100kg Thermite: Observing the Power of Aluminium and Iron Oxide Combustion
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- Опубліковано 26 вер 2024
- In today's video, more than 100 kg of thermite are used. Thermite is a mixture of aluminum and iron oxide that releases an enormous amount of energy in a redox reaction.
We wanted to get to the bottom of whether the reaction of thermite with ice is a simple steam explosion. Therefore, we reacted thermite with dry ice and frozen cyclohexane. We also tried to produce a ruby in a thermite reaction.
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Good video! It is a steam explosion (foundry explosion) in the end, we can talk about the details if you like to ;-)
Thank you very much! So it is indeed a purely physical reaction, since the water evaporates abruptly and the volume increases greatly as a result?
I wouldn't have thought that a steam explosion in an open container could be so violent. Thank you very much for the information! Since the statement of a professor of inorganics is probably the most qualified, I'd pin your comment if that's okay.
@@zomgthisisawesomelol My guess is that water cools down the iron much quicker because of the much larger surface area
@zomgthisisawesomelol It can also happen with water - when the conditions are right. Getting the right conditions for the foundry explosion is however difficult.
@@Fluorineisgreat I would love it if you could describe the details of what you think is happening here.
From reading the wikipedia article on Steam Explosions, my understanding is:
1. a hot molten metal droplet touches liquid water
2. the liquid water boils very quickly, creating a pocket of steam near the molten metal droplet
3. this pocket of steam creates a shockwave in the water
4. this shockwave breaks other hot molten metal droplets into very small droplets, mixed with cool water
5. as these small droplets have a high surface area, they create steam bubbles very rapidly
6. these steam bubbles accelerate the shockwave
This requires liquid metal that can be dispersed in the water by a shockwave. But this is just a wikipedia-level understanding, so it could be wrong. Why would this not happen with the cyclohexane? Is it because the bulk modulus of cyclohexane is ~ 1GPa, and the bulk modulus of water is ~2 GPa, so cyclohexane may not transmit shockwaves as well?
I believe I can guess at a pretty accurate chain of events. Thermite contacts ice. Ice starts melting. A thin layer of water forms, as well as a layer of steam. Random fluctuations eventually leads to a situation where you've got a certain thickness of water film, and the steam barrier randomly breaks down. This makes a small pop which creates a small aerosolized cloud of both water and molten iron. Now that the surface area is massively increased we've got a situation which expands exponentially, an explosion.
It happens because of the solid>liquid>gas interface. It can only occur when there's a hard surface behind the liquid to redirect any force back towards the molten stuff(shoving the water into the iron), and only when there's a gas phase barrier which allows the molten iron to accumulate.
It was a pleasure to do these experiments with you and Elias!
Thanks! It was a great day!
São feras
You German boys are so hot.
I guess you will just need to test it on frozen hydrogen then ;)
Ah yes. Let's use to our portable freezer that cools to -240F
6:40
I love how the fire creates a small smoky tornado that throws stuff around and slowly walks away from the fire.
So I think I might know why you couldn't find any rubies.
"While chromium is what causes ruby red color, not all rubies glow red. Basalt hosted rubies, meaning high iron rubies from certain locations, do not fluoresce."
Basically, all that iron oxide you used in the thermite prevented it from showing up with your UV lights.
that is correct.
So if encased in for instance Terra Cotta Clay vessel and a large enough quantity of thermite is used to reach reaction temperature it might work...
I don't know how to make the Terra Cotta tolerate the heat though... Preheating...?
@@klausnielsen1537 tolerating the heat is the hard part. It can't just insulate itself because the aluminum oxide inside needs to get up to temperature or it won't melt and form rubies, but those temperatures pretty much destroy any kind of casing you might use, including terracotta.
Maybe if you switch the oxidizer from iron oxide to something that would boil off during the reaction, leaving just the oxidized aluminum behind... But then the gases would rapidly expand under the heat and you'd have a bomb
@@klausnielsen1537 he's just using the wrong method, trying to transfer heat through something into the ruby mix wont work because the ruby mix just begins to melt at about 3700F and nothing can withstand the heat of the thermite that can also effectively transfer the heat, well, very few things, silicon carbide or diamond might work.
