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.
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
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 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 :)
@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 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.
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.
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!
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!
@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.
@@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.
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.
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.
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 (ua-cam.com/video/2Pp2CefdXVw/v-deo.html).
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 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...
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.
@@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.
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^^
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
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
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.
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?
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
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I like how exploratory this video is, it's fun and engaging, and makes it easy to get into the mindset of thinking about things from a chemical perspective
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!
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.
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.
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 :)
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
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
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.
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]
3 and 4- the yellow stuff is some zinc compound formed when struck with a flame, and it's hard to melt, and sometimes it can catch on fire. The white compound appears after trying to melt lead that has been in hydrocloric acid.
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.
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 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.
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.
This was a really fun watch. I'd enjoy more of these experimental type videos where you just try to understand the properties of something you haven't encountered before.
I think my favorite things about his videos is when he’s like “I have no clue what happened here, here’s my best guess” cause that’s my favorite part of science, when things work but no one knows why
Hopelessly Hopeful It’s like what Richard Feynman says when asks why magnets attract and repel, he pretty much says that we can perfectly describe the behavior and interactions of things even at the smallest scale, but asking WHY they behave that way is an unanswerable question. You can always ask “why”
“Magnets repel because they just do” if we ever collectively know absolutely everything, the final and furthest scientific end will always be, “because it just is” as there is no possible way to describe anything further once you know everything .
17:37 I've only completed secondary school chemistry and watched some internet, but here are my guesses: 1) I think the lack of contact with other metal molecules made the ones you heated melt faster. 2) Lack of enough air to make a blue flame, but enough air to avoid a yellow flame. 3) Oxidation catalyzed by the solution. 4) Alloys have different properties than pure metals. 5,6,7) The metal chains fused together.
17:06 - I suppose that removing water changes the mechanical properties of the sponge, i.e. crystals settle down and come into more contact with one another
You can add other metals to lead to make it melt at an even lower temperature. Most commonly used is anatomy. The mix is used in wheel weights and hard cast lead bullets. Could be something to do with some salts mixed with the lead.
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.
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.
Depending on the type of acid you use it may have acted as a flux, which welders and solderers use to clean metal and get rid of oxides, which would explain why it came out so nicely
"Remember, viewers at home; The difference between Messing Around, and Science, is Writing Things Down."
Adam savage?
I wonder if making a video of it counts as science :)
@@Mae_is_gae allie brosh pfp also lul
For cyan
ua-cam.com/video/ppgOs0FHpP4/v-deo.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.
I see my surname, i give a like
+Dane The Great:
The zinc vaporizes and burns with O2. The white stuff on the cast iron pan is ZnO.
Same shit you get from welding galvanized bolts. Or zinc coated
I assume it was antimony
@@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?!"
an idiot sandwich
@@cal7103 joe
@@cal7103 ask who is joe
@@jazzling it's Joe mama
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.
Oooo
i know it makes me happy
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
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.
What about trying to get it to become a led based aerogel
@@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 :)
@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.
@@loganclementi8947 ua-cam.com/video/Y0HfmYBlF8g/v-deo.html , he made aerogel 8 months ago...
@@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.
"Placed on this cast iron, cooking thing", sweetie thats a pan
@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
@C Lopez i was thinking of saucepans actually and just confusing the words :'D
@C Lopez you're thinking a griddle
I also love in the one where he admits he doesn't have a spatula.
He's a chemist, not a chef!
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.
Lead sponge for when you need to poison your dishes
Job91 : D
Seriously not cool, my dog died of lead
My pet fish died of boredom really not cool m8
Job91 are you seriously just gonna insult me and more importantly my hole dogs spirit like that ffs read a bible learn to FEEL
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?
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.
"place on this
little, cast iron
cooking thing"
cute XD
o pretty much everything about him is adorable
True (except *tasting* artificial sweetener from Tylenol and =>P E E
Autism xD
Four Twenty
Why?
Isaiah Thompson
OH, WHERE TO BEGIN!
I immediately wanted to know how long you could maintain a stable sponge, or if it hardens over time even in water.
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!
im glad you like them :)
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!
@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.
@@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.
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.
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.
krawacik3 lead oxides actually have a lower melter point dude
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 (ua-cam.com/video/2Pp2CefdXVw/v-deo.html).
Has he re-invented starlite?
wasn't that based off Bakelite?
