ScienceGeek
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Reply -jeffB: White Phosphorus, CS2 and Mineral Oil
Originally from the post: "practical guide for converting red P to white P", by woelen: https://sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=10054&...
| Quote: | Originally posted by -jeffB
Very nice! Since you clearly have access to both P and CS2 (lucky bum), would you be interested in trying another experiment I vaguely remember from
one of the "Chemical Magic" books of my youth? It involved dissolving P in CS2, and adding a bit of mineral or vegetable oil (I forget which) to the
mix. You'd then paint with it on paper. The CS2 evaporated quickly, but the oil protected the P, so instead of deflagration, you'd get a persistent
glow, waxing brighter if you blew on the paper.
It always sounded like a really cool demo, but I missed my chance to order the necessary reagents.  . |
I'll just let the video speak for itself 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ghnZxgJqP4
[Edited on 10-3-2008 by ScienceGeek]
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woelen
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This looks very nice. I also have CS2 and I definitely will try it myself. I already did the experiment without the oil and made a few videos of that.
That also is quite spectacular, seeing a piece of paper ignite after some time, apparently without reason. Even a burnt piece of paper can be made to
ignite by pouring some CS2/P4 mix on it. White P is weird stuff and I am glad that I made a few grams of it.
There is another nice experiment with white P. Take a wide beaker (the metal thing from the videos is suitable also) and put in a layer of 2 cm of
water. Take 100 mg of white P and 1 gram of KClO3 and make a pile of this under water, on top of the piece of white P. Now, carefully pour a few ml of
concentrated H2SO4 on the water, straight above the white P and KClO3. Then step back. Flashes and crackling occurs under water. This experiment does
not work with red P, red P simply is not sufficiently reactive.
Never allow dry KClO3 to come in contact with white P. So first put 2 cm of water in the beaker, then the white P and then the KClO3!!!
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-jeffB
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Very nicely done! Thank you! (Of course, now I'm just that much crankier about being deprived access to phosphorus.  )
It looks like there's a fairly strong blue component there, although of course there's never any telling what the white balance on a camera will do.
(It's good that you have one with the "Night Vision" integrating mode -- is it a Sony?) I wonder how much other stuff you could load into the mix? I
wonder if there are any lipophilic fluorescent components that could be used to modulate the color?
Near the end, there were a couple of cycles where the entire blob "lit up". Were you blowing air across it at those points?
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ScienceGeek
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A versatile non- metal when it comes to great demonstrations!
The color of the chemiluminescence was captured pretty accurately, actually, regarding I used a standard, hand- held Panasonic DV camera. I'm not too
familiar with lipohilic fluorescent compounds, so you would need to consult someone else about that. Sounds interestingly possible, though.
In the end you can see the "blob" lighting up in cycles, yes, and I was blowing air across it at that point.
Nice to hear you liked the video!
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Jor
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all your videos are very entertaining!
keep it up!
And all those reagents from the big chemical supply houses...how much money did you spend? or did the school donate all of those?
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ScienceGeek
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As with all exciting hobbies, they tend to suck the money right out of your pocket. I have spent a lot of money on chemicals from "big supply houses",
and the reason for this is quite simply because that the big supply houses have sub- divisions located in Norway, whilst the "small" supply houses do
not.
BUT, many of the chemicals in my possession have been donated or "borrowed" to me by my science teacher. I've been very lucky that way!
Appreciate the positive feedback on my videos, and yes...I'll keep it up
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The_Davster
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Nice video ScienceGeek!
| Quote: | Originally posted by woelen
Never allow dry KClO3 to come in contact with white P. |
One of my 'Chemical Magic' books does exactly that, a CS2 solution of white P is placed on a pellet of chlorate and once the CS2 evaporates, the
pellet explodes when touched with a rod.
Surprisingly I bought this book only a few years ago at a bookstore.
Another nice demonstration using the white P4 in CS2 solution is to place drops of the solution on an unlit candle wick for 'magic self lighting
candles'
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ScienceGeek
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That would scare the hell out my parents, but in my experience, even the slightest amounts of P4 can evolve hazardous amounts of pentoxide!
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