Poaching an Egg in Piranha Solution - Periodic Table of Videos

After previous videos with chicken, now we try an egg.
More acid videos: bit.ly/Acid_PV
More links and info in full description ↓↓↓
Featuring Martyn Poliakoff and Neil Barnes.
Videos on all 118 elements: bit.ly/118elements
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From the School of Chemistry at The University of Nottingham: bit.ly/NottChem
This episode was also generously supported by The Gatsby Charitable Foundation
Periodic Videos films are by video journalist Brady Haran: www.bradyharan.com/
Brady's Blog: www.bradyharanblog.com
Editing in this video by James Hennessy
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[@tom13king]

I love how the egg rotates, as if the solution is trying to cook it evenly.

[@genericusername8337]

Stirbar in the beaker

[@byungkyup]

there is a magnetic stirring bar.

[@SexyEarHair]

@@byungkyup He's talking about at 2:00

[@byungkyup]

@@SexyEarHair yeah---and the egg and the solution rotates because there is a magnetic stirring bar in the solution (watch carefully at the beginning, before solution becomes cloudy).

[@SexyEarHair]

@@byungkyup Yes i know there was a stir bar. But the rotating he is talking about is explained at 2:00. Op was not talking about it just spinning around the glass, but rotating on its axis. Caused by the bubbles forming on the bottom of the egg and making it flip 180 degrees. Did you check the time stamp i posted or just commented without watching?

[@RaExpIn]

My guess on the first experiment would be, that the calcium carbonate reacted with the sufluric acid forming a passive layer of calcium sulfate, but I'm wondering if the shell would still break at some point.

[@MadScientist267]

It's surprisingly unreactive toward quite a few things that it would seem it would just be able to tear into knowing nothing more than its propensity around organics.

[@Kargoneth]

If the heating becomes enough that the liquids inside turn into steam, then the egg might explode.

[@damc7456]

Let's just go ahead and indulge the organized crime viewing bloc with a comparison between the solubility of calcium carbonate and hydroxyapatite in piranha solution; including various ratios of H2SO4 to H2O2, temperatures, and agitation rates. Nile Red, are you listening???

[@Lucius_Chiaraviglio]

Yes, I was also surprised that the shell didn't dissolve right away with very vigorous release of carbon dioxide -- your calcium sulfate passivation idea sounds like it might be right.

[@blue_leader_5756]

That would explain the slight amount of bubbling, since the resulting carbonic acid would decompose into water and carbon dioxides

[@slowneutron6163]

'Poached In Acid'-GREAT name for a death-metal song. \m/ Chemistry is brutal.

[@Bassotronics]

🥚🤟🏻💀🤟🏻🥚

[@guitarslim56]

"Piranha Solution" is my band's name!

[@jerril42]

I thought the piranha solution would have readily dissolved the calcium. It's always a pleasure to see these videos, thank you.

[@gabrielbelouche3954]

Maybe if you make whit excess sulfuric acid

[@whatevernamegoeshere3644]

@@gabrielbelouche3954 Calcium sulphate is really insoluble

[@alejandroremydawg]

Lol at niel's face with the egg.

[@Mekratrig]

Of COURSE Neil would evile grin whilst dropping egg into Piranha solution. Reminds of Christopher Lloyd playing Judge Doom in Roger Rabbit dissolving a toon in The Dip.

[@jerril42]

And people say he doesn't smile.

[@RinceCochon]

As a Frenchman and a chemistry lover, I approve this mix of chemistry & cuisine ! Et bon appétit bien sur ! :D

[@rexmann1984]

When he said not to eat the soft boiled egg. I felt like that was the one I'd definitely want to eat. 🤷

[@davisdf3064]

Well, cuisine is easy and (mostly) home safe chemistry!

[@rexmann1984]

@@davisdf3064 it looked perfectly cooked and none of the mixture got through to the egg. I don't see why not eat it?

[@davisdf3064]

@@rexmann1984 For safety reasons. Boiling an egg in Piranha solution isn't the most traditional way to do it, so we don't know if any of the acid got in the egg or any side effect of cooking it like that.

