In case you missed my video about Starlite which is referenced several times, here's a link: ruclips.net/video/0IbWampaEcM/видео.html Thanks for watching!
"Smaller graphite particles have a higher surface area-to-volume ratio, which increases the rate of sulfate ion adsorption on the surface. However, the increased surface area also means that there are more lattice defects on the surface, which can act as barriers to the diffusion of sulfate ions into the interior of the particles. As a result, intercalation of smaller graphite particles typically requires a higher temperature and a longer reaction time in order to overcome these barriers and achieve a complete intercalation. In contrast, larger graphite particles have a lower surface area-to-volume ratio, which decreases the rate of sulfate ion adsorption on the surface. However, the lower surface area also means that there are fewer lattice defects on the surface, which can act as barriers to the diffusion of sulfate ions. As a result, intercalation of larger graphite particles can typically be achieved at a lower temperature and a shorter reaction time." - ChatGPT
I worked for the British Ministry of Defence. I did some crude tests on 'fire retardent foam', the sort that is used in furniture. I was VERY disapointed. Believe it or not wool as in felt was by far the best. So, a challenge for you - find a better fire retardent soft covering / filling better than wool.
They sell carbon felt for soft pliable heat shielding behind welding and soldering. It's really effective and super soft to the touch. Can also be used as a wick for burning thicker oils like used cooking oil.
If you want to go the water-containing chemical route, you might try saturating the wool or felt in a solution of water and Epsom salt, aka Magnesium Sulfate Heptahydrate, then letting the product dry. Each molecule of the salt has 7 water molecules attached, which would make it take quite a bit of energy to heat it up. Epsom salt does decay at high temperatures, but it does so by letting go of water molecules one by one, which might even displace oxygen at the site of the fire. Add in layers of intumescent material, and you might have something that is effectively fireproof. Or, you might not. I'm not a chemist, just someone who's watched a lot of Nile Red.
I work in construction, doing telecom, and I’ve used the red putty in the video a good amount. it’s worth mentioning, that the putty has a really different application than the fireproofing paint. we use putty to stop up the sleeves we use if we need to run cable through a wall, or inside an electrical box, for other applications like sealing, they use a caulk that cures hard. the putty, at least to my understanding, only needs to stop smoke getting between rooms, or, say the insulation of your cables catches fire, to stop it using the data network to spread fire throughout the whole building, I’d be interested to see how the putty reacts when heat is applied to it while it’s inside a confined space, pack some into the end of a 1” pipe or something. I dunno if the results would be different, but they might be.
This is an great example of the depth of information and excellent presentation that led me to support you on Patreon. I look forward to every video you make. Keep up the great work!
Honestly, I know I've said it a couple times, but you are my favorite RUclips channel. You find the coolest things that I have never even heard of or even thought about and make it into a super straight forward, awesome video.
I am a fire alarm technician. The NEC requires fire putty on any sleeve passing through a firewall. Bearing that in mind it is applied from both sides of the entry and exit point. The small flakes in the fire putty are meant to expand and drive the putty further in towards the center of the wall and also outwards towards the center of the room. Thus it compresses and seals the point from fire being able to penetrate from one side of the wall to the other.
Great video as ever. I did think this sort of expanding fire putty stuff was put around pipes and electrical systems, allowing them to move, but in the event of a fire, the material expanded filling any gaps and therefore stopping the spread of the fire from room to room.
I just want to say I love this channel. It's not always about something I'm interested in but I can tell it's always something Ben was curious about or interested in and wanted to make a video.
I work with the IBEW and often use various fire proofing products. The important thing to remember about commercial fire proofing is that they all have a time rating. So perhaps the puddy with graphite flakes are good for 1 hour while the carbon foam paint is good for a longer exposure time.
Fascinating! I recently started exploring graphite use in refractory and foundry applications. Not sure how expanding graphite applies, but the information, especially graphite foil, is fascinating.
I run a firestop installation business in Indonesia, watching this video provides new insight which is very important for my business, I am very grateful and appreciative to the creator of this video
Man I just love this man so much, so interested in what he's saying, he might do this as a job, but he loves making this videos, I'm 98% sure of it. its been like 8 years watching you, and never got bored. Keep on making these man
Nicely done! A great video to introduce to intercalated graphite. If you want to go a bit further, you can actually produce high quality graphene via the modified Hummer's method, which is just a few steps further. You would need some h2o2 in your water and hydrazine as accelerator, but then make sure that the quantity is small, you have a ice chunks surrounding your Erlenmeyer flask and and extra cover (fume hood is possible). Cleaning and recovering the graphene is the most tedious step, using a roto evaporator and centrifuge at least 4-5 times. Thanks again for the video, it does bring me back 10-12 years, when I was working on nano sensors during my PhD.
@@deathedell215 I think you are right, now you mention it. I can't remember if we had any water at all. Mind it was a long time ago. I wouldn't recommend chancing it if you're unsure of what you're doing :)
Awesome Video! Graphite is a really interesting material. I first learned about its intercallation property a couple of years ago when i was experimenting with dual-carbon intercallation cells as an alternative to traditional battery cells
Great video, nice to see you back nhil ;) 4:00 i think a disclaimer is needed there. Baking soda will not negate the dangers of acids, so before anyone starts experimenting with strong acids, make sure you follow the standard safety precautions. Always make sure you read the specific instructions and in this case, if you spill any chemicals (unknown or mixed), dilute and wash it off under flowing water for 20 mins, without rubbing on it. I don't know any exact combinations, but neutralising an acid, especially on skin can produce harmful byproducts and heat, so even a 'weak' acid can cause serious damage. Same goes for washing your hands with soap which can have unknown ingredients.
