Melting glass in the microwave is crazy

A little while ago I cooked a match in the microwave, and it made some scary plasma, which I thought was fun. The only problem was that it also damaged my glass beaker, and now, I have to sacrifice it. I don't want it to completely go to waste though, and I've decided to try and recycle pieces of it, by melting them in a microwave.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NileRed Beaker mugs: nilered.tv/store
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
■ NileRed: / nilered
Nile talks about lab safety (Chemistry is Dangerous): • Chemistry is dangerous.

[@eduardusrk2806]

Me: _"Don't worry he knows what he's doing."_ Nigel: *"From what I saw on the internet..."*

[@Phymacss]

HAHAH I THOUGHT THE SAME THING

[@darkloner-royalbengaltiger8298]

😃😂😂

[@danielperales3958]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@SangeetaYadav-rc5fc]

😂

[@ayo1235]

Lafmaooo

[@ShortHax]

NileRed doing the things we weren’t supposed to do as kids but he can do because he’s a ‘professional’

[@unknown185]

Im 11 and I think he is cool

[@Smorgasbord.]

@@unknown185 I think he's cool, too. That's literally the word that runs through my mind when I watch his videos.

[@unknown185]

@@Smorgasbord. yes

[@unknown185]

@@samilahhoahoe5125 shut up

[@prirority]

@@unknown185 underage user detected

[@JordiVanderwaal]

Nigel: *breaks your heart into a hundred pieces* Also Nigel: so, I'll pick out a few pieces that I think look nice

[@josephwodarczyk977]

And I'll try and melt them in the microwave.

[@MrTurbo_]

You reminded me of that song Last Resort

[@Zoruk_]

He ain't a woman tho

[@JordiVanderwaal]

@@Zoruk_ yeah, men break hearts too

[@Chickenz663]

who the fuck is nigel

[@azariahking8136]

"From what I saw on the Internet, all I have to do is heat it on high power for about 6 minutes." Probably the last words of a scientist.

[@BlueForte]

"I'm actually really happy with how they turned out"... *Proceeds to shatter glass again*

[@Mehmet-qw1qp]

Exactly what İ thought 😂

[@darkknight9827]

Man u gave me spoiler.

[@Suxhiii]

As expected

[@theboss-by5gd]

with great power comes great ability to smash glass

[@Matth3w-wil]

Now lets take even more good pieces and try to melt them together

[@nickschroeder7626]

This man really brought out the Unregistered Hypercam 2. This is my favorite channel on this damn website

[@mariodalporto2236]

"009 Sound System Dreamscape intensifies"

[@simonrepolt7175]

Golden era KZbin intensifies

[@2007excalibur2007]

roses are red violets are blue unregistered hypercam 2

[@airriflemaniac]

Reminds me of runescape pk vids

[@sniperzBAK]

@@airriflemaniac those were the days man. Pretty much every youtube vid of a PC game 10-12 years ago had that up in the corner like it was some sort of status symbol lol

[@SHRUGGiExyz]

I learned from an artist friend of mine that works mainly with glass that generally melting different types of glass is a bad idea. It can cause those small cracks to form, or if you're really unlucky the whole thing will explode when it cools! The rates at which the glasses melt, cool, and shrink means it's almost always a better idea to melt all the same type of glass separately, so borosillicate on it's own, glass from wine/beer bottles, etc. It'd be super cool if you did a project testing combos of various glass types with similar or wildly different properties to see what kind mixes work well and which ones are the fun explosive kinds. Especially since you might be able to explain the chemistry angle a lot more in depth than even some glass artists could. Great idea so far! Maybe I'll finally have a use for my spare microwave... 🤔

[@dawnchesbro4189]

That's the coefficient of expansion. Or COE. Different glass expands at different rates. It's not advised to mix them because they can explode from microscopic stress fractures.

[@urielgrey]

Thank you!

[@quimicasg]

The unregistered hypercam is just a hole in the microwave 😂 1:57

[@NikTek]

I honestly expected him to throw the microwave at the end XD

[@binangkalgaming]

yeah,same

[@PinataOblongata]

"I had to sacrifice this microwave *crash* to use the magnetron for a satellite disruption beam"

[@Tipsy..]

