The lead sponge mystery continues...
In a previous video, I described my accidental discovery of lead sponge, which you can see here • I accidentally discove...
A lot of you guys had questions and I decided to try and answer them. However, it ended up raising even more questions for me. So I embarked on a little journey of discovery to try and get to the bottom of it. I still have a bunch of questions though, and I hope you guys can help answer them.
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Nile talks about lab safety: • Chemistry is dangerous.
Music in credits (Walker by SORRYSINES): / walker
Пікірлер: 1 500
"Remember, viewers at home; The difference between Messing Around, and Science, is Writing Things Down."
@Mae_is_gae
5 жыл бұрын
Adam savage?
@GuardTower
5 жыл бұрын
I wonder if making a video of it counts as science :)
@ILoveCatsYippee.
5 жыл бұрын
@@Mae_is_gae allie brosh pfp also lul
@namelessguy199
5 жыл бұрын
For cyan
@Kumquat_Lord
5 жыл бұрын
kzread.info/dash/bejne/oqSbsdVpdqvWgJc.html
Metallurgist here. The white film or coating on the cast iron is from vaporized zinc. You have two samples that did it and both had zinc. You can get this same effect from over heating brass on any other zinc filled material . Also it's the last step in the parkes method for silver extraction to heat the zinc and silver mix until the zinc vaporizeses off.
@MrSparkefrostie
5 жыл бұрын
I see my surname, i give a like
@vmelkon
5 жыл бұрын
+Dane The Great: The zinc vaporizes and burns with O2. The white stuff on the cast iron pan is ZnO.
@dingleburry7919
5 жыл бұрын
Same shit you get from welding galvanized bolts. Or zinc coated
@denizbluemusic
5 жыл бұрын
I assume it was antimony
@truedarklander
5 жыл бұрын
@@denizbluemusic why would it be antimony? where would it come from.
*set it on fire* *throws it in water and acid* *keeps getting different reactions* "What are you?!"
@cal7103
3 жыл бұрын
an idiot sandwich
@jazzling
2 жыл бұрын
@@cal7103 joe
@jazzling
2 жыл бұрын
@@cal7103 ask who is joe
@x1-facilitiesthe-end-proje873
2 жыл бұрын
@@jazzling it's Joe mama
@ScienceForeverKnowYourSciences
2 жыл бұрын
he is a Scientist... :| :| :| its his job... XD XD XD
I love these real science videos. It's like a "let's play" for chemistry, we get to watch the actual scientific process.
@akashv4788
3 жыл бұрын
Oooo
@temmiemew
2 жыл бұрын
i know it makes me happy
"Placed on this cast iron, cooking thing", sweetie thats a pan
@nonchip
4 жыл бұрын
@C Lopez wouldn't a skillet be higher, more like a pot? EDIT: nevermind, turns out skillets *are* pans. mixed up a word there i guess
@nonchip
4 жыл бұрын
@C Lopez i was thinking of saucepans actually and just confusing the words :'D
@SecretAgentXD1
4 жыл бұрын
@C Lopez you're thinking a griddle
@FortWhenTeaThyme
4 жыл бұрын
I also love in the one where he admits he doesn't have a spatula.
@Ealsante
4 жыл бұрын
He's a chemist, not a chef!
See if you can make sheets of it with embedded copper, gold, or aluminum wire and see if it can be used as a lead acid battery. The extreme surface area might augment its ampere output. It would be an interesting experiment.
@nonstopgames7591
4 жыл бұрын
What about trying to get it to become a led based aerogel
@loganclementi8947
3 жыл бұрын
@@nonstopgames7591 you know that aerogel is a massive leap between some lead and zinc in water, right? Nile has some incredible skills and equipment, but I think that creating an advanced aerogel with nowhere near as much public research as normal silica would be quite the endeavor. But I think it is a cool idea and personally wanna see it :)
@loganclementi8947
3 жыл бұрын
@Michael Persico the issue is making the aerogel out of lead. That is different than the sol-gel process. He is not just impregnating the aerogel with lead, he said made out of lead.
@brokenshard9323
3 жыл бұрын
@@loganclementi8947 kzread.info/dash/bejne/i2R8yM-Scs-saMo.html , he made aerogel 8 months ago...
@alkrolyd
3 жыл бұрын
@@brokenshard9323 that was with silicon, though. Lead's a completely different element, so the process would be completely different and may not even be possible.
When you're checking for conductivity don't use the "continuity" setting on your multi meter, use the ohm setting (resistance) and you will be able to get a numerical value for the conductivity.
There's something that happens to plant roots that might explain why you can't respongify it after its dried. When you take a cutting from a plant and put it in water to grow roots, a very fine network of hair-like roots fans out in the water to maximize surface area. It's difficult to transplant a water rooted plant into dirt, because when you pull the roots out of the water they all clump together because of the surface tension of water, and they don't spread back out when you plant it in dirt. New roots have to grow to replace the ones that are stuck together. When you dry out the sponge, all of the very delicate suspended filaments of crystals get tangled into a crystal-like matrix as the water leaves and eventually they lock together when dry. Rehydrating it doesn't untangle the knots
Why is it that I fall asleep in chem class, am reluctant to do chem homework on Aleks.... but I'll watch these videos all day long? Thanks for making the subject interesting. Keep experimenting!
