Hi, guys welcome back to Beals science
We've got an experiment today that I'm really excited about because this is one of those where all the sudden - boop!
The light comes on in your brain, and you say hey, I should be able to make that
Using chemistry so here we've got a fondue pot now my wife and now we're going to have a little fondue party
And that's where you have some oil in here you put the hand in and you cook it
And you got to use these gel fuel canisters here. Now
They're getting harder and harder to find and they're becoming more and more expensive
I was reading the label, and I see that they're made of calcium acetate with methanol in there
And I get to think in my brain here
We should be able to make that right? Well. Yeah, it should be able to make this no problem
All I needed some simple chemistry and some things I have at home
so I'm gonna show you today how to make gel fuel so that you can use it for fondue or
Maybe you know you're going to roast some marshmallows
at home and make S'mores, or maybe you need to make a
Survival canister or maybe you're a camper and you need to put one in the camping gear
I don't know put one in the boat case it gets cold
You start a little fire warm your hands up possibilities right are endless. So what are we going to need for this experiment?
Well, we need some sidewalk chalk or some eggshells because they're made of calcium carbonate
We're also going to need a little bit of alcohol to burn in there, and we're going to need some vinegar
Gel Fuel, coming up!
Now if you're going to use chalk make sure it's made of calcium carbonate some sidewalk
Chalk is actually made of plaster of Paris, and it will not work, but eggs always will so you got a few eggs here
I've taken the good stuff out, and I'm just crushing them down
I'm going to get about 25 grams
And that's what we're going to start with I'm going to add acetic acid. This is just regular old
household vinegar 100 milliliters to that to get the reaction started
Notice this is bubbling the equations are down at the bottom
But the bubbling is the carbon dioxide coming off the top and what we're after is the calcium acetate
That's going to remain in the bottom, but there's going to be some impurities and some
Chunks of shells stuff like that, so we're going to strain this through a coffee filter
Nice, and easy and give it a little time to drip out of the bottom
What you see in the bottom that's calcium acetate
That's the stuff. We're after because that's what's going to turn into the gel for our gel fuel
There's a lot of water in the vinegar. So we got to get rid of some of the water
I'm going to boil this down by half so whatever you end up with boil it down by half now
You can use ethyl alcohol or Methyl alcohol. I wouldn't suggest a Methyl alcohol. I would go with ethyL alcohol
Which is ethanol because it's non-toxic. It doesn't burn quite as hot, but you know, it's just as good
So we're going to use 100 milliliters of this you may not need it all but go ahead and start dumping it in
Stir gently, and then stop the gels going to form as it reacts and look at this
calcium acetate gel
This is what we've been after
Just some simple chemistry to make this amazing gel
Isn't that awesome?
So I'm going to put this in a little jar
You can use anything you want notice I'm using two lids on there screw it down tight
You can keep this wherever you can go get little paint cans other things like that
As long as you're keeping the air out of it, so it won't dry out now
There's a reason I've used two lids, because now I've got this really really good portable sort of stove
Check it out
We can roast our marshmallows
We can fondue. Maybe put some chocolate put some cheese put some oil something in there and then
The other lid very easily, we'll put it out put the whole package together and hey, you're mobile. This s'mores for you
thanks for watching you know if you don't like the
Containers, I'm use them for these maybe you can give me some suggestions put it down there in the comments, or maybe
you have some other ideas for me, maybe
You just want to tell me to stop
or
maybe not
It's up to you. Let me know click on the other videos. You know what?
Thanks for watching we had a lot more going on over at bealsscience.com
Come over and have a s'more with us
Hmm, dang that's good!