Making Bismuth Germanate in the microwave

Starting from a pure Ge sample, we attempt to make glass using chlorine gas and a microwave.
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References:
"Bismuth-Germanate Glasses: Synthesis, Structure, Luminescence, and Crystallization"
doi.org/10.339...
Music:
First track is 'Mushroomer' by the artist NukeGuy / user-798848138
Second track from the Aphex Twin soundcloud track pile

[@ExtractionsAndIre]

Thanks again to Turtle's Hoard for donating samples! www.turtlehoard.com/ They recycle laser crystals into jewellery, and have a lot of real fun and stunningly beautiful synthetic gems. Not sponsored or anything, they just reached out and donated samples after I did a bad job making good lithium niobate a few months ago- but their store is for sure worth checking out!

[@ikitclaw7146]

What about gallium lanthanum sulfide glass? I believe this is another thing where lead was replaced to make it less toxic, and is a mid range infra-red glass.

[@mrslinkydragon9910]

No way! I brought a Ce:GAGG from them to use in an engagement ring for my partner

[@AngryTurtleGems]

Thank you so much! BGO is a really fun family of materials.

[@mrslinkydragon9910]

@AngryTurtleGems haven't got around to making it yet!

[@annabellethepitty]

What about uranium glass? Would def be a good video.

[@thethoughtemporium]

I learned recently that even alchemists thousands of years ago were aware of, and concerned with their reactions turning yellow when they weren't supposed to. So just think, you're part of a long line of people making accidental yellow chemicals and hating it! XD

[@PyroRob69]

So Tom is going to make yellow solutions?

[@way-13]

Hey I’m a evodevo biologist and working with chiclids and zebra fish transgenics. Would love to offer my labs resources to your projects. I specifically use crispr and multi site gate way tech to make reporter constructs for neuralcrest cells linages. Hmu! I have lots of access to cheap sequencing and equipment that may be useful to your cool ass projects. Also have so advise from my PhD advisor that may be useful. We watch your videos together

[@WowCoolHorse]

​@@crbielertyummy lead

[@FPVogel]

​@@way-13 hey there, I'd guess the best way to reach out would be via e-mail, youtube comments easily get lost.

[@DJDannySteel]

*it's yellow chuck it in the bin!* It's off yellow? Don't tell youtube it'll likely go in the bin though.

[@jortand]

ah yes, the best measuring stick for toxicity, how close it is to arsenic.

[@gregfisher4147]

I'm doing a project for school on some of the chromium valents and holy shit I've never seen anything more toxic

[@sir_vix]

and yet, the closer you are to Arsenic, the further you are Caesium.

[@EndMaster0]

@@sir_vix the table wraps around so Arsenic is actually weirdly close to Cesium

[@sir_vix]

@@EndMaster0 precisely. It is the last thing it will expect.

[@ElimGarak_DS9]

@@sir_vix Thank you for that mental image of elemental warfare!

[@llanlydia]

Now make germanium transistors and make a quantum computer out of them to come up with the perfect cubane synthesis

[@ExtractionsAndIre]

The challenge is that I have to edit the video on the computer that I built for the video

[@gio9789]

finally an heritage i can leave my children

[@llanlydia]

@@ExtractionsAndIre lmao, that would actually be pretty sick

[@N0MAD1977]

Pfffttt .. Don't need any pesky germanium for that.... Get alcohol. Get sulphur. Mix and boil. Pour remaining ligiuid into 3 buckets. Make electrodes. Done. 1 qbit. (Steps shortened for demonstration)

[@Strobie_one]

Someone build this guy a quantum cube compiler pls

[@elliotcm]

Formula: piss (l) + piss (s) -> glass (piss)

[@Xylophytae]

Sniper Chemistry

[@theterribleanimator1793]

red nile foaming at the mouth

[@residentenigma7141]

I don't understand this comment, but I nearly...pissed myself laughing.

[@sciencedude22]

@@residentenigma7141 yellow liquid + yellow solid -> yellow glass (it's okay tom, everything's tar in the end)

[@Kyle-sv8nu]

😂

[@base6487]

As a Pole, I can guarantee that you can easily replace germanium with polonium for better results.

[@AllisterCaine]

As a german, I am pretty sure that sounds like a Russian idea... *suspecting looks*

[@theterribleanimator1793]

cease your investigations, or else.

