Explosions&Fire - 2021-01-02
Why does bismuth do that thing? You know, the thing. Why is that? We investigate. Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ExplosionsAndFire/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ExplosionsandFire Discord: https://discord.gg/VR6Fz9g Second Channel: @Extractions&Ire Twitter: https://twitter.com/Explosions_Fire Paper mentioned in the video: "The Explosive Reaction of Bismuth with Perchloric Acid" 1935 https://doi.org/10.1021/ja01308a008 I hope this counts towards their Altmetric score. Currently only 157 paper reads in 85 years, that's less than 2 a year, this is hot topical content absolutely. Thanks so much to all my Patreons for the support, which recently allowed me to pickup the new high-speed camera. I feel it was a little under-used this video, but it's going to bring so much for each new video from now and I can't wait. Here's names of some cool people, in pairs, because you look cute together: TheScrapMango, Thomas Abbott Aleksei Besogonov, Noah Goble Rorie, Thomas Edwards Hugh Laird, Vaibhav Yenamandra Gonzog, Tom Pease Sam Nudl, Zane Thorben Zethoff, Oz Sabina Jonathan Ringstad, Blake Mcbride Zachary Chapin, Thomas Esker Radil, Jacob Langbecker Uncle Gene, Branan Riley Eric Stromdahl,David Cagan Tom Roberts, Jägerin110 William Griffin, Darcy Ishmael Zarkov, M I Jason Petrou, NoiseRaidAndi Kevin Bauer, daniel houston T.Chavez, Aidan Jeffes Mark Hartsteen, Brandon Burroughs Full Modern Alchemist, Sabino Lanza Whats Aleppo?, Kyle S Jmhvkjhgv, Paul Birch Ben 'Diggah' Price, Will Eubanks Alexader Kjello Lauritsen, Zeo Isaac Paciga, Parker Hall Iklalz, Daniel Coleman ERJN, Emil Pelloso AllChemystery, PrettyChill Chemistry Dom Vasta, Slopey Matt Jackson, Robert Potter Chris Villarreal, uwotm8 Thinkingmansgame, Sarah Urfer Kris Pockell, Elliot Williams Juhn, Elizabeth Schneider acronus ., Karsten Hoff John Scott, Aaron Elligsen Maxallen, Sam Person killroy225, Torsten Otten Samonie67, Utulien Erik Granlund, Christian Stafford Brendan Upton, Luke McGoggan Jack Whitteaker, Luc Vachon Damian Seery, Josh M Markus Rüegger, WizardTim Ben Gearon, Hugo Unke Vincent Cinfici, The Revd. Juli Mallett Joseph Taylor-Cyphers, Malkezadek Chris Mclean, Adam Conour Gug, Awetism Gaming Ryan Nicholl, Peter Sodke Roger Kutyna, Michael KaiserWilhelmTheII, andrew dorsey Adam Nash, Aussie Chemist Arthur McTavish, Mark Blundell Mark Ironmonger, Alok G Singh Nicolas Hug, Nick Gareth George, Henrik Jørgensen Joseph Bermingham, Benjamin Bradshaw Phiona Buhr, Jana Bollen Michael Kavulich, Mattis Schmotz Darren Hansen, Steven Ngo Bitcore, Sirius Kris Luedke, Cory Wolterbeek Braveskin, Grant Berkbigler Clark from WY, Henry David Churchill, Jack Steel Jason Boothe, Mynameisnotdicks Leon Schutte, Oliver Toth Harpsichord-uiy, Max Scop Kristopher Rush, Justin reid Mortlet, Rory Symonds Lachlan Costigan, Nile Red GayKobold, The Gayest Person on Patreon Michael Aichlmayr, Michael Englehorn Rowan James, Nick Poole Dullis, Martin Essam Jannic Rauch, Ryan Nguyen Stephanie Mills, Grue DeltVar, WILLIAM BROWN Thomas Klotz, Michael Lang Fredrik Barnå, nandXor Kyle Ward, Jesus Ochoa Sean Kedrowski, Michel Heinz Joe, snowhead29 Lukas Schulz, Brian Talarczyk David Jensen, Diamond Eyes Roughneck Basidiomycota, Murray Grant St John Jonny Wright, Ian F John McGerty, Bruce Fitzsimons The King of Homestyle, David Benhammou Ria, Not a Mimic Christopher Stillson, NaconBipples Macropiper, Bjorn Nelson John Libal, Sean Murphy