New software shows safest way to store chemicals, or dispose of them

When chemicals are carelessly stored, mixed together or even disposed of, fires, explosions and injuries can result. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2019, it's estimated that at least 4,500 injuries a year happen not in a lab but at home when people mix the wrong swimming pool chemicals together.  But a new open-source computer program called ChemStor might prevent these dangerous situations from happening -- in labs, offices, schools and homes -- by warning users whether certain chemicals are unsafe to mix or store together. Developed by engineers at the University of California at Riverside, the new program uses a database from the US Environmental Protection Agency of 9,800 chemicals that are classified into different reactive groups. The program then sets the chemicals apart using different colors.