Turning Bones into White Phosphorus

In this video I make some non-vegetarian white phosphorus from bones using all of my master chemistry skills.
Check out BM Chemistry - bm-chemistry.com.pl
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If you want to support my work here's my patreon - / amateurchemistry
Also, excuse me for my poor speaking, in case that you don't understand something there are always subtitles made by me.
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TikTok - / amateur.chemistry
At 14:01 it is actually 175, I forgot to remove the correction.
0:00 Intro
1:17 What even is White Phosphorus???
4:35 Getting and Cleaning the Bones
7:07 Incinerating the Bones Twice
12:53 Extracting Calcium Hydrogen Phosphate from the Bones
19:08 Making Sodium Dihydrogen Phosphate
24:25 Making Sodium Hexametaphosphate
26:48 Preparations for the White Phosphorus
31:04 Finally Making the White Phosphorus
32:52 Purifying the Slag
35:00 Experiments with the White Phosphorus
37:04 Outro
#beautiful
#chemistry
#interesting
#experiment
#fire

[@AnotherOtherMan-alive]

This is better titled "Turning victims into warcrimes" or "the military industrial complex embraces recycling"

[@danialrafid]

pin this comment it's hilarious

[@FFSWTFisThis]

Lol

[@pyro_mania67]

Awe man you got here first and did it better then I would have GG I'm not even going to try now. 😂

[@napalmholocaust9093]

#Beautiful They used it 😃

[@ToniThePerkele]

Sadly IDF was taking notes...

[@InvisibleSquids]

To all who *weren't* already on some government watchlist, I'd like to extend to you a warm welcome. Thank you for stopping by. We have fun here.

[@DemianGammons-xv3qf]

I mean knowing how to make nitroglycerin and TNT is just a educational video

[@christopherleubner6633]

Did very similar for a high-school science project. Used carbon bone ash sand and a bit of steel wool. Electrodes were put in a big ceramic flower pot with another one clay sealed on top. The top had a pipe mounted to it. The works were buried in sand. An arc welder supplied the power and the phosphorus and carbon monoxide was made. Phosphorus condensed under water but the CO/P vapor in the bubbles would cause some of them to ignite. Made quite a bit of phosphorus. They would never let you do something like this nowadays...

[@petevenuti7355]

I was trying something similar with a furnace, ammonium phosphate, carbon & aluminum. As soon as it got hot it exploded! Blue all the unreacted powder at the brake lines I was using as a condenser and sent glass shards all over my garage from the container I was condensing in with the water! (I used 3 steel brake lines welded to the top of a end cap for the condenser so that I had back up if one clogged, I didn't want to make a pipe bomb you know) Anyway do you think it's the reaction between carbon monoxide and phosphorus that made it explode or the fact that they used in ammonium compound? Or maybe some air just backtracked in, because the brake lines are different lengths and one wasn't that deep in the water. (I figured that's where gases would come out first and if that got clogged then it would just move to the deeper one and that's how I would know the state of it)

[@xjskndalfkcks6693]

They would indeed not allow this nowadays, can't even use an arc welder in high school (unless you're learning how to weld ofc) anything above 24V and 10 amps probably wouldn't be allowed, or even power tools for that matter 😂, you probably could get in trouble for using a drill

[@EddieTheH]

That was so much more interesting than the usual calcium extraction from bones. Well done sir! 👍 Don't worry about the Geneva Suggestion, nobody else does!!! 🤣

[@lost_eccho]

chemical weapons ok as long as you use it for peaceful applications 😂

[@WaffleStaffel]

@@lost_eccho There is only one country which still uses it, and they use it against civilians.

[@lost_eccho]

@@WaffleStaffel Damn what contry

[@WaffleStaffel]

@@lost_eccho Israel

[@kimtae858]

@@lost_eccho Russia; bombs containing it were dropped on the Donetsk Oblast region including Irpin, Kramatorsk, Mariupol, and other cities last year. Many civilians were killed during the assaults.

