Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Florida Bust - Anyone We Know?

Anon123 - 14-11-2018 at 09:42

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mother-satan-explosive-...

Hilariously they feature what appears to be a ZVS driver and flyback transformer as some of the "items" in question. Looks like they took KNO3 stump remover, hydrogen peroxide, activated charcoal, visco fuse, and a bunch of consumer fireworks. Every news article is referring to TATP as "Mother of Satan" which is also quite funny.

The biggest concern to me is that it says, "[snipped for privacy] said he used YouTube videos to "progress his knowledge," the report says."

Yikes.

MrHomeScientist - 14-11-2018 at 10:13

Good god, the man has commercial fireworks! Lock that monster up.

Vomaturge - 14-11-2018 at 10:50

Well, at least it was a small transformer... I'd hate to see the bomb squad "safely defuse" a nice full size ZVS setup or an MOT:D

Not pictured: "an explosive chemical called the "Mother of Satan" powerful enough to blow up a neighborhood block." Didn't see a few cubic meters of any hazardous material in any of those pictures.

Yup, this looks like a home experimenter who wasn't being very cautious about safety and was breaking some serious laws (if he really was storing homemade explosives), but was not likely endangering anyone but himself. Hope he doesn't get charged as a terrorist or something over this.

Also hope this doesn't make YouTube crack down on science videos more than they have already.

Ubya - 14-11-2018 at 10:53

a flyback toy from ebay -An item recovered by the Volusia County Sheriff's Office at the home in Lake Helen

a BBQ lighter -An item recovered by the Volusia County Sheriff's Office at the home in Lake Helen

toilet paper -An item recovered by the Volusia County Sheriff's Office at the home in Lake Helen

toilet paper is made out of cellulose, an important ingredient in nitrocellulose, a widely used explosive in ammunitions

poor guy

Melgar - 14-11-2018 at 12:10

I'm kind of curious what science videos YouTube is not allowing now. Say someone demonstrated how to safely make a small amount of alkali cyanide salt and then made a silver plating bath using that and silver nitrate? On the one hand, you absolutely need an alkali cyanide salt to plate silver properly, but on the other hand, you might end up with suicidal (or homicidal) people finding the video and only paying attention to the first part.

j_sum1 - 14-11-2018 at 12:55

Quote: Originally posted by Melgar  
I'm kind of curious what science videos YouTube is not allowing now. Say someone demonstrated how to safely make a small amount of alkali cyanide salt and then made a silver plating bath using that and silver nitrate? On the one hand, you absolutely need an alkali cyanide salt to plate silver properly, but on the other hand, you might end up with suicidal (or homicidal) people finding the video and only paying attention to the first part.

I am not convinced that YT actually has a deliberate policy.
What they do have is AI that is triggered by the various inputs of viewers as well as the data on all of the videos. This is optimised to achieve the highest profit for the parent company (Alphabet -- who came up with that one?)

Because chemistry
(a) has a rather small niche viewership
(b) easily triggers flags and complaints from the chemophobic public
(c) is associated with drugs and substances that are illegal in some locations
(d) often includes such scary words as cyanide, detonation, explosion

the view to complaint ratio does not compute favourably -- despite its obvious utility, its explicit educational value and often an emphasis on safety.

Jackass stunts, dashcam deaths, scams, extortion and quackery, fad diets, scientific misinformation and general stupidity all get their viewing. But woe to anyone who attempts to show some quality chemistry: It is a roulette wheel as to whether the content wil stay up.

[end of rant – not much to do with the Fl event.]

JJay - 14-11-2018 at 17:28

Obviously, this guy should have shown the cops his lab notebook before inviting them in and showing them around. Classic blunder.

MrHomeScientist - 15-11-2018 at 07:04

Quote: Originally posted by Melgar  
I'm kind of curious what science videos YouTube is not allowing now. Say someone demonstrated how to safely make a small amount of alkali cyanide salt and then made a silver plating bath using that and silver nitrate? On the one hand, you absolutely need an alkali cyanide salt to plate silver properly, but on the other hand, you might end up with suicidal (or homicidal) people finding the video and only paying attention to the first part.

My video on making potassium chlorate has been targeted several times. A few years ago it was age-restricted, which I appealed and lost. Then just recently, it was removed entirely. I used the same argument in my appeal this time, and the removal was reversed. So it depends on who is reviewing your appeal, I'm sure. It's incredible because in the email where they said my video violated the guidelines, they linked to the below guideline that lists exceptions that my video clearly falls under.

The only reason I can think that this particular video keeps getting targeted is someone thinks chlorate = bombs. I use it for the screaming gummy bear demo, and as a nice source of oxygen gas.

If anyone else has this problem, cite this page: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2801964?hl=en
Specifically, this clause: "A video that depicts dangerous acts may be allowed if the primary purpose is educational, documentary, scientific, or artistic (EDSA), and it isn’t gratuitously graphic." (emphasis mine)
Obviously our videos are educational and scientific, and presented safely.