Make a Chemical Garden From Cat Litter, Drain Opener, and Root Killer

In this video we're going to use silica in crystal cat litter, sodium hydroxide in drain opener, and copper sulfate in root killer to make the famous chemical garden experiment.
Get 60g of silica gel based cat litter. This is often called "crystal cat litter". Add to it 30g of sodium hydroxide and 100mL of water. The reaction will get hot so be careful. This reaction forms sodium silicate. You may have to leave it overnight if it goes slowly. But few grains of leftover cat litter is acceptable.
Dilute the mixture by adding another 800mL of water. This cannot be added earlier as the mixture must be highly concentrated to successfully make sodium silicate.
Thoroughly mix the solution.
Now drop in a dozen large crystals of copper sulfate (around 1-2cm size). It's recommended to separate them for best looking results.
Over the course of two days the crystals will seem to sprout and grow as the reaction progresses.
What's happening is quite fascinating. As soon as you drop the crystals in, the surface of the copper sulfate dissolves but immediately reacts with the sodium silicate solution to form solid copper silicate. This coats the crystal so it's encased in a layer of copper silicate. But the silicate layer isn't perfectly impervious or rigid, water can still diffuse in. As it diffuses in it dissolves the copper sulfate underneath and forms a solution. This concentrated solution pushes out as the water continues to diffuse in and increases in pressure. The copper silicate membrane bulges out but eventually it can't contain the pressure and ruptures. The copper sulfate solution rushes out of the rupture and instantly reacts with sodium silicate solution to form another layer of copper silicate.
This layer is newer and weaker so as the pressure builds again it too will rupture and the process repeats. This gives the appearance of a growing structure. It grows upward because the density of the copper sulfate solution is lower than that of the sodium silicate.
Overall this looks like a growing stalagmite of copper silicate.
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[@NurdRage]

Do not worry about my lab situation, plenty of chemistry can still be done even without one. And i've got some old unedited video i might cut together as "lab notes" as they're not complete enough for full videos.

[@FirstLast-kv1iq]

Even without a lab, you can make videos just as educational and entertaining as always

[@playful1510]

Wait, what happened to the lab? I must have missed it.

[@garbleduser]

@nurdRage Can you siphon out he aqueous solution and replace it with a polymer resin?

[@NurdRage]

@Garbled User : Yes, you have to be VERY careful and inevitably there will be some breakage. But i've seen some amazing art pieces done by professional artists using the same technique.

[@garbleduser]

Thank you!

[@mrlithium69]

Holy shit. At 6:58 to 6:59 you can actually see a double helix forming ! The two strands used each other as a support structure like a vine going up a tree.

[@MattExzy]

Rock-creature evolution is imminent.

[@thugasaurusrex6004]

Holy shit you have some good eyes.

[@Boomchacle]

how the heck did you see that

[@Troubledsham]

WOW! good eye, thats so cool.

[@kevins6277]

Yeah saw that. It was pretty cool

[@AppliedScience]

I always wondered why those chemical gardens grew upwards. Great choice of topic.

[@ScrapScience]

Very cool. I love how even though you're doing more of this 'home chemistry', you're still going into just as much detail and the results look just as good. Hope you get a lab back soon.

[@robdawg1017]

I always get excited when NurdRage uploads!! NR is the OG chemistry channel...

[@KacKLaPPeN23]

It's so sad that he's getting fucked over by YT this much while NileRed is exploding. Not that I don't agree with NileRed getting so much traction but as someone who watches both channels I don't see where the huge disparity comes from.

[@mizuki4002]

@@KacKLaPPeN23 I mean NileRed is good, it's not like a good channel doesn't deserve to grow just because another is not

[@antigen4]

it's ok - both are owned by the same person anyway - note the initials??

[@antigen4]

actually it's really similar if you listen - just slowed down/digitally altered ... similar cadence ... the use of 'anyways' a lot

[@KnakuanaRka]

KacKLaPPeN23 Yeah, NileRed is a good channel, if aimed towards a different audience (NurdRage is obviously aimed more towards people who already know some chemistry, while NileRed is more for laymen), but NurdRage shouldn’t be getting screwed over like this.