@@Metal_Master_YT hiya, i'm trying to make ruby using thermite and a graphite crucible that i put my chromium oxide and aluminium oxide mix in, away from any iron oxide. could that work and be a viable way to make rubies?
Haha that intro was too funny! An great job on the editing, I love it!
Thanks! I will watch your video soon :)
Thanks for letting us join!
About the "steam" explosion: My guess is that Iron and aluminium both have a standard potential lower than hydrogen, the water acts as a second stage of thermite, oxidizing the iron and unreacted aluminium, releasing heat and in this case a volume of hydrogen gas (which causes the explosion). A potential test would be to drop the liquid thermite on a bed of higher potential metal oxide (like CuO) or on a bed of oxidizer like nitrate or chlorate salts.
This happens only in minute amounts as a side reaction. In order to have the H2/O2 explosion, you need the minimum amount of H2 required (LEL) at the O2 concentration around the thermite (which is lowered due to the heat and pressure), so that the H2/O2 explosion occurs under that conditions is unlikely.
@@Fluorineisgreat - I was going to say, is the thermite hot enough to disassociate the H2 from the O (and do what was proposed)? You're likely right that it's an inconsequential side reaction, so I'm curious of what the reason for this happening is. I'm guessing the explosion is from the rapid phase change of the H2O from solid (ice) to vapor (steam), which is likely more than the liquid to vapor transition ratio (of H2O) of ~1:1000. Not like I know, just another YT armchair keyboard warrior that's curious. Great input, it got me thinking!
@@RR2BOX46 Yes, a not insignificant percentage of the water molecules will dissociate at 2500C.
I think it is simpler than that.
When dry ice sublimates it forms a surface of CO2 around it self, which insulates the dry ice.
You can put dry ice in water and it takes for ever for the ice to completely sublimate.
All it does is to moderately cool down the water like normal ice.
You can see this in the hellish image of dry ice right next to glowingly hot iron.
The Iron doesn't touch the slabs of dry ice, since there is a layer of CO2 in between.
It looks really messed up.
Anyway, this is similar to how you can dip your hand in to liquid nitrogen without getting frostbite if you do it quickly.
@@MegaBanne My theory as well. Never gets direct contact. You might need a substance, that is more comparable to water - not directly flammable, freezable at not too low a temperature and lower vapour pressure so it can't form a leidenfrost effect like CO2.
Liquid iron (so many other metals) react with water H2O + Fe -> FeO + H2. Hydrogen gives a huge expansion in volume and, of course, it's flammable and in proper mixes with oxygen/air is explosive.
*And yeah judging by high pitch of explosion sound, it definitely detonates -- not just expanded.
really nice to see people just having fun with chemistry again!! I was a little worried that the time for that died in the past.
somehow awakens the kid in me :P
I grew up with a kid that was all about these types of experiments. We are still really good friends and he has since moved into more electro-engineering while I went into software engineering but this stuff totally reminds me of being a kid and listening to lil' Nicki McLane talk about chemical reactions. He made m80's black cats, all sorts of dynamite for us. Long story short, I found myself on this side of youTube about a year ago and I totally feel like a kid again. I run half the experiments I see here at my house. I love being a part of the experimental community. All the concepts I just brushed off are now so fascinating to me and I have the financial stability to just fuck around and find out in the most scientific ways.
You should watch the Thunderfoot video about how his team discovered that it was a coulombic explosion between alkali metals and water and that it was also a coulombic explosion between Thermite and ice (very hot metal and h2o), though I don't remember him explaining the thermite and ice nearly as well as the alkali metal and water. You'd think that thermite and just water would explode as well. But I guess you need ice for that specific coulombic explosion to happen. And that's why it doesn't do anything with dry ice. It needs to be h2o.
A Columbic explosion can’t happen with dry ice, because CO2 is non-polar, it’s dipole moment is 0.
thunderf00t had a great video about Liquid Metal/Water explosions, and he and a research team recorded NaK reacting with water using a high speed camera. Immediately before the explosion, the metal droplet turned spiky like a hedgehog. The theory is that liquid metals starting to react with water get pulled INTO the water by the electric force when the ionization starts. This exponentially increases the surface area, allowing for an "all at once" chemical reaction that is necessary for an explosion, rather than a sizzle.