Punkey, Jannis Fischer 0419gottaminute, Leon Stark Alex Metcalf, Joe Galvan Jtk08, Tyler Downard, Jordan Skoblenick, brett j Adrian Edgar, White_as_paper Idan Benesh, Andrew Morales Gary Virta, John Nguyen MillionFoul, Bill Triffitt Nils Rotthowe, Jenn Caraway Joe Goodall, Classic Iron David Ho, ccfreak2k Anthony, Joseph Miller Felix Barthelmeß;, Chris the Mad Sciencer Christopher Nguyen, Will Ribaux Azide Fox, The Flying Shards Max Barnash, Doctor Z Rossi, Michal Jenčo apollo wellstein (you're on your own so you can be paired with me ok) And some words from our sponsor for today's videos: Cthulhu fhtagn, Overlord is the best anime. I don't have to sell a VPN but I do have to mention anime in the description so, have I truly taken the right path?? (absolutely) Now, a word for the algorithm: chemistry science chemistry, home science fun cool nice, coolsmartreal. Thanks
Thank you for the cameo. Also, I have the same ball mill!
Not really a hard hitting video if you don't use a sledgehammer.
Cox-1 and 2 are cyclooxygenase an enzyme creating in inflammation responses which creates prostaglandins which are the source of inflammaton
SOLAR STILL
Yay Nile Red made a positive comment on this channel confirming that this channel isn't a bad channel. Let's get it to 1 mil subs.
Good ol' Mr Red lol
I wonder if the acronym PEN-15 is still available
CUM-69
I hope COX-69 is available, because if someday I discover an explosive that's definitely how I'm going to name it
@Red wasnt it coreium because it came from the core of the reactor?
It's a very exclusive club.
:D
Actually, FOX-7 is not a completely meaningless acronym! The explosive was developed by the Swedish Defence Research Agency, which in Swedish holds the acronym FOI. They just took that, replaced the I with an X because it's an explosive and that's how you get FOX. The 7 as far as I can tell is completely arbitrary though.
7 is the number of ppl died in the explosion before it was published..
@Zilog ew, closed race.
also ew, organics.
@Milokiss82 what? protogens aren't closed. that's primogens. also idc of its closed or not regardless. they still make me happy and ill do whatever the fuk i want with my protogen
@Zilog proot
@Farm 24 Beep!
“because your body is a moron” sums up 99% of health issues
Fr
This statement explains carbon monoxide poisoning at the cellular level.
@David R (is there any other form of poisoning other than at cellular level)
@Younes Layachi knife poisoning isn't localized at the cellular level
@Younes Layachi
Radiation poisoning happens at the atomic level
In fireworks, we make a type of “crackle” using bismuth trioxide, magnalium and nitrocellulose lacquer. It kind of sounds audibly like the reaction with bismuth and perchloric acid.
"Bismith is just gay lead"
-Internet Australian Man
@Armory check out taofladermaus. They shoot all sorts of cool ammo, including bismuth slugs
Was that said? I have to watch again... hilarious.
The incredibly dense part of that joke was spicy
@Edward Gentle smut but H
@Aron Ásmundur Jónasson aaaah right
I have never heard a truer statement than bismuth is "lead for people who fear death"
gallium is mercury for clean-shaven non-Utahans
@Laird Cummings is there any shame in using the saying that other people created to begin with?
@Sheep Ketchup no.
Or most of us wouldn't be able to say, or invent, anything. Words and phrases and concepts are pretty much infinite use.
Just don't claim someone else's original thought as your own.
