Westminster, Colorado – One male student resulted injured after a science project took a turn for the worst at Hidden Lake High School on Wednesday morning, CBS News reported. An explosion involving a mortar ceramic mixing pot happened during a joint experiment with a teacher and the student, whose name has not been released, was taken to the hospital. Authorities evacuated the school for the rest of the day.
Firefighters from Westminster arrived in the scene just before 8 a. m. They found an injured student as a consequence of an explosion in a confined space. The incident may have been caused by a chemical reaction.
The student was rushed to the hospital with no life-threatening injuries
Saunders added that the student was taken to Denver Health Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries to both of his hands, including one that was going to require surgery. He said the ceramic shrapnel might have hit him in the chest. The school is most likely to reopen Thursday.
“They were apparently working on a project with two dry chemicals that are normally fine if they’re interacting with each other, but as they were mixed, there was pressure applied and somehow that sparked a reaction that caused a ceramic bowl to explode,” informed Westminster Public Schools Spokesman Steve Saunders.
School authorities will review science project protocol, while investigators with Westminster Fire and Westminster Departments are working to find out the specific cause of the blast. Saunders said authorities would review the incident and make sure similar accidents never happen again, according to the report by CBS News.
A science experiment gone bad
The explosion caused a mess in the classroom but there was no structural damage from the blast.
Student Eric Grant told CBS that he arrived to find all the emergency vehicles around the school. Witnesses gathered around outside and he saw a police officer blocking the one way street. He said everyone was standing around wondering what had happened. Grant received a text saying that “someone blew up their hand in a science explosion.”
Source: CBS News