ChemicalForce - 2020-02-22
In this video I'll crash an ampoule with rubidium in air. May I say that I have a CRUSH on it? :D Ah, never mind, just watch the video... ____________________________ Support my channel! https://www.patreon.com/ChemicalForce PayPal: reactionsoup@gmail.com (Shcherba) Skrill: chemicalforce@gmail.com Subscribe bro ^_^
Elemental rubidium has a strong reducing character. When heating the rubidium within a quartz tube (silicon dioxide) to a certain temperature, amorphous silicon is formed as a thin layer causing the appearance of the brownish mirror. This is why the top of the ampoule (coldest part) stays clear.
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I think you are wrong strongest reducing character is of lithum due to strong hydration enthalap
Frank has the right answer. The reduction attack of alkali metals on glass plagued the development of the sodium vapor lamp in its early years by causing darkening of the envelope. Eventually, the problem was solved by the use of a special boron treatment of the inner surface. You can see a similar browning effect in many early sodium lamps where not all of the lamp components are treated. For example, the electrode support insulators and tubulation glass of the GE Na-1 lamp will turn straw, and then coffee colored in the hot sodium atmosphere as the lamp operates. In modern SOX lamps, this can be seen on the tubulation glass of the inner arc tube.
Does magnesium do this too?
New York dolls 1975
It’s so good to see exotic elements and their compounds and reactions. You’re answering a lot of those “I wonder what would happen if you added X to Y questions “ thanks a heap
First of all, thanks for including chemical reactions with ozone and consider your viewers replies, that was very kind. It's been a lifetime waiting to see footages like this. Your videos are very valuable for amateur chemist and enthusiasts and also for professionals, you are doing an amazing work. 👍👍👍
My guess is that if the color doesn't go away when you cool it down, then it's reacting with the side of the ampule to form Rb2O and Rb4Si or maybe Rb4SiO4 and Rb4Si or some such. If it does go away, then it's probably reacting either with some gas like maybe N2 left in the tube or else impurities in the glass, and producing unstable compounds like maybe Rb3N. Full explanation below:
I see people saying the color is either a reaction with the SiO2 ampule, or else is the color of the rubidium gas. It's also possible that there is a small amount of some other gas like maybe N2 left in the ampule that can react with rubidium at high temperature. I'll consider some evidence for and against these, but I don't have all the data about what happened, so you'll have to interpret what really happened base on a bit more than that video clip.
A criticism against the latter idea that it's just rubidium gas is that you don't see that color when it first stars vaporizing. Maybe the gas pressure is just too low to see at lower temperatures. Alternatively, it could be that heating it causes a change like ionization, but I don't think it was hot enough for ionization and I don't what other reaction to heat would change the color.
According to a USGS paper from 1995: "
The heat capacity of gaseous cesium at constant pressure is 20.78 J mol^-1 K^-1 from it's boiling point at 947.96K to 1100K, then goes up to 20.79 for 1200K and 1300K and then rises further to 20.81, 20.84, 20.88, 20.95, and 21.04 for temperatures in 100K increments above that (1400K to 1800K).
The heat capacity of gaseous potassium at constant pressure is given as 20.79 J mol^-1 K^-1 from it's boiling point at 1039.5K up to 1400K. It then goes up to 20.80, 20.81, 20.84, and 20.87 for 1500-1800K.
Theoretical considerations show that all monatomic ideal gasses should have a heat capacity at constant pressure of 20.79 J mol^-1 K^-1. The lower number of 20.78 for cesium just above it's boiling point may be due to some kind of residual forces between atoms making not behave like a real gas (though I think it would have to be a repulsive force to make the heat capacity go down) or maybe it's just in error. Inspection of the tables for other elements in the paper shows that the later rise in heat capacity above 20.79 J mol^-1 K^-1 for gaseous metals happens at higher temperatures for more electronegative metals and and lower temperatures for less electronegative metals, which means that it is almost certainly due to some of the thermal energy going into ionizing atoms or otherwise exciting their electrons, i.e., the beginning of the transition to plasma.
For some reason, the paper doesn't have this info for rubidium, but it's electronegativity is between that of cesium and that of potassium, so it must start significantly ionizing at a temperature between the 1300K-1400K of cesium and the 1400-1500K of potassium. According to the same paper, pure quartz doesn't melt until about 1700K, so it might be possible to heat the ampule up that hot, but if you did heat it to above 1300K it would be glowing orange, which it obviously wasn't in the upper part of the tube. Maybe ionization affects the color noticably before they change the heat capacity by ~0.01 J mol^-1 K^-1, though.
