Thunderf00t - 2015-10-12
The Thors Hammer experiment! Getting alkali metals to explode reproducibly is hard.... and dangerous. This is a relatively safe way of getting an explosion out of potassium and ice. You get a smallish piece of potassium (~0.1-0.3g) and mount it on a needled (or wire) taped to a hammer. It will work better if you cut it in a flat plate geometry and with the fresh cut face pointing downwards. You then hit a block of ice with that hammer. The results are impressive! Naturally, you will need all the safety kit for handling alkali metals.... notably a face shield, body covering and a decent glove.
Awesome! Hell of a great way to get young people hooked on science.
+EdwardHowton Haha, I have the Youtube name because my dad is a lawyer, I'm majoring in Chemical Engineering.
The first chemical reaction to make me say "I want to do this" was just watching ethyl alchohol burn at night. From there, well, I found R-candy fun (this time for purplish colored fire!). I messed around with making different colored flames. I can't remember when I got into thermite, and a little more energetic stuff on the side, but that is basically the story.
The thing is, just actual experiments in general with the unusual and unknown make for something interesting. I mean, what kid knows that the cotton balls in their bathroom are a major ingredient in the gun powder in their dad's rifle cartridges? Who knows that their hand warmers are just a super cooled liquid that freezes (quite beautifully IMO) to produce heat? Isn't it both fascinating (and even important) to know that dangerous chemicals like chloroform and chlorine gas, can be made from simple bleach? What about the fact that what is secretly and evilly described as illegal drug precursors, are basic household chemicals that are really just sitting around in most homes?
I could rant on and on, its these amazing facts about the world around us, dangerous and energetic, awesome and unusual, that attract bright and curious minds and encourage innovation/. Yet we are too scared because someone may get hurt and sue.
+MrLittlelawyer Chemistry wasn't my first love (biology and electronics were). When I became a Lab Tech in the Navy and got access to reagent grade chemicals it was a whole different thing! My favorite was H2O2 + N2H4. That was until I figured out how to make a contact explosive that was stable in water but exploded at a touch when dry.
Where did you steal N2H4 from :-) or you made it at home?
I didn't have to steal it. I was a lab tech and we had plenty of it around at reagent strength (more than 10X over the counter peroxide). Mix intelligent people with precision equipment; give them a lot of time and they will eventually start experimenting. :)
Nice:-) to have acces to stuff and equipment. actually i took part in an amateur rocketry "group" some time ago and we had to resort to some not aproved ways of obtaining some of the fuels:-)
But what the heck, we did it in the name of science, and took great care not to do more damage than absolutely necesary:-)
"brought to you, in large part by the pat..." riarchy!
+Neeboopsh nice.
+Neeboopsh lol ... I was thinking the exact same thing.
+Neeboopsh
Cesium is a misogynistic social construct.
+SD78
Obviously it should be called Cesia.
+Neeboopsh Hydrogen is the patriarchy
Sargon forges a Bronze Sword. Thunderf00t builds his Mini Mjolnir. What's next? Oliver Campbell builds his vibranium hashtag shield, and Milo gets blasted with Gama Rays to grow into The Fabulous Hulk?
@Mantas Kriūnas Not just Atheism, but also things like circumcision and net neutrality. But just because he has a different (even backwards) views and we don't agree with him doesn't mean he doesn't make good arguments or even have a great personality. XD
For example, the crux of his beliefs on Atheism might lie in how he sees religion, particularly catholicism. And even though, historically, I don't respect catholicism, he still makes a great argument about traditional and moral refinement of cultures!
+Tushant Mirchandani (Cyan Los) Is it a coincidence that my real name is Oliver Campbell?
dude don't bring Oliver into this, he's hardly a fucking academic
@Jake Sangria Neither was Captain America xD
Tushant Mirchandani and now that we had the conflict between ThunderF00t and Sargon, we can have Civil War. Cue shot of the Hammer and sword clash
Tfoot's team: "Ok guys, we already have a fairly safe and stable way of creating reproducible alkali metal explosions, and have come up with a conclusive explanation for the mechanism behind those explosions. How can we improve on this?