[@TitanUranusOfficial]

You brought me back 45 years - I remember having the kits several times as a kid.

[@ponthis1]

In 1979 I bought a chemistry set with $5.00 I had gotten for my birthday. The first experiment I did was the chemical garden. Thank you for bringing back that Memory of my childhood.

[@booboyBL]

I remember doing this experiment as a kid. I used ‘water glass’ or isinglass, (sold as an egg preservative, IIRC) as the silicate. I used copper and ferrous sulphates and cobalt chloride as the ‘seeds’ It’s nice to see some ‘home chemistry’ experiments on YT again. I used to watch an old channel ‘TheHomeScientist’ which is well worth a look for anyone into this kind of thing.

[@nunyabisnass1141]

You can still get some of these crystal gardens from some craft stores. Also, i would suggest thst if you want to strengthen and preserve the crystals, you can add a layer of clear epoxy to the top, while simultaneously syphoning out the reaction mixture from the bottom. That way the crystals are coated and supported as you remkve the liquid.

[@godfreypoon5148]

I must add - it's best to use fresh cat litter. This is a pretty little experiment, and it really spoils the effect when there is a cat turd floating around on the top.

[@captianmorgan7627]

Fun. I may try this with some impressionable minds over the holiday.

[@kim99may]

I remember these! So cool. Thank you for the actual science and history.

[@steakhousejohn5990]

This is the kind of thing that inspires aspiring chemists to keep on experimenting: a great KZbinr making quality content even with extremely limited resources. Keep up the great work!

[@TF2Scout10]

Yeah I do remember when they used to sell these in little packets and they had a little jar that had a mermaid or something on it and I would sit there for hours watching it grow I also had a crystal kit and a sea monkey kit I don't see the sing garden kit in stores anymore

[@clydepiper4046]

A kid friendly alternative from when I was a child is a washing soda solution over a fish bowl filled with charcoal briquettes - "alien landscape" - : )

[@m2hmghb]

You got forced out of your comfort zone and still created a great video. Bravo!

[@subornogupta5867]

Using a large excess of copper sulfate, evaporating off the excess water and slowly filling up it with epoxy would make a really cool chemists art!

[@thescud24]

I love the idea of a new "Bathroom Chemistry" series of videos

[@RaExpIn]

I like the idea of using the heat of the sodium hydroxide dissolving in the water, instead of heating the mixture externally.

[@CrucialMuzic]

Who would've thought this was going to be so dang interesting!?!?! I love it :)

[@Nuovoswiss]

For home chemistry of entrepreneurial value, I suggest the Akabori reaction of alanine with benzaldehyde into phenylpropanolamine. There was a big ScienceMadness thread on that way back in the day, but I never really followed it to know if it panned out or not.

[@Nuovoswiss]

bonus points if you investigate any of their interesting reductions of phenylalanine.

[@TheJohn8765]

That's great. I'm going to order some stuff off Amazon and replicate this. It's oddly beautiful.

[@beholdr87]

I noticed at 6:58 one of the Cobalt Silicate structures formed a helical spiral as it progressed, looked cool :D

[@Flederratte]

Great video! Even without a lab your chemistry videos are of very good quality.

[@Chemoscopy]

I gotta say nurdrage is definitely an experienced person pulling his weight over a decade

[@keithyinger3326]

I remember those kits as a kid. Had a half a dozen different salts for different colors. I guess we just had enough common sense to not eat the stuff. We were also probably age 10+ also. Still a fascinating experiment.

[@MFT9170]

I think I have a nice present for my brother. Thanks.

[@pacman10182]

the safety concerns wouldn't be such a big problem if the idea of parental supervision hadn't been completely abandoned

[@UnitSe7en]

*IMPRESSIVE GROWTH*

[@DrakkarCalethiel]

I forgot about 3 liters of copper sulphate solution months ago I planed to use for lage ammounts of Schweizers Reagent. Got some HUGE crystals out that had just minor defects in them. The largest one was almost 9 cm large! Glad that I didn't pulverize all of the "small" ones yet. Must look great with over 8mm large ones!