Baking soda is at minimum fine for sulfuric, nitric, and hydrochloric acids. The reaction products are sodium sulfate, sodium nitrate, and table salt respectively. Heat of neutralization is not an issue because baking soda's alkalinity is mild and the large volume of water is a heat sink. It is also a helpful solution because CO2 bubbles indicate when there is still acid present.
So I wonder what your graphite concoction would do in higher concentrations in a paint or as the foil. Just curious. Great video as always can never get enough.
I think the smaller mesh takes longer because of the reaction first taking place on the edge of the flakes. For the same amount of flakes, yes it'll be faster for the smaller ones, but for the same amount of mass, there will be a lot more small flakes and a lot more molecules that are the working edge
I ALWAYS learn something from your videos. They are ALWAYS so interesting! You are a brilliant man. And you make learning easy. You def have a wonderful way of teaching us and helping us understand the things you're interested in! I'm ALWAYS excited to see another video from you!! Happy Valentine's Day!
An interesting video. Nothing wrong with your own paint test not being equal to commercial compounds. Chad move shouting out Robert. As he would point out, discovering an idea doesn't work out isn't really a failure, but gaining knowledge.
The smaller mesh taking longer may have something to do with surface tension. It may also have something to do with a reduction in the capillary effect. Just a thought.
Or smaller flakes have more edge. 4 circles with a diameter of 1 have the same area (and with the same thickness, mass) as one circle with diameter 2, but the four smaller circles have edges with an overall length of 4pi, whereas the bigger circle has an edge with a length of 2pi. And since this reaction happens on the edge of the flakes, more edge means more reaction.
@@chstoney Oh, just wrote the same, I think this is the reason, for the same amount of flakes it'd be faster for the smaller ones, but for the same amount of mass there is a big difference in their numbers
Yeah, if it was just "more edge speeds up the reaction" it would have been obvious and not commented on. The actual result which is reversed implies that the reaction which opens the edge is a lot slower than the intercalation itself, which completes rapidly even if it has to cover a large surface area.
Supposing that the opening _is_ the restraining factor, then the reduced number of atoms on the edge may also be a factor: if the intercalation is sufficiently faster, then it would imply that the opening of the edge is dominated by random chance as much as anything else, with the result that "rolling more dice" is the most effective way to speed things up.
I'd love to find a good inexpensive fire resistant + heat insulating material that I could line a gun safe with. The water release on commercial products presents a problem when trying to protect the contents of a safe. Thanks for the interesting videos. I loved the starlite videos and have been a long time subscriber. Take care bud.
Ben that’s fantastic. You have a very accessible educational approach and presentation style and I’m sure that’s why your channel is so successful. Please keep it up. Now do carbon nanotubes.
I have a hypothesis about why the finer-grain graphite was more difficult to react: While the stoichiometry is the same (1g coarse graphite, 1g fine graphite), and while reaction rate is typically proportional to surface area, of which the fine-grain has more, in this case, it's the completion of the reaction that we're looking for, and with more surface area to react, it just takes longer (for the same concentration of acid and nitrate). I think of you used more acid and nitrate in proportion to the increased surface area, the reaction would proceed at a rate more similar to the coarse graphite. Would love to see this tested.
Kinda along the lines I was thinking. Once you pop open a layer on the coarse grain, it's open. A lot more total layer popping needs to happen with smaller particles.
Thank you for yet another truly great video. It brings a smile to my face to see high quality content being successful on RUclips. I hope you are doing well. Thank you.
I haven't seen a video from you since your "How to scramble an egg in its shell," video! Boy oh boy is it nice to be watching such a fun and well put-together video. Thank you for your content brother!
Amazing 🤩 Just remember: don’t treat acid burns on your hands with a base to “neutralize it”. Usually bases do more damage than acids, and usually you just get a combined acid burn and base burn in the end. Best practice is just regular old running water. It will dilute the acid/base and neutralize it.
Excellent video as always! There seem to be lots of interesting further experiments to do with the various practical applications of the expanded graphite, though at the moment I am drawing a blank. But I'll look forward to the next video no matter what the topic may be, keep up the good work!
Big pre-grats on the 2m sub mark! You sure as hell deserved it. These videos are consistently top tier with some great subject matter throughout. Finding this channel was a blessing in disguise lol
I’ve been fire caulking/blocking all week. I remember the starlite video. I think we have all tested the fire caulking upon introduction. Surprisingly some fire blocking products will catch for just a second before going out.
"Self extinguishing" is commonly used in fireproof materials. They contain chemicals which block combustion, but are locked either mechanically or chemically inside the material until the initial flame releases them. That way the material retains it's flame retardant properties for a long time at normal temperatures even if ordinarily they'd slowly diffuse away.
I hated you for a while. Mostly becuase I thought you were full of it. But I kept watching, and kept watching, and kept watching, and realized I was just ignorant and biased. Now you are to me the most valuable youtuber on the platform. If I could pick only one creator, I would pick you. Your videos hold more valuable than any other by far and away. You taught me about HHO, helped me dream about what awesome things I could build. Your a spark of brilliance my friend. Thank you
Thank you, that's very kind! It speaks well of you that you kept watching someone you disagreed with and changed your opinion as a result. I'm curious what project you first saw that you thought was false?