🤣

[@Benji10109]

Not expecting one of my favorite meme youtubers on a Nile vid lmao

[@ELYESSS]

probably couldn't lift it.

[@simonrepolt7175]

That _unregistered hypercam 2_ moment brought tears to my eyes

[@Frostissassin]

Took me back... To a simpler time

[@frzferdinand72]

@@Frostissassin Back to the days of buying gfs on Runescape

[@Sean-Ax]

Yes!! That was such an out-of-the-blue reference to make, but I loved it!

[@lordsludge5678]

Good ole gmod days

[@Perryman1138]

Underappreciated humor

[@bloink3511]

The spiderweb cracks are due to differences in CoE between the two types of glass. As for them not joining, a hole in a glass bubble will spread out the more you heat it as it wants to form a cylindrical shape due to surface tension. If you want the pieces to join, there can’t be any gaps whatsoever. Atleast, that’s my experience with borosilicate. Great video!

[@hisss]

I know it's been a year but...CoE? I know you don't mean the Church of England, but...?

[@bloink3511]

@@hisss coefficient of expansion! Borosilicate is 33 CoE and soft glass is generally between 90-104. It’s a measure of how the glass will expand and shrink at different rates when heated and cooled. Different numbers cool at different rates and will sheer apart

[@hisss]

​@@bloink3511Ah, of course, the principle behind sprinklers (the extinguishing system), right? Thanks for the clarification, especially after I dug up a corpse 🍻

[@bloink3511]

@@hisss 🤣 no worries mate

[@haha]

in conclusion, we can melt gold in a microwave?

[@tuuguu1438]

“From what I heard from the internet..” Ah yes, a recipe for disaster.

[@Poondaedalin]

This video has all the things that should make someone fear for their life: "From what I heard on the internet" "I put it in the microwave and waited to see what would happen" "Last time I did this, I had to destroy the beaker it was stored in" *glass breaking sounds*

[@LegoLordPro]

Its even worse if it came from TikTok

[@adrianvr2837]

Nigel: Chemistry is dangerouns Also Nigel: today, lets throw this beker and melt the glass pieces in the microwave

[@Periwinkleaccount]

You can correct autocorrect.

[@adrianvr2837]

@@Periwinkleaccount sorry, I am spanish

[@RobotAnimals]

thermodynamics is less dangerous

[@samanthakarunarathna4838]

That ain't dangerous 🧐🧐🧐

[@SaxandRelax]

Is his name actually Nigel

[@hozerino]

The camera transition at 1:47 gave me "HORROR MAZE EXORCIST JUMPSCARE" game vibes

[@IshowSongNames]

Scared me too man

[@blackfox_dalmatian]

0:34 Nile: "I thought it would look even better with color in it.." Me (thinking): "With food coloring or paint?" Nile: (smashes brown vial with a hammer) "so I sacrificed this glass brown bottle" Me (thinking): "Okay.."

[@00muinamir]

Regarding the glass staying separate: glass in liquid form has surface tension that wants to pull itself into domes about 6-7mm tall. If you want separate bits to fuse together you have to stack the glass higher than 6mm, preferably overlapping.

[@mike7546]

wow, you can learn new things from the comment section too.

[@anjou6497]

Wow. 👍 but i won't be trying it myself. I just microwave chicken tikka. 😅

[@oiladdychewsday]

@@anjou6497 wtf is a chicken tikka

[@Panma98]

@@oiladdychewsday Chicken tikka masala, food

[@aryanvaghas1ya]

@@oiladdychewsday Chicken Tikka Masala is a Chicken Curry (served with Roti or Naan it is a flat bread, like tortilla or Rice) originated from India or maybe made in Britain first by some Indian and I don't know why some say it is the National dish of Britain. There are many different stories and one of them is that it was made for Britishers to give that experience of Indian food and has comparatively less spicy gravy (as we Indians eat more spicy food) but still allowing them to taste our incredible food. I am vegetarian so I don't know how it tastes like, but Indian vegetarians substitute chicken with Paneer, which is kind of an Indian cheese and it tastes amazing.