[@Buzzhumma]

Very cool . I will be sure to make one for my office and decorate it will a garden path and little gnome reading a book . I will use a large plastic water bottle that I can drain from drilling hole in bottom in order to not disturb my fragile forest . I may even add some copper sulphate crystal to a string for a boundary hedge 👍🏻

[@delta2257]

As usual KZbin doesn’t notify me when it’s actually posted

[@KainYusanagi]

Check your bell status. If it's not a ringing bell, you don't get EVERY video as notification.

[@randomergy683]

Damn. I was working on this exact video lol. That's ok, you're able to explain things better anyway haha. Ive been following your channel for a decade now and still love the content.

[@KowboyUSA]

Always worth the watch. Thank you, fellow nurd.

[@KeithYipKW]

I hosted a workshop for my younger schoolmates using a more concentrated solution. The gardens grew much faster. They looked good initially. After taking mine back home, it broke completely and looked more like a landfill than a garden.

[@loveterrortattoo7867]

Where are your new videos:/ Would love to see a synthesis of perchlorates. It’s been a while since you posted some fun pyro style chemistry experiments. Also, Oleum... & white fuming nitric acid . The real stuff. I have read up on it and it seems extremely difficult but I would love to see you make it :). Your channel has been the reason I have become fascinated with chemistry and overall science. Thank you for that

[@mrobviuos74]

I will definitely try this! I remember getting these "toys" when I was a child. What would happen if you were to put the copper sulfate crystals in the concentrated solution? Thank you for the video 😁

[@LoriH2O]

I remember doing this in my parents kitchen as a kid. Fun stuff :)

[@fxm5715]

I remember growing these from a kit back in the 1970s. As I recall, they were mostly blue/green like these copper sulphate, but had some other colors, too, but those had far fewer growths. I'm guessing the copper sulphate was the cheapest metal salt available, so they just used a few little pieces of the more expensive ingredients.

[@VinsCool]

That was simple but awesome!

[@rolanddawson117]

This already looks pretty neat.

[@freeitenzpls]

Is there anything stopping us from using a combination of salts (to produce different colors)? Also, could we add a food dye color to the water to give the solution a background color? I might actually try the above ideas. Thank you for the video!

[@yohaijohn]

Thank you! Amazing. That came right on time

[@SmallMartingale]

I have a jug of engine seize (sodium silicate 50%) can I just use that and skip step one? Cool video!

[@NurdRage]

You'll need to dilute it down to the proper concentration. But yes. It'll work.

[@minxythemerciless]

The blue crystals in the cat litter can be any one of several different chemicals. In the cheap stuff it's usually just dyes, really expensive ones have cobalt chloride as a moisture indicator. I recently made a big batch without removing them and ended up with a light brown suspension that slowly settled out over some weeks - Iron compound? Anyway, I'd recommend removing the blue crystals to get a more consistent result.

[@TheZombieSaints]

oh this is a great experiment! Ive actually got all the ingredients for once lol. thanks nerdrage

[@SheikhN-bible-syndrome]

This reminds me of that story of "fish tank dope " or the other name for it was "gun blue dope" sounds just like it

[@hobomnky]

yay back to the basics

[@stephenjacks8196]

Vermiculite, if you can find it, dissolves in sulfuric acid. Apparently the silica sheets are protonated not digested. Interesting to react it with Waterglass, or do a crystal garden.

[@etienneguyot9069]

Cool and beautiful...

[@MegaFPVFlyer]

Cat litter that has an exothermic reaction with water? I guess that's one way to keep your cat warm

[@SheikhN-bible-syndrome]

No it's the NAOH that made it hot

[@lohphat]

I remember 4 or 5 colored crystals in the original retail kits. What were the chemicals?

[@PhilieBlunt666]

I think the periodic table channel has a video about this that shows several crystals used

[@steves1015]

lohphat in mine I remember copper sulfate (blue), cobalt chloride (purple), and iron sulfate (greenish). The yellow and the white ones I can’t remember but may have been another iron salt for the yellow and could have been alum for the white.

[@hotdrippyglass]

Just a note to let you know that your absence is noted. I hope you can return to making videos soon.

[@Diamonddavej]

I grew a nice chemical garden using solution of Sodium Carbonate (1.5 molar) that I added a few crystals of MnCl2 to, CaCl2 might work too. I got the recipe from a 1911 book by Stéphane Leduc, The mechanism of life.

