Here’s a brief chemical equation for you. Take one Ukrainian chemistry student, and add in gum. Multiply that gum by what the student believes to be citric acid, but is really an explosive compound. Now, I’m not a math major, but if you eat a piece of explosive gum, you generally end up minus one face, with a remainder of death. That’s right, a guy blew his face off with a stick of gum.
The 25-year-old had an unusual habit. He liked to dip his gum into citric acid. Citric acid is the stuff that gives food and drinks a nice sharp, acidy sour taste. I can’t say I blame him for this, because that citric tang is awesome. Unfortunately, he got his citric acid mixed up with the open jar of explosive liquid on his desk, and when he went to bite down on his gum, well… kaboom.
Tags: man killed by exploding gum, accidents, exploding gum, Kiev Polytechnic Institute, Konotop, Ukraine, chemistry accidents, citric acid