Make Nitric Acid by Thermal Decomposition of Copper Nitrate

In this video we the thermal decomposition of copper to directly produce nitric acid without using any other acid.
Normally to make nitric acid you react a nitrate salt with a strong acid like sulfuric acid. But what if we wanted to make it without any acids at all? Copper nitrate has the interesting property that if it's heated it will decompose into nitrogen dioxide and oxygen, two components needed for nitric acid. Best of all copper nitrate itself can be made with domestically available that don't require acid either.
First calcium ammonium nitrate is boiled with calcium hydroxide to produce pure calcium nitrate. This is done only to remove ammonia and not necessary if calcium nitrate can be obtained directly. Calcium ammonium nitrate is a fertilizer. The resulting calcium nitrate is reacted with copper sulfate which is available as a root killer. The resulting copper nitrate solution and calcium sulfate are filtered and the copper nitrate is boiled to remove most of the water until it starts to change color to green/blue.
The copper nitrate is then hooked up a distillation apparatus and heated until it decomposes. The nitrogen dioxide gas produced is lead into water to dissolve. The nitric acid produced is then purified by distillation. Yield is between 60%-80%
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Пікірлер: 263

  • @OrbitalRose_01
    @OrbitalRose_013 жыл бұрын

    taking precautions to avoid accidentally making explosives? yep sounds like nitrogen chemsitry lol

  • @NurdRage
    @NurdRage3 жыл бұрын

    I'll be honest, this was a terrible TERRIBLE way to make nitric acid because filtering calcium sulfate is painfully slow. Do this once and you'll never want to do it again for the rest of your life.

  • @99Chemicals

    @99Chemicals

    3 жыл бұрын

    Wonder if the cheesecloth method would work at all here. Take your filter paper full of slurry, kinda ball it and twist the filter paper at the top, then wrap that in cheesecloth and use a weight to press out the water. Alternatively use your hands to squeeze it but that's much more likely to burst the filter paper.

  • @highlander723

    @highlander723

    3 жыл бұрын

    HOLY SHIT YOUR ALIVE!!!

  • @Marwie94

    @Marwie94

    3 жыл бұрын

    @Horizon585 That only applies to red / white fuming nitric acid. Not azeotropic 68% nitric acid

  • @custos3249

    @custos3249

    3 жыл бұрын

    Heeeey, you ran with my comment/question from like 4 years ago! Definitely not the direction I thought it'd go, but still cool to see.

  • @sully81j

    @sully81j

    3 жыл бұрын

    From someone who is poor and loves chemistry, I am willing to spend more time making chemicals in order to save money. I love this video.

  • @tiny_toilet
    @tiny_toilet3 жыл бұрын

    These videos investigating various methods to produce reagents especially valuable to amateurs, like nitric acid, are a big part of what makes this channel so great. Good looking out, NurdRage. And, yeah, anything with calcium sulfate involved is always awful.

  • @aetius31
    @aetius313 жыл бұрын

    A quick tip to remove calcium sulfate from glass frits: Just rince it with an ammonium carbonate solution and then rince again with dilute HCl. The CaSO4 is converted to amorphous calcium carbonate (that doesnt stick) by double displacement and the HCl convert it to soluble CaCl2

  • @thenuke4195

    @thenuke4195

    3 жыл бұрын

    Not worth it

  • @onemellofahess
    @onemellofahess3 жыл бұрын

    I knew there was a good reason to save that copper nitrate solution from purifying sterling silver scrap.... Thanks NurdRage!

  • @Enjoymentboy

    @Enjoymentboy

    3 жыл бұрын

    I was literally thinking the exact same thing while watching this video. Currently I convert mine to KNO3 by adding KCL but this video still gets the mind working on new ways to look at things.

  • @bormisha

    @bormisha

    3 жыл бұрын

    Are you also watching Sreetips?

  • @CrimFerret

    @CrimFerret

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@bormisha I'm sure he could do it, but his copper solution often has other things dissolved in it and he uses so much extra water that I doubt it would be worth the time by the time he evaporated most of the excess off.

  • @lazersteve

    @lazersteve

    3 жыл бұрын

    I'm glad NR finally tried this one! I posted a comment not long ago about this process on Nile Reds channel (or maybe here, can't recall). I have been recycling my Copper sulfate/nitrate solutions this way for many years in my refining work. A more interesting aspect to me of the usefulness of copper nitrate is when it is used directly in refining of copper based scrap while producing the nitric acid in situ as opposed to separating out the nitric as shown here. For us refiners there is really no reason to actually distill out nitric acid as it will continually be reused as it is converted from sulfate to nitrate ad infinitum during the daily refining processing merely by adding copper nitrate and sulfuric acid to the reaction bucket. The refiner ends up with a continuous cycle process that dissolves the copper base metal and leaves behind the gold foils we all know and love. I have found that the normal day to night temperature swings are enough to crystallize out the copper sulfate needed. These crystals are harvested daily in the AM and converted as shown here to fresh copper nitrate. As a side note I find the blue color of the copper nitrate to be a great end point indicator when rinsing the calcium sulfate in the copper nitrate regeneration step. There is another method NR has not shown on video which is useful for silver cells: conversion of the copper nitrate in solution to nitric acid via electricity. I wrote about this method years ago on GRF for all those reading that are in the refining world. Great video NR! You rock! Steve

