MERCURY vs SALT - Defies ALL LOGIC

What the what? Jeff uploaded something besides a GUN video? Why am I speaking in third-person?
How is this even possible? We pour mercury on top of table salt. Hg is 7 TIMES denser than salt- the salt should float. Why doesn't it just freely float to the surface?
This is not CGI or camera trickery. It's not stunt-salt or magician's mercury...
Mercury is a toxic, heavy metal. We use all precautions needed to do these experiments. Often I just make it look like I am being sloppy just to mess with people who aren't paying close attention.
OVER 40 Wacky Mercury Videos! Playlist:
• MERCURY (Hg) - The we...
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[@vincechaisson1722]

The crystalline structure of the salt is basically locking the salt together with the weight of the mercury pressing down.

[@brianpinkey676]

My thoughts exactly

[@70tdc12s]

Yep, granular packing

[@ytivarg5371]

Yeah that plus the surface tension of the mercury is too high to break through said structure

[@mikeshotrodshop]

Add a little water and watch the granular compaction fade away.

[@shannonhinton557]

Yep, agree,, add to that, the narrowing glass,, aiding compaction of the salt, :0)

[@davidcarter7880]

Once the salt gets on top, it stays there. The reason the salt does not rise is due to an extremely high surface tension. The mercury atoms do not want to let go of each other and this creates a kind of barrier to the salt, which, unless it is inside the enclosed area of mercury, the salt's buoyancy will have no effect.

[@pavelZhd]

This. And on top of this mercury wanting to stay in one piece - salt lacks viscosity to let large clump of Mercury to sink into it. Wonder if flowing air through salt to create a kind of quicksand effect will make mercury actually sink into salt properly.

[@surveyordave]

I love how you protected the identity of the little girl on the salt container. couldn't make out which brand it was.

[@Contractorhouseguy]

Slinger1

[@neamtu7067]

Other elements: Why cant you just be normal? Mercury: *screams in liquid*

[@josephwilliams1915]

Snaaaaaaaake!

[@KClO3]

Bad joke

[@no15minutecities]

????

[@dragosxtc1901]

I couldn't sleep last night was wondering how mercury and salt react together, thanks for clearing that up, I can rest now

[@stevenclark5840]

What are you making

[@coolscorpion29]

Dragos Xtc like 250

[@nameless4630]

SAME i can sleep peacefully i couldnt rest till i knew

[@natif6souljahat89]

Dragos Xtc 😂😂😂 ... same here... except, i dont think ill be able to sleep tonite knowing how STUPID this video made me feel .... or is... or made me feel it is... its stupid that its labelled "defys all logic" but, the logical answer is mercury just wont dissolve salt, therefore it wont work its way thru hundreds of thousands of tightly compacted salt granules ... or is that too much logic for this video?

[@user-vr6cq6er3c]

Hi Is there a buyer if you want to call me in Afghanistan

[@furrball]

surface tension: mercury's highly cohesive, tends to cluster together, and the clusters can't slip through the grains of salt.

[@jfat4]

Thanks you, finally someone got it right.

[@chtsv]

If the mercury fell through the salt I would be as surprised as I would if mercury fell through the earth if you dropped it on a dirt road

[@kuroodo_]

It's only logical and is even shown at the beginning when he starts pouring small drops of it lol

[@williamehrhardt918]

I thought this was pretty obvious.

[@seivaDsugnA]

Also, the salt crystals "bind" together under the weight of the blob of mercury and do not "free flow" under the compression.

[@absynthe8840]

You're forgetting about the surface tension of the mercury vs the space between the salt grains. It makes perfect sense. If you had salt grains that were larger they would come to the top immediately.

[@desertrat7634]

Yup, I've always wanted to mix table salt with mercury. Now that I know, I can sleep soundly. Thank you!

[@ghostofrecon1]

Simple. The surface tension is enough to prevent the salt granules from passing through the Mercury

[@andyunruh7889]

I was just reading the comments to see if anyone else came up with that. I do believe you are correct.

[@ghostofrecon1]

I've been wrong many times before, but here I think I have the right of it

[@hengineer]

doesn't even make me have to think about it, should be obvious. His comment about milk throws everyone off because the surface tension of fluids we are used to, like water and milk is really low. Mercury, a metal, has much much higher surface tension.

[@ghostofrecon1]

Mercury has a surface tension of ~480 Dyn/cm at stp. It's crazy high. I'd expect the same to happen with any crazy high surface tension material.

[@ghostofrecon1]

Some people "talk" differently than you. It's something you should keep in mind when discussing things with people from all over the world.

[@MrMufs]

The weight of the mercury pins the salt against the sides/bottom of the glass (preventing it from sliding up the sides of the glass) and the salt is trying to float but doesn't have enough buoyancy force to counteract the surface tension and float upwards thus the salt stays pinned in its position.

[@jpreptiles2492]

right

[@theuncalledfor]

+Lucas Farrell Not quite. Buoyancy isn't really things being pulled up from above, it's being pushed up by something that's more eager to be lower than you. When you float in water, the water pushes you up because it's being pulled down more strongly than you're being pulled down. The salt has no reason to rise up the glass because it doesn't stick to glass. Since salt is solid, not liquid or gaseous, it has a lot of friction, making it resistant to changing positions within the container. Since the mercury's surface tension keeps it round and smooth, it can't flow in between the salt grains, and as a result, can't push the salt upward. That's also why the salt does float on mercury when the whole contents of the container are stirred: As soon as some salt is suspended in mercury, buoyancy can take effect. So you're almost right. Close enough to right that you're not wrong.

