Elias Experiments - 2024-08-30
In this Video you can see how we produced over 1000 g of potassium metal in a single destillation. The chemistry behind it is really simple and it is just a reduction of potassium carbonate with magnesium metal: K2CO3 + 3Mg -- 2K + C + 3MgO. The technical details of getting this to work are much more difficult and you can see all the trouble and sucess we had with this endavour here. It was certainly a lot of fun and I want to do a lot more projects like that in the future. Advanced Tinkerings perspective: https://youtu.be/7fgWKSeGOoo 00:00 Introduction 01:53 Getting the Equipment 03:48 Attempt #1 15:55 Attempt #2 28:36 Attempt #3 38:54 Playing with the potassium Metal
well im glad to see yall handled it as recklessly as i would have.. congrats!
Haha that's how it usually goes, when trying new things :D
.... reminded me of the time I borrowed some from chemistry class and threw it in the toilet ...
... 1983 ...
It was fun for me ... others weren't quite as enthusiastic ... the school Principal for one ...
This method is good for women, but magnesium is too expensive. I will post how to get magnesium.@@EliasExperiments
@@EliasExperimentsIt rushed up to the sky and fell down like white phosphorus burning
I'm glad because it actually shows how dangerous it is instead. Actions usually make the difference not the words
40 mins of 3 german dudes making explosive material in the most dangerous way possible in other words a great video
Haha thank you for the kind feedback!
just like the good old times
I think one of them is slav
@@Old_tea I bet I heard a Russian swearing when he dropped the nut into the bucket )))))))
Don't forget all the giggling.
This reminds me of youtube 15 years ago. Just filming stuff without a production company behind it. I love it.
Glad you liked it! Thank you for watching!
Exactly, and this is the perfect form of entertainment for me. Random find, random events, sketchy but interesting stuff, showing pure fun and that is all. 0 marketing, 0 sales, 0 influencing... just the good stuff.
Thank you for the kind feedback! However if I want to continue doing that I will have to add some marketing :P Because doing stuff like that is very expensive as you can imagine.
@@EliasExperiments As long as it is not like a linus tech tips video (the whole content is an ad, kind of :D ), I am completely okay with that :)
Totally i will sub this guy. It is so refreshing to watch again a backyard scientist without fancy intro and logos flying everywhere.
At no point was this not incredibly sketchy. Well done.
Lol, thank you!
The combination of German sensibility and unfettered chaos is immaculate... and the silly mad scientist laugh just tops it all off 😅
Haha thank you for the kind feedback ;-)
@@sentinelav the laugh is contagious lol
Agreed!! Love it
feels like east germany. the mix of engineering and commie style DIY energy :D
@Tomyum19 Lame joke
As a retired chemist I have to say no chemists I've known have ever described potassium metal as evil.
But it's pretty cool to see it produced in quantity - cheers...
Thank you for the kind feedback!
Okay to be fair, I should have been more precise and said "YouTube Chemists" ;-)
Wait are you the great clandestine MDMA chemist Steven Gill featured in the episode "A clandestine chemists Tale" of Hamiltons Pharmacopia?
@@EliasExperiments Sometimes I'm surprised by how small the world can seem on the internet lol
@@EliasExperiments He never answered.....what a tease.
I am so curious.
but F is truly evil
Inquiring minds want to know!
I'm halfway through the video and I can't stop mentally singing " dumb ways to die, so many dumb ways to die...". I'm jealous though, I would love to have 1 kg of potassium. Also, I'm sure it was a fun project, challenging though.
I don't think we were close to dying at any given point. I did not even get hurt a little bit in the making of this video ;-)
@@EliasExperiments That's impressive, it looked so dangerous. I'm glad to hear it. Your video remind me that time I accidentely made rocket fuel and melted on a pit fire. It was fun until it exploded on my face.
Oh that sounds horrible
@@EliasExperiments'not close' is very relative
I would personally call the first large scale batch way too close for comfort 😅
That you don't think this was dangerous, and that you were very sloppy tells me you're going to regret how you "think " sooner rather than later.
Cody's lab level chaos and enthusiasm. Fun watch!
