Fuming Nitric Acid

I tried this as the "maiden reaction" of my new short-path distillation apparatus, and found that the reaction started right away when I poured the sulphuric acid on the nitrate: I immediately obtained nitrogen dioxide vapours that I wasn't expecting, and I had to rush the mounting of the rest of the apparatus lest I lost some product. Granted, I operated outside without light shield, so it might be simply that the few vapours of nitric acid produced simply decomposed with the sunlight. All along the distillation, I found that whenever the rate of the distillation slowed, I immediately got nitrogen dioxide back, whereas nitric acid vapours are invisible. At the end, I didn't get a pure product, because I couldn't find my glass stoppers and used a plastic/rubber instead, which was partially dissolved by the nitric acid (I collected some specks in the receiving flask). I managed to spill some on my thumb unbeknownst to me, it made a conspicuous dark yellow spot, but no pain. Two days after, I sorta rubbed the skin away, and it's almost all gone. I think I'll try it again being more cautious this time.

Mono Keras

@mkrkhrdr@gmail.com You might enjoy this video on a *hypergolic* rocket engine test with N2O4 (nitrogen tetroxide) and (dimethyl? IIRC) hydrazine. Now those gentlemen are pretty brave for working with both of those substances. Somehow, it has survived on YT: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLCrZGgKD-k" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLCrZGgKD-k</a>

Zaak Beekman

Also, I think nitrogen tetroxide is quite dangerous; toxic, prone to detonation, etc. But, if I understand correctly, a solution of fuming nitric acid with dissolved nitrogen tetroxide is the so called "Red Fuming Nitric Acid" RFNA rocket oxidizer. (Whereas what Nile made is more or less "White Fuming Nitric Acid" although I think they put some additional iron compounds in when they want to catalyze and expedite the ignition process with WFNA to avoid a "hard start".)

Zaak Beekman

@mrkhrder@gmail.com: I think you would like the book "Ignition": <a href="https://amzn.to/2MoXp09" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://amzn.to/2MoXp09</a> Very well written and quite funny at times.

Zaak Beekman

This is the best resource I found when trying to understand copper passivation: <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/215895254_REACTION_OF_COPPER_WITH_FUMING_NITRIC_ACID_A_NOVEL_LECTURE_EXPERIMENT_IN_PASSIVATION" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.researchgate.net/publication/215895254_REACTION_OF_COPPER_WITH_FUMING_NITRIC_ACID_A_NOVEL_LECTURE_EXPERIMENT_IN_PASSIVATION</a> The timing on this is great, I just recently released a write up on doing chip decapsulation with nitric acid and have been fielding a lot of questions! ( I referenced your prior gloves + hno3 video in the post as well: <a href="http://duo.sc/invasive" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://duo.sc/invasive</a> )

Also, phenol itself is both an antiseptic and local anesthetic (on a tangential note). Phenol burns are also painless.

Silviu T

It's old, little known information... Prior to the advent of modern antibiotics and anesthetics, aromatic nitro compounds such as picric acid were used as antiseptics and also as mild surface aesthetics which was useful for treating burns for instance. Aromatic nitroderivates are formed in the skin by the action of nitric acid on aminoacids such as tyrosine and phenylalanine.

Silviu T

wait, really? I never heard about that

Nile Red

Interesting, thanks for the info!

Nile Red

Next April 1st, do a video where you mix the explosives recepie from Fight Club!

RTT12

Glass-on-glass joints can be a little too sealed. Especially with alkalies, though not the case here, they can seal forever. You can get glassware with special joints with very tight tolerances that are smooth. They might work ok in this experiment, but only available from maybe one or two mfrs. and more expensive than the ground glass kind. There are teflon sleeves that can be used to seal joints, but obviously they add to the expense also and much be purchased to fit every size joint in use in your lab. So just about everybody uses ground glass joints with sealant/lubricant to prevent leakage during operation and make it easier to disassemble afterwards.

mrkhrdr@gmail.com

Very Interesting it too bad Youtube would censor an how to make that type of Rocket even if you had the proper permits.

Daniel Blake Shoemaker

Sorry, I missed it. Thanks though.

I do wonder, but this info is readily available online. Its how i found out how to do it myself. So, if someone is dedicated, it shouldnt really be very hard.

Nile Red

I thought i responded to this...weird. Sulfuric acid is only good for some things, because it itself is corrosive and can react with whatever youre distilling. I only really seal joints when its a vacuum distillation or whatever im distilling is really corrosive and i dont want it leaking.

Nile Red

I honestly think my channel is okay. I get the occasional strike, but ive never had more than one. My content is generally less controversial than codys and i also dont really do explosives.

