Getting Manganese Dioxide, Zinc and Carbon from Batteries

[@superdave6889]

the carbon electrodes are a good way to generate a carbon arc for a furnace or to use in electrochemistry

[@tannisbrown9007]

Part of me wanted to say "nerd!" And the other part wanted to say "tell me more" lol

[@user-yw8sr3uj1w]

@@tannisbrown9007 youre commenting on a nile red video.

[@tannisbrown9007]

@@user-yw8sr3uj1w touche

[@aaronrichards5623]

😂haha i love these comment sections

[@brimful-cookie5947]

Rip T.K.O.R

[@Noah-hz5ll]

Have you considered using a white background for experiments with very dark compounds?

[@noahLittle-smith]

How dare you

[@user-tr2dh4xx6u]

Wow no need to be racist here... color is not important

[@MM-vs2et]

How about a green screen

[@NafrytiNosferatu]

as funny as some of these replies are, i support this idea.

[@mohamedshire157]

10 seconds into reading the comments and im already triggered. Shame on you.

[@blackfordoblique1965]

It's subtle. You might never realize it despite everything you might pick up in these series. Such eloquence makes information accessible to most people. Whereas some narration is off putting Nile Red could explain that, in fact, he is my favorite narrator and lack of vitamin O snap was off putting and, "I knew it!"

[@kevinbyrne4538]

Years ago, I used carbon rods from batteries as electrodes for a carbon arc furnace.

[@TheXtremeBoltGuy]

TKOR?

[@kevinbyrne4538]

@@TheXtremeBoltGuy -- No, but I did watch Grant Thompson's TKOR KZbin channel. It was a very sad day when he died as a result of a paramotoring accident.

[@heh2393]

@@kevinbyrne4538 May he rest in peace

[@TuberoseKisser]

I have zero clue as to what you're talking about but this is relaxing to watch.

[@SelinicaHarbinger]

Those carbon electrodes can make some really nice electrodes for other uses. I recall one place used them for carbon arc torches for welding. I think large scale arc furnaces use carbon electrodes, the little ones might be good if a metal needs to be melted for something.

[@bharrison4]

I need some MnO2 for the reaction with H2O2. Great video!

[@NileRed]

+Land Shark I actually totally forgot about mno2 being used for that!

[@davidpavel5017]

Filming black manganese dioxide with a black background. Genius.

[@saikittang7450]

I found the best way of removing the manganese dioxide was to first remove the carbon electrode first, then using a pair of needle nose pliers, grab onto the zinc casings. By turning pliers the zinc casings can be torn apart, leaving behind a bunch manganese dioxide wrapped in paper. The paper can be easily torn off.

[@vasiaswolfram3113]

Thanks, NileRed! I'm currently working on separating the manganese dioxide out, and your video helped a ton! I will take the advice of the other comments and purify it better.

[@Puddin]

I recycle these batteries on a pretty consistent basis. The black power you have a the end is not just MnO2. About half of that is carbon powder and it laced with iron impurities. I would even go as far as to say that your "yield" that you have there is less than 50%. Drop some of it in HCL and you will see the carbon power sink to the bottom and instead of a pink solution as you would expect with MnCl2 you will see an orange/brown solution. This is the iron contaminant. I am an avid fan of your videos but I think you dropped the ball on this one. The info you gave in this video is incorrect enough to be dangerous for people.

[@louistournas120]

He also calls it manganese dioxide. The correct name is manganese (IV) oxide.

[@ficolas2]

Both are right...

[@bluechem5479]

the water washings dissolve iron impurities and zinc chloride in the batteries in the black powder, so the main source of contamination would be elemental carbon. I see your point if one didn't wash the MnO2 before use.

[@louistournas120]

***** You would have to react it with an acid to turn it into a soluble salt. I think sulfuric acid would do. Then use a filter to remove the solid carbon. Unfortunately, this reduces the Mn(4+) to Mn(2+) if I recall correctly.