[@rexmann1984]

@@davisdf3064 well I guess *somebody* wants to live forever. 🙄

[@neck2b]

Speaking of mass transfer, the cracked egg reaction reminded me of a two-stage rocket powered by different fuels by the way it reacts differently first with the protein-heavy, runny whites and then consuming the dense, fatty yolk

[@Laroac]

yeah

[@davidmiles4678]

It was interesting how the egg rotated in the solution from the bubbles @2:00

[@danoelmucho2503]

Macaroni does that too with ordinary water. How is that interesting?

[@RoastCDuck]

The little physics going on in a chemical reaction. That what's interesting.

[@genericusername8337]

There's a stirbar in the beaker. You can catch it in the beginning.

[@MentoDaSheep]

Loved that part. It looked like it's getting a tan XD

[@davidmiles4678]

@@MentoDaSheep lol

[@MakeItWithCalvin]

It is always fun seeing The Chemical Stig enjoying his job!

[@plainegrace5712]

Great to see you back in your office and lab! I was intrigued by the fact that the egg not only flipped over and over, but it also spun.

[@duendemajito]

The magnet on the bottom of the beaker is spinning and that causes the liquid and also the egg spin, I think

[@plainegrace5712]

@@duendemajito that was a magnet?

[@hi_im_angelatrainor]

I’m mostly self taught with chemistry. Snuck out on the weekends to learn it in college. Thinking about taking O Chem for Fun. I absolutely loved it. Thank you for these videos. They got me through Covid

[@umasacademy1974]

ഞാൻ ആദ്യമായാണ് ഈ ചാനൽ കാണുന്നത്......amazing Innovative ideas ഈ ചാനൽ കണ്ടാൽ കുട്ടികൾക്ക് ഉണ്ടാകും.,....., ഒരുപാട് കുട്ടി ശാസ്ത്രജ്ഞന്മാർക് പ്രചോദനം നൽകുന്ന ചാനൽ.....Lot's of thanks.

[@scrotiemcboogerballs1981]

Thank you professor and everyone

[@SupercriticalXenon]

0:38 Neil definitely looks like a mad scientist who was trying to get the egg dissolved

[@jackismname]

I wish you would show more organic chemistry. Your Sarin video was fascinating. Maybe the ziegler natta catalyst mechanism would be interesting.

[@hazelmitchell]

If you look at their first video this channel has posted back in 2008 around 13 years ago and this video you can see the guy with the curly hair looks much older now, obviously but it’s like you can go back in time

[@denzelcrocker992]

Shouldn't the concentrated H2SO4 desolve the shell and than attack the organic stuff in It ?

[@HomemadeChemistry]

That soft boiled egg looked delicious! Just the way I make mine...

[@alexpotts6520]

0:38 I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight

[@serioushex3893]

whoever suggested the egg is a genius, that was great! Sometimes you don't need the experiment to make sense, or have a goal. sometimes you just NEED to know what happens, just because! i'll bet there's plenty more things that could have interesting piranha solution reactions. What about a stalk of celery? Or something fatty like streaky bacon?

[@prpitprp4927]

Thank you Professor

[@ceecue1848]

Absolutely interesting

[@AphexTwin99999]

The best example of mass transport for me is iron in different forms being burnt in air. Rod, not much happens. Wire wool burns quite pleasantly. Iron filings go woosh.

[@scoutdogfsr]

Now let's add some aluminum filings!

[@NickTrouble]

As a chemical engineer I agree with this message

[@WacKEDmaN]

id like to see a Piranha in Piranha Solution!

[@AndysTechGarage]

🤣🤣🤣

[@Muck006]

You could identify as one ... and volunteer for the experiment? You know ... "for science"!

[@WacKEDmaN]

​@@Muck006 you must identify as a candiru 🦈🐡🐟

[@Just_Sara]

Somebody call Nile Red!

