Making Mercury Thiocyanate (The Pharaoh's Serpent) - Revisited

Hey guys, today we are going to be revisiting the synthesis of mercury thiocyanate. I won't be demonstrating it in the this video. Instead ill have a dedicated one for it soon. This is scaled up 10x compared to my previous one.
Old Video: • Making the Pharaoh's S...
Warning: This experiments requires the handling of dangerous and volatile chemicals. It must only be carried out in a fume hood or outdoors.
All chemicals must be disposed of properly. Everything will be contaminated with mercury/mercury salts. NOTHING CAN GO DOWN THE DRAIN OR IN THE GARBAGE. Only carry out this experiment if you can dispose of the chemicals and combustion products properly.
Every step of this synthesis deals with dangerous or toxic materials. Gloves, safety glasses and a lab coat are mandatory.
Here is a video to show you how volatile elemental mercury is. It lets off a lot of vapor and breathing this must be avoided.
• Elemental Mercury Vapo... "
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Nile talks about lab safety: • Chemistry is dangerous.

[@krisztianszirtes5414]

1) Get 104% yield 2) Reduce the ion back to mercury 3) ??? 4) Profit :P

[@NileRed]

+Krisztián Szirtes Sounds like a perfect plan

[@aeriumsoft]

+Nile Red lol

[@TheUnknownPersonnn]

+Krisztián Szirtes that's some next level alchemy.

[@Atomos95]

+Nile Red Chemistry is a science... go too fast is not the way! U see... side reactions, overflow risc. Be carefoul.

[@OsirusHandle]

Can you make some mercury fulminate?

[@RickFoxChicken]

Imagine in the medieval age if a man brought this experiment to his king. People would lose their minds. It looks like he's summoning a hell spawn.

[@demoniack81]

"And a little bit of yellow appears" _[aussie screaming in background]_

[@luisp.3788]

yellow chem bad

[@JeoshuaCollins]

All yellow chemistry is ŦɌ͉͕̰͇̏Ⱥ̟͖̩̟̔̀̄̇ͪŠ̭ͮ̾̌Ħ̬̦̱ͪ̔

[@alexslab.4875]

extractions and ire

[@nextgencrysis875]

if you were my chemistry teacher id have an A in chemistry .

[@absinthe7266]

Exactly

[@5Andysalive]

tbf a chemistry teacher can not make everything into a nice, practical presentation. They also have to deliver a lot of plain theory, which is where good teachers REALLY split from poor ones and you can't judge from his videos, how good he would be at that.

[@jamesemerson7445]

I had a conversation with a PhD Chemist. He told me that chemistry professors are very good at crushing students' passion for chemistry.

[@jmreeves89]

Your chemistry professor has a tiny fraction of the financial budget of a major yt channel. He/she has to teach to EVERYONE which means they can only teach at a level that the worst students are able to comprehend. They also have to lay massive amounts of foundation chemistry, which is dry and boring most of the time. I'm not taking away from this kid's chemistry channel at all (he has done phenomenally well for himself, does solid chemistry, and should be very proud of his status and accomplishments). What I'm taking a shot at is this generation confusing yt and internet videos on a particular (always interesting) experiment with what is/could be done in a scholastic setting.

[@zachjones6944]

Chem sucks at times but I still love it. I have to push myself to do the work.

[@herkuskaminskas1409]

Please make a video on toxic waste disposal/neutralization of dangerous compounds e.g. manganese heptoxide

[@googleeatsdicks]

+Herkus Kaminskas I second that. It would be great.

[@Rhodanide]

+Herkus Kaminskas Manganese Heptoxide is neutralized with a good amount of water. :P As for the other things, yeah I second that as well as Anticonny.

[@herkuskaminskas1409]

+Azide N3 Doesn't it combust/explode on contact with water?

[@Rhodanide]

Herkus Kaminskas Nope. Look at his video on it.

[@SmiloDTech]

+Herkus Kaminskas It would be great !

[@nittayasmine9772]

Prof (reminding me of Prof Crank), I pray for your good health coz y are always working with very poisonous substances and dangerous chemical reactions, but you know how to stay safe, thanks

[@bDarnandy]

Nile Red pure savage confirmed. Not sure about Nile Blue tho..

