Science Experiment in Arizona High School Literally Blows Up
The experiment involved a five-gallon water jug containing ethanol.
— -- A video captured the moment a science experiment went frighteningly wrong inside a classroom at an Arizona high school.
Students in a chemistry class at Westwood High School in Mesa were watching their teacher, identified as Lisa Tozzi, conduct an experiment on combustion with a five-gallon water jug containing ethanol.
The first video, sent anonymously to local ABC affiliate KNXV, shows the normal reaction to the experiment: a small combustion inside the container.
The second video, also sent to KNXV, shows the moment the experiment went awry, with an explosion sending flames and plastic everywhere.
Students can be heard in the background screaming out their teacher’s name.
“When she lit it, instead of just making like a whoosh, it exploded,” a student who was in the classroom at the time told KNXV.
The student, who asked to remain anonymous, added his first thought after the explosion was, “Oh crap.”
Tozzi was treated at a local hospital for burns to her upper body and released, a Mesa Public Schools official told KNXV.
One of the students inside the classroom suffered a minor cut, according to KNXV.