Grab your safety gear and sign the waiver, because we’re exploring 5 insane science
stunts you won’t be learning at school.
Normally we don’t think of metals as being very dangerous. We use them all the time,
but sodium metal is one that’s extremely reactive. The second it touches water, it
starts ripping the water molecules apart and releasing hydrogen gas, which you can see
is highly flammable, and in some cases, explosive. The vigorous reaction is exothermic, and gets
so hot, it’ll spontaneously burst into flames, and can explode. Now, if a piece of wood is thrown
on top, the elemental sodium blasts back with tremendous power, and sends the wood flying.
Now the reaction also forms sodium hydroxide, which is very caustic, and typically used
as a drain cleaner. But you might remember from a previous video, we can tame that dangerous
chemical with bacon grease, and make it into a custom bar of shower soap.
For this next experiment we need a plastic soda bottle filled a third of the way with
lukewarm water, and a little bit of liquid nitrogen. Now if we pour a bit of the cryogenic
fluid into the bottle and simply turn it upside down, the bottle blasts off with tremendous
force. Now we’ve got a high risk, hand-held rocket launcher. This works because the liquid
nitrogen floats on the water and the gas can escape out the top. But when the bottle is
turned over, the liquids trade places, and the nitrogen is instantly vaporized, blasting
water out the nozzle with incredible pressure. These bottles can shoot hundreds of feet at
high velocity, which apparently is enough power to break clean through my kitchen window.
There’s also a risk of these blowing up in your hand, so why don’t we move on to
the next experiment while we’re still in once piece.
Now one way to super-charge a halloween party is with a spellbinding blast-o-lantern. Just
pour a bit of calcium carbide into a small plastic cup, then carefully set it inside
a pre-carved pumpkin. When all the pieces of the pumpkin are back in place, simply pour
in a bit of water, and put the lid back on top. The pumpkin will slowly fill up with
highly flammable acetylene gas. So as you might be able to guess, we’re going to light
that off with a fuse. Now when the spark hits the gas, it blasts out, a sinister looking
face, with a startling amount of power. Your guests will probably find this trick extremely
amusing, because anytime you mix oxyacetylene gas with a pumpkin, it’s bound to get a
very spirited reaction.
With some simple engineering, you can turn a junk microwave like this, into an electrical
metal melter, that will pump out a shocking 800 amps, of metal melting current. We just
need to break inside, to access the electronics, then locate this awesome piece of equipment
.. a 1500 watt microwave oven transformer. Now there are 2 coils on this beast. A primary
and a secondary, and if we cut off the secondary and replace it with 2 gauge insulated cable,
we’ve got ourselves an incredible device that will melt metal in just a few seconds.
When it gets turned on, it pumps out a staggering amount of electrical current, which you can
see is enough to reduce a machine screw, to a flowing river of molten metal. It’ll also
weld sheet metal, melt neodymium magnets, and heat steel until it’s glowing hot, just
in case you’re in the mood for a little amateur blacksmithing.
For this last experiment we’re making pie, but trust me, you don’t want to eat this
one. We’ll need to take this recipe outside and away from anything flammable, and get
started by mixing precise amounts of sugar and potassium nitrate. This is a highly flammable
mixture already, and the more we shake it, the faster it’s going to react when we light
it later on. Now if we warm this powder on medium-low heat, you can see the sugar begins
to caramelize and absorb the nitrate salts. When it’s all melted and mixed together,
it kind of looks like pumpkin pie filling, so why don’t we try pouring it into a pie
crust, and letting it set for a few minutes. If it weren’t for the fuse sticking out
of the center, you’d think it was just a regular pumpkin pie. But watch what happens
if we light it off. It bursts into a fountain of flames and spews hot ash like a miniature
volcano. This gives a whole new meaning to the term “Pie”-rotechnics, and this just
might be the first dessert, that burns it’s own calories.
Well there are 5 crazy science stunts you probably won’t see in the classroom, and
while I can’t recommend you actually try these experiments, you know what would happen
if you did. That’s it for now. If you liked these projects perhaps you’ll like some
of my others. Check them out at www.thekingofrandom.com
Well, that was exciting.
Hey guys, I hope you liked these demonstrations. They are some of my favorites, probably because
they’re a little bit dangerous, but that keeps it real. And if you felt the power and
learned something new, then why don’t you share this video on Facebook, and Twitter,
and reddit, because it really does help a lot.
Now there’s one thing I need you to do right now. Click on this video that Alltime10s just
released on their channel. It’s showing 10 Crazy Experiments that Scientists Did To
Themselves. This is a video you need to see, and if you don’t know who Alltime10s are
by now, you need to.
They do some of the best top 10’s videos on the internet. They have a super popular
YouTube channel, with almost 3,000,000 subscribers, and as you might have guessed, this video
is in collaboration with theirs. So go check them out, subscribe to them, and tell them
that Grant Thompson sent you.
Now in the next couple of weeks I’m going to show you how to make miniature rockets
that will launch off your desktop, so subscribe right now, if you haven’t already, because
I’d really like to see you around in those project videos.
Are you still here? Go check out Alltime10s :)