@NileRed
6 жыл бұрын
im glad you like them :)
@lukaswursthorn581
6 жыл бұрын
Theoretic classes can be boring, especially when your teacher is not-so-great. Don't let that discourage you from learning more about chemistry. It really is a great field of science!
@weaseljay469
5 жыл бұрын
@J Hemphill this is an unreasonably harsh judgement for a youtube comment, not liking chem classes (which might have a boring teacher) while enjoying entertaining chem videos isn't a character flaw. they probably have something else they are more passionate about, the way nilered is passionate about chem.
@monkstandinglast
2 жыл бұрын
@@NileRed The latest vid Cotton Candy from Cotton Balls awesome, was it a coincidence you started with cotton balls and ended up with something resembling c*ock n balls lol either way the science you do is excellent and been binge watching them at work cant wait for the next one thanks also you should see if Mark Rober wants to colab with you, think between the two of yourselves something awesome could happen combining your chemistry and his mechanical engineeriring skills.
"place on this little, cast iron cooking thing" cute XD
@bluemarigoldofficial
6 жыл бұрын
o pretty much everything about him is adorable
@o_-_o
6 жыл бұрын
True (except *tasting* artificial sweetener from Tylenol and =>P E E
@OF01975
6 жыл бұрын
Autism xD
@bluemarigoldofficial
6 жыл бұрын
Four Twenty Why?
@theterribleanimator1793
6 жыл бұрын
Isaiah Thompson OH, WHERE TO BEGIN!
Hypotheses: 1) The acid treatment removes the zinc leaving behind a dry cake of lead. The lead particles are separated by a lot of air and loosely held together by friction so it takes very little heat to melt the fairly pure lead sponge. 2) Looked blue/grey/white to me but maybe a coating on the pan? 3) Different reactions by the different lead and zinc compounds, salts, oxides. Impurities, uneven heating, trapped liquid. 4) The zinc is intertwined in the lead matrix. Ties in to 3. Imagine if you soaked an actual sponge in water and tried to evaporate the water (lead) with a blowtorch. You’re going to burn the sponge (zinc) before the water inside (lead) evaporates (melts). If you take the zinc out of the equation the process is simpler. 5) There’s no elasticity to the lead matrix so it only compresses. The only thing keeping it “spongey” was the liquid separating the particles. Once dry, when placed in liquid some will fill the holes but unless it’s soluble in the liquid then it will stay “set.” Similar to porous cement or a sponge that’s crusty and super old. 6) See 5 and 7 7) Both, sort of. Like trying to bring a piece of beef jerky back to pre-jerky freshness.
I immediately wanted to know how long you could maintain a stable sponge, or if it hardens over time even in water.
Lead sponge for when you need to poison your dishes
@moritzbecker4246
6 жыл бұрын
Job91 : D
@OF01975
6 жыл бұрын
Seriously not cool, my dog died of lead
@MrJob91
6 жыл бұрын
My pet fish died of boredom really not cool m8
@OF01975
6 жыл бұрын
Job91 are you seriously just gonna insult me and more importantly my hole dogs spirit like that ffs read a bible learn to FEEL
@TigerBrows
6 жыл бұрын
how was he supposed to know that? isn't it a bit absurd of you to go around picking fights with people you've never met?
I think that you woudn't been able to melt your first piece was caused by the oxide layer and sponge-like nature of the chunk. When you blasted it with propane torch, you created a thin layer of lead oxide (which have higher melting point i think) and, because of air pockets (just like in aerogel) behind this non-meltable layer you've made a pretty heat resistant material. It would be great to create flat-ish piece of lead sponge and measure temprerature behind it while blasting it with torch.
@OF01975
6 жыл бұрын
krawacik3 lead oxides actually have a lower melter point dude
@Krawacik3d
6 жыл бұрын
So that would explain why it worked only with unwashed sample, because zinc oxide has much higher melting point than lead/zinc/lead oxide. Yellow colour strongly suggest that it's heated zinc oxide (kzread.info/dash/bejne/ZISklKWelse-hto.html).
@homosapienssapiens19
6 жыл бұрын
Has he re-invented starlite?
@mnovak4178
6 жыл бұрын
wasn't that based off Bakelite?
@CrilDril
6 жыл бұрын
Four Twenty umm, no they don't.
5:40 "I placed it on this little cast iron cooking thing and continued eating it." Wait what
@chlime_
3 жыл бұрын
Heating not eating but lol
Could you possibly do a video of the equipment your ‘lab’ consists of and the level of education you have that allows you to do all these amazing conversions and demonstrations?
I like it? Yea I understand it? Hell no
@bimbojimbo9126
6 жыл бұрын
Malkinn big feel
@L4r5man
6 жыл бұрын
That's like 90% of Nile's videoes for me.