@@Nighthawkinlight The Wife and I completely overreacted when Covid hit and spent our life savings on a boat and DIY'd it into an off-grid home basically. I was extremely worried about water. When looking up different ways to desalinize water I came across your video. "DIY Salt-Water Survival Bottle (Compact Desalination Kit)" That's the one that originally had me pacing back and forth in my boat for hours. Using my best mental physics space in my mind I didn't see this would be viable for the quantity I might need in an emergency. So after lots and lots of other projects and going back to normal life. I found your HHO generator video to be an amazing idea for boats with a watermaker if you could get any kind of engine to run on Hydrogen or HHO you could have almost infinite range and power. That would be So cool!! Sorry for the rant. But you are massively inspiring!! Haha, Thanks again for everything!
Very informative and interesting video. I am about to get back into my long lost rocketry hobby and have been thinking about trying a 3D Printed PEEK nozzle with a graphite insert or some sort of carbon based lining. It's a pity the gas flow would rip this stuff right off. I wonder if you could use it as internal heatproofing on the combustion chamber walls. I might try it just to see what happens to it under pressure.
@@randomname4726 I'm not sure, it depends how grippy your nozzle wall is and how hard the graphite is pressed. Probably a rammed clay nozzle would benefit from having some of the expanded graphite included also.
@NightHawkInLight I will have to experiment with it. I've made plenty of little rammed clay nozzles when younger, but now I'm into bigger motors with proper turned nozzles, etc. Last one I made was H class using a convergent/divergent nozzle made from fiberglass & metal reinforced body filler, which I cast into a cylinder and turned down on a wood lathe (no metal lathe unfortunately (yet!)). It worked brilliantly. Now, I want to make a working nozzle for an M class motor (only 32x more powerful, lol), but it will need to be stronger and also survive the exhaust for several seconds.
@@randomname4726 : If you have a wood lathe, then you have a light-duty metal lathe. You should look up how to form sheet metal over a mold on a lathe, to see if it would be useful for your projects.
People laughed at me when I said I had a favorite element. People who understand elements thought I was kind of boring because my favorite element is Carbon. It's been wonderful being vindicated by people seeing just how amazing and versatile this atom is. Makes life, protects your home from fire, makes your written records, strong, powerful, flexible. Good ol Six. Is there anything it cannot do?
I wonder if the putty is more designed to rely on the expansion of internal particles? Those might cause the putty to swell a little, allowing it to seal any small gaps that might remain from installation. Mixing in particles will always result in some on the surface (just like a chocolate chip cookie), and these may not add much, but you'd get some particles contained within the putty applying force to it.
your one of my favorite youtubers, incredibly underrated, been watching for years, everytime you upload i am inspired by your attention to detail, absolutly timeless.
This is me totally theorizing and not knowing what I'm talking about, but your point about the intercalation reaction happening faster with larger flakes made me think of how a low pressure lifting bag can get a lot of force over a large area. Since this reaction is one where layers are being lifted apart from each other, perhaps the reaction happens faster because these larger flakes have larger areas between them and perhaps get pulled the part more easily.
Oh my... Wow! Thank you for this video! This will be incredibly useful to me. Fr your content is seriously under rated here. You my good sir... Are the man!
6:50 “Do as you gotta, add acid to water” it’s an old quote, but one that continues to stick with me even though I’m not a chemist. For those unfamiliar, you always pour acid into water and never the other way around, because when pouring water into acid, your likely going to create a steam bubble and splash the stuff into your face, while the other way around is much safer.
Have you seen Robert Murray Smith's arc exfoliation method? He uses a standard arc welder to exfoliate and it expands like mad. I've tried it, and mine probably expanded 5 times again what yours looked like by heating with the torch (also using no.2 flakes). It took a couple attempts at adjusting the ratio of sulfuric acid to get it super fluffy too though. Thanks for the clear explanation on what's going on as always!
I'll have to try that. I just took a shot in the dark at how much nitrate and acid to use and it worked the first time so I stuck with it. Most recipes use a ton of acid which I felt was wasteful so I cut my mix way down from normal. I'll have to try other ratios since you found it makes a big difference.
great video! I think the #2 graphite will take more energy to react because it's reacting fully(more surface area), whereas #1 has less surface area overall, for the same weight of graphite.
Fascinating process, it amazing how easy modifying graphite is(once you know how). Thanks for bringing us along. Excellent work. Could you use other bases for neutralizing the acid or does the ammonia play a specific role in the modification?
WOAH. I went on a deep dive a while back about cheap adhesive carbon-based skin stretch sensors for costume puppetry, it's really cool to learn how to make a cheap low quality version of graphene! The expanded graphite foil was especially interesting though, I would love to try and roll some onto some stretch bandages and measure the resistance when it's stretched! Thank you for the clear, concise, and interesting video :D
Interesting video. It seems like there has to be a geat enough density of the intumescent gaphite to create a thick enough barrier to be of any use by itself. I wonder what the result would be of mixing intumescent graphite with Starlite. Would it improve overall resistance?
*_Not to be weird or anything, long time fan here, but within the first minute, you said this material came as a surprise._* I see it everywhere in contracting jobs of which I've been a part.
nice video. you always have very interesting and educational videos. you are in my top 5 RUclips channels that I love to watch the most. thank you for all the hard work that goes into your videos
Beautiful to see my three go to science guys mention each other {you, RMS, Tech Ingredients, sorry explosions and fire, Chemiolis and thiosol, love you too}
Just wanted to say thank you for the content and the excellent presentation of information that you help to pass on. I loved the one on starlight, all really good. Thank you 🙂
Hey Ben (or anyone really), reach out if you would like any more information about the expandable graphite. I work for the company that actually manufactures this product and a host of others. Love the video, very educational, and you got most of the details correct. Cheers!
