Using vinegar to grow a weird tower

With just some regular vinegar, I'm gonna make hot ice, which I think is pretty fun.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NileRed Beaker mugs: nilered.tv/store
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
■ NileRed: / nilered
Nile talks about lab safety (Chemistry is Dangerous): • Chemistry is dangerous.

[@willabyuberton818]

I love the idea of NileRed just mixing vinegar and baking soda and calling it a day at that.

[@CRneu]

this would make for a pretty funny april fools day post.

[@whazzup_teacup]

Sometimes that's what a day of labwork is. Just a single reaction and then the rest is sitting at a computer.

[@kindlin]

Those 12 hours were probably a good time to do..... anything else.

[@joelhoon1707]

@@milesdoyle Bro just typed out the entire Bible

[@orionx79]

@Miles Doyle The god of the bible is evil, you serve evil. And a liar, god lies in the bible.

[@PierceArner]

I love that just from the crystalization, I could instantly recognize it from being used in instant hot packs. Any super saturation setup makes for such a neat reaction, just like watching purified liquid water suddenly reacting below it's freezing temperature to all crystalize at once.

[@volvo09]

Yeah, once I saw that unique slow dense spread I said "yes, this IS what is in hot packs!"

[@JBroMCMXCI]

I instantly knew it was the same stuff used in hot packs after he said it was

[@keithyinger3326]

During the summer I will stick my Gatorade or Snapple into the freezer for about 1 hour and 10 to 20 minutes or so. Take it out and whack it on the counter and you end up with a really good slushy. The ice crystals are so fine that it's almost like snow mixed into it. It makes it so cold and refreshing on a hot summer day.

[@volvo09]

@@keithyinger3326 I remember the day someone showed me that when I worked at a dairy... I was amazed!

[@Lillireify]

I feel stupid because even though I knew it I didn't connect the dots at all until Nile told me what it is :(

[@Nix.Lumina]

Nile's "And I think that's pretty cool" brings me immense amounts of serotonin

[@UnwrittenSpade]

Lol I low key feel sorry for you if this isn’t a joke. Don’t get me wrong I love Nike red and I guess it’s better you get joy from him than Logan Paul hahahaha. Wait till you try “going outside” all kinds of serotonin is gonna flood ya it will be like taking some old school E pills Edit: maybe I should also say I’m joking with you sometimes my super dry humor goes over people and while I think you would know I was messing around other people won’t and will start commenting. I edited this in before anyone commented

[@Donkeymaster9000]

@@UnwrittenSpade slow down

[@Donkeymaster9000]

@Miles Doyle Allah is dead as god. Only death shall protect and give meaning

[@dava_arvarabi]

@@Donkeymaster9000?

[@notburntfries6566]

What is this comment section lmao

[@Forthakine]

this man can put his title as "Turning my blood into asphalt" make it 30 hours long and wed still watch... because his content is just that interesting

[@Trolligi]

As a tower myself I can confirm that this is correct

[@InstagramUser2]

I'm better than NileRed, My content is better!

[@Trolligi]

bot moment

[@andrewcavallo1877]

Hey, it’s me, vinegar. I gave you your entire career, you owe me

[@Trolligi]

@@andrewcavallo1877 thanks bro

[@voyageridk_]

the fuck why are there bots everywhere

[@oliviaie]

the world becomes a better place whenever nigel posts

[@Verbalase122]

true

[@katanaquits5255]

@@thesoulkz what 💀

[@rainhat1]

nigel is his name

[@legend528]

I saw his notificationand I was like thank god he's alive

[@lord_kerman]

@@thesoulkz how

[@defnotOB]

I found this guys channel on Christmas and have loved his channel ever since. Glad to have some fresh new content during the start of 2023. Thanks Nile!

[@JunkyardBashSteve]

I used to have these reusable hot packs that had a little metal disc in them. Press down on the disc until it popped, and watch the colored fluid inside turn into crystals that produced heat. Once it cooled off, you'd place the pack into boiling water until it all remelted into fluid and you could go again.

[@How_did_you_get_that]

Those where lifesavers during winter. I used to put them in my boots.

[@amandahugankiss4110]

Dude. Your feet go in your boots. Your feet.

[@How_did_you_get_that]

@@amandahugankiss4110 WHAT!?

[@notchpoodles5864]

Hhh that’s really cool

[@k_otey]

​@@amandahugankiss4110what

[@OfficiallySnek]

Nigel created a supersaturated solution. He did this by boiling the water away from the sodium acetate, which created a solution that contains more than the maximum amount of solute that is capable of being dissolved. This means that the crystals want to form, but they can't, they need something to start the crystallization prosses. This is why a seed crystal was used. The "seed" allows for the crystals to start forming onto it, eventually crystallizing the whole solution. This is kind of similar to the experiment where you make water go beyond it's freezing point, and then initiate the crystallization of it with agitation or a seed crystal being a piece of ice.

[@OfficiallySnek]

This experiment is also known as the hot ice experiment

[@twanchee206]

So its the same as when you put a water bottle in the freezer and then tap it and it all freezes at once? Cool.

[@CookingWithCows]

It's not the same

[@OfficiallySnek]

@@CookingWithCows "Kind of similar"

[@justjack1352]

this reminds me of how when you want to make a certain sort of chocolate, you need some sort of seed chocolate in order to make it crystallize.

[@westie430]

Thank you Nigel! So nice to see a short that is like back when you started. Just fun, fascinating science. Love it!!

