Lab Notes - Unrefined tea tree oil tests and stoichiometry tests - September 26th 2018

On the subject of alternative catalysts I went ahead and acquired some cetyl alcohol (In the form of small, white spheres/'prills'), and tried it with the potassium version of the reaction. The first thing I ran into was once the mixture hit around 120C there was a sudden and very rapid amount of foaming that occurred, which ended in blowing out the rubber stopper I had my thermometer and gas escape tubing passing through, spraying hot foam and oil everywhere. Not fun. I tried a couple variations on how I applied heat, stirring, and proportions of the reagents, yet it didn't make much difference. I did a little reading on anti-foaming agents and found that silicone oil was commonly used; once I sprayed some into the flask it almost immediately got rid of the foam, with no further issues. I got the oil from Walmart in the automotive section along with other greases and so forth, which came in a large aerosol can for around $6 BTW. While the reaction proceeded and generated a large and rapid amount of hydrogen consistently (Or at least some gas, I didn't test it) it never actually produced any potassium metal. I ran it for around 6 hours, until it stopped generating gases. Not sure if it's a dead end, but thought it was worth mentioning my anecdotal experience.

Larry B

I’d like one of those molecular model kits! :)

I like your videos, your mysterious voice, your suicidal bugs and your reaction to them. Hilarious >D I also like the modelling kit :)

Ragnar Elstad

The Models are very interesting

Those kits are pretty cool!

Yes, I started off using this and it doesn't seem to perform much differently than tert-Amyl as far as I can tell. tert-Butyl is also close to 5+ times cheaper, the main reason to use it.

Larry B

Interesting.

TrollFaceTheMan

Would a tertiary alcohol like tert-Butanol work for the Reaction?

I haven't tried phenols with sodium, but when doing the potassium experiments they didn't work. So i have no compelling argument to go down that line of inquiry.

NurdRage

I'm just commenting on both Youtube and Patreon! Can't fault me for it! ;)

adfaklsdjf

They look a bit like snatoms, but with a little more detail. (Btw should I comment in YouTube or here if I would like a kit, I have too much playing with magnets).

Dan & Jen Baizel

What about a phenol as the catalyst? Thymol is OTC and might be worth a trial run. Still waiting to hear how the soap and the cetyl alcohol worked.

Patrick Sweetman

Those kits are awesome! Can't wait for the finale to this series, either.

Summary: tea tree oil works but in unrefined form doesn't get a good yield. Sub-stoichiometric proportions with regards to magnesium also working but goal of improving magnesium usage not really achieved.

Silviu T

Cool giveaway

I like your idea of a giveaway

Can anyone give a summary? Currently cycling from England to Istanbul with limited data.