I'd be curious to know how the expandable graphite compares to activated charcoal. Specifically, as a water filter material or as a biochar alternative. This was a great video, thank you.
Well I can tell you one thing for sure. Activated charcoal is going to be *several* orders of magnitude cheaper. Enough that if your filter needs 10x as much charcoal than graphite to achieve the same level of filtration, it would still be better to use the charcoal, unless you were severely space constrained. (Maybe your use case is on the ISS where space is at a premium.)
weird thought: if the expanded graphite can be compressed into a foil, could a relatively uncompressed sheet be used as a thermal pad in computer components? usually the compression of thermal paste helps spread the paste and fill in any air gaps, and it does an okay job. however a custom cut sheet of graphite would have incredible thermal conductivity and could be compressed into a foil as a part is locked down filling even the smallest imperfections in a heat blocks surface, removing the risk of air gaps.
curious thought: maybe the graphite bits in the putty are meant more as a visual indicator that the putty got hot and less as a fire retardant. some people may not know what the putty is supposed to look like normally and after heat exposure and a bunch of carbon snakes sticking out help visualise a problem with heat that needs to be fixed
Just a minor heads up from a chemist: Intercalation is typically pronounced "inter-cuh-late" not "inter-cay-late". That being said I highly enjoy your videos and very much appreciate your safety focus
I wonder if this process could be used to make batteries more efficient, a foam instead of plates, could in theory increase surface area and therefore energy density of the battery, we'd love to see you make one! Love your videos and thank you for your great content!
Perhaps use the foam inside a thin mesh pipe to increase exposure of the foam and strength of the cathode, anode? Just a thought. Pipe material would be important like stainless 306l or 308l I forget.
Nice info and video Ben. While we are talking about different carbons and graphites, have you ever looked into carbonized and graphitized cellulose nanocrystals? Another amazing material with a lot of potential for different applications--particularly battery/super conductors and composites. It is sort of a more nature close version of carbon nanorods with also some graphene like attributes. The nice thing about it as compared to things like lab created carbon nanorods and graphene is that you can make a large amount at a time and with pretty simple/basic materials and processes. Anyways, it makes sense to start off with a source/stock material that is already high in the crystalline cellulose. Industry uses stuff like waste wood, but that has less concentration of it because lignin, hemi cellulose, etc is higher.
@@Nighthawkinlight Yeah, carbonizing it increases the various strengths (tensile, Young's Modulus, etc), and graphitizing it makes it very electrically and fairly thermally conductive. For example, when adding the carbon form of it to epoxy, some researchers have noted that adding in just 2% by weight to the epoxy will up various strengths. (Adding a lot will not so much, but does increase abrasion resistance).
In case you missed my video about Starlite which is referenced several times, here's a link: ruclips.net/video/0IbWampaEcM/видео.html
Thanks for watching!
PLEASE continue on the negative energy paint.
@@jaysengstacken2118 Fear not ;)
Fantastic video. Informative, AND entertaining for sure! Thank you
"Smaller graphite particles have a higher surface area-to-volume ratio, which increases the rate of sulfate ion adsorption on the surface. However, the increased surface area also means that there are more lattice defects on the surface, which can act as barriers to the diffusion of sulfate ions into the interior of the particles. As a result, intercalation of smaller graphite particles typically requires a higher temperature and a longer reaction time in order to overcome these barriers and achieve a complete intercalation.
In contrast, larger graphite particles have a lower surface area-to-volume ratio, which decreases the rate of sulfate ion adsorption on the surface. However, the lower surface area also means that there are fewer lattice defects on the surface, which can act as barriers to the diffusion of sulfate ions. As a result, intercalation of larger graphite particles can typically be achieved at a lower temperature and a shorter reaction time."
- ChatGPT
@@stevenwilliams9359 Hmm... Maybe. Seems like this could be a prime example of ChatGPT's overconfidence in its answers
I worked for the British Ministry of Defence. I did some crude tests on 'fire retardent foam', the sort that is used in furniture. I was VERY disapointed. Believe it or not wool as in felt was by far the best. So, a challenge for you - find a better fire retardent soft covering / filling better than wool.
Great idea. Wool is really hard to beat.
Wool soaked in Borax!
They sell carbon felt for soft pliable heat shielding behind welding and soldering. It's really effective and super soft to the touch. Can also be used as a wick for burning thicker oils like used cooking oil.
If you want to go the water-containing chemical route, you might try saturating the wool or felt in a solution of water and Epsom salt, aka Magnesium Sulfate Heptahydrate, then letting the product dry. Each molecule of the salt has 7 water molecules attached, which would make it take quite a bit of energy to heat it up. Epsom salt does decay at high temperatures, but it does so by letting go of water molecules one by one, which might even displace oxygen at the site of the fire. Add in layers of intumescent material, and you might have something that is effectively fireproof. Or, you might not. I'm not a chemist, just someone who's watched a lot of Nile Red.
"Dig my credentials, am I retarded or a lier?" Some idiot online...
Both, ether, not important. Welcome to the internet.
hiya mate - thank you for the mention in the video - that was a real kindness and well appreciated - all the best - Rob
I work in construction, doing telecom, and I’ve used the red putty in the video a good amount. it’s worth mentioning, that the putty has a really different application than the fireproofing paint. we use putty to stop up the sleeves we use if we need to run cable through a wall, or inside an electrical box, for other applications like sealing, they use a caulk that cures hard. the putty, at least to my understanding, only needs to stop smoke getting between rooms, or, say the insulation of your cables catches fire, to stop it using the data network to spread fire throughout the whole building, I’d be interested to see how the putty reacts when heat is applied to it while it’s inside a confined space, pack some into the end of a 1” pipe or something. I dunno if the results would be different, but they might be.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Are you talking about Chico?
