Science Experiments with Potassium Permanganate | Szydlo's At Home Science

Andrew takes us on a journey to London's Shepherd's Bush Market in 1960, exploring the splendid chemistry of potassium permanganate. Along the way, he will explore redox reactions, colour changes and even the “devil’s element”, phosphorus.
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Contents:
0:00 Introduction and a trip to Shepherd's Bush Market
7:10 Intro to Potassium Permanganate
14:50 Dilutions and Avogadro's number
17:00 The chemistry of manganese
24:25 Complex ions
31:40 Oxygen and combustion
40:00 Phosphorus
Andrew Szydlo is a chemist and secondary school teacher at Highgate School, well-loved by pupils and Ri attendees alike.
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[@TheRoyalInstitution]

Oh gosh, oh golly, are we excited! While we have been away from our building for three months now, our friend, the most wonderful chemistry teacher Andrew Szydlo, has sent us a gift like no other - an entire series of chemistry videos, filmed in his home and exploring concepts such as the chemistry of coins and photography, how a chainsaw works and even how to fix a leaking tap. We're so excited to watch these and to share them with you!

[@squidcaps4308]

Now i understand why Andrew is so great on stage.. i think he is that person all the time.. Awesome, he is such a good communicator and the passion for the subject is almost touchable, even thru the screen.

[@holgertd4464]

What a wonderful surprise, this is much appreciated! I‘m looking forward to watch all of them.

[@Willam_J]

He loves what he does, and he does it well! Thank you for the videos! 😃

[@JohnLeePettimoreIII]

I'll be watching the series as quickly as uploads and my constitution allows.

[@cameronmcallister7606]

I like the idea that Andrew just got so bored at home he made these videos with no prompt and sent it to the RI like "Here. Post this"

[@skaldicofmaldon2332]

This man was my Chemistry teacher. He was also ran the photography club, the automobile society, the beekeeping club, and was co-leader of a club called "Operatic society" which was in actual fact a chamber orchestra/fine dining club, where he bought nice cheeses for us to eat and played the viola. Man is a force of nature.

[@charliedelacey8856]

Oh my! I might just have to write him a fan letter!

[@cjod33]

​@@charliedelacey8856 your lucky to have had him.

[@BattleBunny1979]

good to see this man healthy and still kicking ass.

[@martinschultz3441]

MASTER SZYDLO IS BACK! THE LORD OF FIIIREEEH!

[@michaelsinghpurewal]

His storytelling is just as effervescent and effusive as the actual chemistry

[@TheAcujlGamer]

I hate chemistry and even I got hooked.

[@villie86]

Such a wonderful person. Can do his childhood hobby as profession, highly educated outside his profession, he is a talented musician, has a passion not just to entertain, but to teach too. And he is such a nice person, constantly thanking his assistants, always being polite. He might be elder in his body, but has a youthful mind. And his overall clumsyness makes him charming. I wish I had someone like him tech me chemistry when I was a child. I'm sure I would have learned to love chemistry more that way.

[@daphnefernandez219]

I could watch him all day! It would be a privilege to meet him one day as I am just as passionate about science as he is. He is an absolute GENIUS as well as an intertainer! He is just amazing, may God keep him well!

[@ViiKing_]

Szydlo is my favourite professor, I can never get enough of him

[@thomasperks8640]

I really enjoyed Andrew's demonstrations. I'm 73 now and I can relate to him receiving his chemistry set. When I was eleven years old I went to my senior school and this was my introduction to science. My science teacher was a Mr B Littleproud and I was hooked so for the following Christmas I crazed my parents for a chemistry set. The best present ever but it didn't stop there because every birthday and Christmas I asked for more chemistry apparatus. I remember they used to send off to Birmingham for most of the glassware and I believe I got the retort stands from Griffin & George in Wembley. In the sixties there were many independent chemist shops where you could buy the chemicals from. I feel sorry for young budding chemists today with all the restrictions in place on the purchase of many of the chemicals we used to buy. I would dearly love to show my grandson some of the experiments I used to do. By the way, I was lucky in that my grandmother gave me a corner of her kitchen to set up my laboratory. She had town gas so I could have a Bunsen burner to heat up some of the reactions has required. It's a great pity that our society has changed the way it has and so many of our freedoms have been lost.

