Making liquid ammonia to dissolve sodium and lithium metal

REUPLOADED AND FIXED (i hope)
Happy New Years Eve everyone!
In this video, we will be making some ammonia gas and condensing it to liquid ammonia. Then we'll be using the liquid ammonia to dissolve some sodium and lithium metal! I hope you guys enjoy!
In a future video, this liquid ammonia is then used for a quick birch reduction of benzene.
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Nile talks about lab safety: • Chemistry is dangerous.

[@SkinnerNoah]

This week on Breaking Red...

[@dustingoodpaster3715]

Lol

[@dumbidiot1119]

@Psalms 118:8 ok?

[@TheDeadOfNight37]

@Psalms 118:8 says the person with some biblical shit as their username

[@BallsBob]

@Psalms 118:8 this man really really doesnt like breaking bad he goes to multiple NileRed videos shitting on it for some reason

[@karolus28]

@@BallsBob lolol

[@Quintinohthree]

So Nile, all this talk of lithium got me thinking about lithium nitride. I'm sure you are aware that lithium is the only element that will happily burn in an atmosphere of pure nitrogen, so I wonder if you have considered doing a video on that. If you have the capacity of performing the reaction and can manage to fit it into your schedule somehow, I'd certainly love to see it actually done, but seeing your current plans I can't complain anyhow.

[@NileRed]

+Quintinohthree that's actually pretty cool. Ill look into it.

[@abrahamgarcia5071]

+Nile Red Feliz año nuevo, as esferas navideñas para el siguiente capitulo jajajajaja.

[@RaExpIn]

+Quintinohthree What about Magnesium?

[@Quintinohthree]

Ene Silvian only in the way that any chemical reaction is a way to make meth. Lithium nitride is quite a couple steps from methylamine and there are far easier ways of making that if you really want to. Anhydrous ammonia is one precursor that's far closer and still entirely legal, and we've already seen Nile make that.

[@Quintinohthree]

Random Experiments International yeah, I've read it does react with nitrogen, but I don't know what the reaction is like. I might turn out to be wrong after all.

[@caiohenrique1603]

I thought the thumbnail said “insomnia generator” and I was like “hehe that me”

[@billysbigworld6166]

Lol

[@longshot789]

6:25 Damn tube won't stay put!

[@samc4531]

rofl I noticed this also

[@woodywoodmc2209]

High tech piece of paper

[@MasterOrganicChem]

Hey this is James from Master Organic Chemistry (MOC). This is a really nice demonstration of the blue color one gets from solvated electrons in ammonia. I posted a short clip of this video on a recent article I wrote on the reduction of alkynes with Na/NH3. I linked back to your channel and to the specific video. If this isn't OK, please reach out. Thanks for everything you do. James

[@chemistrydude8911]

Awesome video as always pal editing, content, quality, info everything 10/10

[@WhatIsThisVid]

Kind of surprised he didn't bring up a fairly common use of anhydrous ammonia which is as a refrigerant in industrial sized systems.

[@RaExpIn]

Isn't it just beautiful to watch the alkali metals dissolve in the ammonia in real life? It really facinated me when I did this and I was a bit scared, when adding the metal. Nice video!

[@redmadness265]

I love how the liquid ammonia looks almost exactly like water, but colder

[@rogerdotlee]

This video makes me want to study ammonia a little closer. I had no idea it did such cool stuff. Yet another thing to add to my shopping list.

[@EminTuralic]

Voted for the Ammonia generator, glad you did it, thanks man! Love your vids :D

[@borgmardunkleson2225]

well this is a blast from the past to show up in my recommendeds, I loved the old vids

[@angeliawelch9438]

my new favorite you just keep getting better NIle!

[@hans-jurgenvogel6789]

0:40 wow, anhydrous AND water-free! :D

[@nenben8759]

I really like your really sophisticated technique you used using tape to seal the setup.

[@Mattes_______]

yea Nile Methylamine is finally in your list of planned videos :D I am looking forward for that one

[@karnavthakur5868]

Yeahh

[@krisma12234]

lol when I saw this on my feed I was like "Yay! Another Nile Red video!!" Thanks!

[@flirkami]

Just found out about the electron phenomenon a few weeks ago and was stunned! Such an awesome experiment. Sadly didn't know you had a Video about it as well right until now ..

[@Flederratte]

Great video! Really liked watching it!

[@bayramerdogan121]

Thanks for sharing this video with us.

[@SuperAngelofglory]

also, you can not use CaCl2 to dry NH3, as it will form an adduct (CaCl2 x 8NH3)

[@giansieger8687]

and MgSO4?