  • @DiverCTH

    @DiverCTH

    3 жыл бұрын

    Did Mrs. Sreetips get onto you about hoarding reagents again? XD

  • @FromGregg
    @FromGregg3 жыл бұрын

    You should’ve mentioned that copper nitrate is the largest waste product produced from refining silver! I’ve got a few gallons of the stuff that I’m currently using as electrolyte to make copper crystals via electrolysis. It does look like a royal pain though but at least I know I can downsize and concentrate my copper nitrate volume by removing the water. Thanks for the tips!

  • @jamesg1367
    @jamesg13673 жыл бұрын

    Copper nitrate can be produced by electrolytic methods, directly from a copper anode and a nitrate salt, with the help of a clay-pot membrane. It's slow but not difficult. Given copper nitrate from that source, which incidentally is much more pure, perhaps this decomposition method could be regarded more favorably. Thanks for another great video that adds nicely to the marketplace of "chem" ideas and techniques!

  • @lucazsy
    @lucazsy3 жыл бұрын

    "Personally, I vow to never do this again for the rest of my life" . I am gonna make this my doctoral dissertation epigraph. Thank you.

  • @deadbzeus
    @deadbzeus3 жыл бұрын

    I remember watching your videos many years ago and loving them, I just started chemistry in college and you are one of the main inspirations for me. Thank you for all of your great content and hard work over the years.

  • @captainmidnite93
    @captainmidnite933 жыл бұрын

    Thank you. I get the copper nitrate left over after cementing out silver. Since I have to make the nitric acid myself for the refining process I can get some back from what I considered a waste product!

  • @kennedy67951
    @kennedy679513 жыл бұрын

    I Appreciate your shearing your Knowledge with all that want to Know things they don't. Like Myself. I like what your doing. I've been interested in Chemistry for almost all my long Life but just couldn't Afford Schooling. Your work give me a Brief look at how things work and Processes Involved in Our everyday Life. Thanks Mate for your time in the Production of these fine Mini Doc's. I do hope you can, and will continue this fine Art.

  • @CzarownicaMarta
    @CzarownicaMarta3 жыл бұрын

    Did someone say "toxic"? All four thumbs up.

  • @CzarownicaMarta

    @CzarownicaMarta

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@cvspvr Best lucky charm to carry around with you at all times :)

  • @CzarownicaMarta

    @CzarownicaMarta

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@cvspvr !!! so you were serious about that one thumb? Man, be carefull.

  • @CzarownicaMarta

    @CzarownicaMarta

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@cvspvr Good. Girls like fingers. Don't lose any. I'd love to make explosives but garage chemistry is scarry lol.

  • @CzarownicaMarta

    @CzarownicaMarta

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@cvspvr A pharmacist huh? With that amount of fingers you should be a pianist. I will not experiment with chemistry without proper equipment, knowing my luck I would make a bomb just by boiling salty water.

  • @joshmyer9
    @joshmyer93 жыл бұрын

    Copious amounts, or cuprous amounts?

  • @user-py9cy1sy9u

    @user-py9cy1sy9u

    3 жыл бұрын

    Stop

  • @chaos-ivy

    @chaos-ivy

    3 жыл бұрын

    Continue

  • @eric.is.online

    @eric.is.online

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@user-py9cy1sy9u hammer time?

  • @tinobassi59

    @tinobassi59

    3 жыл бұрын

    Do you like to go to the amusement park and ride the ferrous wheel as well?

  • @5roundsrapid263

    @5roundsrapid263

    3 жыл бұрын

    I prefer tin salts, I’m a total stan.

  • @svenp6504
    @svenp65043 жыл бұрын

    This could be useful with small scale precious metal refining... Copper nitrate (mixed with nickel, tin, etc) is a common waste product, this looks to be a straightforward way to recover a decent amount of the expensive nitric acid.

  • @Alondro77

    @Alondro77

    2 жыл бұрын

    Add a little HCl to the nitrate waste and then plop in a cleaned piece of iron. All the copper will reduce out. You'll need to fiddle with the amount of HCl to add, but that's not really difficult. Just add a little at a time until the copper starts to form on the iron, which is pretty obvious! Then you have mostly iron nitrate, a yellow-green solution, which decomposes at a low temp (only 80C). It's much easier to produce NO2 that way, and you get the copper back quickly. In fact, the iron nitrate solution can decompose directly into iron oxide and nitric acid, under the proper conditions, meaning you just need to collect the acid vapor in your distillation apparatus!