@acepilot1 Organogermaniun is pretty bad though. It will kill you in strange ways
If only it made sense. Lead is pfft. Quit with the scare tactics. Some of us interact with it daily, have for years, and probably will for many to come... Still just fine 🙄
This went from a chemistry video to a rant about naming compounds. This is the content i'm subscribed for
Man, if I had a nickle for every time I torched some perchlorate off bismuth metal I'd have two nickels. That's not a lot but its weird that it happened twice.
Ok, Dr. Doofenshmirtz
Dude, this channel is exactly what a chemistry nerd wants- Insanity.
I'm not a chemist. Haven't even taken a chemistry class in 20 years. Still love these videos. This guy is hilarious. Keep it up.
Man I'm so intrigued at what the hell it is! Awesome video and I'm so jealous of that high speed camera! That's beyond badass!
@Tech Obsessed let's hope not!
"When" 😳😳😳
@Explosions&Fire lol.. no if, just when...hahaha.....
You and the other youtubers (Nile Red and Thought Emporium) in the comments should all fly to Aus and make a super collab video together. You would have Energetics, Rocketry, Polymer and DNA/Material science all in 1 video.
@Explosions&Fire What did you do with Doug's lab?
Also, there's a thing called explosive antimony, actually an allotrope of element ONLY ! Perhaps these are somehow related phenomena, hope you will look into it.
I like mysterious reactions like this. I always have a fun when solving them.
I look at that paper you mentioned. There is a mention, that this compound is formed on bismuth anode during electrolysis of perchloric acid on bismuth electrodes. So technically it should be some high oxidation state of Bi. So I tried to heat mixture of sodium bismuthate and HClO4 on piece of aluminium foil. Lots of fizzing and white smoke, but any explosion.
Hmm... maybe the "missing link" is the fact that, if the bismuth is being oxidized, something has to reduce? Which doesn't happen when you mix bismuth oxide with perchloric acid, hence why that failed...
Also, I remember (from one of EX&F's own videos) that the lower oxidation state oxoacids of chlorine (chlorates, chlorites, and hypochlorites) tend to be less stable than perchlorates, in spire of having less oxygen...
Which leads me to an hypothesis: maybe it's some sort of bismuth chlorate or chlorite? Then again, I don't think scientists would've missed that possibility, if that were the case. Probably some sort of complex oxide/salt with lots of oxygen hanging around? (thinking something like bismuth oxychloride, or maybe even a bismuthate with chlorine in a weird anion state, e.g. chloryl).
Then again, I might just be throwing shots at the dark.
This video is so relatable, even though I have very little clue about chemistry
Not as relatable as gloves into grapes soda though
You goddamn time traveler
Me too he’s just funny and I like big boom
Call it CBT-1 because it took 85 years to find out what it is
Yours is one of the very few channels that can make me spontaneously laugh out loud. Stealth comedy and arcane chemistry. What more could one ask?
MY FAVORITE CHEMISTRY CHANNEL RETURNS!!!
This man made me interested in chemistry
@mefretete fair point
I subscribed to you yesterday
You are my favourite chicken slapping content (also just subscribed, super cool channel!)
i like how different he is from nilered, and that he hasn't sold out to the algorithm, doesn't ask ppl to slam like buttons, is not hawking patreon, it is still a labour of love and I love this guy.
"[Bismuth] has seen a bit of a revival lately as a bit of a relatable icon element because it forms rainbows all the time, doesn't like to be straight, and is incredibly dense."
Finally, something I relate to.
Seems like a pretty homophobic joke.
Wow! This is interesting. Pretty rare to find a straightforward reaction like this completely unexplored!
"bismuth is just gay lead" and I have to disagree. Bismuth is actually Bi
@Steampunk Astronaut but neon is a gas
@Ceramic QuillI read "periodic table" and didn't notice you said metal, hehe. I stand corrected; platinum least reactive metal indeed.
Can confirm, am bi, am also pathetic, like Bismuth
Isn't it the same?