Haha, thank you!
"I wouldnt call this improvised, its design has been refined over months" "sir this is a pipe bomb"
Haha
It is only improvised if made from shelf bought or scavanged parts. If it is made from purpouse built parts it is "home engineered"
You guys live on the razor 's edge of statistical probability.
What are you trying to tell us with that? ;-)
@@EliasExperimentspotassium Georg
@@EliasExperiments can we get a tutorial on how to mass produce uranium next pls 🙏
Ive sent this to my brother who heads up a chemical plant. I think hes going to enjoy it and probably show it to his staff.
Haha that's cool
In a good way, right? Right?...
This is super cool. You might try using potassium bicarbonate instead of carbonate. It's much less hygroscopic, and it might react more slowly because of requiring more energy to decompose. It will offgas a lot of hydrogen though so maybe it's not appropriate for your setup
I swear the next time I have an old bed sheet I'll make that tarp with naptha and silicone! I just don't go through them very often 😅
Isn't anhydrous potassium bicarbonate still quite hygroscopic? also it turns into the carbonate above 150C° liberating water and CO2 so I think it wont really offer benefits. it will just lower production per run due a lower amount of potassium per mass of the bicarbonate. Edit: Potassium bicarbonate is not hygroscopic but it still decomposes to water and CO2 when it heats up above 150C° to become carbonate.
Hi Ben,
This might be worth a try. The hydrogen if above 600c might also auto ignite on the exit valve in contact with air. This project looked already very dangerous, but I'm sure they can make it work if this can be worked out.
Btw, I've sent you an e-mail with an idea of combined evaporative and radiative cooling based on your paint. If you placed your radiative paint sheet inside a container with 100% humidity, could you use it to desalinate water while also lowering the temperature? Maybe some ceramic pipes... Thank you, I'm a huge fan of you and your work.
Thank you for the kind feedback! Potassium bicarbonate it problematic for the reasons you stated also it would consume a lot more magnesium. I can also imagine it reacting a lot more vigorously because of that. I am conviced that adding the reaction mixture slower and using high quality magnesium is the best we can do.
@@EliasExperiments Guys at thought emporium made a slower version of termite by adding SiO2. This would lower the K yield and produce silicates but maby slower reaction would be easier to handle. I suppose you run the reaction with theoretical stichometry - probably running it with an excess of one reagent could slow it down
Advanced Tinkering's skill at breaking his own made glassware is gold.
It is indeed pure comedy gold :D
The amount of times fastening nuts fell into the water became steadily more hilarious every single time😂
Haha yeah
There's a lot to be said for magnets
It was not that big of problem, but if the nuts are ferromagnetic that is a good idea ;-)
@@EliasExperiments You can also just tack weld the nuts onto the bottom of the flange. Don't need to go crazy, just put all the bolts in and just touch it with the welder enough that the nuts stay put during normal use, but you can still just smack them off with a hammer if they get ruined.
For things that don't get this hot a little glue will usually do instead, but there aren't that many glues that wouldn't fail while this particular device was in use.
Great video!!! 27:14 It's not potassium, it's potassium superoxide. It is a explosive, yellow, explodes on contact with air and and the cause of many potassium boom booms. It also explodes on contact with potassium metal, so when you cut old yellow potassium and it gets all spicy that's why.
Why would potassium superoxide explode in contact with air? It is pretty much oxidised to the max already. Also how can potassium superoxide form when we distill out potassium metal?
I have only heard the name before, but this sounds perfectly cromulent to me.
@@EliasExperiments possibly because when you opened the still it allowed water and CO2 into the vessel via air, and potassium superoxide reacts with both? I don't know if either reaction is that exothermic but it's a thought.
@@EliasExperimentsI imagine because it's so hot the superoxide is violently reacting with moisture in the air. Massive exotherm and runaway. Unless you pull a solid vacuum it'll form inside the still to some extent, but also be decomposed by the heat and reduced by the metal vapor so you'd reach steady state. It probably collects around the lid where it's cooler and the air leaks are... and they're substantial owing to the amount of white smoke you're getting!
Could just be molten metal reacting with air of course. Or both. Potassium stills be feisty.