  • @Artemis-zl5cs
    @Artemis-zl5cs3 жыл бұрын

    props to whoever put proper subtitles on the video!

  • @NiceleyDone
    @NiceleyDone3 жыл бұрын

    Yassss!!! Back In Business!! excellent vid flow, definitely curious on the high yield. totally reasonable not wanting to repeat the process.

  • @RicoElectrico
    @RicoElectrico3 жыл бұрын

    Next episode: NR making nitric acid out of thin air (no kidding, you can do this with an electric arc, Cody did it).

  • @mohammednabeel987

    @mohammednabeel987

    3 жыл бұрын

    Birkeland Eyde Process

  • @NormReitzel

    @NormReitzel

    3 жыл бұрын

    If you're actually going to use this method, I recommend using an oxygen concentrator to increase oxygen content of inlet gas to around 60% - the yields will be much higher. Used concentrators (that don't work well) are fairly available on one of the auction sites. Not working "well" is actually an advantage here, as what one is aiming for is 66% O2 and 33% N2 across the arc.

  • @teresashinkansen9402

    @teresashinkansen9402

    3 жыл бұрын

    ​@@NormReitzel Having a high current and relatively low voltage arc increases the efficiency dramatically, the key is to make it stable which is the difficult part, reason why many get low efficiency is that they use very high voltages and low currents like neon sign transformers, the arc is stable due the high voltage but very inefficient in turning power into heat.

  • @NormReitzel

    @NormReitzel

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@teresashinkansen9402 I concur. However, it's not just kinetic. You end up with hot gas, and there is no way I know of to instantly reduce the temperature of the gas fast enough to preclude the reverse reaction. In some way, you're faced with a compromise between the kinetic result - which in air, is 30% max, and the equilibrium result which is much much lower. Pumping extra oxygen into the gas stream helps by increasing the kinetic yield.

  • @teresashinkansen9402

    @teresashinkansen9402

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@NormReitzel Yeah that's true, quenching of the hot gases is vital for a good efficiency. A way to appreciate the importance of this is when a pot of cool water sits on a gas stove, you can smell the nitric oxides pretty well however if the pot has no water and becomes very hot the smell is almost non existent. So it could be analogous, just after the gas leaves the arc zone a water cooled wall with small fins to quench the hot gas. Hope to experiment with higher oxygen concentrations eventually it seems like a great way to increase yield even further and easily.

  • @thegenerichotdog3575
    @thegenerichotdog35753 жыл бұрын

    I know nothing about chemistry yet binge all your videos. Keep it up! Subscribed:)

  • @cjprestidge1773
    @cjprestidge177310 ай бұрын

    Incredibly helpful explorations, but that particular shade of blue in the copper nitrate solution is unique and mesmerizing!

  • @Brandon-sc1fz
    @Brandon-sc1fz3 жыл бұрын

    I will never do any of this stuff on my own. I know little to nothing about what is going on. But I still watch. The unknown is still fascinating.

  • @drmarine1771
    @drmarine17713 жыл бұрын

    Best chanel, I get excited when i get notification from Nurdrage.

  • @utentedigooification
    @utentedigooification3 жыл бұрын

    Great video as always!

  • @FailedSquare
    @FailedSquare3 жыл бұрын

    Awesome idea, its good to document this since not everyone is gonna be able to use the other easier methods.

  • @priyadarshiraj6227
    @priyadarshiraj62273 жыл бұрын

    I don't always watch NurdRage... but when I do... I make fuming Nitric acid

  • @sciencerust315
    @sciencerust3153 жыл бұрын

    Damn. Send me your rusted equipment, ill refinish and bring them back to life then mail em back to you. I just cant handle seeing them like this all the time. Breaks my heart dude!

  • @asstronix6657
    @asstronix66573 жыл бұрын

    Omg you still alive 🙏🙏🙏 these is a wonderfull day! Didn't see the video but liked it and also a good video 😀😅😁🙏🙏🙏

  • @beanlets

    @beanlets

    3 жыл бұрын

    Stop with the excessive emojis

  • @genericalfishtycoon3853

    @genericalfishtycoon3853

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@beanlets That would require OP to become sentient/self aware. I don't think it's going to happen.

  • @genericalfishtycoon3853

    @genericalfishtycoon3853

    3 жыл бұрын

    If he reads too many cancerous comments like this one he won't be for long. Stop trying to give NurdRage brain aids.