[@cheeserdane]

As an American, i hate my government and trust no one...

[@veitforabetterworld]

As a American, I'd say you should also consider using Americium

[@PitiNasri]

As a frenchy, good luck

[@danwhite3224]

I'm surprised Tom likes chlorine when it's one of the most yellow elements on the periodic table.

[@DrBunnyMedicinal]

Gotta have yellow! How do you get the tar? 😁

[@paulm.8660]

​@@DrBunnyMedicinal Melt the teflon on the stirbar 😂

[@hovant6666]

More of a yellowy green, now fluorine! Now that's a yellow befitting of an element that dangerous

[@humphreybumblecuck5151]

Chlorine is my least favorite element. The shit is completely antithetical to all forms of life. Extremely reactive, but somehow it’s “safe” and everywhere. Safety truly a relative term at that point as I’m sure it affects our health

[@Lee9953.]

😂. I also like working with chlorine, but yes alot of it quickly in that sunny weather can be dangerous. 11:50 I've had a few chlorine flames and explosions using red P on a really hot blue sky sunny day

[@bromisovalum8417]

Instead of the pouring struggles, you could also use kiln paper (ceramic fiber paper) instead of a crucible. They cost $5 for 50 pieces, they are used for glass jewelry making. The blob of glass is formed on the kiln paper and after cooling can be easily removed from it.

[@OLI-vx1md]

"we've got quite a bit of glassware" Hey lad, you could have skipped all the science, you already had glass on the worktop

[@buzzzysin]

The wasp's nest genuinely gave me goosebumps

[@MyKharli]

yes, the fate of the poor young wasp after all its mothers work got me too:(

[@DrBunnyMedicinal]

@@MyKharli No sympathy for the poor paralysed spiders that now won't be eaten alive? FOR SHAME! 😉

[@MyKharli]

They were caught eating innocent flies so i heard .@@DrBunnyMedicinal

[@adamengelhart5159]

@@DrBunnyMedicinalRight? It's like there was some kind of focus group: "So, this new animal. It's a wasp." "Ok. Gotta say I'm not much of a fan right now, but I'm keeping an open mind." "And it makes nests out of mud." "I'm guessing we're not talking like an adobe sort of situation here." "Absolutely not. And it lays eggs in the nest and leaves food for them." "Well, they're eggs, and eggs need specialized stuff sometimes. What kind of food?" "Spider." "I see. I'm usually pretty pro-spider, but again, open mind. Do they eat and regurgitate the spider first, or is it just a dead spider?" "No." ". . . wait, then what is it? They don't butcher it or anything like that, do they? Little spider steaks left behind in the nest for the kiddos?" "Oh, no. They paralyze it." ". . . what." "The spider is paralyzed, but not dead. That way the baby wasps can still eat if after they hatch." ". . ." ". . . so, what do you think?" ". . . well, that's a hell of an act, what do you call it?"

[@GS-el8ll]

i smash those all the time around the house, was surprising when it rained paralysed little garden spiders on me the first time

[@uzbekistanplaystaion4BIOScrek]

i don't know how shed-compatible this idea is, but making some photochromic glass would be pretty cool.

[@ExtractionsAndIre]

Oh hey that’s a fun idea!

[@KingJellyfishII]

@@ExtractionsAndIre If you haven't seen it already, applied science has a great video on the matter

[@knpark2025]

​@@ExtractionsAndIre I'm just wondering: how is mixing HCl and pool chemicals as you do differs from mixing sodium perchlorate (aka Chlorox as brand name) and sodium percarbonate (aka washing soda or soda ash)? From my part of the world it's a common knowledge you must not mix these two different "kinds" of "bleach"(i.e. chlorine-based and oxygen-based) unless you want to be gassed like a grunt in WW1 trench. How is this combination different from your recipe for a chlorine generator? It is about yield, unwanted byproducts, or just simply availability in your Austrailian hardware stores?

[@tjoloi]

@@knpark2025My completely uneducated guess is that your mix releases chlorine dioxide instead of pure chlorine

[@randomcow505]

with enough swearing, fires, and police calls anything is shed compatible

[@tehlaser]

4:00 ah, yes, the galactic lead cycle. Turns out the “great filter” is just the point where lead tech and intelligence reach equilibrium in a civilization. /s, mostly

[@thaumar64]

that... is genius. That's the true reason we haven't found any alien civilizations! Lead! Because lead ruins everything! It even helped ruin the Roman Empire.

