16. Death by an exploding gum
Victor Petrov of Konotop, Ukraine was a chemistry student who was spending the winter holidays at home. His favorite way to relax was to experiment with explosives. One night, he was working with potassium chlorate, one of the chemicals responsible for giving color to fire crackers, which reacts with fuel and colorants. They chemical may look harmless, but one wrong move could set it off. Even a piece of dust could set it to explode. Handling it requires extreme focus, something Petrov did by chewing a gum, which he loved to dip in citric acid to enhance its flavor. It’s a white powder which can very easily be confused with potassium chlorate when you’re in a chemistry lab. He got so focused in one of his fireworks experiments that he didn’t notice where he was dipping his gum until he placed it inside his mouth and felt a strange sensation. When his teeth came into contact with each other, it produced enough force to set off an explosion inside his mouth which caused his instant death.
