(A true story.) An inexperienced graduate student moved into a laboratory and began work. He needed some diethyl ether for a reaction, so he opened an old, rusty 1-gallon can marked “ethyl ether” and found there was half a gallon left. To purify the ether, the student set up a distillation apparatus, started a careful distillation, and went to the stockroom for the other reagents he needed. While he was at the stockroom, the student heard a muffled “boom.” He quickly returned to his lab to find a worker from another laboratory putting out a fire. Most of the distillation apparatus was embedded in the ceiling.
(a) Explain what probably happened.
(b) Explain how this near-disaster might have been prevented.
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