[@vappyreon1176]

​@@thaumar64 god why does everyone care so much about the Roman empire the aztecs had cool technology too

[@thaumar64]

@@vappyreon1176 The joke is that roman emperors would put lead in their wine, so they all went crazy. I don't like Rome.

[@longbow3082]

No they didn't

[@pimbel8830]

​@@longbow3082 Read, check interesting things for yourself en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead(II)_acetate historical uses Aslo i think you may find sources of that in references tab Live long, and don't eat lead!

[@simrock_]

Yes yes, feature request for Human 2.0 noted: - Make impervious to Lead and Cadmium. While we're at it, make compatible with other heavy metals as well.

[@hanifarroisimukhlis5989]

Arsenic? Fluorine?

[@NewtoRah]

Also asbestos. Magical insulator, easy to mine, easy to manipulate, non-flammable. Just an incredibly useful material. Also ruins your lungs

[@eaglgenes101]

Also have a system for removing Beryllium so it doesn't bioaccumulate indefinitely

[@maglight117]

@@hanifarroisimukhlis5989if my orings perform so much better fluorinated, why can't my brain???

[@yakacm]

Also make the skin on hands and fingers able to handle 1000C + to help with pouring out molten glass from a crucible.

[@MaxWithTheSax]

Love it when a solid and a gas react to form a liquid.

[@crackedemerald4930]

as God intended

[@badoem5353]

wich one? I need secifics@@crackedemerald4930

[@dannycarbona]

It's like me in the bathroom this morning

[@Ed-Done]

Theyre just averaging out, yknow?

[@Isenmouthe]

I love reactions where mixing two solids spontaneously form a liquid.

[@Alloran]

You know you're into some high quality chemistry when you have a side of goulish wasp biology as a tangent. It is also comforting to at last know the fate of the shed spider. RIP.

[@msachin4885]

With such a portfolio in chlorine chemistry, you and Nile Red can pair up to accomplish some true breakthroughs in the shed-compatible piss and tar chemistry world

[@isaacalberda250]

explosive piss tar

[@TheStormpilgrim]

(NileRed looks into shed)....."I realized I was going to have to clean this up a lot."

[@groundhogggggggggggg]

@@TheStormpilgrim Then buys a $25,000 machine from China to clean it.

[@Ms.Pronounced_Name]

5:45 Germanium is directly underneath silicon, which we evolved to deal with being everywhere. Literally the sand/mud when our ancestors crawled out of the ocean was filled with silicon dioxide. Given that, it makes sense that our bodies evolved to tell the difference between carbon and silicon and ignore silicon. Si was everywhere, but hard to access, so we couldn't be dependent on it but also couldn't have a negative reaction to it, and so that ability to differentiate and ignore Si gives us the ability to do the same with Ge. Arsenic on the other hand, is directly under phosphorus and wasn't everywhere during our evolution. Since it wasn't widely available, there was no need to differentiate As from P and so our body takes in As and tries to use it as P, with horrendous results.

[@YunxiaoChu]

Huh

[@RaunienTheFirst]

I can't remember what it's called, but there's a bacteria that's evolved to live in Arsenic-rich pools that uses Arsenic in place of Phosphorus. Pretty nuts.

[@robinvanderpal372]

very interesting!

[@railgap]

Carbon is a wee bit more chemically active than silicon, that might have contributed to our biology not developing to make use of Si. ;)

[@jackalovski1]

“Sending it” and “just send it” are underrated techniques in chemistry in my opinion.

[@speedrat6507]

There's an alternate universe where lead makes humans smarter and we're already interstellar

[@liljohn118th]

After Cubane it's both odd and incredibly satisfying to hit the end of the video and see the end product you were originally setting out to make.

[@MikkoKalavainen]

A wasps' nest MADE OUT OF MUD AND ZOMBIESPIDERS. Yeah, Australia is definitely out of my travel plans.

[@adamconnell5965]

Oh you don't have to cancel anything... They're in the US too and they love to travel. Turns out aircraft pitot tubes make a wonderful mud dauber nesting spots... which then causes the plane to crash.

