NurdRage - 2010-10-02
We show how to make hydrochloric acid from sodium bisulfate and table salt. The synthesis is rather simple, we generate hydrogen chloride gas by mixing together 140g of sodium bisulfate and 60g of sodium chloride salt and then heating. 20mL of water can be added to lower the temperature required but this is optional. Hydrogen chloride gas will be produced. This gas is lead into distilled water to produce hydrochloric acid. Be careful though, hydrogen chloride is so soluble that the water will pull itself into the tube trying to absorb it. In the video i use an elaborate back-flow prevention system to prevent loss of the product. Sodium bisulfate is available as a pH lowering chemical. 30mL of sulfuric acid may be used as a replacement if you have it. Although if you had that, you probably don't need hydrochloric acid.
@NurdRage Also I might add.... Many of your subscribers, including myself, find the process of chemistry fascinating. I would not actually attempt these acts on my own and watching NurdRage doing this "primitive" type of chemistry is AWESOME! The explanations of the reactions I find absolutely amazing! I love science and I feel that NurdRage perpetuates my interest in science. Anything that increases this interest I find to be extremely CONSTRUCTIVE.
This is a very good method for synthesizing HCl. I've obtained a concentration between 20-30% but it's fine for most purposes. Great video :)
You have the most educational and professional videos on youtube! Question; I've used the "backflow inhibitor" before, but what is the real name of this piece?
Man, I was so tired of doing maths almost the entire day, proving various links between triangles etc, and when I came to youtube, I was looking for some easy entertainment, but I found your video. Even though I'm not that good in chemists, your video somehow made me feel alot better. Thanks for the interesting walkthroughs and keep it up.
Whoever you are mysterious guy of chemistry, you are pretty damn cool
I been watching these vids for years and one day my son will watch them too, looking at the hands I actually think it's a woman🤔
@jacob risdon hahahaha
@jacob risdon oh wait the clothes as well
Thank you for making this stuff look easy! I am curious, do you know what the percentage of concentration is of the Hydrochloric Acid in your video. Also, is there away to estimate the concentration based on certain dependant and independant variables? I understand if the last question would be to hard to explain to a novice. Thank you for doing these videos, they are awesome and easy to understand. I would also like to know if you have a special place to shop for chemicals and equipment.
idk if you need it a decade later but measuring out 10mL of the solution in a graduated cylinder and measuring the mass lets you calculate a rough estimate if the density. This can then be checked against a density table giving you the concentration.
He says that he used 100mL of crushed ice which is around but a bit less than 100mL of water. He used about 1 mol of NaCl so he should be getting a concentration of about 10M which is somewhere around 1 quarter of HCl by weight.
Educational, and fun to watch, great video, thanks for making these :)
excellent video as always, wish I had the time and money to give this a shot!
another awesome video, thank you much. i love the backhanded commentary, you think like i do, unfortunately this, more often than not requires us to explain things to some people, if we've come to the opinion that something complex can be understood by someone else and it's worthwhile, of course demonstrations are always a much better way of conveying knowledge and demonstrations without any kind of soundtrack really suck...so we do our best...our minds are usually way ahead of our hands and our mouths...make sure the tv audience hasn't lost faith via honesty, being blunt, sometimes funny, always dry...
Dear NurdRage, I'm amazed by all the knowledge you give us with your videos, to me you are unlocking a new level of understanding. End off topic. Question I have a second question for you; how do you concentrate HCl and, and when HCl is solved in water, what is the optimal (mass) percentage HCl vsH2O? Appreciate any help! Sincerely yours.
Thank You! Nice Video. But you said that "the exact concentration can be determined by titration or set using azeotropic distillation" could you give me an example on getting exact concentration using azeotropic distillation?
i know the business, and you know the chemistry
“Right”
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@GENIUS DUDE lol exactly what I was thinking
Lol, I just started taking a chemistry class, saw Breaking Bad on my Netflix feed and said, "Yeah, now's the time."
Fookkkkk i know wht u talking about
Awesomely interesting! I love the simple little setups like this.
10 years later
@Christian Murphy 5 months later
Love you videos, just wonder is it safe to boil liquids in a beaker or is it only safe to heat the liquid but not boil it?
Yes, I like this. I suspect the HCl I got at the hardware store is loaded with Fe contamination. I wanted to make some that I know to be pure. Following your instructions I can probably reserve my H2SO4 for other purposes. Your trap method is more sophisticated than what I envisioned too. Thx!
Hey! NURD RAGE! Great Video! I am taking a College course in chemistry and my decision is based on your two video's: make nitric acid and how to make hydrocloric acid. Can you tell me what lab equipment I would need to replicate the same set-up that you have there? with the lab equipment and all? Thanks!
The back flow device is called a glass flask aspirator I believe. It prevents unwanted fluids from accidental back flow into the vacuum source. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
Vacuum trap.
Awesome video. To prevent the back-flow couldn't you also use a one way valve on top of the generator flask to let air in when the reaction stops and creates the vacuum?
(11 years later)
Ya that would theoretically work, but you'd want to be damn careful with the base material of your valve. For example under normal conditions you'd only want metal in contact with HCl if you wanted it to desolve, but if push came to shove you could get away with it... that's not necessarily the case when it comes to HCl₍₉₎. Most of the commercially available HCl is in the 20-30% range which is rather mild when juxtaposed with pure HCl₍₉₎, which rocks a pKₐ of -6 (I'm drawinf a blank but I'm pretty sure thats a 100'000 fold increase... unless a "fold" increase is ment to be used like like folds of paper. Then it's more like a 16.60964 fold increase)
So in short if you have a mostly hermetic inert valve then your gold, but if you just slap a brass valve in there... let's just say it could possibly turn into a very interesting day.
