Misplaced decimal point leads to two students taking equivalent of 300 coffees at once

That’ll certainly wake you up in the morning.

A university in the United Kingdom has been fined 400,000 pounds (more than $500,000) after a science experiment gone wrong led two students participating in a study to ingest as much caffeine as nearly 345 energy drinks or 300 cups of coffee.

Northumbria University apologized for the incident in court Wednesday, which could have easily been fatal, per the BBC. Popular Science, citing the Journal for Caffeine Research, reports that the drug can be fatal in excess of 10 grams. The students, who were both 20 at the time in March 2015, were given 30 grams.

While the recipients, Alex Rossetto and Luke Parkin, immediately suffered “violent” side effects, per ITV News, they did survive. However, because of the overdose, both had to be put on dialysis, lost more than 20 pounds each and suffered months of side effects.

The fact that both men were athletes probably saved their lives, the judge presiding in the case said, per the London Telegraph.

Rossetto and Parkin were part of a university experiment on the affect of caffeine on exercise. They are now pursuing civil cases against the university.

The cause of the whole mix-up, according to the prosecution, was a decimal point.

More specifically, when technicians were calculating how much caffeine each person should get based off their body mass, they used a phone calculator and put the decimal point in the wrong place, causing the two to receive 100 times the intended amount, per the Newcastle Chronicle. In awarding the fine, the judge also said there was insufficient oversight on the part of the university to correct the mistake.

“(The university chancellors) are deeply sorry for the breach in this case,” the university’s defense lawyer said, per the BBC.

“The university community is a close one and they wish to emphasize that they take the welfare of their students and staff seriously.”

Based off an average of 95 milligrams per eight fluid ounces of coffee, both men would have had to drink nearly 20 gallons of coffee to reach the same levels of caffeine.

This story was originally published January 25, 2017 at 5:15 PM with the headline "Misplaced decimal point leads to two students taking equivalent of 300 coffees at once."