Comments on: The “I’ve set fire to stuff” badge (LEVEL IV).

By: Tharrick

Tharrick — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 06:20:52 +0000

Lost all the hair on the back of one hand due to a bunsen accident once…

By: Blackanvil

Blackanvil — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 17:30:03 +0000

Doing archeometallurgical experiments, I’ve set myself on fire on numerous occasions, usually my pants, though I’ve burned beards, eyebrows, and hair as well. Molten steel is hot — just the radiant heat from the crucible can set cotton on fire from a couple of feet away. Fun to play with, though.

By: Owen

Owen — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 13:16:11 +0000

Hey Morkl, you should try LN2 for putting out whole body fires, it works great… err YMMV

By: Your Obedient Serpent

Your Obedient Serpent — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 07:32:12 +0000

Way back in high school, I learned that I could set a 50/50 mix of water and rubbing alcohol burning on my hands without more than a warm feeling. More recently, I’ve discovered that you can pull the same trick with hand sanitizer. Does this count as setting yoruself on fire?

If not, I also used to annoy my roommates by using a lighter to burn the hair off my arms.

By: Robert Fortner

Robert Fortner — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 04:43:06 +0000

I qualify for the level V badge, as a full time Pyrotechnician I regularly set my co-workers on fire for movies, tv ect…

By: Hank

Hank — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 03:14:01 +0000

I think there should be a level V badge: In which the recipient has set fire to others while performing experiments in the name of science.

I never did it myself, but I’ve seen it happen.

By: Adam Thornton

Adam Thornton — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 00:31:54 +0000

I have a full beard. In fact, it’s somewhere between Grizzly Adams and ZZ Top, so you know.

So, I was soldering (science? Really more like engineering), and I smelled burning hair. I looked down, and there was smoke. So I hurriedly set down the soldering iron, and the smoke didn’t stop. Then I beat the flames and smolder out with my hands and had a forked long beard for a couple months. True story.

By: Morkl

Morkl — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 23:31:22 +0000

Ah, yes. My colleague doused me with gasoline and lit me on fire a few years ago. Good thing we were outside and there was snow on the ground. I still got pretty badly burned on the nose and the ears though.

Oddly, I can’t seem to remember what we were trying to prove at the time…

By: Tom M

Tom M — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:51:25 +0000

Sadly earned this trying to prevent someone else from setting equipment on fire- and even more sadly when I was only 15- but happily put myself out with out over-reacting unlike the head grad student came running at me with a fire extinguisher!

By: Rosey

Rosey — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:54:40 +0000

Set my hands on fire whilst doing a combustion demo for a group of high school juniors. The day of my first date with my eventual wife.

By: Madalch

Madalch — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 04:17:07 +0000

I frequently impress my class with the flaming hands of death, and have made the front page of the local newspaper once or twice because of it.

By: Toaster

Toaster — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 16:18:11 +0000

MidKnight Black Nitrile gloves are very comfortable, but also flammable.

By: raholmes

raholmes — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:16:13 +0000

Hydrogenation explosion. Lost an eyebrow and a lab coat…

By: JKirchartz

JKirchartz — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:45:15 +0000

Alcohol burner incident… always use pyrex.