Oxygen, anyone? I can't breathe?

Question

What is the strangest stories you have heard about oxygen, actinium, and chromium. The first one to answer all three gets the best answer.

Answer 1

I’ve heard the liquid oxygen is pale blue and that it is drawn to a magnet. That’s pretty weird.

My wife had to figure out why a particular Chrome plating tank was doing so much better than three others. She tried all sorts of analysis couldn’t figure it out. Until one day she was talking to the Supervisor during the lunch break. While they spoke, she watched an Operator through his lunch bag in the “good” tank (he liked to watch it dissolve in the dilute sulfuric acid). She had him trash the other tanks in a similar way the next day – problem solved. That was weird.

Actinium is harder being that it is radio active and so rare. But I find one entry in my Hawley’s Chemical Dictionary weird. It lists “hazard: radio active bone-seeking poison”. I have never seen that type of hazard listed be before. The description is almost alchemical – something like stimulates black bile production.

Answer 2

Haven't heard any on chromium or actinium. but I head a good one about oxygen involving a patient ducking under the covers of his hospital bed to have a smoke while the oxygen mask was running. It apparently caused quite a large explosion.