  • @viktorgames2737
    @viktorgames27373 жыл бұрын

    Last time I was this early, this channel had around 1000 subs. :O

  • @discardedbysociety
    @discardedbysociety3 жыл бұрын

    The return of the king

  • @AJ-sj3cj
    @AJ-sj3cj3 жыл бұрын

    finally, I get what i was looking for thanks !!

  • @miketoreno4969
    @miketoreno49693 жыл бұрын

    Thank you sir, i really like your videos

  • @joek511
    @joek5112 жыл бұрын

    I have done this many times. Vacuum flasks work great. I use fish tank air stones in the water. A hole in the cork for the feed line, attach 2 check vales to the vacuum nipple. The first one to allow air in, then a second one to allow the gas out to another flask. you can chain as many as you want together and never get back flow. 3 seems to completely scrub all the No2. Don't use tap water,

  • @chrisbusenkell
    @chrisbusenkell2 жыл бұрын

    Another great video, thanks for all your work. With regards to the manufacture of nitric acid, years ago I tried all the routes that involved easy to obtain reagents and minima l technical equipment. At the end, I was left wondering how they ever managed to create a sizeable, pure amount of HNO3. None of the processes are technically difficult, time consuming perhaps. Nor did any involve a reaction too difficult for a 1 semester high school student to understand. And yet, my yields were far less efficient than yours and always left me convinced I had made a nitric acid contaminated with nitrous acid. Anyhow, God bless the modern era, the internet and credit cards...the peace of mind buying it pure and concentrated is a blessing. Thanks again.

  • @MyriadCelestia
    @MyriadCelestia3 жыл бұрын

    thanks for the videos nurdrage!

  • @aga5897
    @aga58973 жыл бұрын

    Superb Applied Chemistry ! You would certainly have been the winner of the 2015 Druken aga Nitric Acid Challenge !

  • @NurdRage

    @NurdRage

    3 жыл бұрын

    I thought that challenge required that no nitrates at all are used

  • @aga5897

    @aga5897

    3 жыл бұрын

    ​@@NurdRage The ONLY ideas that came out were alternative routes to a nitrate and/or sulphuric acid. Eventually i upped the ante and relaxed the rules. You would have won.

  • @fireveno
    @fireveno3 жыл бұрын

    I love when other experiments are hard or dont work

  • @sparraAus
    @sparraAus3 жыл бұрын

    I have gallons of copper nitrate as a waste product from silver production, (i scrounge abandoned mines from the 1800's for remaining ore).

  • @FreelancerFreak

    @FreelancerFreak

    3 жыл бұрын

    Isn't that dangerous 🤔

  • @sparraAus

    @sparraAus

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@FreelancerFreak sure is. But i have all my safety equip inc. Air quality meters and Geiger counter. And did geology.

  • @Alondro77

    @Alondro77

    2 жыл бұрын

    Getting copper back is easy. If you add a little HCl, the chloride facilitates the reduction of copper with scrap iron (I use angle iron or uncoated rebar, mostly). Then you get iron nitrate solution and pretty pure copper. The iron nitrate decomposes into iron oxide and nitrogen dioxide at only 80C, so it makes the nitric acid recovery process much simpler. You can bubble the NO2 gas through an aquarium bubble stone into a tall column filled with cheap 3% hydrogen peroxide (I can get it at typical club stores for about $1/liter) which greatly increases nitric acid recovery, as the hydrogen peroxide directly forms nitric acid upon exposure to nitrogen dioxide.

  • @tahajaafar6321
    @tahajaafar63213 жыл бұрын

    Nurdrage! I LOVE YOU

  • @twocvbloke
    @twocvbloke3 жыл бұрын

    Sounds like a case where "Work smart, not hard" is needed here, like using a neon transformer to generate nitric acid from thin air, even I'm fascinated by how that process works, kind of like magic to me, but with electrickery... :D

  • @Alondro77

    @Alondro77

    2 жыл бұрын

    Drop a piece of palladium into a mix of oxygen and ammonia. ;]

  • @ninil.9287
    @ninil.92873 жыл бұрын

    I would love to see a nitric acid video out of thin air from you (Ref. Cody). Can't stand the way Cody measured the yield through pinches of baking soda :D I recently read about the Zeldovich mechanism describing the thermal NO formation from air. Interestingly the formation through a nitrogen is much faster than that through an oxygen radical at high temperatures, which would basically mean that lower levels of oxygen should form more NOx Gases than a stoichiometric mixture of 67 % O2 and 33 % N2 could do. Sadly, I don't have a lab to test it.

  • @UpcycleElectronics
    @UpcycleElectronics3 жыл бұрын

    Hey Nurd Rage Do you have any advice on fumigation with sulfuryl fluoride? There is a flood of official documentation available via web search, and the typical pseudoscience hysteria as well. What I haven't found are how the detection sensors work, and a layperson friendly breakdown of the post fumigation process chemistry. The California regulation documentation mentions the sensitivity of a few sensor systems by brand and product, labeling some as adequate and others as inadequate. So what's the deal? What are the detection processes and calibration?

