Pretty Pictures (1)

Quote: Originally posted by Mailinmypocket

PS: If somebody could enlighten me on how to calculate the output voltage of this induction coil it would be appreciated.

This spark was produced using a Scott Paper towel wrapped around a 6 foot piece of gray PVC. Around the lower half of the paper towel a folded dish cloth was rolled over the paper towel, otherwise as you slide the paper towel sleeve over the plastic your hand gets numerous tiny shocks. A few pieces of clear tape keeps the paper towel from unwrapping.
For the leyden jar I used a polypropylene bottle with a little salt water and for the top electrode a stainless steel water bottle purchased for about 6 dollars. If your hand gets too close when charging the bottle, the spark sometimes decides to travel down the PVC then through the paper towel cloth wrap into your hand, which is disconcerting but not too harmful. Perhaps by constructing the leyden jar without the typical outer wrap of foil, high voltage is favored over current. Also if a foil was used the bottle would have to be even taller to prevent the 11 inch spark from arcing to the sides and perhaps without foil there is an added advantage of less leakage. Below the bottle is a square foot of .125 thick teflon, some acrylic and pvc sheets to keep the spark from sneaking up from the grounding plate.
The "top" rounded edge of the steel bottle starts to hiss when fully charged so a PVC flex tubing was placed over the top to prevent leakage but it kept sliding down so it was bent and angled away from the opposite electrode made from a few ball bearings and pipe. When the leyden jar discharges, I found it helpful to waft the air to disperse the noxious fumes produced by the spark. It's a fun project though and you learn little things along the way. Below is where I happened upon the basic idea. Electricity should be treated with respect, be sure you are sailing in safe waters when you experiment.
http://amasci.com/static/foster1.html




[Edited on 29-11-2012 by Morgan]

The 11 inch spark takes about 80 strokes but on the other end I've made 4 inch sparks in as little at 7 strokes using a smaller leyden jar. It's very hard once you get past 10 inches, conditions have to be right, the air low humidity. I got a 14 inch spark almost but the rod dipped in the path and stairstepped to the electrode when I triggered the spark. 13 inches is the longest so far. The base and sides of the plastic bottle as well as the teflon sheet start crackling when charging, it's really quite impressive, like pulling apart clothes from a hot dryer. This is not always the case but one time the teflon really came alive. Sometimes a false partial discharge occurs with a ~6 inch spark at the base of the bottle and the surface it's resting on. High voltage crawls over the teflon square even though I try to keep it dust free.
There are many variables to ponder, like the type of PVC, the white, the CPVC which is chlorinated, and the gray. It would be nice to experiment with teflon tubing. Then there's the diameter, or maybe a solid rod would work better but I doubt it. I tried putting a cap on one end and both ends, putting metal inside the charging tube, different lengths and ways of rolling the paper towel, different cloths, different bases, electrode designs, etc. I found if I had a fuzzy shirt on it seemed to weaken the charging and also if I took my shoes off the charging worked better. Anything within 3 feet of the leyden jar is going to be talking to it. I had to back my tripod up because it was bleeding the charge. It won't hold a 13 inch spark for long if you stop charging either. I think a teflon bottle would be nice to if you wanted to make longer sparks still. The saline solution was a mix of salt and Epsom salt but I was reading about other electrolytes. So there's lots of materials science fun here and I can't help but think you could make something even more interesting perfecting this simple electrostatic device. Here's some odds tidbits and a pic of my leyden jar as the bottom discharges resting on a copper slab. I couldn't capture the top spark in the frame when I paused the clip. These leyden jars and PVC charging rods really don't take any time at all to make. The ball bearing electrode was a magnet for one of them and a baby nipple made of silicone to partially separate them. It's interesting how this arrangement teases or excites the field. I know very little about it, but a quarter inch one was recommended and I just decided to try three together instead of two. Any thoughts on any improvements or things to try would be welcome. These are not really pretty pictures other than the simpleness factor.
http://www.altair.org/labnotes_hawgcap.html
http://books.google.com/books?id=cNUlQwAACAAJ&dq=magnesi...
"The chlorine content may vary from manufacturer to manufacturer; the base can be as low as PVC 56.7% to as high as 74% by mass, although most commercial resins have chlorine content from 63% to 69%.[citation needed] As the chlorine content in CPVC is increased, its glass transition temperature (Tg) increases significantly. Under normal operating conditions, CPVC becomes unstable at 70% mass of chlorine."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorinated_polyvinyl_chloride
"The sparks at the bottom of the bottle are probably due to the high degree of ionization of the plastic surface and surrounding air opposite the salt water."
http://amasci.com/static/foster1.html