[@sovietmusiclover8466]

@@adamconnell5965 *_u h o h_*

[@thaumar64]

Here in NY I had a mud hornet make a nest in my hose spout. Turned on the hose after the winter, and... you can guess what happened next...

[@vicroc4]

​@@adamconnell5965 Yep! They also have a nasty habit of making nests in the eaves of houses. Hate those damn things.

[@sethwick8348]

They are way less aggressive than other wasps IMO. I've never been stung by a mud dauber, ever. And they make neat, pan flute looking nests. Paper wasps on the other hand are complete fucking assholes.

[@the_mexican_pyro]

One of the random facts i had to learn when i first became an anti tank missile gunner was what the seeker dome on a javelin missile was made of, and its such a random fact but as soon as i saw the title of this video i was weirdly excited to watch it because of the fact that the seeker dome on those is made of germanium glass

[@robotsupurgedenkacanorumce2229]

Cool! But why?

[@joeb6986]

​@@robotsupurgedenkacanorumce2229because it's expensive, and the more expensive things are, the better they are at killing people.

[@ZeroPlayerGame]

@@robotsupurgedenkacanorumce2229 I imagine it got an infrared sensor in there

[@ComradeQuestions]

It's hilarous how surprised Tom sounds at the end when he actually makes the thing he wants to first try

[@trouty7947]

most chemistists reaction to a new reaction working first time does generally seem to be extreme suspicion lol

[@thaumar64]

@@trouty7947 Not at first. When you first start out, you're filled with hopes and dreams of all the wonderful experiments you're going to do, but as every experiment either fails or turns out sub-par, you're hopes and dreams are slowly crushed as your expectations slowly turn to failure. And when an experiment finally works out, all that's left to feel is suspicion, because of years of failed experiments slowly leading to paranoia.

[@glassmyth]

Mud wasp story: I had my regulators and lines off of my liquid oxygen cylinder last summer for a few days of maintenance downtime. In those short days, a mud wasp built a nest in the valve used to remove gaseous oxygen from the tank and I didn’t notice before hooking the regulator and lines back up to the tank. 8 months later I am still shooting bits of mud wasp nest out my torch face. Annoying little buggers.

[@glassmyth]

Went on vacation again recently. Ten days away from my equiptment and the buggers filled in the gaseous oxygen port once again. This time I noticed and gave them a 300psi launch into oblivion.

[@illomens2766]

That mustache really puts the German in Germanate

[@cheeserdane]

Especially when you see it on infared

[@viggojira]

Definitiv, er sieht aus als ob er direkt aus Wuppertal kämme

[@alexweschler9470]

Good lord with the mud wasp/spider thing. Australia never fails to be the most brutal place in the world

[@blazernitrox6329]

And suddenly your comment about how "bismuth is lead for people who are afraid of death" makes so much more sense

[@Znogalog]

It might be easier at this point to do research on how to make humans able to lick and breathe lead.

[@Ass_of_Amalek]

we already are.

[@davidemelia6296]

You've got to feed your kids lead paint chips from an early age so they build up a resistance to it

[@nixel1324]

@@davidemelia6296 Can't lose IQ if you have none left to begin with!

[@PrepareToDie0]

I mean technically we already can, just not for very long

[@ChromicQuanta]

@@davidemelia6296 I can already hear the Chubbyemu music playing

[@Veptis]

I have giant Germanium lenses. They are used for thermal imaging cameras. As they have an extremely high refractive index of 4.5 and also refract the infrared light between 8-12μm really well. The 150mm f/1 front element is giant and heavy(several kilograms). It's made out of a massive ingot(boole) that's a giant, single chrystal. Which is grown in a special reactor (similar to silicon). It's then cut, polished and coated with anti reflective coatings for the specific wavelength. Some of the elements I have additionally have a diamond like hard carbon coating to protect the elements surface against weather and wear for example (my lens was part of a maritime imaging systems of a Russians oligarch super yacht). In fact there is a single video on KZbin that shows how these lenses are melted and cut. It's from a Russian manufacturer. The US destroys and recycles a lot of their Germanium. You can even buy lens scraps, which are usually cracked or broken in half on purpose in bulk. High performing lenses are export controlled. Yes, after a certain focal length... It's ITAR listed - for arms trade regulations. So I can't really cross the border with some of the stuff I own. I never expected it to be possible to make those at home... And I kinda feel like I asked for this plenty of times.