@agatkagrzyb653
6 жыл бұрын
same
@csweezey18
5 жыл бұрын
But it's so simple...
@ggittins4097
5 жыл бұрын
I put his videos on auto pay as I'm falling asleep, so soothing
Maybe when it dries the sponge matrix collapses (since it's so soft) destroying it's ability to absorb moisture. It would be interesting if you could replace the water with oil.
13:30 is actually a new years tradition in my country you pour the lead and then try to identify shapes wich are assigned a certain meaning, that's sorta like fortune telling^^
6:30 I've found that when I burn propane through my very basic Bernzomatic torch head for a long time I start to see orange streaks in the flame. It could be impurities in the gas, but I'm thinking that it is coming from the metal burn tube. By this time, it's glowing red hot at the tip. I'm not sure if it's some type of off-gassing, or evaporating something in the alloy - typing that, it sounds like the same thing. IDK how it works, that's why I watch your videos, to learn.
Pass a large current through the lead sponge material!
@yushatak
6 жыл бұрын
Or a high voltage, imagine how an 800v AC current would dance around through a wet (or dry) metal sponge!
@B-System
4 жыл бұрын
@@yushatak The only good number I caught off his meter was in the 0.16 ohm range, so you could get a theoretical 5 kA through it at 800 V, but that would be a nominal 4 MW, so it ain't happening.
I have a few theories with the purple flame appearing during the heating of the normal pre-dried sponge: 1. Due to the sponge sample you were burning having a substantial oxide layer on the outside from being heated previously on the watch glass, maybe some of the oxygen interacted during combustion, contributing to the blue hue. I noticed when you were filming the various melting tests that once a decent amount of lead oxide started to form on the outside of the sponges, the flames developed a purple color, at least to some degree. The first test was definitely the most pronounced, but I believe I saw small traces of purple show up in the flames during the other melt tests once lead oxide started forming on the sponge. 2. The gases in the flames from the burner you were using had some kind of direct chemical reaction with the sponges, leading to other compounds being formed/burned off during combustion. This one I don't have as clear of an idea on how it might work, but it seems plausible to some extent. As for the acid-treated sponges being more receptive to melting, that most likely has to do with a lack of zinc oxide, since ZnO has a high heat capacity and thermal stability, which makes it useful in some fire retardant materials. Again, I'm not entirely confident that this is the cause but it does seem to explain why only the sponge that has very little zinc left in it would be more receptive to melting. I have no clue why the remaining sponge would have a melting point lower than that of lead, though...
Fascinating! Please keep making videos like this one. Often times videos that don't have all the answers are the most educational and interesting.
Now this is some real classic honest-to-goodness chemistry.
last nights attempt at cooking lanagne ended up looking very similar to that lead sponge :P
@johnather
3 жыл бұрын
Oof
Wow, the only not click bait experiment video on KZread.
@StarshadowMelody
3 жыл бұрын
*channel
@gameknight.thump1
3 жыл бұрын
yes, its a channel
1) , 3) and 4) I think that the acid removed all or most of the Zn in the sponge, when heated the lead strands quickly transferred the heat and since they are so thin they quickly melted 2) The purple flame might come from the combination of lead, Zn and remains of the acid that was used 5) and 6) There might be some crystallization going on, I think that when the sponge is first formed the zinc acts as nucleation sites for lead crystals, after enough time in solution, or after drying the crystallization process is done which gives the brittle material 7) Since you end up with lead crystals, no mater which environment the sponge is in, after the crystallization process is done it will be brittle
"I decided to _lead_ it cool." Pls kill me.
@U014B
4 жыл бұрын
_[cocks old-timey double-barrel shotgun]_ ...what the? How did I do that?
Makes me wonder if the pure lead sponge could be impregnated with platinum and used to produce SO3. The lead would be alot safer to both prepare and handle compared to asbestos, also it appears heat resistant enough to handle the temp required for oxidation of SO2.
@AVerySexuallyDeviantOrange
4 жыл бұрын
jared garden Plus, it’s a lightish, compressable radiation resistant piece of glop! I, for one, am fine with replacing lead jackets with the glop.
@tannersrdr2clips432
Жыл бұрын
Fuck lead
Chemistry is just..... EVERYTHING. I love it so much
@jacobmontez9150
5 жыл бұрын
Yeah. It literally is.
@csweezey18
5 жыл бұрын
Same here. It's the reason I exist. Literally.
Since the lead(and zinc) is so porous, it almost immediately got oxidised once heated. The first sample will create a mixture of lead and zinc oxides, which zinc oxide has a much much higher melting point, while the second only contains lead oxide when heated, melts easily. I’ve made lead sponge years before, but using magnesium powder instead, the reaction is way more vigorous, but dissolving off magnesium impurities is way quicker and more thorough, I then hammer the stuff down into a foil, and looking pretty neat in the end.
4:10 it looks so cool to show this to someone without any prior knowledge of what's happening cuz it just kind of looks like he's extremely strong and just breaking apart a rock
Could you do a video on how you deal with your chemical waste that's formed during experiments in the lab? Stuff like heavy metals and chlorinated hydrocarbons. Do you process the waste yourself or use some type of 3rd party?