[@Relatablename]

An efficient method of extracting phosphorus has been holding amateur chemists back for decades now. You did a really great job working through such a difficult and convoluted procedure. Everything considered, you might be able to increase yields by cleaning the bones with an NaOH soak instead of incineration. I have a feeling that organic contamination pyrolysed and burned off a good chunk of phosphorus in the original sample. Starting with commercial MSP or phosphoric acid rust remover is an alternative source that's closer to the critical step. A shorter pipe and much larger receiving flask might prevent so much burning off too. You might not do a second run of these steps given how laborious it all is, but I'm really interested in how we can streamline the process. Making sodium at home used to be a pipe dream. Why can't phosphorus be like that too? Stellar work as always and hats off to you.

[@chemistryofquestionablequa6252]

Sciencemadness has a big thread on it. It's not so much difficult as awkward and dangerous.

[@dr.lexwinter8604]

Holding amateur chemists back from ... what? You make it sound like you're that close to a breakthrough if only you could efficiently process hot wings into phosphorous. What am I missing? Edit: Oh, I just realised 'amateur chemists' don't work with glass and metal enough to make apparatus. My bad. Do it, it's not hard!

[@Relatablename]

@@dr.lexwinter8604 Well, yeah. Elemental phosphorus and organophosphorus compounds have all sorts of legitimate applications. Increasing recovery rates to the hundreds of grams range would open a lot of doors.

[@dieSpinnt]

@@dr.lexwinter8604 You missed something: The subscriber curve (actually I mean persons which still have an heartbeat, hehe) of viewers who are additionally "amateur chemists" that "work" (fiddle around ... for exactly what reason???) with f.e. white phosphorus has this miraculous downwards trend. How inexplicable ... what could possibly be causing this? Hehehehe. Jokes beside: Of course learning something and trying out yourself are honorable goals. That is totally normal and similar with some of those viewers of true-crime channels: Some day, they get an axe and ... (Meaning: You shouldn't do sh.. ... just because YOU CAN). But well, that's just (un)natural selection. Who am I to criticize that?!;) Have fun "cooking", guys!:)

[@radioxk8163]

I knew it was possible after all. Thank you for demonstrating this process

[@highlandlab1924]

I figure it's easier than this if you burn magnesium metal. There will be some magnesium phosphide but it should break off as elemental P.

[@raafat9406]

Ayo?

[@annoying_bitch]

Bro casually made white phosphorus from bones 😭✊

[@petevenuti7355]

I'd hardly call that casual...

[@annoying_bitch]

@@petevenuti7355 There's something called sarcasm...

[@petevenuti7355]

@@annoying_bitch usually when I'm sarcastic I do it to make a point or for humor, I forgot that wasn't a requirement, sorry about that.😏

[@cezarcatalin1406]

There are quite a few shortcuts I would’ve taken: 1.) After making the charred bones, I would’ve added the black powder directly to a piranha solution to destroy the carbon, sulfur, nitrogen and everything else left. 2.) The phosphoric acid I would’ve steam distilled directly from the acid mixture. 3.) You can pass phosphoric acid vapours and acetylene vapours through an incandescent copper tube filled with copper wool which makes water, carbon monoxide and phosphorus. The copper somehow catalyses the oxidation by first reacting with the hot acid vapours and getting oxidised by them then getting reduced by the carbon which turns to suboxides.

[@dimaminiailo3723]

phosphoric acid is virtually unamenable to steam distillation

[@cezarcatalin1406]

@@dimaminiailo3723 You need to constantly drip back water into it to stop it from polymerising.

[@spiderqueen6865]

So glad I stumbled across your channel. It satisfies that itch of "I know it's a dangerous dumb idea but what if..." so well! Please keep being awesome.

[@yetamm]

after all this time you still haven't gotten a new pestle. I respect that 😂

[@richardunruh4035]

LOL... I broke my pestle in exactly the same location. If you want to try a more permanent fix, try JB Weld epoxy. My pestle is like new (but not as cool).

[@nunyabisnass1141]

​@@richardunruh4035they also make stainless steel ones.

[@wb5rue]

I understand that starting from bones is more interesting and challenging which I enjoyed. I love your expressions "bone juice", etc. Could you have skipped much of the process and start with Phosphoric Acid? Chicken Bones to bio-weapon? I love it!