[@MadScientist267]

It'll look a lot like the chicken leg and other room temp piranha demos. If you just want to clean the bones off really quick, heat things up. Either way you'll be left with mostly just the skeleton of the fish, its just a matter of how long you gotta wait lol

[@DragoNate]

Hm. So it sounds like if a thing is more wet(ish) it reacts more easily & violently... What if you put in a piece of dry meat like jerky, or dehydrated/freezedried meat?

[@connieembury1]

Thank you all for such a fun video.

[@rogerw5299]

I thought that the egg tipping over might have been from the acid eating away at the egg a bit, and the part that was above the acid becoming top heavy so it tipped.

[@PopeLando]

Most vicious destroying acid mixture: Chicken: skeletonized Egg: turns brown

[@Gundrium]

Hrmmm. I would have thought that the cause for the differences in reaction would have more to do with reactivity. The calcium structure of the shell nearly didn't ready at all. The hard boiled egg blackened, but again didn't really react otherwise. And while there was oxidation, more reaction was made from bubble formation than anything else. In the third test we see two separate periods of reactivity. Is it not a case of the whites of eggs not having much oxidation? With the raw whites acting like a skin? Then the rich yolk becoming exposed, allowing the reaction boiling everything into organic sludge? Just curious, as I'm not a chemist.

[@pocarski]

They're both mostly made of proteins, so the reactivity by itself is hardly different between the two. It might have something to do with the shape of the molecules - in a hard boiled egg, the proteins are unwound and tightly interlinked (hence why it's hard), and in a raw egg they're much more compact and act like liquid. It takes additional energy to untangle the hard-boiled proteins, so the reaction is slower

[@MadScientist267]

Piranha is strange. It doesn't attack some things it would seem it would just go apeshit on. But when it finds something it likes, it will destroy it quickly. I think the key is dehydration. If the sulfuric can't find "water" to pull out of something, it can't really break it down because the peroxide is kinda "just there". Basically, if sulfuric acid doesn't break something down on its own, piranha will struggle as well. I know it's not quite that simple because of concepts like H2SO5 and such, but that's the basic pattern I see.

[@tipsypistole4055]

Always a great day when I see a new video posted on a channel worth it’s weight in gold!! Thank you for sharing knowledge!

[@darrenerickson1288]

No, a very interesting experiment. Thank you.

[@yelnatsch517]

What concentration of sulfuric acid was used? The pirahana solutions on this channel seem much less reactive than ones I’ve seen in other videos. I wonder why.

[@roybm3124]

Eggs are amazing, the strength of ostrich eggs is also insane.

[@Gryvix]

I remember a documentary, where they use acid to get rid of the white bits of mandarins to be tinned. (it's been 10-15 years ago, I can't remember what they used and what base to counter it after the process). this reminded me of it.

[@jimsvideos7201]

Labratories: Great place for learning, lousy place for breakfast.

[@ecophreak1]

And here I was hoping for an easy method to poach an egg without stringy bits

[@RenshawYT]

Another eggcellent video. :D

[@michaelschemlab]

Ba dum tss

[@Muck006]

Off to the corner of shame with you!

[@Metalkatt]

Also, always use proper safety precautions. Do them inside the hood chamber. with the vent on Wear proper protective gear. Have proper mess-containment systems in place. Dispose of remaining chemicals in a safe manner. Do not do this on the kitchen counter. That's a *big* part of what I'm seeing here.

[@alexanderlipowsky6055]

safety first, fun right after

[@cmuller1441]

Couldn't we add a little bit of HCl in the piranha solution? What about adding hydrogen peroxide in aqua regia? Isn't just NaOH more effective at dissolving flesh?

[@howtomake1446]

Sir please make a video on Cu2So4. Copper I sulphate.

[@simhthmss]

Is there a reaction you could put an egg in that would cook it in its shell and still be edible? If the pihrana solution can't make it through the shell could you eat the one in the video if you washed it?

[@jamielacourse7578]

Hello friend. Love your science. Could you do a feature on "Trinitite"? Many thanks....