@OF01975
6 жыл бұрын
snowdaysrule2 dig a small hole maybe 3 foot deep and sprinkle layer of sand, then whatever waste you have and another layer of sand and it should be contained and let to break down naturally
@TheChemicalWorkshop
6 жыл бұрын
Four Twenty are you fucking serious?
@lysergicide
6 жыл бұрын
it helps if you poop a little on it before you add the last layer of sand
@OF01975
6 жыл бұрын
The Chemical Workshop uh yes.. thats actually what they do with chemicals in recycling centres just on a larger scale
@bradshawford575
6 жыл бұрын
not NR, but depending on the level of nastiness of the assorted salts, either drying them and adding them to a small batch of concrete and letting it harden into a brick, or adding sand, CaCO3, and NaHCO3 then melting the mess to make glass. both methods decrease the rate of release enough that you can store them however you like.
Did you change your microphone or something, your voice sounds a bit different. Also, I was wondering if maybe when you condense the loose sponge into the little clumps, it alters the structure to a point where it can no longer return to the original sponge state.
@Nabbehh
6 жыл бұрын
Saturn666 he got a sinus operation done
@pietrotettamanti7239
6 жыл бұрын
Nabbehh He got it a long time ago.
@NileRed
6 жыл бұрын
I got the surgery less than a month ago. Allegedly my voice will be different for a while
@pietrotettamanti7239
6 жыл бұрын
NileRed whooops! My bad.
@fuumax7969
4 жыл бұрын
@@pietrotettamanti7239 that's awkward lol
1) i would say that the surface area of the lead being extremely high causes it to heat far faster makeing it seem to melt at a lower temp
Hey man, I really love you're videos and I am currently on my path to getting my bachelors in Chemical Engineering and Organic Chemistry. I hope to one day pursue this farther to get my Phd in chemical engineering, and I think you're one of the main reasons I've been inspired to do this. Also, by watching nearly all your videos, I've been kinda inspired to make my own channel for the same stuff. Right now I only have 3 videos out and they're not the best but I just wanted to thank you for all your inspiring videos, I really love them.
Pro tip, when heating something with a flamable gas you shouldn't hold the torch close enough that the sample is cooled by the uncombusted gas stream. Just sayin.
@AB-80X
6 жыл бұрын
This is a thing many miss. Closer is not hotter.
@leocurious9919
6 жыл бұрын
Yes, the tip of the "blue cone" is the hottest part. He sould have seen how it stops glowing read hot...
@yushatak
6 жыл бұрын
With such a professional lab (now, anyway) it's kinda surprising he doesn't seem to have a bunsen burner.. xD I was looking into it for my own purposes, and you can even get butane-powered bunsen burners powered by a portable source, or propane, etc.. No need to run gas lines and so on.
@SpydersByte
5 жыл бұрын
aye, using the tip of the blue flame was one of the first things I learned when starting to weld and cut with a torch.
Great video, loved your thought process throughout
This is simply fascinating. Mistakes do lead to discovery!
@FilbieTron
Жыл бұрын
Pun intended? 😆
Sometimes when Nile does things in moderation I'm just sitting there like "just go ham you mad genius!"
@joannpelas5101
Жыл бұрын
😅😅
You might have a reaction similar to Toasting bread... once it's toasted (in your case dried / dessicated) it's almost impossible to convert back into bread (sponge). I'm no scientist but that seems to be essentially what you'r seeing. Chemically I have no idea how this works, but I don't think it's an uncommon event.
@sansprobus7209
9 ай бұрын
Bread is a much more complex collection of compounds than lead. Bread is full of proteins and starches which break down and caramalize when heated. Lead is just lead.
Dear NileRed, my idea for making the lead sponge useful: you could try mixing some carbon fiber/cellulose and graphene in the lead acetate solution (maybe add some solvent like 10-30 % methanol/ethanol/acetone to aid the dispersion a little, if the reaction allows for it). Then test the lead sponge in an amperage/voltage-setup as an electrode for a lead acid battery. Maybe just a small scale experiment. It could improve the weight-capacity ratio by giving it low internal resistance and improve charge dispersion (graphene) and good mechanical strength (carbon fiber, cellulose) an making use of the relatively high surface area of the sponge. Kinda a quick charge low weight car battery... Feedback of any kind would be appreciated.
You need to get 1 of them x ray assay gadgets that Cody has to check what elements (metals) are in your samples. Would be great for your channel people went mad for it on CodysLab.
Well Nile, to be honest, this is one of your top videos. Most intriguing.
U r awesome!! My science class love you!! Edit: 170+likes? Damn.
@paulzaim7900
6 жыл бұрын
Four Twenty Dude wth
@OF01975
6 жыл бұрын
Lost Night ?? Dont tell me your tryna judge bro...
@JBobbyB
6 жыл бұрын
Nabbehh fantastic! My dungeons and dragons group worship you as a draconic overlord!
@DUIofPhysics
6 жыл бұрын
My English classes look up to you.
