Testing INSANE chemistry recipes from a 1933 formulary book (part 3)

0:00 I've pulled a ton of awesome stuff out of trash cans over

0:02 the years but my favorite find is

0:04 definitely this chemical formulary book from 1933.

0:06 I mean there's just so many brilliant recipes inside from things like

0:10 soaps and cosmetics to explosives and medications this thing would have been

0:15 a gold mine to a nerd living in the 30s now if

0:17 you've seen any of my previous videos on this book you'll know there's

0:20 some just absolutely insane recipes in here too so of course those will

0:23 be the ones I'll be testing today now I know what you're

0:26 thinking why on Earth am I making a part three of this series

0:29 when I was nearly banned for the first two videos well after

0:32 chatting with YouTube a bit it seems they didn't like my use

0:35 of cannons which I guess makes sense so no more cannons something

0:39 I should have mentioned last time is that I'm literally a chemist

0:43 I have the degree I've worked in a lab I've even taught it

0:46 and yes the experiments you're about to see are extremely dangerous however

0:50 I am more than qualified to do them in a safe and controlled

0:54 manner and no you should not attempt them because you'd probably get killed

0:58 I mean there's a lot of reasons why I do this stuff I

1:01 mean yeah it's fun but I think that there's a lot

1:03 to learn from the historic aspects of chemistry and I also want students

1:06 out there to see that science is a lot cooler than just

1:09 filling out worksheets anyway let's see how much further I can get through

1:13 this book without violating the Geneva Convention oh yeah I'll be testing

1:17 recipes from a bunch of volumes this time not just the first one

1:20 have you ever thought that crayons just aren't bright enough well it

1:24 turns out making a fluorescent crayon is actually pretty easy all you need

1:28 are some uranium salts okay but seriously uranium in a crayon what

1:32 were they thinking this is one of the worst ideas I've ever heard

1:36 of I can't wait to try it out in this recipe I'll

1:39 be using uranyl nitrate as the uranium salt heh uranyl now uranium salts

1:45 are radioactive but what really makes them scary is their chemical toxicity

1:49 uranium is a heavy metal after all on the flip side many uranium

1:53 salts are absolutely gorgeous strongly fluorescent in some of the most beautiful

1:58 chemical compounds out there it's quite unfair how something that looks so yummy

2:02 is actually so toxic as for the crayon I ground up the calcium

2:07 carbonate with the plaster dissolve the uranyl nitrate in water and then

2:10 mixed them together the resultant mix isn't as fluorescent as it results

2:14 in a uranyl carbonate precipitate but without the calcium carbonate the crayons

2:17 would be too hard to draw with I put the paste in a syringe

2:21 to act as a mold and let it harden for a few

2:24 days here is the finished uranium crayon it's really more of a chalk

2:28 which means it's prone to making toxic dust as you use

2:31 it it does glow nicely under UV light though yeah it's actually

2:35 pretty hard to draw with and it is pretty crumbly as well

2:39 toxicity aside it does look pretty neat under UV still though the coolness

2:43 to Danger ratio isn't quite worth it in my opinion the recipe

2:47 said that anthracene could be used instead of the uranium so I

2:51 made some crayons based on anthracene as well these actually glowed brighter

2:54 and with a blue glow instead of green these anthracene crayons are significantly

2:58 less toxic than the uranium ones as well which is an added benefit

3:04 this one's just in time for the never-ending coof season it's a sore

3:08 throat remedy now the ingredients in here look pretty sketchy so I

3:11 guess I'm just gonna have to make some and see what it

3:14 does I'm not sure what the function of any of these ingredients is

3:17 honestly and in fact the recipe is quite toxic now you'd think

3:21 that mixing a strong Lewis acid with a potent oxidizer in an organic

3:25 solvent oh I uh don't think that was supposed to happen maybe

3:33 those beautiful flames are supposed to distract

3:36 you from your sore throats either

3:38 that or I made a bad assumption when the recipe called

3:41 for a tincture I figured it meant making a tincture of all that stuff

3:45 but in hindsight it probably meant using a ferric chloride tincture as one

3:48 of the ingredients that would make more sense because tinctures of ferric

3:52 chloride were used in medicine a long time ago and it would

3:54 also keep the iron dosages below lethal levels now this auto ignition reaction

