Warning: Nitric acid is corrosive and nitrogen dioxide is toxic. This experiment should be performed outside or in a fume hood.
Take 1 gram of highly highly pure manganese dioxide and add 1.45g of oxalic acid dihydrate. Then add in 5 mL of water. The oxalic acid will react with the manganese dioxide to form manganese carbonate along with water and carbon dioxide. When the reaction slows down, carefully add in 1.7mL of nitric acid a few drops at a time. The nitric acid will neutralize the manganese carbonate and produce manganese nitrate and carbon dioxide. Pipette the liquid to another container, away from the excess manganese dioxide.
Evaporate the solution until it just starts to precipitate/crystallized.
To make the electrodes take a sanded titanium strip and immerse in concentrated hydrochloric acid until it bubbles evenly. Wash off the excess acid with distilled water. Apply a layer of manganese manganese solution to the titanium and then place the titanium on the hot plate set to least 300 celsius. Press down with a rod or spatula and as the electrode heats up the manganese nitrate will decompose into manganese dioxide and release nitrogen dioxide. When the electrode stops belching out brown nitrogen dioxide, immerse the electrode in water and wipe away any loosely bound manganese dioxide. Then apply another layer of manganese nitrate and repeat the process as many times as necessary.
A modern redo of the very first video ever posted on this channel - https://youtu.be/kH19EIf5GtE
Thanks for 10 great years.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im9z8NT96Iw
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Use the discount code "copper" for a 5% discount.
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In this video we synthesize propionic acid from methyl ethyl ketone and bleach.
An important prior video you see first is creation of chloroform by the haloform reaction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvkuqLxQd2c
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDMuQtglPIw
In this video we're going to use silica in crystal cat litter, sodium hydroxide in drain opener, and copper sulfate in root killer to make the famous chemical garden experiment.
Get 60g of silica gel based cat litter. This is often called "crystal cat litter". Add to it 30g of sodium hydroxide and 100mL of water. The reaction will get hot so be careful. This reaction forms sodium silicate. You may have to leave it overnight if it goes slowly. But few grains of leftover cat litter is acceptable.
Dilute the mixture by adding another 800mL of water. This cannot be added earlier as the mixture must be highly concentrated to successfully make sodium silicate.
Thoroughly mix the solution.
Now drop in a dozen large crystals of copper sulfate (around 1-2cm size). It's recommended to separate them for best looking results.
Over the course of two days the crystals will seem to sprout and grow as the reaction progresses.
What's happening is quite fascinating. As soon as you drop the crystals in, the surface of the copper sulfate dissolves but immediately reacts with the sodium silicate solution to form solid copper silicate. This coats the crystal so it's encased in a layer of copper silicate. But the silicate layer isn't perfectly impervious or rigid, water can still diffuse in. As it diffuses in it dissolves the copper sulfate underneath and forms a solution. This concentrated solution pushes out as the water continues to diffuse in and increases in pressure. The copper silicate membrane bulges out but eventually it can't contain the pressure and ruptures. The copper sulfate solution rushes out of the rupture and instantly reacts with sodium silicate solution to form another layer of copper silicate.
This layer is newer and weaker so as the pressure builds again it too will rupture and the process repeats. This gives the appearance of a growing structure. It grows upward because the density of the copper sulfate solution is lower than that of the sodium silicate.
Overall this looks like a growing stalagmite of copper silicate.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1ZWJCuJAYA
In this video we make a blob of gallium "beat" like some weird alien heart attack.
To do it, add 2g of gallium to a 10mL solution of 6M sulfuric acid and warm it up on a hot plate to 50 Celsius. It'll pull together to form a sphere of gallium. Now carefully touch the gallium with an Iron nail or iron wire. What's happening is first the gallium is reacting the sulfuric to form gallium sulfate that sticks to the surface and increases the surface tension to the point that it pulls itself together into a sphere. Then when an iron nail touches it the iron transfers electrons to the gallium (while being oxidized itself and thus dissolving slightly) and this causes the gallium sulfate to reduce back to gallium. The surface tension drops and the gallium drops away, If the iron is held just right, the gallium will drop away from the iron. The gallium then react with the sulfuric acid again and create gallium sulfate and pull itself back into a sphere. The cycle will repeat.
LINK REMOVED - I am not affiliated with the supplier at this time. Cheaper sources of gallium can be found on ebay and amazon.com
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8Tc-5pUbH8
We get Zinc, Carbon Electrodes and Manganese dioxide from a lantern battery.
We'll be using all of these components in upcoming videos.
Zinc is a good metal for battery experiments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id3tL2iI0Vw
Carbon electrodes are good for electrolysis.
Manganese dioxide will be used to make potassium permanganate.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knc1lSupAwQ
In this video we make a working platinum electrode using easy to get materials. Signup for your FREE trial to The Great Courses Plus here: http://ow.ly/qLR730acnj2
The Great Courses Plus is currently available to watch through a web browser to almost anyone in the world and optimized for the US market. The Great Courses Plus is currently working to both optimize the product globally and accept credit card payments globally.
Related videos:
FAKE Platinum electrode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDQuP4oCOgo
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In this video I stick my hand into a jar full of molten sodium acetate and have it crystallize with my hand inside.
This works because the substance is not "ice" as in water, but a different substance called sodium acetate trihydrate. Normally solid sodium acetate was melted into a liquid that was then supercooled to below its melting point. In this state, adding nucleation sites, like the crystals on my hand, rapidly causes the rest of the sodium acetate to crystallize.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HDZI2rwyHg
In this video we Make Nitric Acid from Sodium Bisulfate and Sodium Nitrate. I actually try a few methods like dissolving them in water first and varying the ...
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqzrTxshOXM
In this video i mostly rant about why the world needs understand that i'm an utter failure.
In case YouTube decides this channel is no longer tolerable. Here are other social media sites where the status of NurdRage and its future will be posted:
https://twitter.com/nurdrage (I'm drunkenly tweeting here most often).
https://www.facebook.com/NurdRageYoutube/
https://www.instagram.com/nurdrageyoutube/
If you're incredibly sadomasochistic and want to sit through the most boring failures on the planet, here are some that i still have.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRP735DPdJw