In this video we revisit making trimethyl orthoformate using sodium metal this time. The improvement is NOT worth it. Related videos: Original video on how to make trimethyl orthoformate: https://youtu.be/TmUNTkP2nw0 How to make sodium: https://youtu.be/BsNoiFj3wlw ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8Bunxe39wY

Donate to NurdRage! Through Patreon (preferred): https://www.patreon.com/NurdRage Through IndieGoGo: http://igg.me/at/NurdRage/x/2114862 Through YouTube Fan Funding (click on support button): http://www.youtube.com/NurdRage Through Bitcoin: 1NurdRAge7PNR4ULrbrpcYvc9RC4LDp9pS We show how to make glow sticks and go through all the chemicals needed as well as how to make different colors. We also talk about the chemistry and scientifically research a proposed mechanism. To make the glow stick mix together the following: ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tItOOpyJP5k

I have a very exciting progress report: I've successfully made sodium by the alcohol catalyzed magnesium reduction approach! After many failures i decided to go to other end of the spectrum and try an experiment constructed under ideal conditions that would have far greater chances of working. While it would be thousands of times more expensive to make sodium this way, it would nonetheless prove or disprove whether it was possible. If it failed, it would show it was impossible or just very hard and thus not worth pursuing with my limited time. To do it, 10mL of 7-hexyl-7-tridecanol were placed in a flask with 0.5g sodium metal (to jump start the reaction). A reflux condenser was fitted over the flask and the contents heated until the sodium melted and dissolved. 3g of magnesium metal was added and heated for another 30 minutes. 4g of sodium hydroxide was added and heated for three hours. Tiny spheres of sodium formed as alcohol catalyzed the reaction of sodium hydroxide and magnesium metal. This was a success. And thus proves that we can make sodium this way and thus it's worth to keep trying for cheaper conditions. Related videos: ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4vDwQ4TyIc

In this video we make ammonia gas and dissolve it water from various chemicals easily accessible to the amateur. The first method is merely boiling household ammonia solution that's domestically available from the local supermarket. The ammonia boiled out is lead into cold water where it can be dissolved. While this did work the yield was quite low at around 2.5g per 100mL of household ammonia solution. From the 600mL of ammonia solution used only about 15g was obtained. The second method was to revisit the classic method to produce sodium nitrate from ammonium nitrate and sodium hydroxide by dissolving them both separately in water and then mixing them together and trying to boil out the ammonia. This worked terribly and i got almost no yield at all. The third method that seemed to work the best was to react urea and sodium hydroxide in water. This reaction was well-behaved, steady and easily performed with domestically available chemicals. Starting from 200mL water, 90g urea and 120g sodium hydroxide, about 38.6g of ammonia was obtained. I intend to use the ammonia in a future project to make nitric acid. Donate to NurdRage! Through Patreon (preferred): https://www.patreon.com/NurdRage Glassware generously provided by http://www.alchemylabsupply.com/ Use the discount code "nurdrage" for a 5% discount. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NurdRage Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/NurdRage/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nurdrageyoutube/ ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-jJ5QF-EVE