[@Archangelm127]

Dr. Szydlo is a national treasure of the United Kingdom. Oscar too.

[@Danirijeka]

His story about the snake oil salesman never gets old ❤️ ACIDS. *BURN*.

[@annepearn4545]

I swear he said they were purple last time though.

[@garycard1456]

It is the chemistry maestro Andrew Szydlo. I know that I will be in for some good 'edutainment', so I've liked the video before even watching it!

[@XipeAyotl]

x2 me too

[@theanteaterparadox344]

I love when Prof Szydlo blows stuff up

[@kofimarti]

Am a high school chemistry teacher. Prof. Szydlo you are certainly my mentor. My chemistry godfather

[@nickname7152]

You can never get enough of Prof Andrew Szydlo's teaching and his teaching way!

[@lasersimonjohnson]

First time i have seen this guy and I absolutely love his style and knowledge. 😎

[@Arnold.J.Rimmer]

Watch his lectures on fire and explosions.

[@JivanPal]

@@Arnold.J.Rimmer Surely you mean FIYAH!

[@gzpo]

Never before have I seen such an energetic performance for chemistry. Thank you for sharing your personal history with the science of chemistry. Much appreciated.

[@fiegenfiegen]

There is so much to learn about Prof. Szydlo's expressive way of doing his introductions! Thank you!

[@marcstanley6437]

Andrew, Thank you for perfecting your special gift. This is a very tough day for me and I somehow came to this link and it brought a smile to my face. I can only imagine how encouraging you must be to Young students. I'm sure there are several who you've passed on your love for chemistry. For which the world is eternally grateful.

[@tinderboxcreations]

Got to meet Andrew at UlerSTEM last November. It was a real pleasure to talk with him after his show. Thouroughly enjoyed this video.

[@mereblue]

Yessss! I’ve been waiting for another video from dear Andrew. I’m a Science teacher and I absolutely love him!

[@andrestrujado]

Nothing compares to the masterful delivery of Chemistry from Andrew! An absolute pleasure to watch 👍

[@mikepetersnz]

An inspiring teacher - wish they were all like him. I loved his lesson/demo

[@zestyammar1973]

Extremely interesting and engaging! I love Mr. Szydlo's videos; they're always packed full with chemistry gems :D also, thank you Oscar, great camera work :)

[@caballeroPL]

15:45 * 8 billion is 8 thousand million

[@TokranInami]

@@Jimbojo Thats correct, but then again neither of them are 10^7. Ten thousand million (rounded up world population) would be 10^10 and 10 million million (10 old style billion) would be 10^13. Still a lovely video. PS In germany that older british style is still in use. "Billion" would be a million million while "Milliarde" is a thousand million

[@grayaj23]

@@TokranInami But how many is a Brazilian? (sorry, couldn't resist)

[@CommonSensePeople]

Why do so many otherwise brilliant British people cling to this idea that a billion is a "million million"?

[@homberger-it]

@@CommonSensePeople In Germany this is absolutely correct: Million: 1 000 000 Milliarde: 1 000 000 000 Billion: 1 000 000 000 000 Billiarde: 1 000 000 000 000 000 Trillion: 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 Trilliarde: 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000

[@jmmahony]

@@TokranInami He garbled the math a few times in his explanation, but fortunately, in the end his answer of 1,000 world populations is correct.

[@McLKeith]

Thank you very good class. Chemistry is amazing. I remember organic chemistry labs were very stressful. One lab involved turning oil of wintergreen into acetylsalicylic acid. That was over 30 years ago. Organic chemistry labs often ended with products that were a crystalline powder which was then tapped into a tiny glass tube (pipette) and put in a gallencamp, and heated until the starting and ending melting points were found. Those two numbers when looked up in thick book gave the name of the organic. Amazing.

[@snafu2350]

Now /that/ method of testing is one I've never heard of before, even in my early '80s chem lab schooling; I'd imagine that it would've made things much more interesting for the students (& maybe teachers!)

[@Kargoneth]

Only 9:30 in and I've already thumbed up the video. Andrew's enthusiasm is contagious. His ability to talk for long periods without many delays maximizes information transfer; I think I would have run out of things to say long before that point.