[@SuperAngelofglory]

@@giansieger8687 shouldn't be a problem

[@daniellewilson8527]

I mean, it still doesn’t have water, so halfway? :}

[@JayMark2049]

I only found out about the existence of solvated electrons less that 2 years ago (on Periodic Videos). Well, no matter how many times I watch it, it always blows my mind! Thanks Neil! Happy New Year! Hope you were not too disappointed by the snow storm on last Tuesday! ;)

[@user-pr6ed3ri2k]

e-

[@forgetfulgem1234]

We had learnt about the free electrons produced when ammonia reacts with some alkali metals...as our syllabus doesnt actually show us what's happening and we never saw the reaction I just diregarded it as boring and memorized it. I had no idea it was so neat and cool. Thanks nile for helping us students who struggle with boring old school and memorization and making chemistry fun, understandable and way more tolerable..i am indebted to you for making chem my favourite subject after having hated it for years :D

[@richardstuivenberg4618]

I vote for the following video. Please use the birch reduction to reduce (pseudo)efedrine and dissolve the base into ether. Then bubble hydrogen gas to form crystals. Dry these crystal and smoke them with a glass pipe.

[@mrwheat-wf8nl]

for some reason I thought this video was way more recent, only to see it was uploaded exactly 4 years ago

[@173Eyes]

And this comment was made 4 years ago for me! I expect the next comment to be made another 4 years from now.

[@FourEyesGod]

2:49 " i use a very sophisticate technique to block IT" i was like oohhhhh , him - "using tape"..... me - "WAIT A MINUTE!!!" and the way he said it seriously made me confuse xD

[@NostalgiaBrit]

Such is the genius of NileRed 😏

[@jamroid]

i had a whole earthquake in my brain trying to read this comment

[@Chrisbuildsstuff247]

I love this series so much hey NileRed have you ever thought of doing like a chemistry tips and trick to help students learning chemistry to better understand the basics? I really want to do a huge research project for Ap biology using my chemistry knowledge and write a paper on the possibilities of life using ammonia instead of water due to it being a very good solvent #NileRed

[@jozefnovak7750]

Super! Thank you very much!

[@johncensored1271]

Love your work and I'm excited for Pyridine from B3

[@mrchangcooler]

Happy new year

[@cmdody]

Nitrous oxide will be helpful because I'm mechanical engineer and my master thesis was rocket engines. Especially N2O4 (nitrous tetra oxide) is very important for rocket engineering. N2O4 spontaneously ignites fuel because of its hypergolic property

[@freekingawwsome]

Thank you for the share

[@junosiu4118]

Just to correct you slightly here, the blue color does not come from the free electrons, but from the ammonia radicals. Free electrons have absorbance in the infrared spectrum. Many people mistaken this.

[@NileRed]

+Siu Juno Cool i had no idea

[@Metalhammer1993]

wow thanks you´re literally taught that at university! i heard that the blue is free electrons in literally every course we talked about that reaction, like talking about birch reduction in Organic chemistry

[@David-cy5zu]

Absorb IR can mean you see blue

[@coleramsey6705]

Hey Nile, would you ever consider an ammonium sulfide synthesis?

[@amouse6931]

I just realized I'm eating ammonium chloride ("salty" black licorice) while watching him using ammonium chloride in a reaction.

[@LUMINARIASFOTON]

Nile Please teach us how to make nickel iron battery! regards

[@dc2008242]

YEAS!

[@JC-lt2rm]

Heyyy there...! First of I really appreciate your videos! And I've been watching them for years! But.. i know it might be tedious... could you try to film ALL the steps on your videos. Not like the chem. reactions but the prep. stuff... not that you're not but do plz go into the pysical processes a bit more :) thanx for all your work! Mucho appreciado 🤗😎

[@ElSuperNova23]

Classic Birch, the granddaddy of Australian chemists.

[@LevelTenContent]

You just helped 1000 tweekers make the hardest chemical for them to get their hands on 😂 still love your channel tho

[@tanfo8]

Love watching these experiments! I don't know crap about chemistry

[@NileRed]

+tanfo8 That is okay! It is all a learning process.

[@mikeguer7011]

Hi NileRed use the natrium amide to make the chichibabin reaction please

[@dakshbadal7522]

This guy makes me wanna continue studying chemistry

[@PIOTRG00]

Video about denatonium benzoate could be quite interesting^^

[@joeyhinds6216]

My vote is for benzaldehyde and methyl iodide! Happy New Year!!

[@bbrockert]

Could you run the exhaust of the reaction through a condenser, chilled by cold water? Then a lot of the water could drip back into the reactants rather than needing to be removed by the drying agent.

[@leogomez1075]

hey could int you just mix sodium hydroxide and ammonium nitrate to generate ammonia gas?