[@MrMufs]

theuncalledfor thx i didn't know that about buoyancy

[@foofoothegreat]

+theuncalledfor Sir, you too are incorrect but closer. not friction at all. The high surface tension in the Mercury doesn't allow for it to flow through the small pore sizes created when the salt crystals were packed together. when they were agitated, the salt crystals were moved apart enough in select areas such that the Mercury could move past the salt

[@theuncalledfor]

Foofoo The Great That doesn't explain why the salt doesn't part to let the mercury through. Friction explains why the salt won't move aside. Pour mercury on water and it will penetrate through and sink to the bottom. Water is liquid, so it has very little friction with itself and doesn't resist shape changes. Salt is solid, has high friction with itself/between grains, and thus is more resistant. It's the same reason why a gold ball won't easily sink to the bottom of a container filled with sand: The sand doesn't move aside to let the ball through, because the sand has too much internal friction, unlike a liquid medium. What you said is entirely correct, though, except for the part where you said I was wrong.

[@TWOSU_NEWS]

Ya., we did this in school., the weight of the mercury on top of the salt causes the salt crystals to compress.. the more mercury the tighter the salt compresses eliminating sufficient voids to alow the mecury to flow down causing it to be suspended.

[@justinjuneazucenas9351]

Thank u for explaining that as simple as possible. I really didnt know wtf is going on. I guess Everyone else on the comment section are nobel prize winning scientists

[@paulszeles1828]

@Thom Al HUH

[@lardenfriund5639]

They let you use mercury in school?

[@blahblahblah6]

@@lardenfriund5639 they let us mess with it back in the 80's, tho they were clear that we weren't to let it touch our skin.

[@hookeaires6637]

"Hey, has anyone seen my favorite lager glass?"

[@Kipwich]

“Yeah, we made a rather unique new drink. Give it a try”

[@Schindlabua]

Not surprised at all! The salt granules cause a lot of friction.

[@asdf7108]

+Schindlabua dumbass

[@Paul_Kielty]

+asdf what? Why would you be such an ass for no reason?

[@Schindlabua]

+awfulguitarplucker The mercury wants to move to the bottom of the container because gravity, however the salt won't be displaced because of the friction caused by the salt grains' irregular shape. Wheres the problem?

[@Paul_Kielty]

awfulguitarplucker Oh, sorry missed the notification. Yeah the guy I was responding to in the first place was someone called asdf, but they deleted their original message :L not S1venT1mes.

[@StrainXv]

+Schindlabua isn't really the mercury is compressing the salt to the bottom of the glass? because the salt really isn't getting "wet" per say as it would with water.

[@taofledermaus]

------ Anyone think I should try different materials? What about ice? Airsoft bbs? Steel bbs?

[@Yellowmailer]

It would be nice to see what mercury would do with a small piece of gold.

Try using sugar

[@matthearn254]

Akos Szabo i agree! maybe gold dust/flakes. better yet, gold dust mixed w/ salt!

[@calebtingen2251]

Try using copper bb or put a piece of dry ice in the mercury and can you tell me what song is playing in the background

[@Yellowmailer]

Matt Hearn Gold can dissolve in mercury so I am curious what it would look like if we dropped a golden ring or any small gold jewelry in there. I guess if we put gold dust and salt in there the gold dust would dissapear inseconds leaving behind the salt which would stay on top of the mercury because of its low density and because of the high surface tension of the mercury.

[@Paulman50]

The surface tension is holding the mercury together and the weight is compacting the salt down.

[@xanderxander8639]

"High consumption of salt is unhealthy" lmao just watch me

[@dankhill7917]

Pour the Mercury on the ground. The soil granules are less dense than the Mercury, but that doesn't mean the Mercury will sink down into the center of the earth. The salt was compacted together and acted as a single solid more sense than the Mercury.

[@professionalcunt5966]

That's what I was going to say. You made it much more clear though

[@ndrsvgl]

The reason is actually that mercury has such a incredibly high surface tension that the salt grains wont enter the mercury bubble. Instead they are bound to travel along its surface. But there is no energetic advantage for the grains to travel horizontally, especially if you take friction between the grains into account. The best comparison is a piece of wood and a balloon filled with water sitting on top of it. Just because the density of wood is lower doesn't mean it will enter the balloon and float.

[@yungchubbz4203]

Thank you.

[@G8tr1522]

+Andreas Vogel Nice

[@jujubee2147]

+Andreas Vogel how wud a piece of wood enter a water baloon anyway. u sound like doctor oz explaining why.

[@FalconFastest123]

This is pretty simple. There is just nowhere for the mercury to go! You are expecting the mercury to flow to the bottom of the salt but the tiny gaps between salt crystals is too small for something with as much surface tension as mercury to squeeze through. The salt will not rise through the mercury either because the surface tension prevents it from doing so. It can only rise by going around the outside of the mercury puddle, which it cannot do because the mercury is pressed against the glass, sealing the salt in underneath. Ergo, the only way to get the salt out from underneath the mercury is to manually agitate it.

[@drurrynuffsaid6819]

you took the time to say what I was to lazy to. Well done.

[@artattack5420]

thank you.

[@ranjukhaled2357]

simple yet chaste. good job. now I can sleep in peace.

[@genericuser2339]

Yep, exactly. Very nice summary.

[@asmith9221]

that's it in nut shell

[@bethwilliams3148]

"I make videos about mercury, so you don't have to.. mess with the stuff" - niiiiice!

[@maxmccain8950]

I'm curious as to how you separated the salt from the mercury when it was time to put it back in the bottle.

[@ZingaraJoe]

Mix Hg and Salt with water, pour off the salt, rinse several times let air dry.

[@merylpelosi8485]

Loaded it into a 12 ga. shell, and used the slide action mass accelerator to dispose of it. Nah, Just kidding. As much fun as this crew has accelerating things, I've never seen basic safety measures violated.