[@ClownWhisper]

Puddin you beat me to it I was going to say the same thing lot of carbon in there

[@michael3263]

To take off the battery tops use a pair of wire cutters instead of a screwdriver. Take the wire cutters and make a cut in the lip of the casing at the anode. Then use the flat edge of the wire cutters like pliers to grab and peel back the folded casing. SO MUCH EASIER! You can open one up in less than 60 seconds every time. 😀 Also, whack the casing with a hammer a few times to break up the MnO2 mix inside. Makes it a hell of a lit easier to remove.

[@No0basaurusRAWR]

I use channel locks and start on the lip. I go around the lip, gripping and pulling down, breaking the lip and start rolling the channel locks. It will peal the zinc canister off in a spiral. Once I get half way down I switch to some needle nose pliers and grab it from the bottom of the piece I was just rolling and peel it down to the base. Then I can just pull the insides out cardboard and everything undamaged.

[@aathish04]

And here I thought I'd made up the process.

[@viktoraggerholm5102]

The voiceover quality is on another level

[@nilnileer]

Ik it's very bad

[@toddoroi4947]

You should try disassembling the "F" cells from a 6 volt lantern battery, out of one lantern battery you get quite a sizeable yield of Zinc, MnO2 and some quite large carbon rods.

[@bugsbunny8691]

You ought to take one apart too, I know you'll be surprised at what you find... Spoiler Alert!!: 4 D-Batteries. Take a 9 volt battery apart and SURPRISE: 6 Triple A's.

[@arthurbourasseau4845]

@@bugsbunny8691 It's actually quadruple A's in 9v batteries

[@threesixtydegreeorbits2047]

@@arthurbourasseau4845 thats like A^24 😱

[@user-lb8do4ew6k]

@@bugsbunny8691 ummm, no. There are 4 F cells in a lantern battery & there 6 AAAA's in a 9 volt.

[@UnknowableThen]

I really would do this to make a pigment to make cool paintings with. Its such a pretty color.

[@chrxs_383]

(Probably has been said before) You can use the carbon for electrolysis of water to make a hydrogen generator or just for electrolysis in general.

[@tyt0uoff146]

Manganese Dioxide is a REALLY BIG MESS to clean up of the glasswear

[@nico142]

Na2SO3 should work

[@SuperAngelofglory]

H2O2 should wash it away

[@Chemoscopy]

What all you told is right. Try adding mild acids or some reactive but don't do use hcl it may react with the floor and may cause a severe mess

[@zillertalernazihass]

Holy shit I tried this at home. MnO2 is ths dirtiest chemical I've ever seen. I contaminated my whole house. Its so fucking hard to wash it off. Damn... What a mess

[@dirkherrmann8022]

As a child I used to take apart old zinc-carbon batteries to get hold of the carbon rods for plasma experiments (with life-threatening 220 V wiring ☠️ and a stench of NO2 in the kitchen air). It’s fun to watch ultra-fireproof magnesia sticks melt down above 2800 °C, or to distort a plasma flame between bar magnets, loudly vibrating at 50 Hz. I even built a working 220 V plasma-burner from these rods (hollowed out to direct the air + arc plasma through the electrode). Together with soda I converted the MnO2 to sodium manganate in my Grandma’s coal-fired oven, which formed nice purple NaMnO4 with time. No access to chemicals - so one has to help oneself. As for the zinc... well, there was not so much of the metal left once the batteries had finally died. Anyway, I used that metal to build other batteries (eg. Cu/Zn). Sounds silly, is silly... but was fun to stack the coins to reach some 50 Volts and to draw little arcs out of formerly dead batteries.

[@OrcinusLaryngologist]

Nice, you should write an intractable. We’d love it over at the site. 👌🏽

[@chemistryenthusiast8091]

In my chemistry class, we use Manganese (IV) Oxide as a catalyst for decomposition reaction of Potassium Chlorate, the catalyst speeds up the rate of production of oxygen gas.