Maybe that's what is going on with the "Thermite on ice" videos, since Iron react with water.
I understand steam becomes reactive above a certain temperature since it’s used to activate charcoal… I wonder if it’s something to do with that? Anyways, great video man! :)
Thanks! That's a possibility. I really think there has to be a chemical reaction taking place
I have an EXTREMELY dangerous (but also extremely awesome) idea. Part of the reason water behaves the way it does is because of its high heat capacity (due to hydrogen bonding). Not sure of the mechanism, but perhaps this plays into why ice will explode on contact with thermite. So the logical way to test if this is a factor is to use something else with a high heat capacity. And the only chemical that one could reasonably use is ammonia. ANHYDROUS ammonia. So the experiment would be to freeze some anhydrous ammonia (no idea what the best way of approaching this is, but it does freeze at -78°C, which is an absolutely achievable temperature, even without using LN2 - a mixture of 99% isopropyl alcohol and dry ice will get to -90°C, while dry ice + pentane will go down to -95°C) and react it with thermite. Now, I have not been able to find a specific heat capacity of solid ammonia, but solid water's heat capacity is around 50% that of liquid water, so maybe ammonia will have a similar ratio.
Maybe start small, with a few hundred mL of frozen ammonia and 100 g of thermite, just to see what happens. And whatever happens, it will be dangerous and amazing.
If you dump molten copper into water you get an explosion that is not attributable entirely to a steam explosion. The resulting small beads of copper are very interesting. It can be done on a small scale, and I've read about large scale experiments.
Does the copper oxidize?
Not significantly. @@NikhillRao27
The best explanation I have seen for the chemistry of metal explosions in water is by thunderfoot.
Amazing! This is the coolest video I've seen in a long time!
The german version of backyardscientist craze! UA-cam's going to explode!!! So happy to discover your channel!
Water (ice) reacts with iron and hydrogen is formed, hydrogen than reacts with oxygen in atmosphere (explosively) and creates water. It could be said, that water catalyses oxidation of iron. Something very similar happens when you pour water on ignited magnesium.
its not the iron, its the aluminum
@@yaykruseriron is created during the exchange 💱 reaction
At some temperature 🌡️ point water can turn to oxygen and hydrogen, but not sure if it's enough heat for that.
Die thermische Dissoziation bezeichnet den Zerfall von Molekülen durch Wärme-Einwirkung in seine einzelnen Atome. Oberhalb einer Temperatur von 1.700 °C vollzieht sich die direkte Spaltung von Wasserdampf in Wasserstoff und Sauerstoff.
Oh man, the soundtrack is perfect.
Thanks!
you know, I bet the dry ice didn't explode because of the Leiden frost effect, The hot iron probably sublimated the surface of the dry ice so darn fast that it had trouble mixing and exploding
And why would water not do the exact same? As it does, for example, on a hot steel plate?
@leocurious9919 the lower boiling point of CO2 means the Leiden frost effect is more pronounced. if I recall correctly, Oil can also exhibit the Leiden frost effect given a sufficiently hot surface, yet it goes onto a pan just fine as its boiling point is much much higher.
@@CaptCorgi 100 K more or less are irrelevant when the molten iron is ~2000 K. Leidenfrost only takes about 200 K above boiling point. Which is also why oil has no problem in a pan, you simply do not heat it up glowing hot.
06:43 What looks like a mini tornado forms to the left of the fire and blows leaves around on the ground i think :) Steam explosions can be extremely violent, You tube has some great examples of a wet charge being placed in to a steel foundry. Amazing Video! Thanks :)
Elemental aluminum reacts with water to produce aluminum oxide and hydrogen gas, plus energy per kilogram equivalent of TNT. Perhaps molten unreacted elemental aluminum hitting the water ice causes the explosion?
Awesome video as always. I am not scientist smart but could thermite be hot enough to separate water back into hydrogen and oxygen?
I would be willing to bet money that the dry ice pour yielded a wonderfully hard product.
By the way, had you included the dry ice into the mix it would have Amplified the reaction.
The cause of this has been of great debate for a long time.
From the simple steam explosion to the Ripping the part at the molecular level of oxygen and hydrogen.
Personally I think it's a physical reaction which allows the molten material to become broken up into much smaller drops.
The smaller bits of molten metal burn off much quicker.