[@Amateur.Chemistry]

I could have skipped everything up to the last reaction by buying the sodium hexametaphosphate, but where's the fun in that :)

[@pepepepito623]

​@Amateur.Chemistry them bones found in the jungle...could be uncle Sok'...

[@noahzuniga]

that nitrogen + furnace setup at the end was a real monster, nicely done

[@jeremiquirus1958]

Zajebisty projekt, ty jesteś jedno z moich ulubionych chemicznych kanałów. Nie mogę się doczekać do następnego projektu.

[@matgaw123]

Też

[@experimental_chemistry]

Very original as always - combined with your kind of humor it made your channel so successful within such a short period of time. It's qualitatively not much inferior to Nilered anymore but much more funny. Just one thing: never filter CaSO4 through sintered glass or it might block its pores forever.

[@dimaminiailo3723]

it's easy to open the pores by standing with carbonate solution, acid treatment and again until it seems ok. or just conc H2SO4 works as well

[@experimental_chemistry]

@@dimaminiailo3723 Yes, indeed, carbonate works - but quite slowly. I guess it's better to avoid this effort from the beginning by using a Buchner funnel with filter paper instead. Calcium sulfate is completely insoluble in conc. sulfuric acid. This wouldn't help. And it would be illegal in the EU anyways...

[@experimental_chemistry]

Btw: a bottle of nitrogen gas doesn't need to be that expensive. And if you only need small amounts of inert gas you can also buy a small bottle of argon from the hardwarestore. The mixture of ammonium salt and nitrite solution normally needs to be heated slightly to start the reaction.

[@TheOriginalEviltech]

We need more people like you mate! The geto setup reminds me of my childhood making things that go boom and various battery experiments! This is a mindset that gets things done and pushes progress forward! Yes, it is unsafe, yes someone might get hurt imitating this, but that someone would get hurt because of his or hers stupidity and carelessness which is present in his or hers daily experiences. The existence of those people in a free world where they can not be assigned a proper place is what is causing this planet to go to shit.

[@shibeshi2637]

I did not expect this long process. The idea is great. Thanks.

[@elementbr]

Impressive work! Top quality video.

[@lukebowers536]

Ive only just found your channel completely by accident, what a Fantastic exploration of chemistry, i was going to try & make some white P for my element collection using phosphoric acid which i have loads of, you have validated my idea for doing that. Keep up the good work.

[@nathanieljames7462]

Deadly work up man!

[@chemistryscuriosities]

Wow, great job for a great effort! Thank you for your hard work

[@bilbo_gamers6417]

This is actually really great work. Good job.

[@GS-el8ll]

fantastic homemade apparatus! really brilliant, well done handling such a dangerous compound

[@Palmit_]

i love your humour, both visual and commentary. if you were ever to enter teaching of the subject professionally, you will have a very sucessful career and a lot of very sucessful students :) keep up the good work. and thank you! :)

[@joshuaj.aguero2225]

As a rancher and avid gardener I associate phosphorus with bones as well as with manure. So when you said “material for writing their thesis” I thought you said “for wiping their feces” 😂 and sat there thinking about it for a min looking for the connection. Are they pondering their chemistry projects on the toilet? I thought. What does he mean?? Ooooo 🙃 I’m just a dope 🫠

[@flapjackson6077]

I thought that’s what he said too! 😂

[@abcstardust]

😂

[@bilbo_gamers6417]

Absolutely amazing video. Love to see it.

[@bcddd214]

Thank you for showing your cleanup process.

[@landroveraddict2457]

It's a bit late now but you could have made the cleaning easier by breaking them and cooking them in a pressure cooker. The meet drops off the bone and the marrow comes out as a liquid.

[@SmolAdventure]

What an amazing video. Your a real life wizard bro! Chemistry is so neat

[@CasMcAss]

Such a cool video! I enjoyed it a lot!

[@Posiadam.]

Polish youtuber with almost the same production scale and preparation as NileRed. Well done!

[@EddieTheH]

Better than NileRed, who appears to have retired from chemistry and just does pointless shorts that are devoid of information.

[@Posiadam.]

