The Daily Camera
BOULDER, Colo. — A chemical explosion in a beaker at the University of Colorado’s Engineering Center injured the 28-year-old doctoral student who conducted the experiment and led to the evacuation of the South Wing of the building Tuesday afternoon.
The student was mixing chemicals in a room in the Engineering Center’s “chemical engineering” wing. He was struck in the forehead by exploding glass shards. No one else was injured, according to Bronson Hilliard, spokesman for CU-Boulder.
The student — whose name is not being released — walked himself to Wardenburg Health Center on campus. He was treated there and released.
Hilliard said the student went through a “decontamination,” which is a thorough shower to wash away chemicals.
According to the university, the student was managing a reaction between three chemicals: tripropargylamine, tetraethylene glycol diazide and copper (II) disoprophyl salicylate.
The explosion happend around 2:45 p.m. No one else was in the room at the time, and there was no structural damage to the laboratory.
In police radio traffic, the resulting substances were called “inhalation toxics,” and the south wing of the building was evacuated as responders tried to identify which areas of the building were connected through the ventilation system.
As of 4:50 p.m., the building was open again, except for the corridor where the lab is located.
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