[Leica] Sodium and chemistry

[Jem Kime <jem.kime@cwcom.net>]

We had a Chemistry teacher so old he was called 'Dodders' as in 'doddering 
old fool'.
When introducing us to sodium he affirmed one must always use tongs to 
handle it and never let it make contact with water, for fear of combustion.
The tongs slipped, he dropped the sodium into a lab. sink and it started to 
burst into guttering flames. Quick as a flash he picked it up with his 
fingers and replaced it in the oil jar. We all fell about!
His fingers were coated in a dense layer of nicotine having smoked since he 
was a boy, I'm sure that coating saved his skin!

To bring it on topic, the lab. next door was where I practised my first 
darkroom skills in the early 1970s.
I'd taken some pictures on my new Leica (thread mount camera, a Zorki 4K), 
which included the Queen, and asked the physics master if I could process 
this roll one lunchtime. He agreed and told me the chemicals were on a 
shelf, which I found. There were many developers to choose from so I opted 
for what seemed the simplest, Johnson's Monobath, a now discontinued 
developer which intriguingly blended the developer and fixer in a sort of 
bleach/fix arrangement.
After following the instructions to the letter I was gutted to discover, on 
drawing out the film, that it had become completely clear and all my 
pictures had been lost.
I mentioned this, naturally, to the teacher who asked me which developer 
I'd used. When I replied the monobath, he tried to suppress a chuckle and 
added, "I wondered whether that would work, it's been there ever since I 
came to the school ten years ago!"

There's a moral here about fresh chemistry...

Jem
- -----Original Message-----
From:	Ernest B. Ferro [SMTP:eferro@tbscc.com]

Paul and Mark:
....and then there's always the story about flushing sodium metal down the
toilets in the chemistry building while in college.
Ernie