> chemistry > divers > ammonium-mercury-amalgam-nilered

Turning mercury into a weird sponge

NileRed - 2019-03-30

My friend's Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/ray.uppal/

Sorry, the Teespring store is closed, but I'm working on making the t-shirts available elsewhere!

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In this video, I continue my amalgam series and I attempt to make the so-called ammonium amalgam.

This was done by combining an ammonium salt with sodium amalgam that I made in a previous video.

Link to 1865 paper: https://goo.gl/3NVehp
Sodium amalgam video: https://youtu.be/SoOyaDWIoMA

Nile talks about lab safety:  https://youtu.be/ftACSEJ6DZA

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JiminsWeeb - 2019-11-29

I never have any idea what he's talking about. Or the formulas he puts on screen, but I watch anyways because I wanna see funky silver liquid turn into a sponge.

spontaneous creativity - 2020-10-12

This is one heck of an argument

Orion - 2020-10-13

i heard ammonia is fart

BigBarge XL - 2020-10-22

I know about 3% of stuff he says
Call me Einstein

crgzero - 2020-10-23

I understand all that stuff,,, but I only watch to see the funky silver liquid turn into a sponge.

stonersiren - 2020-10-24

i mean he literally explains everything hahaha

Thoisoi2 - Chemical Experiments! - 2019-03-30

Excellent video and rare footage!

cuteanime girl - 2020-10-06

о, плотный салам всем нашим

Malik - 2020-10-08

Whoa, it's the русский man

1Kalash - 2020-10-12

@Malik lmao

ULSS ' PLAY - 2020-10-24

Дарова

TheChach - 2019-03-30

Sodium amalgam is a gateway amalgam. Friends don't let friends use sodium amalgam.

PotatoGamer555 - 2020-06-06

bruh XD

Manuel Solis - 2020-06-09

VV Egon Spengler at around, 4:36 It really looks like kakalgam

Switch’s Page - 2020-06-16

Winners don’t do amalgams
-D.A.R.E Campaign

Fucktard Mcgee - 2020-06-29

That was what I was thinking almost the entire time lol

l TheJazz3D l - 2020-10-25

@Matthew Bauerle brilliant

GCM - 2019-03-30

Using a paper from the 1800's do conduct an experiment must be quite an interesting experience! Very cool

jackthehacker05 - 2020-06-11

GCM please do

TheDevil372 - 2020-06-17

jackthehacker05 i well di it far yu

Zetapology - 2020-08-03

Now, using a paper from the 1500s on the other hand

Nathan Gamble - 2020-10-12

@Paul "I'm referring to how lazy people are today, they can't even change light bulbs, and many other things most did not too long ago"
That's true of a lot of people, but I'm not sure why you think you can extrapolate that to all scientists.

Nathan Gamble - 2020-10-12

@Paul Healthpointe are not doctors, they're a pyramid scheme that sell dietary supplements and commit insurance fraud.

David Shelly - 2019-03-30

8:51- showing off your face like that. smh your vanity clearly has no bounds

Nodnarb - 2019-10-18

@الله ربي I have a hard time replying to you. XD

J F - 2019-11-30

@XeBrandon You're spitting some life advice lmao

꧁༺just another guy༻꧂ - 2019-12-02

@David Shelly
Your arrogance clearly has no bounds !!

Gwen Jones - 2019-12-30

Smh my head

Dr. M. H. - 2020-08-03

@qwerty975311 nicely done 😂👍

Erin Cobb - 2019-03-30

Are you considering putting images of the amalgam into the wikimedia commons?

Living in Darkness - 2020-10-15

@TyetheRebel Thank you.

Reading with Nixalys Camacho - 2020-10-16

@russki yes Jesus, just tell them it is cringe and you dropped it into google and found it.

Giuliano Denardi - 2020-10-22

@TyetheRebel it is not fiction simply because someone was absent in the classes that deal with the subject, preserving the bubble of ignorance... If someone can determine whether or not it is an delusion, is a health professional for a specific patient, without generalizations.

TyetheRebel - 2020-10-22

@Giuliano Denardi Ist of all, you seriously need to work on your sentence structuring.
2ndly, if I were to say YOU cannot fly (personally because I'm speaking about you, to you)
And I said all of America can't fly (a generalisation)
One would be personal, one is generalising but both of them are correct. Thinking you're the gender opposite of which you're born as is LITERALLY delusion, not as an Insult it's what it actually is.