[@johnr.timmers2297]

Probably just a strainer, maybe some water to dissolve the powder from the salt

[@Michael-ee6tl]

Separated? He said it never mixed. Pour the whole thing into a large peatre dish and all the mercury will go to the bottom. Take the salt off the top and you have a large peatre dish of mercury.

[@dragonlord2451]

"warning: high consumption of salt is unhealthy" of all the warnings XD

[@ruslanhasanov7653]

Mercury is not dangerous as we led to believe, it's the future metal..

[@alexbowman7582]

Not as unhealthy as the non consumption. It’s thought that the fabled El Dorado in South America may have been an inland salt mine where the miners were selling salt which we can’t live without for gold.

[@krekokriki5194]

@@ruslanhasanov7653 how do you know

[@saukraya3254]

@@ruslanhasanov7653 Mercury is primarily a neurotoxin, which means it attacks the central nervous system. Its effects are often subtle enough not to be recognized immediately, but more and more people are learning that their health problems could be due to mercury exposure. Perhaps the greatest concern about mercury is its effect on the early development of the fetus and later effects on childhood development. Methylmercury can travel across the placenta from the mother to the fetus, meaning exposure to the dangerous poison often begins in the womb during a baby's most vulnerable developmental period. Children and fetuses are also harmed by lower concentrations of mercury than it takes to hurt adults. Mercury can cause irreversible impairment to brain function in children in the womb and as they grow.Infants and children exposed to toxic doses of mercury have problems with attention span, language, visual-spatial skills, memory and coordination.Very high exposure levels in children can lead to brain damage, mental retardation, blindness, seizures and speech problems.Exposure also appears to weaken the heartbeat and the developing immune system. oceana.org/our-work/stop-ocean-pollution/mercury/learn-act/mercurys-health-effects#:~:text=Mercury%20is%20primarily%20a%20neurotoxin,be%20due%20to%20mercury%20exposure.

[@Beans2007kc]

@@ruslanhasanov7653 stfu

[@lilyputian3542]

LOL "Warning: High consumption of salt is unhealthy" 20 seconds later... "Oh, and mercury is pretty bad for you too."

[@andersforsgren3806]

You mean he didn't intend to eat this stuff? ;p~

[@mafiainsane7198]

Anders Forsgren of course not, he'd have to be crazy to eat that much salt.

[@kr4865]

Anders Forsgren and I thought this was a cooking channel

[@andersforsgren3806]

:)

[@simplyjunkie1689]

Sounds delicious.

[@qanh96]

- Can I have some Mercury to go? - Do you want more salt on it? - Sure!

[@dreamdiction]

3 minutes of farting noises.

[@mikhailasanovic]

😂

[@sharps8726]

My awareness just went there

[@cavemanlovesmoke4394]

Bhaha bender has the bubble guts ft Drake

[@josephrion3514]

We're there actual air escaping noises? I watched the whole thing on silent. Fascinating what you miss.

[@AnnatalaWolf]

This isn't confusing or mysterious. The surface tension of the mercury prevents it from flowing through the gaps between salt crystals. You're suggesting the salt should "float up", but there is no force pushing the salt upwards any higher than the height it piles up to under standard air pressure. In fact, the mercury pushes *down* on the salt, so you'd actually expect the salt to be compressed *more*. :) (I'm not a physicist, but I am an engineer. So take what I say with a drop of mercury.)

[@taofledermaus]

That's awesome! Thank you Annatala!

[@ben_burnes]

Pretty much the same reason why all sand isn't on top of the oceans.

[@AnnatalaWolf]

Ben Burnes ...except that all varieties of sand are denser than seawater, so not really. :) Sorry!

[@ben_burnes]

Annatala Wolf Ha! No need to apologize. I never said I was a smart man. :) It makes sense now.

[@jovanashley]

[@jakedg4870]

its because you poured the mercury into the salt if you would have done it the other way around the salt would float right away

[@taofledermaus]

+Jake dg well of course.

[@jakedg4870]

well there is your answer to why it is that way 😂😂 :')

[@taofledermaus]

But that wasn't the point of the video.

[@jakedg4870]

well yea but you asked the question in your video and i tried to answer it..

[@Will-wv3dq]

+TAOFLEDERMAUS doesn't really defy any logic whatsoever.

[@eminence_]

thanks for adding the dubstep background music, it's really great

[@jessiejames2155]

Where do you put all of this when you're done with it ??

[@brendanperdue6778]

1:03 I'm real glad you told me the high consumption of salt was unhealthy. I was planning on eating a bucket of salt after this

[@adelicioustaco412]

Lol

[@nosponsor97backup]

somebody's a bit salty....-_-

[@justinlingle3760]

Heh heh. I see what'cha did there.

[@Sidiciousify]

The mathematics of density are not perfect?

[@albundi2925]

i like to wash my salt bucket down with 5lbs of mercury

[@frollard]

By adding the mercury slowly, you are adding pressure to the top of the salt, and that force is causing the grains to interlock with greater and greater force. In order to dislodge a salt crystal it has to be knocked loose from its partners but it can't. Like holding a handful of sand by crushing it in your fingers, while you squeeze hard, the sand becomes more solid. ...i.e. non-newtonian fluid...

[@ZeffAU]

frollard I think this is the right answer, the salt is quite happy to lock each other in because they're sharp and jaggedy, that looks like the rough stuff too. It might be interesting to try some of this stuff www.foodnavigator.com/Science/Round-salt-breakthrough-could-help-food-industry

[@Valkaneer]

frollard I thought this was the obvious answer.

[@ConformistOwl]

frollard You explained it far better than I probably could've, but yeah.