@Kabodanki
6 жыл бұрын
Fantastic! My whole jihadist group like you! It's a joke CIA, FBI, Interpol....
I'm noticing that the toaster-dried sponge is basically a refractory insulator.
@DembaiVT
3 жыл бұрын
I was thinking this too. And since it's malleable before it dries, you could form it into something to protect a sensor.
I think that maybe the chemical differences between zinc and lead are having an effect here. Firstly, this is based on considering the possibility that your torch flame is actually CREATING the oxides as you are trying to melt the sponges, simply because heat increases the reaction rates. Maybe pure(ish) lead melts before it oxidizes under the flame, but zinc, which not only has a higher melting point but I think is also more reactive with oxygen, usually oxidizes before it melts. It's also worth noting that ZnO is BY FAR the most refractory substance likely to be involved here, being solid at temperatures where all the other likely compounds would be gasses: Pb(CH3COO)2: decomposes 510 K Pb(CH3COO)2: melts 553 K ZnCl2: melts 563 K, boils 1005 K PbCO3: decomposes 588 K Pb: melts 601 K, boils 2202 K Zn: melts 693 K, boils 1180 K PbCl2: melts 774 K, boils 1220 K Pb3O4: decomposes by ~800 K PbO: melts 1161 K, boils 1750 K ZnO: decomposes 2247 K
Btw, dang, if this is video is indicative of the quality of videos the new lab.... Just amazing. Top shelf exploration.
1) The acid dissolves some oxide coating on both metals to form Pb and Zn, and changes the overall metal composition. This change in metal composition results in a change in melting point and the formation of a eutectic (tl;dr alloys have lower melting points sometimes, kind of like azeotropes in distillation). 2) Potassium impurities are the simplest explanation, but I have no clue. It may be a result of the metals giving off a combination of different flame colors. 3) 14:50 The porous sponge is less thermally conductive because of the formation of convection currents within the air pockets of the sponge, so it didn't melt but instead reacted with heat (this is the basis on why aerogel and styrofoam are such good thermal insulators). The air bubbles were isolated from each other because this time the sponge was not treated with acid (allowing the currents to form and insulate, unlike in the other runs), and because it had not dried there was still fresh lead that was not covered in an oxide coating. This combination of high surface area and fresh exposed lead is also what lead to its rapid oxidation, as shown by the sparking and brilliant flame released. 4) Treatment with acid dissolves the oxide coating, which prevents the metal from melting by being a thermal insulator and having a high melting point as an ionic salt. 5) When the sponge is exposed to air, its high surface area causes its oxidation to be faster than normal, so an oxide forms such that the water cannot penetrate the oxide to "soften" the sponge again. 6+7) It might be like you said, the water cannot re-enter the small spaces in the sponge once it is dried. For example, water is trapped between the metals as the sponge is formed, but it's not thermodynamically favorable but rather a "kinetic product" of the reaction. Thus its "hydration" is irreversible. As for why it is softer when wet, that seems to be more of a materials science problem, but I suspect it was something to do with water separating the strands of metals, such that when the water is removed the strands just rub against each other and crack under friction. This was a really neat video, and it reminds me why I'm majoring in chemistry next year. Thank you for the content, this was a joy to watch.
@pokeball1101
6 жыл бұрын
senpie~ the eutetic point for the Pb Zn system is at ~98% Pb and the melting point isn't much lower than pure lead
Thank you nilered I love the experimental videos
I think I can explain one small part of your results. Very finely divided lead is very pyrophoric. When you immediately vacuum dried the wet sponge, the oxygen supply was limited, so only a bit of lead oxidized. But after it was removed from the vacuum, it immediately started oxidizing again - as you noted with the heating that occurred. These oxidations would occur quite quickly, so in all but one instance, you are trying to melt lead oxide as there is little unreacted lead. Comrpressing the wet sponge while still in the solution and then vacuum drying might produce a higher percentage of elemental lead.
I'd like to preface this by saying that I have absolutely no formal education above middle school about chemistry and I simply have a passion for the subject and a lot of spare time on KZread. With that out of the way, my theory is that somehow the moisture is preventing a chemical reaction between the two metals and whatever trace amounts of the solution it was formed in. And as it dries that reaction is no longer being prevented and so the reaction occurs, making it impossible to get back to its original state
The reason for the high melting points could be th amorphous structure of the sponge acts similair to an aerogel thus making the meltingpoints alot higher than lead in crystal structure. the process making the sponge is similair to making aerogels too so it does not seem unlikely.
@OF01975
6 жыл бұрын
Ruben Hansen doesn’t really resemble an aersol to me
@cmdfu
6 жыл бұрын
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerogel
@OF01975
6 жыл бұрын
Ruben Hansen whats that? Also anyone can edit Wikipedia for all we know a big fat Jew could of wrote that
I'm going to take chemistry next year because your videos interested me and made me want to try it. Thank you for expanding my horizon
@lusiaa_
6 жыл бұрын
Spahgetti ? Don't discourage him..
