Doug's Lab - 2018-01-25
In this video, I distill some sulfuric acid... but run into a few problems along the way! Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/DougsLab Twitter: @YTDougsLab Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/1/103236004133559189742 (custom Google+ URL coming soon) I'm a brand-new Twitter/Google+ user and I'm learning the ropes! Feel free to drop me a line and I will try to answer as many posts as I can.
It's not a proper lab bench unless it has acid burn marks on it.
It's not a proper lab bench until it has a big old hole with glowing perimeter. Bonus if the glow is due to radioactive fission byproducts.
This video reminds me of a story my chem professor told in lecture...
A few years ago, a student (undergrad) was working in the lab and accidentally emptied some organic waste into the acid waste container. Rather than alerting the TA, the student tried to hide his/her mistake by sealing the container (we use giant glass carboys that probably hold about 10 liters or so) and walking away like nothing happened. At the time, my professor was in her office and she heard an explosion next door followed by the sound of falling glass shards. She runs out of her office to find the entire lab group of 30 or so panicked students evacuating the lab followed by a cloud of HCl and NO2 gas. Several students had to be rushed to the hospital for burns and glass cuts and law enforcement was involved as well... just goes to show what happens when you don't properly fix your mistakes in the lab :)
That's terrifying. whatever happened to the student?
How did they found out?
I love when NurdRage includes his mistakes and solutions. I think you managed to 1 up him by actually thinking through solutions in real time with footage to the experiment going awry.
Just heads up, you showed part of your face at 2:25. I'm not sure if you're fine with that or if it was a mistake, but I figured I should mention it
He's not making Dimethylonepentamethamphetahydroxazine here guys. Just a simple, yet ballsy, distillate of H2S04.
love that!
I`ll be honest, I kinda want to see who this person that runs "Doug's Lab" is now. :P
Doug's Lab Exellent. I love that you focus on chemistry and not being a quirky tv personality
Doug's Lab can you tell me the specific name of the clamp that's holding your round bottom acid flask, Please? I can't find them anywhere to buy.
Look children, lets distill sulfuric Acid in the dark... They didn't teach you that in school..!!! ;-)
I love your video's and greetings from the Netherlands...;-))
Lovely work as usual, Doug.
Really good to see clean-up of a real spill. Such things are usually left out but they are extremely important. And the simulated situations found in safety videos really don't cut it.
I am enjoying the increased video frequency. Thanks.
Holy crap! So many videos!!! Keep up the incredible work!
Thank you for showing your mishaps, it increases the educational value of the videos!
Aaaand...
There's 100 ml of mercury in the background. :)
I really like these basic task “how-to” videos. Good choice on your part Doug for showing us stuff to keep us from frying ourselves.
Well, I've done a timelapse video of me, distilling H2SO4:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWHWlChrRbQ
It is initially black, because I've used grease and the grease got affected by the distilling acid.
To correctly address with bumping, I added a naked stir bar. I removed the outer nylon protection, because it will melt at these temperatures.
The naked stir bar seemed to perform relatively inert.
Excellent work! I subscribed.
I was wondering why you didn't add boiling stones :)
“Just some slight decontamination...”
>vigorously applies base
9:37 Ah, memories.
“But tehlaser, how did you spill *on the ceiling*?”
Oops. Thankfully, it wasn’t sulfuric acid.
The only thing worse than an aqueous solution fountain is a diethyl ether fountain followed by an inferno. I'd imagine a fountain of 600-degree sulfuric acid is a close second. :D
tehlaser that would be such an exciting way to die
Doug, what are your thoughts on a vac distillation in this case instead of the high temps? Great video!
Great video! You're "learning experiences" we're the best parts! Lot's of ppl want their videos perfect. Thanks for showing us!
Question: can you clean up the coloration with hydrogen peroxide? I mean, you dilute the acid, but you create piranha and you avoid having to setup a distillation.
Yes, you can add a little weak hydrogen peroxide which will destroy any organic matter present, oxidizing it to H2O and CO2. This usually clears up the coloration, but will not remove metal salts. It will also need to be boiled to remove the water that comes with the hydrogen peroxide and to destroy remaining peroxide before it is used in a reaction.
Doug's Lab thanks! Glad to have you back
I'd be well paranoid heating glass like that. Even if it's slowly & evenly heated I'd be waiting for something bad to happen....
Not paranoia, but common sense. This should never ever be done. He was lucky it didn't snap.
