Recreating the chemical traffic light reaction

In this video, I'll be recreating the popular demonstration called the Chemical Traffic Light Reaction.
Note: I made a mistake in the video. I said the carbonate solution would have a pH around 8-9, but it would actually be closer to 11-12. I was thinking of sodium bicarbonate when I said that.
References:
• Blue bottle demo: • The Blue Bottle Experi...
• Indigo Carmine prep: • Making the dye in jean...
• Belousov-Zhabotinsky: • Recreating one of the ...
• Briggs-Rauscher: • Recreating the Briggs-...
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[@NileRed]

Note: I made a mistake in the video. I said the carbonate solution would have a pH around 8-9, but it would actually be closer to 11-12. I was thinking of sodium bicarbonate when I said that!

[@mystified2356]

NileRed All good m8, awesome vid nonetheless

[@redrosey7829]

Can i marry you ?

[@dandanthedandan7558]

Red Rosey How dare you, I proposed first

[@redrosey7829]

@@dandanthedandan7558 hahahahaha .. ok .. sorry

[@Shaheen_Hassan]

@@polymerasiecondens6857 He uses a stir bar

[@sodiumsaturn]

my chemical trafficlight is my favorite band

[@irmagaluhrahayu4179]

*cries in g note*

[@kadergumus2598]

@@irmagaluhrahayu4179 Cries in _A flat_

[@emilyserblowski33]

mmmmmmmmmmmm just what I was looking for

[@_BangDroid_]

My Chemical Chromiance lol idk

[@flutedscissors9655]

This killed my soul

[@RobertMilesAI]

It continues to surprise and upset me how hard it is to find information about these kinds of things. Science being the published and reproducible knowledge of humanity, you'd expect that a smart chemist with internet access would find it easy to get all the information they need to reproduce these reactions. Yet there's so much that isn't known, or isn't published, or isn't freely accessible. We've got a lot more work to do.

[@ThePhantazmya]

I think it has a lot to do with businesses trying to protect their trade secrets. They can't patent this stuff without making it public so they just don't publish it in hopes that others won't be able to reproduce it easily.

[@TheDuckofDoom.]

arXiv.org This need also seems like a subject well suited to a FOSS project, you just need a reasonable outline of the purpose and structure along with some initial volunteers. A few months ago I was brainstorming around the idea of creating a distributed FOSS substitute for youtube, the intent was robustness against both arbitrary censorship and business failure[or just restructuring]. I bring this up because it could be used for non-video content as well: papers, podcasts, forum discussions associated with the content. (1)Distributed storage backend for cost diffusion, political maneuvering, and creator control, with standard backend API; (2)middleware glue, eg databases, to aggregate the storage using the backend API, not unlike bittorrent in concept, and present a front end API. The purpose is to allow some provision for creators to work with advertisers and simplify the jobs of both backend and frontend developers; (3)any variety of frontend search and presentation products or websites so end users can choose the features they like. Overall its a bit like the structure of a linux machine: any variety of hardware, a kernel and shell tools, and choice of user interfaces. And like Linux users can take ready to eat off the shelf solutions or dig in and customize. (Easy to use and simple to understand for new users, with good documentation, is essential! Most folks are not admins or developers. Especially simple for those searching and browsing content.) Content control remains reasonably within the realm of the creator, as are hosting costs. Comments/discussions should not be subjected to individual removal, rather individual comments could be flagged(like thumbs up or down) by the community and individual readers can then set their own frontends to display all or to hide comments rated below a certain rating level(customizable by the end user for both percentage and total votes). eg some flat earther puts out a video of rubbish "science", this is their right, but they should not be able to turn it into propaganda by selectively censoring the rebuttal comments. In another case a video may get a selection of wildly offensive off topic comments and the end reader may wish to block this content, not unlike using an adblocker. In another case mob mentality may take over and cause legitimate rebuttals to be negatively flagged in which case it is important that the end user have the option of viewing all comments. (like allowing popups or turning off the adblocker as desired) As they say sunshine is a good disinfectant.

