Highlander: The College Years
Exothermic Reactions
By: Quicksilver
Here we go.... again
Many thanks to Remy and Joanna.... and candy canes! (hey, I'm Christmas-y today).
A NOTE : For those of you who have yet to or didn't take College Chem, or maybe forgot what they learned, Magnesium and Hydrochloric acid have a NASTY reaction...... it gives off a lot of heat (it's exothermic, thus the title) and smoke.... It's not ANYTHING you want to have spilled on you!
This story is much shorter then the first three (and the next one) because Richie was traumatized and stopped talking about Chem lab. It IS finished (and will certainly have repercussions later).....
*************
Richie woke to the alarm clock, which was far too insistent for his liking. He rolled over and considered hitting snooze, but then he remembered where he was. Damn it. Chem Lab.....
Richie crawled out of bed, wishing that he was somewhere - anywhere - else. Preferably a nice warm beach with a beauty queen.....
He glanced over at his roommate Alex, and felt a spurt of jealousy. Alex was asleep, looking like a young child, his shiny black hair spread on the pillow. Richie looked at his clock (which read 7:30) and decided that the world was just plain unfair. Alex didn't have any classes until noon.
After a quick shower (in a small grimy cubicle that made Richie long for the showers at DeSalvo's Gym), Richie walked back to his room to grab his lab coat. His hair was still slightly damp, but there was no way he was going to mess with it. Alex was still dead to the world, and Richie contemplated dumping a bucket of water over Alex's head. With a sigh of regret, Richie decided that he would just have to content himself with slamming the door on the way out.
Richie made it to the lab just before eight. He darted over to his lab desk, pulled his coat on and stood at attention as a short, harried-looking woman walked into the room. She smiled distractedly before pulling out a piece of chalk and started writing on the black board.....
Richie winced as she drew the chalk across the board, causing the board to screech in protest...
She quickly scribbled out a bunch of formulas, Richie scrawling in his notebook. His handwriting certainly left something to be desired, but there was really nothing he could do about it now. Finally she finished, and Richie looked around. Time to find a lab partner, he thought, feeling a spurt of fear. He had thought he was WAY past the self-consciousness of his teenage years, but apparently not. He watched the other students look around, and decided it was up to him to make the first move. Kind of like dating, he thought, amused. Someone has to get up the courage to go first.
He smiled at the girl at the next bench. "Wanna be my partner?" he asked casually.
She ran a quick glance over him, assessing. "Sure," she said finally. "My name's Kara," she informed him.
"Ryan," he replied, returning her glance. Kara was cute, in a little-girl kind of way. Her shiny brown hair was bobbed neatly at her chin, and her blue eyes were wide and innocent. She was about five and a half feet tall, and skinny. Richie looked at her cheekbones and wondered if she was anorexic.
"I hope you know more about this than I do," she said nervously. "I'm an English major, and chemistry is NOT my thing."
"How hard can it be?" Richie replied. "We're just titrating a Hydrochloric Solution - it shouldn't take more then a few minutes."
"We have to dilute the hydrochloric acid from twelve molar to two molar," Kara replied. "I'm a klutz - how about I set up the apparatus while you dilute it?"
Richie nodded and grabbed a beaker. He patiently stood in line as the other students dispensed the acid from its container, which was located under the fume hood. After collecting 50 milliliters, he turned around to bring it back to the lab table. Unfortunately, Kara knocked the beaker over on him with her elbow as soon as he set it down. Her eyes widened in horror. "I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed. Reaching for a beaker of water, she tossed it on him, trying to dilute the acid.
Richie was just starting to feel the acid's burn when the water hit him. Unfortunately for Richie, the beaker wasn't full of just water. A Magnesium precipate had been left in the water by a careless sophomore, and the Magnesium started to react as soon as it hit Richie.
By now the entire lab was watching Richie. He stumbled toward the emergency shower, hoping to wash the reactants off. The steam and heat from the reaction HURT, and Richie knew he'd have to think fast to get out of this one without revealing his Immortality.
The lab professor shoved him under the shower. She barely came to his chin, and Richie looked at her graying hair as she turned the shower on him. Richie yelped as the icy water hit him. The professor (he hadn't caught her name) grabbed his shirt, and with a pair of scissors, quickly cut him free of the shirt. Richie watched as his shredded shirt fell.
The water kept pouring. Richie tried to pull the chain to stop it, but it kept pouring. The Professor held him under until it stopped. "You, young man, are going to the hospital. Thank god you were wearing your goggles."