[@sucroseboy4940]

If you had just known about the shit that has gone down on the Nileblue channel in 2020

[@Bee-df8vx]

Sucrose Boy nile blue is crazy scientist lmao

[@juicy_jr1194]

Cause the Nile blue is for kids and Nile Red is nsfw

[@3hects]

nileblue a MENACE

[@xvdvn2216]

And now we have NileGreen, who… we don’t really talk about him…

[@Eremon1]

It's like watching plant roots grow at a multiplied speed factor. Really cool how it seems as though material is being produced out of the flame and thin air alone. Very interesting experiment. Thanks for sharing as many of us would never see something like this otherwise.

[@goodfeller2]

I would have been praying and sweating bullets as soon as I saw that much foam.

[@flagmuffin1221]

Believe me, in undergrad labs I got way too gung-ho with reactions sometimes and did the same thing :P

[@marialiyubman]

What is you youtube nightmare used to be your school dream. 😂

[@phobos1963]

@@marialiyubman lmao so true

[@julie-18]

I was terrified I though that was going to spill

[@editname6868]

I literally started laughing

[@Akbarwayse]

Keep it up Nile, I used your videos for my chemistry club. We did some of your demos in front of children as part of our chemistry shows.

[@skyrotechnics3245]

did the children die?

[@jebug29]

I'm looking forward to the demo! ^^ You should do a video on the toxicity of different metals (mercury, tin, lead, etc.). I think it'd be pretty interesting.

[@davidpavel5017]

Nothing interesting here, just just good ol' NileRed achieving 104% yield.

[@Spikeydelic]

Ive been watching most of your videos, and you do sound like this is the biggest joy in life for you.. hence the sarcasm. BUT i do love the videos man!

[@sorsorscience0787]

congratulations. You got every chemical in the beginning :)

[@AtlasReburdened]

great stuff, cant wait for the show.

[@ddrome15]

Hey man, just wanted to let you know that your content is beyond amazing. The quality, procedure, and explanations provided in this video and all others are superb. As a second year chemistry major, my goal is to be as knowledgable as you. Hope all is well!

[@dayalkhinchi6222]

Really knowledge power carry out ahead

[@jamesmurphy953]

Love your stuff!

[@Mattes_______]

It's so nice to see your videos getting better and better. Someday when you have like a few 100000 subscribers I can say that I watched you since the beginning when you had about 3000 subs :) Keep it up

[@NileRed]

+Keta I can only dream of that day! Also, I am glad that you are still around. You are one of the true originals :p

[@oxybrightdark8765]

You have bragging rights.

[@RemcovanZuijlen]

it's 4.8M now (as of january 2023)

[@Mattes_______]

@@RemcovanZuijlen and I am still here haha

[@MostFolkCallMeOrangeJoe]

Awesome. What were the possible side reactions?

[@johndifrancisco3642]

I love listening to you. I don't know crap about chemistry but listening and watching you stumble through your experiments is funny. I do not mean this in a bad way. When you said you were not going to demonstrate the end result of the experiment because........well I didn't film it yet, I cracked up! The water evaporation with the salt too. I like your voice and the way you explain things :) Don't change the way you talk. You will not sound natural.

[@miscme6046]

John Di Francisco yes

[@mimose97]

Nice preparation. The main difficulty in these cases is to face with a lot of dangerous waste but you manage them very well. I think that people who want to do this experience should work with small quantities of chemicals in order to have less problems.t Thanks

[@SirPerfluous_]

Haha I had to go back and check, but you weren't really wrong about sounding like you hate everything. Good job on the enthusiasm this time! Also, gotta say, I love your sense of humor and your random comments about your videography or mistakes. Keep it up! Great science too :)

[@NileRed]

+diamondeye83 haha thanks! :)

[@shonaoneill5151]

I don't think you sound miserable.....you explain what you are doing better by far (in my opinion) than any of the other KZbin chemistry channels. I don't care what anyone else thinks, as I said, this is "my opinion". I have loved your well presented, highly informative videos from the very beginning. I am sorry that I cannot afford to support you on patreon, I am disabled and do not have a lot of money, but I wish I could as I probably enjoy your videos more than anyone. best wishes, a friend.

