Sciencemadness Discussion Board - exploitation of chemistry

exploitation of chemistry

Ashot - 9-7-2016 at 08:38

Chemistry is a fascinating science and the knowledge provides us with the ability to use matter to our own needs. It is not an easy science to study but the opportunities of chemistry are infinite and it really worth it.
I've started a youtube channel where I am finding ways to make life a little easier using chemistry.
So far I have only one video but I have some ideas which I am going to perform in the near future.
Please check this out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CP_Szfp4vE
Video content:
1. Cooling a can of coke without electricity (using endothermic reaction)
2. Making Marquis reagent to identify unknown substances.
3. Catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide as a medical source of oxygen

Let me know what you guys think, whether it is negative or positive opinion it will be of a big value for me.
Thanks

TinSandwich - 9-7-2016 at 15:00

Nice chemical demonstrations, but I'd go for a more relaxed approach: starting with some calmer, lower volume music (not electronic, jazz maybe?) and maybe even some narration (I know it can be difficult to do, just giving you some ideas).

That's my advice, have fun and keep making videos

Ashot - 9-7-2016 at 15:28

Totally agree with you the music is a bit too aggressive but the youtube channel (nocopyrights sounds) doesn't really have a relaxed music and so far they are the only source of music I could find that won't violate the copyrights. However, the original music was much more pleasant (I nicked it from some youtube chill mixes). About the narration, it's a good point I need more practice. It's my first experience in video making and premier pro also a new software for me, so I had to learn as I go. But I will do my best to get some improvements in the future.
If you know any source of music that is not obligated by the copyrights and you could share it with me, I would be really grateful.
Thanks for your comment, now I am very motivated to make some more videos and improve the quality.

ficolas - 9-7-2016 at 15:32

Chemplayer EP <3

Ashot - 9-7-2016 at 15:52

If you comparing me to chemplayer (youtube channel) I will take it as a huge compliment, there are some really experienced chemists and I have a long way to go to get to their level.
However, they are really naughty with their experiments :-)
I am making sure my experiments do not go aginst the law

ficolas - 9-7-2016 at 16:11

Quote: Originally posted by Ashot

If you comparing me to chemplayer (youtube channel) I will take it as a huge compliment, there are some really experienced chemists and I have a long way to go to get to their level.
However, they are really naughty with their experiments :-)
I am making sure my experiments do not go aginst the law

I mean chemplayer has an EP that they allow people to use for free as long as the content is chemistry related (afaik)
I dont have enough information to compare you with anything with just one video, your channel at the moment can go in so many directions

Ashot - 9-7-2016 at 16:18

haha now that makes more sense. To be honest, even though they make a good chem experiments, I've never heard a good music on their channel. I can hardly remember any music at all. Perhaps we are talking about different sources?
In any case thanks for the advice.

Melgar - 9-7-2016 at 17:33

You should dissolve a box of styrofoam peanuts in acetone or lacquer thinner or something. Or show how to use rubbing alcohol to take off the ink from a sharpie. Maybe act like you just woke up and someone drew all over your face with a sharpie. Then be like "fortunately, I know chemistry!" Remove the sharpie marks with rubbing alcohol, then get your aggressor back by drawing on him in his sleep with a silver nitrate solution.

Ashot - 9-7-2016 at 17:54

Quote: Originally posted by Melgar

You should dissolve a box of styrofoam peanuts in acetone or lacquer thinner or something. Or show how to use rubbing alcohol to take off the ink from a sharpie. Maybe act like you just woke up and someone drew all over your face with a sharpie. Then be like "fortunately, I know chemistry!" Remove the sharpie marks with rubbing alcohol, then get your aggressor back by drawing on him in his sleep with a silver nitrate solution.

Haha love the permanent marker idea, but perhaps silver nitrate is a bit dangerous, it is toxic

but 5% iodine solution should leave some marks that won't wash off for days. In any case, I don't recommend using chemicals on humans unless you know for sure there will not be an allergic reaction.
In my next video, I am planning to convert AA battery to medication that treats bipolar disorder. I got this idea from nilered channel.

Texium - 9-7-2016 at 17:59

Quote: Originally posted by Ashot

I am planning to convert AA battery to medication that treats bipolar disorder. I got this idea from nilered channel.

I hope you aren't saying you'd advise your viewers to actually consume lithium salts made from a battery. That would be far more dangerous than drawing on someone's face with silver nitrate, considering that there could be toxic impurities left over from the battery.

Melgar - 9-7-2016 at 18:00

You're not referring to lithium are you? Because you need special non-rechargeable lithium batteries for that, and they tend to be 3-volt ones, ie not AA. Most AA batteries contain zinc, manganese dioxide, graphite, and either potassium hydroxide or ammonium chloride.

IIRC, silver nitrate on the skin can't cause an allergic reaction, but if you don't evaporate off your excess nitic acid after dissolving your silver, it can certainly cause a reaction!