As for chemical reactions, the reaction with SiO2 would be either:
(SiO2) + 2(Rb) > (SiO) + (Rb2O)
or
(SiO2) + 4(Rb) > Si + 2(Rb2O)
SiO is not particularly stable and disproportionates into Si and SiO2 if held for a few hours between 400°C and 800°C, but I don't see how either Si or SiO could steal back oxygens from the Rb2O as it cooled down, so I think this reaction would not be reversed and the color would remain. There might be so little Rb2O, SiO, and Si that they could somehow both dissolve in the excess rubidium unless you continued the reaction for a very long time, though, so the color might still go away. My only problem with this is that I think Rb2O and SiO are both black and Si is silvery or grey to black, so it's slightly weird that they would make a brown color. However, you already showed in the video that rubidium forms a silicide, and I'm pretty confidant it can form silicates. It might also react with impurities in the glass to form borates or borides or some such. It's quite possible that some of these other compounds could explain why it's brown rather than black.
If there is gas like N2, or if there are other impurities in the walls of the ampule, then maybe it could react with those to form compounds that break down either immediately or when cooled. For example, Rb3N is not known as a stable compound, but Li3N apparently is, so maybe high temperature rubidium gas can also partially reduce nitrogen, and the unstable results can interact with light to cause the color before they fall apart/the nitrogen reoxidizes.
If there is also some O2 in the tube, then it should be able to irreversibly react to form Rb2O just like if it stoll it from the glass, but maybe it could also catalyze the formation of nitrogen oxides like NO2 by pre-reducing the nitrogen. All that seems a bit wild, though, and, more importantly there can't be a gas that's brown, at least not one lighter than Rb gas, unless it stops being brown very fast when it cools down, because the very top section of the ampule is clear and not brown at all. Most likely the brown color is a liquid or solid coating on the side of the ampule and not a gas. I doubt that rubidium gas would cool down much as it convected to the top, anyway, so that also mostly kills the ionization idea.
Wow, I thought rubidium would react vigorously with liquid oxygen but instead it just solidified quickly (which makes sense being at below 90 kelvin). I guess like with all reactive metals you reacted with LO₂ it needs to be ignited in air first then exposed to the LO₂ for it to react.
This video was so useful as taught me much! :)
My new favourite chemical channel. I don't know where you live or who you are but it's impressive to see what type of rare chemicals you are able to get hold of. I get the distinct impression that you are quite the genius in the lab. Lastly, who doesen't like explosions, smoke and fire? =)
You spoiled us with this amazing compilation of super stunning reactions! The ozone had me on the edge of my seat... ❤️
Wow, I don't remember the last time I saw a deflagrating spoon being used. Thank you for doing these videos!
I have not-entirely-happy memories of trying to make "lithium sand" (granular lithium) in grad school by stirring lithium with strong heating under mineral oil in a nitrogen atmosphere. My best guess for what caused the resulting fire is that I was stirring it too strongly, which put the finely-dispersed molten lithium in contact with the nitrogen.
Really great close-up photography and slow-motion capture in this video. Your techniques have truly improved! Thank you for the entertaining and sometimes surprising chemical reactions of this element that most of us will never see in person.
I love your channel man keep up the good work! I like that you are original with your content and showcase things I typically wouldn't have even thought of.
Your videos are way scarier than horror movies. Every few seconds I'm like OMG NOOOONONONO DON'T DO THAT NEVER DO THAT!! In this case it was boiling something in a sealed ampule, holy moly. I know it's under low pressure on the inside but every chemistry instinct in me is screaming. You've got a real death wish, dude, and as somebody who actually does not scare easily, I appreciate your sacrifice.
My best guess for the color at the end would be gaseous Rb. Not sure, but I do know that other alkali metals are strongly colored in the gas phase (Potassium comes to mind with its vibrant blue/green color when gaseous)
17:24 I think the alkaline elements usually present in the glass, sodium and potassium, are being replaced with rubidium. The absorption spectrum of the glass is then changed maybe due to the rubidium atom being way bigger than sodium and changing the structure.
probably unless it's a quartz ampoule then maybe rubidium vapor
Most likely! Great thought!
He uses quartz tubes.
BackYard Science 2000 I’m talking about the ampoule
The glass on calculator screen is hardened with potassium.
This video is awesome! The quality is great and in slow motion it looks even cooler. Which camera do you use for filming?
The chemicals used in this clip are all very interesting.
I suggest brominating an alcohol and reactions with the brominated product. You may also do some metals and non metals with liquid fluorine.Nak is more reactive than na and k.I wonder how reactive would be rb cs alloy.You can do that also maybe with the most corrosive acid hsbf6 similar way you did nak with hclo4.
Beautiful videos. Boiling rubidium. Wow. Wonderful and incredible to watch all the strange elements and sometimes even stranger reactions. I am an element and chemistry nerd and could so far only imagine these things. Now I can at least virtually see them. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it! Don't miss today's video about magic acid 😃
I have a PhD in synthesis and I wouldn't have the balls to perform half the experiments on this channel.