[@vampirodemente]

frollard also, the salt stays below and doesn't float up because, unlike with water, the salt doesnt dissolve in the mercury, it doesnt seem to be able to break the ionic bond. I'm not even sure anything dissolves in mercury.

[@chris2823]

Daniel Jordan Mercury forms amalgams with some other metals which is just more specific than calling it a solution. other than that I've never seen any practical purpose of Mercury as a solvent for other nonmetal compounds

[@NeutronX101]

How did you dispose of this?

[@PTSenators9643]

One question I used to be very thin. But one night back in 2016 - I cooked lamb chops for the first time and ate all by myself and became so fat and difficult to go back way it was. I had a sore throat few days ago but recovered using salt water due to its density in the throat. I know lamb meats contains zinc. But if zinc mixes with salt water - will salt water have more dense? If I drink salt water, will fat go away because of zinc inside me?

[@absynthe8840]

Correlation is not causation.

[@pinballrobbie]

Don't post comments when your stoned. Answering for a friend.

[@masterdrummer19]

anyone know what brand of salt he used? I couldnt tell with the tape blocking the name :'(

[@gabrielpulido7647]

Morton iodized salt

[@masterdrummer19]

+gabriel pulido I was joking hahaha. but thanks anyways lol

[@gabrielpulido7647]

+Jack Comoss lol I was just stupid enough to think that you actually needed help. But on KZbin you don't know what you can find 😂

[@ChevyBalt87]

Lol..hilarious

[@drucastellon4904]

+Jack Comoss Darude Sandstorm

[@Kastor774]

Ez, the salt should float by all means, but it can't break the surface tension of the mercury, that's why it only rises until it's agitated.

[@QuippingHazard5114]

once again my comment was stolen before it was posted.

[@labworx]

Ofcourse Ez, logical to me, I don't have to make two litres of mercury chemical waste in order to know this.

[@meanator3917]

yes it was agitated but that didn't make all the salt that the fork scraped go up, in fact some of them dangled on the side as if the Mercury was jello holding paper.

[@slurryofwo1901]

UdenOneEye Exactly if you were to add something the same density as salt in the form of a liquid it would most obviously float

[@WithmeVerissimusWhostoned]

ye Ez, I knew it all even before the birth of time.

[@user-pr6ed3ri2k]

"Warning: high consumption of salt is unhealthy" Yeah, THAT'S what you should be worried about....

[@aaronarias9788]

It's not defying logic, in fact it's displaying simple logic. The mercury compacts the salt into a solid platform. Kinda like sand.

[@jamesnoord6295]

Aaron, that was my reaction as well, the crystals of salt don't slide when a force is applied to them. I wonder what would happen dropping pieces of "Rock Sale" into liquid mercury, or actually repeating this experiment using rock salt. might be enough space between chunks for the mercury to provide displacement.

[@ercost60]

Mercury's high surface tension won't allow it to flow though the tightly-packed salt grains. I'm guessing if you reverse this and pour the salt into mercury, the salt will just stay on top.

[@fabiansaldana5830]

ercost60 i was just going to say that..

[@JotaC]

Nope that's not it. First because the grains already broke the surface tension which is in a irregular shape, second that the mercury molecules are smaller than the gaps between the crystals of salt

[@bartonfile6569]

Bingo. This IS it. Promise.

[@PhilosophyofSpirituality]

Thank you! Exactly what i wanted to say.

[@user-vr6cq6er3c]

Hi Is there a buyer if you want to call me in Afghanistan

[@VhsVcr]

I'd be more impressed if he poured the salt on top of the Mercury, LAME

[@taofledermaus]

You don't seem to understand the differences in densities.

[@VhsVcr]

i know pouring the salt in first and adding the weight of the heavy metal on top of it is going to cause the salt to compress and not allow anything through.

[@Uonlyshootonce]

+TAOFLEDERMAUS Amen

[@VhsVcr]

Miccah Mosier derp

[@Uonlyshootonce]

+Vhs Vcr derp derp my good sir.

[@timrichmond5226]

The salt is being compressed which prevents it from moving, due to the mass of the Mercury....

[@jedi1josh]

Wait, I'm confused. There's tape over the brand name on the salt container, how do I know what brand it is?

[@WasimulAkram]

who else come to read comments instead of showing this to teachers why the fuck this happens?

[@wapje223]

i know why it happened. just here to search the comment where he admits he is stupid.

[@razbinn]

I'm guessing that if you put the mercury in first,the salt would remain on top.

[@taofledermaus]

yes!

[@ptcrax6232]

Thats exactly what i was thinking also

[@DoctorShroom]

TAOFLEDERMAUS and if you did that, what of you pushed the salt down below the surface of the mercury, would it float back up to join the rest of the salt?

[@tallen4520]

No; the mercury is too dense to allow salt granules to move thru it, unless force is applied to salt.

[@TheRoidemortetfleur]

use a bowl or put a stick to the bottom with slow turns. the finer the powder the harder the mercury can find a place to go down. The salt powder is so fine and goes all the way to the edge of the glass forming a sill just like a plastic cover which is less dense as well.

[@stefanschleps8758]

What about each of them possessing weak diamagnetic fields. That resist one another? Just guessing here. Or are they both paramagnetic? Thanks for sharing. Peace.

[@johntucker2826]

the surface tension of the mercury precludes the salt being able to get above it. mercury is fun to play with, isn't it, my physics teacher (who was also my swimming teacher) used to have a bottle of it that he would pass around the class......

[@MasonTorrey]

The weight of the mercury causes the salt granules to interlock and stay in place. Nothing amazing about it.

[@melonhead849]

I think the shape of the container really exaggerated that effect. All of the mass of the mercury being pulled by gravity into the smaller base of the glass with nowhere for the salt to be displaced.