Well, if the glassware used is borosilicate there really isn’t nothing to worry about, especially if it is heated slowly
Not true. Ask any laboratory flameworker. It's a bad practice that induces fatigue, lowering expected lifetime of the vessel. And then one day it breaks while there's ether inside. :/
Oh, didnt know that. I guess I will be safer from now on :)
It's certainly better practice to place at least a gauze between the flame and the glass.
WELCOME BACK DOUG!!
hello doug! please upload video "synthesis PCl5"
Keep up the excellent work, thank you.
Thanks, Doug. I'm not a chemist but I love chemistry and these simpler videos are very enjoyable for me.
Do this distillation with GOOD glassware. Forgo the stuff from China. The last thing you want to hear is that DREADED tink coming from your RBF. I ignored it only to have super hot KNO3 and H2SO4 raining down upon my work top. A Polarimeter or similar will let you see stresses in your glass before you go heating it up to 350 degrees. Can you show us how YOU anneal your glassware?
schott duran > all
As for the PET situation, always consult a plastic material compatibility chart, many are available with a web search. the better charts will indicate short term or long term storage and footnote any critical temperatures. permeability can be a factor too, PET is very resistant to CO2 but not water vapor transfer, eg.
NEY Industries Try amber glass containers with glass tops that slide down into the bottle. They're a bit more expensive than normal but they will allow excess pressure to vent, they keep air out pretty well, and they don't react with nitric acid. The amber glass also protects from phoyodecomposition of the contents, but that doesn't mean it's wrapped in opaque metal foil or anything. No leaving even an amber bottle in sunlight no matter how good you think your window glass is. Hope that helps. PS Look for places that sell old school equipment. Sometimes you can find basic lab glassware in those places.
Doug, I'd love it if you made a glass blowing video!
@Doug's Lab Where or HOW do you get Ace glass? Few suppliers carry their products, and Ace's website shows that you have to supply them with your business license to buy from them. Thanks.
I love these weekday videos. Keep it up.
This is why I love Doug's Lab :)
Bumping happens so much when i concentration this acid... that i have to fill the flask with broken glass and tap the flask every 10 secs or so to prevent a build up
Holy crap, your video is so good and extremely educational, you have my Subscription and likes from now on sir, great work!
God I would be so scared that the flask might break! Nice video!
Details explained in this video was very helpful. Keep it up.
Doug, can you make the video you always promised on drying concentrated acetic acid to glacial?
Great video. Thanks! Are you going to make some videos on analysis? For example, how would you figure out compounds are left in the undistilled portion?
Love your videos. You upload very frequently. Thank you very much.😀😀😀🖒🖒🖒🖒🖒🖒
Very nice result. The mishaps were perfect for learning purposes. :-)
17:22 nice watch! What kind?
i like how these videos dont have a safety warning at the start of them
Nice one Prax !
Great to see Real experiment. Superb to see how you deal with accidents.
Nice video Doug's Lab, keep up the good work! , i am wondering why you didn't do a vacuum distillation thus avoiding these extremely high temperatures..
I’m glad you are back into the hobby Doug, send me a message on skype if our agreement still stands ^^
Well done, Doug!
Awesome skeleton watch bro! And great video! Taught me something :) could I do this distillation with car battery acid?
Haha thanks, but it's nothing special. It's an Armitron 20/4406BISV, about $85 at Sears. And yes, you can do this with battery acid, except you'll just have to take off a lot more water at the beginning.
I am certain you could. I seem to remember that the solution in car batteries is fairly dilute. You'll have to remove a lot of water, so I wouldn't expect an amazing yield.
Very cool and informative video! Keep them coming!
2:25 real human confirmed!!!
Probably my favourite video demonstration of this task so far. What thermometer/probe do you use to measure the temperature in the flask? I have a surface temp IR one but need to find a cost effective +300°c one. Regards.
Yeah, I added boiling chips to some extremely concentrated coffee I was boiling down (in an attempt to make a homemade ink). That was...exciting. Extremely exciting.
hot sulfuric acid... always makes for a sketchy day haha
Do you think you could do a video on extracting magnesium metal from Epsom salt?
Super video Doug, good to see you are human 😀 Everyone makes mistakes, the important thing is that we learn from them.
Neat! Distillation of sulfuric is kinda scary, but I intend to do it at some point. Very cool video and well thought out setup.
Still no clue what happened to Doug in 2017 :/
NurdRage - 2018-01-26
Good having you back. I missed you.
robb pratt - 2018-04-24
love it
Shona O'Neill - 2018-07-06
NurdRage you too are Epic, love your channel as much as this one......almost.
TheTil EnglishTaste - 2018-07-17
He never likes NurdRage comments
J H - 2020-02-15
Then he disappears.. again! hah.