3:59 is actually quite interesting the sheer act of dissolving the anhydrous ferric

4:04 chloride in ethanol does release a substantial amount of heat and it boils

4:07 nearly as soon as it's mixed even so I don't think that's

4:11 the only factor for flames here ferric chloride is a strong Lewis

4:14 acid and it wouldn't surprise me if it's generating chloric acid on solvation

4:19 with the chlorate this compound reacts violently with organic compounds and all

4:23 the little explosions going on in there make me think that chloric acid

4:27 is playing a role I've mixed up a new batch of this stuff

4:30 by first diluting the ferric chloride in water and then adding

4:33 the other chemicals now if the first reaction wasn't enough to dissuade using

4:37 it as medicine I better stick in some aluminum foil in there

4:40 to see what it does wow not only is this stuff toxic

4:45 and a fire hazard it's also highly corrosive neat if you're an American

4:52 with asthma you probably have to pay a lot for inhalers so instead

4:56 consider this homeopathic alternative asthma relief

4:58 cigarette I bet your lungs feel

5:00 amazing after one of these I'm kidding this is a horrible idea

5:05 this is a recipe for a magnetizable fluid now honestly I don't see

5:10 this working that well I'll take any excuse to play with Mercury mmmm

5:15 Mercury yet again it's unfair that something so beautiful has to be

5:19 so toxic now to be honest the liquid metal itself is actually

5:23 quite inert but it does evaporate enough to be a problem if

5:27 there's a spill now the only thing more toxic than the mercury

5:30 in this formula is the volumetric

5:31 measurements of solid powders gross the powders

5:34 don't seem to dissolve at all but that's probably intentional check out

5:39 what happens when I bring a magnet near it there seems to be

5:42 a distance and corresponding field strength

5:44 where the effect is most dramatic here

5:46 you can see the field lines actually quite well but when

5:48 the magnet gets too close it just bunches up the iron powder there

5:52 this is actually a neat effect really because a strong magnet makes

5:56 the liquid act like a switch between dull and shiny don't you hate how

6:01 easy it is to get severe burns when playing with fire well

6:04 lucky for you here's a nice recipe for cold fire now according

6:08 to the book this stuff can be applied to the skin and hair

6:11 without causing injury now there's a lot to unravel with this one cold

6:15 fire how's that even possible also carbon tetrachloride isn't that the stuff

6:19 that got banned from nearly everything because it it causes cancer it

6:23 destroys the ozone layer and it's extremely toxic to the liver oh

6:28 yes yes it is so it does seem a bit sketchy to you

6:31 know rub this stuff all of your body and light it on fire

6:34 but even so I think it's worth trying out let's see how

6:38 inflammable this stuff really is gosh inflammable such a stupid word well

6:43 that's a cool looking flame is it actually cold though let's try letting

6:49 some paper on fire with it okay so it's not that cold

6:53 but it does take a while for it to catch on fire so

6:57 that is pretty nifty now check this out if I dip the paper

7:00 in the burning liquid the part that comes in contact with the liquid

7:04 doesn't actually burn that's because only half of this mix combusts

7:07 in the flame and that's the carbon

7:09 disulfide the tetrachloride actually poisons the fuel

7:12 and absorbs a substantial amount of heat as it evaporates this protects

7:16 whatever surface the mix is burning on in fact this is why

7:19 carbon tetrachloride was used in fire extinguishers before they figured out it

7:23 was cancer juice ignoring the huge health risks of the chemicals this stuff

7:28 probably could be put on skin and lit on fire without causing

7:32 burns as tempting as it is though even I'm not dumb enough

7:35 to try it like seriously every single part about this is stupidly

7:39 toxic there's actually another cold fire recipe just below it in this book

7:44 and although not quite as dramatic it's one popular among chemistry teachers

7:47 and has the added benefit of not inducing cancer in the audience I

7:51 like to add a pinch of baking soda to the mix

7:53 to make the flame bright yellow if you're like most people and stare

7:57 at screens all day there's a good chance you've dealt with dry

8:00 and irritated eyes at some point so what's the solution Mercury salts and opium