@lukaswursthorn581
6 жыл бұрын
Well i guess spaghetti is right in that you won't do stuff like this in any entry level class, but if u pursure chemistry further you will get to do these things and other awesome research. And this channel helps a lot to keep you interested ;) Science rules!
@michaelneufer8592
6 жыл бұрын
Spahgetti ? While you're probably right I think it'll see if I like doing this kind of thing so I might so more advanced classes on it
@hugh.g.rection5906
2 жыл бұрын
did you end up taking chemistry?
hey, here are some theories to that could explain(?): - when drying, the pockets of water leave air behind which potentially can't be supported by the weak pn/zn structure and collapses so when you try re-wetting it doesn't regain its softens as water only makes it back out the outer pockets also due to surface tension. - the acid bath must have removed as well as the zinc most of the lead salts formed in air and left a very heat conductive material so it melted quicker. - when its in its salted material structure, its not as conductive as the air pockets insulate the heat of the torch. - if you try again try leaving the sponge material into a large cylinder and leave it undisturbed rather than compressing and crushing it and when settled siphon off the top layers. then something like oil might help it remain in its pure zn/pb state. Amazing video, keep discovering!
Lead oxide is nice yellow. The acid treated piece left behind zinc oxide on the cast iron skillet The untreated piece had compounds that resist melt, oxides When it caught on fire that was zinc
Combustion of tetraethyl lead gives off this same by product that turns the engine's exhaust valves white.
@OF01975
6 жыл бұрын
Baldur Gislason your saying fentanyl turns people whiggers
@jamestrotman3238
6 жыл бұрын
hmm interesting, i thought it was a reaction with prehaps a layer of something on the skillet itself, it this seems more plausable
@dustinsmith8341
6 жыл бұрын
Yea. I figured it had something to do with the acid vaporizing since it was fresh out of the HCl
@bradshawford575
6 жыл бұрын
ZnO is also white, and is commonly given of from hot zinc
@BillAnt
5 жыл бұрын
@@@bradshawford575 < That exactly what I was thinking too... and maybe some byproduct of uncombusted methane gas combining with lead/zinc.
I think the water prevented some cold welding of the lead fibers
I would like to see the lead sponge immersed in a bath of liquid tin as the melting point of tin is lower than lead. Then testing the conductivity of the tinned sponge and then dissolving the sponge while leaving the tin intact to see if the network of tin is stable. It could also be interesting to try to create lead sponge in liquids of different densities including water at higher and lower temperatures or at varying pressures.
I think the acid treated lead sponge melted as although the zinc particles supporting the lead strands were removed there was still some structural support holding the lead up heating the other one cause zinc particles to move and stop the lead from melting as the zinc could have been trapped by the lead strands.
this seems very similar to the process concrete goes through when it dries.
"This here is my Science Knife!"
Those burning segments are unbelievably beautiful.
This seams like something Cody could solve. Right up his alley
this is such a fun video. It feels like you're taking me on an adventure.
Who knew that robot poo could be so fascinating... :P
@csweezey18
5 жыл бұрын
Agreed.
1) It seems plausible that reticulated structures melt easier as their dimension increases since the surface area increases too. 2) As you say, a metallic complex. 3) My best guess would be a reaction with superheated water 4) If relatively big zinc particules get reticulated by lead strands, one could say that the dissolution of zinc after the acid treatment would leave only a very fine lead grid. 5 6 7) As people have already pointed out, aerogel production may be the mechanism in play.
I know this is very old but my science obsessed ocd brain can't help but give my opinion on those questions 🤣 1 the presence of water within the cavities In the acid treated pre dried sponge may have caused more even heating as we know empty sponge metal has good heat insulation properties. And if a single spot was getting above it's melting temp and forming compounds you didn't expect maybe it formed faster than it could melt? 2. Either a more even distribution of zinc and lead or a reaction between impurities and propane? 3 and 4 l. Perhaps other flammable compounds are formed from zinc and/or air products and water that reduce it's flammable qualities but are not present after the acid wash allowing combustion? 5. A thick layer of oxidation preventing water from reintegrating with the porous chunk? 6. Something to do with the lattice structure "interlocking" as it dried and compressed irreversibley like concrete? 7. I'd guess an interaction of both. The structure/surfaces changed as it dried leading to the water being unable to enter and reintegrate into the structure? Just a nerd giving my best guesses, I love chemistry but am not this advanced an this is just my intuition 😂 I don't wanna get ripped for being way wrong
Your videos are great!
the purple flame may have come from the lead and zinc salts
the surface tension of water during drying can actually exert surprisingly large forces on fine particulate matter. For example when clay dries it shrinks significantly as the tiny particles are pulled together. My hypothesis is that the initial formation of the sponge is incomplete, and there are voids with finer pieces of lead 'suspended' loosely within them, with water lubricating them. When drying occurs these finer pieces cake onto the larger joined pieces forming a more structurally stable mass. Finally when the pieces are all caked together, vacuum welding or chemical oxidation causes them to be bound together tightly making the mass rigid.