[@ExtractionsAndIre]

Several kilograms!! That’s very cool!

[@Veptis]

@@ExtractionsAndIre is the Bismuth Germanate any transparent in the LWIR? You didn't test it in the end.

[@verdienthusiast3868]

​@@Veptisdo you know where to buy something like that? I am a student and element collector and a big machined germanium piece would be a great addiction to my collection

[@SillySpaceMonkey]

​@@verdienthusiast3868 lol that Freudian slip is top notch

[@verdienthusiast3868]

@@SillySpaceMonkey what does it mean?

[@GenosseRot]

I was not mentally prepared for the wasp nest excursion...

[@tovrobi5097]

Beautiful life.

[@samuelmellars7855]

I already knew what the wasp nest would be like inside. If I didn't know that beforehand, it would have given me the heebie-jeebies for sure!

[@DadofScience]

"Why do I suck so bad at this?!?" Because you're using assorted barbeque tongs to handle a crucible, Tom, god damn it all!!!

[@moos5221]

As a fellow Germanium I appreciate that you're making a video about us. I'm also surprisingly happy that we're finally done with the cubane and can see some successful experiments. =)

[@jimsvideos7201]

For your new stir fish fund.

[@lyrag6376]

I like how it took awhile for him to get worried enough to actually use clips on his CHLORINE GAS setup

[@vicroc4]

Chlorine is scary stuff. To see him being so casual about it was even scarier.

[@railgap]

My wife dealt with Cl gas during her first career managing swimming pools. It's nasty but in many ways safer than liquid or solid chlorine donors, for pool purposes. She had to deal with leaks, and again, gas leaks weren't as bad as liquid chlorine solution (which is like bleach on steroids). A lot depends on how much is leaking, (or how much you're creating). Small amounts are an irritant, not deadly. Large amounts can kill a neighborhood. But it's not hydrogen cyanide.

[@technodruid]

Former photonics technologist here. Honestly, silicon, aluminum, germanium, and tantalum are probably the greatest materials.

[@technodruid]

Also to oxidize germanium just sputter it in low atmosphere and react it with oxygen?

[@christopherleubner6633]

Don't forget niobium. It makes some neat optical crystals with a very low nonlinear threshold and you can electrically polarize it to make even more efficient NLOs. ❤

[@stamasd8500]

I like indium and gallium too for photonics.

[@thegingineer0]

As you've brilliantly said before, bismuth is lead for people who fear death.

[@treibhauseffekt8817]

when you crush solids in a mortar you can place a sheet of paper with a small hole in middle over your mortal to reduce the spilling

[@woosix1]

Tom’s excitement and pure joy at the end is something we don't get enough of on this channel

[@ChromicQuanta]

If I wanted to make Bismuth germinate, I'd have planted it in some rich soil & watered it. Next, he should make a video of him germinating potato seeds in the microwave.

[@T3sl4]

I love germanium flowers, they always smell so nice.

[@custos3249]

So how would you make bismuth uranate?

[@TrickleCharge]

​@@custos3249that's yellow chemistry, we don't mess around with that on this channel

[@barongerhardt]

@@custos3249diuretics

[@jr637-1]

@@custos3249Just add H2O4U

[@davidfinton]

After making Cubane, literally everything else now will be like "OMG how is this so easy? I've got, like, the next 40 years of my professional career now? How is this possible?"

[@TotallyNotARussianBot69]

Also I love how the paint job on the desk is holding up. This is some ghetto chemistry and I'm loving it 😍

[@h0verman]

i really like the montage of the stir bar getting more and more blackened and moving around like some sort of doomed bug

[@5467nick]

Germanium dioxide is slightly water-soluble. Some of your lost yield is probably dissolved in the waste solution from the vacuum filtration.

[@stamasd8500]

Correct, in fact it's more than slightly soluble: 4.47g/L at room temperature.

[@alamoworks5947]

My grandmother told me the red glass in some old houses built in America 1910-1930 was a status symbol for your wealth because the darker red it is the more gold was used to make it.