A mental formula that MacLeod had drilled into his head surfaced. Hospitals + Immortals = BAD THING. "I'm fine!" Richie insisted. I don't need to go to a hospital!"
The lab professor considered, noting how Richie didn't seem too badly burned. "Well, you have to go to the infirmary, at least," she mused, trying to cover her back. She motioned for Kara to come up to her. "Young lady, see that he makes it there safely. You two can copy someone else's data for this lab." Thank God, were the professor's unspoken, but recognized, thoughts.
Kara smiled hesitantly. "I've already been there," she said quietly. "I figure it's a good idea for me to know where it is."
Richie was forced to agree.
******
The infirmary was like every other one Richie had ever visited. A cheerful receptionist immediately escorted him in to see the doctor, separating him from Kara. The doctor was a lady in her middle fifties who clicked her teeth in distress when she saw Richie walk in, sans shirt. "What happened to you?" she demanded.
The problem with being a redhead, Richie thought, was the blush-reflex. I must look like a tomato! I think I've blushed more since I got to college then I did during the entire last year!
"My lab partner said she was clumsy. And she wasn't kidding." Richie said with a shudder. "Hydrochloric Acid is a nasty thing, especially when its undiluted."
Her eyes widened. "Then why aren't you in a hospital?"
"I'm fine!" Richie assured her. "My chem lab teacher almost had a heart attack so I sort of came over here so you can make sure I'm okay, " he said, Thinking to himself, and in the process, doing myself a favor by avoiding the hospital with it's noisy doctors. It should be easy enough to get out of Student Health.
The doctor put on a pair of plastic gloves. "I can see they had you under the shower already," she said, laughter coloring her voice, as she waved a hand at Richie's sopping hair. "Do you feel any pain?" she asked as she cautiously touched his skin.
Richie shook his head, grateful for Immortal Healing abilities. "I don't think I actually got much on me," he said, stretching the truth. Only about 50 milliliters of the twelve molar stuff, he thought. And let's not even THINK about the Magnesium!
She looked at him, puzzled. "I guess they must have washed it off entirely. You're a very lucky young man. I guess you know the need for goggles now, don't you?" she asked.
THE END
Short, but the next part will come soon
Exothermic Reactions
By: Quicksilver
Here we go.... again
Many thanks to Remy and Joanna.... and candy canes! (hey, I'm Christmas-y today).
A NOTE : For those of you who have yet to or didn't take College Chem, or maybe forgot what they learned, Magnesium and Hydrochloric acid have a NASTY reaction...... it gives off a lot of heat (it's exothermic, thus the title) and smoke.... It's not ANYTHING you want to have spilled on you!
This story is much shorter then the first three (and the next one) because Richie was traumatized and stopped talking about Chem lab. It IS finished (and will certainly have repercussions later).....
*************
Richie woke to the alarm clock, which was far too insistent for his liking. He rolled over and considered hitting snooze, but then he remembered where he was. Damn it. Chem Lab.....
Richie crawled out of bed, wishing that he was somewhere - anywhere - else. Preferably a nice warm beach with a beauty queen.....
He glanced over at his roommate Alex, and felt a spurt of jealousy. Alex was asleep, looking like a young child, his shiny black hair spread on the pillow. Richie looked at his clock (which read 7:30) and decided that the world was just plain unfair. Alex didn't have any classes until noon.
After a quick shower (in a small grimy cubicle that made Richie long for the showers at DeSalvo's Gym), Richie walked back to his room to grab his lab coat. His hair was still slightly damp, but there was no way he was going to mess with it. Alex was still dead to the world, and Richie contemplated dumping a bucket of water over Alex's head. With a sigh of regret, Richie decided that he would just have to content himself with slamming the door on the way out.
Richie made it to the lab just before eight. He darted over to his lab desk, pulled his coat on and stood at attention as a short, harried-looking woman walked into the room. She smiled distractedly before pulling out a piece of chalk and started writing on the black board.....
Richie winced as she drew the chalk across the board, causing the board to screech in protest...
She quickly scribbled out a bunch of formulas, Richie scrawling in his notebook. His handwriting certainly left something to be desired, but there was really nothing he could do about it now. Finally she finished, and Richie looked around. Time to find a lab partner, he thought, feeling a spurt of fear. He had thought he was WAY past the self-consciousness of his teenage years, but apparently not. He watched the other students look around, and decided it was up to him to make the first move. Kind of like dating, he thought, amused. Someone has to get up the courage to go first.