Ha!
8:11 whenever it propagates, it does so clockwise. Bismuth has magnetic properties. Could you please try the test again on some magnet paper? I wonder if the paper will pick up any magnetic waves or eddy currents around the explosions. I think we may be onto something!
I noticed something interesting when dissolving magnets in Nitric. The rotation of particulates in the acid changed when the poles did.
I'd like to just say a big thank you for not just saying the recording framerate of the high speed footage, but also the playback framerate. So many people just throw out the large number to make it sound impressive, but you really can't tell how that translates into actual slowdown.
Did you try reacting a large amount of perchloric acid with a large amount of bismuth powder on a hot plate to see what gasses are evolved in the formation of the mystery chemical? No? I CAN'T SEE WHY THAT WOULDN'T BE A GOOD IDEA.
The cool thing is, it detonates in a thin film while sitting on top of thick metal, what should cool it, and bordering at air, where it can easily expand and get rid of all the pressure. It means its detonation velocity should be pretty high, or the reaction is very fast, or probably both.
That's an odd looking reaction. It doesn't seem to be taking place between the bismuth and the acid but only around the edges as the acid evaporates. Either the temperature required is higher than the boiling point of the acid or there is likely a third reactant present, perhaps CO2 from the torch or N2 from the atmosphere. The boiling point of perchloric acid is 397F. Try heating the bismuth to 400F and then add a drop of the acid and see what happens.
Fun fact, aspirin is an inhibitor of the COX enzymes. So whenever you eat aspirin, remember it’s affecting your COX
That is a really neat experiment. I've been wanting to try out bismuth as a non lead fishing weight alternative so this explosive would be interesting to look into.
On the high speed camera there almost looked like micro static discharge going across the surface before the heat flash. I wish I had some way handy to put your video in slow motion and skip frame by frame to see if I did see it right.
There are chemical reactions that generate milivolts. And just speculation but if the acid is removing a surface layer and suspending it in the acid droplets perhaps the exchange of free electrons is so great you just need to add a little heat for them to spark. And the micro electrical discharge would be hotter then the torch end igniting the higher flash point acid bismuth mixture on the surface.
Just a thought.
Does it explode in an inert atmosphere? Try placing in a round bottom flask under differing atmospheres and heat until boom boom. Nitrogen, oxygen, then mixed. Depending on which ones it explodes under it can help identify a transition prior to detonation.
Your channel is quickly becoming my favorite!!! Thank you for sharing your time with us!!!
Wow, how weird: I was JUST wondering why my blowtorch and bismuth + perchloric acid cabinet was prone to explosions!
My fireworks this year were way louder and more spectacular than they have ever been. Its probably due to better manufacturing of the chemicals you reference. Thats awesome, thank you!
Is it really an oxidation state? Could it be reacting with the compounds in the heating flame, or even nitrogen from the air? The lack of bubbles in the water test suggests not, but tiny bubbles can look kind of milky (like the precipitate) and there might not be enough to not simply dissolve into solution before rising to the surface.
With the skill (or blind confidence, of which I have neither) and resources, I'd be trying this under different atmospheres using a heated metal spike or carbon rod instead of a flame. Nitrogen and carbon dioxide would be interesting. Chlorine and fluorine would also be interesting, but also maybe a bit scary. Just a bit.
It'd be cool to measure the length of the explosive layer and characterise the propagation rate of the explosive.
This is interesting. I will try to recreate this experiment, maybe collect more of this material. Have you tried dissolving it in any nonpolar solvent? Maybe gently heat powdered bismuth with this acid for a while, then extract the material...
It's reactive on the edges. Does this happen in an inert atmosphere? That would determine whether or not it's yanking something out of the atmosphere as a component; might not be a compound at all but some weird catalyzed matrix of bismuth and a chlorate/perchlorate ion, or it's ganking carbon or hydrogen out of air...