This is an great example of the depth of information and excellent presentation that led me to support you on Patreon. I look forward to every video you make. Keep up the great work!
Nice video as always. I also was happy seeing a Robert Murray-Smith shout out. He definetly deserves more attention
Honestly, I know I've said it a couple times, but you are my favorite RUclips channel. You find the coolest things that I have never even heard of or even thought about and make it into a super straight forward, awesome video.
You might enjoy "Tech Ingridients" as well then. 🙂 But yes, I really like this channels presentation style and clever, relatively simple ideas!
The simplicity of your videos is what schools globally are missing these days............ keep it up hawk! Love the content! Much love from Malaysia!
i wish there was an item that blocked skull basher, bkb nothing can stop it
I am a fire alarm technician. The NEC requires fire putty on any sleeve passing through a firewall.
Bearing that in mind it is applied from both sides of the entry and exit point. The small flakes in the fire putty are meant to expand and drive the putty further in towards the center of the wall and also outwards towards the center of the room. Thus it compresses and seals the point from fire being able to penetrate from one side of the wall to the other.
Great video as ever. I did think this sort of expanding fire putty stuff was put around pipes and electrical systems, allowing them to move, but in the event of a fire, the material expanded filling any gaps and therefore stopping the spread of the fire from room to room.
Yes I have an intumescent collar for a 4" pipe I might test in a short video. That is one purpose that is pretty interesting and useful
Fantastic content! And isn't Robert's love and laugh infectious!?
Thanks for the super chat! And yes Robert is certainly fun to watch.
I just want to say I love this channel. It's not always about something I'm interested in but I can tell it's always something Ben was curious about or interested in and wanted to make a video.
I work with the IBEW and often use various fire proofing products. The important thing to remember about commercial fire proofing is that they all have a time rating. So perhaps the puddy with graphite flakes are good for 1 hour while the carbon foam paint is good for a longer exposure time.
Hey! Nice another local brother 😂
Fascinating! I recently started exploring graphite use in refractory and foundry applications. Not sure how expanding graphite applies, but the information, especially graphite foil, is fascinating.
I run a firestop installation business in Indonesia, watching this video provides new insight which is very important for my business, I am very grateful and appreciative to the creator of this video
You've never led me astray with channel suggestions! Robert Murray Smith already had my subscription, but I'm sure many others will enjoy his content.
Reminds me of magic snakes from the joke shop when I was a kid. Little black pellet, you set it alight and it expands into a long 'snake'.
Man I just love this man so much, so interested in what he's saying, he might do this as a job, but he loves making this videos, I'm 98% sure of it. its been like 8 years watching you, and never got bored. Keep on making these man
Nicely done! A great video to introduce to intercalated graphite.
If you want to go a bit further, you can actually produce high quality graphene via the modified Hummer's method, which is just a few steps further.
You would need some h2o2 in your water and hydrazine as accelerator, but then make sure that the quantity is small, you have a ice chunks surrounding your Erlenmeyer flask and and extra cover (fume hood is possible). Cleaning and recovering the graphene is the most tedious step, using a roto evaporator and centrifuge at least 4-5 times.
Thanks again for the video, it does bring me back 10-12 years, when I was working on nano sensors during my PhD.
the h2o2 would have to be pure otherwise the hydrazine gets mad
@@deathedell215 I think you are right, now you mention it. I can't remember if we had any water at all. Mind it was a long time ago. I wouldn't recommend chancing it if you're unsure of what you're doing :)
You never disappoint! I was just looking into graphite as electrodes in electrolysis the other day and then you kindly show me how to make my own :D
Robert Murray-Smith's channel is plain awesome 👏
Yes boy Rob got a mention, love both your channels been watching for too many years
Awesome Video! Graphite is a really interesting material. I first learned about its intercallation property a couple of years ago when i was experimenting with dual-carbon intercallation cells as an alternative to traditional battery cells
Great video, nice to see you back nhil ;)
4:00 i think a disclaimer is needed there.
Baking soda will not negate the dangers of acids, so before anyone starts experimenting with strong acids, make sure you follow the standard safety precautions.
Always make sure you read the specific instructions and in this case, if you spill any chemicals (unknown or mixed), dilute and wash it off under flowing water for 20 mins, without rubbing on it. I don't know any exact combinations, but neutralising an acid, especially on skin can produce harmful byproducts and heat, so even a 'weak' acid can cause serious damage. Same goes for washing your hands with soap which can have unknown ingredients.
Baking soda is at minimum fine for sulfuric, nitric, and hydrochloric acids. The reaction products are sodium sulfate, sodium nitrate, and table salt respectively. Heat of neutralization is not an issue because baking soda's alkalinity is mild and the large volume of water is a heat sink. It is also a helpful solution because CO2 bubbles indicate when there is still acid present.
So I wonder what your graphite concoction would do in higher concentrations in a paint or as the foil. Just curious. Great video as always can never get enough.
Crazy. I was checking your channel very recently to make sure I hadn't got unsubscribed or missed anything. Nice to see you back!
I think the smaller mesh takes longer because of the reaction first taking place on the edge of the flakes. For the same amount of flakes, yes it'll be faster for the smaller ones, but for the same amount of mass, there will be a lot more small flakes and a lot more molecules that are the working edge
I ALWAYS learn something from your videos. They are ALWAYS so interesting! You are a brilliant man. And you make learning easy. You def have a wonderful way of teaching us and helping us understand the things you're interested in! I'm ALWAYS excited to see another video from you!! Happy Valentine's Day!