Four Twenty umm, no they don't.
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?
5:40 "I placed it on this little cast iron cooking thing and continued eating it."
Wait what
Heating not eating but lol
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...
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.
Fascinating! Please keep making videos like this one. Often times videos that don't have all the answers are the most educational and interesting.
Pass a large current through the lead sponge material!
Or a high voltage, imagine how an 800v AC current would dance around through a wet (or dry) metal sponge!
@@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.
Now this is some real classic honest-to-goodness chemistry.
Chemistry is just..... EVERYTHING. I love it so much
Yeah. It literally is.
Same here. It's the reason I exist. Literally.
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^^
I like it? Yea
I understand it? Hell no
Malkinn big feel
That's like 90% of Nile's videoes for me.
same
But it's so simple...
I put his videos on auto pay as I'm falling asleep, so soothing
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
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
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.
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.
Fuck lead
Great video, loved your thought process throughout
"I decided to _lead_ it cool."
Pls kill me.
_[cocks old-timey double-barrel shotgun]_
...what the? How did I do that?
last nights attempt at cooking lanagne ended up looking very similar to that lead sponge :P
Oof
Well Nile, to be honest, this is one of your top videos. Most intriguing.
Wow, the only not click bait experiment video on UA-cam.
*channel
yes, its a channel
Sometimes when Nile does things in moderation I'm just sitting there like "just go ham you mad genius!"
😅😅
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?
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
Four Twenty are you fucking serious?
it helps if you poop a little on it before you add the last layer of sand
The Chemical Workshop uh yes.. thats actually what they do with chemicals in recycling centres just on a larger scale
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.
Thank you nilered I love the experimental videos
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.
Saturn666 he got a sinus operation done
Nabbehh
He got it a long time ago.
I got the surgery less than a month ago. Allegedly my voice will be different for a while
NileRed whooops! My bad.
@@pietrotettamanti7239 that's awkward lol
Btw, dang, if this is video is indicative of the quality of videos the new lab.... Just amazing. Top shelf exploration.
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.
Those burning segments are unbelievably beautiful.
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
Spahgetti ? Don't discourage him..
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!
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
did you end up taking chemistry?
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.
I'm noticing that the toaster-dried sponge is basically a refractory insulator.
I was thinking this too. And since it's malleable before it dries, you could form it into something to protect a sensor.
This seams like something Cody could solve. Right up his alley
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.
This is simply fascinating. Mistakes do lead to discovery!
Pun intended? 😆
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.
ｓｅｎｐｉｅ～ the eutetic point for the Pb Zn system is at ~98% Pb and the melting point isn't much lower than pure lead
I love it! Admitting to not knowing everything is the best way to learn something new!
Combustion of tetraethyl lead gives off this same by product that turns the engine's exhaust valves white.
Baldur Gislason your saying fentanyl turns people whiggers
hmm interesting, i thought it was a reaction with prehaps a layer of something on the skillet itself, it this seems more plausable
Yea. I figured it had something to do with the acid vaporizing since it was fresh out of the HCl
ZnO is also white, and is commonly given of from hot zinc
@@@bradshawford575 < That exactly what I was thinking too... and maybe some byproduct of uncombusted methane gas combining with lead/zinc.
Groundbreaking, truly.
U r awesome!! My science class love you!!
Edit: 170+likes? Damn.
Four Twenty Dude wth
Lost Night ?? Dont tell me your tryna judge bro...
Nabbehh fantastic! My dungeons and dragons group worship you as a draconic overlord!
My English classes look up to you.
Fantastic! My whole jihadist group like you!
It's a joke CIA, FBI, Interpol....
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 here is my Science Knife!"
This is my favorite videos of yours so far. I'd love to see more like this!
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.
This is a thing many miss. Closer is not hotter.
Yes, the tip of the "blue cone" is the hottest part. He sould have seen how it stops glowing read hot...
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.
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.
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.
5:26 the forbidden chicken nugget
*CRUNCH*
I like how exploratory this video is, it's fun and engaging, and makes it easy to get into the mindset of thinking about things from a chemical perspective
this seems very similar to the process concrete goes through when it dries.
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!
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.
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.
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 :)
I think the water prevented some cold welding of the lead fibers
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
this is such a fun video. It feels like you're taking me on an adventure.