[@crisgale8098]

a lot of people might not have known that no reason to be an ass

[@MasonTorrey]

+Cris Gale I'm sorry Cris. I didn't realise being informative is an asshole thing to do.

[@Variecs]

Saying that there's "nothing amazing about it" implies that you consider this fact obvious. Now that's being an ass.

[@MasonTorrey]

+Variecs But it was obvious?

[@Bakmoon]

Well mercury has an enormous surface tension compared to other liquids, so it probably has a hard time penetrating the gaps between the salt. All the salt must be held down by the surface skin of the bottom of the mercury which just sits on top then I suppose.

[@muffty1337]

A+ for that answer. :)

[@jeebersjumpincryst]

first thing i thought of - thansk for takin the time to write it all out, se we have something to upvote, that we like better than 'my dad can beat up yr dad' kinda option

[@Masterown35]

Haha, I'm glad I'm not the only person who thought this

[@ThexFatxMarathoner]

Good thing I looked down in the comments to check that I wouldn't just say the same thing as someone else :D Agreed with this one, lets see what he thinks.

[@KAPELAKI]

great answer!! this is the reason why the use mercury in oil industry to calculate the porosity of reservoir sample

[@sphenopalatineganglioneuralgia]

Came down to comment 'surface tension,' found out I was four years and several hundred (or thousand?) comments too late.

[@George.___]

That doesn’t take away from the fact that you are most likely correct. I was gonna say the same thing but you beat me to it and someone else beat you to it. 🙃

[@hollowpumpkin7997]

What do you do with such mixtures of Mercury after the video? Where do you dump it?

[@mynameisray]

It's due to surface tension. The surface tension of Mercury is strong enough to hold itself together atop the tightly packed grains of salt. You did this test ass backward.

[@silverfeathered1]

The surface tension is too high regardless of agitation? Why doesnt the salt at surface level not bob right through the mercury? The experiment was done in the correct order. Doing it in reverse would just demonstrate a dense material below a less dense material.

[@Xpressible]

Because the tension is too high to allow the salt to penetrate it. The force that moves the salt upwards/mercury downwards is not strong enough to push it through the mercury.

[@silverfeathered1]

What is this "force" called? Would that rule apply to any material of similar size, density and weight? What's preventing the salt from being displaced at the sides where the mercury is going in? Thanks for the info so far :)

[@Xpressible]

The 'buoyant force' it is called I believe. English isn't my first language. It is affected by volume and density and applies to fluids. The mercury is so dense that the salt can not slip through it, so it looks not logical at first. When you fill up a glass of water completely you probably have noticed that you can put even a little bit more water on top of it without the water flowing down on the outside. It is the same reason basically, the surface tension of the water is strong enough to hold a tiny bit over the edge of the glass opposing the force of gravity. The surface tension of the mercury due to its very high density is strong enough to hold up against the buoyant force.

[@Xpressible]

Addition: in this particular situation only, if he would put one grain of salt in the glass and then fill up the glass slowly, the salt grain would flow on it as there would be enough space for both materials to pass each other.

[@busterbrown5264]

i am a collage science professor and what is happening is the salt is compacting tightly not allowing room for the mercury to work its way to the bottom and that is why it took a lot of agitation to get some above

[@abonynge]

Buster Brown A college science professor would know the difference between college and collage.

[@gavsky23]

Buster Brown A College Professor who can't spell "College"?

[@robertbes1122]

gavsky23 Maybe he is from another country?

[@gavsky23]

Robert Bes A good point, I wouldn't attack a non-English speaker struggling to write/speak English, of course. I made an assumption based on his name/profile.

[@abonynge]

Marcus Hagey He said he was a science professor.

[@dkeith45]

Just with salt or anything granular? Does the same thing happen with table sugar? Dry sand?

[@Leverguns50]

Well that’s very interesting I never would’ve thought that it would’ve done that with the salt

[@michaelmichalchik476]

***** Science teacher here. The tendency for a partical to be excluded from a liquid is (Cohesion of liquid- adhesion of liquid to partical)/partical size. So since mercury has a high cohesion and a low adhesion to salt, the small salt granules create a lot of surface tension exclusion force.

[@taofledermaus]

Well said! Thank you!

[@Rem_NL]

***** its like having a bag of mixed nuts, if you shake the bag, the bigger nuts will come to the surface

[@KathrynLiz1]

Mercury has HUGE surface tension, so does not 'wet' the salt....

[@davehanson849]

KathrynLiz1 thank god someone realizes volume vs surface tension and area

[@gingercox6468]

What do you do with your mercury when u are finished with your experiment?

[@mrbe8181]

Woulda been interesting if you had used vibration to see if the salt rises to the top; in the same way a large volume of concrete is vibrated to remove the air from the settling concrete.

[@StickyRice43]

It's cuz the salt is soo compact. The Mercury is soo thick it can seep through the grains of salt. Isn't that obvious though? Why would you compare the density of a liquid to a solid?

[@helveticaneueish]

this.

[@Smiddigger]

+helveticaneue Yeah, I was 11 when I first learned this. You'd think this guy wouldn't be so confused about it.

[@tarekelderbas8934]

Can't* seep through. Also, the shape of the glass he's using is not helping either. Should have used a standard cup. What an idiot that guy is....

[@StickyRice43]

+Tarek EL Derbas Oops lol, my bad. I did mean "can't" xD

[@tarekelderbas8934]

+StickyRice43 It's ok. Modern phone keyboards cause the "can" and "can't" mix-up often.

[@natfunk71]

Does anyone know what brand of salt he's using?

[@taofledermaus]

***** Haha

[@xnamkcor]

Norton Anti-Virus?

[@ZEZERBING]

What the hell,piss poor attempt.