@@EddieTheHhe probably trapped himself in the loop of projects that he thinks should be better and bigger than the previous one, requiring him to put more work and spend more money. Shorts on the other hand are easy to produce, don’t require as much resources but I agree they’re less entertaining and I hope he’ll get back to the pure chemistry.

[@fano72]

Great work, it was a pleasure to watch your video 👍

[@awezone404]

Very interesting video. I was hooked all way through.

[@PotooBurd]

This is so informative!!! Fantastic video; I love this kind of content!🌻🌼🐝

[@Amateur.Chemistry]

Glad you like it!

[@bernardmarsh4133]

"I put a ton of effort into this project", understatement of the year for 1gram. Well done❤

[@Speedsoda]

Great video, I'm attempting the process right now. I've got some suggestions though, any feedback would be neat. 1. I skipped all the cleaning and oven drying steps. Throw the bones into a furnace from the start, but don't do it in an enclosed container. Ensure that oxygen can reach it, and get it all to red hot. That way, anything organic will turn to charcoal, which burns away. You'll be left with pure white bone, quite free of contaminants. When I dissolved the bones I had (antlers, but same thing) in HCl, the solution was completely clear and colorless except for some white crumbs that didn't dissolve. Didn't get any black or yellow(organic slimey stuff) contamination in any step so far. 2. Instead of using sulfuric acid to make H2PO4+CaSO4, and then neutralizing it with NaOH to form Na(H2PO4), I think you should be able to use NaHSO4, sodium bisulfate, directly to make Na(H2PO4)+CaSO4, skipping an entire step. At least for me, sulfuric acid is hard to get and quite valuable, while sodium bisulfate is cheap and available over the counter to lower pH in pools.

[@zajimavepokusy1666]

Wow! amaizing video, keep up the great work!

[@alexrogers777]

wow man, great video!

[@JakeDogg-RIP]

Nicely done my friend! 👌👊🍻

[@TechGorilla1987]

@10:33 - you have earned a subscription. Well done, lad.

[@markomacik334]

"I also picked up some of the random bones that were just laying around in the forest" Dude lives nearby Jeffrey Dahmers house

[@user-jv7eh9ho9s]

I enjoyed this video very much, thank you sir.

[@robertnichols2283]

Great job! You have “leveled up” several levels in my estimation

[@barriehemming1189]

great you tuber, good on ya, my man

[@heyihavenoclue7541]

Yay another epic and very educational video

[@KingJupiter]

This video is amazing I love of chemistry went from "How can we create Gold and better humanity" to "This one molecule looks kinda like that other one, so I turned bones into white phosphorus

[@user-pv7hj9ms5v]

Awesome project!!!

[@jhyland87]

No wayyy. I've been trying to get some Chem youtubers to try this. Great job!

[@johncourtneidge]

Well done! Wow!

[@oak_meadow9533]

I love your well thought out conversion! I want you to consider starting out with MSP and streamline everything to maximize your yield of white P , everyone is very interested! Thank you for your marvelous content!😊

[@chemicalmaster3267]

As bones are almost only hydroxyapatite, the formula for this form of calcium phosphate is Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2 to be more precise. As for reactions involved in its conversion to calcium hydrogen phosphate, they can written like this: Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2 + 14 HCl = 3 Ca(H2PO4)2 + 7 CaCl2 + 2 H2O NH3 + HCl = NH4Cl Ca(H2PO4)2 + 2 NH3 = CaHPO4 + (NH4)2HPO4 CaCl2 + (NH4)2HPO4 = CaHPO4 + 2 NH4Cl If one looks carefully, one will notice that according to the stoichiometry of the reactions some calcium will remain dissolved as calcium chloride after all the phosphate precipitated out of the solution. Also the calcium hydrogen phosphate can be more easily converted into sodium dihydrogen phosphate with a chemical that is more easy to obtain than sulfuric acid as pH lowering chemical for swimming pools: sodium bisulfate aka sodium hydrogen sulfate. CaHPO4 + NaHSO4 = NaH2PO4 + CaSO4

[@dripcoffee5081]

Great tutorial

[@ricardosefa4186]

Incredible project

[@Exotic69420]