[@gerarddunne956]

True but what is the point...do it yourself like Nile red

[@ChemicalForce]

Yes, it's true, especially for non-popular chemical reactions, almost all show the same chemical experiments. My channel has many unique exotic chemical reactions with chemicals like: SnCl4, LiBH4, B10H14, CS2, NOClO4, etc. Welcome :D

[@gerarddunne956]

@@ChemicalForce damn

[@AtlasReburdened]

Nice, That almost went turquoise. I do like that one better.

[@OffDuty]

I'm too stupid to fully comprehend this but I watch it for fun.

[@callitseeit625]

You are pretty stupid✔

[@Unterhosegotti]

Lol chill it isnt that difficult. It has nothing to do with intelligence.

[@AtlasReburdened]

All the more reason to set up a small home lab and learn.

[@joanmm2930]

You are not stupid! Only you should keep working it a little bit more

[@Unterhosegotti]

@@thoth111 thats not what i said

[@htme]

Keep up the amazing work! We love your stuff! Chris from HTME!

[@htme]

@Daniel Kintigh Some guy asked us to make a wood train, with a coal combustion engine, and then make it invisible... sounds dumb but I'm in.... Chris HTME

[@htme]

Not your idea Daniel... Invisible wood train...

[@EXQEX9]

​@@htme Graceful recovery, 8.7 / 10.

[@MisterTalkingMachine]

Can confirm the wooden train story.

[@SapioiT]

​@@htme ​ If you ignore the invisibility, I can confirm that I might be the one who suggested that. But in hindsight, I guess HTME could unlock the wheel tech and bearings tech, you could make a wooden trike with front wheels steering, the back wheel being double the thickness of an individual front wheel, using treadles or pedals for rotating the back wheel of the bike, and make it look somewhat like a car by adding a wooden skeleton and cover it with a shell made out of waxed textiles, waxed paper, or textile/paper hardened and waterproofed by resin. Alternatively, a gearbox could also be added, for achieving higher speeds with less effort. It can have no windows, or use modern transparent flexible plastic boards. A minimal amount of parts would require metals. It is entirely possible to make rope-spring suspension, though the amount of work might be quite high and it would have to be protected from moisture. Because they already had roads back in early-medieval times (although not as good as the current ones), and it would likely be easier to just drive wherever you want without counting on a horse/donkey and having to feed it, than to build the needed infrastructure for roads (namely wooden/stone/soilcrete/dirtcrete rails, stations and some system for changing rails).

[@noogi7]

I think it'd be really interesting to see what colour changes happen when you bubble oxygen through either of these solutions

[@danielpitts6913]

I was thinking that same thing.

[@zegiles3780]

Well for the first solution at least you can actually watch that on the Traffic Lights video of Periodic Videos. Some pretty cool color changes there as well.

[@DanielGBenesScienceShows]

I do this live in my Science Shows (at schools, academies, libraries, museums, etc) many dozens of times a year. It’s a touchy reaction but as long as the ratios are right and the water temp is just “warm”, it’s pretty foolproof. I actually use ordinary tap water (Hill Country TX hard water) and it works well. I’ve pushed the reaction to its comfortable limits, mostly out of laziness. My reactions are: 400 ml of warm (~100°F) water (I eyeball it), 10.5-11g (dry weight) Sodium Hydroxide, and 2 tsps finely powdered corn sugar (brewing supply). I mix the water, base and sugar in a flat bottom round flask by shaking and venting. Then add the Indigo Carmine. As long as the water temp is just warm when you start, the reaction is fast enough for live stage demos. And a little traffic humor doesn’t hurt. I’ve even performed this reaction on live TV (an NBC affiliate morning show), although the green screen equipment inadvertently chroma-keyed out my “green” and replaced it with an eyeball hurting white, which I didn’t know until after the show had aired, Lol! Love your channel! TV demo: www.kcentv.com/mobile/video/life/daniel-g-benes/500-8192922

[@humanperson7466]

cool

[@CalciumEaterSupreme]

Does the reaction stop after a while or does it go on forever?

[@pafeso1659]

Great presentation!

[@DanielGBenesScienceShows]

@@CalciumEaterSupreme Okay, I know I’m a year late, but in case you see this and still are curious… The reaction can be continued several times for an hour or so. But the solution eventually stops reacting and pretty much stays yellow.