[@randaranatunga7259]

As yes, because we totally didn’t expect the beaker getting damaged by the plasma

[@Evan_Case]

@@samilahhoahoe5125 Sweeter than what?! Colder than what?! I MUST KNOW!

[@erasedexistence4161]

@@Evan_Case It's a bot

[@n0nenone]

@@Evan_Case sweeter & colder than joe

[@eyitsaperson]

@@Evan_Case than bill

[@davisdf3064]

@@n0nenone Is it colder than Candice?

[@haiderzaidi5551]

1:07 Nile: from what I saw on the Internet- Me: wait….no….it’s always bad when someone says that….NOOOOOOO

[@gamblerbrownster]

"At first, it doesn't seem like much is happening.." This quote will stay in my heart until I die.

[@yashsaini3410]

Nilered: A well educated chemist who is always aware of what is he doing Nilered shorts: *LOUD GLASS AND FIRE NOISES*

[@s15silvia94]

@@kfoltman XD

[@yashsaini3410]

@@kfoltman lol 😂

[@amadeus6987]

nileblue: hehe roket go brrr

[@johnsober]

@@amadeus6987 was looking for the nileblue comment

[@TheAttacker732]

Nilered shorts: *SEND IT!* [Glass shattering in the distance]

[@candychip2557]

as someone who's dabbled in glass art, I can say this is an excellent result, pretty much what it would look like if melted in an actual oven. Unless you put pieces of glass on top of each other, they're usually not meant to melt together anyway. And the cracks are probably from using different kinds of glass but I'm not sure

[@petertaylor4980]

I thought the cracks were the texture of the surface they'd been resting on.

[@NG..]

The cracks are because they’re different types of glass. They crack because they have a different Coefficient Of Expansion (COE). When two pieces of glass with different COE’s melt together, they will cool (as well as melt) at different rates, and when one cools faster than the other, it will create a lot of stress in the glass which will eventually create the cracks you see in the final product. (I also got all my knowledge of this from glass art.)

[@DarkFrozenDepths]

Also, I'm not sure if it was needed in this case, but melted glass does need to be cooled a certain way or it will crack easily as it cools.

[@mh1066]

I wanted to buy one of those ovens (for stained glass projects, obviously). Is this a good miniature substitute for those ovens? I didn't have the budget to buy them.

[@ringofasho7721]

The cracks are because it cooled too fast and built up internal stress

[@Blinding__Light]

good job on discovering the crafting recipe for [Eye of the tiger], will make sure to remember this when I need to upgrade my wand

[@benjimann4438]

I gotta admit, man, you find ways to make science fun and entertaining. I really have to give you credit! Good job!

[@impcnrd]

"Unregistered Hypercam 2" That got me. Bravo

[@bigwee125]

Nile: Damages beaker using microwave Also Nile: Reuses beaker using microwave

[@yara.skkk2]

Nile being a professional at this stuff. Nile also calling it ‘The little plastic spinner thing.’

[@danerodriquez1358]

This was awesome. I was thinking there was no way it was going to work until you put the kiln and whatnot in there and it was actually absorbing the microwaves and glowing etc. I would absolutely love to see if you could try metal next. I’ve seen it done with lead but I think you might be able to do copper or aluminum at least. Thanks Nile!

[@matapavosgamer]

Metal in a microwave? Are you sure that's a good idea?

[@Joey-nt4xr]

You can really tell that he loves his job

[@laz4rd215]

Literally

[@ithewho6603]

Destroying stuff by burning, exploding, smashing, mixing chemicals... what man wouldn't love a job like that.

[@KwameCrawford]

Now he's just finding excuses to comedically chuck pieces of glass at the floor. Love it.

[@jesseystraver7650]

Once I tried drying a glass bottle I had cleaned in the microwave, I walked away and when I checked on it the bottle had partialy melted, I was terrified.

[@spiderlink1248]

Every time I read Unregistered HyperCam 2, Dreamscape just starts playing in my head. It's like an aura, always following it around.

