Safety and the Scientific Method

The lab room is an excellent place to

• Run around and play tag.
• Play a joke or prank on a fellow classmate
• Run an experiment.
• Have a snack

When you walk in the room and see science equipment at your seat.  Which of the following is okay to do before your teacher starts the class or gives instructions.

• Don’t touch anything until your teacher tells you to.
• Move the science equipment out of your way so that you can set your stuff down
• Pick up the science equipment and see what it is for.
• If they are goggles pick them up and try them on to see if they fit.

Which of the following should you do during a lab?

• Leave the lab a mess so the janitor has something to do.
• Pick up hot beakers with your bare hands
• Never eat or taste anything from an experiment.
• Wear goggles if you feel like it.

If you accidentally break or spill something what is the first thing you should do?

• Pick it up and clean up after yourself.
• Shove it under the desk or in a cupboard to hide it so you don’t get in trouble.
• Tell your teacher and then ask how to clean it up
• Leave it where it is so that your teacher can clean it up after class.

When should you take off your goggles?

• When they become uncomfortable it’s okay to take them off for a second
• As soon as the experiment is completed and you aren’t the one cleaning up.
• After everyone is done cleaning up  and your teacher says “Goggles off”
• Goggles can be taken off any time. They are optional.  

Which of the following can you do during a lab?

• wash your hands after the experiment is over
• touch your mouth after touching a dead worm
• touch and taste liquids
• pick up broken glass

If a chemical splashes into your eye, what should you do?

• Scream and run around in circles.
• Raise your hand and wait for the teacher to tell you what to do.
• Ignore it, unless you eyes turn red.
• Go to the eyewash station and rinse your eyes out while your lab partner gets the teacher

If you want to smell something in a lab what should you do?

• Put your nose next to the source and sniff
• Tasting it will make it easier to smell, so do both
• Hold the substance away from you and waft the smell towards you with your hand
• Ask your lab partner to put there nose in it first to see if it is safe.

Long hair in the laboratory must be -

• cut short
• held away from the experiment with one hand
• always groomed neatly
• tied back or kept entirely out of the way with a hair band, etc.

Part of lab safety includes reading the lab procedure -

• before doing the lab
• while doing the lab
• after doing the lab
• only if you think you really need it