Giuliano Denardi - 2020-10-22

@TyetheRebel It's funny, now I understand what you see as an illusion. You think that sex and gender are determined only by birth (chromosomes) and, I'm guessing, that you think they are the same. No, humans are more complex than that and no, I am not here to make an adult "angry" because it is convenient to ignore science and human rights.

swordsmancs - 2020-07-28

“I’d like to know what you think”

My brain watching the mercury stuff: “haha mercury go fwoosh”

Connor Foley - 2019-03-30

Mercury: Amalgamation sounds like a metal album

Seriella Hablitzel - 2020-05-15

I T S OU N D S L I K E UN D E R T A L E

Ezekiel Brockmann - 2020-07-15

There's an album called Amalgamutt, I think.

Anna Nimmous - 2020-08-08

Connor Foley not an album, but a good song though

Epicwizardcat - 2020-08-26

Well it is metal

Randomness Rules - 2020-10-22

It's a Queen cover/mashup album

Francesco - 2019-03-30

The amalgam series is so interesting!!
By the way, you should consider synthesizing tyrian purple (6,6'-dibromoindigo), the most expensive pigment in history!

Nepeta Leijon - 2019-09-03

this would be so cool, i hope he does it

Nickolas Crousillat - 2019-12-31

@Geyote Pilkington I don't think having uranium right next you is a good idea.

Geyote Pilkington - 2020-01-01

@Nickolas Crousillat It doesnt work like that

Jaakko Pöntinen - 2020-04-21

Tyrian! Loved that.

ScreamToASigh - 2020-10-18

Next he should consider showing Octarine.

William Bouthillier - 2019-04-02

@8:50 Busted. Glasses on forehead aren't as efficient as in front of your eyes Nile

Linc Stephens - 2019-12-30

You must not be near-sighted 😘

Mr large Ham - 2020-06-03

Lol

H.p Gugcraft - 2019-03-30

He has made the beginning of the T-1000

Blake Giant - 2019-03-30

I am surprised all of the comments are not this comment

Cheffrin - 2019-03-31

Thought the same thing.

stipe - 2019-03-31

hehehe

kinetikx - 2019-05-12

Came here to say the same thing.

Thanks for helping the robot overlords destroy us Nilered.

Muffin Man - 2020-02-17

Tbh this very similar to Polly alloy

Daniel Pugliese - 2019-03-30

When the ammonia solution is added, the surface of the mercury has a slight bluish color (you can see this when you add it to the mercury on the watch glass). Reminded me of the Birch Reduction, perhaps there's electron solvation going on? What would happen if you did something similar with liquid ammonia? Perhaps adding mercuric chloride to a solution of liquid ammonia with and without lithium added?

Caleb Howes - 2019-03-30

At 8:47 and the like? Are you sure it's not thin film interference or something?

Daniel Pugliese - 2019-03-30

@Caleb Howes It definitely could be. Without further experiments it's impossible to say one way or the other what it could be. I based my hypothesis on the idea that the concentration of ammonia would be greater at the interface of the mercury, possibly leading to enough electrons being solvated for there to be a noticeable color change. On the other hand, maybe the concentration gradient would change the refractive index of the solution enough for the same color change at/ near the interface? Maybe a thin film of products formed and caused thin film interference? I don't know, but I really want to know, all theories seem plausible to me. My interest is sufficiently piqued.

Pemuel Michaelis - 2019-03-30

That was my first thought too. Sodium amalgam is basically a way to „dilute“ sodium in order to use it in reactions where pure sodium would react far too violently.

It would make sense that sodium amalgam reacting with ammonia would likewise form a „dilute“ version of the electron soup we‘d get from solvating pure sodium.

Mr. Artist - 2020-04-05

Daniel Pugliese Agree

Random Roblox Player - 2020-08-11

Have no idea what any of this means because Im a dum-dum, but i agree

Vsauce No u - 2019-05-28

I have two words for you





1:Metal
2:Play-doh

The Vibe - 2020-08-15

1 forbidden
2 metal
3 play dough

Lucas - 2019-03-30

So cool to me that a paper from the 1800’s is still relevant. I guess it’s obvious since chemistry doesn’t change, but still!