[@YYCUrban]

Hey professor, could you make a video on the most violent solutions you've seen or made before, and maybe get an example if it's not too much?

[@clivematthews95]

This was cool, I didn’t expect that

[@geogeo3644]

I saw professor Poliakoff yesterday at Sainsbury's somehow we both looked at each other before I left

[@TheDarthsphincter]

2:00 it's the dancing grape...errrr... egg experiment

[@ljuc]

Thanks for another great video!

[@corpsiecorpsie_the_original]

What happens if you put a few toothpicks into a hardboiled egg or pierce the hardboiled egg many times with a fine needle?

[@Blindastronomer]

Would love to see what HF would do the egg shell!

[@offdagrid877]

Such fun, I like a soft boiled egg.

[@justinlong5892]

The hard boiled egg ended up looking like the Eraserhead baby

[@kylehedges6978]

What would happen if in the first egg you poked a small hole in the shell before lowering it into the piranha? Would the reaction attack the inside and eventually eat the entire shell, or would you just be left with an empty shell?

[@GentleBaller]

I thought this was an Ordinary Sausage video

[@kolmaxik]

Love the nails

[@franwatts9704]

Thanks 😊

[@lmwlmw4468]

Awesome.

[@iteerrex8166]

The natural rotation every minute was cool, with the hard boiled egg.

[@mariohendriks1]

Now I wonder. What would react with an egg shell faster, concentrated sulphuric acid or (slightly) diluted sulphuric acid?

[@Kumquat_Lord]

I don't know for sure! It might be like copper and nitric acid, where the concentrated stuff forms an oxide layer, and the dilute stuff dissolves said oxide layer so it can continue to attack the metal.

[@MadScientist267]

I don't think it would matter in this case, likely is passivating

[@martinguarani4573]

​@@MadScientist267 aluminium passivates in concentrated acids but doesn't in diluted ones, it could happen the same with the CaCO3. However as someone else said, HCl is much more effective because it forms CaCl2 (soluble in water and quite stable)

[@MadScientist267]

@@martinguarani4573 The key to passivation is lack of solubility

[@martinguarani4573]

@@MadScientist267 Sure, but the cohesion of the non soluble salt layer is also an important factor. If there are cracks in this later the acid can still reach the metal (or whatever) and keep attacking it. This is what happens with iron rust for example, and it might be similar with aluminum in diluted acid

[@AdibasWakfu]

what happens if you dissolve the shell with something else and then put the egg held only by its membrane in a milder piranha solution?

[@typhoonmuscles1842]

3:10 the forbidden coca-cola

[@userunaemu]

Eggs have been around a lot longer than chickens have.

[@DeconvertedMan]

Neat!

[@hacxman1]

I was thinking if adding more hydrogen peroxide would help. And also if it would clear up the final black one.

[@upthorn]

I now find myself wondering what would happen if you cut the hard boiled egg in half before putting it in the solution. Would the hard-boiled yolk react significantly differently to the piranha solution than the hard boiled whites did?

[@onenetgaming2531]

I believe the egg flipped over each minute due to the solution eating away at the button. Kind of like a glacier flips when melting.

[@kurbi2275]

I think so too. It changed the density of the egg at the bottom and thus it turned. The bubbles must not be undervalued too

[@seanwalton6208]

What about fullerenes in h2so5?

[@rohanlorange3660]

New video!

[@thatonecheesyguy]

bro that guy's face and voice is literally "generic evil scientist"

[@nickstubbings]

Wow, that was really eggciting!

[@thamirivonjaahri6378]

I was quite surprised that solution could not penetrate the shell since I was always told that shell is porous (explanation given that so embryo can breathe). Suppose pores are too small for solution to pass through

[@jmowreader9555]

Is it possible that the shelled hard-cooked egg was spinning because the piranha solution was honing off the surface of the egg? If that's what was happening, the egg would roll over when the part above the surface of the liquid was heavier than the part under it.

[@Ironout2getChargedup100]

This experiment means that to get a right product mixing well of the reactant with each other is necessary. Am l correct 💯🤔🤔

[@aleph0x]

Came for the acid, stayed for piranha soln.

