Hello dear chemists, I'm a second year student and I've made a little (huge) mistake.
In my lab work today I had to dissolve potassium permanganate on water, but the beaker I took was filled with concentrated sulfuric acid for a later experiment. When pouring the permanganate, manganese heptoxide formed.
It was only until I was on my way home that I understood what had formed. By advice of the teacher I left the beaker on the fume hood so that on my next day at the lab (Tuesday) I disposed of it correctly (she didn't know what it was at the time either since I hadn't determined what the beaker had yet).
After researching on the Web, I am very sure it is indeed heptoxide, and this raises many issues, mainly that it's an explosive.
I ultimately prepared accidentally 25mL, and when researching the compound there's numerous instances saying "don't upscale the reaction as it might explode".
My question is:
- how do I dispose of this safely?
- should I be concerned of it suddenly exploding before Tuesday?