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
could make a great electrode material
Ich Selber it's used in commercial lead acid batteries
Use carbon... it's cheap
Not as it is. Great surface area, but too mechanically weak - the deformation from repeated charge-discharge cycles would quickly cause it to crumble.
Or, probably, some catalytic of adsorption stuff.
Vyl Bird for the price we don't mind... and we always filter the solution afterwards
this is like some sci-fi material with mysterious properties the writer won't tell us
During the heating would it have been possible for the iron skillet to be affecting the color of the flame?
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
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.
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]
These have been my favorite videos its research at its most basic for I love being able to experience this with you. Thank you so much
Is it possible to make a lead acid battery out of the sponge?
Mo Be one time on acid i felt like a battery
I doubt it. You'd need to keep the electrodes separated. Otherwise you just get it to short and overheat like we saw
Andrew Mckenna that wasn't an electrochemical reaction; it was oxidation. There was no electrolyte involved.
nobody's shadow I thought that had happened after he had used acid
The sponge only heated up AFTER the liquids were dessicated away and only when exposed to oxygen. Seems like oxidation to me.
3 and 4- the yellow stuff is some zinc compound formed when struck with a flame, and it's hard to melt, and sometimes it can catch on fire.
The white compound appears after trying to melt lead that has been in hydrocloric acid.
Who knew that robot poo could be so fascinating... :P
Agreed.
Nilered is the reason I watch full ads. Gotta make him as much as I can in revenue so his videos keep coming!!
the purple flame may have come from the lead and zinc salts
i honestly prefer the experimental videos and the follow up to the experimental videos more than your other ones.
this boi has made metallic aerogel
Liam Russell not really aerosol if it sinks on Ass Juice
aerogel you tard not aerosol, look it up XD
Not really. It was made be4 from many other metal oxides. And aerogel is waaay lighter.
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
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.
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.
It's good and all
But the Question is
WHY DIDN'T IT MELT?
Water and air are excellent insulators. Look at aerogel. The fibres of the sponge are protected by the air around them.
Am i the only one who doesn't understand any of these videos but watches because of curiosity
I love your Chanel I came here from Cody’s lab and I’m here to stay
jeremy forant i cam from Lab XCodeh
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.
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.
This was a really fun watch. I'd enjoy more of these experimental type videos where you just try to understand the properties of something you haven't encountered before.
Now THAT'S how you season cast iron
I think my favorite things about his videos is when he’s like “I have no clue what happened here, here’s my best guess” cause that’s my favorite part of science, when things work but no one knows why
Hopelessly Hopeful It’s like what Richard Feynman says when asks why magnets attract and repel, he pretty much says that we can perfectly describe the behavior and interactions of things even at the smallest scale, but asking WHY they behave that way is an unanswerable question. You can always ask “why”
“Magnets repel because they just do” if we ever collectively know absolutely everything, the final and furthest scientific end will always be, “because it just is” as there is no possible way to describe anything further once you know everything .
Maybe this would be a really good anode or cathode for a battery?
17:37 I've only completed secondary school chemistry and watched some internet, but here are my guesses:
1) I think the lack of contact with other metal molecules made the ones you heated melt faster.
2) Lack of enough air to make a blue flame, but enough air to avoid a yellow flame.
3) Oxidation catalyzed by the solution.
4) Alloys have different properties than pure metals.
5,6,7) The metal chains fused together.
Different microphone?
Mowskii I'm scared now. I don't want my voice to change.
17:06 - I suppose that removing water changes the mechanical properties of the sponge, i.e. crystals settle down and come into more contact with one another
My explanation: ALIENS.
Yes, but the real question is what do they want?
No, the answer is alien nanobots!
that linux guy NANOMACHINES SON!
Make sense
Well so far that's the most logical explanation.... he-he
5. I reckon the drying process contracts the grains twards eachother and that sort if aqueezing allows the grains/atoms to metallicly bond together!
WAIT DID HE MAKE A NEW TYPE OF AEROGEL!?
no.
You can add other metals to lead to make it melt at an even lower temperature. Most commonly used is anatomy. The mix is used in wheel weights and hard cast lead bullets. Could be something to do with some salts mixed with the lead.
i wonder if drying it in a supercritical CO2 chamber would prevent it from becoming so brittle.
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.
Ello good sir
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.
do a publication in nature xDDD
Depending on the type of acid you use it may have acted as a flux, which welders and solderers use to clean metal and get rid of oxides, which would explain why it came out so nicely