[@VyvienneEaux]

I don't have words intensive enough to express my gratitude. This video has inspired me to study equilibrium, acid/base chemistry, and electrochemistry! It is so fascinating to think of the relationship between lewis bases and reducing agents.

[@jonross377]

This has got to be my favorite teacher ever! It is too bad I will never get to meet him in person. I wish you nothing but the best sir!

[@drhmufti]

Ive heard that opening on so many of his videos, but by gum i sure do love it.

[@whoever6458]

Haha, my brother and I used to play this game that we called What Burns. Any time our parents would fall asleep, we'd get the box of matches and a spoon from the kitchen and go into the bathroom to add various chemicals to the spoon and then try to ignite them withe the matches. We always opened the window to the bathroom and, if anything smelled bad, we'd put any resulting fire out, run out of the bathroom, close the door, and come back when all the foul gases had gone out the window. It was truly fascinating.

[@theinternaut1991]

This man is excellent at story telling, excellent at public speaking and hooking the audience. Very entertaining, I want to learn from him, AMAZING TEACHER. Love this

[@Arsenic71]

Oh yes, a fresh Szydlo video... *MUST WATCH*

[@myopenmind527]

Love the passion for science.

[@tikkiwich9700]

I am raising my daughter in the vain hope that she'll get into computer science, like her dad... unfortunately I've introduced her to the (admittedly amazing) Andrew Szydlo.... looks like Santa's bringing a chemistry set for Christmas! Keep up the good work, Mr Szydlo!

[@RockStarTomUK]

Fantastic 👍🏼 thank you for taking the time to do this video.

[@CT7ALW]

I love the scientific rigour of him, even on a casual scenario. Going to use the flask in 5 second, but the lid always goes on!

[@clintongryke6887]

Marvelous demonstration and wonderful enthusiasm.

[@dinodinoulis923]

Thank you so much for this video series. Love it! Your teaching style is so retro and reminds me of my whacky A Level lecturer back in the day. Great way to remember “stuff’. This one in particular is Outstanding as I remember writing “Potassium Permanganate” for any substance that I couldn’t identify in my A level Chemistry exam. Happy Days :) Keep up the good work and keep it old skool.

[@jasonb4370]

Thank you for teaching us . You made a big difference in my life.

[@JJackONeill]

I love this guy! Fantastic stuff. Thank you!

[@GrizzlyMint666]

I didn't know i liked chemistry until i saw this guy. Now i can't stop watching videos about it.

[@webwarlock72]

I wish he was my teacher when I was at school. Lessons would never have been boring.

[@aussieaeromodeler]

Love your work Sir , I was 4 years old in 1960 , wish I'd had a Chemistry Teacher with your enthusiasm when I was in High School , nevertheless my interest in the subject you present with such gusto hasnt deminished

[@n7565j]

Outstanding!!! As usual ;-) Love the good Dr!!! Would love to hear the history of that drill press behind him... Bet it could tell some tales if it could speak!!!

[@randomhuman1965]

watched whole video. Instant Subscriber. What an awesome dude.

[@13amplifiers]

I had much the same childhood experience as Andrew (except for the snake oil vendor). My parents got me a chemistry set and somehow I found some potassium permanganate. I have no idea why, but one day I decided to make a small pile of permanganate and put a few drops of glycerin on top of the pile. After a few moments it burst into flame! Cool! Much like Andrew's experience. Years later I did a PhD in ... permanganate chemistry. Keep up the wonderful chemistry and physics videos.

[@BlackWolf42-]

I'll admit, my fascination with chemistry began wondering how to make things pop and burn. What a wonderful introduction!

[@TheExplosiveGuy]

Likewise😁. Started out taking apart fireworks and mixing and matching, then went to potato guns for a while, then after that started making explosives in my teens (yeah nah I don't recommend that these days😂), and I've been interested in chemistry ever since. Nile Red and Nurd rage really fanned the flames though in the last couple years, I've since equipped myself with loads of glassware and equipment. Chemistry rocks!

[@evolvedcopper2205]

The painting fellow was Nic Flamel at heart, bless him

[@Asdayasman]

3:38 HE PUT THE FIRE OUT WITH THE POWER OF HIS MIND

[@MrPhifty]

If my high school chemistry teachers taught like this gentleman, I would definitely have paid more attention.

