Sweeney Hall was evacuated Monday afternoon due to an accidental acid spill.

During class in Room 3132, a student was pouring hydrochloric acid from a glass bottle when it slipped from the student’s hand and shattered on the floor, said Annette Hacker, program director of university relations.

Hydrochloric acid is a solution of hydrogen chloride gas in water, and is highly corrosive, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. It is also one of the prime components of stomach acid.

The Ames Fire Department, assisted by a hazmat team, was ready to go into the building at approximately 2 p.m. and neutralize the acid, said ISU Police Capt. Rob Bowers. He said ISU Environmental Health and Safety would clean up the spill after the fire department neutralized it.

Plastic suits were being put on before the fire department went in.

“It’s precautionary for them to suit up,” Bowers said.

He said the suits were being worn to make sure the entry was safe.

Sweeney Hall remained closed until the spill was cleaned up. It was re-opened at approximately 3:10 p.m., Hacker said.

Charles Wakefield, senior in computer engineering, was in the building when the accident occurred. He said he remembered hearing an alarm and evacuating the building, but alarms didn’t sound in the entire building.

“My concern is why didn’t the alarms go off,” Wakefield said. “They should have, but they failed to do so.”

Wakefield said he wasn’t worried about the acid as much as what it would react with.

A local laboratory alarm was sounded, but that alarm doesn’t link directly to ISU Police, said ISU Police Cmdr. Gene Deisinger.

When the incident happened, students called ISU Police to inform them of the spill, Deisinger said.

He said he wasn’t aware of any alarms that aren’t working and the cause may just be that the alarms aren’t linked to each other.

The Ames Fire Department and ISU Environmental Health and Safety declined to comment.