This is very interesting and informative. No unnecessary words, everything is on point!
An interesting video. Nothing wrong with your own paint test not being equal to commercial compounds. Chad move shouting out Robert. As he would point out, discovering an idea doesn't work out isn't really a failure, but gaining knowledge.
this was a really cool episode! i enjoyed it and learned a lot. very interesting as are all the applications for it.
The smaller mesh taking longer may have something to do with surface tension. It may also have something to do with a reduction in the capillary effect. Just a thought.
Or smaller flakes have more edge. 4 circles with a diameter of 1 have the same area (and with the same thickness, mass) as one circle with diameter 2, but the four smaller circles have edges with an overall length of 4pi, whereas the bigger circle has an edge with a length of 2pi. And since this reaction happens on the edge of the flakes, more edge means more reaction.
@@chstoney Oh, just wrote the same, I think this is the reason, for the same amount of flakes it'd be faster for the smaller ones, but for the same amount of mass there is a big difference in their numbers
The reaction happened faster in the larger flakes though?
Yeah, if it was just "more edge speeds up the reaction" it would have been obvious and not commented on. The actual result which is reversed implies that the reaction which opens the edge is a lot slower than the intercalation itself, which completes rapidly even if it has to cover a large surface area.
Supposing that the opening _is_ the restraining factor, then the reduced number of atoms on the edge may also be a factor: if the intercalation is sufficiently faster, then it would imply that the opening of the edge is dominated by random chance as much as anything else, with the result that "rolling more dice" is the most effective way to speed things up.
I'd love to find a good inexpensive fire resistant + heat insulating material that I could line a gun safe with. The water release on commercial products presents a problem when trying to protect the contents of a safe. Thanks for the interesting videos. I loved the starlite videos and have been a long time subscriber. Take care bud.
Ben that’s fantastic. You have a very accessible educational approach and presentation style and I’m sure that’s why your channel is so successful. Please keep it up.
Now do carbon nanotubes.
Yes!!! Nanotubes!!!!!! Yea!
The quality of your videography is top notch and the content is outstanding too. Keep up the good work.
I have a hypothesis about why the finer-grain graphite was more difficult to react: While the stoichiometry is the same (1g coarse graphite, 1g fine graphite), and while reaction rate is typically proportional to surface area, of which the fine-grain has more, in this case, it's the completion of the reaction that we're looking for, and with more surface area to react, it just takes longer (for the same concentration of acid and nitrate). I think of you used more acid and nitrate in proportion to the increased surface area, the reaction would proceed at a rate more similar to the coarse graphite. Would love to see this tested.
Kinda along the lines I was thinking. Once you pop open a layer on the coarse grain, it's open. A lot more total layer popping needs to happen with smaller particles.
When I see a NHL video drop, it is time for RUclips.
Not many channels that I drop what I'm doing to watch.
Keep on being excellent!
Thank you for yet another truly great video. It brings a smile to my face to see high quality content being successful on RUclips. I hope you are doing well. Thank you.
I haven't seen a video from you since your "How to scramble an egg in its shell," video! Boy oh boy is it nice to be watching such a fun and well put-together video. Thank you for your content brother!
You never cease to amaze.
Outstanding research and topics.
Thank you 🙏 ❤
Amazing 🤩 Just remember: don’t treat acid burns on your hands with a base to “neutralize it”. Usually bases do more damage than acids, and usually you just get a combined acid burn and base burn in the end. Best practice is just regular old running water. It will dilute the acid/base and neutralize it.
Excellent video as always! There seem to be lots of interesting further experiments to do with the various practical applications of the expanded graphite, though at the moment I am drawing a blank. But I'll look forward to the next video no matter what the topic may be, keep up the good work!
I'm always excited when one of your videos come out! Keep up the amazing work!
Big pre-grats on the 2m sub mark! You sure as hell deserved it. These videos are consistently top tier with some great subject matter throughout. Finding this channel was a blessing in disguise lol
I’ve been fire caulking/blocking all week. I remember the starlite video. I think we have all tested the fire caulking upon introduction. Surprisingly some fire blocking products will catch for just a second before going out.
"Self extinguishing" is commonly used in fireproof materials. They contain chemicals which block combustion, but are locked either mechanically or chemically inside the material until the initial flame releases them. That way the material retains it's flame retardant properties for a long time at normal temperatures even if ordinarily they'd slowly diffuse away.
I hated you for a while. Mostly becuase I thought you were full of it. But I kept watching, and kept watching, and kept watching, and realized I was just ignorant and biased.
Now you are to me the most valuable youtuber on the platform. If I could pick only one creator, I would pick you. Your videos hold more valuable than any other by far and away.
You taught me about HHO, helped me dream about what awesome things I could build. Your a spark of brilliance my friend. Thank you
Thank you, that's very kind! It speaks well of you that you kept watching someone you disagreed with and changed your opinion as a result. I'm curious what project you first saw that you thought was false?
@@Nighthawkinlight The Wife and I completely overreacted when Covid hit and spent our life savings on a boat and DIY'd it into an off-grid home basically. I was extremely worried about water. When looking up different ways to desalinize water I came across your video. "DIY Salt-Water Survival Bottle (Compact Desalination Kit)" That's the one
that originally had me pacing back and forth in my boat for hours. Using my best mental physics space in my mind I didn't see this would be viable for the quantity I might need in an emergency. So after lots and lots of other projects and going back to normal life. I found your HHO generator video to be an amazing idea for boats with a watermaker if you could get any kind of engine to run on Hydrogen or HHO you could have almost infinite range and power. That would be So cool!! Sorry for the rant. But you are massively inspiring!! Haha, Thanks again for everything!