Adnan Chinisi - 2019-03-30

Well it does chance since back then chemists had rudimentary model of the atom and atomic theory was still young and some parts of it were wrong. They hadn't discovered about the nucleus and electrons until the early 1900's so yeah changed a good amount

N A - 2019-03-30

Yep, but also research is only pursued for commercially/medically interesting compounds (otherwise it's hard to get funding for a research project) that's part of the reason why a compound like this hasn't been studied much

LilJbm1 - 2020-04-14

@N A Yep it's sad but fun Chemistry and basic science isn't fundable anymore. Either sell your boring massive organic molecule research for a grant, or show how your reactions can make boring massive organic molecules for research.


It's not that I don't like massive complex organic molecules by the way, I do research with them and they aren't actually boring, but I definitely hate that you have to sell your research nowadays as something which can "save lives" or has commercial application when you just want to study fun interesting things that are novel. I don't care if it is applicable, I care if it is novel and unknown. All the good science of the 1900s was done with serendipitous application only being discovered for that science after the fact, but the stymieing of basic science asking questions without an immediate link to pragmatics is harming research and the pursuit of knowledge, and I have no doubt it is limiting discovery of findings which will surprisingly have applicability.


Let's take this strange ammonium-amalgam for example. Is it useless? Maybe. Certainly seems that way. How would we find out some crazy use for it beyond predicting? Playing with it. A lot. Playing with what seem to be useless compounds though doesn't get funding, and damnit I wish it did.

Swati S - 2020-07-10

@LilJbm1 Knowledge for the sake of knowledge doesn’t get funded and it rly sucks ;-;

Dan - 2020-10-04

@LilJbm1 you're right, lsd, saccharin, and penicillin were all discovered by accident. No one was seeking a hallucinogen, an artificial sweetener, or medication for bacterial infections. But all 3 of these accidental discoveries have altered society in huge ways - and made some people rich. If people sought out to discover lsd, saccharin, or penicillin, they likely wouldn't have found it. Now Research is too targeted, like a grant is specifically for HIV and any accidental fascinating results that could say strengthen foundations with less material or a nonaddictive medicine for insomnia or a presevative for meat in areas without refrigeration would all be immediately discarded as worthless.

Glaedr_4_life :/ - 2019-03-30

Love all your videos 😍😍 I’m currently doing a chemistry degree & you were a big influence to deciding to do it! Keep doing what you’re doing,

Glaedr Villran - 2019-11-29

Eragon fan?

Ionic777 - 2019-11-29

Glaedr Villran yes! I’m still looking for a book series better than that but I don’t think it’s possible...

Glaedr Villran - 2019-11-29

@Ionic777 it isn't as good, but Child of the Daystar is a really nice book too

Ionic777 - 2019-11-29

Glaedr Villran I’ll check it out at some point then, thank you very much :)

Proskyloobros - 2020-04-05

Glaedr_4_life :/ I never thought I would find a eragon fan on youtube

Dylan Meek - 2020-02-21

2:23 “now, as far as I know, what’s going on here isn’t really known”
When you have to write a paper on something and you have to turn 100 words into 1000 words

Dan - 2020-10-04

Now, based on the thousands of articles that I've read and browsed and reviewed, what i believe to have most likely found is the following, that the mechanism of action does not yet seem to be known by mankind and this could be an area of very interesting further research.
How am i doing? Haha. He could've just said "i dunno"

Ramiro Rybczuk - 2020-04-28

"The sodium amalgam can be used as a gateway to other amalgams"

Sodium. Not even once

Louis Quinn - 2020-01-03

NileRed: it's my turn to be confused by what i'm doing

Murali Mukunda - 2019-03-30

Just wanted to know condition of your lead crystals(tree of saturn).
Has been over a year

João Gonçalves - 2019-03-30

5:42 cracking open a cold one with the bros

Caua Teixeira Moreira - 2020-04-16

Tu é Br?

X Æ A-12 - 2019-03-30

12:30 ohh man that would be awesome to sculpt with, if it stayed at that state

Mush V. Peets - 2020-02-19

Just need to find another polyatomic "metal" that doesn't want to fall apart so easily, I suppose.

Chekhov’s Gunman - 2019-03-30

That aluminum snake at the start looked a lot like my reaction to the notification that there was a new Nile Red video

Theory Ames - 2019-03-30

mannys9130 good joke though I do agree

TechnoGuz GD - 2020-03-17

It reminded me of my crotch in the morning


Morning boners are a regular for me, but boy are they annoying

Dan - 2020-10-04

You went poo in your pants?