8:06 applied directly to your eyeballs if that doesn't make your eyes feel

8:09 better I don't know what will I've always been looking for a method

8:13 of hardening copper and check it out most of what I need

8:16 is just pee this is another one of those formulas where I'm not

8:20 quite certain what the function of the ingredients is I bet

8:22 the hardening here is just due to the quenching and the chemicals probably

8:26 just clean and passivate the surface all right here we go mmmm

8:34 that smells amazing okay so is the copper actually harder now let me

8:40 give these a good scraping here okay yeah I think the uh

8:44 I think the treated one is a little bit harder it doesn't scratch

8:48 as deep at least I'm curious how the structure changed so I'm

8:52 bending an untreated one as a control now for the treated one huh

8:57 it feels stiffer but it's actually easier to fold interesting no parade

9:03 is complete without purple flames and Mercury fumes and this torch has

9:07 them both look at that 10 percent calomel so calomel is mostly

9:12 just Mercury so burning this in a parade is just going to fumigate

9:15 the entire audience however it probably does make a gorgeous purple flame

9:18 so I'm kind of tempted to try it out anyway I couldn't justify

9:22 spraying hot Mercury fumes everywhere so

9:24 I swapped out the calomel with chlorinated

9:27 rubber the fumes are still going to be awful at least it's not

9:32 Mercury I guess well here goes nothing foreign that's the most purple

9:42 thing I've ever seen in my life amazing it looks like the Mercury

9:46 wasn't needed after all just a source of chlorine to deepen the flame

9:50 colors this book is very generous with its use of cyanide whether

9:56 you need to clean some coins or just keep your engine running

9:59 smoothly they always find a way to throw some cyanide in the mix

10:02 how lucky for us they also include this convenient procedure for dealing

10:05 with your inevitable cyanide poisoning the first

10:07 steps aren't anything crazy but check

10:09 out step four that is one of the best sentences I've ever

10:13 read if patient survives give a emetic and after vomiting supportive of strong

10:18 coffee with brandy or whiskey let's party you survived don't you hate

10:23 it how easy it is to ruin furniture by spilling acid on it

10:27 well thankfully this can be a thing of the past with this acid

10:30 proofing concoction I love how making acid-proof wood involves pouring boiling

10:34 acid on it what doesn't kill you makes you stronger right the coats

10:38 of the first solution didn't do anything crazy but things got interesting

10:42 with the second one the wood started changing color and dipping

10:45 the paintbrush back into the solution caused it to change color as well

10:49 after the wood dried it became much darker and the second coating

10:53 made it turn black the chemistry here is a polymerization reaction that produces

10:57 a polyaniline compound these compounds are both acid resistant and potent dyes

11:03 by some crazy coincidence a chemist friend of mine stumbled upon this very

11:07 recipe in a publication from 1925 on building a low-cost chemistry teaching

11:12 lab okay so is it actually acid proof let's dump some concentrated hydrochloric

11:18 acid on there and find out huh it really didn't do much

11:23 to either of them interesting let's

11:27 try something much nastier this time sulfuric

11:30 acid tends to chew up most organic stuff it encounters because it's

11:33 a potent dehydrating agent yeah it looks like it chewed up the untreated

11:40 stuff at least let's drop the base and investigate the surface

11:44 of the untreated stuff has been turned into a gummy mess the treated

11:48 piece has been affected too though it's not pitted nearly as badly

11:51 but some of the treatment does rub off I'm not sure how much

11:55 of it is the linseed oil versus the wooden polyaniline either way

11:59 it's not acid proof but it is acid resistant and it's certainly

12:03 an interesting formula this one's from the alloy section it's an alloy that's

12:09 apparently useful in making electrical fuses now I'm not exactly one to fuse