  • @onogrirwin
    @onogrirwin3 жыл бұрын

    FUCK YEAH HES BACK!

  • @regisjames3016
    @regisjames30163 жыл бұрын

    good!

  • @eastoningram5616
    @eastoningram56163 жыл бұрын

    Great video. What is your opinion on Nathaniel Hawthorn's "The Birthmark" and its attitude towards chemistry?

  • @gayusschwulius8490
    @gayusschwulius84903 жыл бұрын

    Could you do the Birkeland-Process?

  • @chemistryscuriosities
    @chemistryscuriosities3 жыл бұрын

    Could you do a Piperizine synthesis maybe even from cat/dog dewormer?

  • @Saumiiiii
    @Saumiiiii3 жыл бұрын

    POG

  • @user-py9cy1sy9u

    @user-py9cy1sy9u

    3 жыл бұрын

    kzread.info/dash/bejne/eoGnlJKhqM2XYtY.html

  • @geeljireoomaar6140
    @geeljireoomaar614011 ай бұрын

    Thank you Nurd Rage. I want ask you a question. I watched your video about reverse osmosis. Is it possible to use that membrane in electrolysis Thanks

  • @personious_k
    @personious_k3 жыл бұрын

    Nice

  • @stevenclark2188
    @stevenclark21883 жыл бұрын

    Is hydrochloric acid strong enough to have a path? And would purifying the output of vinegar and table salt be less labor intensive than filtering rootkiller?

  • @hopeforescape884
    @hopeforescape8843 жыл бұрын

    Would it be possible to just leave the CaSO4 mixed in with the Cu(NO3)2? And skip the filtering ,since it doesen't intervine in the decomposition reaction.

  • @julasxziom6386
    @julasxziom63863 жыл бұрын

    What about stability of nitrates? Is this safe to heating it? I'm not sure about calcium nitrate- i used it for making liquid NO2/N2O4 by heating, but it can detonate like ammonium nitrate if heated enough?

  • @koukouzee2923
    @koukouzee29233 жыл бұрын

    Is there anyway to build the no2 or no3- with domestic Chemistry? (not the spark way)

  • @Xenon_shrimp
    @Xenon_shrimp3 жыл бұрын

    awsome

  • @spacecomma4678
    @spacecomma46783 жыл бұрын

    Amazon sells basic copper nitrate, which I believe is the intermediate when decomposing the hydrates to NO2, for $9 USD per lb (+ $17.50 shipping). If it wasn’t for the shipping this might be a cost effective lab-scale method. I can get conc nitric locally for $70 per liter - still kinda pricey but gonna keep this method in mind. Thanx for the video. 👍

  • @katiefrisk980

    @katiefrisk980

    3 жыл бұрын

    i'm not sure that's worth it, since the first step of decomposing the hydrates to basic copper nitrate accounts for 75% of the theoretical yield of nitric acid

  • @spacecomma4678

    @spacecomma4678

    3 жыл бұрын

    Katie Frisk I’ll give it a whirl one of these wknds and, if it’s feasible, post a vid on my channel.

  • @spacecomma4678

    @spacecomma4678

    3 жыл бұрын

    Katie Frisk ... never mind, I crunched the numbers and it always comes back to economy of scale. Basically 1 mole of copper nitrate (basic or not) makes 1 mole of nitric acid. Assuming a final concentration of 70% (w/w) HNO3, then according to online prices, you can start breaking even if buying in the 100 kg range of reagent (+ your labor). So as always: don’t make it if you can buy it. But I’m always looking for someone to have an a-ha moment and discover something new. BTW, Science Company sells 2.2 L for $87 and I’m a couple miles away, so there you have it. Cheers 🥂

  • @SIGSEGV1337
    @SIGSEGV13373 жыл бұрын

    Can you do a similar thing with the thermal decomposition of urea?

  • @ARandomTroll
    @ARandomTroll3 жыл бұрын

    you should try catalytic oxidation of ammonia. i read on sciencemadness, that some transition metal salts can be used as catalyst instead of platinum. pure oxygen might also give a decent yield.

  • @sherannaidoo2712
    @sherannaidoo27123 жыл бұрын

    Calcium nitrate is sold in most garden stores for feeding tomatoes. You'll find copper sulphate there too...

  • @Prchemist06
    @Prchemist063 жыл бұрын

    Can making salts like potassium nitrate or other nitrates be possible to make by just using ammonium hydroxide or chloride with other potassium or sodium salts

  • @FrietjeOorlog
    @FrietjeOorlog3 жыл бұрын

    You said you couldn't use suction for the filtration. Why?