Like a dust explosion.
I can I imagine that you would get something akin to Cementite with that reaction.
defiantly a hard material,
I think its the water reacting with the Aluminum creating AlOH and Hydrogen.
Molten aluminum can be very reactive, there were some giant accidents caused by that in factories...
Interesting combustion chamber idea! The ruby plan was cool, but the reaction is too violent to allow the chemicals to fuse and glass. If you could contain the chemicals separate from the reaction of the thermite, it might work.
You have a very interesting way of making candy !
I assume the smell was pleasant after the test on sugar :)
That opening message sounds like you're going to rob a bank with it
I am unsure of the mechanism for the water explosion but since you pinned the comment by Fluorineisgreat the mechanism appears to be physical. Then I would assume when the water flashes very fast it creates a force on the water very quickly, and it acts as a non-Newtonian liquid building up an immense pressure. it would be cool for a follow up "science" explosion montage.
About that ice explosion - i think that water is breaking down into oxygen and hydrogen that is mixed together and exploding as a result.
Other experiments? Yes please, simple mortar that is shooting molten iron ;) safe and totally not harmful. Just blanked from one side iron thick tube, buried in the ground top flat, ice plug inserted from the top and then - same setup as we saw on this video. When molten iron is poured on the ice - you will have iron rain :) you can pick up a few nice pieces and sell them to your viewers. Better to do this experiment at night... maybe drone involved videos?
Best wishes from a fellow youtuber from Poland.
You should try making thermite out of exotic materials. Maybe something like tungsten-oxide or titanium-dioxide with ... idk ... does bismuth burn? Maybe sodium and all those metals? Try cesium and tantal (from electronic capacitors), maybe add a little bit of sulfur so it burns better... idk, have fun! :D
Bismeuth oxide thermite is what dragon's eggs crackle fireworks stars are made of. A really trippy thermite mix is aluminum sand sulfur and a little potassium perchlorate to start it getting hot enough. It makes blue white fire followed by trippy blue flames. You end up with an ingot of silicon afterwords. 😁
@@christopherleubner6633 Silicon? Oh nice
9:50 This impressive reaction is clearly due to enthusiasm .
Wow! That's a good 20kg more than the largest amount of Fe2O3/Al thermite I've used at one time. For certain welding jobs, there's just no substitute. It's always impressive!
My actual favorite thermite is what we use for copper welding, "Cadweld".
It isn't the sudden cooling of the iron that causes the explosion, it's the molten gobs of iron sinking rapidly creating big steam bubbles which rise to the surface and go bloop spraying burning thermite around that causes the explosion.
I don't think it's a chemical *or* steam explosion, and for the same reason: Both explanations require that either a whole bunch of steam, or a whole bunch of hydrogen are created INSTANTLY
(I know Mythbusters said the same thing, but they're right). Tito4re poured molten copper on an ice block and it blew up. There was nothing to confine any steam for an explosion.
I'm guessing it's the differential expansion of the ice cube. It happens incredibly quickly and with enough energy to rip the ice apart (see below).
It would be interesting to see if a bucket of ice cubes caused many small explosions, or one big one. More theory below because I went down a rabbit hole after watching this:
Tito4re has a video called "Molten Copper vs Ice Exploding Ice", where he pours molten copper on a big block of ice. If it was a chemical or a steam explosion, it would have just launched the pool of liquid metal up into the air. But that's not what happens. The whole block fractures and if you go frame by frame you can see chunks of ice being launched in every direction.
Periodic Videos has a video called "Why do ice cubes crack in drinks?" where they explain, and show in slow motion, how ice will undergo differential expansion. They show that ice cubes that go from -20C to ~30C can break themselves apart from the expansion. And that's just from a 50 degree difference, not the 1000+´degree difference with thermite (or molten copper).
Lovely video!
Side question:
What music is played at the end experiment?
Thanks! You can find all the music I use in my videos in the video description.
Great job boys! I wish all the science creators could come together and do a huge collaboration.
5:33 that was the most genuine UHHH.
i said it like a second b4
u sir made a new sub great vid from all partie's
1:22 he didn't take a bite
Sick man
Today i learned:
Bunch of chemists + Lots of thermite = FUN !
(dangerous combination though, definitely keep your chemists inside and away from thermite!)