[Edited on 30-11-2012 by Morgan]

nice electrostatic devices!

btw i used aluminum foil attached to the screen of a big crt tv to generate a high voltage charge safely and without too much work. do you have any high voltage valves? if you have several such leyden jars you can charge them in parallel and discharge them in series for even longer sparks.

to minimize the discharge creeping along the insulator surface, it should be corrugated as done in industry:

I don't have any valves but my brother could probably build something for me. I want to keep it safe with high voltage and low amperage so that I can accidentally shock myself without having to worry that I'm going to die. Those ceramic insulators would be fun to toy with.
I was reading this though about mica insulators which was kind of interesting. They make an electrical grade of teflon that has a very high dielectric strength too, higher than mica according to this wiki article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dielectric_strength

"thin layers have higher dielectric strength (per unit thickness) than thick layers. A phenomenon that has surprised many. Ruby mica has such a high dielectric strength partly because it is composed of many very uniform very thin layers stuck together."
http://www.altair.org/labnotes_hawgcap.html

"For electrostatics, the numbers are quite different. A Kelvin waterdrop generator might produce 20,000volts at 1/2 microamp. Dividing this voltage by this current gives 40,000,000,000 ohms. That's the line between insulator and conductor. Quite different than three ohms! So, if an object is to act as an insulator, its resistance must be MUCH greater than forty billion ohms! For a Kelvin generator, a ten-megohm piece of wood will act like a very good conductor. Is it any wonder that a bit of surface moisture can convert an insulating object into a conductor? The highest value of resistor commonly available in catalogs is 33 megohms, and most electrostatic devices will see this device not as a resistor, but as a dead short.
http://amasci.com/emotor/stathint.html

It's funny to me how the Lord Kelvin water dropper, Wimshurst Machine, Van de Graaff Generator, and Pelletron are so similar, little charges being shuttled along and collected. In one variation Lord Kelvin uses copper filings instead of water droplets, which reminded me of a pelletron where instead of air gaps it uses plastic chain between the metal pellets. I wonder how the PVC rod and paper tower sleeve friction charging method might be diagrammed and how to improve on it? I took a 10 ft piece of ~3/4 inch CPVC pipe and bent it into a circle and thought about seeing how that would work, spinning it somehow. I tried long flat strips of PVC instead of pipe and failed.
http://www.pelletron.com/charging.htm
http://jrm.phys.ksu.edu/Resource/Pics/Pelletron/24-CHAIN_LIN...
http://amasci.com/static/fostergen.html

Here's one of those 1 dollar aluminum water bottles you can by in different colors, this one green with tape over the bottom where some numbers or letters were indented. I thought it might leak from those tiny edges so I taped it. The bottom bottle just HDPE, a quart bottle. Add salt and water, that's it really. This one sparks relatively quickly with a modest gap of 4 inches or so. One time it only takes 7 to fire.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMJQmmyb7HI






[Edited on 1-12-2012 by Morgan]

I should say you can make an even simpler leyden jar of sorts just using Coke cans. This is a full 12 ounce can with an empty 7.5 oz can taped on top. They look the same size because of the angle. The lids are the same diameter though, I guess that helps in manufacturing. Maybe you could use a single can or any blob of metal, the mystique reduced.

My Chrome/Aluminium alum crystal. Is there any crystal growers?