[@spudhead169]

If you plan to release a continuation video, you should edit the previous video and put the link to the next one in the description. When videos are years old, it's a pain to go searching through your catalogue for it.

[@anelperezic2383]

Why dont you make nile red,Nile Red????

[@NileRed]

+Agames 12 I dont have the starting materials!

[@anelperezic2383]

Nile Red that's a shame. BTW congratulations on 40000 subs really big fan!!

[@Bouzsi]

NileRed ask your parents for the starting materials for a mile red 😂 😳

[@johnhutchinson5398]

Really cool video. Have you ever tried making any parish green. ? Makes some of the best color pyro star’s.

[@ardentdrops]

I think a video on general safety procedures and best practices would be cool. Maybe include advice on disposal?

[@NileRed]

+Ardent Drops that is a very good idea. I will add it to the list

[@ralph7349]

Congrats with 40000 subs

[@NileRed]

+Ralph den Boer Thanks!

[@TheComquat]

+Nile Red Hey Nile Red I was wondering if you would like a 16oz bottle of Vanillin mixed with 10% pg and also two 16oz bottle of triacetin? I don't know what you would use with the triacetin but if you could find a purpose for it that would be great! Let me know, i would love to send them to you!

[@NileRed]

***** What is pg? Also i appreciate the offer, but i have 100g of pure vanillin already and I am not sure what i would do with triacetin. I mean, it wouldnt hurt to have it though.

[@TheComquat]

Pg is Propylene Glycol, and I honestly dont know what you would use the triacetin for either. I don't know if would even be relevant in any reactions but i'm sure you have afar more vast knowledge on reactions that would possibly use it who knows. I figured I would ask you if you would like the vanallin because I will never use it and i'm sure you could get a pretty good yield out of it.

[@bok..]

+Nile Red it is propylene glycol

[@krystianmazgajewski1663]

Dude, is there anyway you could make a video on the grignard synthesis of crystal violet? I loved that lab, your channels bring me back to ochem lab days. Neat times.

[@NileRed]

+Krystian Mazgajewski Never heard of that until you mentioned it. I think I will make it.

[@krystianmazgajewski1663]

+Nile Red Dude, that reaction from chem lab was sweet. Got to do alllll sorts of neat things with the Grignard reaction, my favorite reaction. The lab was pretty much two parts. We first made a trityl carbocation starting with benzene, bromine, and Mg to illustrate how to make bromobenzene and benzophenone. Eventually we made a trityl carbocation. If I remember correctly, it was an electrophilic substitution rxn of sorts. Forgive me if my memory has failed me, it was about 3 years ago and I haven't been in an orgo lab for quite some time, despite fond memories. From there, we synth'd the crystal violet with the carbocation. It was a neat lab, I remember losing points on my report for leaving off the methyl groups of my tertiary amines of my crystal violet synthesis from ChemDraw. I got over it. It was certainly a fun lab: some of us made crystal violet and others of us made malachite green. I chose the violet. Later in school, we kinda did something similar but we went all the way to make methyl orange or orange II depending on what we chose/ I cannot remember much of that at all though... It would be REALLLY cool to see all of it done together perhaps as a sequence of videos. Thanks for the reply!

[@krystianmazgajewski1663]

+Nile Red BTW, love your videos!! Reminds me of my undergrad times. Interesting times, chem lab was always MEGA cool. The synthesis of flavors would also be reallllllly cool to see. Like I know we did banana flavor or isopentyl acetate in one of my earliest labs and the whole lab smelled like banana runt candy. I wish we could have kept doing that kinda of thing, but there were way cooler things to do.

[@krystianmazgajewski1663]

+Nile Red I subbed your channel when I saw the capsaicin extract vid. I grow quite a few of the hottest peppers on earth, for a time even the Carolina reaper, and I really liked your soxhlet extraction method with the Bhut jolokias. I still have tons of those around the house and they're fun to stir fry with. Keep up the great work!!!

[@alex3mirillas]

Hey Nile! could one of the rewards on Patreon be a more technical view of the video? I mean, all the maths, chemistry and physics behind the reaction that you are recording. I think it would be actually cool.

