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    Chemical Reactions: Investigating an Industrial Accident
    Chemical Reactions: Investigating an Industrial Accident
    Chemical Reactions: Investigating an Industrial Accident
    Ebook91 pages42 minutes

    Chemical Reactions: Investigating an Industrial Accident

    By Richard Spilsbury

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    About this ebook

    The calm of the night is shattered by an explosion and flames: a chemical factory is on fire, and a dangerous gas is drifting across town! This book looks at the topic of chemical reactions to explain the properties of chemicals and how they react, what has caused the explosion, and how the resulting fire and pollution can be tackled. It shows how the emergency services use their knowledge of science and technology to make the factory safe, and how investigators can analyze the evidence to determine the cause of the disaster.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCapstone Young Readers
    Release dateMay 19, 2020
    ISBN9781484658277
    Chemical Reactions: Investigating an Industrial Accident
    Author

    Richard Spilsbury

    Richard Spilsbury is an experienced author of nonfiction books for young people. He has written about a wide range of topics including science, nature, and history.

    Read more from Richard Spilsbury

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      Book preview

      Chemical Reactions - Richard Spilsbury

      Contents

      Cover

      Title Page

      Nighttime Blast

      The Investigation Begins

      Site Destruction

      Dangerous Gas

      Environmental Impact

      End of the Investigation

      Investigation: A Chemical Reaction

      Timeline

      Glossary

      Find Out More

      Index

      Copyright

      Back Cover

      The Investigation Begins

      Can you imagine having to deal with fire, choking smoke, and damage at a chemical factory? How would you go about figuring out what happened, and whether it was an accident or not? This book focuses on a fictional accident at a place called Savenner, but it is based on a real event that took place in Louisiana in 1995. It is all about what people do to sort out the mess after a serious chemical accident. It is also a book about chemical reactions.

      What are chemical reactions?

      A chemical reaction is a change that makes at least one new substance. For example, carbon and oxygen are two different substances. They react together to make a new substance — carbon dioxide. Some chemical reactions are dangerous. They cause fires, explosions, or the release of harmful substances.

      Why investigate?

      There are several reasons why people investigate this kind of accident. The first is to check to see if there is a continuing hazard. If dangerous chemical reactions are going on, could they cause further damage or injure more people?

      The second reason is to find out exactly what happened, and to understand who or what was responsible. This is not just to blame someone or something for an accident. It is also to learn from mistakes and to prevent additional, similar accidents in the future.

      Starting an investigation

      It is important to sort out and investigate chemical accidents quickly. In most cases, people report accidents within minutes or hours after they happen. But sometimes people fail to report incidents, and then agencies cannot deal with the hazards caused by the accident or interview eyewitnesses while they recall events most clearly. That is why, for example, it is a law in the United States to report accidents to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) within 12 hours, either by phone or on the EPA’s web site.

      HOW IT WORKS

      The steps in a chemical accident investigation are similar to the steps people take in a scientific experiment. In an experiment, scientists test a hypothesis, or idea, by trying to find evidence to support or disprove it. They then carefully record results and come to a conclusion based on them. Accident investigators work in a similar way, following these steps:

      They form one or several hypotheses about how the accident might have happened.

      They search for and carefully record evidence, or data, about what happened. For example, they may collect and analyze samples of substances found at the accident site or interview eyewitnesses about what they saw before and during the accident.

      They study and consider the data. Based on these findings, investigators conclude which, if any, hypothesis is correct.

      They make recommendations about how to prevent future, similar chemical accidents.

      A firefighter talks to a specialist in dealing with hazardous materials. These are some of the specialists who take part in dealing

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