[@EnkiduAk]

Might be interesting to see you convert the zinc to U-Ni-B and try to reduce your vanillin oxime again. Most of the literature that I've read on U-Ni-B catalyzed reductions involve high pressure systems, would be nice to see a demonstration at normal pressures.

[@sebastianflynn1746]

Looking back at these old nile red videos is funny, it's changed so much.

[@nilnileer]

They*

[@TheChemistryShack]

that 4K bromine tho

[@sizzlenotsteak]

Have used the carbon rod to replace the brushes in a motor - worked real good. Undying gratitude to my mentor, Jervis H Collins, who taught me this; we got the table saw going again. Was in his shop when the news of Elvis's death came over the radio.

[@todor_.]

That crystallizing dish though, the horror.

[@NileRed]

+Dankula It died after i burned phosphorus in it :(

[@todor_.]

Nile Red R.I.P crystallizing dish; you will not be missed.

[@indigo6619]

+Nile Red Time for a HF acid clean.

[@ClownWhisper]

+Nile Red its probably etched not ditry. I have never had a good base bath fail to clean up anything

[@NileRed]

Clown Whisper I have actually in the past had some stubborn stuff in RBFs that wouldnt clean out with anything. Base bath, water bath, aqua regia (trying everything). It had to be manually dislodged. Not sure what it was.

[@iwoborowicz6004]

I highly reccomend reducing MnO2 to MnSO4 by a mixture of sulfuric and oxalic acid. It just produces CO2 as a effect of reducing Mn4+ to Mn2+. And then turn it into MnCO3, it's the purest way i found. The paste you find inside is MnO2 mixed with graphite powder, that's why you need to reduce to something soluble like MnSO4 to filter it off.

[@scottaw1981]

for removing the contents of a dry cell battery that was covered in corrosion, I brushed a solution of 'Cream of Tartar' and vinegar around the zinc shell and wrapped in paper towel, soak in the solution. After a few minutes the casing just crumbles away allowing easy access to the core material. I was using a lantern cell, two of cells were bad, but the other were in perfect condition. I would not use this if you wish to keep the zinc of a good battery.

[@martingardener]

Oh this would have been a great chance to demo sohxlet extraction of the electrolyte! Its hypnotising to watch :)

[@ametrinemoon]

thank you for your donation to science batteries!

[@tf3confirmedbuthv54]

Bonus: the carbon rods are phenomenal for high temperature operation and are great conductors, good for arc welding

[@rumeunner3245]

About 10 years ago I took dozens of carbon rods out of old batteries and cleaned them and they were in good condition. Eventually I put them up for sale on ebay and got some money for them.

[@Lucy-vk1el]

It's so much more satisfying sourcing materials from common objects and chemicals. Buying a canister of oxygen is way less fun than making it yourself from some batteries' MnO2 and hydrogen peroxide.

[@allurared9029]

Hello, I tried this for myself with a cheap lantern battery and I found a few things to note firstly, dont do this in a place you cant clean up, its difficult second, try cutting the zinc can open and peeling it around the paper, you get the entire clump out and you can peel the paper off third, The chemical actually isnt just carbon and manganese dioxide, it can contain zinc chloride and ammonium chloride. Sometimes, typically when the battery is called heavy duty, the powder inside is composed mostly of zinc chloride.

[@danieliusb2234]

It was mentioned that both electrolytes get removed with the washing

[@bpark10001]

I would have thrown the batteries with the tops opened into a container of boiling water. This would have liquefied the cell contents and made disassembly easier without all the digging. You ended up having to throw a bunch of water in anyway. Doing it earlier would have made everything easier. I would have used tap water until the final washings. You are discarding all the water-soluble stuff anyway, and it isn't hazardous. You could open-fire the MnO2 to eliminate carbon dust after drying (there is a lot of that mixed in to make the MnO2 conductive, as electrons have to get from the cathode connection, through the carbon rod, and to the MnO2 to complete the cell half-reaction). There are most likely organic gelling agents and thickeners in there also. Many of these will wash out if you use enough water. For thew carbon rods, you need to fire those to get rid of tar and other organics.