If you crush old potassium which is covered in superoxide (i.e. gone yellow) sometimes it explodes violently. The superoxide inclusions pressed into the metal are rapidly reduced and, if there's enough of it about, all hell breaks loose!
But like all these things it's mostly pretty tame until it's not. You can handle KO2 just fine, it ain't no NaN3, but it wants to be K2O and once thermal runaway starts things get exciting very fast.
Your reaction vessels are crap and leaky. That's why
Wie viele Menschen da freiwillig mitgeholfen haben hat mich wirklich das ganze Video über glücklich gemacht, hab generell das Gefühl, die Science und Metal/Woodworking Community ist absolut einzigartig was Hilfe und Unterstützung angeht.
Danke für das liebe Feedback, das hat mich auch sehr glücklich gemacht ;-)
Kann das absolut bestätigen, der moment, als er den Reaktionsbehälter mit dem Stock gepoked hat, hat mich gekillt. Mega sympathisch :D
Haha freut mich!
Only in Germany, "All is good. We're just making Potassium over here."
Lol that's not the most usual occurence haha.
@@EliasExperiments i wonder if nordstream was a failed potassium experiment..?
I somehow doubt it :D
Alles gut!
every time i make potassium mom comes and asks what i'm doing
Home insurance discussion: “It was not our aim to demolish the house” 🤣🤣🤣
Oh no hopefully not.
There are old chemists and then there are bold chemists 😅 I love it!
Haha, thank you!
But there are no bold old chemists.
I can't believe that you introduced a powerful oxidizer (KMnO4) into a confined vessel with two very powerful reducing agents (K, Mg). Congratulations on your new bomb design! Might I suggest instead of KMnO4 and glycerin, you place a 1-2cm layer of amorphous silicon powder mixed with 325 mesh magnesium powder (2 Mg :1 Si molar ratio) on top of your charge? Easily ignited, this mixture gently fuses to form intermetallic magnesium silicide in an extremely exothermic, but gasless, reaction. This reaction smoothly produces a dazzling white hot slag that won't make your still go boom since neither reagent, nor the product, acts as an oxidizer or a reducing agent. This isn't a redox reaction as no electrons are exchanged. The extreme temperature is the liberated heat of solution as the magnesium and silicon fuse together. Try it out by itself in a crucible beforehand. You will be impressed.
Extra fun: After the crucible cools, drop the resulting Mg2Si into dilute HCl or H2SO4 and watch the pyrophoric bubbles of silane gas (SiH4) auto-ignite as they contact air.
I have not watched the whole video ... but the simple KCl/NaCl+Mg+800 C distillation gives the "fantastic" result. I have tried it (on the smaller scale).... many years ago ... and I am still alive!
The vessel was not confined when we introduced the KMnO4. It was open and we did this reaction many times before and nothing serious was to be expected. The problem with your suggestion is that is doesn't self ignite after a couple seconds.
Also the reaction of Mg and Si is a redox reaction. It will form a Zintl-Phase with Mg2+ and Si4-. I might do that reaction as a demonstration in further videos though ;-)
Other than that your suggestion is certainly very reasonable. The main problem we have though is adding the reagents at the proper speed, that the reaction will happen, but it won't explode. But with high quality magnesium that is mostly solved.
With KCl and Mg we got basically nothing even far above 800 °C. Also the KCl and Mg started distilling too, so I have no idea what you did differently. If you would offer us further details, I would love to hear them ;-)
@@EliasExperiments It was mamy, many years ago. If I remember ... a reasonably low pressure (vacuum) was required. BE CAREFULL! :)
We did it under vacuum first.
Brings a whole new level of respect for the pioneers in the early 1800's
The things they were doing were a lot more dangerous, because they had a lot less information available.
Great video! You managed to capture a lot of the fun moments of the project 😄
I really enjoyed doing that long term project with you!
Finally seeing the video with all the results and mishaps is really great, also had a lot of fun with this project, let me know when the potassium rocket gets build
Thank you, I really enjoyed it too and I hope we can continue these kind of collaborations for a long time. I will get a lot faster with the editing, I promise! ;-)
I will certainly let you know about upcoming projects, but realistically it will be next year until I can start new stuff. This year I have to finish editing a couple of videos and my PhD first.