[@PhilieBlunt666]

I was gonna say I remember getting these as a kid , I believe they were called magic rocks

[@Peoplespilates]

Best chemical garden!!

[@jotaro4874]

You should have given some example of colored crystals for example red green yellow and so on, it could have been really interesting to experiment

[@ABaumstumpf]

I would not say it got little to do with the way cells form nowadays when considering that currently what is happening in your experiment is considered the proto-stage of life it self - a simple chemical process that gives rise to a more complex structure that acts as a membrane for life. Not with the same chemicals of course, but this is one of the most likely candidates for how the first cells (viruses and bacteria mostly) formed.

[@jtbmetaldesigns]

I know it might be boring but calcium chloride might do something neat. Wollastanite, a naturally occurring calcium metasilicate, has some interesting crystal habits. Although water glass is more of a sodium bisilicate than metasilicate.

[@catdogfishdogcats]

"don't worry about the lab situation, there's plenty of chemistry possible without one", *Inactive for 4 months* MonkaHmm

[@ThePharphis]

Awesome video

[@II_superluminal_II]

man I am furious you aren't getting the attention you deserve wtff

[@Dafex1]

I remember table salt forming small mushrooms, I guess these were impurities or the anti-caking agent.

[@9daywonda]

I remember these as a kid, you can even use other chemicals also for different colours.

[@LFTRnow]

Iron sulfate will give a nice green and isn't too hard to get or make (iron plus copper sulfate gives iron sulfate solution + copper).

[@peterkarlsson15]

I'm posting here because it is the latest video. I have noticed you are using E-flasks a lot, even in destillations. So therefor I wonder if you or anyone else here knows if it would be "safe" to say destill Sulfuric acid using E-flasks. Off course you would have to have a very good hotplate but if that was the case. Would it be as viable as a heating mantel and an RB flask?

[@generalingwer4341]

Lol.yep ive been in bathroom too.made a removable cover for my bathtub to do chemistry on....

[@anvilbound705]

Probably a bad idea, because who knows what reactions you'd get, but different color crystals in the same bath would be colorful and fun if it can be done safe

[@MerakiEarth]

Is there a reason why you added water to the solids? Typically we add solids to liquids to avoid splashing, or for the reaction to become too hot too quickly when it's endothermic (like adding acid to water instead of water to acid). Do you not have enough material that you don't worry about this, or is it something else? Thank you

[@ZoonCrypticon]

Thank you! Could You also show one day how to make aluminium oxynitride (ALON) and perhaps hydrogen-peroxide (catalytic and electrochemical way). On the latter one there is only one vid from Cody s Lab.

[@empmachine]

Can you change it's color? like I get that coppersulfate is blue, but you rock at chemistry.

[@TazwaarAhmed09]

yes, using other salts that form insoluble silicates

[@johnnytarponds9292]

LOL you're making malachite!

[@RicoElectrico]

You can get ready-made sodium silicate solution (waterglass) from a home improvement store. It's used as a concrete additive and impregnation agent.

[@1337fraggzb00N]

Me: go to bed early, because tomorrow is lots of stuff to do! KZbin: hey, buddy, watch a video about how to make a chemical garden with household shit! Me: k

[@bobwerner6512]

I remember the ones I bought as a kid half a million years ago it seems there there was a few diff colours

[@Tukieu13]

Is there a chemical you could put in the solution that would essentially gel up and make it so you could transport the garden easier, or make a more permanent thing?

[@mattienorml349]

Some of the greatest chemicals in America are made in peoples homemade bathroom labs! Haha jk... Actually I'm planning to whip up some nitric acid in my garage later to process a bit of metal. Thx Mr.Nurd for all of your super vids!

[@Guru_1092]

To be fair, yeah, that copper sulfate looks delicious. :/

[@demandred1957]

So does contamination hurt this reaction? got some used cat litter to get rid of...

[@kleetus92]

Probably won't hurt the reaction, your nose on the other hand....