He smiled at the girl at the next bench. "Wanna be my partner?" he asked casually.
She ran a quick glance over him, assessing. "Sure," she said finally. "My name's Kara," she informed him.
"Ryan," he replied, returning her glance. Kara was cute, in a little-girl kind of way. Her shiny brown hair was bobbed neatly at her chin, and her blue eyes were wide and innocent. She was about five and a half feet tall, and skinny. Richie looked at her cheekbones and wondered if she was anorexic.
"I hope you know more about this than I do," she said nervously. "I'm an English major, and chemistry is NOT my thing."
"How hard can it be?" Richie replied. "We're just titrating a Hydrochloric Solution - it shouldn't take more then a few minutes."
"We have to dilute the hydrochloric acid from twelve molar to two molar," Kara replied. "I'm a klutz - how about I set up the apparatus while you dilute it?"
Richie nodded and grabbed a beaker. He patiently stood in line as the other students dispensed the acid from its container, which was located under the fume hood. After collecting 50 milliliters, he turned around to bring it back to the lab table. Unfortunately, Kara knocked the beaker over on him with her elbow as soon as he set it down. Her eyes widened in horror. "I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed. Reaching for a beaker of water, she tossed it on him, trying to dilute the acid.
Richie was just starting to feel the acid's burn when the water hit him. Unfortunately for Richie, the beaker wasn't full of just water. A Magnesium precipate had been left in the water by a careless sophomore, and the Magnesium started to react as soon as it hit Richie.
By now the entire lab was watching Richie. He stumbled toward the emergency shower, hoping to wash the reactants off. The steam and heat from the reaction HURT, and Richie knew he'd have to think fast to get out of this one without revealing his Immortality.
The lab professor shoved him under the shower. She barely came to his chin, and Richie looked at her graying hair as she turned the shower on him. Richie yelped as the icy water hit him. The professor (he hadn't caught her name) grabbed his shirt, and with a pair of scissors, quickly cut him free of the shirt. Richie watched as his shredded shirt fell.
The water kept pouring. Richie tried to pull the chain to stop it, but it kept pouring. The Professor held him under until it stopped. "You, young man, are going to the hospital. Thank god you were wearing your goggles."
A mental formula that MacLeod had drilled into his head surfaced. Hospitals + Immortals = BAD THING. "I'm fine!" Richie insisted. I don't need to go to a hospital!"
The lab professor considered, noting how Richie didn't seem too badly burned. "Well, you have to go to the infirmary, at least," she mused, trying to cover her back. She motioned for Kara to come up to her. "Young lady, see that he makes it there safely. You two can copy someone else's data for this lab." Thank God, were the professor's unspoken, but recognized, thoughts.
Kara smiled hesitantly. "I've already been there," she said quietly. "I figure it's a good idea for me to know where it is."
Richie was forced to agree.
******
The infirmary was like every other one Richie had ever visited. A cheerful receptionist immediately escorted him in to see the doctor, separating him from Kara. The doctor was a lady in her middle fifties who clicked her teeth in distress when she saw Richie walk in, sans shirt. "What happened to you?" she demanded.
The problem with being a redhead, Richie thought, was the blush-reflex. I must look like a tomato! I think I've blushed more since I got to college then I did during the entire last year!
"My lab partner said she was clumsy. And she wasn't kidding." Richie said with a shudder. "Hydrochloric Acid is a nasty thing, especially when its undiluted."
Her eyes widened. "Then why aren't you in a hospital?"
"I'm fine!" Richie assured her. "My chem lab teacher almost had a heart attack so I sort of came over here so you can make sure I'm okay, " he said, Thinking to himself, and in the process, doing myself a favor by avoiding the hospital with it's noisy doctors. It should be easy enough to get out of Student Health.
The doctor put on a pair of plastic gloves. "I can see they had you under the shower already," she said, laughter coloring her voice, as she waved a hand at Richie's sopping hair. "Do you feel any pain?" she asked as she cautiously touched his skin.
Richie shook his head, grateful for Immortal Healing abilities. "I don't think I actually got much on me," he said, stretching the truth. Only about 50 milliliters of the twelve molar stuff, he thought. And let's not even THINK about the Magnesium!
She looked at him, puzzled. "I guess they must have washed it off entirely. You're a very lucky young man. I guess you know the need for goggles now, don't you?" she asked.
THE END
Short, but the next part will come soon