[@randaranatunga7259]

The temperature of the microwave is how hot the food is when they say “it’s not that hot”

[@YounesLayachi]

The temperature of the microwave isn't how enough to melt glass, otherwise it would have melted the door and other parts of the microwave. The glass (once hot enough and gooey) is absorbing energy from the EM waves and becomes hotter than the surrounding material

[@ikitclaw7146]

@@YounesLayachi glass is transparent to microwaves, the kiln is absorbing the EM and emitting heat, the nature of a kiln is to trap that heat within and let it build up. put a dry, clean glass in the microwave on full power its temp wont change.

[@YounesLayachi]

@@ikitclaw7146 dry is only transparent when it's already cold. If you pot hot flexible glass in a microwave, it will heat up

[@XtreeM_FaiL]

That is not how microwave ovens work. In reality they teleport tiny blue flames inside what ever you are heating.

[@TheAttacker732]

And yet half of the food is still frozen cold enough that your tongue will stick to it.

[@michaelbrennan5409]

Forbidden rock candy 2:22

[@anxmxl]

Man I want to do science stuff alongside of NileRed! Good science, good company

[@truegret7778]

Very cool ..... Question - do you need to be concerned about moisture being in the kiln when you toss in the microwave?

[@latenttweet]

IMO the moisture is the only thing getting hot. Microwaves can only heat up polar molecules. Glass isn’t conductive and I don’t see it absorbing much energy at all without some humidity in there. For example take any scrap piece of plastic that is dry and throw it in the microwave for 60 minutes. Nothing will happen. Any warmth it may have will be from water molecules in the plastic. And that’s all you’ll get is slightly warm. It won’t melt into a puddle.

[@brandcack4117]

NileRed needs to have an official glass throwing compilation on his channel

[@brendenbruce904]

@Nile Red the reason they separated and cracked is because the types of glass you used are a different coefficient of expansion. The beaker is made from borosilicate glass which has a coe of 33, and the brown vial was likely made from soda lime glass which has a coe of 99 or 103

[@petalss5325]

I'm pretty sure that microwave right there went through the most extreme usage any microwave can go through in its life span. What a career

[@chrisscala4221]

Fun video. I'm sure you already know all about glass types, compatibility and COE, but it looks like you mixed soda-lime (the bottle) and borosilicate (the beaker), that's why there are all the fractures around the color. Which is a cool effect if that's what you're going for but may affect the longevity of the pieces.

[@shawneverette6575]

I'm not convinced it's boro; no PYREX marker, and the "plasma" in the beginning of the video should not have reacted in a harmful way if it was. The cracks with a soda lime glass fusing should have been more violent too, if it would have melted at all. Now two different 80-100 coe glasses, that I'd believe. Either way, annealing with one of these fake kilns should be highly suspect.

[@evilsharkey8954]

@@shawneverette6575 beakers are almost always borosilicate

[@shawneverette6575]

@@evilsharkey8954 almost always is not always. As someone who spent years working with soft and hard glass in neon, I don't believe it's behaving indicative of boro. In boro, a heat exchange(plasma discharge) that is not able to deform the glass should introduce little to any stress into the glass. That (plus the chemical resistance) is the entire reason it's used in lab settings. If this was 30 years ago I would agree with you with almost certainty, but I wouldn't put it past a current company selling "custom" beakers to be enameling on soft glass. Way cheaper and easier. If dude wants to send me some shards, I'd be happy to do tests against know glasses. I'll throw in a proper anneal for free.

[@user-gn3oq6mj1q]

0:18 what we were all waiting for

[@PinataOblongata]

Different glasses have different melting temperatures. My mum makes glass art with a kiln and often uses "System 96" glass so the different colours all still have the same melting point and one doesn't shatter the other as it cools. I'm quite surprised this worked, as I thought the microwaves mostly excite water molecules in things, and I wouldn't expect there to be many of those in glass. Then there's the fact the mini kiln seems like it would block the microwaves to some extent, but given it didn't, you'd expect the kiln's flu/vent would be spewing out enough heat to melt the roof of the metal casing of the microwave.

[@rizkicahyadi3777]

Wait glass is liquid

[@jafinch78]

@@rizkicahyadi3777 Search youtube for "How to make a microwave kiln" and you'll be surprised to learn a bit.