Nile Red

OK this is a bit off-topic.. But with chemplayer purged from youtube and Cody getting repeated strikes, do you have a backup plan if youtube starts targetting your chanel? There is some work being done over at sciencemadness to host videos, but it's not really a viable plan for a large and increasing viewerbase. Perhaps you have enough patreons to keep going on a different site if yt goes all ban-happy

Sulfuric acid is mean to a lot of chemicals and is highly reactive. The amount of things it can be used in is limited. Also, you're right. The joint seals are decent and I rarely use grease. Only when what I'm distilling is super corrosive or if I'm vacuum distilling.

Nile Red

Does using conc. sulphuric acid give as good of a seal? No?, or is there any reason to not just it to seal joints in every experiment, rather than using grease at all? I'm no chemist, I've never done any kind of distillation and I haven't had any chem lab time in years, but I don't see why it wouldn't work for anything, if it works at all. Glass on glass joints are pretty tight on their own, anyway, aren't they? edit, also that new condenser column is fucking awesome. edit 2: i wonder if it was a significantly better yield as a result of the damn fine new glassware. edit 3: damn, nice shirt, buying one literally ~~right now~~ when I get paid.

People could always use knowledge for nefarious deeds. Knowledge is double edged.

Do you get aprehensive that people will use one of your videos for nefarious ends?

oh, good call. i think i looked at the table too quickly lol. I will have to change that.

Nile Red

What table did you use? I usually used this one <a href="http://www.handymath.com/cgi-bin/nitrictble2.cgi?submit=Entry" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.handymath.com/cgi-bin/nitrictble2.cgi?submit=Entry</a> which would correlate 1.51g/ml at 20C to a concentration of 99-100% instead of 90%...

Colin Ries

Used in rocketry. <a href="https://library.sciencemadness.org/library/books/ignition.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://library.sciencemadness.org/library/books/ignition.pdf</a>

A couple of thoughts regarding rockets: A common home-made solid rocket fuel is the combination of sugar and potassium nitrate. There's quite a few YouTube videos on how to make the 'grains' of sugar fuel. There's also so-called hybrid rocket engines consisting of a solid fuel (the reducing component of the fuel mix, eg. sugar) and a liquid or gaseous oxidant. Again, see the YouTube vids about hybrid rockets. The most common oxidant component in amateur rocket engines is compressed nitrous oxide, N2O. Because N2O has a high vapor pressure at the usual ambient temperatures, a sealed tank of it self-pressurizes, so once a valve is opened, it sprays into the fuel chamber, igniting the solid fuel there releasing the gas and heat needed to propel the rocket. If FNA were used as the oxidant, it would have to be pressurized in order to force it through a spray nozzle onto the fuel in the engine chamber. That adds an extra layer of complexity to the design. Nevertheless, pumping only one liquid propellant has got to be easier than mixing sprays of fuel and oxidizer into a reaction chamber. That's a NASA (or SpaceX, et al.) scale project. Another self-pressurizing oxidant used in rockets (ICBMs for instance) is nitrogen tetroxide, N2O4. Like N2O, it can be stored as a liquid under modest pressures. It, too, self-pressurizes. If you want an eye-opening report see "Command &amp; Control", the video and the more detailed book about a nuclear-tipped rocket that blew up in its silo back in 1980. Its N2O4 &amp; hydrazine (mixture) liquid propellants were stored in the rocket, ready to go. The nitrogen tetroxide had to be 'topped off' periodically. A might touchy, that operation. All it took was a dropped wrench socket to set matters in motion, to coin a phrase. Oh, and the rocket's structural integrity depended on the propellant tanks remaining full. Hey, what could go wrong? The book includes a lot of the history of attempts to reach the impossible dream - a weapon that's 100% ready to work when it has to yet 100% not ready to go boom when you don't want it to. a very interesting read, and surprisingly engaging, given its dry subject material.

mrkhrdr@gmail.com

Cool Video on Safety on 85 percent + Nitric acid effects and thanks for the safety Red Nile.

Daniel Blake Shoemaker

Ahh yeah, yellow stains on my hands... reminds me of a younger self... IIRC one of the reasons why nitric acid burns don't hurt nearly as much as other acid burns is because some of the aromatic nitro compounds it generates in the skin actually have anesthetic properties.

Silviu T

Great video, thanks for doing something most of us would be game in doing! Just a thought, I’m in Australia, and when I was at uni and needed chemicals and couldn’t afford to buy them I discovered there were specialist chemical companies who remove chemical wastes from laboratories and industry. To my surprise it was very common for them to take jars of unopened or barely used chemicals. Perhaps there is one of these companies near you who could supply you.

Damien Armstrong