[@CalciumEaterSupreme]

@@DanielGBenesScienceShows thank you!

[@DrakkarCalethiel]

A good example of a classic school chemistry trick. Looks lovely and younger audience is always impressed. It also shows how beautiful chemistry is!

[@psyneur9182]

Missed school today, i guess this will take place of my ap chem class for today

[@sereysothe.a]

psyneur ap chem gang

[@lookbothways5104]

@@theweredragon9887 true lmfao

[@Buhnana-san]

Yeah, I definitely like the Carbonate solution version better than the NaOH. The better range of colors is much more appealing, despite it not having as prominent shifts in color. Channels like yours with experiments like these reinforce my choice to be a Chem major, and I’m excited to discover the world of reactions and applications out there. Thanks for the inspiration!

[@Riann13]

That was so neat; definitely loved the second color changes more as well. The subtle gradient was awesome

[@chillaxter13]

Completely agree that your version is visually more interesting! I really like when you add those little extras in to show some out of the box thinking.

[@propnotch3466]

Every day i look to see if you have another video and today i was happily suprised! thank for making the best chem vids out there!

[@Oli-jm9fc]

Chemistry was my first great love, ever since my parent gave me a chemistry set at age 12 and I found some home experimenting books from the 1950s in the public library and a friendly pharmacist willing to help out and sell me modest amounts of chemicals (including the fun stuff, oxidisers and dilute acids, the only thing he refused to sell me was concentrated H2SO4) I still feel like that same curious kid watching vids like this. Love what you do, keep it up.

[@yangrailme]

Her: I don't give off mixed signals! Also her:

[@HeTookThem]

Who is her?

[@Mark-Wilson]

@@HeTookThem a girlfriend or something its a joke don't think of this too much

[@HeTookThem]

@@Mark-Wilson Oh. Mk, Thanks for answering. It's been 9 months and didn't know who is "Her" Until I realized it's a joke

[@thoriso1000]

Finally, I've been waiting for the next video. Great content, keep it up.

[@sarahw641]

I love this reaction and I demonstrate it to my students on a regular basis. They love it and think it's like magic! It's similar to the Blue Bottle experiment using methylene blue but better. Thanks for posting.

[@teluriox8200]

I love your videos @NileRed, they are so informative and interesting. You should make one completely about chemical elements.

[@ivanljujic4128]

NileRed: *does science stufff* me: he a wizurd :000

[@spence3523]

Anything sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic. The person controlling the magic is a magician. Therefore NileRed is a magician.

[@boldandbrash6170]

My science teacher did this in class and said that if anyone could answer why it did that, we would get a higher grade. Thanks for letting me get a higher grade!

[@Shyguy71588]

Cool story bro

[@shane228]

This is phenomenal as always. I really hope that at some point in your life you become a chemistry teacher, I really think you’d be able to make a “boring” subject interesting for regular people (i.e. students) and that you’d make people feel actually engaged and fascinated by science while they’re learning. Please keep these up, you’re doing incredible work.

[@dnaroseandthewolves]

He is I think lol

[@TheDisabledGamersChannel]

Nile, i've been watching you since your fuming nitric acid video 4 years ago and i gotta say, your video just get better and better, you never put out bad content, thanks for all the work you do to keep us entertained and for teaching us so so many cool new things, have a wonderful christmas bro

[@generallygenna]

You have the most interesting videos! I could watch them for hours!

[@mrkillenmax]

The fact that you show in the bottom right corner what speed you have sped up the video in just shows how much dedication you have to make these videos such a high quality. Great job, keep it up.

[@upaiaq]

You rock bro,thanks for the interesting videos.Love this channel.

[@michaelstevens8624]

Took the kids to a chemistry "magic" show on the local uni campus this weekend, and this was the first demo they did--one of the team trying to get 8 beakers all green at once. In haste, a beaker broke from being slammed down too quick/hard. Alas, they didn't ever get into how they did this, so nice to see this so soon after!

[@martingardener]

This takes me back to my undergrad chemistry honours thesis! I remember figuring out the half cell potential of one of the free radical reactions, mostly by accident. :o)

[@risvegliato]

At Last! a new NileRed video. Keep them coming.

