Story Archive

Hold My CH3OH and Watch This!

A teacher at a charter school in Denver, Colo., has been charged with a crime after a demonstration in his chemistry lab. Daniel Powell, 24, poured methanol into a flame, which of course reacted violently. Flames rose from the teacher’s desk area, shot across the ceiling, and then dropped down onto four students who were burned, one critically. The incident happened at about the same time a warning was issued by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board that schools should not use methanol in laboratory and school demonstrations after a fire in a school in Nevada just weeks before the Denver incident. Powell was charged with four counts of third-degree assault, and fired from the school — STRIVE Preparatory Schools’ SMART Academy. (RC/Denver Post, AP) ...Which name is more of a hope for the students than necessarily a description of the staff.