New Questions for September/October

There was a paper about copper(II) chloride including sodium chloride as an addictive. Sorry that I do not remember the title of the paper. In the paper, the author compared the etching rate of copper by using different formula. The conclusion of of the paper was to simply saturate chloride ions.

Keith

I've seen anecdotes that adding ammonium chloride (liquorish flavoring) to copper(II) chloride increases pcb etch rates, but I have a hard time finding any data on what possible cons are and if it messes with copper recovery later down the line. Could you help clarify this?

How does acidic or alkaline conditions work for certain reactions? Such as tarnishing platinum bar with molten sodium hydroxide in one of your videos, while platinum itself can't be easily tarnished in normal conditions.

In practice, what is the role of computer molecular simulation in modern chemistry, and do you see that changing in the next few years?

[edit to add] -- My assumption here is that the various white LED light sources are charging through some UV spill

What exactly charges glow-in-the-dark items -- minimal slightly-unscientific experimentation seems to suggest they are only charged by UV, but I want confirmation? --- I recently acquired a UV flashlight and that seems to instantly charge the items. I recall that glow-in-the-dark stuff always suggests you put it out in direct sunlight, and that incandescent lightbulbs worked, but not as well. I have observed that the LED room lighting in my room barely charges them, a semi-bright white LED flashlight charges them better if allowed to dwell for a few seconds, and a very-bright flashlight does a better job -- but none as good as the UV light.

This a bit of an unusual question but if you were able to drag a balloon of various gasses (regular atmosphere or single elements) to the deepest point in the ocean (I think it is at 14,000 psi) what would happen to the gas. I'm thinking it would possibly absorb into the water, or liquify or the most interesting option would be to compress to the point that gas is no longer less dense than the water and then sink the rest of the way.

I like Roger's comment. Elements like uranium, vanadium, chromium, etc. could be included into a larger primer on redox chemistry.

For an actual chemistry question: Why does a nickel-iron battery self-discharge as quickly as it does? A video about nickel-iron batteries and their durability may be of interest to your audience.

Mark Rose

That would be awesome!

I'd actually like to see more experiments involving refining common household fluids into reagents, it's just a pity that 80% of chemistry is clear liquid mixes with clear liquid yielding clear liquid, all of which are dangerous to even look at.

Simon Bitdiddle

What do you think about fuel cell vehicles for personal/public transport, like the Toyota Mirai and others?

I believe Uranium would have only limited appeal. Personally, I'd like to see some more redox chemistry, or perhaps something involving working with various permanganates, persulfates, peroxides, etc.

Roger Lee

I think uranium could be interesting if you do something different with it besides showing the oxidation states in aqueous solutions and make yellow cake. I think most of us nerds sponsoring videos have already seen the other videos on YouTube showing that. If you made uranium metal, that would be interesting. Or perhaps isolate out the Th-230 or Ra-226 in natural ore. Uranium can also get interesting if you happen to have some beryl and a neutron detector lying around, but that's more physics than chemistry. Or maybe extracting minerals from sulphide ore, such as from a VMS deposit? Everyone has seen placer mining, but most gold today comes from hard rocks. It might be easier to go for copper since the concentrations will likely be much higher in ore you can get your hands on. When I see the pretty pink rocks in Cobalt, Ontario, I wonder how hard it would be to extract the cobalt, and how to deal with the arsenic. There is a fair amount of nickel and silver in those rocks, too. Some of the tailings apparently have higher mineral concentrations than many active mines today. If you can do it safely, how about some rocket fuel chemistry?

Mark Rose

This isn't about uranium, but... Can you make sodium hydroxide by reacting the sodium with water?

Zack Miletich

For uranium, I don't know if there is any interesting things to do. It sounds boring other than nuclear reaction.

Keith

How to grow perfect mono-crystal sodium chloride from aqueous solution? Unlike alum and copper sulphate, my crystal became irregular every time. Was it because I used sea salt which contained other chlorides?

Keith

I'll trust that you know where the interesting inorganic chemistry lies. So I vote for no (although I do like pretty colours) I'd much rather see something you find interesting (or useful). I don't think I'm at the level of donating for questions but if you think mine is interesting please answer: in your opinion which areas of inorganic chemistry (if any) receive too much and too little funding in your country/the world from private/public sources?

On Uranium; No. What I find interesting is the process of separating elements. I realize you've done some work in this area (gold, silver). I'm curious how one could take an complex mixture of elements that is the result of some acid reduction (such as metal reclamation) and then showing us a process (electrodes, voltages, acids, bases, whatever) whereby you can extract the more exotic elements. I know for an amateur this isn't economical, but I want to know the science behind this. I want to know as only you can explain it.

Nix on the Uranium. My question: If some billionaire came along and offered to fund you to work on any research area in modern chemistry, what would you choose, and why does that problem interest you?

jason black

For the uranium, no. Uranium is nowhere near commercially available, and this is not an experiment that many people can do outside of working in a professional lab. I don't think it's worth it. I do have a question for you for the next QnA video. What is the most interesting bit of research you've done as a professional chemist?

Doing it just because it's a taboo element is pointless. So if you say that it's not interesting, I'd have to agree.

ninja_padeiro