Sciencemadness Discussion Board - Chemicals sources from everyday's life

Chemicals sources from everyday's life

Metallus - 1-8-2016 at 05:57

The other day I was at a friend's house and while we were fooling around in their big house, I noticed some white salt coming off the walls.

I remembered that efflorescence of water soluble salts, such as potassium/sodium nitrate, can occur through porous concrete and lead to the formation of this fluffy white powder on the surface.

In order to confirm my guess, I scratched some of this powder (ca 50g), made a 2:1 mixture of this powder and sugar and set it on fire. I was satisfied to watch it "happily" burning with a purple flame and producing a lot smoke. (Damn, it was burning even more efficiently than the pure fine grounded mix I had made at home).

So I decided to create this topic where we can share and list chemicals and where they can be found in our everyday's life. I gave the example of nitrates from walls; another trivial example could be iron oxide from rusted metal (you don't say), copper from wires, gold from microchips, mercury from old thermometers etc.

Chemicals surround us but many are unaware of their presence. The chemist is the most qualified person to know where to find them, but this is hardly something you are taught at school/university. Most of what I know on the matter comes from personal research. None of my chemist colleagues has a clue or where to find what, nor they care. But I'm a chemist, I have to know. It is expected I know. I must know. If I don't, who else is supposed know?

Think of this as a MacGyver topic. I had already searched the forums for a similar topic, but my keywords didn't bring up any relevant result. If there was already a topic like this, I apologize.

PS:
About that white powder I found: when I was collecting all the trash I made, I ended up mixing this white powder with a lemon and aluminium foils. After a while I see smoke coming off the plastic glass and the remarkable smell of ammonia. So well, I don't really know what happened in there, but the reaction was quite exothermic, since the glass was hot. Could it be reduction of nitrate to ammonium with aluminium?

[Edited on 1-8-2016 by Metallus]

[Edited on 1-8-2016 by Metallus]

NEMO-Chemistry - 1-8-2016 at 09:58

Urea! Sodium chloride from salt. Not ready to share my source of Ammonia yet because i have taken 3 weeks getting it done and taking pics

, it will be my first really decent post.

Ethanol from just about any fruit or even bread and sugar. Charcoal from wood.

ficolas - 1-8-2016 at 12:06

Calcium carbonate from marble, that can be easily turned to calcium chloride for drying or calcium acetate for... playing arround with burning jelly-thing.

NEMO-Chemistry - 1-8-2016 at 12:10

Acetic acid from vinegar you get from your ethanol you made and left out

Neme - 1-8-2016 at 12:23

Sodium dithionite - cloth decolorant - drogery
hexamin (urotropin) - solid fuel for starting fire - in drogery
red phosphorus - matchboxes - drogery

Velzee - 1-8-2016 at 12:37

Calcium carbonate, from two pounds of seashells

, crude KOH and K2CO3 from the ashes fireplace(just soak in distilled water, filter, evaporate or boil), I typically find little pieces of igneous rock containing iron at the beach when the waves wash onto the shore, uranium(or, more commonly, thorium) can sometimes although rarely be found in the rocks near your home, SiO2 as quartz and sand, ammoniafrom urine(*cough* @NEMO *cough*), acetone from nail polish remover, nitrates from compost, PH paper by soaking pieces of filter paper hibiscus tea.

I really like this topic!

zwt - 1-8-2016 at 13:43

Quote: Originally posted by Metallus

The other day I was at a friend's house and while we were fooling around in their big house, I noticed some white salt coming off the walls.

I remembered that efflorescence of water soluble salts, such as potassium/sodium nitrate, can occur through porous concrete and lead to the formation of this fluffy white powder on the surface.

Nitrate only tends to effloresce on the walls of old catacombs or deep cellars built into swampy marshy areas. It might also be possible in porous cement cellars in an area with extreme over-application of chemical fertilizer. Nitrate can also appear around dung heaps and such, but I don't know anyone who keeps pile of composting manure in their house. I'd like to see a picture of the walls from which you supposedly scraped your nitrate.

