memories from h/s

The only class I hated in high school was chemistry. I was good at it, but I found it boring and useless. One day we were supposed to have a lab, and my friends from the other class told me that the lab is going to be hard and boring. During that lab we were supposed to observe how acid reacts with the iron. Initially, it sounded boring because every one knew the result, which was supposed to be the rust. Plus to all, we knew that we would do a lot of paperwork such as chemical equations and much more.

I do not know why, but I decided to crush that lab. (Grade 9… I was so enthusiastic and had so many “great” ideas!) I knew that everyone will get a set of mixing tubes, a tube with the acid (30% concentrated sulfuric acid H2SO4), and a nail. I knew it all, for I stole (no! I actually borrowed) from the teacher one of the empty tubes that she usually used with acid. I washed the tube and brought it to the lab. It was filled with water. When we started, I followed all the instructions, using water instead of acid. I showed it to the teacher… she spent a few seconds thinking and looking at it. After that she told that something is wrong with the nail (what a gullible teacher!!!). She also added that it is probably made of copper. I disagreed and told her that the only metal that does not react with acid is gold (she taught us that). I told her that something is probably wrong with the acid… she told that nothing is wrong with it (everybody in the class got their acid from the same bottle and they had the expected reaction). We had a long argument. After 5 or 7 minutes, proving my point, I drank the “acid”. Only after I did that, I understood that I should not have done that…. She was silent, staring at me. Her face was pale, with eyes full of fear. She was shivering. A few seconds after, she grabbed my hand and walked (we were actually running) me to the doctor’s room. While we were running, there were students in the corridor. She yelled them to call the ambulance.

I tried to explain her that it was a joke, but she did not listen to me. When she did, it was too late. The ambulance arrived. Paramedics were very surprised. The first question they asked was, “how come he is talking?” they told that by that time I would probably be dead after a smaller amount of that acid.

P.S.

I failed that lab. My marks in that class became much lower than they used to be. The whole day I spent in the principle’s office, and I had the longest and the most boring lecture in my life about how to be and how hot to be.