Elementary Productions: Thunder in a test tube

[Bluemerlycat]

I am definately going to try this at school tomorrow! :-)

[jamalamack]

I am craving pop rocks after this video

[sanerdiptej]

what's the cause of lightning? sorry.. i am an amateur..

[pokemewlover]

That is not thunder, its lightning

[Pigvalvee]

WoW

[quantumdude]

How do you know youre not ending up with acetic acid and not acetaldehyde ? Did you characterized your product ?

[adriiPortillo]

@quantumdude or even more, acetic anhydre

[lopeax15]

hrm... i saw a vid like this before... thought it was ethanal not ethanol.. nvm i have all the ingredients to do it though at the school :)

[quantumdude]

@lopeax15 ethanal (acetaldehyde) is the oxidation product of ethanol.

[ijr1995]

i think this vid should be called LIGHTNING in a test tube thunder is just sound

[Zink575]

@ijr1995 Do you want someone to applaud your elementary knowledge of weather patterns? Is that what you're looking for?

[M00time]

wouldnt u be more likely to get acetic acid rather than actealdehyde, since its easier to oxidise aldehydes than alcohols?

[Mickeycuatropatas]

Your liver does the same thing when you drink alcohol with alcohol dehydrogenase, an enzyme sans the Hollywood special effects. Cool video.

Alcohol (ethanol) & H2O form an azeotrope (permanent mix ratio) so alcohol can only be about 95.5% no matter how long you distill it.

[adriiPortillo]

@Mickeycuatropatas

you can get it anhydrous if you suck the water with a strong dehyratating agent. anhydridous sodium or magnesium sulphate mixed with the ethanol takes the water while still remaining solid, so simple filtration of the salt and you get 99 or 100% ethanol :b oh and this also happens in this experiment as sulphuric acid also can suck the water out of ethanol.

[b43e65f77]

can you make a chlorate version?chlorate is also unstable mix with surfuric acid.

[b43e65f77]

I think the oxidizing power is enough to direct formation CO2+H2O

[juanpi56]

i do it with hexane and its explode it xDDD

[awol09]

does it need to be anhydrous ethanol? or can it be like 70-80 percent?

[mabakken]

To be honest I don't know, but I think that the Ethanol needs to be as pure as at least 95%.

[CarnalDiafragma]

I have tried it with 70% EtOH, and I have tried it 4 times. First two times were a success, and the last 2 times failure. But it is possible. What happend the last 2 times is that it started bubbeling out of control, overflooding the test tube, and brown stuff (MnO2?) came gushing out. Don't really know what went wrong :P

[maltamonument]

hmmm did you store the ethanol well? it could have changed to ethanoic acid. also were the layers of ethanol and H2SO4 seperate :P? they have to be

[adriiPortillo]

@CarnalDiafragma try 96% ethanol

[CarnalDiafragma]

@adriiPortillo

Well it actually did work, you just have to be morge careful while pouring in, to keep the two layers. The result is shown in one of my videos.

[boomjustlikethat]

ghetto ring stand heheheh

[surplusdriller]

hei

glimrende vidioer!

hvor kjøper du utstyr og reagenser

[milotickz]

If Mr. Burns hosted a science fair, he'd say:

"You dolt! This is a science fair, not a magic show!"

Classiest yet.

[littleangelgg]

Mabakken,

I used 98% H2SO4 and 95% Ethanol, but there's only gas bubble forming exothermically, with one or two spark every minute. How can you get so much sparks?!

Also, how did you chuck the reaction mixture away safely? Could unreacted Mn2O7 and ethanol start an explosion in open area, where there's enough oxygen around?

[mabakken]

Hmm...sounds strange to me that your results differ that much from mine when you use those concentrations. Have you tried the experiment several times?

What I do when the reaction has gone to completion is that I throw the whole mixture into a bath of cold water. The potassium permanganate formed from the hydrolysis of MN2O7 is reduced using Sodium metabisulfite, and the acid is neutralized with a base. By doing this, the resulting solution (and colloid of MnO2) can be flushed down the drain

[littleangelgg]

My problem is...the H2SO4 and ethanol layers were separated too well. Just discovered that if you shake the tube, you get more sparks.

[maglight117]

its like a war in there

[diapysik]

@littleangelgg ok you need to make sure the ethanol and H2SO4 layers dont mix or it will not work

[GodlessMartyr666]

oH MY GOD!  Its WW2 IN A TEST TUBE!!!!

[mabakken]

Was the Sulfuric acid and Ethanol concentrated enough?

[b43e65f77]

How about use NaClO3 replace KMnO4?

[mabakken]

You wouldn't get the same effect, as Chlorine and Chlorine Dioxide would be formed instead.

[mabakken]

Judging by the ester- smell at the end of the reaction, I guess the Manganese Heptoxide oxidises it all the way to Acetic acid

[twichytwichy]

popcorn

[mabakken]

It's actually rectified, but you can use dentaured alcohol as well! Even rubbing alcohol!

[Basco36]

cool, I'll have to try that one.