7 Science Facts That Ruin Your Favourite Movies (But 2 That Make It All Better)

7. Fight Club: That's Not How To Treat A Burn

It's a film that ushered a generation of angsty teenagers into salty adulthood, but it would seem that Tyler Durden hasn't totally read up on his chemical safety guidelines.

In the Medical Management Guidelines for Sodium Hydroxide, we are advised to "remove all contact with the substance containing lye [...] rinse the skin under cool water for at least 15 minutes to flush the lye away from the burn location." The reason for this is because, when lye is neutralised with an acid, an exothermic reaction takes place and it "liberates substantial heat, which may be sufficient to ignite combustible materials".

Basically, it gets hot as balls, could ignite, and will burn your burn.

To be fair to Tyler, there is some evidence that neutralizing the burn might ultimately bring the pH of the tissue down more effectively, but these test were carefully done in labs by people in white coats, not in grotty kitchens by figments of your imagination.

Maybe just don't play with dangerously caustic chemicals, then you will never have to rely on this information.