Very entertaining, stay safe bro. The little pop-up text with the reagents always gets and audible reaction out of me.
17:50 y'know, after the liquid chlorine i thought for a moment you might be the one person on YouTube who'd actually be crazy enough to complete the halogen series and react the rubidium with fluorine. i'm glad to see i was wrong, though -- i like this channel and i don't want to see you blow yourself up :D
For something in an almost theoretical vacuum, like that ampuole, does it only need to be brought to the melting point, and then it will boil if the upper part is kept colder and the lower part containing the liquid is heated?
And do rubidium and ceasium dissolve in anhydrous ammonia and will they function the same as sodium or lithium in a birch reduction??
Could they in theory be substituted instead of sodium to place in bottles of THF or Ether, aside from the obvious cost and safety risk in the event that they contacted some water and exploded, as in, do they react with or dissolve in those solvents?
17:18 to answer your question, if I were to take a wild guess, that the strong heating of the rubidium caused some evaporation, and the vapor's overall structure caused those atoms to reflect that wavelength of visible light
You prepared ICl and I2Cl6 before, when you want to show a future reaction with a halogen, instead of using liquid Br2 or Cl2, could you please mix them and prepare liquid BrCl? I am curious to see what this inter-halogen compound looks like. Thanks for the great videos!
Feliks, thanks for sharing so many reactions involving chemicals most of us don't have access to.
8:17 this is so cool! I never thought I would see something like this and I appreciate you showing it to us!
Great content. On a sidenote, you could consider removing the background music, as it is too distracting
Hey, could you experiment with ozonides, formed by burning K, Rb and Cs in ozone? Thanks! Keep up the good work man!
I'd say the brown color is either rubidium gas, or more likely amorphous silicon getting freed from the glass as rubidium steals its oxygen.
Or rubidium oxide yielded by the latter process, gold similarly produces a red vapour when heated to ignition just as it does when gold oxide is added to glass resulting in a suspension of gold oxide particles in glass producing a cranberry red stain. Though I believe gold itself added as a very fine powder to a glass mix may also yield the same result.
@Caleb Howes Yes, this exists, it's simply called "Cranberry Glass", look it up on wikipedia^^
If it were the gas, then it would probably also fill the very top part of the ampule, which is clear if you look back at the clip. Most likely the color is coming from a thin film on the sides of the ampule.
Problem was if it was in a sealed ampoule. You can see microfractures in the ampoule when the metal condenses on the side of the glass it's sticks to the small cracks
@Rohan Magee Not true. Sodium and potassium vapors are known to have color.
I'm so glad I found this channel, your videos are fantastic.
Can you please show more ozone reactions? Maybe in even higher concentrations?
This is the best ever reaction video. The liquid gasses really made the difference! :)
I wonder did the rubidium, which was partially liquid, amalgamate with some of the zirconium foil, thereby inhibiting its reactivity. I'd have thought pure rubidium should have reacted explosively with the drops of water.
This is amazing.I have been wanting to see this reaction for a long time very cool sir.
The actual reason is quite complicated, but as the atomic number increases, the electrons gain more freedom to move through the different layers, especially when they are excited. The metallic cesium is gold-colored in the room temperature, but rubidium is still colorless (metallic). As its atoms (which are in the 5th period) receive energy, the electrons move across the layers and imitate the behavior of the elections of the atoms in the 6th period of the periodic table (such as gold).
No, electrons in different atoms, which happen to have the same principal quantum numbers (and thus are in the same energy shell or "layer" as you put it) will almost always have vastly different spectroscopic properties and ionization energies.
The whole reason gold has a golden colour is because of relativistic expansion of its 5d and contraction of its 6s orbitals, which allows for lower frequencies of light than usual (in this case blue-violet visible light in stead of only UV-light) to excite an electron between those orbitals.
If you really want to know why, the only option is to buy some some good books on the relativistic Shroedinger equation and solving it for computational quantum chemistry (because solving it for systems with as many electrons as a gold atom is not going to happen by hand). There really is no simple way to put it, without lying to some extent. The commonly quoted reasoning of "the atom is so large and heavy that the electrons would need to move faster than the speed of light to orbit around it" is obviously wrong since electrons don't orbit around atoms, nor do they even move along any sort of continuous path. Yes, it is true that the electron's velocity is so great that things like relativistic length contraction and increased effective electron mass becomes important in gold's orbitals (with the latter having a particularly large effect on the outer orbital's energy level), but the reason why isn't easy to quantitatively explain in a satisfactory manner.
As for Caesium, relativistic effects really aren't important in determining its colour. Here, it's simply a combination of its lone outer electron being even better shielded from the atomic nucleus, the Cs+ ion being more polarizable, and that the valence orbital is physically further from the nucleus, that all result in Cs having a plasmon excitation frequency (and thus energy) much lower than that of Rb, dipping into the visible violet range. Cs thus appears yellowish by reflected light, because it simply doesn't act like a shiny, reflecting metal for violet (and higher energy) light.