Very informative and interesting video. I am about to get back into my long lost rocketry hobby and have been thinking about trying a 3D Printed PEEK nozzle with a graphite insert or some sort of carbon based lining. It's a pity the gas flow would rip this stuff right off. I wonder if you could use it as internal heatproofing on the combustion chamber walls. I might try it just to see what happens to it under pressure.
If you expand the graphite first you could compress it as a lining in the nozzle and it would conform to the walls in the same way it makes a foil
@@Nighthawkinlight Thanks, would I have to bond it to the walls in some way?
@@randomname4726 I'm not sure, it depends how grippy your nozzle wall is and how hard the graphite is pressed. Probably a rammed clay nozzle would benefit from having some of the expanded graphite included also.
@NightHawkInLight I will have to experiment with it. I've made plenty of little rammed clay nozzles when younger, but now I'm into bigger motors with proper turned nozzles, etc.
Last one I made was H class using a convergent/divergent nozzle made from fiberglass & metal reinforced body filler, which I cast into a cylinder and turned down on a wood lathe (no metal lathe unfortunately (yet!)). It worked brilliantly. Now, I want to make a working nozzle for an M class motor (only 32x more powerful, lol), but it will need to be stronger and also survive the exhaust for several seconds.
@@randomname4726 : If you have a wood lathe, then you have a light-duty metal lathe. You should look up how to form sheet metal over a mold on a lathe, to see if it would be useful for your projects.
Guys like NightHawk and TechIngredients are the true heroes of the RUclips.
People laughed at me when I said I had a favorite element. People who understand elements thought I was kind of boring because my favorite element is Carbon.
It's been wonderful being vindicated by people seeing just how amazing and versatile this atom is.
Makes life, protects your home from fire, makes your written records, strong, powerful, flexible.
Good ol Six. Is there anything it cannot do?
you have figured out how to get people to watch the ad read....the cute bird was brilliant ...liked and subscribed
I wonder if the putty is more designed to rely on the expansion of internal particles? Those might cause the putty to swell a little, allowing it to seal any small gaps that might remain from installation. Mixing in particles will always result in some on the surface (just like a chocolate chip cookie), and these may not add much, but you'd get some particles contained within the putty applying force to it.
damn, that was pretty interesting to pounder.
Oh finally. I missed you man. All of your videos are out of the box thinking and unique content and ideas. Keep up the good work man.
1:00 F-ck me, that's like zit popping video from hell.
your one of my favorite youtubers, incredibly underrated, been watching for years, everytime you upload i am inspired by your attention to detail, absolutly timeless.
Intriguing! Thank you for highlighting these facts.
I much appreciate your calm, articulate delivery!
New NighthawkinLight!!! Such a very cool project and deep dive into the topic!! My mind is already spinning with ideas and questions 😁🤯
How does he not have 10 million subs yet I love this channel 😭
This is me totally theorizing and not knowing what I'm talking about, but your point about the intercalation reaction happening faster with larger flakes made me think of how a low pressure lifting bag can get a lot of force over a large area. Since this reaction is one where layers are being lifted apart from each other, perhaps the reaction happens faster because these larger flakes have larger areas between them and perhaps get pulled the part more easily.
Thanks for giving Robert Murray Smith Channel a shout out. He is the reason I started my journey into electronics and engineering. I love that man.
Robert Murray Smith is a bloody talented genius been watching that guy for years
Oh my... Wow! Thank you for this video! This will be incredibly useful to me. Fr your content is seriously under rated here. You my good sir... Are the man!
Robert Murray Smith is amazing... i love his channel & childlike joy with experiments.
I am big fan of Robert Murray-Smith. His heating and electric generation videos are enlightening and easy to grasp.
So glad to hear Robert Murray Smith called out here. Both of you guys are my go-to channels to get my science related fix.
6:50 “Do as you gotta, add acid to water” it’s an old quote, but one that continues to stick with me even though I’m not a chemist. For those unfamiliar, you always pour acid into water and never the other way around, because when pouring water into acid, your likely going to create a steam bubble and splash the stuff into your face, while the other way around is much safer.
Another awesome piece of high quality content clearly made with love and passion. Thank you so much!!!
Have you seen Robert Murray Smith's arc exfoliation method? He uses a standard arc welder to exfoliate and it expands like mad. I've tried it, and mine probably expanded 5 times again what yours looked like by heating with the torch (also using no.2 flakes). It took a couple attempts at adjusting the ratio of sulfuric acid to get it super fluffy too though. Thanks for the clear explanation on what's going on as always!
I'll have to try that. I just took a shot in the dark at how much nitrate and acid to use and it worked the first time so I stuck with it. Most recipes use a ton of acid which I felt was wasteful so I cut my mix way down from normal. I'll have to try other ratios since you found it makes a big difference.
Okay I tried it again and I was exaggerating 2x fluffier, not 5x haha. Still worth playing around
great video! I think the #2 graphite will take more energy to react because it's reacting fully(more surface area), whereas #1 has less surface area overall, for the same weight of graphite.
You always make such excellent videos Ben! 👍 And I’ve followed Robert for a long time!
Fascinating process, it amazing how easy modifying graphite is(once you know how). Thanks for bringing us along. Excellent work. Could you use other bases for neutralizing the acid or does the ammonia play a specific role in the modification?