[@BadMonkeh]

I think it’s because the kiln in ceramic and a good insulator. Same way ceramic plates get hot super quick in a microwave.

[@acwhit1593]

I know I'm late to the party but that is the absolute coolest thing I've ever seen anybody do with the microwave in my whole life!

[@DerInhaberDerKrossenKrabbe]

Thanks for the advice 👍

[@Crowbars2]

lmao that "Unregistered Hypercam 2" at 1:23

[@pitohi11]

Could the type of glass have influenced the end appearance? Where I live borsilicate glass doesn't go in the glass recycling since it's different enough from the glass regular bottles and jars are made out of to screw with the recycling process.

[@brendenbruce904]

That's exactly what it was. The brown glass is soda lime glass and the beaker was borosilicate

[@mslvc2011]

A kiln is made out of refractory material. Refractories are materials that can tolerate extremely high heat and are used to make kilns and ovens for other materials made in extremely high heat -- such as glass, cement, and bricks. Refractories are really cool! They are the toughest materials in the world!

[@Ghuirm]

i've taken a glass blowing class before and have tried to color the glass and knew how this was gonna turn out lol. if yalls local CC offers glass blowing take it it's pretty fun and you learn through practice i once made a paper weight that exploded in the middle of my chemistry class during the final, i dont think it ever fully annealed properly and had alot of interior stress

[@shabtisis]

Thank You !!! At my work they actually melted a hole in the glass plate of the microwave.... Untill this day people think I was crazy telling them they did it with the microwave. Thinking someone used a torch to melt the glass as a prank. Telling me the microwave can't make glass hot enough to melt.

[@snnn2535]

But it can be dangerous af...

[@nilepink]

I actually want to build my own microwave kiln.

[@SandlerDeluxe]

Use graphite Spray for better results

[@guestc142]

So, how's the new apartment?

[@undersky596]

Really want to see more of these

[@obrikidivine7973]

I wish this guy was my chemistry teacher 😅😅I love the way he destroys stuff

[@gideoncheung8731]

"and it made some scary plasma... which I thought was fun." pretty much sums this channel up:D

[@furn2313]

"From what I saw on the Internet" This dude is brave

[@HoverboardHavocYT]

Nile: We're all about safety. Does the most unsafe things. lols

[@MemekingJag]

i love the 'unregistered hypercam 2' you put on the microwave cam.

[@Giarko]

You just need to paint the inner wall of the upper part of the kiln with a mixture of water glass and an high content of graphite flakes...you'll boost the temperature and reach the desired effect!;)

[@BuiHieuDong]

*NileRed is the only person that think playing with plasma is fun...*

[@StormTheSquid]

TF you on about? Plasma is freaking awesome

[@SomeoneChaotic]

I’d happily explode my microwave to play with plasma are you sure about that

[@jozefnovak7750]

Super! Thank you very much!

[@codyleslie478]

That's the highest quality shot from inside of a microwave that I've ever seen. Bravo!

[@madihaferoz4910]

I like how Nile's sacrifice is smashing a glass into uncountable glass pieces.

[@DiegoRockLoiro]

thog dont caaaare

[@bensfractals43]

“I thought i would look nicer with some color” *SMASHES THE ENTIRE CONTAINER OF COLORING*

[@johnh8615]

Nice now you started a adding function to stain glass craft. 😍

[@ASwordoftheLordGod]

WELL THAT WAS WAY COOL THANKS FOR THE VIDEO

[@ReverendTed]

Any item on screen by itself for 2 seconds on NileRed's channel: "I'm in danger."

[@ClappedHamster]

I like your science knowledge and your destructive humor. that is why you are one of the best youtuber in my list

[@yashwardhankachhwaha1395]

Yeahhhhhh&

[@Xahnel]

I want a series where this man microwaves all the things you were not supposed to microwave.

[@benevolencia4203]

What a beautiful ending. Thank you.

[@OnClase]

There it is, Nile slowly deviating away from chemistry and approaching styropyro, who also studied chemistry. Evolution at its finest.