Love this channel

[@dimaminiailo3723]

Slight notices: 1) the bones could be directly calcined with no pre-cleaning at all (although it produces the worst war gas ever made) 2) you've mixed the CaHPO4 with H2SO4 very poorly, such precipitate-to-precipitate reactions don't work smoothly e. g. BaSO4 has to stand with Na2CO3 for several months to have been mostly converted to BaCO3, the same goes for PbSO4. I see some untouched parts on the bottom, the reaction would go better if it had become slurry 3) WP can be easily cleaned with steam distillation, it removes all the junk and leaves white phosphorous whiter than white

[@user-sh2vq2bj3y]

Great work sir good information!😄😄😄.

[@TechGorilla1987]

@3:29 - I was amazed to find that calcium also is a metal. I have a couple of grams of that in my collection as well.

[@lorenzocorsi1149]

something i always wanted to see

[@amiithevampirequeen2828]

this is by far the funniest chemistry video ive watched

[@abdullahbakri2909]

Thank you mr professor That was great 👍

[@MsMondbluemchen]

very great work sir!

[@Amateur.Chemistry]

Thank you!

[@hugoescobar4956]

You are an incredible youtuber an chemist !!

[@duncanfox7871]

This is awesome!

[@kurtdowney1489]

That was very impressive and interesting.

[@mistersir3020]

If you want to start from bones I would just make bone broth: all the meat and cartilage can be eaten off cleanly, and a lot of the protein and fat inside the bone also dissolves into the soup. Put them in the oven to remove any leftover protein matrix and marrow, and you have your apatite without any mess!

[@xutubeify]

Interesting stuff! You've earned a new follower. :D

[@tlgarrett3547]

In Panama during Just Cause, bodies looked similiar to that after an drone like tank come through. Ill never forget that and this is the first time seeing anything close to what i saw when i was 12. Wow.

[@Alnidru]

Esto fue totalmente asombroso. Me alarme un poco es las partes en las que lo manipulabas, sobre todo cuando sacaste la gota grande para pesarla. Pero se ve que estamos con un Amateur Profesional

[@unlockeduk]

great job that was impressive

[@gordonauld5945]

Well done

[@fredrickdavenport1611]

Willie Pete AKA White Phosphorous is not band by the Geneva conventions. Its use as a smoke agent is widespread in most militaries. a method of deployment mixes WP with HE for what's known as Shake and Bake. WP gets the enemy out of their hardened structurers or vehicles, and HE delivers the damage. Use to screen and destroy equipment..

[@oleglogvynenko9447]

Great channel discovered! Intonations in the speech made me feel like creator is a fan of Nile Red))

[@Taras195]

Awesome vid! The real bone hurting juice

[@Vampirat3]

Absolutely outstanding this is amazing !!!? well done , great video as well

[@OnnieKoski]

Amazing!

[@philipboffey8630]

I love this video❤

[@tracybowling1156]

You, Sir, have the best hobbies known to man!

[@LucaLBO495]

You are becoming one of the best chemistry channels, the throne of Nile red awaits you

[@EddieTheH]

Nile relinquished his throne a long time ago. Now he's just another "unboxing" channel instead of a chemistry one.

[@conejero00]

​@@EddieTheHno? He just takes months to do videos

[@Wmann]

⁠​⁠​⁠@@EddieTheHThose are just fillers during the meantime he’s making other longer videos.

[@NetVoyagerOne]

To clean the cans, zinc plating can be removed by soaking in vinegar for a couple of days. Burning zinc is extremely dangerous, and can cause metal fume fever.

[@water4039]

Top tier video

[@EliasExperiments]

Wow great job! Congratulations on succeeding! One question: Why did you not safe yourself some time and work in the beginning, by burning the bones directly in the furnace, just using a larger can?