[@caru93]

I love these videos, even if I don't have the full chemistry background to follow fully(I get the majority, but am left with tons of questions). one question I'm extremely curious about, though(which is relevant to my field of study): would you still do these reactions if there were no way to show others? no doubt that this is you doing what you enjoy, but what made you want to make these videos?

[@NileRed]

+Joey Robinson that is how I started. I wanted to do it just for myself and the videos were more to document what i had done. Now my focus has kind of switched and i am producing videos for you guys more than for myself.

[@caru93]

+Nile Red Thanks for the response. I'm glad you're doing this for both yourself and us. I'll be waiting for the next one.

[@theamateurscientist]

Also can you please tell me where did you buy the test tubes clamps i ve been trying to find them everywhere

[@jamie91995]

Can you please do a lab tour? I would really like to see a lab tour to get ideas for my own lab.

[@KowboyUSA]

Wow. That's a big watchglass!

[@GhostMerc0247]

104% yield? This is IMPOSSIBLE. Ha this video was pretty entertaining. Thank-you for risking life and limb to educate us heathens.

[@gozitanmontainbikegoprorid5261]

congrat my friend on 40 000

[@NileRed]

+The classroom maniacs Thanks :)

[@jakerickytan1232]

Oh God, I'm glad that reaction didn't runaway. O.o

[@vayunbiyani]

congrats for ur 40k subs

[@NileRed]

+Vayun Biyani Thanks!

[@jordanstillinger5265]

Can you make a video about Aerogel? That would be very interesting.

[@Sinnistering]

Okay, I complained about the microphone in another video, but this one is perfect! Very clear sounding, perfect volume. Definitely can see the huge upgrade now.

[@NileRed]

+Ielsgred thanks! :) I am just getting used to the whole setup.

[@TheGuerrCZ]

Hello Nile, can you tell me, what you are going to do with the mercury waste ?

[@elvishicks1345]

we want more mercury experiments, please do it

[@skyym3629]

That would be cool if you made some mercury fulminate or silver fulminate. I don't think you will get in trouble for these because children's popper snaps are made of silver fulminate and you can purchase those in grocery stores all over the U.S. Ya never know though, cuz KZbin is censoring the freedom of information and there getting worse every day. Information should be readily available to every human being on this planet. Unfortunately, there are organizations that feel they should stop certain information from being know to the sheep or the citizens that make this world tick. If I were you "NileRed", I would start publishing or downloading your videos to other video sites so you will have another outlet, just in case you say or do something that is not politically correct and KZbin pulls the plug on your channel. Thank you for your videos and the information you supply us with in your videos. All your videos always get a thumbs up from me. God Bless bro.

[@chemicalmaster3267]

+Nile Red Also, what side reactions can occur when you mix potassium thiocyanate and mercury(II) nitrate?

[@NileRed]

+ChemicalMaster I am not really really not sure.

[@thecrudelab3204]

hey, how to turn the reacted mercury ratiocinate back into mercury metal?

[@matisa52]

You should change the tumbnail of the video with the reaction finished (the creepy looking product), you'll probably get more views that way :)

[@NileRed]

+Matis A I would but i feel like it would be misleading. On the actual demonstration video I will do that

[@matisa52]

+Nile Red Ah yeah you are right about that one :)

[@thefarklenator4518]

I get the “you sound bored and uninterested all the time” from everyone

[@bharrison4]

That's a lot of mercury thiocyanate! I MUST TRY THIS!!!

[@NextGenAge]

I tried to dissolve Lead in Nitric acid once and got an ugly runaway. Many NO2 fumes and lead nitrate spilled slightly over the top of the container. Luckily I also had a dish underneath it. *Can you maybe do a video on Lets Nitrile synthesis. Lead Thiocyanate can be used with aromatic acids to create nitriles, which can in turn be converted to many things. I'm planning to make Aniline in this process.*

[@zZDaGermanPhilZz]

Im just curious...what do you do for a living? (Btw how old are you?) Cause i find it amazing how you do all those experiments. Do you work in a lab or something? Or is it just you doing those experiments in your free time? Any answer is highly appreciated :) Love your videos

[@NileRed]

+zZDaGermanPhilZz This is actually what i am doing right now for a living. This is what I do in general. I work and do everything at home. Also, i am 24

[@zZDaGermanPhilZz]

+Nile Red Thanks for the response! Thats so cool...i wish i could do such things at home Continue the great work mate!

