Middle School Methanol Experiment Goes Awry, Sends Dane Neuberger to Hospital
On Thursday morning, a class of ninth-graders at Maple Grove Junior High School were told to turn towards a table where the teacher was performing a science experiment.
The experiment involved dropping a match into a jug of methanol, according to the Star Tribune. The first time the teacher dropped the match, it made a loud boom and a little flame, said Dane Neuberger, who sat near the desk.
The next thing he knew, he was on fire, he told the Tribune.
Witnesses told Fox News that Neuberger ran screaming down the hall. His skin was blackened by the blaze. Neuberger said he also had to pull off his burning long-sleeve shirt.
He is currently being treated at the Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) in Minneapolis for second-degree burns to his face, neck and right hand, according to the Tribune.
Three other students were also sent to the hospital. They have since been released.
Dr. Ryan Fey, a burn surgeon at HCMC, said Neuberger's injuries were bad, although there is still the possibility that he can recover without any permanent scarring, reported Fox News.
Maple Grove Fire Chief Scott Anderson told the Tribune the experiment was something the school has been doing year after year.
This is not the first time, however, that a school methanol experiment has gone horribly wrong.
Environmental Operating Solutions, a company that makes products that substitute for methanol use, listed 3 school experiment accidents involving ethanol from 2006 to 2008.
In 2006, an experiment involving methanol severely burned two students at Western Reserve Academy. Both 15-years-old at the time, one student had burns over 18 percent of her body and another student had burns over 46 percent of her body.
The two eventually negotiated an $18.9 million settlement with the school.
Environmental Operating Solutions also claimed that in 2007, a high school student was injured so much from a methanol experiment accident that the student is expected to have permanent scarring and neurological damage.
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