In this cool science experiment we make a thunderstorm in a test tube using alcohol, sulfuric acid and potassium permanganate.
WARNING:This experiment is extremely dangerous as it involves corrosive acids and flammable liquids with a small, but not negligible, chance of a damaging explosion. Face shields, goggles, fire extinguishers and fire safety protocols must be present. This should only be attempted by an experienced chemist.
Just get a test tube of 95% alcohol and carefully pipette a layer in a bottom of sulfuric acid. Then drop in some potassium permanganate crystals.
The reaction of the permanganate and the sulfuric acid produce manganese heptoxide that explodes on contact with organic matter like the alcohol. This also works with acetone. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nyzlt-dVgWQ
In this video we explore the science behind the well-known reaction of brake fluid and pool chlorine.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSNPtuAcTm0
We make ferric chloride, a well-known etchant for printed circuit boards.
Get 20g of iron. This can be in the form of nails or steel wool. It's best to use iron that's rusting, that indicates it doesn't have other metals like zinc or chromium that's normally used to prevent rust. To the iron add 100mL of water and 100mL of 12M hydrochloric acid. The iron will start reacting with the acid to produce hydrogen gas and ferrous chloride. If the reaction is proceeding too slowly for your liking you can heat up the mixture. A flask of cold water on top is useful to reduce evaporative losses.
Once the ferrous chloride solution is made it needs to be oxidized to ferric chloride. The fast way of doing this is to add 200mL of 3% hydrogen peroxide. Do this slowly with lots of stirring as the solution will heat up a lot. If it gets too hot to hold (about 60 celsius) stop and let it cool before adding the rest of the peroxide. If you don't want to use peroxide the slow and cheap way of oxidizing it is to bubble in air using an aquarium pump. It can take several days but it has the added advantage of keeping the solution concentrated.
After oxidation you'll have a solution of ferric chloride ready for use.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43Xsh9J7S-g
In this video we synthesize p-chlorobenzyl chloride from para-chlorotoluene we made in an earlier video.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DQuv6LjB80
In this video we make 2-(p-chlorophenyl)-3-oxopentanitrile which is step 5 in our synthesis of Pyrimethamine
Related videos:
Drying alcohol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMfs3e9OdZQ
Making sodium metal with domestically available chemicals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCrFFVVcPUI
Make p-chlorophenyl acetonitrile: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15ZkhhJcXXk
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oAZyhPx_ws
How to purify manganese sulfate that's been contaminated with iron sulfate.
The process is called selective precipitation. By carefully controlling the amount of hydroxides in solution, we can precipitate out the iron hydroxides but leave manganese sulfate in the solution.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLJgBSrhZI8
How to make a Lithium Thionyl Chloride Battery capable of generating 2.8v with enough current to power a LED.
Warning: Thionyl Chloride is EXTREMELY toxic and this experiment must be performed in a fumehood by an experienced chemist with proper safety precautions.
Lithium thionyl chloride batteries offer excellent shelf life (sometimes over a decade) and energy density. Their main drawback is they are not rechargeable but for low power applications like memory backup they are extremely useful. At very low power levels, they can outlast the device they are installed in, making the recharge issue a non-issue.
As seen in this experiment, they are also extremely simple to make.
A solution of lithium tetrachloroaluminate in thionyl chloride serves as the electrolyte and the lithium and carbon rods are simply inserted in. The cell can produce up to 3.5volts depending on the purity and quality of the components. Our cell in the video used waste chemicals we had leftover around the lab so the voltage is not that high. But it did produce enough power to light a small light emitting a diode.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTmp07tY9wQ
In this video we test more catalysts for making sodium and study their effects. We also attempt to find a better way of separating sodium from magnesium.
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In this video we make a chemical solution that changes color when exposed to air and reverses when sealed away from air.
In a vial about 20 mL in volume. Add 200 mg of copper chloride, 10 mL of hydrochloric acid (20% or higher in concentration) and 2 g copper metal. Seal the vial and let it sit overnight. It helps to include a stir bar and stir the solution overnight.
What's happening is the copper metal is reacting with the copper (II) chloride in solution to produce copper (I) chloride. This reaction is called comproportionation where the same substance in two different oxidation states react to form a single substance of intermediate oxidation.
Eventually the solution will go clear as all the copper (II) ions are converted to colorless copper (I) chloride.
To observe the air sensitive reaction, simply open the cap and let the solution sit on air. Oxygen in the air will react with the copper (I) ions to convert them to copper (II) ions which are green in hydrochloric acid.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_P2hdsJAaY