Quote: Originally posted by Metallus

Think of this as a MacGyver topic. I had already searched the forums for a similar topic, but my keywords didn't bring up any relevant result. If there was already a topic like this, I apologize.

There are many topics like this. Here's a few:
Readily Available Chemicals Website: Version 2 (this one is a sticky, hard to miss)
List of chemicals available in... stores
OTC chemical sources (US)
...and many threads on sources for individual chemicals.

Quote: Originally posted by Metallus

PS:
About that white powder I found: when I was collecting all the trash I made, I ended up mixing this white powder with a lemon and aluminium foils. After a while I see smoke coming off the plastic glass and the remarkable smell of ammonia. So well, I don't really know what happened in there, but the reaction was quite exothermic, since the glass was hot. Could it be reduction of nitrate to ammonium with aluminium?

The reaction you describe with aluminum, nitrate, and lemon juice is impossible. Nitrate is reduced by aluminum only in strongly alkaline conditions; not only wouldn't it work in the presence of lemon acids, but the lemon juice would neutralize any ammonia so you couldn't smell it.

(Cough)

[Edited on 1-8-2016 by zwt]

Texium - 1-8-2016 at 14:06

Fiery first post there, zwt. I agree that the OP's claims seem pretty sketchy, especially with regards to the ammonia producing reaction.

Also, I already considered merging this thread to one of the ones that you mentioned, however I think the subject is different enough for it to stay as it is. Those threads discuss the most convenient and affordable sources of various chemicals, while this one is more about finding usable things in the natural world, even if it wouldn't be an economically viable source.

ficolas - 1-8-2016 at 14:25

Quote:

I have seen it in my grandparents house, in the garage. It is nothing close to what you described, and it also appeared once in my house, when the paint started to fall off because of humidity, (behind a sofa, so it probably was like that for some time, maybe even more than a year because we didnt notice.
I dont live in a swampy area, its a rural area, that probably was fertiliced a quite a lot with animal poo in the past. And nitrates on the wall are kinda common here. They are even more common in the countryside, since walls there are usually left unnatended, and lots of fertilicers are used.

I would seend you a picture (even thought you didnt ask me for it, you asked another guy), but that would require me going to the countryside and looking in people's walls, or going quite far to the countryside to go to a tractor garage my grandfather has, that im certain will have quite a lot on the walls. I may go in a few weeks, and if I remember I will take a pic.

Here is a picture I found online that looks pretty similar to what appeared in my house

[Edited on 1-8-2016 by ficolas]

zwt - 1-8-2016 at 14:34

@zts16:
My apologies; I forgot you needed a certain post count to point out obvious BS. Perhaps you could give me the link to the forum etiquette guidlines?

Not everything requires merging, nor was I suggesting that, but if you must use your superpowers, here are a few better candidates:
Game: Chemistry from natural resources only
Anyone else interestead in extracting chemicals from plant material?
Preparing chemicals from the beginning (from the Earth)
Note the second post in the last thread, from 2012:

Quote: Originally posted by White Yeti

I'm tempted to mention that this topic has already been covered, albeit not in very much detail.

@ficolas:
You've tested that for nitrate? It looks like how plaster and some drywall (both calcium sulfate) expand when absorbing moisture, without changing chemically.

ficolas - 1-8-2016 at 14:44

Quote:

You've tested that for nitrate? It looks like how plaster and some drywall (both calcium sulfate) expand when absorbing moisture, without changing chemically.

I only tested the one that appeared in the country side because I wanted to have some fun, and there was quite a lot of it. They looked pretty much like the same spiky thin crystals, but in the country side the crystals were bigger, and everywhere.

Metallus - 1-8-2016 at 15:56

Quote:

Well, this house is in a rural area, got a yard and is in the middle of vegetables. I wouldn't be surprised if it was heavily fertilized. The salt that comes from the wall is A LOT, it looks like 2-3cm long wool popping from the wall. I was able to collect over 70g in that day from just four pillars. After 3-4 weeks I visited again and the stuff was again there, working like a charm.

