Hey, guys! As I promised, today I’ll tell you about the oleum that appeared in my last two videos.
Look at this ampoule with white, needle-shaped crystals - it's pure sulfur trioxide
You probably heard or read about it a plenty of times, but you didn't know how it looks, so I had to fix it.
Being dissolved in sulfuric acid, sulfuric anhydride forms oleum.
This is oleum with a free sulfuric anhydride content of 45%.
These pyrosulphuric acid crystals melt at 95 degrees Fahrenheit.
Oleum is either a mixture of anhydrous sulfuric acid and pyrosulphuric acid
or a mixture of pyrosulphuric acid and sulfuric anhydride
Molten oleum looks like a transparent, oily liquid,
fuming in the air, forming clouds of smoke that consists of sulfuric acid fog
Notice how high-concentrated oleum rapidly crystallizes at room temperature.
When interacting with water, the amounts of generated heat might be enough to destroy the beaker,
however, I couldn’t do it on the first try.
Oleum dehydrates cellulose so strongly and quickly that it breaks down, producing free carbon
By the way, I made a reaction with Oreo,
because it's conformable with oleum, but, I have to tell, they rhyme way better than they react
Then I tried to ignite sodium amide with oleum, however, besides a few sparks appearing, no ignition occurred
In order to show spectacular reactions where ignition occurs in contact with oleum,
I used lithium, sodium and potassium borohydrides that I have access to.
And this is a reaction with lithium aluminum hydride
Andreas Brunner notes that Caesium would be better
Hey mate, You really think I will not throw that cesium, that hell of a substance, into oleum?
Do you want me to melt it and pour it as it is?
Or do you want me to drop big lumps of it like in this ampoule?
So, maybe you, my friends, will also suggest interesting ideas with cesium in the comments
and when the channel becomes more popular I will open these ampoules with alkali metal.
Thanks for watching, guys. Share this video with your friends, leave comments,
while I’m shooting new chemical reactions for you. Seeya next video