3) We can see that it melts to a very small extent, almost unnoticeable, and then burst into WHITE flames, which is a very good indication that the Zinc is burning before melting. This is the case when the metal has a very high surface area (such a very porous material with very small pores, obtained by squeezing the fresh sponge. Moreover, the zinc in the fresh sponge is not covered by an oxide layer, which allows it to burn like that.
It's good and all But the Question is WHY DIDN'T IT MELT?
@DembaiVT
3 жыл бұрын
Water and air are excellent insulators. Look at aerogel. The fibres of the sponge are protected by the air around them.
During the heating would it have been possible for the iron skillet to be affecting the color of the flame?
@jamestrotman3238
6 жыл бұрын
depending if there was a coating on it, usually to make the skillet food safe or non stick, the white percipitant after one of the tests could be another form of reaction with this layer
@CAoffRoading
6 жыл бұрын
James Trotman I've never used an iron skillet that had a synthetic coating. Always had to condition them myself with oil. But I've never had one newer than 20 years either.
@kkirschkk
6 жыл бұрын
yet iron would burn a brighter gold color, not purple. Interesting point though [though if there is a coat on the pan that might affect it but then an easy test would be to burn the sponge on somthing else]
The acid-treated stuff was probably protected from burning by a protective layer of lead chloride. This, along with zinc chloride that was dissolved and trapped in the sponge, were probably what the non-metallic part of the liquid was. That white stain was probably vaporized lead chloride.
this is like some sci-fi material with mysterious properties the writer won't tell us
Its odd that you haven't tested its electric properties (sorry bad phrasing). I wonder what sort of potentials you could get when using these as anodes and/or cathodes for a cell.
Send the sponge here. I will melt it with my +1500°C oxy acetylene torch. Haha
@Exotic_Chem_Lab
6 жыл бұрын
AirsoftSlo i have HHO torch that burns at 3500*C haha :D
@zanpekosak2383
6 жыл бұрын
Dollar Projects Well fuck.
@OF01975
6 жыл бұрын
Woah i never knew oxycontin burns so hot
I have a few theories: 1)maybe it doesn't melt because have quite a bit of high melting point salts in it. Or it just have too much air, making it kind of super-insulating (like aerogel). 2) the heat released from the vaccum dry one may be from the air or moisture diffusing in the sponge (like when you put 3A molecular sieves in water). GREAT VIDEO AS ALWAYS. and also sorry for my english.
Perhaps when drying, you get oxidation in air and cold welding under vacuum which creates thicker fibers. Did it require more or less pressure to break the sample after drying in vacuum? I would guess it would require more pressure to deform and crack and that the newly-create sample was much easier to deform due to the much finer strands of lead kept apart by molecules of water. This may partly answer questions 5 and 6, though I'm not sure how valid the theory is.
@chixulub
6 жыл бұрын
I was thinking this also. Perhaps drying it in a nitrogen atmosphere would keep it soft?
Maybe this would be a really good anode or cathode for a battery?
Is it possible to make a lead acid battery out of the sponge?
@OF01975
6 жыл бұрын
Mo Be one time on acid i felt like a battery
@andrewmckenna73
6 жыл бұрын
I doubt it. You'd need to keep the electrodes separated. Otherwise you just get it to short and overheat like we saw
@vx-iidu
6 жыл бұрын
Andrew Mckenna that wasn't an electrochemical reaction; it was oxidation. There was no electrolyte involved.
@andrewmckenna73
6 жыл бұрын
nobody's shadow I thought that had happened after he had used acid
@vx-iidu
6 жыл бұрын
The sponge only heated up AFTER the liquids were dessicated away and only when exposed to oxygen. Seems like oxidation to me.
3) I would guess that while its still wet and uncompressed, the particles are fine enough to burn, while drying it compresses it on its own, making the particles more interlocked, but fast drying with the blowtorch ignites it before it can collapse from the drying. 5) 6) 7) While its still in water or wet, it has additional structural support and can stay "fluffier", while drying it makes it collapse, possible with some particals acting like hooks that don't allow it to fluff up again
The video where you ask questions and some mysteries are UNSOLVED are the best, and are very interesting. They can lead to some professional discussion here and there, thanks! I bet something has water to do, and all mixtures, especially porous and composed from tiny grains are and be very different than solid chunks of metals, even alloys. In fact, you faced a very complex system where lots of things were going on simultaneously, so large wisdom is needed and huge insight into molecular interactions between water, metals, alloys, oxygens, carbonates and other stuff - you sample were very dirty starting from acetate point. Add to this hydrate complexes, chlorides, etc. One big mess, so the results are rich and unclear, as in nature :)
Now THAT'S how you season cast iron
could make a great electrode material
@hellborn2012
6 жыл бұрын
Ich Selber it's used in commercial lead acid batteries
@TheChemicalWorkshop
6 жыл бұрын
Use carbon... it's cheap
@vylbird8014
6 жыл бұрын
Not as it is. Great surface area, but too mechanically weak - the deformation from repeated charge-discharge cycles would quickly cause it to crumble.