Next time I go visit, I'll take a picture. Just to give you an idea, it was this severe http://www.aldonchem.com/ab-efflor-worstcase.jpg but it also had a "dirtier" component. There was an hard and crusty brown/white powder on the wall, and then this very fine wool sticking out. I only used the white soft wool, because I dismissed the crusty one as carbonate.

I would also like to point out that this 2:1 mixture with sugar was more reactive than a mixture of finely ground pure potassium nitrate and powdered sugar I had made at home back in the days. I was expecting this to be less reactive, since it was a dirty powder, assumed to be nitrate, collected from a wall and mixed in a hurry with powdered sugar.

Quote:

Yes I know, but those are more about "where to buy chemicals".

I wanted this to be more about where you can find chemicals in your environment. Say, you need a certain chemical NOW, you can't buy or order it online at the current moment, where are you most likely going to find it? This is what this thread is about. It's really about how resourceful you can get. That's why I wrote "think of this as a MacGyver thread". Imagine to have been kidnapped and enclosed in a room, what useful chemical can you find and use? Imagine you are in the woods, in an abadoned house, what useful chemicals can you salvage?

Quote:

Yes, I thought about it, but the lemon juice wasn't pouring out like a waterfall. Just imagine this plastic cup that I was filling with the leftover trash of my experiments plus other garbage from the day: that cup contained aluminium foils, ashes from my experiments (which are most likely basic oxides), leftover nitrate mix and half lemon. I listed everything just to provide all information, but do not think of it as a 80ml citric acid solution.

Also, that was 100% ammonia. I've been smelling it for too long, my nose got hypersensitive towards ammonia and hydrochloric acid.

Anyways, back on topic:
Lead oxide and sulfuric acid from car batteries
Lithium metal from lithium batteries (not lithium-ion)

[Edited on 2-8-2016 by Metallus]

NEMO-Chemistry - 1-8-2016 at 16:18

Just give him his log in details back ZTS 16.

If your new here you cant forget you need a certain post count can you! NVM!

There is a cave/mine 'THING', not too far from here. Some say its stone age some say its just a natural small cave and some say its from a old mine that was stopped before it started kind of thing.

It has stuff coming off the walls but i never thought to collect or test it, it's not too far from the sea and we kind of live in a farming area. So i have no idea what it would be.

First i thought maybe lime or carbonate etc, but around here the soil is really acidic, so no idea!

I do know the really old farms have nitrate in the old root cellars, but these tend to be below things like where old stables were.

See i got rumbled on the Ammonia lmao, couldnt resist after the social post about boiling it lol

.

[Edited on 2-8-2016 by NEMO-Chemistry]

NEMO-Chemistry - 1-8-2016 at 16:22

I guess calcium oxide from lime stone that cooked, that seems a really old one.

Turps from pine tree's.

Agar agar and sodium alginate? from seaweed? Any kind of plastic you can think of on local beach!!

You got me hunting around the house now to see what is about! I spose calcium sulphate from old drywalling? again not 100% sure on that one.

Metallus - 3-8-2016 at 06:23

Is there a way to edit the main post? I'd like to update it everytime with all the compounds and their natural/household sources. Thanks

Ashot - 3-8-2016 at 18:28

1. Lithium metal (Li)
from energizer AA battery as shown in my video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YTGER10QX8

2. Limonene (C10H16)
from citrus fruit peel as shown in NileRed's video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4CBXkfVHDc

3. Sulphuric acid around 30% conc and lead metal (Pb)
from lead-acid battery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93acid_battery

4. Urea (CH4N2O)
From urine chemplayer's video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJx0GJSYxBE

5. Chlorine (Cl2) and hydrogen (H2) sodium hydroxide (NaOH)
by electrolysis of table salt. - http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/21c/chemic...

6. Ethanol (C2H5OH)
From sugar and yeast - NaileRed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txm7eu8KxVI

I believe this list can be reasonably extended but in most cases, it is cheaper to buy chemicals online.

j_sum1 - 3-8-2016 at 19:00

I think that ave369 is our resident expert here. She makes all manner of lab basics in apparently quite high volumes beginning with rather limited resources -- the local economics and infrastructure being what they are.

It is worth reading through some her (especially earlier) posts.