I think the brown color in the heated ampoule is just a high enough concentration of rubidium vapor that it's visible. Potassium vapor is green, so the same process done to an ampoule of potassium should produce a green rather than brown color.
How do you dispose off your reaction products? Can these metals contaminate groundwater or cause damage to local plats and animals if just thrown it out on soil?
What gas was the ampoule filled with since oxygen is a bad idea lol? I have a feeling when heated it reacted with the Rubidium. Also gotta love the halogens and their breathtaking colors, and hazardous nature. Liquid chlorine and fluorine, and gaseous iodine and bromine are my personal favorite states for each element. Their solid phases would be next lol.
(sorry for my english)
It's One of The best video on your channel ! By the way, can you make a video with reactions with solutions of bromine, flammable gases, metals etc in for example acetone, ethanol, molten non metals
For example reaction of bromine solution of H2S and cesium.
Or reaction of liquid oxygen/ ozone with carbon disulfide solution of P4
More ideas :
- liquid chlorine+ molten iron
- titanium+ molten selenium
-reactions with CSe2
- reactions with N2O3 or P2O3
- reactions with SiF4
Very impressive. You don’t see much done with rubidium on YouTube. I have learned that rubidium cannot coexist peacefully with glass in its watch glass state.
You're a wizard, sir. This channel is true magic :D
The nano particles of Rb are so small that they interact with light in a way to change its colour appearance. Same concept at anodizing aluminum
Finally, we got amazing content
Thank you for damaging things for us!
Amazing content like always sir.
Poor Mr. Rubidium. When you heated the Rb ampoule at the end of the video I was thinking it's Rubidium vapor at first, but since it doesn't seem to be reversible maybe the color is due to the Rubidium reacting with the SiO2 or other oxides in the glass to form a thin layer of Rubidium oxide? Have a great weekend :D
Hi, being a chemist myself, I love your channel. But to be honest, I am concerned about your safety. Please extend safety equipment! First suggestion would be an additional shield between you and the place of reaction. Second, a groove, by which you can channel stuff towards the place of reaction, while keeping distace. Can I donate for the specific purpose of increasing your safety equipment?
Hi, mate! Most of the reactions are filmed with a macrolense, so that is what probably creates the impression of me working with bigger and thus more dangerous amounts of chemicals, which makes the audience anxious, but, in reality, that's not how the things are :) While performing dangerous reactions I'm protected quite well (I'm wearing a suit, gloves and a mask), which minimizes the chances of getting hurt. The things that really are on my mind for now are an enhanced air extraction system and new lighting equipment. Having the first one would allow me to make certain videos and having the second one would exclude any blinking in a frame thus making it more enjoyable to watch. So if you're really up to helping me with these, you can become a patron or a one-time donator on PayPal. You can find all the info in the description ;)
@ChemicalForce Hi, thanks for the detailled answer. It is good, that you are considering carfully on this topic. Nevertheless, I would like to encourage you to considering more "remote" initiation of the reactions. You often have to approach quite closely with the pipet or spatula. If you would let liquids flow through a pre-installed groove or pipe, it would be safer. Same for solids, which could be added by a very long spatula that is attached to the surface by columns, but still can be turned. Even more sophisticated triggers using bowden control cables could be considered as well. I do not question your skills and expertise, please don''t get me wrong. Just asking you to remain humble with regards of your prediction skills on such reactions.
Off-topic: More experiments with liquide ozone would be great. ☺
Stay safe!
Thank you very much for your donation!❤️
At least one reaction with liquid ozonated oxygen will be in the next video!
Psst... tomorrow (or after tomorrow :D)
The Rb seems to reduce the SiO2 of the ampule glass to elemental silicon which could be brownish layer in the amorph state.
best channel I have ever come across...Keep the good work up.....Hope to see u with a lot of subscribers one day...Good luck brother
Is it possible to make a video showing reactions with liquid Cl2 just like the ones with liquid O2?
Wow man amazing! Great job with the close ups.
You have always nice reactions! 👍
13:40 is really my favourite! The colours are really beautiful especially the deep dark purple one!
fla playa - 2020-03-08
Amazing how it doesn't take oxygen to "oxidise" something. Oxidation is just a loss of electrons. Chlorine loves snatching electrons. Electrophilic nasty. Friggin love chemistry and it's about time we get a channel devoted to extreme reactions and such. Thanks for the efforts ChemicalForce and sweet camera quality, angles, lighting and especially sound.
Bar3lyalive - 2022-04-07
Ever checked out ExplosionsandFire's channel? It's all the extreme chemistry you can handle without all that expensive safety equipment getting in the way