Quote: Originally posted by elementcollector1

I was going to get into crystal growing, but after I heard crystals like that take about 20 months to grow, I quickly scrapped any plans I had. It looks absolutely beautiful, though. Don't you have to store these things moist to keep them translucent?

I grow crystals! That's a beauty, for sure. Next one you grow, top off the solution with potassium alum as it grows- Your crystal will have a dark purple center, and fade to clear by the time it's ready to come out

The long growing time of the crystals reminded me of a 2 liter bottle experiment. I wanted to know how long they would hold pressure as I was at the time thinking of making a boat out of them. A device was made to pressurize the bottles and then twist the lid the rest of the way on tightly. There's one bottle here that is still very hard, like a bicycle tire that hardly has any flex if you squeeze it, not as hard as a when you get a 2 liter from the store but very close. The others have lost more air but I can stand on them and they still hold me up but now are springy. Affixed to one of the bottles from my desk calendar was the date of inflation, Tuesday 17, March 1992! Some of the bottles were inflated with dry ice so I don't know if these green ones had air or CO2 but another bottle with a tire valve stem in the cap inflated with air finally gave out earlier this year. Every few years it was given the stand on it test. I put RTV on the sides of the bottles to hold them together and pieces of PVC to hold the necks together but no RTV in the caps. I never would have thought they would hold pressure this long. Of course the caps would have leaked had any stress been put on them.
Now they are making bottles in layers and maybe a bit thinner that the ones I used long ago.
http://www.ptonline.com/articles/barrier-pet-bottles

Actually my fav picture was made not long ago:
-click on the picture to visit my photoblog.

In the funnel there is +600g of N-Nitroso-N-methylurea the direct precusor for diazomethane. How big explosion would have happen it it would be mixed with a cc lye solution?

Quote: Originally posted by Hexavalent

Is that you, kristof?

Nope. If I would be on the picture than who would press the button on the camera?

Bromine clouds in my reaction flask

[Edited on 14-12-2012 by Pyro]

kristofvagyok, that's a mighty funnel you've got there.

Pyro, those are clouds of hydrogen bromide tinted with a bit of bromine. Bromine clouds are transparent and render the flask bloody red. U needz moar oxuhdnts.

Quote: Originally posted by Pyro

meh, I used a stoich. amount. next time ill add a little excess. thanks

Here are some bromination pics from me:


The pics were taken when almost all the bromine was reacted, just a little excess was still present. -It has an awesome color

Here is one from the beginning:

Here a massive amount was still in the gas space mixed with CHCl3 (the drops on the condenser).

[Edited on 15-12-2012 by kristofvagyok]

I found some sodium acetate reusable hot packs, recharged them last night and let them cool to RT. One of them must have had a seed crystal in it that didnt melt because this morning I found this! The crystals are about 2-3 inches long

Let's see something special, 62g of metallic rubidium(:


And something what looks nice, an organic intermediate:



P.S.: should I post a "manual" illustrated with pics that how should anyone work with pyrophoric substances? E.g.: with metallic rubidium?

[Edited on 16-12-2012 by kristofvagyok]

Quote: Originally posted by bfesser

What the shit is 2-3 <em>inches</em>‽ Do you mean 5.08 cm to 7.62 cm?

Quote: Originally posted by kristofvagyok

And something what looks nice, an organic intermediate: [Edited on 16-12-2012 by kristofvagyok]

Quote: Originally posted by Adas

WHAT... the hell.. is that? :O :O

Quote: Originally posted by blogfast25

kristof: What's being done with/to that rubidium?

Anyone want a sniff from it? It has a really characteristic odor

And something what is simple but looks nice:

Some random test tubes laying around.

Quote: Originally posted by mr.crow

1Kg??? I bet it is for making nitriles

Yes, I would use it to make nitriles, but the only problem is that the reaction is not so easy as it seems and the only product what comes out is something what is not preferred.

But here's another pics(:


A polyhydroxipyrrole under UV.