Most excellent as always! Thanks for the great video.
good vid, I always wonder how they make that. Is it possible to determine the molarity ( not exact) but a rough estimate of it? and why we use ice instead of regular water on the beaker? is there a reason for this?
Could you obtain the same effect with a two hole stopper in the round bottom, and just attaching tubes to those, not having them go deep enough into the flask to get any liquid back btw.
You should use an inverted funnel to dissolve the gas.
It would prevent back suction
And give the gas a large surface area to dissolve
Would regular iodized table salt work for the reaction, or would it be more likely to form hydroiodic acid?
Oh wow, exactly as I sent a message asking you about Hydrocloric acid, you go ahead and make awesome video showing us how to make it with quite commonly available stuff. Except the backflow prevention system, not sure how to get a hold of that. In any case, what percentage of concentration would you approximate in this resulting chemical ? It'll sure beat 20% HCl cleaning solution I have around :p
chemistry experiments are very good
btw i love your videos, interesting educational, the only problem is, your not my chemistry teacher :3, but besides that, id have to say ur one of the most interesting channels to watch on youtube
hi nurdrage, I just want to know, whats the name of the attachment you used in the middle flask? Also, if you wanted to get a higher concentration of acid appart from using less ice like you said, could you just boil the product to remove the water (I really should know this, i study chemistry at A-Level) cheers
Hi Nurd! I have a question about water electrolysis. Usually, I use salt to ionize the solution. What are the reacions if I use hydrochloric acid instead of salt?
Cool video. Could you theoretically distill the diluted hydrochloric acid?
BTW, the piece is called a gas inlet adapter.
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Hi very cool videos I have been watching many. Do you have any plans for making a fume hood. I am interested in doing some rock assaying and mostly the platinum metals. Again thanks for doing this very informative
I've found that if you add more water, the water vaporizes and ends up in the round bottom, and is much more concentrated. When I did this the back flow mixed with the concentrated Hcl and made it less concentrated. My apparatus is a little different pm me if you want to see it.
AWESOME ! :D i'm ur fan! I'm a chemistry student and i love ur vids! And you make me research so much! I love it!
What is the take-off adapter called that you are using to prevent backflow? Thanks in advance, and thanks for the great experiment! :D
"I want to play a game." Thats all I could think of listening to this lol
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I figured it out thanks anyway. It is a 24/40 distillation adaptor. Love you channel and hope you keep up the good work.
I did this several times and was able to get HCl with a pH of .9 on my second try. Any recommendations on how to increase the molarity of the yield? Could i bubble more HCl though my current acid? I a, considering distillation but am not quite sure how to deal with the azeotrope issue
Excluding cost of tubes, flasks, valves, beakers, and hot plates, would you consider this to be cheaper than buying the Acid at the store by the gallon? Or would buying it at the store be far cheaper?
@Zappyguy111 Yes, those 3 are produced. Although it gets more complicated: as the pH rises from the NaOH the chlorine produced redissolves and you start making NaClO and if you keep going you eventually start making NaClO3 and NaClO4
What is the name of the separator attachment?
still need help?
What is the highest molarity of HCl you use? What would you consider concentrated HCl? Isn't HCl azeotropically only able to be concentrated to around 35%
I like you, im learning xd. thanks this is a very interesting vid (just like the other vids on your channel) I do (as moost other's probably do) realy appreaciate you taking the time to make your instructuable vids that mekes the interest for chemistry grow. I think that most people learn thatchemistry is booring and stuff from dull experiments in elementary school.
Thank you, its informative
👏🏼🙏🏼
Even though some people may not want to buy the adapter, it does make the whole reaction more impressive! :3
The acidpaper part is perfect. But what is it that makes it change color? Could you make a video about that? Thank you!
It's a litmus paper.Changes into red when dip it into an acid and changes into blue when we dip into base
I have a question. If the back flow from the beaker to the flask was caused by a small vacuum in the reacting flask, what causes the vacuum in the reacting flask then? I'm just curious.
Your chemistry videos = PURE WIN.
I always love your videos and I think it is funny how you seem to need one acid to make another where did the first acid come from?
@Bluwhodesign While the great majority of comments for other videos might be like that. I find a good portion of the comments on my videos are rational and thought out. My subscribers and my audience mostly consist of genuinely interested and capable people. It is for them i keep making these videos. The idiots usually get so bored my stuff that they move on, so I'm not worried about them.
NurdRage nice one to get the idiots watch your videos 😂
NurdRage Love your videos, ignore that Im creeping on a 9year old comment. Also what is the byproduct you have there? Sodium sulfate? Sodium sulfite?
hey have you ever done one of these experments outside for cops to be all like you making drugs ?
NurdRage - 2012-04-16
It's always easier to buy stuff. I like making stuff sometimes to demonstrate the science. Also the principles learned can be applied to other experiments where you can't buy the chemicals.
Jeremiah Yillah - 2020-05-29
can you tell me the attachment added to the round bottom flask name i want one
Jaden Tonkin - 2021-06-26
i did it made hydrochloric acid with ur method but i was being a fucking idiot by not using an anti backflow system and instead just pulled the tube out right before it backflowed and inhaled hydrochloide
Jaden Tonkin - 2021-06-26
anyways tank
ryan.m - 2021-08-23
It's not easy to buy anymore 😭.
Fractal - 2021-11-29
@Jaden Tonkin get a respirator