Bro, that drill-bit-drive hopper is absolutely genius.
Props to Fabian for that!
"Safety is #1 concern" (or something to that effect), the first time said I couldn't get out of my head as I'm watching you spray water into the distill of death.
Yeah you can never be too careful with stuff like that I guess :D
Elias's head is so beautifully round, I don't think I've ever seen a head so pleasingly smooth, round and devoid of sharp edges, bravo.
well said
Arousing
@@violaanderson175 okay bro
@@Lucaweehomophobia smh
karl pilkington has the roundest of round heads, look him up. Has a head like a F******g orange
I'd like to see you come back to the same spot next year and see just how much all the potassium sprayed in the field helps the plants grow.
I don't think it will make a significant difference. I am there quite often actually.
An idea, when feeding the dragon, try adding a constant supply of cold water to keep the temperature under control. I think the temperature might be getting out of control and is causing things to become “fun and interesting”
At these temperatures, boiling water evaporating and cool water exchanging may as well be the same thing... they're both energy sinks, and flashing to steam sinks a lot of energy.
I don't think it would make too much of a difference, but getting it submerged in water even deeper could help I guess.
@@EliasExperiments well, I’m thinking of handling it the same way one would make distill whiskey. Running cold water constantly through the outer container will help keep the outer temp down. Yes the water can act as a heat sink but, it can only do so much. Plus, it’ll also help when retrieving dropped nuts or bolts. You also will be able to cool it down much quicker and safer.
@@EliasExperiments but, that’s just an idea though. It may help or it may just make a bit of a mess. But, it’s worth a shot. If you want I could see about either making something or drawing something up for you
@@EliasExperiments but, if you do decide to go with it, put the connection for the water hose at the bottom. That way you don’t risk melting the hose
8:14 “it is very angry” i mean it’s potassium, the metals on that end of the table are all somewhat angry at the concept of existing
Good point haha :D
This is awesome i have only just found you and advanced tinkering and i have you say i absolutely love watching your videos. It's like watching friends just hanging out and doing science experiments. Please don't change anything about how you make your videos it's exactly the reason why i enjoy watching your content.
I am glad you like it. Of course I will try to improve the videos to make them more fun to watch, but I will try my best to keep that spirit in them, because I really love that too.
It's so fun to see that you guys are having the time of your lives!
Thank you for sharing this very fun moment with us, along with the very fun fails, too!
Thank you for the kind feedback ;-)
So much chaotic energy and jank setups, I love it
Haha thank you!
If Nile Red and Crazy Russian Hacker had children together lol
That sounds wrong on so many levels lol
thats kinda freaky
Ew
so nile green? lol
Bro really just casually put down a whole ass brick of potasium on a desk
As long as there is no water around and you are careful it should all be fine.
@@EliasExperiments i know its just hilarious
Haha
"pulls out comically large potassium" type vibes lol
Oh this reminds me of doing stupid stuff in the garden at high school, I love how you guys seem to enjoy yourselves so much. It does make the chemist in me want to make stuff again.
I am glad you enjoyed!
Das Eure Nachbarn nicht die Feuerwehr, Polizei und das SEK gerufen haben war aber auch reines Glück glaub ich. Die müssen Euch doch mindestens für Walther White und Jesse Pinkman halten. Und überhaupt so eng wie der "Garten" da war... Da hättet ihr das auch gleich im Badezimmer machen können 😂
Ich glaube Du übertreibst ein ganz wenig, aber ja da war auch viel Glück dabei. Ich würde sagen das Glück ist bei den Tüchtigen :P
I am VERY surprised that the Fire Brigade didn't show up for the 2nd time in your yard. But other than the excessive smoke you guys managed it very well. Your neighbors must be used to you, Elias?