ED: Ah, hear me out. BiOCl forms an Arppe compound when heated above 600C. Could something similar be happening here that's dropping ions in such a manner to produce dichlorine heptoxide on the boundary layer? Or is it just much simpler that some mechanism is taking place at that boundary layer that's dehydrating the perchloric acid...
This was my first time here, I had a great time, got to say, the man has a point. I've used most of those explosives, in my past military history, and never had any idea why they called them what they did. I have to say, this is the first time I've even heard of this bismuth/perchloric acid mystery, and I've studied explosives and chemistry more than fifty years. This was an awesome display, and a very interesting question that should definitively be answered by someone, soon. Reckon I'll have to check this out, and see. Thanks much for the show!
Thanks mate, glad you liked it!!
@Explosions&Fire I had some fun with strong acids and such when I was a teen, but not as much data available, and much harder to get a lot of things, odds and ends. Have to say, I'd hang around with you and play with chemicals, if I had a chance. Semper Fi, John McClain
It's good to hear Bisthmuth Oxychloride get a mention. It sounds really nasty but I use it for lustre production in ceramic glazes. It is also used as addition to many cosmetics to produce a pearly lustre.
I love how relatable this channel is, these are the things I come across daily on his channel.
2021 hobby: look for stupid old papers on questions no one has bothered to follow up, and try and get some streed cred by using modern tech to awnser it.
As opposed to the 2020 hobby: find obscure old papers with difficult and poorly documented procedures and make a bunch of yellow crap with a 5% yield.
@Gameboygenius Pretty sure the fulminating platinium video actually had a 0% yield. But time is so warped I don't recall when it came out.
when you did the acid test you should try combining HCl with nitric acid like in aqua regia. the perchlorate has both strong oxidizing properties and chlorine so maybe a mix of the two acids could recreate it
this channel makes me happy, i dont understand chemistry but god damn this is fun
Your channel definitely deserves to be huge, fkn definitely on par with smartereveryday, slowmoguys, backyardscientist etc...mate I really hope you get the love you deserve!
Aw, dont be so hard on yourself. This is just as relatable as grape soda. Everyone knows what perchlorates are
I’m surprised you didn’t calculate its detonation velocity. That would be a great detail for us über nerds out there.
So excited to watch this! I wish you would make more bit it is understandable. Love the content!
I comment to help statistics
Surprisingly relatable
RDX stands for "royal demolition explosive". I know this because, much like you, I made all sorts of explosives when I was younger. I worked in a lab while in college so had access to all sorts of reagents so I did the classics like nitrocellulose, nitroglycerin, TNT, ETN, and RDX- all in small, experimental quantities of course. I should say I attempted RDX but without 100% "white" HNO3 I couldn't get there.
Wonder if you could use a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer to figure out what you’re looking at? It wouldn’t tell you about the crystal structure, but I think you’d get an estimate for bond energy. Combine that with some well tuned calorimetry and you could probably start looking at stoichiometry.
You could calculate the detonation velocity of the new explosive with the frame rate, the time and the distance the wave travelled. If the detonation velocity turns out to be very high it might be more attractive to study
I did, but it's pretty low, like 500m/s range. I don't think it's proper conditions for it to achieve det velocity I guess, I don't know. But yeah, proper explosive speeds when properly pressed are like 5000m/s which is way too fast even for 30000 fps
From the page shown it seems they had trouble safely synthesizing it. If you're up for it maybe you could discover a way to better way too synthesize it. Like an oil bath. With that being said it seems there's less than a 10 degree room for error.
The Thought Emporium - 2021-01-03
bismuth is lead for people who don't have a death wish. truer words have never been said.
Jon Dresser - 2021-12-19
I really lolled at this statement.
Sophia Astatine - 2022-01-02
@E Van Lead is Bismuth for people that think too much.
Nathan L - 2022-01-09
Would love to see you figure this mystery out!
Mad Scientific - 2022-03-09
Ugh more lead paranoia
Magus Perdé - 2022-10-13
@AKGaming when it comes to being easier to eat indium is unbeatable. Its litteral metal gum