Phenoxyethanol - Part 1 (short)

[@zinckensteel]

wow.. ..I swear I saw glimpses of the Mandelbrot set here and there.

[@NickMoore]

Yeah, there are some very fractal/cellular auomata/dendritic looking patterns in there. It reminds me a lot of "plasma balls" the high frequency/high voltage arcs in an inert gas.

[@piranha031091]

The compound is soluble in water, but isn't miscible. And it's also less dense than water. So it floats on top, while progressively dissolving. And for some reason makes fractal patterns in the process. Really cool!

[@NickMoore]

It's slightly more dense than water but being such a thin film seems to allow it to be supported as it dissolves downward and outward into the water. If you look really closely you can just see the bulk of the droplet sink below the surface. I'm sill searching on why those patterns form.

[@xegrex]

@@NickMoore It is really interesting how surface tension allows this thin film to be briefly suspended before it sinks, while also slowly dissolving. The patterns are really interesting. Unfortunately I can't help you to explain what actually happens. All I remember is that instabilities in thin films are really complicated. You have an additional complexity in that the phenoxyethanol dissolves at the edges and probably has some kind of surface active effect. A really complex combination of kinetic processes and forces interacting. Good luck figuring out what is actually going on!

[@Jksaffronbazaar]

How much amount of this preservative should I use in 100ml rosewater ??? Can you please give me the ratio

[@power-max]

Lots of physics phenomena tends towards reducing the surface area relative to volume (think water tension, erosion...) but this is literally the opposite where the forces at play are increasing the surface area resulting in these fractal structures!

[@NickMoore]

Yeah, surface area maximizing shapes are normally only seen in living things (lungs, gills, roots), I'm still trying to find a good explanation for it.

[@power-max]

@@NickMoore the stuff on top looks like it it is very volatile. Does it have a High affinity forwards water (dissolves)? But a large difference in density means that it also floats? The action seems to occur at the boundary between air, water, and the Phoenixyethanol. I wonder if the reaction requires oxygen or something.

[@Xissorplane]

@@NickMoore ​ @Nick Moore Martin Hanczyc (currently Trento Uni) has done a lot of work on similar topics about "artificial biology". He has a youtube also, but I would actually think he would think this is very interesting (If he hasn't already heard about it) and wouldn't mind being contacted. Sure is interesting when chemical properties gives life-like structure, movement or even "behaviour".

[@markroper9269]

Very cool! Weird fractal looking structures.

[@NickMoore]

It looks a lot like mathematical dendrites! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrite_(mathematics)

[@Muonium1]

It's our biannual Nick Moore video - cherish it, my fellow devoted disciples! 😆 Marangoni effect, surely(?) Fractal nature at the interface very evident. Somewhat reminiscent of the Stanford work a few years ago with differing concentrations of PG in water that you can see in a video on here called "droplet dancing".

[@NickMoore]

The Maragoni effect may be partially responsible but there is also that it is not very soluble in water. I think the water next to the film may become saturated very quickly and is then repelled (Maragoni?) as unsaturated water replenishes from below. The wiggly dendrites might be growing outwards as the rate of dissolution is probably limited more by the perimeter of the drop than by the supply of unsaturated water coming up from below. Wiggly fractal arms provide the maximum edge length along witch the phenoxyethanol can come into contact with water and dissolve. Maybe, I am not a scientists. I have a lot of reading to do.

[@plastictoy9579]

Almost looks like tiny life forms:) Just like that - complexity

[@NickMoore]

It reminds me a lot of cellular automata (like Conway's Game Of Life).

[@bottlekruiser]

mfw negative surface tension brilliant

[@MrGiXxEr]

That's a cool effect! Hope all is well on your end. Still have my glass mug.🙂

[@NickMoore]

Thanks, covid has been the motivation killer, I think this is the first time I have had my cameras out in 6 months. Glad it's still holding up!

[@Hobypyrocom]

nice... i bet those small arms are all fractals, it would be nice if you can catch zoomed in picture...

[@NickMoore]

I took about an hour of slow motion footage (maybe more) with some slower/closer views. If I can work out a reasonable explanation for what is going on I'll have another video.

[@Hobypyrocom]

@@NickMoore great... keep them coming... best wishes

[@regexrationalist346]

Ah yes, tendrils spontaneously arising from a mysterious compound. This is surely not a portal to Cthulhu and madness. Drink the potion, it will grant you powers to see what others cannot. The swirls will guide you into the depths. It is the path to dreams. Offer your soul to the dark one, and do his bidding.

[@dracrichards734]

What is that?

[@NickMoore]

Phenoxyethanol, still not sure why it does that.

[@jcims]

Wikipedia tells me that phenoxyethanol has a molar weight of ~138 g/mol. Let's say that drop had .1mL (probably more), leaves us with ~.11mg, or (1.1E-4/138)*6.02E23 molecules. So we watched 60 quintillion (million million million) molecules escape the surly bonds of intermolecular forces.

[@NickMoore]

The size of atoms relative to the size of the universe is terrifying. More so when you remember that most atoms are hanging out as individuals in space and most of the rest get together form gigantic balls of fusing hydrogen o.O

[@mozartantonio1919]

Wow

[@jcims]

I'm sorry Nick but you have to do this again under a microscope to see if you can observe anything interesting at the extinction of those little droplets (that turn into dinosaurs and crabs and scorpions along the way).

[@NickMoore]

...I didn't even think of the microscope. I had burst of beer energy today and just threw together my camera gear on the dining table. I'll have to see if adding dye to the phenoxyethanol changes how it behaves, it might make it easier to see with transmissive lighting instead of reflected, the lighting was really difficult for this one. It does seem that evolution crabifies everything over time, I wonder if humanity ever finds life off of earth if it will just be more crabs.

[@jcims]

@@NickMoore lol my beer energy just posts entitled comments on KZbin demanding people that did something cool do more cool stuff. 😂

[@jcims]

@@NickMoore (oh and impulse buying random bottles of chemicals from Amazon)

[@NickMoore]

How I ended up with 6l of silicone oil.

[@edwardfrancis4647]

🤷 p̾r̾o̾m̾o̾s̾m̾