The Computational Chemist said...what?

So I like cruising around Reddit.com's subreddit on chemistry from time to time because it's a generally useful place for seeing others' work, help out aspiring academics, and generally have a place to get extra help on advanced chemistry techniques. The atmosphere around there is full of polite, like-minded individuals all looking to have a good time in their field.
But sometimes people get a little too helpful, and step outside their comfort zone.

I took this little screen grab from a r/chemistry thread where a particular chemist has been asking about building his own inert atmosphere (nitrogen only) glove box. He wants to heat up some samples in it. So a computational chemist, a chemist that does all of their experiments inside a computer program, probably took this little gem of advice from their gen-chem lab when suggesting the original poster try to light a burner inside the glove box.

Now, Bunsen burners (named after the scientist Robert Bunsen) work from atmospheric oxygen being supplied to a pressurized stream of gas. That gas comes through a hose, mixes with the oxygen at the basal inlet of the burner, travels up the barrel, and is finally ignited at the top of the burner. If there's no oxygen around in the air, it won't light!

That's why quantum_mechanic's suggestion of "practice makes perfect" is silly- you can't practice making oxygen in a glove box where there is none!

The falsehood of the perpetual candle

“Oh ye seekers after perpetual motion, how many vain chimeras have you pursued? Go and take your place with the alchemists.”
         – Leonardo da Vinci, 1494

Found in an article about a "perpetual candle" and a designer's ill-fated attempt at creating a renewable candle by recycling mass/energy

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