[Edited on 7/10/16 by Melgar]

Ashot - 9-7-2016 at 18:04

Quote: Originally posted by zts16

Quote: Originally posted by Ashot

I am planning to convert AA battery to medication that treats bipolar disorder. I got this idea from nilered channel.

Of course not, I would never recommend any homemade chemicals for consumption, it would be totally crazy. It's for educational purpose only, and I will clearly make this statement.

Quote: Originally posted by Melgar

You're not referring to lithium are you? Because you need special non-rechargeable lithium batteries for that, and they tend to be 3-volt ones, ie not AA. Most AA batteries contain zinc, manganese dioxide, graphite, and either potassium hydroxide or ammonium chloride.

IIRC, silver nitrate on the skin can't cause an allergic reaction, but if you don't evaporate off your excess nitic acid after dissolving your silver, it can certainly cause a reaction!

Energizer AA ultimate lithium battery contains actual lithium, but this is the only AA battery with lithium I could find.

I can buy very pure lithium as it is, but I think it would make video a bit more interesting if lithium is taken from the battery.

[Edit] Merged posts

[Edited on 7-10-2016 by zts16]

Melgar - 10-7-2016 at 14:46

Also, it's way cheaper to buy lithium carbonate on eBay for $12 a pound and weigh it out with a milligram scale.

Really though, ANY lithium salt (without a toxic anion) can be used to treat bipolar. They use lithium carbonate mainly because it's not hygroscopic. It seems kind of silly to waste lithium like tha though. All you have to do is leave it out in the air for a day or so and it'll turn into lithium carbonate on its own, via absorbtion of CO2 from the air. Kind of pointless to do a reaction that takes no work at all. What would be much cooler is electrolytically depositing lithium from a lithium salt dissolved in an aprotic polar solvent (a polar solvent that mixes with water but doesn't produce H+ ions). You know how you can't get alkali metals to plate onto electrodes in an aqueous solution, because they just react with water to form hydroxides and hydrogen? Well, with a few solvents, lithium can be electrolyzed from its salts at room temperature. IIRC, this works best with dimethylformamide and acetonitrile, both of which are relatively safe. My guess would be that organic acid salts would be most soluble in those solvents and thus work best, like lithium acetate, but that's just a guess. I know it's been done with other salts:

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00610946

Ashot - 10-7-2016 at 15:34

Hi, yes I know you can buy lithium carbonate on ebay.
Really my purpose here is a demonstration rather than a profitable synthesis. In my opinion transformation of a battery to medication is an unusual process and could be interesting even to people that are not interested in science.
Making very complicated process such as electrolytic deposition of lithium may put viewers off, even though it is an interesting process but not for everyone.
My goal is an instant conversion of lithium peroxide to lithium carbonate by heating lithium peroxide in the presence of CO2.
The reason why I am not converting lithium hydroxide straight to carbonate because one of the byproducts of this reaction is water so, on the transformation carbonate will turn to sludge . LiOH + CO2 ---- LiCO3 + H2O
But in the case of peroxide, the byproducts are carbonate and oxygen and the crystals of carbonate will remain dry, which in my opinion is better for visual illustration.
Here is the order of process:
Lithium + water ------ lithium hydroxide
lithium hydroxide solution evaporation to get dry hydroxide crystals
Lithium hydroxide + h2o2 ---- lithium hydroperoxide and water
evaporation -------- lithium peroxide
lithium peroxide + CO2 ------- carbonate + oxygen gas
Purification process.

Melgar - 10-7-2016 at 17:28

Seems a really complicated process, when you could just leave a chunk of lithium in front of a small fan overnight and come back in the morning to find lithium carbonate. Try it, I bet it works, with MUCH better yields. Don't describe it as a synthesis of lithium carbonate though, because lithium carbonate is the raw material from which comes lithium metal. Describe the reaction for what it's REALLY useful for: removing CO2 from the atmosphere and replacing it with oxygen in a closed system like the ISS where weight is at a premium. Describing it this way has the added benefit of people not trying to make their own potentially explosive bipolar medication.

MrHomeScientist - 11-7-2016 at 11:14

Surely just leaving a piece of Li out to react with air will result in low purity, though? I imagine it would be a mix of carbonate and hydroxide.

Ashot, sounds like an interesting experiment to watch. I'm not sure you'll be able to get solid LiOH though; I know with NaOH and KOH this is near impossible because they are so hygroscopic. You may be better off adding the peroxide direct to the hydroxide solution, assuming you can still get the LiO<sub>2</sub> out of a more dilute solution.

I think the CO2 scrubbing angle is a great thing to mention during your process.

Loptr - 11-7-2016 at 11:49

chemplayer has offered to make their video template open-source for others to use. You can use their intro and music. You wouldn't have to use their synthetic voice if you didn't want to.

Ashot - 11-7-2016 at 12:06

Quote: Originally posted by Melgar

Seems a really complicated process, when you could just leave a chunk of lithium in front of a small fan overnight and come back in the morning to find lithium carbonate. Try it, I bet it works, with MUCH better yields. Don't describe it as a synthesis of lithium carbonate though, because lithium carbonate is the raw material from which comes lithium metal. Describe the reaction for what it's REALLY useful for: removing CO2 from the atmosphere and replacing it with oxygen in a closed system like the ISS where weight is at a premium. Describing it this way has the added benefit of people not trying to make their own potentially explosive bipolar medication.

Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to leave a solid chunk of lithium to react and show this as an alternative way of making LiCO3.

Ashot - 11-7-2016 at 12:15

Quote: Originally posted by MrHomeScientist

Surely just leaving a piece of Li out to react with air will result in low purity, though? I imagine it would be a mix of carbonate and hydroxide.

Ashot, sounds like an interesting experiment to watch. I'm not sure you'll be able to get solid LiOH though; I know with NaOH and KOH this is near impossible because they are so hygroscopic. You may be better off adding the peroxide direct to the hydroxide solution, assuming you can still get the LiO<sub>2</sub> out of a more dilute solution.

I think the CO2 scrubbing angle is a great thing to mention during your process.

Yes, you are right, if the solid chunk of lithium will be left to react the way melgar explained it would be a mixture of salts but it can easily be purified.
Lithium carbonate has an interesting property to precipitate in a very hot water while other salts are not.
About the solid hydroxide, I have already performed this experiment in the past and successfully obtained crystals of hydroxide perhaps they weren't 100% dry, also nilered performs this in one of his videos on youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c4BjVIgK1k) but he has not made carbonate for some reason even though he mentioned it. This is where this idea came from

Ashot - 11-7-2016 at 12:22

However, I forgot that solution of lithium hydroxide was not evaporated instead it was precipitated with isopropanol and then filtered.

Ashot - 11-7-2016 at 12:40

Guys, while I am waiting for the batteries to arrive I decided to make another experiment. I am extracting caffeine from tea and coffee (the equivalent amount by mass) to see what contains more caffeine. However, I already know that there is much more caffeine in tea but a little demonstration would be good

Melgar - 11-7-2016 at 23:24

Quote: Originally posted by MrHomeScientist

Surely just leaving a piece of Li out to react with air will result in low purity, though? I imagine it would be a mix of carbonate and hydroxide.

The hydroxide reacts with carbon dioxide to form the carbonate though. In fact, it has to go through that process, since that's where the extra O in the CO3 comes from -- a water molecule. This is true of all alkali hydroxides as well as calcium hydroxide. Magnesium is a little weird though. It sort of reacts like a combination of calcium and aluminum.

In any case, you know how potassium and sodium hydroxide prills are kind of translucent, but if you accidentally drop one on your table and find it the next day, it'll be all white and opaque? That's because it absorbed water from the air, which then absorbed CO2 from the air, forming carbonic acid, which then reacted to form the carbonate. Basically, lithium does the same thing.

Quote:

Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to leave a solid chunk of lithium to react and show this as an alternative way of making LiCO3.

Agreed, although the formula is Li2CO3. Generally, it reacts with water vapor first to form the hydroxide, which is super hygroscopic and absorbs more water from the air until it's liquid. CO2 will dissolve in that liquid to form carbonic acid, CO(OH)2, which will then react with the lithium hydroxide to form lithium carbonate and water. (This process by which CO2 reacts with water to form carbonic acid is also how plants capture CO2, and one reason why plants need so much water. It's also the reason why you can dissolve so much CO2 in liquids like soda and beer.) Lithium carbonate is not nearly as soluble in water as the hydroxide though, so it precipitates out as a white solid. (It could dissolve in water, but not a saturated lithium hydroxide solution) This process continues until all the hydroxide has turned into carbonate. The water meanwhile, will just evaporate, seeing as the carbonate salts aren't so strongly attracted to it as the hydroxide salts were.

Editing again because I don't think they like when you post twice in a row. Here's an experiment you can try: get calcium chloride, they sell it both as an ice melter (which is only available in the winter in places that get snow, obviously) and as a dessicator, since it absorbs moisture from the air. They sell it at Home Depot as a dessicator, just make sure to get the unscented stuff.

Anyway, dissolve calcium chloride in distilled water, and the solution should be perfectly clear. Now get a bottle of seltzer water. This should also be clear aside from the bubbles. Now mix the two, and watch what happens. It'll get cloudy and a precipitate will form. This is calcium carbonate, which is very insoluble in water, and so it falls to the bottom, releasing HCl as it does. This seems counterintuitive, a very weak acid reacting instead of a much stronger one, but it is driven not by acid strength but by solubility. In fact, I did an experiment once where I left two jars with aluminum foil in them out overnight, one with a calcium chloride solution, and the other with an oxalic acid solution. Neither one of these can dissolve aluminum, at least if you cover the jars they can't. But then mix them, and it'll form a white precipitate that will cover everything. That's calcium oxalate, also insoluble in water. If the aluminum is exposed from beneath its coating of precipitate, you will eventually see it start to erode away, as a result of the formed hydrochloric acid. You can even smell it a little.

[Edited on 7/12/16 by Melgar]