[@RaExpIn]

One of my favourite reactions. The reaction with sodium carbonate is pretty nice!

[@chimes023]

Wow I was just binge-watching your older vids. New subscriber here! Keep up the awesome work! 👍

[@martyjehovah]

His videos are super bingeable, and also are great to fall asleep to.

[@youduntknowmyname]

This channel makes it all worth it man

[@BothHands1]

That's so cool! I def think your version is better. Love the content!!

[@a.h.2276]

Damn, watched this dude for like five years, and now that I am a second year pharma student revisiting his videos and actually understanding the content is so rewarding

[@jkobain]

Yaaaawww! Another video from NileRed!

[@ZRTMWA]

Your sodium carbonate version was so much cooler! Nice work, as usual

[@Lanetwin]

Nilered I do this experiment with my children in a regular basis. They love it and it has sparked their interest in chemistry!!!

[@cb6112]

Nile you are my favorite youtuber of all time never stop doing what you do

[@NileRed]

:)

[@cb6112]

@@callitseeit625 hm?

[@bbittercoffee]

nice acclaim

[@marwantheender5442]

What is your username on rotmg

[@XtremeQuantumSrength405]

@@NileRed :)

[@gigglysamentz2021]

So good! I love colour chemistry ♥

[@mobspeak]

You read my thoughts, I wanted to see it go back to blue, and in the end that is exactly what you did so thanks :D

[@paulblair7515]

Excellent video as usual.

[@sciencemodelaboratory7298]

Always great video.

[@CorentinAlphagaming]

Beautiful reaction

[@schregen]

I love you, NileRed! 🍄

[@horizontbeskrajneinovacije6440]

Thank You...great demonstrations...

[@askquestionstrythings]

If I remember right this is a popular demonstration in some Faraday lectures. very fun, I love these color changing reactions. Another fun one is a special salt-alcohol mix that starts burning blue then switches to red.

[@XenXenOfficial]

I was waiting so long for this

[@KowboyUSA]

The "Chemical Traffic Light Reaction" never gets old. I love it.

[@ArtoPekkanen]

Such a magical reaction! :) cool

[@MisterRazz]

Your version is much better than the original! Bravo!!

[@de_anubis]

Really underrated video!

[@giovannimartinez587]

This reminds me of a “trick” that a guy did at my elementary school. It was very similar to this but it would turn from clearish yellow to blue but back and forth. To this day it is still the most amazing thing I’ve seen.

[@yamiseka]

Are you talking about the Briggs-Rauscher reaction? It's discussed in another one of his videos kzbin.info/www/bejne/iXTSfYCcpdGJjdU

[@gabrielshaw2140]

Awesome video! I think we're all wondering when will we be seeing another large scale synthesis from you. Keep up the great work!!

[@dhruvdatta1055]

My class 11 and 12 india chemistry, finally has a use: understanding nile red

[@DancingRain]

The carbonate version of the reaction is beautiful!

[@stephenwmsmith]

You should do the Old Nassau reaction. That would would be so cool to see and have explained.

[@zahra1983]

Thanks alot for your amazing videos

[@fraga2328]

Oh man after watching these videos I always crave to make some of these reactions for my chemistry laboratory class!

[@smallsthetimelord4066]

Wow! That was a very interesting video. It is cool to see you experimenting with this demonstration.

[@Certawin]

I have to agree. The second version of the expiriment. Visually was more stunning. Even if it was a bit slower.

[@qozzie9676]

another awesome video!

[@IanMott]

Love this!

[@reginabedgood1799]

6:03 you should have said supports my hypothesis, not theory. I say that because a lot of people get confused between a hypothesis and a theory; since you are do a great job of explaining all the things you do and you also get a lot of views, people hearing you use the words correctly will actually make an impact. I really like your videos and now that I am halfway through organic chem at my university, I am understanding things even more which is cool!

[@lil_weasel219]

yesh

[@63256325N]

Thanks for the videos.

[@randomslomo1875]

Man.... You are living my dream.... I freaking LOVE chemistry! I'm so jealous... 😰

[@centurybug]

This reaction is similar to the one used in blinker fluid!

[@beachboardfan9544]

YAY clock reactions! CMON hypergolic reactions!!!