[@xnamkcor]

ZEZERBING when it pisses ot pours

[@e.s.4017]

Morton sea salt

[@abhirave]

How did you disposed of the mixture after your experiments?

[@JAMKISI]

How did you separate them? Did you dissolve the salt or what?

[@paulneg7855]

I'm a 14 year old boy who loves science! Here is what I think is happening. Although the densities of the 2 different substances are stupendously far apart the mercury still floats. The reason I think it is, is because mercury is very dense because of the large molecular mass and molecules are tightly packed, if you but mercury into water the mercury will submerge because water and mercury are both fluids, that means they both flow. But if you have grains of small salt particles then the mercury cannot separate it's self because of the tension, so it does not allow salt to get past and over or mercury to get under the salt. So the reason it did not let the individual grains of salt go to the top is because again salt and mercury repel against each other and mercury did not allow it to break its tension. But you could see the mercury was able to push the salt upwards from sides but did not let grain float to the surface. This means that what also affected this phenomenon is the fact that the cup was cylinder and salt was at the bottom from the beginning and it did not allow the mercury to work down. If the salt was liquid the mercury just submerge, if the salt was a ball the mercury again will take its place and make the ball of salt float. So its the close solid particles that did not allow mercury to break the high force of attraction and lower it's atoms down ward in small parts. In conclusion it was just where the positions started and the state of mater it was in and spaces between the bonds of the solid that did not allow the mercury to flow or break its force of attraction.

[@paulneg7855]

JuriePie *14 :)

[@rds7516]

Paul Negoita Yeah, it's just because mercury doesn't have any room to flow down to - the salt is too tightly packed.

[@panther1203]

Why did you have to state your age?

[@GeneralCane]

Paul Negoita I'm a black woman from northern Missouri who has a passive-aggressive relationship with chemistry. That's a good theory.

[@NerdFromDenmark]

GeneralCane I'm not gay, but i really think cats should have a chance in the olympics

[@tlthomas77]

The buoyancy of the salt doesn't have enough force to overcome the downward pressure of the mercury. Kind of like if a fat girl sat on your face, why don't you float to the top? Because you can't.

[@ridditdit2686]

well i disagree with the analogy, liquids can mix but solids cannot ofcourse

[@ddrose06]

You can't hear the TV, either.

[@michaelh9807]

I thought they carried silverware in their purse so they are ready to eat whenever the opportunity presents itself, which may explain why they are fat. Hmmm... Now there's a diet that hasn't been tried! Leave the silverware at home!

[@ohlookasquirrel5868]

bit tasteless my friend. but yea leave the spoon home( I actually know some one who does that:(

[@greenaum]

And why would you want to?

[@chickendrawsdogs3343]

So how to extract the salt, sprinkle it on your spaghetti and not get mercury poisoning?

[@life_with_bernie]

What did you do with the mercury/salt after this video?

[@ShadowKick32]

Defies logic ? not at all.

[@taofledermaus]

does too!

[@ShadowKick32]

Well maybe it defies your logic but not mine. It doesn't defies physics that's for sure. Ever poured water on flour ? try that. So it doesn't defies "all logic", just yours, and that's fine. And even if it didn't defie my logic, it was still interesting, i learned something, so thanks.

[@meganfast3594]

+ShadowKick32 you don't seem very logical?

[@xXShadowCraftyXx]

I love your videos

[@ShadowKick32]

logic : reasoning conducted or assessed according to strict principles of validity. If the principle of validity changes then your reasoning changes therefor your logic changes. In this case it's just a misunderstanding of how physics works is all.

[@shmeet]

Any chance we could talk you into doing it again except this time add the salt to a glass of mercury instead of mercury to the glass of salt?

[@taofledermaus]

shmeet I figured everyone would understand that the mercury being so dense, couldn't possibly float to the surface of something with much less density.

[@shmeet]

***** How much salt would it take on top of the mercury before it began to sink into it. Or take half a glass of mercury and force half a glass of salt down into the mercury and observe how it mixes/separates.

[@taofledermaus]

Probably a couple feet of salt. I don't have a glass that tall though!

[@shmeet]

***** And what if you were to force the top half of the salt down into the bottom half of mercury with your fist, or some other tool? Would the two separate once you took the pressure off?

[@arbitraryrenaissance5224]

shmeet Ice floats in water, but when you have a glass with a ton of ice, the ice above it will push it down. When this happens, it's usually best to think of all the ice as one cube, since the system is essentially acting as if it is. The same thing theoretically would happen with the salt and the mercury. Depending on how you define the salt as "sinking" in the mercury, you could determine this with a little physics fact. The ratio of the amount of salt over the mercury to the amount of salt submerged in the mercury will be equal to the ratio to the density of the mercury to the density of the salt (or at least, I'm pretty sure of that. You may want to check my facts there.) From here, you can put a number on how much salt you will need (by volume) to determine when the salt starts "sinking" in the mercury. The problem, though, is the same as the problem in this video: surface tension. You'll need to compensate for the extra force needed to overcome the intermolecular forces in the mercury. Perhaps ***** should do some controlled experiments with this.

[@arshadbabu786]

But if u drop some salt on the filled mercury glass ,it will float right?

[@ralphreinhardt6020]

You should try adding a little pepper.😄😄😄

[@TheBlackDeck]

I will explain this to you. The salt stays on the bottom for the same reason frozen methane stays on the bottom of the ocean. its... UNDER PRESSURE Pressure pushing down on me Pressing down on you It was pretty obvious really...

[@bunnyfaceperson123]

Like the same way a balloon under water would not float to the top, because the water pressure is keeping it down? Oh wait...

[@nijrajgelani1113]

+EpochDeus No man asked for...