[@tracybowling97]

Ammonia is also used as a refrigerant. We used it in the making of margarine. We were taught to run from the smell of it. Just a little tidbit I thought I would add.😉

[@kobold7763]

What company do you use as a source for this anhydrous ammonia? Do purchases require LLC or business proof?

[@NavyField123]

You could've added something about the Birch Reduction that you did but otherwise well done :)

[@user-tt3jz1xl3v]

thabk you for the video

[@ThePaintballgun]

Mr. Red, I believe we are both Canadian and I was just wondering where you get dry ice from? I have found it very difficult to fine. It's honestly easier to make! (but expensive).

[@myrealusername2193]

Fire extinguishers can work if you get the co2 ones, otherwise I haven’t seen it anywhere.

[@juliogallo4820]

Awesome

[@TheBookDoctor]

Great video. The whole concept of solvated electrons kind of blows my mind. It does make me wonder, though: oughtn't there be a similar-but-opposite reaction that generates solvated protons? If so, could you demonstrate? That would be wicked cool.

[@NileRed]

+TheBookDoctor Not really. The protons are in the nucleus and they can't really be given up. Electrons are very "fluid" in their ability to move around and be exchanged.

[@YouCanHasAccount]

+TheBookDoctor I'm no chemist but I think a dissolved proton would just immediately protonate the solvent. e.g. in this situation form ammonium ions.

[@supersmashsam]

+TheBookDoctor Well, strongly acidic solutions could be seen as solvated protons solutions. As stated by +YouCanHasAccount "free protons" get solvated by protonating the solvent. The most common example being the hydronium ion or, in the most extreme case, magic acid (FSO3H-SbF5), where protons are so badly solvated that they will even protonate methane. Basically, protons are so electron deficient that they will stick to anything that has electrons.

[@TheBookDoctor]

+supersmashsam Thanks. Great explanation. That and some poking around on Wikipedia has got it sorted out for me.

[@knirken]

I don't understand anything, but I do like the content:P

[@brandonpou1261]

Yep, Ammonium Nitrate and sodium hydroxide will generate NH3 too.

[@ReapingMiner]

I saw a trail at 11:55 to the left of the "blue tower". It looked very similar to a trail caused by ionizing radiation in a wilson chamber. Same phenomenon? Or just a bubble caused by the dissolving sodium metal? (I wouldnt expect bubbles to follow a path curved horizontally. And although the path looks curved, this could be caused by the curvature of the tube.)

[@donciterenyi4494]

Is thermally decomposing ammonium bicarbonate a good way to generate ammonia?

[@kieranodea9437]

If Will water vapor dissolve in liquid ammonia or can it be made to freeze and the remove ice crystals ?

[@user-jb9nb7gz7o]

Great video as always, but im wondering What type of grease do you use to seal the joints?

[@jackweaver1846]

I know this comment is old, but it’s literally just called joint grease. It has the consistency of Vaseline or chapstick.

[@chemicalmaster3267]

+NileRed I was wondering: Can aqueous ammonia be distilled off?

[@eldude831]

I just read an article about blue amonia used for power. Can you elaborate?

[@ARSZLB]

whoaaa dude the sodium in the ammonia looked like a blue jellyfish upside down, regenerating new tentacles

[@colindebose3123]

such futuristic paper >.>

[@martiarenax3]

I am interested about the urea + base method. ¿Could you make that? Thanks!

[@gogear131]

nile is there a chemical or reaction that you wont do? like something out of your confort zone (toxic or safe wise)

[@pushbutton8548]

+gogear131 judging from his equipments, Me2Hg is likely one of the chemicals.

[@pinksapphire2898]

hes not a fan of explosives

[@zanpekosak2383]

Flouroantimonic acid.

[@maevemccormick5307]

I think the mercury distillation video was seriously pushing his limits.

[@maxopaladino]

11:46 We created Venom

[@sssalesservice782]

so below i read you can not use CaCl2 to dry NH3. Can i just grind sodium hydroxide in a my coffee grinder to make it a powder? Also its cheaper for me

[@outofthebox5972]

Such beautiful videos, but I think it's time for nanoparticules videos apart from traditional chemistry 😀

[@AelwynMr]

So concentrated solvated electrons look metallic! Is it a coincidence? Or is the shiny look of metals (and graphite) due to these materials having lots of electrons free to move?

[@WendigoPsycho]

I'm producing ammonia, but for whatever reason no matter what I do, even if the reaction flask is filled nearly to the top with water, I can't get the ammonia to be pushed out of the reaction flask. I'm not using near a sophisticated set up as Nile, though. I just added the ammonia nitrate, sodium hydroxide and water to a round bottom and quickly stoppered the flask with a rubber hose adapter leading a rubber hose to a funnel and beaker trap of distilled water cooled in an ice bath. About two or three hours later, I found the reaction still taking place with a cloud of ammonia above the liquid, but testing the solution in the beaker came up a neutral PH. Finally, I decided it was time for the big guns and lead the hose into a test tube cooled with dry ice and acetone. Still no ammonia condensed. No idea why this set up isn't working for me. Reaction flask is kept roughly between 20-30°C. If anyone has any idea what I'm doing wrong please let me know. I really want to make Schweitzer's reagent.