[@rezaka116]

1:32 Where is 009 sound system - dreamscape?

[@Peeps40836]

Liked the "Unregistered Hypercam 2" mark that you put in the short. Reminds me of those times before.

[@Hitblank]

Well done, it is nice homemade jewels. 👏🏻

[@autumn1765]

watching a new NileRed shorts is like a roulette of whats gonna smash on the floor

[@meangreen8402]

Nile: murders beakers in cold blood Random guy: But they had families Nile: starts chainsaw with malice intent😂

[@mikeharrington5593]

Microwaves are designed to heat things with a water content which absorb the microwaves. Microwaving "dry" items is gonna drastically reduce the life of the machine because the microwaves "bounce back" & wreck the machine much faster than from normal use

[@sadpee7710]

Did he really write out "unregistered hypercam 2" on the top of his screen? absolute legend

[@The1337Duke]

Damn Nile, I see our Algorithms are synched up. I was sent on a "melt glass in the microwave" trip through KZbin myself a couple weeks ago

[@KenjiVdusc]

I like how he sacrifices the beaker for safety reasons, by shattering it on the floor. Cant get rid of all the risk, a little fun must stay.

[@futuregodkingoftheuniverse8381]

I love how comfortable he is with just breaking glass

[@MrAsmontero]

a t-shirt with "At first it didnt look that much was happening..."

[@youtubewarlord5709]

Nile:I had to sacrifise the glass beaker Proceeds to throw it randomly😂😂

[@parthdiwakar]

He is single handedly making people love chemistry.

[@japan.alesuejiro]

Impressively relaxing

[@freepalestine7405]

His flow of speaking is soo good🙂

[@hiimemily]

"Unregistered Hypercam 2" nearly made me cough up a lung laughing.

[@janiceBeck79]

Well that was interesting! Hehe would look better with some colour in in it, proceeds to get the hammer😂. Love the videos Nile!🇬🇧🎃

[@Lyrics.457]

Hlo

[@JaydaJKey]

Yesssss I did this in my jewellery class. So cool!

[@TheMrDarius]

I never knew it was possible to use a microwave to melt glass. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it

[@viditsinha7865]

Let's be honest we knew that the first 20 seconds would happen either on screen or off screen

[@WokuGames]

Unregistered Hypercam 2

[@cheddartaco]

My father makes eye prosthetics, and these look very similar to the end product, iris and all!

[@mrboombastic1565]

The way you use "sacrifice" like you were on a killing spree 😂😂

[@Kiwi2703]

You ever thought about making a special series of videos (or maybe even a separate YT channel) where you'd show chemistry experiments that people can safely do at home with common ingredients?

[@showalk]

Oh man that's a good idea.

[@khloros17]

This is something i have been trying to DIY, with some firebricks and chopped up angle grinder wheels (SC). It works but the binder in the SC burning smells whack

[@wernerhiemer406]

I once bought a foam concrete brick and some graphite powder to do something similar. But then I was to afraid and still used only the brick with a carved out hole for some other heat related things.

[@Xanderviceory]

the clear and amber have a different COE (Coefficient of expansion) and are technically compatible but its very tricky.

[@AntonisZ73]

Fascinating

[@Timmy129_]

2:17 wow

[@julesoyler4306]

Hes doing exactly what we tell our kids not to play around and do! Love all your posts Nile!

[@somecatwithmustache1767]

Nigel: "From what I saw on the internet..." every day nigel is closer to nileGreen

[@grampsinsl5232]

Single-thickness glass will always shrink in left/right/up/down size in order for it to grow to about 1/4" thick. That seems to be the thickness that it "wants" to be. If you pile the glass up to 1/4" before fusing it, you'll get the single lump you want. It won't be stable though since you're using two different types of glass, and eventually it's likely to crack unless you just get extraordinarily lucky and your two types of glass have the same "COE" - coefficient of (thermal) expansion. The same thing can happen if you don't let the melted glass stay in the temperature region where thermally-induced stresses have time to anneal out. Cracks from that can happen hours, days, even months later. Keep experimenting, it's fun when you finally get things to turn out like you wanted!