@anatolyurban208
6 жыл бұрын
Or, probably, some catalytic of adsorption stuff.
@TheChemicalWorkshop
6 жыл бұрын
Vyl Bird for the price we don't mind... and we always filter the solution afterwards
I used to work on porous materials and, generally speaking, drying a porous network will collapse it due to high surface tension in the pores. There are two ways around this: Either use supercritical drying, or do a surface treatment to decrease the affinity of the material to the solvent. Ohterwise you're going to end up with all the large pores collapsing and only micropores left.
In my experience with melting zinc, the yellow oxide is almost impossible to melt. I imagine that the zinc oxide is creating a sort of lattice that traps the lead inside. The reason the map gas melted it down further is because the lead became less viscous with the increased heat. Which caused it to flow into a puddle, and collapse the lattice. I'm no expert, that's just my theory.
I love your Chanel I came here from Cody’s lab and I’m here to stay
@OF01975
6 жыл бұрын
jeremy forant i cam from Lab XCodeh
this boi has made metallic aerogel
@OF01975
6 жыл бұрын
Liam Russell not really aerosol if it sinks on Ass Juice
@mrandmrsliamrussell
6 жыл бұрын
aerogel you tard not aerosol, look it up XD
@zanpekosak2383
6 жыл бұрын
Not really. It was made be4 from many other metal oxides. And aerogel is waaay lighter.
@OF01975
6 жыл бұрын
Liam Russell why you hating i proved your theory wrong stop being a GrammarMuslim this aerosol wont float on Water so its not a thrue aergel
@mrandmrsliamrussell
6 жыл бұрын
jesus christ youre an idiot, its replacing the water in the lattice with air in a similar way that liquid CO2 replaces and evaporates in regular silicon dioxide aerogel which is soluble in water anyway.
1 could just be because the porous structure allows it to absorb heat more uniformly (if you have to melt a solid bead the outside will heat up faster and the inside will take much longer. Melting metal powder is faster than melting metal beads.
3) The sponge which wasn't treated with acid contains a significant amount of zinc. The fact that it is also very porous gives it a high surface area and makes it burn like zinc powder, with a white and bright flame which ignites also the lead.
Different microphone?
@SECONDQUEST
6 жыл бұрын
Mowskii I'm scared now. I don't want my voice to change.
i wonder if drying it in a supercritical CO2 chamber would prevent it from becoming so brittle.
Fry adding powdered borax to the metal then try melting it. This is a step in cupellation where a metal mixture is heated in air which oxidizes the less noble one. This is dissolved in a flux such as borax, which soaks into a porous surface removing the less noble metal.
The acid may have helped decrease the more Metallic ones melting point because depending on the acid that you were using as you said before it is kind a like a sponge so sad and the acid may have been absorbed and stored in peace when it was then reheat it could’ve helped the process of melting it as well as removing excess contaminants
Well, they way I see it, the surface area of the sponge is so large that the heating distributes itself faster than you could heat it, if you took a small chunk and heated it, it'd probably melt.
@RndmSwiss
6 жыл бұрын
I don't think so, the heat is still very concentrated and the inside core doesn't allow air to flow allowing it to cool, but it may be an answer
@BRUXXUS
6 жыл бұрын
That's what I was thinking too!
@GermansEagle
6 жыл бұрын
Well, at the very least it would take alot more time to heat up. This is the idea behind wire gauze, that's why if you heat it then put it, the flames won't pass the wire. And the air being heated would be forced out, and create more surface area.
@RndmSwiss
6 жыл бұрын
I see what you mean but the wire gauze is usually way more spaced than the sponge, allowing the air to flow quite nicely (if the images from google are accurate, english is not my main language so I don't really know what you mean by "wire gauze" but I think of it like a mesh)
@animefreak5757
6 жыл бұрын
you can see it glowing red, maybe even white hot in spots. Red hot is at least 2-3x the melting point of lead.
do a publication in nature xDDD
I'm still a complete and total newb at chemistry, but the shiny pieces looked like little sci-fi creatures and would make great props in a movie. Iirc, it was the piece you treated with acid without drying it first, then it got stuck in the spoon and you reheated it and dropped it into the water.. It looks like some of H.R. Giger's artwork. I love those little pieces.
1) as both acid treated sponges melted as expected, I do think the pre-dried sponge that was faster had it's main shape after drying and then having the zinc removed leaves for a more porous structure prone to melt faster.. After melting both, you can melt them again and see if it's still different? I would be surprised if it was. 2) no clue. 3) If you melt zinc (which has a higher melting point) it will glow bright orange and have colored flames, I think green.. I think the amount of zinc is quite high as compared to the lead and most of the reaction seems similar to video's of people melting zinc. Before melting it would almost look like it's burning up. 4) is answered by 3. 5) when it dries it gets so dense it becomes impenetrable for water? No matter if it would fill up pockets, the material doesn't seem to absorb it. 6) possibly answered by 5. 7) possibly answered by 5. I'm certainly no chemist and if my answers don't make sense that's probably why.. I just like watching these video's and intrigued by the mystery of the lead sponge.. :)