Sponge Bob Safety Rules
T. Trimpe 2003

The Bikini Bottom gang has been learning safety rules during science class. Read the paragraphs below to find the broken safety rules and number and underline each one. How many can you find? On the back of your sheet, write the number and the CORRECT safety procedure that should have been used.

SpongeBob, Patrick, and Gary were thrilled when Mr. Krabbs gave their teacher a chemistry set! Mr. Krabbs warned them to be careful and reminded them to follow the safety rules they had learned in science class. The teacher passed out the materials and provided each person with an experiment book. SpongeBob and Gary flipped through the book and decided to test the properties of a mystery substance. Since the teacher did not tell them to wear the safety goggles, they left them on the table.

SpongeBob lit the Bunsen burner, then reached across the flame to get a test tube from Gary . In the process, he knocked over a bottle of the mystery substance and a little bit splashed on Gary . SpongeBob poured some of the substance into a test tube and began to heat it. When it started to bubble he looked into the test tube to see what was happening and pointed it towards Gary so he could see. Gary thought it smelled weird so he took a deep whiff of it. He didn’t think it smelled poisonous and tasted a little bit of the substance.

They were worried about running out of time, so they left the test tube and materials on the table and moved to a different station to try another experiment. Patrick didn’t want to waste any time reading the directions, so he put on some safety goggles and picked a couple different substances. He tested them with vinegar (a weak acid) to see what would happen even though he didn’t have permission to experiment on his own. He noticed that one of the substances did not do anything, but the other one fizzed. He also mixed two substances together to see what would happen, but didn’t notice anything. He saw SpongeBob and Gary heating something in a test tube and decided to do that test. He ran over to that station and knocked over a couple bottles that SpongeBob had left open. After cleaning up the spills, he read the directions and found the materials he needed. The only test tube he could find had a small crack in it, but he decided to use it anyway. He lit the Bunsen burner and used tongs to hold the test tube over the flame. He forgot to move his notebook away from the flame and almost caught it on fire.

Before they could do another experiment, the bell rang and they rushed to put everything away. Since they didn’t have much time, Patrick didn’t clean out his test tube before putting it in the cabinet. SpongeBob noticed  that he had a small cut on his finger, but decided he didn’t have time to tell the teacher about it. Since they were late, they skipped washing their hands and hurried to the next class.