[@markbell9742]

With a chemistry minor and geology major the experiment/demonstration was just great but the story its equal. Cheers, Mark

[@Jonodrew1286]

I love your discussions & demonstration or chemistry - if you had been my teacher and I realised my passion earlier on in life, I would now either be a chemist or a teacher of chemistry ......I have read the The disappearing spoon , Uncle Tungsten & Gunpowder an explosive history and highly recommend them ...... I think you are surely one of the energetics - stay safe

[@davidhall9504]

Fabulous!

[@TobiasDieterich-vk6ce]

Thank you so much for reminding me of my passions...I wish my Chemistry teacher at Uni would have been more like you! I came there full of passion...only to leave after 3 semesters disillusioned. Anyway...keep up the good work...Love the videos...funny how we have the same passions...music...chemistry...fixing cars...

[@GioeleGuenzi]

21:05 Andrew is soo good to do this things that he wanted to make this a true live show by adding the classic phone ring that you hear in every live show!

[@michaelsinaloense6449]

I love his videos

[@TheSkogemann]

OMG! HE IS BACK!!!!1111 So glad to see that you guys are ok!

[@fiegenfiegen]

As a result of Prof. Szydlo's suggestion, I bought an old copy of Emsley's book about phosphorus and it is indeed awfully interesting! Thank you!

[@TheRoyalInstitution]

That's excellent, we're glad you're enjoying it!

[@DrQuadrivium]

Love the giant flask. It proves that size does matter!

[@AZAce1064]

You are fascinating!

[@clarquent]

I loved that he has his childhood treasures

[@roderickwhitehead]

I believe I have seen this bit before... forget where. Enjoyed it all over again tonight.

[@extrastuff9463]

About the magic medicine man? I'm pretty sure he brought that up in one of the RI lectures at the normal building, I think it was titled something like "the magic of chemistry".

[@gutterball10]

I recently did an oxidation experiment with KMnO4 on cyclohexanone in basic conditions. Definitely a powerful oxidizer.

[@JJLewin1]

I would have loved you to have been my science teacher, I would have learnt so much more. You are wonderfully passionate.

[@karlm5022]

This is awesome!

[@pjtren1588]

Thank you sir.

[@tahamahmood4220]

he his everything to me.......... i wish i could meet him he is awesome

[@Telonicus]

I wish I had had a chemistry teacher like him :)

[@mr.grenade8604]

Love me abit of Szyience!!!!

[@Ma_X64]

In school it was my favorite thing.) If you make Al-Permanganate powder then you can initiate it with just a couple of wires and about 80-100 V of electricity from capacitor. It's very robust and reliable thing that doing well in very wide range of temperature and works very fast.

[@talfandary]

Thank you!

[@simonstergaard]

fantastic !

[@Vijaysharma-qb4uc]

you are real hero

[@nghermit4922]

You are the Walter Lewin of Chemistry, brilliant!

[@jethromaloku3136]

every time I see Andrew showing the experiment from Shepherd's Bush, I'm still drinking his words... I'm another pyromaniac fanatic Sir

[@mikesand7773]

Brilliant, it clicked in my mind similar passion I had for chemistry when I was 10y old, grabed an old chemistry book from my grand father with same ilustration of Brandt, the color of potassium permanganate soljtion is something you dont forget. Well done and we should have more fascinating persons with this love for science.

[@SpottedBullet]

Awesome! Thank You! 7:31 Carbazole Dioxazine (PV 23) =)

[@PecPur]

As a Kenyan every time someone uses "mambo jambo" in an English statement with connotations of confusion I marvel at how language grows from random potentially misunderstood interactions.

[@rickebert7548]

Absolutely marvelous professor! I was a little disappointed that Mr Emsley’s “The Shocking History of Phosphorus” is commanding a tidy $950 here in the States (on Amazon). Hopefully, that’s situational inflation. Please keep teaching - i have had 3 wonderful chem profs. - including you.

[@rigel2112]

He borrowed the hose from his Triumph. Lol that is something I would do. That's why I love his videos.

[@trecker59]

What a great vid.

[@Rudra-mm1qf]

Lord Szydlo

[@grproteus]

15:50: Love the video. Just a heads up: 1 billion is 1,000,000,000 . 1 million million is 1,000,000,000,000.