  • @sargon6000
    @sargon60003 жыл бұрын

    @NurdRage You could also try thermal decomposition of magnesium nitrate hexahydrate. It's sold as fertilizer so it should be available. The thermal decomposition of Mg(NO3)2*6H2O is 89 °C, so it's fairly low.

  • @NurdRage

    @NurdRage

    3 жыл бұрын

    actually i tried it, it needs 300 celsius to start, it's doable, but so much harder than copper nitrate

  • @sargon6000

    @sargon6000

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@NurdRage Ah, so the hexahydrate doesn't decompose completely? Just partially until all the water is driven off and then you're left with, I assume basic magnesium nitrate and some anhydrous magnesium nitrate? Since the latter needs 300 C to completely decompose.

  • @jadentonkin466
    @jadentonkin4662 жыл бұрын

    can i add some anti freeze to water then super chill it in the freezer and run it through would it be possible to get 82% yield with just 1 capture set up ?? also surely you can use sodium hydroxide instead of calcium hydroxide... sodium is more reactive then copper so it should still work in the displacement

  • @timeisajourney6062
    @timeisajourney60623 жыл бұрын

    mercury fulminat, pls inquire how to modulate, thank you

  • @joeybonneau1360
    @joeybonneau13603 жыл бұрын

    What is the specific gravity measured of the final acid? Or are you measuring total yield based on volume of reactants? I'm confused... Anything over 70% HNO3 seems unlikely to be obtained by this setup tho 80% maybe possible with all the ice consumed. Would be nice if you did a few qualitative and quantitative tests with the HNO3 produced. Great channel! Thumbs up all the way.

  • @OldOwlCraftworks
    @OldOwlCraftworks Жыл бұрын

    Could this also be done with Zinc Nitrate? Distilling off Nitrate Acid and leaving behind Zinc Oxide?

  • @ucantSQ
    @ucantSQАй бұрын

    I've seen a similar method, except the nitrogen dioxide was created with a high voltage discharge and forced into the water with a fan or something. I always figured whenever I needed HNO3, I'd get it that way.

  • @courtneymauboules9643
    @courtneymauboules96433 жыл бұрын

    Can anyone suggest a book that would cover the lab process of creating various bases, acids, and metal salts? I'd like to add it to my SHTF prepper library but I can't seem to find anything but textbooks, looking for more of a handbook/cookbook style

  • @joshborchardt5050
    @joshborchardt50502 жыл бұрын

    My favorite part was when you said: I vow to never do this again...lol Peace be thy Journey and I hope life finds you good.

  • @rickydona919
    @rickydona9193 жыл бұрын

    would it be easier to make copper nitrate by just dissolving copper in nitric acid?

  • @brazilianambassadordale8223
    @brazilianambassadordale8223 Жыл бұрын

    There has to be a method to prevent flow back... What I'm thinking is a one way valve of sorts: ie a piece of lose tape placed somewhere on the inside of the tube that is pressed up against the tube during bubbling and gets pulled off if the pressure within the tube drops as liquid gets sucked up the tube.

  • @htomerif
    @htomerif3 жыл бұрын

    Huh. Can you nitrate things (or nitrite things) with just liquid NO2? Its got to be really quite reactive to react with water at room temperature(ish) and form nitric acid.

  • @RobotN001
    @RobotN0013 жыл бұрын

    Why didn't the water just boil away? Has the boiling point increased to the decomposition temperature?

  • @bagggg445
    @bagggg4452 жыл бұрын

    I made Cu(NO3)2 today by combining NaNO2 with HCL which I think releases HNO2 that dissolves into solution to become nitric acid , then I added copper metal. Nice colour

  • @chemistryofquestionablequa6252

    @chemistryofquestionablequa6252

    Жыл бұрын

    That would be copper nitrite

  • @me3333
    @me33333 жыл бұрын

    You had the immaturity in me at explosives

  • @petevenuti7355
    @petevenuti73552 жыл бұрын

    Would making a eulectic salt of potassium nitrate and copper sulfate and attempting to thermally decompose basically do the same thing?

  • @mikegLXIVMM
    @mikegLXIVMM3 жыл бұрын

    I have a lot of Potassium nitrate and copper sulfate. My question is: will the two when combined in solution, cause a double displacement reaction( salt metathesis) and form potassium sulfate and copper nitrate?

  • @robsonhahn
    @robsonhahn3 жыл бұрын

    What about the production of NO2/N2O4? Would worth separate the synthesis in HNO3 and NO2/N2O4? I've noticed that a lot of NO2/N2O4 was released during the fractional distillation column part.