[@outside8312]

Would different animal eggs react the same?

[@outside8312]

@@Paonporteur even fish eggs?

[@gsurfer04]

I would like to see what the inside of hard-boiled egg looked like after being in the solution.

[@clappincheeks5584]

What do you do with all your chemicals when you are done using them? I don’t imagine you can just pour them all down the sink?

[@blackroberts6290]

fun fact: the ocean is Nature's bin

[@nurlatifahmohdnor8939]

Page 848 pandect = [C16: via LL from Gk pandektes containing everything, from PAN- + dektes receiver]

[@thehyperscientist1961]

Now we just need to try and cook some rice with the piranha solution and we can make Oyakodon: Chemical Pirahna Style Also, I think the browning of the boiled egg in the second run was it being turned into a century egg

[@mark6302]

mad scientist Neil

[@porksashimi_0]

I'm sobbing

[@heaslyben]

I imagine chemical engineers in the US Boston area are especially familiar with Mass. transport.

[@geoffsecombe]

0:24 what came first, the egg or the chicken? It's the chicken. Boom. It's all in the delivery.

[@plasmabazooka4403]

What would happen if you add sugar syrop to the solution?

[@MadScientist267]

Lol better be standing back 🤣

[@joeyouyang]

thought this was a nile red video for a second lol

[@troelsfischerthomsen1892]

Are you sure the egg don't rotate because the solution remove mass from one side of the egg and it becomes top heavy and flips ?

[@bososz]

It did look like the surface of the egg got a bit pitted but the bubbles were the main cause for it to rotate.

[@RinceCochon]

Yup, i'v the same question about this rotation.

[@troelsfischerthomsen1892]

@@bososz why didn't it rotate constantly then , and why 180 degrees

[@bososz]

@@troelsfischerthomsen1892 for the exact same reason it would rotate if the egg was loosing mass as you are hypothesizing. Half the egg is in the piranha solution so only half the egg builds up bubbles and thus it rotates 180 degrees. It's not rotating constantly because it takes time for the bubbles to form large enough to cause it to flip and the same would happen from loosing mass, it wouldn't constantly spin. I'm assuming by constantly you mean continually rotating vs what it was doing in the experiment, Correct me if I'm wrong.

[@MadScientist267]

If it were internal, gases would be getting generated that would blow the shell apart. It's purely an external phenomenon

[@natureabioros8686]

This isn’t how you’re supposed to do it?

[@kieronparr3403]

Yellow Chemistry!

[@tandr3w]

I would like to see the experiment done again, but with a hole in the egg.

[@justice5150]

*1 week later* NileRed: "Eating An Egg Boiled in Piranha Solution!"

[@MadScientist267]

I don't think that will happen... I mean he may do it... But we probably won't see it 🤣

[@justice5150]

@@MadScientist267 I'm very curious if it would actually be dangerous to eat or not. As long as the shell is intact, that is!

[@MadScientist267]

@@justice5150 I don't believe so, despite the idea of piranha being involved. While the shell is permeable, there's a few things about this that stand in the way of it being much of an actual danger. That said, I still wouldn't eat it, *just because* but that's mostly psychological (internally) and liability (lol) externally. The major considerations are: 1. Hydrogen peroxide is the limiting reagent, as it is consumed first. This will be evident with any video that has shown piranha being regenerated by adding more peroxide (Nilered does this more than most). This would be the component to fear as far as internal consumption. As such it isn't going to want to stick around if there's sulfuric and a viable organic around. 2. Sulfuric acid in tiny quantities isn't really a big deal consumption wise. As long as it's dilute enough, not really a thing. I'm not saying it's "safe to consume sulfuric acid", just saying that in the right circumstances, it won't really do anything to you. What's managed to make it thru the shell in that period of time would be a pretty small amount. 3. The shell is made of calcium carbonate, which when attacked by the sulfuric, becomes calcium sulfate, which has no interest in water. This passivates the carbonate, protecting it from further erosion. This means only the porous aspect of the shell can allow any passage of liquid at all since the shell as a whole doesn't get breached, which while it will happen eventually, is a pretty slow process. There's also another membrane just on the inside of the shell that slows this movement down even further. Basically, "Peroxide can't really get in there, and any that does, will be trace and/or largely break down before you can clean up and consume the egg, and the little bit of sulfuric that makes it anywhere, after a little cleaning ("dilution"), wouldn't really mean much." It'll probably taste pretty nasty... But that's about it. That said, I still wouldn't do it. Like I said. Just because 🤣