12:13 my electronics but check out that melting point this stuff should be

12:16 able to melt in hot water which I think is pretty impressive

12:18 for such easy to find Metals I'll definitely be trying this one out

12:22 I started by melting the lead and bismuth together then once that was

12:26 molten I mixed in the tin shot unfortunately I had a small

12:29 incident which required me to melt it all back down again before

12:32 casting it into cute little coin sized pieces so it doesn't melt

12:35 in hot water one way to find out hmm any second now okay

12:41 the water is clearly boiling at this point and the metal is

12:45 still solid what's going on it looks like the book lied to me

12:49 it turns out that no mix of these three metals can have

12:52 a melting point of 168 Fahrenheit well

12:54 that's disappointing but maybe it still works

12:57 as a fuse I'll take that as a yes this one looks

13:04 pretty simple it's a remedy for sneezing I mean you can't sneeze if

13:09 you're unconscious right okay this one's called toilet milk what what is

13:15 toilet milk I I looked it up on Google and I couldn't find

13:18 any meaningful answers I guess I'm just going to make some of this stuff

13:21 and see what it does I figured this was supposed to be

13:24 an emulsion of some sort so I started by dissolving the cetyl

13:27 alcohol in the oil then added glycerin after that as for the soap

13:31 I threw in a little lard soap solution and also added

13:34 a bit of freshly diced bar soap for a good measure I added

13:37 the water but the compounds really didn't want to mix at this point

13:41 so I tossed the whole thing in the microwave for a few

13:43 minutes and after shaking the mix was nice and uniform well I

13:47 still don't know what this stuff is oh yeah I forgot the perfume

13:54 okay now it makes sense this is clearly some kind of highly

13:59 moisturizing soap which means only one

14:01 thing it's obviously for nourishing your toilet

14:04 I can't think of a better mix for cleaning and lubricating

14:07 those pipes drink up Nessie this one seems easy enough determining the polarity

14:15 of batteries this is about as simple as it gets for our recipe

14:19 so I felt it was worth trying out all right here we

14:23 go oh yeah look at that it does indeed make a brown

14:27 spot the battery drives an electrolysis reaction that oxidizes I had died

14:31 into iodine at the positive terminal and that's what gives it that color

14:35 Nifty there's a lot of cool electroplating techniques in this book but here's

14:39 a recipe that simply chemically plates silver onto glass and ignoring

14:43 the potential explosion hazard there of ammonia

14:45 and silver this actually seems like

14:47 a cool way to make some DIY mirrors I made my silver

14:50 nitrate by dissolving silver bars in nitric acid and yeah that gas is

14:54 as toxic as it looks now this first solution here generates a silver

14:58 ammonia complex called Tollen's reagent it's used to detect aldehydes in the lab

15:02 this compound has to be used fairly quickly because it'll degrade

15:06 into the extremely unstable silver nitride I taped off one side of these glass

15:10 slides in order to restrict plating to one surface after mixing

15:14 in the sugar solution silver began to coat the inside of the beaker

15:18 and after a few minutes it was super shiny oh wow that turned

15:22 out way better than I expected that's actually a really nice mirror

15:25 I can't believe how well that worked this beaker is even more

15:29 impressive though look at that incredible finish it's funny because the recipes

15:34 in this old book feel like mixing potions and casting spells sometimes

15:37 and this is a perfect example of that I just made a dark murky

15:41 liquid that coats glass in a brilliant silver shine this is straight

15:45 up witchcraft chemistry is just modern alchemy after all and the best part

15:50 is that the science doesn't kill the magic now before I end

15:53 this video I feel like I owe it to the editors to clarify

15:56 some stuff it may seem like all the recipes in these old

15:59 books are just insane but I'm focusing on the craziest recipes here

16:03 in reality these books were an incredible resource for their day and not

16:07 just for chemists either you'll have all kinds of formulas for all

16:10 different Industries all in a single place if you look at the inventories

16:13 for some old libraries you'll find that some of them still

16:16 have like a hundred copies on hand just because they were so

16:18 popular back then yeah we've come a long way in 90 years

16:21 but the same time it's impressive to see what they're able to accomplish

16:25 back then as well so it's been a while since I've posted

16:28 anything uh actually about a year and I'm sure you're wondering why

16:31 that is and uh so I actually moved and I built a new lab

16:36 uh and that's taken up like you know all my time uh

16:40 it's been a crazy production but I mean just moving all my heavy

16:44 stuff and then you know all the construction so that's uh that's

16:47 been you know quite an ordeal but I also made a new friend

16:51 here I got I got Ophelia here she's uh she's a great

16:55 helper for me but uh yeah uh now that I have my operation

16:59 running again I'm gonna be posting a lot more videos so uh

17:03 stay tuned hey good morning you're a silly girl you're a good girl