Great video. Thank you very much.
Maybe thermite high temps split water in h2 and o2 creating the explosion? P.S:please redo the ruby synthesis experiment,but with a stronger thermite (like mno2 one)
Use UV blocking googles (welding ones).
It can burn your retinas in seconds
I think the reaction is the same with magnesium and dry ice. The thermite tears the water molecule apart and liberates both hydrogen gas and oxygen. Being in a solid state you don't get the Leidenfrost effect like you would if the water were liquid.
If you look close enough, the glowing iron is giving a salute
The reason ice explodes so well is related to the leidenfrost effect: there is a video by the backyard scientist where he dumps molten salts of various temperatures into water. When the hot substance has the right temperature, it enters the water but is insulated by the leidenfrost effect. eventually it loses enough heat that water can come in direct contact with it instead of having a steam layer, and this rapidly decreases the amount of insulation provided. the effect is that water is heated up much faster and suddenly a larger volume of it immediately vaporizes
I'm guessing a coulombic explosion of unreacted molten Al with comparatively small amounts of liquid water results in high surface areas for the molten metals and water to intimately mix. Very similar to the process observed in the alkalis. That should release enough energy in its own right for detonation, and produced hydrogen makes for additional flare.
Caught me off guard with "Torturing watermelons has become mandatory..."! Actually laughing out loud! 😂
Moral: never mess around with water; it explodes.
May it be that molten iron and molten aluminium in contact with water behave similarily to alkali metals in water? On YT thunderf00t had a series of experiments trying to figure out mechanism of alkali metals explosions and it ended up with scientific paper.
Coulomb explosion? Perhaps the aluminium oxide hydrates in the meltwater and accepts electrons from the surface of the iron leaving it highly positively charged and repelled by itself. That could be tested by pouring molten iron and aluminium oxide powder into water.
Iron isn't a particularly reactive metal, but run it up to those temperatures and you'll have something comparable to... well heck the energy density is probably similar to (or even more than?) sodium, huh? The kinetics will be different of course, it won't react that vigorously, but fast enough given the conditions (could well be "catalyzed" by the steam explosion mechanics) to drive the explosion.
I suspect a liquid phase is required, hence why (in part) the CO2 didn't do anything. Would be interesting, but, ah, needless to say, a bit more difficult, :) to do the same test again at 10 or 20atm so the CO2 can liquefy momentarily.
(CO2 doesn't react with iron, at least not very much/fast, AFAIK; there should be an equilibrium between C(dissolved), Fe(0) and Fe(II), CO(g) and CO2(g), which probably gives a minor amount of CO at these temperatures? And not enough C(0) to notice, except perhaps in some of the more firey conditions like with the cyclohexane.)
Congratulations on conjuring a volcano as a pet project. I believe the energetic thermite + ice reaction is a phreatic explosion such as occurs in metal foundries when wet scrap is introduced to the furnace. I believe it has to do with the mass of the water, the fact that it has such a huge expansion ratio when turned to steam, and a relatively high boiling point compared to hydrocarbons.
God I love science,also the explosion happens when water reachers a certain temp the hydrogen seperates from the oxygen so it ignites/reconbines with the oxygen. From what I get it's why wet charges in foundry work as so bad it's not just steam expansion.
I'm wondering if thermite and ice cause a metal-water explosion, like you can get with sodium and aluminium...
Thermite only exploding in ice is the best detail, adding that to list of things to put in a sci-fi story.
Cool. Thanks for sharing.
I'm not a chemist but I found a paper titled "The catalytic thermal decomposition of water and the production of hydrogen" in which they used an iron wire as a catalyst at around 1500 C to produce some hydrogen. Given the much higher temperatures and the increased reactivity of the molten iron, this leads me to speculate that there might be some hydrogen involved, but on the other side I don't see why it wouldn't just burn off right away.
Way better than firework videos😮 except for that guy with the extra large once he puts on the stumps
Molten aluminium and water react violently releasing hydrogen, that’s why at aluminium smelters anything that could contain water are strictly prohibited near the reaction vessels
Water is a strong oxidizer when you introduce it to a liquid metal that reacts with water. Ie iron will rust in water, and liquid iron oxidizes (rusts) really quickly.
good video !!!Try it end with liquid hydrigeneum in a closed container, like an empty fire extinguisher.