[@Angelisium]

I'd like to see the Luminol one, since I will be doing it in Organic 2 this semester! Would be lovely to see it done before hand.

[@theravinglunatic470]

great work man, keep up the good videos!

[@krisraps]

Thumbs Up for Reycling And Reusing The Water Jugs, I Do The Same, Use Them In All Kind Of Projects for washing stuff and puting stuff in

[@Cardmaster12]

To this day nigel still doesn’t know what’s at the bottom of his crystallizing dish

[@Codename-B]

Great, I needed a cheap source for Manganese Dioxide for Parkerizing stuff. Thanks!

[@putinscat1208]

You can buy a 500g bottle for $11.60

[@Codename-B]

@@putinscat1208 Sadly is a controlled substance where Im from.

[@putinscat1208]

@@Codename-B Except for enhancing fireworks it is pretty tame.

[@GingerbreadGerard]

KZbin can't demonatize a channel that actually teaches you things !!!!

[@deakenwylie3819]

I found it amusing that, when KZbin suggested, for the nth time, that I rewatch this video, the first ad was a consumer safety PSA from LGChem about the dangers of handling bare dry-cell batteries. A built-in "don't try this at home", as it were.

[@willyou2199]

Had i had access to hydrochloric acid or sulfuric acid, would've just dumped the entire de-shelled battery assembly into acid, with the manganese dioxide and cardboard inside. Zinc and manganese would dissolve into the acid, the electrolyte which would be zinc or ammonium chloride would be soluble, and you had to just decant away the carbon and cardboard. Zinc would be easily electroplated out of the solution, using the scavenged carbon electrodes as an anode, and manganese chloride + small impurities left in the solution

[@bigboineptune9567]

Do it outside or in a fume hood as manganese dioxide reacts with hydrochloric acid to make chlorine gas.

[@dogodogo5891]

did you try this method? have bulk of manganese dioxide and surely there' so much impurity on there

[@thebestofall007]

Nile Red, could you make a battery next time around, like a type Nurdrage hasn't covered such as nickel-iron or nickel-zinc, or improve on one Nurdrage has covered?

[@erokfussell]

You could always use the carbon electrodes to make potassium perchlorate via electrolysis:)

[@jebug29]

I really want to see the video where you show the effects of common acids on your skin. Hearing you say it a few videos ago terrified me, but now I'm really curious - especially since I've been using sulfuric acid a lot. Have you considered doing any videos on polymer synthesis (or maybe just something like making cellulose acetate film)?

[@NileRed]

+Jesse Downing Ive actually not considered any polymer stuff yet. That kind of stuff does fascinate me though Ive already filmed putting the acid on my hand. I filmed it in 4K though, so i am trying to upload all my older videos first before starting on the 4K stuff. I think have like 5 more videos? So maybe we are looking at the first or second week of Feb.

[@jebug29]

Oh okay. That's not too far away anyway lol. I look forward to all of them ^^ Polymer synthesis is pretty cool. I tried making cellulose acetate today, but I'll have to wait until tomorrow to actually see how it came out. It was the first time I used chloroform - which terrified me - but, hey, that's what fume hoods are for. If you ever get into it, look into the synthesis of polyethylene, polystyrene, bakelite, and cellulose acetate. Those are fairly easy to make (well, the PE might not be), and they're not covered much on KZbin.

[@NileRed]

***** I plan to make some polystyrene at some point!

[@itssciencedude5893]

Awesome videos. I'm glad I stumbled upon your channel.

[@caitlyn7310]

Oh wow, I realized I didn’t comprehend a single word he said, I was so zoned out thinking about other things

[@NextGenAge]

Perchloric acid synthesis also seems much fun, it's the strongest acid (better than sulphuric acid and nitric acid). It's made from reacting KClO4 or NaClO4 with HCl and can be purified by distillation. It's used in rocket fuel and as superacid it has a pKa of -10, and is used in creating perchlorate salts. Some side note: It's reacts violently with organic material, e.g. a bath of 1000L with 75% Perchloric acid and 25% acetic anhydride exploded and destroyed 25 homes and damaged 250 nearby houses. Seems fun!