[@railgap]

In the antique glass world (my grandmother was president of the Early American Glass Club and if you visited, you'd never hear the end of it) they called this 'Cranberry Glass'. The darker colors are kind of an oops, rather than a target color, because it couldn't be used for stemware or serving dishes, etc, but it could be used for window panes, where the sun is powerful enough to show the color. It is absolutely true that production of Cranberry Glass was very limited due to the cost of the gold.

[@jacobe2995]

you can make artificial ruby. Ingredients: 99 grams of alumina (Al₂O₃) 1 gram of chromium (III) oxide Arc welder (carbon electrode recommended) Graphite crucible. Don't know if it will work without an arc welder but it would be cool to see you try.

[@MrVeryCranky]

Can be done in a microwave furnace.

[@SamuelSmith-o5e]

Blow some argon into the crucible

[@harryw.174]

Is it eatable?

[@railgap]

IF only there were some other method to heat things to high temperatures besides an arc welder. ;) You know the arc between carbon gouging electrodes isn't very large, right? It's temperature is high, but the volume of the arc - that is, the total AMOUNT of heat being generated in a given period of time is surprisingly small. Best make very tiny batches in a very tiny crucible. O_O Ah, and graphite burns, mate. ;) You've got burning carbon and you plan to apply that flame to more carbon? Don't do it. Try tantalum crucibles. Too bad they're breathtakingly expensive! Now what are you making it for? Can your application cope with impure ruby or a chunk with inclusions or unwanted crystal boundaries? You might want to consider buying it instead of making it. ;) It's not worth doing just for bragging rights; after all, I've got funny colored aluminum oxide covering sheets of paper in my shop. ;) Jewelry is the only application I can think of for DIY synthetic ruby. You can't use it for optical stuff at all.

[@gjg3783]

When you were pouring the glass, I was just shy of yelling at the screen "just fkn put a torch to it!" Gr8 video, thanks for the upload

[@bottlekruiser]

my honest reaction

[@en0n126]

My thought was "those tools were designed to manipulate fish sticks, not small crucibles of molten glass."

[@Whitewingdevil]

Exactly what I needed at 10pm on a Sunday, cheers mate!

[@therocinante3443]

No way, it's 8 am! Lol

[@Stealth86651]

How does the future look?

[@voinea12]

11:00 holy shity that was such a good impression

[@Ice_Karma]

Your (parents'?) house is going to be the Australian equivalent of a Superfund site when you move, isn't it? 🤣

[@lacklvster4512]

this video encapsulates why i love your channel, aphex twin and janky chemistry. btw i feel like richard's music just sounds like science, idk how else to describe it.

[@NurdRage]

awesome and informative video as always. I learned a lot!

[@ExtractionsAndIre]

Thanks mate!!

[@pawel7055]

I was over due for my oddly specific rants about elements for this month, glad you could help me achieve the quota with your material science gameplay loop. Quality and enjoyable madness as always!

[@Chemiolis]

I love that chlorination of elements is usually quite well behaved

[@nobodynoone2500]

usually...

[@railgap]

Uh... maybe not a blanket statement, LOL.

[@Angel24Marin]

Came for the chemistry, stayed for the Autralian wildlife horros beyond my comprehension.

[@MrTurboTash]

That wasp nest education was both fascinating and horrifying, which the more I learn about insects tends to be the trend. Surprise educations are great.

[@dakarpsi]

You should take a gem cutting class and make unusual synthetic gems out of these exotic glasses, i think a lot of your fans would love to buy a germanium glass gemstone

[@AmiPurple]

High tech applications, rubber mallet, dingy shed, and a lab coat! Awesome Reminds me of an applied science video where he made photochromic glass Cheers for the videos as always

[@jonnusofjon]

25:12 I want to thank you for helping me realise my upper threshold of anxiety watching another human being attempt to perform a task. I'll never be the same again.

[@markpagslo1505]

I imagine Tom's neighbors are just chilling in their backyard when they hear "if it gets to a certain temperature and there's chlorine gas it'll go like *whooo*- If it takes off like a rocket, it's gonna be really bad *nervous laugh*" from the other side of the fence

[@markpagslo1505]

i forgot to add the part about "making a dangerous warfare agent" lmao

[@hayuseen6683]

It's Australia, it'a fine, probably kills more poisonous things than people resulting in net positive

[@nickfinch8182]

I can’t wait to see the third part of this series, making an IR detector! The flares, the glass, and the detector would be a super cool shed project to show how IR seekers work. Best of luck Tom, you’ll need it considering how the LED UV excursion went.

