Ash Wednesday leaves 90 pupils and staff with burns

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Burning wood and collecting the resulting ashes used to be one of the standard ways of making sodium and potassium hydroxides, aka potash, employed in old fashioned soap making (lye soap made from animal fats and potash if memory serves). Nowadays, I’m pretty sure sodium and potassium hydroxides are obtained from the electrolysis of either sodium chloride (table salt) or else potassium chloride in an electrochemical cell.

Upon reflection, I’m kind of surprised it hasn’t happened more often. Perhaps the usual way of obtaining charcoal from these processes involves some washing and soaking which wasn’t done for a sufficient length of time in this case.
 
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Gotta kinda say “duh”. At what point did we decide smearing ash on our foreheads was a wise move?
 
What did they burn to make the ash? If they burned palms or bought liturgical ash from a proper source, this wouldn’t have occurred. I certainly hope they didn’t just burn a bunch of charcoal and gather up the ash to use on the spot.
 
Ah, well that’s an interesting science discussion I was not aware of!

One would think there would be some kind of additive that a priest could mix with the ashes that would neutralize pH if there was a problem with his particular lot of burnt palms.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Ah, well that’s an interesting science discussion I was not aware of!

One would think there would be some kind of additive that a priest could mix with the ashes that would neutralize pH if there was a problem with his particular lot of burnt palms.
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Upon further reflection, they should either test the ashes with a pH meter or else pH paper. If the pH is too high (substantially above 7), neutralize it with something like mild dilute acetic acid (i.e. white vinegar). Force the pH into the range of 7, the recommended pH of tap water.
 
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Does sound like an alkali burn, doesn’t it?
I wonder how this will impact AWO Mass attendance next year…
I agree about using quality ashes in the future. Rather than suing, everyone should consider it a learning experience. And a mortification to kick off Lent.
 
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