[@ferb.3045]

amazing, maybe using silica gel from the lab can give a similar result as cat litter

[@cgapeart]

I noticed that the procedure you provide isn't stoiciometric. 60g of silicon dioxide should need 80g of Sodium Hydroxide. I would be second guessing my way out of date chemistry and math, but your other video on making Sodium Silicate uses that ratio. I was wondering if this was an oversight, or if there was a reason for it? My attempt to balance the reaction looks like SiO2 + 2 NaOH -> Na2Sio3 + H20. Perhaps I just got that wrong? I have SiO2 at about 60 g/mol and NaOh at 40g/mol. I am literally in the middle of running the reaction with my kids. we made up the Copper Suplhate last week using the electrochemistry process, just got the crystals to form nicely today.

[@NurdRage]

It's a non-stochiometric amount. The chemical garden experiment tends to work better with sodium silicate that's more silica rich. I choose not to show the non-stoichiometric reaction to reduce confusion. But yes, as it's directly laid out on screen, it's wrong.

[@cgapeart]

@@NurdRage I ended up going with my math, and was disappointed with the result. Now that I know that, I will definitely repeat the experiment using the values you have to compare the results.

[@Kborashed]

How can I make biodegradable plastic what should I mix with polyurethane and polyester to makes them biodegradable..thanks

[@phlippinout]

I am getting rid of much of my lab-ware and instruments, would you have any interest in some of it. I’d prefer they go to good use rather than a landfill.

[@sully81j]

If he doesn't get back to you, I'd love to take any lab items off of your hands.

[@retireeelectronics2649]

Very Nice

[@Jawst]

6:30 mmmmm I've never thought about tasting it until now

[@claudecaskey89]

I remember having one of those when I was little to

[@beskamir5977]

So that's where The Expanse got it's protomagical alien ideas from.

[@izzaaay]

I was LITERALLY watching the expanse just now and i had the exact same thought

[@beskamir5977]

@@izzaaay For a sec there I thought season 4 was out already but I still need to wait 14ish days :'(

[@kennyadams9741]

Would this work with the packets in food? The antioxidant

[@wokkawicca]

I knew that toilet was like Chekhov's famous gun...

[@XxdjforrestxX]

What happens if you put in multiple different salts?

[@TheJah1985]

Hey NurdRage, thanks for the video. But I have a question. I don't get why you are using this ratio (60g cat litter, 30g naoh). In your video for water glass, you chose the right stoichiometric ratio, if I remember correctly. Can you please explain this to me?

[@NurdRage]

chemical garden works better with high silica content

[@TheJah1985]

@@NurdRage ah ok, thank you for your fast reply. I'll try the experiment 😉

[@twocvbloke]

Well, at least in the event of an unintentional rapid oxidisation of a compound (aka, a sudden loud bang), at least you're next to the crapper to clean up the mess... :P

[@6alecapristrudel]

Don't they sell pre-made sodium silicate solutions at the hardware store? It's called water glass.

[@Imsleepeebruh]

Woahhhhh i forgot about you! God i missed this channel lol

[@OriginalDankness]

You are doing a reacting that consumes SiO2 in a glass container (glass being mostly SiO2). What am I missing here?

[@americanrebel413]

Cool man!

[@JennyEverywhere]

Hey, since you have that cobalt chloride, can you do an experiment where you recreate one of those old humidity detectors, with the cobalt chloride crystals that would turn blue or pink depending on the humidity? (I'm pretty certain that was cobalt chloride...please correct me if I'm misremembering it!) My mom had a little Hummel-style figurine of a little girl holding an umbrella, and the top surface of the umbrella had a fine layer of cobalt chloride stuck to it. When it was dry, it would be one color, but when the humidity was higher, it would change to the other. I don't remember which color stood for which condition. I'm lucky I remember what chemical it is, since I was about 8 when I first learned about this. I'm pushing 60 now, so it was a long time ago!

[@wokkawicca]

yep...anhydrous cobalt(II) chloride is blue, hexahydrate is pink. Standard indicator in bulk dessicants.

[@Its.Adam.]

I wonder what it looks like under a microscope

[@amrbs6951]

is it possible to prepare sulfuric acid from ammonium sulfate ?

[@gemsempire5341]

Do you have nerve agent production video