[Edited on 21-12-2012 by kristofvagyok]

When something is described everywhere as a white crystalline solid and if you make it then it is beautiful purple oil, then it is a really bad sign.

And some funny reagent:


Various butyl lithiums, an awesome highly pyrophoric reagent dissolved in hexane.

Anyone wants to open one bottle?

Quote: Originally posted by Oscilllator

Tell me about your beautiful purple oil!

they're GROWING! my little ones!!!! MWUHAHAHAHAHA
Br2 in an ampule on my desk

Iodine crystals. Looks a lot like graphite.

how did you get those? mine look like broken chips yours look like little pebbles or something

Quote: Originally posted by Pyro

how did you get those? mine look like broken chips yours look like little pebbles or something

All the tiny stuff is the broken up "shake" at the bottom of the container. Most of the material is actually more chunky, as you can see in this picture.



The iodine itself was sublimed, melted under sulfuric acid (to consolidate the material, it's too light and feathery otherwise), rinsed, broken up with a scoopula, and then dried in a small desiccator. It's been around for a few years, resubliming in that container. There's always a slight purple haze in the bottle.

Hah! One of the best investments I've made. They're not even terribly expensive from a certain seller on eBay, even shipped internationally.

I had that iodine eat through two bottles before putting it in there. The second one was a Mason Jar, and it chewed a small hole in the lid after just a week. Unbelievable.

I was skeptical at first that the Schott-Duran bottle with the red cap and foam-backed PTFE liner would be any better, but I'm happy to say that my suspicion was unfounded. I have little doubt that they could even hold bromine, which is far more clever as escape artists go.

Something interesting: just found a test tube what fluoresces under UV light. What could the glass contain? Any ideas?(:

A silver mirror I made. Sorry the picture quality.

I wish everyone a really successful, chemistry and reaction rich happy new year!

An improved version of the classic chemical volcano

Quote: Originally posted by Valentine

An improved version of the classic chemical volcano

With titanium's big brother, zirconium

Just another vacuum distillation(:

EDIT: B10 double surface (davies) condenser at -5*C for preparation of ethyl bromide. 80% crude yield on 150mmol scale.




[Edited on 4-1-2013 by DJF90]

Now this is what I call cooling

I added a description

Quote: Originally posted by kristofvagyok

Something interesting: just found a test tube what fluoresces under UV light. What could the glass contain? Any ideas?(:

Uranium glass glows yellow under UV.
And, in order to stay on-topic, here's a pretty picture

Quote: Originally posted by CaliusOptimus

DJF90 has got some of the sweetest gear on scimad!

This spark is rather fast so if you blink it's easy to miss it. And getting the video to stop on the spark was tricky too. I was able to make a thin spark 7.5 inches with just the melon resting on the dielectrics, that is the teflon and acrylic sheets without the top jar. Earlier experiments with a grapefruit proved less spectacular. Little flecks of yellow light flash off the skin of the grapefruit when it sparks, perhaps from traces of sodium.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW_UemdArW0



[Edited on 7-1-2013 by Morgan]

Pieces of white phosphorous glowing in the dark!
Actually, they seem to be more bright then they are,because I've used a long exposure time.

DL Tartaric acid diisopropyl ester what is described everywhere as a highly viscous liquid what crystallized out at me after a little purification. Surprise!

Quote: Originally posted by ItalianChemist

Pieces of white phosphorous glowing in the dark! Actually, they seem to be more bright then they are,because I've used a long exposure time.

Nice.
The brightness is pretty much ok. That's how it basically looks when you watch it with eyes adapted to darkness. The color is slightly offset, though. It's not that blue when viewed with human eyes in the darkness.

Some TATP crystals which recrystallized in the test tube.




Other pictures: P2, P3, P4

I don't know much about photographing, so I'm sorry about the quality and effects. I think they are nicer when you see them with naked eye.

A super pure crystalline solid, recrystallised several times and according to NMR, MS data we have no idea what is it and how did it formed from my reaction.

