson answered on 23 Jan 2017:

      Yes! I sincerely regret hearing a gas leak when checking my experiment and turning up the pressure to try and find out where it was coming from. Turns out I had a blockage in one of my tubes, and turning up the pressure caused a large metal stopper to come off with an almightly bang. Luckily it didn’t travel very far.

    • Photo: Craig Fisher

      Craig Fisher answered on 24 Jan 2017:

      I accidentally melted the inside of a furnace once when the thermocouple I was using to control the temperature short-circuited, resulting in thermal runaway! Fortunately it didn’t cause any damage beyond that. It taught me to always check equipment (at least) twice, especially when high temperatures, voltages or toxic chemicals are involved, before commencing an experiment.

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