Dan - 2020-10-04

@TechnoGuz GD i remember i had a friend who convinced me that translation of Rammstein chorus of their famous song was "peeing with a boner is hard".
Peeing
Peeing with
Peeing with a boner is hard
Insert head banging. I believed him ugh

Dan - 2020-10-04

@TechnoGuz GD what about when you take a seat on toilet and the semi boner dips into toilet water. That for me is one of major challenges associated with The Morning Boner

W. B. - 2019-03-31

Came here for the chemistry. Stayed for the relaxing voice and cute face reflected in the mercury drop. ❤️

Sin tia Pero con tio - 2019-06-04

I’m a chem major and everytime I watch your videos I feel like I haven’t learned enough.

T. Rx - 2019-03-30

I know you screamed "it's alive!!!" at least once filming this reaction

Soumalya Pramanik - 2019-03-30

Lol

Kubalo - 2019-11-28

8:46
when u accidentally turn on your front camera

Dayton Sander - 2019-03-30

You should extract THC from Cannabis now that’s it’s legal in Canada, be fun to see your methods and yields

Channelitus Deletus - 2019-03-30

he needs to remove iodine from seaweed.

Dayton Sander - 2019-03-30

Greg Hinson that’s is one internet for you sir.

Kold Fizzion - 2019-03-30

That's a Great idea, but would he get in trouble since You tube is owned by google and google is in the USA?

Dayton Sander - 2019-03-30

Kold Fizzion If he extracts CBD or THC it’ll be fine to show and record. There are many videos, even on VICE. CBD and hemp are federally legal in the US now.

It be like that sumtimes - 2019-04-30

@Kold Fizzion it shouldnt be a problem since he is not smoking it, its for educational porposes

Zcurridor _q_r_td - 2019-12-05

"Thats what I said, sodium chloride!"

TAL29000 - 2020-03-07

Uh. Dude? That would be salt

apdroid geek - 2020-06-12

Lol

KimuTone - 2020-07-02

@TAL29000 void music plays

Gronn - 2020-07-16

@KimuTone You 're supposted to push the buttons with the pictures food of on them

Cezar Catalin - 2019-12-06

Can we try the following experiment:

In liquid ammonia add a cathode of mercury and an anode of platinum. Pass a current through the solution and see if the cathode turns into this ammonia amalgam.

Carbonated Water - 2019-12-04

This is how I feel like I sound to my friends when I say "carbohydrate," and they say "Speak English-"

Apothe Curio - 2019-12-28

Carbonated Water oh man that hurt to read. I’m sorry

Awsomiihill - 2019-12-30

that fucking stings

c6amp - 2020-07-06

hen i talk about computers to my friends
i have no idea how i am a friend to them i seem so boring even to myself

Focus First - 2019-11-28

This reminds me of the Incredibles scene where he tries to escape but those black balls attach to him and expand

Kraio - 2020-10-10

9:03 “Who do I listen to... gravity, or surface tension?”

Moo Moo - 2019-03-30

The reason it doesn't work with the nitrate might be because of the strong oxidising nature of nitrate ions. I imagine NH4 radicals would be very good reducing agents and the nitrate ions might just oxidise them as soon as they are formed. Ammonium nitrate in itself decomposes on heating to make H2O and N2O as the NO3- ions oxidise the NH4+ ions. You could try adding ammonium nitrite instead and seeing if any nitrogen gas gets evolved. All in all an amazing video. Looked forward to it since that Instagram post. 🙌

الله ربي - 2019-03-30

plz can help me preparation of Hg(NH2)Cl

Pemuel Michaelis - 2019-03-31

Moo Moo Yeah, even plain old ammonium nitrate will comproportionate to form nitrous oxide upon slow heating, and N2 and O2 when exploding.

And I would expect NH4 radicals to be much more reactive in redox reactions than NH4+ cations.

Moo Moo - 2019-03-31

@Pemuel Michaelis Wow. Thanks! I didn't know that 😁. And yes, NH4 radicals must be very good at reducing but the problem with my theory is that why does ammonium sulphate work in that case. Sulphate ions are weakly oxidising and they should oxidise NH4 radicals quite easily. NileRed says that only ammonium nitrate caused a problem. Can you think of a reason for that? Maybe it has something to do with the solubility of HgSO4 and HgNO3. Hg might interfere with the reaction and cause only the sulphate ions to precipitate. I really don't know, I'm still in high school 😅.