Can liquid oxygen be frozen until ice becomes ice? Imagine the reaction of the end with frozen oxygen within an empty fire extinguisher? Wow, it would be crazy !!
My theory on the ice explosion:
The heat cracks the water molecules, the oxygen and hydrogen recombining goes 'bang'..
Molten aluminium alone can also react with water and form Hydrogen. There have been industrial accidents. There is litterature on the subject. It reacts as Lithium if it is hot a clean enough.
08:45 DRAGON EGGS! They hatched!!!
schöne Sache Harry, ... schöne Sache.
Try a mixture of alumium iron sulfur and sand. That one makes silicon and produces trippy blue fire as well 😮
For the Dry Ice, your heat had places to go and your Fe2 had no oxygen. Since you were dumping energy into the air, into the cooled area, and into the ice, you first made a thin compressed layer of CO2. On the top of that layer, you ripped away an Oxygen from the reaction, soaking more heat and dispersing more of it as CO and through your CO2 sublimate barrier layer. Since you lost so much already, the Fe could work easier with the air to dump heat -- this slowed down your sublimation barrier production, permitting minor expansion and letting the hot Fe2 soak closer to the dry ice again. Make another sublimate layer, rinse, repeat. No steam, no time for a bubble in the reaction cycle, and the compression just pushes gas around that isn't interested in reacting with the iron or the heat too much.
I was bored one winter and used electrolysis to dissolve a bunch of scrap iron (weird, yes). Other than the time, it was easy sourcing iron to do this, and was therefore 'cheap'. :D
The output was a black sludge which I rinsed with water several times to get the NaCl (yep, salt, very little) electrolyte back for reuse. Once this black sludge was heated/dried and pulverized it became a fantastic bright red and super fine source for this kind of stuff. Can't remember all the research I did way back then, but I could probably dig it up and share the process. It was done in a controlled manner because I was paranoid - but this process produces hydrogen to get things done at a reasonable rate, and therefore I suggest no one try it. Made 70+ lbs of iron oxide powder in a few months.
Also, it was a seriously nasty process which I don't suggest. The black sludge (and subsequent output) will stain everything, forever.
my guess is thermite explodes on ice because a steam layer cant be formed as fast and when molten, non oxidized aluminium hits water, it explodes on a molecular level. a coloumb explosion, just as sodium does when water breaks trough its oxide layer. heating water this fast to cause a rapid expansion in steam requires so much energy, its not possible.
that dry ice sitting in molten metal is breaking my brain lol
If I had to guess, since the water is a liquid at STP, it is able to bubble and boil until it covers and seals over the molten iron lump which lets it build pressure for a split second (water is incompressible) and explode, and since as it cools down eventually the Leiden frost effect will wear off, and so it can contact and boil the water abruptly as well. but dry ice creates a Leiden frost effect the whole time (due to the extreme temperature difference) and is not a fluid, and cant seal the expanding gas.
If I may make a recommendation for the next ruby attempt if you freeze the ruby bag at the center of the water ice and do it again it may work!!?!!
Also a light bulb came on on that note.......
The bag of ruby powder needs to be frozen in the water ice in the place that is the hottest, the quickest in the water ice block.
6:51 SMOKE TORNADO!
This is the most awesome thing I've ever seen thank you so much
I may not know much about chemistry but in school like 6 years ago, i learned if water gets hot enough it can explode
Ok this one got me to subscribe. Very good video. You raise and answer a lot of questions in it. /cheers
Damn, dry ice is the cryogenic honey badger!
I think the dry ice forms like a CO2 surface when it sublimates, which stops it from melting.
It is like a droplet of water on a really hot surface.
I mean it doesn't sublimate quickly when put in water for the same reason.
5:33 Well this might be one of the weirdest things I've seen out of a chem vid in a long time. Dry ice sheets cheerfully taking a bath in glowing-hot half-molten iron.
Cool stuff! The only way this video could possibly be more interesting, is if they created a Rube Goldberg type contraption that initiates the reaction at the end...... All I ask is at least one swinging clown shoe that knocks a ball rolling and some type of cuckoo-clock noise somewhere in there.😆
SWEET!!!
aeresolizing water into a thermite reaction would be incredibly entertaining.