[@alloounou6900]

NileRed: dedicates weeks, if not months to a project Also Nile: too lazy to use a hot plate.

[@mattibboss]

will you light up anything at once or in some parts? (weird english...)

[@alexschmidig7413]

Where did you get your drying tube/ what brand is it

[@metazootet1492]

Are you able to compress the powder, suspend it in mid air and then ignite the reaction?? I’d love to see that.

[@pinkmagicali]

I read recently you can do it with baking soda and sugar. I was so excited because ever since I saw this I wanted to try it. Why did we not get shown this in school?

[@voidify3]

To answer your rhetorical question, this reaction involves mercury and putting kids in the same room with poison is generally a bad idea. And the sugar snake reaction (a completely different reaction aside from the similarity of involving snake-shaped solid smoke, although it and this reaction do confusingly share the term “black snake”) isn’t toxic but it involves a lot of heat so it’s understandable why they don’t get kids to do it either

[@zigero1]

nice vid, but you shouldn't put your equations on the very top, because when u play the vid in fullscreen the name of the video covers it. Put it a little lower and it's perfect. Beside of that, i really enjoy your videos. Keep up the good work.

[@NileRed]

+zigero1 That never really occurred to me. Ill see what i can do

[@zigero1]

+Nile Red Well, i see the problem now. Once you move the mouse the vid name covers it. Since im using 2 monitors to watch and do other stuff on the second one, the constant mouse moving causes this problem . I guess i have to just watch the vid :)

[@theonetheycallbo]

Is it worth it to capture the nitrogen dioxide and react it with H2O2 to make more nitric acid?

[@slateflash]

5:39 how is it that mercury can disproportionate like that? Do any other metal ions behave similarly?

[@Jakepx11]

after the foaming got scary could you have just ran and grabbed something like a condensing column or fractional column and put it on top so it didn't spill everywhere?

[@AutoOtto]

Great video, and that reaction at the start is really sweet. The link to the old video in your description isn't correct. I'm pretty sure the link you provided only works for you since it includes "edit?". I believe it should be kzbin.info/www/bejne/hnSWoGWBnLamqqM

[@holguacamol8408]

8:36 first time in my life i heard you say "pour" instead of the posh """"decant"""

[@herkuskaminskas1409]

You could mix the mercury thiocyanate with ammonium dichromate for a cooler version of the pharaoh's serpent :) Would be awesome to see it on your channel

[@NileRed]

+Herkus Kaminskas It is a lot more environmentally unfriendly though... maybe ill do it :p

[@Bouzsi]

Nile Red: roasting himself, since 2016.

[@kingjames4886]

these things look so cool! like an evil wizard is creating some kinda magic root right in front of you. too bad it's so toxic.

[@sakred5724]

Lmao never thought of yur voice as sounding that way... I feel like u got the perfect voice for these kinda vids... fyi

[@codycall6513]

Better than his 1 minute shorts.

[@Rhodanide]

Very cool video, just like the last one, but with a better camera, microphone, and overall quality.

[@NileRed]

+Azide N3 Thanks!

[@Rhodanide]

Nile Red GUYS, GUYS, HE RESPONDED!!

[@TheRedKnight101]

Why was the yellow precipitate that formed when you added to much KSCN?

[@tmfan3888]

1. i tried dissolving Hg from a broken thermometer in HNO3 like u did but my Hg(NO3)2 soln is v slightly blue. y? isnt Hg2+ colourless? 2. y u have to dilute the solns? wont keeping concentration high give higher yields?

[@alexpotts6520]

Possible your mercury has some copper dissolved in it?

[@Qwertydex]

what was that yellow side product at 8:20?

[@Tactix_se]

8:10 I can hear E&F screaming in the distance

[@prakashbhamre4360]

Super

[@Halinspark]

Could you have put the wet product in a vacuum and boiled off the water?