[@lavasharkandboygirl9716]

Nile: “The function of batteries is outside the scope of the paper” Translation: “I have no idea how batteries work”

[@noahd8673]

You can use The carbon electrodes for electrolysis

[@DOKA2001]

Oh wow i finally know what the black stuff in those batteries is. I took apaet a ton of those heavy duty 6 volt batteries and had a total of 1.3kg of manganese dioxide

[@Krotiro]

In dry cells there are other components, not only MnO2. Also ZnCl2 and NH4Cl, but I think that those salts dissolved into water when you washed it.

[@nevenjaganjac3229]

Ypu can always do some kind of electrolysis with carbon electrodes. Maybe a small Hoffman aparatus or something. Or a small aparature for synthesis of Cl2(g) from NaCl solution.

[@DryLog420]

Yay! Dollarama! This means you are also Canadian :-) Cheers bud

[@yasyasmarangoz3577]

what

[@DryLog420]

@@yasyasmarangoz3577 clearly I wasn't talking to you... Dollarama is a dollar store chain that is only in Canada...

[@yasyasmarangoz3577]

@@DryLog420 cLeArLy I wAsN't TaLkInG tO yOu, no shit sherlock? Maybe he just bought it there, I've seen him using German chemicals, does that mean he's German?

[@DryLog420]

@@yasyasmarangoz3577 wow you are continuing to impress me. I didn't realise people get involved in other shit. If you think hes german good for you.

[@orgnish]

@@yasyasmarangoz3577 nile is actually canadian tho

[@sgeorgeBJ]

you are very good.excelent job. i m thinking what do you know about lysergic acid, diethylamide and using them together?

[@NileRed]

+George Santis I know that lysergic acid is something you should forget about

[@sgeorgeBJ]

+Nile Red what diethylamide is and it could be like liniment?

[@tinsoffish1810]

Send me all your results😀

[@tinman5691]

Hear hear , I also accept samples from such experiments. Along with checks and money orders. Message and I'll send a self addressed stamped envelope right away!

[@Otaku3009]

What is the difference in the extracted material between a fully charged and a dead battery I wonder? Less ionized when dead?

[@allurared9029]

i just got around to purifying this by filtering dissolving the chlorides and filtering and it made a huge mess. after mom yelling at me for having the kitchen table occupied i threw it all in some baking pans and put it in the oven. you actually dont need to wear gloves while doing this, i didn't and no irritation occurred at all. I would still wear gloves though, as it was fairly hard to clean off the black goop.

[@edgeeffect]

When I used to take batteries apart, I was always looking for a good method to purify out the carbon and the dregs of the electrolyte.

[@davidallen9459]

I'd like seeing some ammonium formate for the next video. I tried making some myself, but I got an abysmal yield. I'd like to see the approach you take.

[@gingie3397]

Nice job. Keep up the good work.

[@lavasharkandboygirl9716]

Is this safe? To take batteries apart? I’m looking to get a bunch of thin sheet zinc for an experiment and batteries are probably a really good way to get it

[@anarchoicarus1119]

You can also use 6V batteries for a larger source of manganese dioxide

[@toryknotts8026]

I feel like I should be on some kind of watch list, after viewing this

[@OmegasParadox]

That 4k, I could see your fingerprints. Can't wait.

[@alexnomad5382]

That's a lot of work. Just crack the batteries open at both ends, remove the organcie materials (carbon electrode, plastic and paper) then heat it up to 535c. The ammonium chloride will evaporate and the manganese dioxide will melt away from the steel shell.

[@Boogie_the_cat]

"Brawndo's got what plants crave, because it's got electrolytes." "But what ARE electrolytes?" "They're the stuff they use to make Brawndo"

[@metou3072]

Use a tubing cutter on both sides of the zinc tube and you can then easily push the magnese dioxide from one side and out the other without having to remove the outer casing... and you will be able to take out the carbon very easy after cutting with the tubing cutter by pulling the positive side of the battery while the metal is still covering the carbon

[@williamjohnson2105]

would the carbon rods be suitable for any electrochemisty projects, that may call for a graphite electrode?

