:: slow acid, o-cresol... ::

on monday prac... ops, i'm toking abt practical again... keke... each of us were given a mixture of 2 unknown organic compounds dat we have to seperate and deduce their identity...

after doing a simple solubility test, i confirmed dat i was given a weak acid and neutral organic compound mixture... so i carried out my next step, solvent extraction to seperate both of them. at this pt of time, my hands started to itch... this feeling was quite terrible... so i went to rinse my hands with some alcohol and soap... hoping to neutralise the weak acid on my hands... next, i put on my gloves, which i failed to do so earlier...

as the expt went on, the itch and pain were consistently pestering me... until a pt of time, i removed my gloves. my goodness, they turned red and swollen... so i seek assistance from a friendly lab tech... he proposed to rinse my hands with ethanol and soap too... then he applied some oilment... by the end of the experiment, i can still experience a slight itch and pain. fortunately, the redness has been diluted... i also found that cuplit for my discomfort, ortho-cresol... it's a phenol with a methyl grp attached the nearest carbon next to the hydroxyl grp... phenol is a well-known chemical dat is corrosive to skin... i guess i was careless not to wear my gloves while handling it...

for the past few day, i was bothered by the periodical itches... i can see dat my pores were infected by o-cresol... today, i found out dat my skin is slowly shredding off too... this is the practical dat gave me the most problems so far...

for the next 2 mondays, i am required to handle o-cresol again... this time, i will be more careful...

+ BL updated @ 3:16 PM

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:: clean teeth... ::

keke... i bought an electronic toothbrush yesterday... wow, it really clean my teeth like after visiting the dentist... it feels really gd to run my tongue across my smooth teeth and gums... it's too often dat the last few teeth were not so well-brushed using a conventional toothbrush... i believe this would happen more often to sleepy heads like me... keke... in short, this new toothbrush is so cool... keke...

hmm... i think it been 4yrs since i visited a dentist... i can still recall that we are recommended to visit the dentist at least twice a year... seem dat i will still refuse to go unless i have any problem with my teeth and gums... keke... on my part, i have cut down on the intake of sugary food already, except ice-cream... also i always make the habit to rinse my mouth after a meal... lucky for all Singaporeans, the water that we consume is spiked with flouride to make our teeth less soluble to food acids...

the current problem i got with my teeth is.. my wisdom tooth... the lower 2 set have been erupting from my gums since 2002... 1 of them is a very likely site for food deposits to gather. often after my meals... i would run my tongue on dat tooth for a cleaning session... keke... i would go into much details into this... in case, u r eating while reading this at the same time... ya... surely, u would recommend me to get it removed... well, i will give it a thought when i'm back in the army ba... mainly, it's free and also got mc.. keke... :P

+ BL updated @ 2:10 PM

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