[@Borus101]

+bunnyfaceperson123 No that's different. Surface tension of mercury is stronger than the amount the salt grains want to push up, so it holds the salt down.

[@paulczar]

Boris is correct, Epoch is wrong

[@theuncalledfor]

+Borus101 The salt grains _don't_ want to push up. In fact, they are pulled down by gravity, just like the mercury is. It's just that mercury is heavier than salt, so salt cannot displace the mercury below it. Mercury however cannot squeeze in between the salt grains either, because of its surface tension, so you got that part right.

[@MaryStewart]

mercury vs salt: what do YOU prefer on fries?

[@adelicioustaco412]

Mercury

[@DevilMaster]

I prefer eating fries on Mercury.

[@sounderrajendran3311]

MaryStewart its A fatal idea to use Mercury on fries. Mercury would then be oxidized to mercuric oxide which is very toxic and could lead to kidney failure.

[@FluorescentGreen5]

+Sounder Stark calm down he was kidding

[@inwencja2009]

Salt.

[@MrCryptler69]

Im curious with how you extract the mercury from the salt after the experiment?

[@knerf999]

The salt is pressed against the glass due to surface tension. The friction between the glass and the salt keeps it there. Am i guessing correct?

[@awt9805]

I went to Mercury once, people down there are so salty

[@andrewross7292]

W

[@j.kpaora3074]

Yeah? I hear the people from Uranus are even more salty.

[@devonwilliamson5040]

haha you crack me up man haha

[@sivalley]

+J.K Paora Nah m8, they be super shitty because someone said they smelled like KY. ;)

[@mikeypops73]

gwaaaa

[@ElectricRCAircraftGuy]

surface tension is the answer I think.

[@ericreid7051]

eRCaGuy yes - surface tension is the most likely explanation. It's the same reason we don't sink much on a wet sandy beach as opposed to a dry one. Try one large salt crystal, and it will bin like a cork.

[@you2tooyou2too]

Polar water surface tension depends dramatically on the electrical characteristics of the intersecting surface: surface tension vs wetting. PS: What is the "viscosity" of sand. Very wet, to dry, it can also be affected by vibration of a wide range of frequencies in complicated ways. (According to my readings & thought experiments, and childhood drip castles.)

[@stanleyminor2136]

you2tooyou2too

[@Ext3h]

50% correct. The surface tension is indeed doing something, and that is keeping the salt completely dry. While also pressing it against the surface of the glass, where - due to the pressure - the friction is sufficient to stop it from moving, against the buoyancy. Prime the glass and/or the salt with something which reduces friction, and this trick stops working. The salt will then happily slide up the glass until it floats on top. It might still refuse to detach from the bottom of the glass though, as in that part, buoyancy is going straight against the surface tension while the friction only plays a minor role. (It "only" prevents the salt from flowing into a "bubble", which is the best shape to minimize the force applied by surface tension.) Reduce the friction enough though, and it will also start to do that.

[@gustavoburciaga6200]

What happens when you mix sulfur, salt, and mercury?

[@findiesel3810]

What do you do with the Mercury after you're done ?

[@RexGalilae]

The pressure that mercury applies on the salt causes it to sit at the bottom

[@chrisdrew1768]

it's due to grain packing, the salt used is granular and the weight of the Mercury hard packs it, the Mercury then can't flow past the packed salt to lift it up simple really.

[@MrCorrectify]

+Chris Drew Sortof. In this example, there isn't enough weight to create much of a packing effect. This is mostly due to the cohesive strength of mercury, which stops the liquid from breaking up into small channels that can flow around the particles.

[@billyt8868]

causing the salt to pack and cluster under the weight of the mercury. don't correctify like you're a god damn authority.

[@20EsOfficial]

was about to comment something along the lines of that lol

[@onehitpick9758]

Still, there is plenty of area between the randomly packed salt crystals for a normal fluid to flow. Water or rubbing alcohol would flow right through the salt at that packing level. I could stand on the salt this would still be true. It's not the additional packing caused by the weight of mercury. It's the surface tension of mercury.

[@billyt8868]

onehit pick yea but mercury isn't a polar liquid, it's a metal. almost nothing similar between them.

[@Godzilla2k69]

How did you clean up the mess afterwards ?

[@zedrameses1564]

What did you do to the mercury after the experiment?

[@yowshi5270]

Warning : High consumption of Mercury is unhealthy.

[@IllyasvielVonEinzbern01suJ]

+HexagramMan Do you not know mercury is bad to consume?

[@Darthlemi]

+IllyasvielVonEinzbern Actually liquid mercury is not that dangerous to consume by its self. If you wanted to you could consume a spoon full and it would pass right through you. The problem lies in that it starts to become vapor at room temperate. Inhaling mercury vapor is far more dangerous, than actually drinking it.

[@yowshi5270]

IllyasvielVonEinzbern I was kidding...

[@ui8087]

+SG Royal Gaming "Hah gotteeeem."

[@timaahhh]

+Dark Shadow 52 Warning: High consumption of memes is unhealthy.

[@EvanCaritopTV]

did you just assume my science teachers gender?

[@beybladegeekusa7340]

shut up and enjoy the video

[@DHMO1]

Yeah, when he said, "Show this to your science teacher and see if he-or she-can explain it" is *totally* "assuming" their gender. Did you actually listen to the vid?

[@autismisuncontrollable4925]

DHMO1 Don't you know there's 37 genders? Shitlord!

[@EvanCaritopTV]

little late m8

[@chromepixel1044]

Also, if you do this with sand or dirt will you get the same results?

[@theresabraddock9310]

what happens if you put red marbles with blue marbles? will they blend together into one big purple marble?

[@AnErectCockTM]

there's more salt in this comment section than there is in the video.