[@therocinante3443]

I'm like "Damn, he's posting at 7am?" Then I remembered from the accent. Then I'm like, "wtf? It's spring, not fall." Then I remembered that Australia is basically the upside down world.

[@Yezpahr]

It's not just the upside-down world but also the other-side-of-the-world world. xD

[@WildSeven19]

They see the Moon upside down too.

[@DrBunnyMedicinal]

@@WildSeven19Nah, we see it the right side up. It's all you Norts that see everything upside down. 😁

[@jaredragland4707]

Antipodea is clearly no place to be trifled with. Not only do they walk on their heads, the weather is backwards and they make chlorine gas in their sheds.

[@dumpsterfire7989]

Anything Tom deals with is undergoing a stressful situation, that poor bismuth germinate, imagine the horrors it's been through. Definitely needed a nice relaxing annealing after all that.

[@Bill-lt5qf]

That lead rant was glorious

[@bennyfactor]

My youtube feed has a bunch of Northern Hemisphere spring videos about starting gardens so when I saw this video's title I misread "Germanate" as "Germinate" and thought "Ah our boy is doing gardening videos, nice"

[@parkinsons7112]

holy shit this mate isnt dead yet

[@justinbanks2380]

12:29 when Tom is giving a warning about safety, you know you should listen! 😅😂

[@oskarmlakar3804]

Ah yes, microwave chemistry, my favorite.

[@brolohalflemming7042]

Those Panasonic microwaves are awesome! I think I have the same model, and pretty sure it's over 25yrs old. Still working, which is more than can be said for most consumer appliances!

[@BackMacSci]

I also liked how setting up the glassware and explaining it somehow felt like the commentary before a sports match and so I was excited to see the "game" of the reaction once you started the chlorine generation haha!

[@2001pulsar]

Zinc Selenide glass is good for MIR too. We use it in the interferometer beam splitter.

[@ExtractionsAndIre]

Yeah cool stuff! Maybe I could make some of that?? Could be interesting

[@2001pulsar]

@@ExtractionsAndIre selenium is cheap on ebay

[@ramnrmeul]

​@@ExtractionsAndIreConsider, though, that selenium chemistry stinks, and the smell lingers.

[@Panicagq2]

@@ExtractionsAndIreOooooh...Maybe try extracting the Selenium from Brazil Nuts?

[@christopherleubner6633]

You can make ZnSe crystals that glow in the dark like ZnS by activating with silver or copper. They glow mostly in the red region and can be stimulated with IR light to glow. ❤

[@phloopy5630]

You should try making ITO (indium tin oxide). It’s transparent, reflective in infrared, and is yellow-gray in bulk. I have zero clue how you’d make it in bulk (it’s usually coated on silica glass), but hey that’ll be your problem 🙃

[@ExtractionsAndIre]

Yo that’s a fantastic idea- I’ve been trying to think of a reason to do indium chemistry, as I’m trying to work through all the more obscure elements

[@Justin-mg7np]

I love how serious this man is about the sunscreen, I understand its been drilled into all Aussies.

[@railgap]

Good thing we patched up that southern ozone hole, wot-wot? Your summer UV index hits the same as Denvers (over 11 during peak months), but we have a good excuse: we are missing the thickest mile of the atmosphere, so our UV index year round is automatically and constantly 25% higher than average UV Index at sea level. On the plus side, we don't have the highest rate of skin cancer globally... you do. Sucks that it's just a thing due to location and there's not much we can do about it. :/

[@garrettmancuso4417]

Germanium diodes were widely used in guitar pedals also. They produce a fuzz tone that's highly sought after.

[@benebluesman]

Yes, guitarists love outdated tech, germanium diodes, germanium transistors, through hole components, carbon composite resistors, paper and oil caps, vacuum tubes, bucket brigade delay chips....