[@kieranodea9437]

More so could high purity liquid ammonia be dried another besides this way useing the condenser?

[@liamblackmore6688]

Yaaasssss thx

[@studybhaskar2088]

nice vid

[@nenben8759]

Anhydrous, liquid, and water free Anhydrous and water free

[@mistertheguy3073]

could you crystalise lithium in ammonia?

[@s.sradon9782]

how can i capture the ammonia as a gas by placing it into an airtight container

[@-HeisenbergFam]

WE MAKIN METH WITH THIS ONE 🔥🔥🔥

[@nitahgs]

Can someone help me? What´s the name of these glasswere that connect the bottomed flask and the test tube? Thanks in advance.

[@flaplaya]

You are smart sir. Like the explanations of the actual chemical processes. I had figured the boiling point to be that similar to propane (-21F) Interesting how there was no boiling going on.. Did see quite a bit of frost though and maybe it insulated the test tube... Birch reductions are cool. You had better be getting a PhD in organic chemistry and go off and solve the coming energy, climate and cancer problems.. I Messed up and only hope to direct younger brilliant people on a correct path. Thanks

[@maggiep9007]

It's never too late. Long as you're somehow breathing.

[@AllChemystery]

how about the decomposition of oven dried urea? there's less messing around and the ammonia is fairly dry already. just heat the urea to decompose it and entrain the resulting gas through the drying agent and collect.

[@maggiep9007]

"OVEN FOR SALE. GENTLY USED."

[@SatyajitGhana7]

can you extract the bronze ? they are electrons ryt ?

[@lethis196]

how hard would it be to synthesize FLiBe?

[@StefanoManiero]

I love your channel so much, it's fantastic!! What about showing how to convert urea to ammonia in one of your future videos? I would be so pleased if you do. Thank you anyway for all the videos you make, they're super interesting!

[@NileRed]

+Stefano Maniero Not sure ill do a video on that ever, but it should be pretty similar to this ( i think).

[@StefanoManiero]

+Nile Red I tried urea in a 20 M Sodium Hydroxide solution and it didn't work, maybe i'll just go with a 150°C hydrolisis of urea

[@NileRed]

Stefano Maniero Did you try NaOH/Urea dry? It should do something at 20M though. Unless I am totally mistaken.

[@StefanoManiero]

+Nile Red Sodium Hydroxide and Urea powdered you mean? Anyway I'm going to try a 25M solution and I hope it will work. Thank you a lot for answering me then, you are fantastic!

[@NileRed]

Stefano Maniero I mean just using them both dry and adding a bit of water to get things going.

[@rogerprodactorstevez6740]

@nilered. can I do.this with ammonium carbonate. can't find any lit

[@Jeffrey_Wong]

Nile, can you make the audio louder in your videos? Thanks, and good work as always.

[@NileRed]

+Jeffrey Wong I can try, but it actually gets a little close to clipping in some videos.

[@LilGugz]

11:55 re-do this with your new 4k camera please :D :D

[@geraldellis1177]

can i use calcium sulphate powder as a drying agent

[@benjaminlarson6168]

How do you store gases as a liquid?

[@RollLandOh08]

can you show us how to make trinitrotoluene?

[@ivankamarkovic2800]

When amonia is evapurated how can i remove lithium?

[@NikeTao]

So in theory, pumping Ammonia gas into Nitric Acid, you should be able to synthesise Ammonium Nitrate to make your own cold packs? It must be pretty exothermic since it's an acid-base reaction, but it's definitely worth a try.

[@Metalhammer1993]

not in theory it works that way. it´s how ammonium nitrate is made.

[@hcn6708]

Can you do a Video on how to extract Urea from Urine?

[@USERNAME1-x5u]

We cool food with it!

[@viktorprypoten5233]

question on drying agents - I was told that drying agents should not be fine or they absorb product. Where is the truth?

[@lambdasun4520]

14:12 aagh reaction in closed system!

[@romasagill9981]

please alos tell us why cant we use concentrated sulric acid

[@thomaspinter8456]

I think nitrous oxide would be a pretty cool video

[@THEOFFICIALDJMD]

Hi Mr. NileRed. I know this video is old as hell, but I was curious. How does the Lithium/Ammonia blue colored substance behave in the presence of a magnet? Please and thanks, love Grandma.

[@TheRandomshit33]

if you leave it in the dry ice you can see the electrons better