In this video we use cat litter and drain opener to make sodium silicate. This will be a valuable precursor to other silicon based chemicals in the future. Most cat litter is made from clay but "crystal" cat litter or "silica" cat litter is made from silica gel. Silica gel is amorphous silicon dioxide made by aqueous chemistry is very easy to convert into other silicon compounds. The process is quite straightforward: 60g of silica gel based cat litter is mixed with 100mL of water. Then 80g of sodium hydroxide is slowly added to dissolve the silica gel. What's produced is a solution of sodium silicate. Donate to NurdRage! Through Patreon (preferred): https://www.patreon.com/NurdRage Through Bitcoin: 1NurdRAge7PNR4ULrbrpcYvc9RC4LDp9pS ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip-jDuM25FE

In this video we dissolve a Platinum Bar in a combination of hydrochloric and nitric acids better known as aqua regia. First the 1 ounce platinum bar is covered with 200mL of 12M hydrochloric acid (about 37%). Then 25mL of 15M nitric acid (~70%) is added. The mixture is gently heated to near boiling. The acid will bubble as it reacts. Chemical gas bubbling like this looks more like fizzing and is distinct from boiling. When the bubbling almost stops (~4 hours) add another 25mL of nitric acid. Repeat as necessary. The dissolution is very slow and may take days for a compact bar of platinum. This reaction is usually much quicker for small bits of platinum scrap or powder. If more then 75mL of nitric acid has been added then alternate subsequent acid additions with 50mL hydrochloric acid and 25mL nitric acid. This is because both hydrochloric and nitric acids are consumed in side reactions. Eventually the platinum will dissolve into a red liquid while hot and when cooled will be an orange liquid. This crude solution of chloroplatinic acid and unreacted nitric and hydrochloric acids may be further processed into purified chloroplatinic acid. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APxL87X92t4

We show how to make Zinc powder by electrochemistry. Glassware generously provided by http://www.alchemylabsupply.com/ Use the discount code "copper" for a 5% discount. Donate to NurdRage! Through Patreon (preferred): https://www.patreon.com/NurdRage Through Bitcoin: 1NurdRAge7PNR4ULrbrpcYvc9RC4LDp9pS ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X9c6epL7HQ

In this video we fail at making thermite from the gallium infused aluminum. The objective was to see if the weak gallium infused aluminum could be used to make aluminum powder without going through the arduous filing step necessary for bulk aluminum. Turns out the gallium infused aluminum does crumble easily, especially with raised temperature, but doesn't become fine enough for thermite. Only filing bulk aluminum made it fine enough for thermite. Alternatively, just buying aluminum is usually the better option. Another thing we tried was making gallium iron oxide thermite. Gallium has similar properties to aluminum so this wasn't a crazy idea. Turns out though gallium produces far too little energy to initiate a self-sustaining thermite reaction so that was a fail as well. Donate to NurdRage! Through Patreon (preferred): https://www.patreon.com/NurdRage Through Bitcoin: 1NurdRAge7PNR4ULrbrpcYvc9RC4LDp9pS ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51pAZxuqpUY