[@juanantonioalvarez5498]

Yaaay! I've missed you!

[@ladygabes5558]

NILE! I miss your videos so much

[@Seizuqi]

underrated video

[@aleksandervoznjuk5543]

i don’t understand anything in your videos but they’re still entertaining to watch

[@3Kingstubin]

1:53 Thought my screen had dirt on it, haha.

[@nodawg]

I went to my brothers open day for his college and I remember them doing this experiment in the science labs

[@unk_n3r061]

I love how when u open to video, it is just like staring at the sun

[@notachemist6282]

nice video, really cool with what you can.

[@edgeeffect]

I'd love to try the Briggs-Rauscher or the Belousov-Zhabotinsky, but the chemicals aren't quite so easy to obtain or work with. Whereas, here, we've got some nice straightforward stuff I can get from E. Bay and the hardware shop. Not as "magical" but within my grasp... so thanks for this.

[@sweetmeatnc1504]

Oh shit a nile red video? Been a minute.

[@thebluescience9337]

Good experiment 👌👍😉

[@GMPStudios]

He carved the channel name in the conical flask! Wow.

[@bogdangrigore4080]

perfect background sound for working for the chemestry olympiads

[@lorisdupont6406]

Nice video! Well explained and entertaining. Could you explain the purple colors we see at the end of the video tough?

[@kentofmississippi]

The second reaction was much cooler. I'd like to try it out.

[@aterack833]

I wonder how many visual reactions you could set up in one video? Also that second one was way cooler but having them side by side would be awesome too

[@RavenSilverWing]

Maybe also show putting some of the solution in a sealed container with nitrogen to demonstrate the effect of the lack of oxygen on the reaction. Great work, love watching your videos!

[@conspiracylibrary2848]

Hey NileRed. Can you do a video where you make THCa crystals? If not, all good. I enjoy all your videos! A LOT! Thanks for all your work, you're very fun to watch!

[@xeqaniedilov3044]

Perfect...

[@Chrisbuildsstuff247]

I love this series so much hey NileRed have you ever thought of doing like a chemistry tips and trick to help students learning chemistry to better understand the basics? #NileRed

[@theiosog2843]

NileRed + Coffee filters = ❤

[@PendragonDaGreat]

I'm always glad for the links in the description, but is there any reason not to use the cards in the top right as well? Either way, thanks for the continually great content!

[@muhammadmuneeb2946]

Best Chemistry Dose on KZbin

[@MyLuckyPapillion]

I just failed my ochem final but your videos always manage to cheer me up.....Chem may be hard but it's super interesting

[@lauriviitala2586]

Yeeee! I love your videos!!!

[@ciucasmyers4014]

Very cool!

[@CharlesVanNoland]

You could totally make a rad version that's like a giant decorative fountain, and fine-tune it so that when it reaches the bottom it is oxygenated, and then it returns to a reservoir/pond where it gets a chance to de-oxygenate and pump back up to the top, then it spurts back out and while trickling down it oxygenates and changes color by the time it reaches the bottom. If it were some kind of white spire it would make the colors much more visible. I'm not sure if you could fine-tune it to work in the open air, and you'd have to replace evaporated moisture regularly, but it might be a really neat thing to behold.

[@Unterhosegotti]

This is why i frigging love chemistry

[@OneTwos]

Hi! Rhenium is an interesting element. Will you have the opportunity to make a video about him? Thank you for your informative videos)

[@Sauti_science]

The irony of me watching this while procrastinating my organic chemistry assignment

[@ericbullock7355]

The molecular structure you show for the yellow form has greater conjugation than the blue form. This means that the delocalized electrons in the highest occupied orbitals for the yellow form are in larger 'boxes' than in the blue form. The energy spacings of the orbitals in the larger boxes are smaller than the energy spacing of the orbitals in the smaller boxes. So the electron transitions that give rise to the yellow form (larger boxes) should correspond to wavelengths that are longer than the transitions in the blue form. Yellow light has a longer wavelength than blue light so this supports your structure for the yellow form.

[@aditishastri6087]

I’m a teen in 8th grade, and I tried this experiment. It works! Thanks :)

[@theopoldthegamer4284]

I love how the blue dye becomes every color but blue