  • @Alondro77

    @Alondro77

    2 жыл бұрын

    N2O4 can be dealt with by bubbling the gas through 3% hydrogen peroxide. It'll break it down and convert it directly to nitric acid. In plain water, it'll give a mix of nitric and nitrous acid, which requires additional heating and oxygen to cycle around to get more nitric acid. But H2O2 skips that by directly attacking the N-N bond, forming two NO2, which the reactive hydroxyls from the peroxide bonds with and creates nitric acid. The process is most efficient with 30% hydrogen peroxide, but that can be very dangerous to work with and is rather bound to attract attention if you're buying gallons of it, since it's kinda sorta the thing people can use to make kabooms. ;]

  • @jeffevarts8757
    @jeffevarts87573 жыл бұрын

    (IANA professional chemist) Is this clean & well-balanced reaction related to the fact that copper in nitric acid gives off nitrogen oxides, and that the reaction won't start until you add a bit of water? There seems to be a lot of symmetry here.

  • @holo6883
    @holo68833 жыл бұрын

    Oh boi. Time to fill in the safety sheets again

  • @bruni5289
    @bruni52893 жыл бұрын

    Is there a better way to make copper nitrate than shown in this video?

  • @anarhuseynov4162
    @anarhuseynov41623 жыл бұрын

    Please make a video of thermal decomposition of magnesium nitrate for getting nitric acid.

  • @benjaminshropshire2900
    @benjaminshropshire29003 жыл бұрын

    Can you avoid most of the filtering by washing the products in a settling column? E.g. use a glass cider jug, feed water in at the bottom with a long tube, siphon stuff off the top into a distillation flask and feed the condensate back into the jug via the long tube. If you have a cheap source of jugs, you might even include more than one stage. If the flow rate is slow enough it should settle faster than the water rises and once set up it should be able to run most un-attended. As long as you don't run it *too* long (and do what a soxhlet extraction is designed to do) that should significantly reduce the amount of material to filter out.

  • @tildessmoo
    @tildessmoo3 жыл бұрын

    I don't have any practical experience myself and just watch your videos for the entertainment value, but it looks to me like copper (II) nitrate is actually pretty cheap and easy to get. If you can just buy the copper nitrate, would you change your recommendation?

  • @drinventions9742
    @drinventions97423 жыл бұрын

    You should do a video on making Nitric acid, using Vinegar as the acid source, that would be Very interesting and impressive

  • @goranaxelsson1409
    @goranaxelsson14093 жыл бұрын

    Very interesting. I assume the reason you don't decompose the calcium nitrate directly because it takes much higher temperatures before decomposition. But how about iron nitrate? It is easy to get iron sulfate and calcium nitrate as fertilizers where I live. Mix it together and you get iron nitrate left in solution. From what I could see the decomposition temperature should be about the same as for copper nitrate. And I totally agree, filtering off calcium sulfate isn't fun.

  • @embergeos
    @embergeos3 жыл бұрын

    AYYYYYYY NURDRAGE IS BACK

  • @sabrowToo
    @sabrowToo3 жыл бұрын

    Please sir how can we extract phosphorus from phosphate

  • @mr.x8259
    @mr.x82593 жыл бұрын

    Uncle Fester would like this.

  • @johnathancorgan3994
    @johnathancorgan39943 жыл бұрын

    Do you think the calcium sulfate could have been filtered with suction and a Buchner funnel with filter paper on the bottom?

  • @eric.is.online

    @eric.is.online

    3 жыл бұрын

    Nah, it either bungs up or blows out the filter. Shits too fine.

  • @PaulAllee
    @PaulAllee Жыл бұрын

    Copper nitrate as a metal refining waste solution would be perfect for this since you'd get your nitric back to do another boil and get copper nitrate again

  • @tahajaafar6321
    @tahajaafar63213 жыл бұрын

    Can I extract nitric acid using inert solvent? DCM? CHLOROFORM? DIETHYL ETHER? OH OH I read nitrates react with chlorine to make chlorite and nitrosyl chloride sooo? Can I make chlorates using nitrates?

  • @BrendaEM
    @BrendaEM3 жыл бұрын

    It would be interesting to try to use an old microwave oven to create plasma, like a plasmoid, to create nitrogen dioxide from air, to make nitric acid. With a little extra cooling, it could run continuously. It would seem that one would need an air pump, and some kind of chamber, which would have to be water cooled, and then the nitrogen-dioxide could be bubbled into water. It might have to have a lower duty cycle. [I made a microwave plasmoid for a moment. It did make some nitrogen dioxide, which is an unwelcome guest in a microwave that I wanted to use for food, after.]

  • @jbone877
    @jbone8774 ай бұрын

    When dealing with calcium sulfate, would it not just be easier to decant, through filtration, stopping the pour once hitting high concentration of calcium, refill the flask containing the calcium w/ distilled water, and decant through filtration again? At the expense of a little bit of water, as well as time and fuel to boil that water off, you can save yourself a day of tied up equipment - which, in all but the most dire of situations, with profoundly limited access to any resource but time, seems the most economical choice

  • @piranha031091
    @piranha0310913 жыл бұрын

    8:32 : can't the aerosolized copper oxide issue be entirely avoided by placing a small ball of glass wool at the bottom of the distillation head, to filter and retain any solid particles?