[@OrcinusLaryngologist]

Yes.

[@Mister_Brown]

you can also use the big cells from lantern batteries or even better the flat packs that are sometimes in lantern batteries

[@flame3723]

'This was a dead dream' story of my life bro

[@danieliusb2234]

Sadly it's difficult to get a hold of carbon-zinc batteries nowadays, mostly replaced by the alkaline ones. That means no carbon electrode, more throwaway parts and extra filtering to get the zinc powder out

[@TheSqoou]

9:19 the bottom of the dish is possibly what makes it capable of causing crystals to form. 10:34 The carbon electrodes can be used as anodes and cathodes to make high voltage arcs melt metals. Grant Thompson did it a while back with bigger ones from 12 volt dollar store batteries.

[@vylbird8014]

How does a zinc-carbon battery work? Briefly.

[@danz9211]

Not very well.

[@pietrotettamanti7239]

Manganese dioxide is the cathode, and it gets reduced. Zinc metal is the anode and it gets oxidized. Ammonium chloride here serves the same purpose as the salt bridge in a classic galvanic cell. It closes the circuit, providing the negative ions to the anode and the positive ions to the cathode. If this isn't clear or you need anymore details I'll provide them.

[@ServitorSkull]

I like how you say "we" :)

[@PhilmoreJenkins]

Might be a silly question, but wouldn't the bottom of the crytillizing dish be scratched/scuffed on purpose in order to form a surface for crystals to form? To my knowledge crystals have a hard time forming on smooth surfaces, so wouldn't it be abrasive on purpose?

[@griml0gic420]

6v lantern batteries are a good choice as they are very large and only contain 4 cells

[@yingxiawei821]

2:34 “the next thing we do is we target the victim that will be sacrificed first” -NileRed

[@hollingharris659]

oh wow that's sweet. i wanted to do electrolysis but didn't want to have to buy carbon electrodes. now i can just crack open a couple of dead batteries instead

[@bkm83442]

Wouldn't it be easier to make MnO2 by decomposing peroxide with KMnO4? It will produce oxygen, MnO2, and KOH? You can decant or filter off the KOH with additional washing as necessary.

[@1st_ProCactus]

Get the 6 volt lantern battery's. They have 4 massive cells in them.

[@igrewold]

cost? Seems he got these C/D cells for a dollar pair/each

[@philkarn1761]

Even better, get some #6 dry cells. They were common when I was a kid, but I don't know how available they are now.

[@Lunas2525]

Zinc has a low melting point could melt zinc cans clean off dross and have mostly pure zinc. As for the ends and outer shell steel recycles

[@misterdecaro]

Interesting video, thank you. I am curious, what you are using bromine for? I had to look it up and apparently it has many uses, can you say what yours is? I am collecting used zinc-carbon batteries for their zinc and carbon rods. The zinc for metal casting and galvanizing. The carbon to melt metal with electrical current. I tried to find a use for the paste so I could recyIe most of the battery but I couldn't find anything until I stumbled on this video. Since its main use is in batteries, I don't really have a use for it. If you would like to trade, I can use your zinc and carbon rods and send you the maganese dioxide. Let me know :)

[@Tiyagi99]

The outer shell is easier to take off using needle nose pliers. Twist the pliers while holding the shell and it will wind onto the pliers.

[@seannot-telling9806]

I always enjoy your videos. Keep them coming. Happy Halloween 2018

[@Austin_159]

Hello from a fellow Canadian! Nice seeing another large Canadian channel… I feel like you don’t see very many large Canadian channels (at least in comparison.) What part of Canada are you from? Toronto here! Anyways amazing channel keep up the great work man.

[@jacobopstad5483]

I was hoping to know more about what could be done with used batteries.