According to the NMR data it is a small length polymer of my compound CN substituents on the chain. The MS said that it has a 404g/mol molecular weight and the strange is that it distilled at 90Celsius at water jet vacuum so it couldn't be that we would think.

And no, it's not sodium sulfate, it's organic, could be easily recrystallized from EtOAc/Hexane(:

Also, today is my birthday so I would like to share something with You all:

This is one of my fav pics, what could be downloaded in hi-res without watermark from here if you want a nice wallpaper(: http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/5749/121113029.jpg

Cheers(:

[Edited on 12-1-2013 by kristofvagyok]

Nice pix everyone

Here's a few of mine. This one is actually the runoff dish from an early MgSO4 recrystallization; it turned out more interesting than the main product!

http://topologicoceans.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/petri_cystals.jpg

Some (Na/K)2CrO4



Not directly chemical, but took this while playing around with DIY spectroscopy.

Probably the biggest TATP crystals ever made. Enjoy
You can download the whole album HERE

Quote: Originally posted by mayko

Nice pix everyone Here's a few of mine. This one is actually the runoff dish from an early MgSO4 recrystallization; it turned out more interesting than the main product! http://topologicoceans.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/petri_cystals.jpg

Quote: Originally posted by blogfast25

404 error. Broken link?

Quote: Originally posted by mayko

Weird, seemed to work for me. Try here: http://topologicoceans.wordpress.com/2012/11/24/dont-forget-...

There is a perfect method for obtaining large crystals from a solution, the only problem is that usually I work fast so I can't do it, but: Slow crystal growth is put it on the shelf and forget about it.

And if someone is interested I have made a collection from my best pics on the blog: http://labphoto.tumblr.com/tagged/portfolio/
_{-if anyone has an idea of that which picture is not there then please tell it, because these are my personal favorites(:}

Kristoff: interesting crystals there in the last pic. Is that cactus or is it a spiny caterpillar??

Tank

Quote: Originally posted by Adas

Probably the biggest TATP crystals ever made. Enjoy You can download the whole album HERE

Quote: Originally posted by hissingnoise

Well, for me, the 'fun' would be tempered by the full expectation of an imminent, spontaneous detonation caused by internal stresses within such crystals!

Quote: Originally posted by hissingnoise

It's a sensitive organic peroxide ─ that's enough for me . . .

Of course it is sensitive But not AS sensitive. I have done some tests with big crystals, nothing spectacular happened.
But I respect your opinion as it is most probably based on your personal experience.

Quote: Originally posted by Adas

But I respect your opinion as it is most probably based on your personal experience.

Freshly crystallized ammonium methyl sulfate... Looks like a mound of snowflakes

Quote: Originally posted by Mailinmypocket

Freshly crystallized ammonium methyl sulfate... Looks like a mound of snowflakes

Quote: Originally posted by mr.crow

Quote: Originally posted by Mailinmypocket   Freshly crystallized ammonium methyl sulfate... Looks like a mound of snowflakes Very nice! How did you make it?

Thanks (unfortunately, looking back the photo isn't as clear as I thought it was) I followed the procedure identically as described by UnintentionalChaos on this thread here

Very simple process though, essentially just refluxing methanol with sulfamic acid while stirring. It took a good couple hours for all the sulfamic acid to dissolve so make sure you have something to do in the meantime

[Edited on 21-1-2013 by Mailinmypocket]

Quote: Originally posted by mr.crow

Cool! I wonder if it can be used as a 'safe' methylating agent, but I can't find too much information

I haven't been able to find much information on it either, but plan on doing some more searching. I made it as a route to methylamine though so I wasn't looking into its methylation abilities(if any)

Last night some friends came over and brought their kids, they had a blast playing with fluorescent dyes in my kitchen sink with a blacklight lol. I floated ice cubes in water and put small mounds of fluorescein and rhodamine b on the cubes, as the cubes melted the cold currents carried the dyes downwards and made for some really cool displays! Simple but even fun for an adult