That would have been bad if they showed up. Like 3000 bucks or something like that. Yeah my neighbors are used to stuff like that. If it doesn't happen too often, I won't get yelled at. :D
@@EliasExperimentsI'm guessing if you call and tell them everything is fine ahead of time they won't come. What a strange law that you would have to pay because a neighbour calls them
@@Steven-hq3goNot that strange, better call one time to often, large smoke plumes like this are not normal in Germany so I would probably also call or atleast investigate.
@@faultboy I was assuming he meant he had to pay $3000 for the fire brigade call out
Well as far as I know if it is your fault that the fireman arrive you have to pay it and for them to arrive once costs 3000 $
This whole video is the epitome of "Boys don't really grow up, they just get better toys", haha.
That's pretty much right, thank you for the kind feedback!
It's always so comforting watching others do the things we want to try but dont want the risks involved with it
Trust me it is a lot more satisfying to do it yourself, but I 100 % get were you are coming from, because I often feel the same way. So thank you for the kind feedback ;-)
Not a chemical fire extinguisher in sight. Just dudes living in the moment 🤣
We had a garden hose closeby and it was so wet outside anyway we did not really have to worry about fire ;-)
@@EliasExperiments I hear motor oil mixed with Styrofoam, and gasoline will work if you're in a pinch. They say it's so sticky and viscus it will contain the magnesium fire.
That sounds like a horribly dangerous idea. Table salt is probably better.
@EliasExperiments If you're looking for a powder to mix it with mix the potasium with, a bit of iron-oxide, sugar, and jist a tiny bit of amonium nitrate. Then insert that magical core through the entire length of a container full of iron oxide mixed with aluminum. In all seriousness I've been mulling over a good long term catalyst/propellent for thermite.
This looks like such an awesome time with buddies doing some crazy chemistry.
Yes it definetly was :D With all the highs and lows.
One of the best videos i've watched in a while, it just resonates with me
Thank you for the kind feedback!
Wow, the crystals that formed on the top are indeed beautiful. You could make them into jewellery.
The only problem is, that I don't know how long they will stay beautiful, before they oxidise. :D
Pretty dangerous jewelery
@@EliasExperiments I would definitely coat them in some type of UV-resistant epoxy ;)
I think that will also help make it a little safer, in case it's possible to get contact burns like some people get from nickel plated jewellery.
Yeah that would probably be a good idea.
@@percyvilenot really magnesium metal is used in tons of stuff, as long as you don't light it on fire on purpose it would be fine
Very interesting congratulations to you all! This reminded me of something I read in a book called the Goldschmidt process of aluminothermy where you used aluminum powder and ammonium bichromate to free pure chromium metal after igniting the mix
It is definetly similar, but I guess chromium(III)-oxide would be more efficient or safer for that, as NurdRage has demonstrated in one of his videos.
The way ppe is used only after something happens is relatable.
Yeah more ppe would have been better :D
The second attempt, quenching the still... the "laughing through the fear" is palpable. What a video! Thank you for bringing all of us along on the journey.
Thank you for watching and for your feedback! ;-)
This is the crazyest thing i have ever seen. Totally entertaining 👏
I am glad you enjoyed!
You guys had a lot of fun... Happy to see that the team enjoys doing chemistry 😅
Yes it was great fun, thank you for the kind comment ;-)
I love the protective sheild 🛡
Great thinking 👍 outside the box
Great video 🍻 thank you so much for inviting us along for the adventure ...👨🔬
Thank you for watching and the kind feedback ;-)
This video was a lot of fun to watch, it was also entertaining to see you all talking in german because you were enjoying yourselves, subscribed immediately
Thank you for the kind feedback!
@justus1810 - 2024-08-31
"Just because it is made out of pipe and it is probably going to explode does not mean it's a pipe bomb. Intention matters." - Cody's lab
@EliasExperiments - 2024-09-01
Well a pipe bomb is certainly something else entirely :D
@garethjones6342 - 2024-09-03
i like the giggles that follow every time they say "safety is our number one priority"
@Fallcon56 - 2024-09-04
Do you remember the episode he said this in?
@justus1810 - 2024-09-04
@@Fallcon56 Sodium Water hybrid Rocket engine
@DrHarryT - 2024-09-06
@@EliasExperiments The difference is that the pipe bomb has no way for the pressure to escape.