[@buckstarchaser2376]

At 3:57, you've made a "sports battery". It's just as juicy, but it's much lighter. You've greatly increased its value, as the purchaser would be paying for what's "NOT" there. Alternatively, it's also now an "eco friendly battery", for the same reasons, but you may need to put the color green somewhere on it for full value appreciation. Scheele's Green for maximum irony.

[@chemicalaffair.]

Get lantern (block-) batteries - they are really the best! They got a huge amount of manganesedioxide in it!

[@hamzarafiq9347]

Carbon rods can be use to write on paper..... 😂

[@jpbonhomme5051]

That's because they're graphite

[@hamzarafiq9347]

@@jpbonhomme5051 because they are made of carbon. Graphite is also carbon.

[@jpbonhomme5051]

@@hamzarafiq9347 I'm aware of that

[@jpbonhomme5051]

@hamzarafiq9347 My point is that the carbon rods to which you refer are specifically made of graphite. Graphite is also what's used in pencils

[@jpbonhomme5051]

@@hamzarafiq9347 Duuuuh!

[@chemicalmaster3267]

Nile Red! It´s possible to use those carbon electrodes for certain electrolysis, for example you can make copper metal and sulfuric acid from copper (II) sulfate! What do you think about making a video about this?

[@shadowphyre4746]

trust me I tried it 2 years ago and it is not worth it.for large amounts you get really weak sulfuric acid and the procces is painfully slow

[@loganmante3321]

Carbon electrodes don't work very well and the only kind you can really use even slightly is platinum and nurd rage has already done it

[@wynterthebluewolf5264]

Bet NileRed wont see this but if by miracle you do, could you maybe do a video on how to convert MnO2 into just Mn metal. I can't really think of any way to be able to do this except by a thermite with magnesium, and even if that is the case I thought it would be a good thing to cover.

[@kadenlarson9992]

oh you feel bad for people that have to do that with double A's? imagine doing that with the 6 tiny batteries inside a 9volt

[@JaredRijo]

One day I opened a batterie and it had manganese dioxide and I didn’t know it was manganese dioxide and I spent like 2 month trying to discover what it is and now I just see a video and I figured it out

[@DonaldSleightholme]

does carbon oxidise in air? what if you drop carbon or carbon power into pure oxygen? 🤷‍♂️

[@quoverlord9398]

It will react very slowly, Carbon burnt in Oxygen should raise the reaction energy...

[@pietrotettamanti7239]

Well, thermodinamically speaking, it reacts. But not much happens at room temperature.

[@196Stefan2]

Maybe the carbon electrodes can still be useful for the synthesis of "home-grown" Sodium by an electrolysis of molten NaOH or a mixture of molten NaCl and MgCl2 (two salts for the melting point depression)?

[@alstayer4540]

Just a heads up channel lock pliers breaks up the manganese easy and it falls out

[@desromic]

Hmm, maybe it would have been easier to pull out the carbon rod, use a pair of metal sheers to cut the zinc shell lengthwise, and open it up to pull out the whole mass of MnO2 all at once. I will try it sometime.

[@Egamarch]

I work in an EMD plant (electrolytic MnO2). That is the what's used in these.

[@SuperAngelofglory]

"Note: A good portion of the MnO2 from these batteries is actually carbon. It still worked for my bromine synthesis, but it is something to keep in mind." - should be fun to use as a catalist for KClO3 decomposition

[@Halloween111]

I've used the carbon rods in 6 volt lantern batteries as electrodes in an arc furnace powered with microwave transformers.

[@ankitnandi6439]

Some people in my country India do say that the AA batteries are the most value-saving because they provide more Zinc and Manganese Dioxide.

[@ClownWhisper]

You can get enormous amount of manganese dioxide by simply purchasing from Pottery supplies and if you want pure form purchase manganese carbonate which is much pure from the same source and heating it I think it's 473 degrees Fahrenheit? It's 200 Celsius I think? At any rate for twenty bucks you can get pounds and pounds of it