  • @davesulphate4497

    @davesulphate4497

    3 жыл бұрын

    That would probably prevent most of the gas from getting into the condenser, or at least slow it down too much to be practical.

  • @piranha031091

    @piranha031091

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@davesulphate4497 Not really no. You can easily gently blow through a ball of glass fiber in a tube. The gas in this reaction is evolved very slowly in comparison. When gas is produced, it *has* to go somewhere. It will only take an insignificant pressure rise in the conical flask to push it through a loose ball of glass wool. Solid particles, on the other hand, should easily stick to the strands.

  • @davesulphate4497

    @davesulphate4497

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@piranha031091 The ball of glass fiber would be wet and this can significantly slow the motion of gasses, but yes it will go through. The real problem is that the acid will redisolve the copper and not stay stuck in the fiber.

  • @piranha031091

    @piranha031091

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@davesulphate4497 Yes, the acid will redissolve the copper, but that will either stay in the fiber ball, or, when enough is there, drip down back into the conical flask. It wont spontaneously rise up the distillation head. Unlike aerosolized particles.

  • @davesulphate4497

    @davesulphate4497

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@piranha031091 Yes, sure, all I am saying is that it has issues that need to be considered. For example, while the liquid wont spontaneously rise up the glass, the wet wool with gas pressure really could. Then the liquid could go through. These issue can be got around, and maybe it's a good idea but to me at least it seems unlikely. I have been wrong before though, so maybe.

  • @morareduard
    @morareduard3 жыл бұрын

    Will you ever try and build a Birkeland-Eyde reactor?

  • @mohammednabeel987

    @mohammednabeel987

    3 жыл бұрын

    With Microwave Transformer

  • @TheBackyardChemist

    @TheBackyardChemist

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@mohammednabeel987 MOTs are a great way to die

  • @kelvinpino4065
    @kelvinpino40653 жыл бұрын

    Great!!! I already knew that was possible to obtain nitrogen dioxide from nitrate salts, is possible to use iron nitrate instead of copper nitrate?

  • @Alondro77

    @Alondro77

    2 жыл бұрын

    It is! Iron nitrate is ever easier to decompose, as it breaks down at about 80C. In fact, you need to store your iron nitrate solution in a closed container in a cool place if you don't use it immediately. It spontaneously decomposes slowly, and you'll see rust start to collect at the bottom.

  • @kelvinpino4065

    @kelvinpino4065

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@Alondro77 the problem is the absorption of NO2 gas in water, is not as soluble as one think it is, in fact I found that aluminum nitrate release nitric acid when decomposition and doesn't produce so many NO2

  • @micheleballan5124
    @micheleballan51243 жыл бұрын

    Is the azeotropic nitric acid u obtain with this method?

  • @micheleballan5124

    @micheleballan5124

    3 жыл бұрын

    of course it is u reactin with water, how stupid i am

  • @MadScientist267
    @MadScientist2672 жыл бұрын

    Taking one for the team lol

  • @Sazoji
    @Sazoji3 жыл бұрын

    is there a reason to distill the water instead of boiling off?

  • @NurdRage

    @NurdRage

    3 жыл бұрын

    it's just cleaner, i hate having condensation in the ventilation shafts of my fumehood. It creates rust and mold. By all means just boil off directly if you want. (although a more professional reason is to capture any accidental distillations of product. For example, you accidentally heat too hard and distill off some nitric acid. Since you collected it, you can reprocess it. While it's not really necessary in this case, i've kept the habit from my professional work where one mistake could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to the company.)

  • @rolandosaldivar5366
    @rolandosaldivar53663 жыл бұрын

    Does it work for magnesium nitrate?

  • @NurdRage

    @NurdRage

    3 жыл бұрын

    yes, but you need higher temperatures, i tried it but it was too slow and too hot for my liking.

  • @Teth47
    @Teth473 жыл бұрын

    So is there some reason that centrifugal filtration isn't a thing? I mean, you could stuff a coffee filter into a juicer and probably get a pretty good result at blinding speed. It's basically gravity filtration but on Jupiter.

  • @bytefu

    @bytefu

    3 жыл бұрын

    You'll have to use stronger filters or more of them, otherwise they will be torn. Either way, that would slow down filtration, and I'm not sure you'll get a decent enough speed-up for all the trouble. I guess the only way to know is to try. You probably can make your own specialized centrifuge from scrap parts, such as a motor, strong wire, a bunch of tin cans and a plastic funnel. I might actually try to build one for coffee 😀