"Hit it with a hammer."
This video is the bomb.
Watch out for those NSA spies.
+Blyga Nerium That's what all those farmers said, before the US gov't took their land for the NAFTA superhighway. But don't feel bad, most countries have the same system of issuing documents (land titles, etc.) that give people the illusion of actually owning something. Just be aware that the same institutions that issue such documents can also nullify them.
@siamsurf Yeah, I know, I've heard of those types of things happening. Our government has too much power.
+Blyga Nerium Not only yours... but humans are slowly waking up to the fact that we have been divided and conquered, which is the first step to real freedom and peace on this pale blue dot in an infinite universe. :)
+siamsurf They got fairly compensated for the land.
+TheClassiestFox The point is that they did not have a choice, that they never really owned the land.
i came for the logic vs "feminism" but stayed for the logic.
you forgot the most important piece of attire...pants.
You gota have baggy pants for hammer time.
+BurazSC2 lol, clever.
+BurazSC2 Dude what bout ur red cape? (yes I am just kidding)
@Andrew Joy dude...brain explosion. what if...hold onto your hammer time pants...what if the hammer could be used to cook bacon.
boom boom bacon.
@Merik Malhads well, maybe, as +zaco21 suggests, I could just put the apron on backwards.
stop
One of the funniest (and stupidest) things I ever did was in high school. Upon learning about these reactions, my friend and I stole a small amount of potassium from the chemistry lab, dried out the urinals in the boy's restroom, put a bit under the urinal cakes, and waited for the fireworks.
No dicks were blown off in our "experiment", but I'm sure the janitors were not pleased, as the quantity of urine on the walls and floor was epic.
+Pat Doyle I know it's not right, but... It sounds like it HAD to happen :)
By the power of Ragnaros, I HAVE THE POWER!
+Louis Lawless truly ebin
Sulfuras will crush you!
@Yeneral Yoris
Phtt...I killed ragnaros both times, I think I can handle some dink with his hammer.
+Krellnus Oh shit. That's lethal next turn.
and i have a....... dangerous alloy? WAIT, NONONONONO *BOOM*
If this ever becomes a high school experiment i hope it's refereed to as, Thunderf00t's hammer
There are times when I really wish you had been my science teacher back in the day +Thunderf00t.
How cold is the ice? Cause if it's just below zero it pretty much is covered in liquid water, even if it's not really tangible for humans. Try really cold ice, like -80°C. I really wanna know if it happens the same way
+mreeeeeigf Liquid on the surface of the ice is generated from the pressure of the impact. It's how ice skates work.
+mreeeeeigf You might be able to cool down the ice enough to reduce the reaction, however the initial flow of electrons from the metal into the ice when contact is made is going to produce a lot of heat. There would also be a shattering effect on the ice from the initial Coulomb explosion in the metal, so there would always be some reaction.
+trucid2 actually that is not true. If you calculate the change in the melting temperature of ice caused by pressure you realise that it is almost negligible. It was something about 0.2 K for a ~80 kg person on skates (hence lots of mass pressing down on a small area). +mreeeeeigf is actually correct, there is a small film of water building on ice that only vanishes if you cool it below a certain temperature.
Good to see Thunderf00t getting back to SCIENCE again!
Sweet delicious magical SCIENCE!!!
thunderf00t brought the hammer DOWN!
Subbed for the aethiesm stayed for the science
You could have put the name Mjölnir in the title. Great Video though!
Can you imagine the classroom conversations?
Teacher: "YOU WANT ME TO BRING THE HAMMER DOWN?"
*class rolls their eyes
(explosion)
well at least we're prepared for the ice giant invasion.
so you proved Thor exists then ;)
+jlebrech he proved that IF Thor existed. then he could go onto an ice field and blow the shit out of everything with his hammer AND a little help from science
@LFLloureiro that's sufficient proof to me then
+jlebrech CHECKMATE ATHEISTS
+jlebrech
So Thor just attaches Potassium to his hammer to get his powers? Well then Thor is much less amazing then I thought
+jlebrech Yes! Thor exists! ... He cheats at kubb though, that's why we never have him over anymore.