[@aleisterlavey9716]

"You know that sulfuric acid that burned John's finger black, so it had to be amputated? " " Yes, that was a horrible incident... what are you implying?" " ...nothing... just... let's mix it with rocket fuel!!!" "... this is a horrible idea... let's do it! "

[@scoutdogfsr]

This, ladies and gentlemen, is precisely why you need to chew your food very well

[@calderarecords]

Such a charming fellow. I would have him stay for tea one time

[@DanceySteveYNWA]

2:37 whenever I try and make eggs in the microwave...

[@alden1132]

Have you tried any of these experiments with HEATED piranha solution? I don't mean self-heated, I mean externally heated, and maintained at a high temperature.

[@UCZx48kBoTg9O]

Crazy I thought this was Nile Red when I clicked lol

[@walteradmiraal7642]

nice

[@n20games52]

pretty intense reaction. That's my scrambled egg recipe.

[@stalkingtiger777]

Egg Shells are also porous. Definitely wouldn't eat it after. I'm also wondering if the flipping action is also because layers of egg white are being dissolved as well. It seems to flip precisely 180 degrees every time.

[@yaroslavsky]

I think you are right on the money. As the egg is eaten away, the center of mass shifts higher. Once enough is eaten away that the center of mass falls out of equilibrium, then the egg will flip. I do think the bubbles are having an effect as well, but they build up rather quickly, so I think the intervals of rotation are determined by the rate of dissolution of the egg.

[@MadScientist267]

@@yaroslavsky Only problem I see with that theory is any breaking down happening *within* the shell is going to generate gases, and while an egg shell is strong, it isn't *that* strong, and if the hypothesis is true, the egg *should* explode after sitting in there even a short while. It almost has to be solely the bubbles; the 5th rotation after the time lapse begins (closer up than the others) shows the size, distribution, and boundary of the bubbles. An egg isn't perfectly balanced inside but it will be close enough that bubbles that size can overcome it and flip it over. I'm not saying empirically that y'all are wrong, just that it's highly unlikely in my mind because I don't believe the shell would survive the activity.

[@yaroslavsky]

@@MadScientist267 Ah, you'll find that the rotations were only on the hardboiled egg with no shell, and not the egg with shell. The time lapse was of the peeled hardboiled egg.

[@MadScientist267]

@@yaroslavsky Ah yes, I do stand corrected there. That said, can still see the surface of the egg as the bubbles dissipate, it's largely unchanged. Evident by the color still in the process of darkening as the carbon starts to dominate. I see what y'all are angling at but I don't think there's enough reaction having taken place to create the voids necessary within the white of the egg to cause this behavior, nevermind cycling at that rate. The bubbles would be more than adequate to accomplish the rotation because eggs are statically balanced reasonably well along that axis. Only way to find out for sure I would think is to see exactly what it does if it's held in place so that only the one "side" sees solution. But I think you'll find it mostly just eats it smoothly at that point because the white is solid and will be more resistant to forming self healing voids... Which I believe are key to the timeliness of the rotations.

[@MadScientist267]

@@yaroslavsky It's also a very hard stop... I don't think the subtle etching would result in such a clean turn like that. I would think it would oscillate more. The bubbles have an "edge" over simple center of gravity shift... Leverage. The moment they come into contact with the solution as they come around, they resist further rotation with some prejudice.

[@gcewing]

It looks like you've discovered how to make egg-based dark ale.

[@MrBrax]

Pc monitor upgraded!