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Bizarre chemical reaction
Browser - 27/9/12 at 10:25 AM

Linked from another forum, the decomposition of Mercury (II) Thiocyanate, odd to watch

wylliezx9r - 27/9/12 at 10:50 AM

Cool, but why the desert scenery ?

craig1410 - 27/9/12 at 11:54 AM

That was quite interesting but as often happens with YouTube, I saw the following "related"(?) clip which is really funny...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqJpf6tidn0

It's a bunch of outtakes from mostly american TV. Some bad language in places but mostly unintentional.

The Russian newsman at the end is priceless!

bobinspain - 27/9/12 at 02:52 PM

Strange visual effect.


Back in the 60s in my school chemistry days, we used to prat about making nitrogen tri-iodide. Nothing much to see, but what a BANG! It's a doddle to make: just soak iodine crystals in 0.88 ammonia and let them dry out. The result is a very unstable crystal which reacts to pressure change.
As a wheeze, we'd make some of the stuff under supervision for parents' open days and place it, whilst damp on the floor of the chemistry lab. Unsuspecting parents would get quite a shock from the bangs, accompanied by purple gas as the things went off.
We'd use small quantities, (sugar grain sized) spread over the floor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KlAf936E90

The above, multiplied 5 or 6 fold was the amount a 6th form mate made and tried to store in his chemistry lockup cupboard. Our teacher found the 'stash' and decided to wash it down the sink, one filter-paper full at a time. She placed all 10 papers on a big flat board, walked gingerly to the sink and turned the tap on. As she picked up the first paper, the pressure change of the movement detonated it. The other 9-11 papers reacted instantaneously just as in the vid.
The purlple cloud enveloped her, but caused no damage, merely shocked the cack out of her. Dave Gough (the student) got a bollocking and a caning.
Happy days !!

David Jenkins - 27/9/12 at 03:18 PM

Nitrogen tri-iodide... ah... happy days! I nearly got sacked because of that stuff, when I was a puppy. (very long story)

When I saw the video about the strange reaction my first thought was "ok - now what are you going to do with that very toxic lump of stuff?". Mercury is nasty and very hard to get rid of without polluting the environment.

Talking of strange reactions involving mercury...

craig1410 - 27/9/12 at 03:27 PM

Here's an explanation of the Mercury attacking Aluminium for those who are interested:

http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2004-09/amazing-rusting-aluminum

bobinspain - 27/9/12 at 04:58 PM

quote:
Originally posted by craig1410
Here's an explanation of the Mercury attacking Aluminium for those who are interested:

http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2004-09/amazing-rusting-aluminum




An expression I use (picked up from a Geordie work colleague) is "daft as a ship's cat."

It's difficult to trace the origin, but I believe it relates to wooden sailing ship days (Clippers).
Mercury, being very difficult to transport safely was (allegedly) stored in chamois bags inside wooden barrels. Even slight leakage, resulted in the poisionng of the ship's mouse population which would feed on any discarded or dropped food that would inevitably become mercury-contaminated. The cats ate the mice and suffered the same fate.

The symptoms of mercury poisoning are most unpleasant.

The fact that mercury forms an amalgam with other selected metals is what renders it harmless for dental fillings.

NigeEss - 27/9/12 at 08:59 PM

Well weird, but fascinating.

Texan - 28/9/12 at 04:04 AM

You guys have some of the best threads over there.

I came for entertainment and I got educated too.

The problem is, I should have known all that as Chemistry & BioChem were my majors. Proof that if you don't use it you lose it.

OR

If you sleep on your side you need to be sure and squeeze the pillow in the morning to get back all the knowledge that leaked out of your ears during the night.