[@spartanwar1185]

+AnErectCock™ I want to make a dirty joke out of this but I got nothin

[@adriennmartinez3025]

W

[@billthomas2598]

+Spartan War118 So here we go ........... Some salt and mercury walk into a bar arguing, the bar tender says "what the problem guys?" and the mercury replies "Salt wants to have sex in a cup." to which the bar tender says "So what's the problem with that?" Salt quickly responds "Nothing, but Mercury the selfish prick won't let me be on top!"

[@SomeOne-vf1rs]

You're a funny guy.

[@terran236]

+AnErectCock™ lmao that profile pic and name. hahaha

[@bobbycone2]

The salt crystals are packed together inside that glass they are creating a surface for the mercury to sit on top of.

[@semajgraham5849]

its not exactly sitting on it. if you watch, some of the salt is force up on account of buoyancy. because of the very dense mercury, gravity forces it down. for example, if a meteor crashed into earth, the mass and impact of the gigantic rock would force the not-so-dense dirt out of the way. but because their is so much dirt, the meteor doesn't get all the way through. the dirt that doesn't get pushed out the way together has enough force to counter-act the force of the meteor leaving it stagnant because of the fact the potential energy has been done away with now. then you're only left with the kinetic energy in witch the dirt is able to handle. in the same way, the density in addition to the potential energy is what caused the mercury to move the salt. and the reason why the rest of the salt didn't move is because there isn't any potential energy and not enough kinetic energy. to make it simple, there isn't enough mercury and/or push-down to force it out of the way. plus~ ^.^ mercury just isn't as fluid as water is

[@johnjepsen4243]

Mix barium sulfate with mercury...does it make Hg more poisonous ?

[@MrAlex173]

i honestly thought i was about to watch a cody'slab video and then the intro started

[@SharkByteOfficial]

Now i can sleep...

[@Vincent-pz3bc]

haha right

[@Dosbomber]

I'd be really interested how much water he'd need to add to the mixture to dissolve and loosen the salt structure before the reaction everyone expected finally happens.

[@w.hoffman3308]

The water would never reach the salt under the mercury, and while it would dissolve whatever salt he stirred up, the resulting salt water would remain much less dense than mercury and would simply sit atop the mercury. Surface tension and viscosity both make sense as partial explanations, although I believe compacting the granules of salt also plays a part. Might be interesting to see the actual height of salt built up and measure it before and after introducing mercury to see if compression really is a factor, perhaps allowing for a little vibration to allow granules to shift.

[@attibs]

😂

[@dorbie]

Put it on a vibrating table and the liquefaction of the salt will allow it to flow and the mercury will sink. This is a classic problem. The salt particles are not free to move as they and not fluidized but compressed into an immobile matrix and the very topmost particles cannot overcome the surface tension of the Hg and are compressed onto the matrix.

[@darkcloud2917]

How are you disposing the Mercury after your experiments?

[@RaccoonNation]

Could the shape of the glass cause this reaction ?

[@CrazyLocoInsane1]

I have no idea what brand of salt he is using.

[@The_Butler_Did_It]

Try pouring the mercury in the glass first and then the salt will float, it doesn't float this way around because the weight of the mercury is compressing the salt.

[@marksdaman9408]

Thank you. That is exactly what I was thinking.

No, the salt has one sixth the density of the mercury. In order for the compression to be the reason it doesn't float, the salt would have to be reduced to less than a sixth of its original volume - and that *clearly* isn't the case. It is due to the extremely high surface tension mercury - the salt simply can't penetrate the surface of the mercury to wander to the other side.

[@mb4lunch]

Thank God for this, after my sleepless nights of wonder!

[@scopehealthchiropractic7527]

Hi, can you please tell me where you buy the mercury from?

[@SirDrinksAlot69]

its behaving like a nonnutonion fluid. the weight of the mercury is causing the salt granuals to behave like starch in magic mud.

[@SirDrinksAlot69]

lol non-newtonian fluid

[@St0RM33]

No it's not (and i know you are just misinterpreting the term, so don't hate). In fact the surface tension of the mercury just lifts it self up since the salt is solid. Generally if you had enough mercury on top to produce enough pressure to break it's bottom surface tension it would go though the salt crystal gaps. A better experiment is just to melt salt, bring mercury to same temp, and pour it in. It will just fall to the bottom as salt now is a liquid and doesn't behave like a solid. ***** (got your answer? :p)

[@SirDrinksAlot69]

St0RM33 I think you need to work a whole lot harder at reading comprehension. I'm not misinterpreting anything, but you are. Key word here is the word "like" which you appeared to have completely missed. I didn't say it's behaving the same as non-newtonian fluid. I don't have any supporting evidance for my suggestion, please provide yours if you're going to position your counter point with such conviction.

[@TheWoundChannel]

If you can't spell evidence it's time to stop arguing about science.

[@SirDrinksAlot69]

The Wound Channel Well I had hoped it would be more of a discussion, but assholes want to turn it into an argument then fine. Everyone can be assholes, that's the best part about the internet.

[@RobertHeadley]

I followed your milk shake recipe exactly, and it was TERRIBLE. Worst recipe ever. Would not recommend.

[@ChrisJenkins]

It's supposed to be shaken, not stirred. Duh.

[@AitheinOfQuartz]

Merc Shake!

[@blastingoff]

Paid someone to get youtube verified.. what a scrub

[@RobertHeadley]

I didn't pay anyone. I was verified on Google+ and it carried over. 

[@taofledermaus]

Robert Headley Haha, is it true that ladies love a dude with a check mark by their name?

[@phatblue2348]

does the container help in holding the salt down?

[@MattyDove]

It took me 4.5 hours to get here, but I am finally here...