If I make a hammer like this. and had a squirt gun in the other hand. Could I squirt someone, then hit them with the potassium hammer and it would react?
I want Thors ''hammer'' uuughhhhhhh
Now senorita Sarkeesian is afraid of your hammer.
4:36
I'm very disappointed that you've succumbed to American spelling of Caesium.
"These videos are being used in classrooms.." Noooow....where have I heard that before? ;-P
Every time I watch you I am more inspired to continue pursuing a career in Chemistry. Thank you.
I would like to reproduce this experiment. From where might I purchase potassium?
@Desperadox23 You're more likely to get a visit from the FBI or CIA if you're making things like organophosphate nerve agents. For something like this, I doubt it. They're more concerned with people using it for malicious intent, otherwise you can effectively make anything you want.
+MagnusNKB it EXPLODES and basically every chemistry student in the world knows somebody who was seriously injured by playing around with small quantities of alkaline metals ...
just to give you a perspective somebody lost his hand because he made the error of dumping 15g of potassium in the drain ... turns out ceramic drains and exploding alkaline metals combine to form an improvised claymore mine ...
@katthedemon minus the ballbearings of course. My partner is a Chemistry student and knows of no one with injuries.
+MagnusNKB seeing as the point of the demonstration was to safely and reliably create a reaction, I don't think there are any dangers outside what was mentioned, if you reproduce exactly with the proper safety equipment, no big deal, i don't think a few miligrams of potasium is any more dangerous than say, drain cleaner.
Just have a modicum of self preservation instinct and you'll be fine. You can get it with a few google searches. I'll leave that to you, because honestly, if you aren't smart enough to do that, you shouldn't be playing with alkali metals.
Bananas
great work Phil!
"I WANT YOU TO BLOW UP, THE OCEAN!" - Mr. Torgue
Can you give me a reference to the music in the introduction? I like it.
Boldly, you sought the power of Ragnaros
Wow, nailed it.. :)
Reaction of sodium with water is, I think, my favorite one ever. It's so simple, but also so fun...
Cleaning after the bang isn't quite as fun though.
I love the sound of the standing waves from the explosions, in that brick/concrete space you are doing your experiments.
"all good science experiments require a hammer"
I will be using this quote... often.
No wonder there are issues between Thor and the frost gaints.
What's the music at the end? 6:55
5:24, just had to sample those sounds, they are awesome!
Man. I wish I was still in high school to beat my chemistry teacher over the head with this video to try it when we talked about alkali earth metals.
Really really cool as usual, and love the new (?) short intro at the beginning.
Really really cool as usual, and love the new (?) short intro at the beginning.
Damn I wish my prof did this demo XD
My students are going to love this. You're awesome Tf!
Wait, is it reacting with the ice or water on the ice?
These were at room temp, so there's liquid water on those ice cubes.
Wow! I'm mentioning that to my chemistry teacher in the morning
Guess you have a second explanation for your username now! I love when I get up for breakfast and see a science video involving potassium on your channel!
Me in chemistry class where we get to use/see alkali metals: Yay!!! Happy explody fun time!!!
YAY! Awesome science stuff! It's nice to have a break from hearing about insane, feminist ideas... and the preachers of said ideas.
Wow, now every time I go into my freezer the ice is going to be begging to be struck with "Thor's Hammer".
RDSk - 2015-10-12
So, now we should call you Thorderf00t?
Gerbil13 - 2015-10-23
@BillyBowlster HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo
mi575GFL - 2015-11-11
+KinRedysko
Thundermjølnir
Ryland Tappe-Inglis - 2015-11-12
Redundant, but thumbs up for creativity
Darth Bane - 2015-11-23
+KinRedysko f00t of Thor Philightning Masuperman
Pallington the Shrike - 2017-10-19
Nah, just
LITERALLY THUNDERFOOT