[@Amateur.Chemistry]

Thanks! I honestly didn't think of that, it would have made everything way easier, but sometimes the easiest solutions are the hardest to find :)

[@craigpater6278]

​@@Amateur.Chemistrywouldn't it also be possible to heat red phosphorus to make white phosphorus ? Although the most commonly available source of red phosphorus is the striker surface on the side of a box of safety matches and buying large quantities of safety matches would probably be considered suspicious

[@mercaptan5032]

Industrial mass production of white phosphorus is often banned or regulated in many countries around the world, so this would be a very valuable production flow for laboratories that use white phosphorus for testing and research applications. (Although, I know of no laboratory that uses such a sinister substance.) The most surprising thing about this video is that it produces visible quantities of pure white phosphorus, despite the fact that it is produced through a multi-step process without the use of specialized laboratory equipment. Although we did not check the chemistry of each step in detail, some of the reactions must have been difficult. We sincerely admire the many challenges that were taken in the making of this video.

[@lajoswinkler]

That is simply not true. White phosphorus is made on large scale in many chemical industry plants. It is used in the production of many chemical compounds, notably in agricultural pesticides. And no, the end product was not pure white phosphorus. Pure white allotrope looks like highly refractive piece of ice and as such exists as an ephemeral substance.

[@mick001]

Finally. Graveyards have a use.

[@matthewf1979]

Excellent!!!

[@julianstarchild3390]

Your style of speech reminds me of NileRed, and your videos are as good quality! Subbed.

[@THYZOID]

that´s pretty neat

[@nenben8759]

Fynny for this to pop up I was just rewatching ex&f's calcium extraction from bones Ex&ire

[@flomojo2u]

It's kind of crazy to think that the pyrolysis and grinding process is very similar to the cremation of people, since you end up with bone ash and chunks that must be ground down to obtain the powdered ash you normally associate with cremation-- a body definitely isn't reduced to a fine, uniform ash in the furnace and the long bones tend to need to crushed before grinding everything.

[@dnlowithstripes]

That illustration for Hexametaphosphate cracked me up. XD

[@_Higgs]

Codyslab and Extractions&Ire are possibly having a why didn’t I think of that moment.

[@LordBrainz]

I have an idea that might improve the yield: let the distilled white phosphorus turn red under sunlight or an UV lamp, purify that and then heat and distill it to get back the white phosphorus

[@bigjay875]

Well done good sir! But I think I will be happy just watching your video vs doing it myself 😀

[@juslitor]

back 35 years or so ago, burning the scratch pads of match boxes produced a substance that glowed in the dark for a moment when you smeared it around.

[@doorman8623]

is there a link to the diy furnace skateboard?

[@antonmeshcheryakov5068]

Chicken yogurt and juice are a nice addition to the well-known chicken gas.

[@williambradley611]

I love these videos

[@williambradley611]

I have a idea making pure sulfur out of pyrite

[@williambradley611]

I have a idea making pure sulfur out of pyrite

[@leyverguerrero5691]

Hello, very cool I love your videos... I have a question... Why not get phosphoric acid in direct reaction? I think if you introduce the bone powder into the sulfuric acid and put the mixture to boil o wait some days you will get: CaSO4 and phosphoric acid (H3PO4)? Or am I wrong? Please, I look forward to your response its very important for me T.S.M

[@Amateur.Chemistry]

It should work, I didn't do that because the resulting solution of phosphoric acid wouldn't be very pure, also I am glad that you like my videos :)

[@ShannonDove-sy7ye]

I want to do it without any store bought chemicals, so no acids, no aluminum powder. The big question that seems to elude me is, can a charcoal or propane furnace get hot enough to do it with tricalcium phosphate, so i don't have to use acid to change it to a different phosphate that works at a lower temperature. In other words, if the temperature is high enough, straight bone ash can be used, no need for hydrochloric acid. Aluminum is used instead of charcoal for the same reason, it lowers the temperature requirements. So just a simple mixture of bone ash , charcoal, and sand works if the temperature is EXTREMELY HIGH, I'm talking white hot.

[@TheHuntermj]

White Phosphorus is very toxic but the Phosphorus Pentoxide produced when it burns is reasonably benign. The smoke might irritate the lungs in large enough concentrations but it is still used as a smoke bomb by the army to conceal troop movements which people walk through without ill effect.

[@absolute___zero]

25:50 I google for the images of sodium hexametaphosphat and it showed white powder, not black like you have got. So, what is the black thing?