[@marcingoawski9305]

will you ever make some actual nile red?

[@therainbowwillow4453]

What’s the demonstration video called?

[@asiandramas1422]

What is its geometry and hybridisation???

[@gazzc]

Still enjoying your videos, when I get round to making an account I'll put up a couple of dollars on your patreon.

[@196Stefan2]

Have you ever evaluated, of which the "ash" of the Pharaoh's Serpent consists? Is there a high residue of Mercury in it? kind regards!

[@NileRed]

+196Stefan2 I would imagine that there is a decently high amount of elemental mercury left in it

[@HashFace253]

" A little bit of yellow appears"

[@luisp.3788]

y e l l o w c h e m b a d

[@boredbrother6676]

0:19 that’s sooooo true

[@madfoxmax4600]

How do you destroy your waste

[@German_K5]

so, what do you do with the contaminated water? Do you just keep it forever or else?

[@NileRed]

+believe German K5 Forever and ever. Seriously though, I will just need to call someone to take it for me. They will also take my money though...so that is less fun.

[@niilovaananen3215]

When it breaks and grows upwards it looks like one of those tube screensavers

[@bsheaves]

Have you ever made nitrogen triiodine? Might be a fun one to do with your high quality cameras

[@NileRed]

+Ben Sheaves I do plan to make it eventually

[@hippy_chat]

Anyone else get food ads while trying to see a toxic chems video?

[@bensullivan420]

My chemistry teacher dumped mercuric chloride down the drain even though I told her not to because it's a terrible idea, it was a "low concentration", mercury was in it regardless...

[@bensullivan420]

exactly ugh it bothered me so much

[@johnnywu190]

Bravely

[@shadowzabyss]

Mercury Chloride is soluble in water?

[@wholesale450]

It's like a monster is trying to come out of portals

[@Noob___Noob]

pain in the ass dealing with toxic metal

[@NileRed]

+Chan I agree

[@donovansteele834]

Could you use a sep funnel to drip mercury while heating? Thus avoiding foaming? Also what about the introduction of glass fibers to control boiling?

[@luisp.3788]

Drip it to where?

[@donovansteele834]

@@luisp.3788 use a 2 neck flask and the sep funnel to drip in.

[@donovansteele834]

That way you can gauge your mercury feed and vent the dreaded red gas. Im asking. Not telling. Thanks for the great content.

[@ziggyc3004]

Nile, can you tell me what method you use for a vacuum.

[@NileRed]

+Ziggy Chomptwo I have a Chinese vacuum pump

[@shaknitboss]

Hi. Off topic but is there an easy way to test for flouride in tap water.

[@HyperionNyx]

+Steven Wanner No.

[@rajeshshahi1000]

hey where do you get all these chemicals from?

[@crasowl]

+rajesh shahi rajesh shahi He said he made the nitric acid, got the mercury from heaps of thermometres and bought the KSCN from eBay

[@rajeshshahi1000]

+crasowl not for this videos for all videos.

[@crasowl]

rajesh shahi rajesh shahi Makes them, extracts them or buys them.

[@derkateramabend]

Wouldn’t it be easiest to sacrifice a magnetic stir bar and drop it inside in order to prevent excessive boiling and bumping?

[@luisp.3788]

It wouldn't even be sacrificed, since most stir bars have PTFE coating so they basically get attacked by a tiny list of chemicals.

[@eka_chemist]

So i habe tried this reaction million of times but precipitate doesn't appear. Instead of using Hg metal, i use merucric nitrate salt directly, make its solution and make a KSCN solution and then just mix it. But it forms no ppt, and i don't know what the problem is Can anyone tell

[@markom.258]

What if you spill the mercury ?

[@Sparkette]

You know it's dangerous when the name has both "mercury" and "cyan" in it.

[@BarnacleBrown]

what the... did you say that you collected that much mercury from old thermometers? How much mercury is in those things!? Did you come up with a method of recovering it quickly without having to go through the effort of breaking every one by hand?

[@taboosaboo]

This looks like plant growth. The hot end is the reactive growth. .I wonder if the sun end is promoting the similar reaction at a lower temperature over longer duration with smaller proportion.