Moo Moo - 2019-03-31

@الله ربي I don't know about Hg(NH2)Cl but I think Nessler's reagent (K2HgI4) reacts with ammonia to make Hg(NH2)I. This then reacts with water to make something called iodide of Millon's base. I can't type the structure of that over here although it's just two mercury atoms bridged by one O bond and one (NH2+) bond.

Olaf Stapledon - 2019-04-01

@Moo Moo Dear Moo, I suspect that in evaluating the sulfate ion kinetic considerations are strongly relevant beside the mere reduction potentials. However, it would interesting to test some quaternary ammonium compounds. They should solve many difficulties.

Saher Amr. - 2019-03-30

Please do osmium and mercury amalgam there is no documentation on it

Alexandru Postole - 2019-03-30

Osmium is really expensive so i dont think we would do it

The Dank Side - 2019-03-30

Alexandru Postole ya osmium is quite expensive so I highly doubt he’ll be doing it anytime soon

pixelpatter01 - 2019-03-30

Wasn't mercury used to make osmium alloy pen nibs? I don't have a link but I remember somebody back in the fountain pen era used mercury to form an alloy with osmium and iridium that could be melted and machined.

Cadwaladr - 2019-03-30

@pixelpatter01 Osmium and iridium nibs are still made today, I dunno what the manufacturing process is though.

Vincent Castilow - 2019-04-01

That would be ridiculously poisonous.

Michael Hinkle - 2020-10-03

"I made a silver turd in amonia!"
cool cool

Bruni - 2019-06-12

Mercury is probably the weirdest element out there

c6amp - 2020-07-06

Every other metal at room temperature: rocc
Mercury: a fucking liquid

Bruni - 2020-07-06

Every other metal at room temp: nothing
Mercury: makes weird fucking amalgams that nobody understands

David Sartor - 2020-09-27

@c6amp Gallium?
Edit: No.

c6amp - 2020-09-27

@David Sartor Gallium is a solid in 22°C

David Sartor - 2020-09-27

@c6amp Thank you.

Jason Anaminus - 2020-06-03

13:26 It reminded me of those toys that grow in water
me: yes but with more tOxiC fUmEs

Big brainer - 2020-10-22

Alternativ title : “how to create anti playdough”

Alex Besogonov - 2019-03-30

Now just add a some chloromethane to this nice sodium amalgam. The result is going to be GREAT!

Aiden Conway - 2020-08-14

Hii

ricin addict - 2019-03-30

been watching a ton of your videos recently (even more than usual), i was craving a new video!!!! thank you !!

NileRed - 2019-03-30

enjoy! :)

Dayton Sander - 2019-03-31

Oddly the same, I’ve binged through over the last two weeks and laughed when I saw he posted a video, literally thought of that the night before he posted this.

Love yourself - 2020-03-16

Nile doesn’t know what to do with something

“So anyway I started blasting”

Thomas Northeast - 2019-03-30

When you were playing around with it around 12 minutes in i honestly thought it looked like some kind of Metallic silly putty

Fred Wilkins - 2020-10-02

Neutral Radical, "I have no strong feelings one way or the other, and will fight to the death for them"

Jaymes elliot - 2019-03-31

next week Nilered will attempt to extract good choices out of methamphetamine.






It's gonna be difficult

Toba TheRawringKing - 2019-04-24

sadly got a 0% yield :(

Noah Schmick - 2019-12-02

bruh my mom walked in at the beginning and lowkey thought I was watching videos of bongs

Kiuuuhk - 2020-06-11

12:50 Looks like a silver toxic blue tack

Whateverfits - 2019-07-17

12:15 I think you just just made the start of a T-1000.

Gamerguy - 2020-11-02

I wanna eat the no-no sponge

aayush garg - 2020-09-06

sir, i think you have made a discovery, try testing it more, but i think when ammonium amalgam is heated, it was somehow able to stabilize the ions inside the amalgam. in my opinion, you should try heating it and testing it when the amalgam is formed. and maybe even write a paper, sir. i wish you all the best if you read this comment. i would also like to try it, but do not have a lab in my basement.

Ink Soldier - 2020-10-13

Damn, chemistry always was one of my favourite subjects at school. I abandoned it though because of laziness. Maybe when I finish studying economics I will get over myself and become a chemist of some kind 😊 These videos are inspiring