The Storm in My Head

Thia's First Lab Accident

So, today in science class, around half of the class was missing, away on a religious retreat. Our science teacher decided to something nice and laid-back, which in her eyes, meant showing us the difference between physical and chemical changes by mixing chemicals for a bunch of grade 9's who'd only done one in-class experiment before. Obviously, something is gonna go wrong.

Our first experiment went well. The teacher mixed salt water and something else (I can't remember what and I don't have the note at home) to make a neon-yellow liquid with slightly darker yellow particulates in it. It was cool to watch, and I jumped a little at the sudden colour change, but it went smoothly.

The second experiment was where stuff went down. The teacher hooked up a Bunsen burner, and took a little bit of magnesium in her tongs. She warned us to look upwards, above the magnesium when it burned, so we didn't risk damaging our eyes. Unfortunately, one girl either didn't follow instructions or accidentally glanced down, because she was looking right at the magnesium when it went up. I didn't see much of it, as I'd covered my eyes with my fingers to be safe, but when I looked, she was about to fall over, and she was just staring, almost dead-eyed (although that could've been the lighting's fault) in the direction of the magnesium.

Our teacher managed to rush over a chair for her, and she collapsed into it. I'm not sure exactly what happened after, but one of the vice principals, as well as another science teacher and the doctor came over to check up on her. From what I'd heard of their conversation, she couldn't see colour, and everything was blurry, so I'd assume the magnesium fried her cones. They also mentioned something about her having experienced this once or twice before, so I theorize a possible epileptic reaction to the magnesium flash. Of course, I'm not a doctor, so this is purely the speculation of an amateur.

Our teacher rushed us to the library to do paper and pencil work for the rest of the period, and I have no clue what happened to the girl after we left. I hope she's okay.