[@woongah]

USA people and UK scientists (and in some other places, too) just use the same word for two different numbers, the seconds' being a million squared. He read that the world population was a bit above 7 billions, he just didn't remember that the source was likely using the USA version of the term.

[@MRCAGR1]

10e9 used to be a milliard, 10e12 was a billion (1000000 e2), 10e18 was a trillion (1000000e3). This was used in the U.K. and some European countries. In the USA 10e9 was a billion, 10e12 a trillion and 10e15 a quadrillion. This caused no end of confusion, particularly when referring to finance, which was the main driver behind the adoption of the US nomenclature, even though the U.K. system is more logical being based on powers of 1000000! Of course, in science the SI units and prefixes were introduced (mega, giga, terra) to replace imperial measurements, this gentleman would have been one of the first to switch from imperial to SI nomenclature, I am about 6 or 7 years younger and I used both systems. It should be noted that there are still differences between US and U.K. measurements, particularly the gallon and temperature scales.

[@immortalsofar5314]

That's the exact same book he took out of Shepherd's Bush library when he was 8 years old? Wow, his library fines are going to be *enormous* ! Back when I studied chemistry, we didn't use steel mats for exothermic reactions since asbestos was considered much safer. As for the dilution, someone at work made a round of tea/coffee for the office. I tasted my coffee and told her she hadn't rinsed the spoon after she'd stirred the blackcurrant tea and two others agreed. Now I don't know what the dilution factor of stirring 3 cups of coffee with a blackcurrant flavoured spoon but I'd hazard a guess that it's even less than KMnO4.

[@random30sec.clipsforrecomm7]

This man is awaome!

[@TheSchneidItworld]

wooow, that's gonna be useful, thanks!

[@dfbess]

I remember helping to add the salt and permanganate to water purification tanks..got it on my hand one time and my hand was purple for days lol.

[@FredStam]

this was very good............

[@dizbeefpvdizbeliefdizzy3612]

I love this guy 😂😂😂, "how about that for a totally useless fact".

[@jrctattoo]

I love these videos you do, Im not a chemist, but have a pretty good understanding of many chemicals... should tell people that they can also use a few crystal's of potassium premagonate to purify water in a survival situation, now I just learned I can also make Oxygen as well! Excellent! I always carry a few vials filled with potassium premagonate and some glycerin to create a camp fire in the wettest conditions!!! Plus can purify water, and now oxygen! Haha seems like a great thing to have in a survival situations!

[@villie86]

Plus can be used as an antiseptic too. My father's and grandfather's generation used to dissolve a single crystal in water to disinfect cuts and bruises.

[@jrctattoo]

@@villie86 can actualy make rocket fuel with it as well, with other house hold items....😁

[@BlisterHiker]

@@jrctattoo Do not use potassium permanganate for rocketry or fireworking if you love your fingers and life. Mixtures can be unstable and dangerous. Also, reaction with glycerin requires certain temperature to ignite. In cold conditions, it will not work.

[@timbirch4999]

A house phone ringing at 21:10..??!! That's so retro!!! :-D

[@inkman6964]

Love potassium permanganate

[@rhlkiller420]

Man, his students are so lucky!

[@zarahandrahilde9554]

So fantastic, we love us some LORD OF FIREEEE! \o/ Andrew Szydlo has given out the best gift in the form of these videos during this time, even cannibalizing his Triumph and holding Oscar hostage in his basement to provide us quality edutainment

[@JoTheVeteran]

Good man!

[@danglss76]

I can relate ..

[@tomwatts703]

Lovely video, but if I ever did anything like at 37:20 I'd be kicked out the lab for sure!

[@frankroberts9320]

15:43 "Eight billion is eight million million". I was considering whether or not to correct the professor's math (it's eight thousand million) when I remembered reading something in grade school more than 60 years ago which stated that in Britain, a billion is literally one million squared, or a million million, what we call a trillion. Obviously, the world population isn't eight trillion people, but that's not what prompted me to comment. The fact that I read a line or two, in passing, sometime during the Kennedy administration and had not once during the intervening six decades given it even a passing thought, and then recalling that memory clearly upon hearing Dr. Szydlo's comment, is just mind blowing. The Human brain is the ultimate mystery.

[@spacecomma4678]

I need that flask!