this post was submitted on 17 May 2026
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Not me but years ago the inorganic lab at my uni was tasked with measuring heavy metals in whale fat and did what they normally did back then to dislove test materials. Mix nitric acid and hydrocloric acid in some heavy duty pure quartz reagent tubes, put in sample and microwave.
Well. Turns out mixing triclyride (fat) with nitric acid and HCl as a catalyst makes nitroclyserine. And what does that do in a confined space and microwaved
It turns expensive heavy duty quartz tubes into expensive quartz dust and a fucked microwave.