I've been dying to see this for 25 years, but I'm certainly not gonna try. 😅
Be carefull with potasiumpermanganate / glycerine. i speak from experience. at a certain lower temperature threshold (something around 0 C in my case) , it will react different: nothing happens for a loooong time .. then BANG! My theory, the glycerine soaks in the permanganate without reacting (because low temperature) until all goes off at once, very violently!
You get better thermite if you dry and clean your raw materials, such that far less gases are released during the reaction. You can essentially watch commercial thermite burn from up close, that is how controlled it burns due to the almost non existing gasification of impurities. I can show you some commercial thermite "elektro thermit" if you want, still have some bags of that material.
Regarding the explosion with ice, I would assume the same mechanism as with all the other metal-water explosions, which could be coulomb explosions.
Regarding the rubies: Look at the color of the reaction product, how is anything with a very light hue supposed to be visible in there? If the slag were white like pure Al2O3, then we could expect anything to actually be visible. But that is not the case. Additionally, due to the thorough mixing of your home made thermite during the reaction (due to gas escaping), there is way for a pocket of pure, molten Al2O3 to stay in place without getting mixed with everything.
PS: So many angles/cameras, why not dial down the exposure for some of them?
It'd be cool to test the hardness and corrosion resistance of a few samples of the iron products. I'd expect the sugar one to be more of a steel thanks to all that extra carbon.
I think the iron in those products will be about the same as cutting a piece of random steel with an oxypropane torch and then testing the slag. Unless well controlled and shielded from oxygen all you get is dirty half-oxydized bubbly crap.
Again with the surfeit of Carbon, I imagine that the steel stage would be skipped and you would be up into Cemetite especially at the surfaces, something akin to old fashioned Krupp armour.
@@chriswillis515 Indeed, though probably even less consistent.
@@Mp57navy Yeah, that's true. It would be interesting to see some measured data on it though.
Beeindruckend und äußerst Bildgewaltig. 👌🏻
You guys are doing experiments on scales that I wish I could do if I had enough room. I have a Thermite recipe you could try it is aluminum and sodium bisulfate. I have tried it before and it works. Or you could just try any other sulfate with aluminum. and maybe put that on ice.
Freeze some powdered pre-ruby mix into an ice block and see what happens?
Graphite powder ice cube?
I don't think You guys should compare water and other ices then conclude it is not steam explosion. Energies for phase change and heat capacities are totally different.
You are absolutely right. It was more "messing around" rather than trying to answer real questions.
CO2 and fire are not friends, however, water contains oxygen, and when vaporized, becomes... well... air. Air and fire ARE friends.
Those iron-sand things look edible
I'd bet the reaction with water ice is simply a thermolysis process - followed by a "Knallgasexplosion".
Simple solution to the Water proplem: Water contains oxygen. Well CO2 dose too, but it's bound much stronger to the carbon than it is to the hydrogen in the Water.
So what happens is that the reaction energy from the thermite is able to take oxygen away from the water and use it to burn more rapidly
The black smoke of burning cyclohexane is definitely not the CO2 ;>
Try other frozen polar solvents to see if they explode, like dmc.
Fantastic video, you're having to much fun. ;-) As for your comments about the H2O reaction with thermite. I suspect you have directly dissociated H2O and that is also reacting forming H2O again but with the liberation of energy. According to the all knowing google, H2O dissociates at 2200C, while Thermite gets to 2000C, yea it's lower, but what's the experimental error? Furthermore as almost everything in this realm is a gaussian distribution, the reaction may start earlier at a lower rate, contributing more energy and increasing the temperature of the fireball until the reaction turns on full bore. There is also the remaining reaction of Fe +O2 forming FeOx, which no doubt liberates energy as well. NIce work and fun to watch.
Terrifying ! I'm happy to watch this on video only. 😮
It not just a steam explosion but also a hydrogen explosion.
the dry ice didnt melt entirely in part due to the leidenfrost effect
imagine a drop of water on a pan that's way hotter than boiling temp, how it skitters around and doesnt just vaporize
such aggressive temperature swings between phase changes produces an insulating layer of gas that doesnt even allow the colder object to touch the hotter, cutting heat transfer drastically
That's one tough melon.