[@akosv96]

Yeah. Gotta hand it to vacuum tubes though that they have different distortion characteristics from transistors and since guitar amplifiers (compared to normal amps) are designed to distort. It's actually understandable why it's still used there. I would switch them out for a JFET though if they could make a similar amp to the oldies

[@noob19087]

When I was in my first year of chemistry I got a genius idea for how to make HCl at home. Just take a sodastream and change the CO2 canister for a chlorine one! Because getting HCl is sooo hard. Turns out chlorine gas was even harder to get, saving my developing brain.

[@Kumquat_Lord]

I've gotten something from turtle's hoard, it was a small sample of GAGG and it's really neat

[@WolfmanDude]

That lead dilemma is soo relatable if you deal with electronics. ROHS says lead is evil, but its soo perfect for everything!

[@napalmholocaust9093]

Done a little fine silver casting into cuttlebone with those same little dish crucibles. They just don't hold any heat and I had the same problem. Gotta get a blowtorch on it from when you take the lid off and keep it on in the dish and the stream of dripping glass as it pours. Keep it enveloped in flame. Night and day between the two.

[@gereldhat2309]

my parents walked in when you where talking about the GeO2 yeild and fully thought i was learning to make crack

[@adfaklsdjf]

The pouring step was so Ex&F the tin, partial brick, and two sets of grilling tongs..

[@PauperRulesCommittee]

This ending was surprisingly upbeat and successful! Great stuff as always!

[@NathanaelNewton]

0:03 Oh boy, here we go again 😂

[@alllove1754]

This channel has come a LONGGGGGGG way from making dichromates from stainless steel, which was when I subbed. Keep it up, doc. It's too cool just knowing you did it ❤

[@viggojira]

After your short on plutonium, I’d love to see a shed synthesis of uranium glass

[@eans19]

I love the layout explanation of the glassware before you piece it together

[@MortRotu]

That lead and cadmium comment, so true it hurts.

[@Alexander_Sannikov]

i love seeing Tom so happy about his result

[@MF_Dicedealer]

Almost 5 am I can’t sleep? Extractions and Ire to the rescue!

[@MarkEichin]

Good to see you doing a round of restoring your faith in chemistry as a thing that actually works :-) (Also, you should get some IR shots of the end product, just to close the loop)

[@StellaFoxxie]

i think the thing most hazardous about germanium is how bloody sharp it is. that shit has cut me open so many damn times

[@artratengo]

Just amazing how something other than silicon can be combined with bismuth of all things and it forms a glass, really cool video!

[@Matt-re8bt]

"Why do I suck at this?" Because you were using BBQ tongs! Bloody good effort, considering the equipment.

[@SeekingTheLoveThatGodMeans7648]

I would have thought about using needle nose pliers but hey

[@G1gg135]

Who needs a fume hood when you have the *atmosphere*

[@resurgam_b7]

2:28 "This is kinda what we're gonna end up with." Uh, are you sure that's what you want to commit to? Those samples look quite nice and I've seen your videos before. I'll be disappointed if I don't see at least a 70% tar yield, with some nice horrible yellow goop mixed in for good measure! 😂 Jokes aside, this project turned out spectacularly! That's such a pretty set of colors for glass, I'm glad your sample turned out nicely!

[@ExtractionsAndIre]

A rare bit of optimism that seems to have paid off! Maybe I should just be blindly optimistic more often haha

[@mersilvaureus1525]

Crazy to see you had all of Australia's clouds! I hope you were able to fully enjoy the special occasion!

[@morlanius]

@1:23 Tom looks like Ordinary Sausage in infrared here.

[@PrepareToDie0]

I give that selfie 5 Mark Ruffalos!

[@maxsmith8196]

That's the chlorine water

[@BrianOxleyTexan]

And I thought you were only about explosions and fire. This is one of the coolest chemistry videos I've seen with lots of remarks about do's and don't's and things to think about. This is going in my subscription list alongside RedNile.

[@bbrockert]

I think this was your most regulated response to unexpectedly yellow chemistry ever.

[@evebckw]

4:00 i really liked that discussion about lead

[@GenaTrius]

TIL that Australia has dirt daubers too! We called them dirt daubers in Florida.

[@dumbdragon2129]

3:58 "what's the deal with airline food" Ahh rant 😭😭😭🙏

[@StockStream-w7e]

The dude said "yellow" without any hatred in his voice! 😲

[@nobodynoone2500]

It's clearly a replicant. Some skin-job replaced our dude!