You can use other bases
WOAH. I went on a deep dive a while back about cheap adhesive carbon-based skin stretch sensors for costume puppetry, it's really cool to learn how to make a cheap low quality version of graphene! The expanded graphite foil was especially interesting though, I would love to try and roll some onto some stretch bandages and measure the resistance when it's stretched! Thank you for the clear, concise, and interesting video :D
Robert shows intercalation of graphite using electrolysis; another option if H2SO4 is not available in your country.
There's a bunch of different ways to get the job done. That makes things interesting!
Dude, your presentation skills are top notch! 🤙
Interesting video. It seems like there has to be a geat enough density of the intumescent gaphite to create a thick enough barrier to be of any use by itself. I wonder what the result would be of mixing intumescent graphite with Starlite. Would it improve overall resistance?
Murray-Smith is so much fun. He connects and so unique....like you. Sincere Thanks. Lawson
*_Not to be weird or anything, long time fan here, but within the first minute, you said this material came as a surprise._* I see it everywhere in contracting jobs of which I've been a part.
I logged in into youtube after months just to comment on your video. wour work is as always brilliant.
nice video. you always have very interesting and educational videos. you are in my top 5 RUclips channels that I love to watch the most. thank you for all the hard work that goes into your videos
11:35 Cool bird!
Love the shout-out for Roberts channel. Great video as always.
Your videos are always a complete joy. Thanks so much for making them🙂
Amazing video as usual man. Thanks so much for taking the time
Beautiful to see my three go to science guys mention each other {you, RMS, Tech Ingredients, sorry explosions and fire, Chemiolis and thiosol, love you too}
Just wanted to say thank you for the content and the excellent presentation of information that you help to pass on. I loved the one on starlight, all really good. Thank you 🙂
An absolute must watch for science interested people. Thanks for the Knowledge
Thank you sharing your high quality research delivered in such a modest manner.
Hey Ben (or anyone really), reach out if you would like any more information about the expandable graphite. I work for the company that actually manufactures this product and a host of others. Love the video, very educational, and you got most of the details correct. Cheers!
I'd be curious to know how the expandable graphite compares to activated charcoal. Specifically, as a water filter material or as a biochar alternative.
This was a great video, thank you.
Well I can tell you one thing for sure. Activated charcoal is going to be *several* orders of magnitude cheaper. Enough that if your filter needs 10x as much charcoal than graphite to achieve the same level of filtration, it would still be better to use the charcoal, unless you were severely space constrained. (Maybe your use case is on the ISS where space is at a premium.)
Very cool and interesting video! You got to love it when the experiment works perfectly.
weird thought: if the expanded graphite can be compressed into a foil, could a relatively uncompressed sheet be used as a thermal pad in computer components? usually the compression of thermal paste helps spread the paste and fill in any air gaps, and it does an okay job. however a custom cut sheet of graphite would have incredible thermal conductivity and could be compressed into a foil as a part is locked down filling even the smallest imperfections in a heat blocks surface, removing the risk of air gaps.
Could work, I'm not sure
You’re a great alchemist ~*~ Thank you
curious thought: maybe the graphite bits in the putty are meant more as a visual indicator that the putty got hot and less as a fire retardant.
some people may not know what the putty is supposed to look like normally and after heat exposure and a bunch of carbon snakes sticking out help visualise a problem with heat that needs to be fixed
Looks like your heading down a possible path for highest quality graphene good luck in your work.
That is so cool! The expanding graphite then rolling it into a foil?!?!?! 🤯
You have been so inspiring and you have shared some truly wonderful info and ideas with me. Thanks to all people like you and Robert Murray smith.
your content and delivery is so similar to ben from @AppliedScience with a trucker hat haha. love it!
Another great video from the most interesting channel on RUclips.
Just a minor heads up from a chemist:
Intercalation is typically pronounced "inter-cuh-late" not "inter-cay-late".
That being said I highly enjoy your videos and very much appreciate your safety focus
I wonder if this process could be used to make batteries more efficient, a foam instead of plates, could in theory increase surface area and therefore energy density of the battery, we'd love to see you make one! Love your videos and thank you for your great content!
Yes this has already made waves in battery tech, and also has some uses for supercaps
Perhaps use the foam inside a thin mesh pipe to increase exposure of the foam and strength of the cathode, anode? Just a thought. Pipe material would be important like stainless 306l or 308l I forget.
Nice info and video Ben. While we are talking about different carbons and graphites, have you ever looked into carbonized and graphitized cellulose nanocrystals? Another amazing material with a lot of potential for different applications--particularly battery/super conductors and composites. It is sort of a more nature close version of carbon nanorods with also some graphene like attributes.
The nice thing about it as compared to things like lab created carbon nanorods and graphene is that you can make a large amount at a time and with pretty simple/basic materials and processes. Anyways, it makes sense to start off with a source/stock material that is already high in the crystalline cellulose. Industry uses stuff like waste wood, but that has less concentration of it because lignin, hemi cellulose, etc is higher.
Interesting, I've not heard of that. I've used crystalline cellulose but never carbonized it. I'll look into it
@@Nighthawkinlight Yeah, carbonizing it increases the various strengths (tensile, Young's Modulus, etc), and graphitizing it makes it very electrically and fairly thermally conductive.
For example, when adding the carbon form of it to epoxy, some researchers have noted that adding in just 2% by weight to the epoxy will up various strengths. (Adding a lot will not so much, but does increase abrasion resistance).
Quick p.s. Processed cotton apparently has the highest percentage of crystalline cellulose per weight and volume.