[@budi0251]

My reusable hot packs did become solid when you "snap" that little coin inside and produce heat. To turn it back to liquid all you need is to boil it back in hot water until it all melted then left it to cool down to room temperature. You can reuse it as hot packs when you "snap" (rather "click") that small tiny metal piece inside the pouch and they'll start heating up again and solidify.

[@florgalaxy]

I've seen other channels do this experiment where the towers formed are really impressive, but I haven't actually seen anyone slice that tower until now, and it looks even more impressive. Good job, NileRed!

[@Wolfganger]

Number of people who asked: *0*

[@Blackholebirb]

@@Wolfganger wrong

[@Wolfganger]

@@Blackholebirb Oh really? Who asked then?

[@Blackholebirb]

@@Wolfganger me :-)

[@Wolfganger]

@@Blackholebirb Where the comment of you asking then?

[@alanbunbun6961]

big W for chemistry fans today (me, a junior chemistry major - somewhat motivated by your insane projects and a drive to know how the hell most of the chem you do works)

[@leosmith5209]

Can you reverse the reaction so it unfreezes?

[@alanbunbun6961]

@@leosmith5209 It's less of a reaction and more of playing with saturation of a solution; he got rid of the water holding the sodium acetate in solution, so it *really* wanted to become a crystal as soon as possible (a supersaturated solution, where more stuff is in solution than naturally possible), which is what happened when it was poured. To undo it, just add the solid chunks back into a container of water roughly the same size before stuff was evaporated so it can dissolve easily

[@CookingWithCows]

Literally all you need to do is heat it up. Ok, letting it crystalize in open air might have evaporated some water, but if you do it in a closed container like a sealed bag, just put the bag into boiling water

[@TB-wi3sq]

I‘m so happy, that there are new videos of NileRed. That voice and way of speaking spreads knowledge to watch it completely interested and is even perfect to fall asleep.

[@bunchofatoms7695]

glad to see you back, i love your vids

[@cameronbigley7483]

For reference, you'd need roughly 150g of baking soda (in excess) to neutralize the 2 liters of vinegar, assuming 5% concentration.

[@maghteridon5555]

That's the amount of baking soda Nigel is using in this video?

[@cameronbigley7483]

@@maghteridon5555 I don't believe so, since he mentioned adding more vinegar to the mixture. 75g per liter of vinegar will be a stoichiometric excess, if my math is correct.

[@maghteridon5555]

@@cameronbigley7483 So... How did the reaction occur without oversaturation?

[@cameronbigley7483]

@@maghteridon5555 For most chemicals, solubility increases with temperature. The trihydrate can dissolve 82g/100mL at 50C, but only 46.4g/100mL at 20C. Reacting all the baking soda/vinegar isn't as important as the amount of sodium acetate. tl;dr: Solubility decreases with temperature, so dropping the temperature causes oversaturation.

[@cHAOs9]

Vinegar is evaporating off with the water

[@konoveldorada5990]

*"Nile Red has Officially used Acetic Acid as his first acid for chemistry this year."*

[@carmelsmemoirgarden1165]

Finally! My hero has Uploaded after literally seems like forever! I've been simping on you for quite a while and watched A LOT of your discussions on Safety Third and your crazy videos in William Osman's channel and with your other buddies Allen Pan and Kevin 😁☺️😇 I gotta say, my holidays was a blast because you guys made me smile... Specially your Secret Santa special which made me laugh so hard 😁😁🥳 Thank you for being back Nigel 🥰

[@SeiRruf]

Wow, that stuff is incredibly easy to make, you make it seem!! Very neat. Awesome content for your videos as always

[@OptimusPhillip]

As soon as I saw it recrystallize, I realized exactly what was happening. Technology Connections made a video about instant hot packs a little ways back, they're really cool to see.

[@loleq2137]

So true!

[@unemployedgringo]

Dude I knew it was technology connections! I was wondering where I had seen this before. Love that dude!

[@danielpitts6913]

Cools to see, and warm to feel.

[@anikethdesai]

Finally NileRed remembered he had a shorts account lying dry for 4 months

[@InstagramUser2]

I'm better than NileRed, My content is better!

[@anikethdesai]

@@InstagramUser2 Good for you

[@mr_ekshun]

jfc this is what I get for clicking on a video right when it comes out... gotta remember to wait till the bots get sorted out lol

[@yeahmans]

@@mr_ekshun imo i just ignore them but they're usually just really damn annoying, when they say they do a crime for help because their content is better, why tf do you say you do the crimes? if a random bot says i'm better than this guy and my content is better, that's fine but empty is a dumbass

[@supersipra3782]

I thought he died doing some weird yet dangerous experiment 💀

[@fulltimegaming4747]

Glad to see regular videos 😁😁

[@minecraftredstoneinspiration]

I've seen this video before, but I strongly encourage you to make more like this. Experiments you an accturally accomplish.

[@aristokat1344]

Happy New Year! I hope that everything has been well for you and your loved ones! Your videos have been missed! ❤️

[@davidcrt2072]

JESUS FINALLY THIS HUMAN UPLOADS

[@acevalr3714]

Yippeeee

[@RyanSaundercook]

He just put out a video

[@tskilca]

@Empty Absolutely disgusting, even if that was a joke I don't see the humor in that. I do not understand what you are trying to do by typing that. You won't gain any respect nor gain anything you could use for your own use. Even though I do not know you, I am completely disappointed. Think about that.

[@acevalr3714]

@Empty you really are empty that thing you call a joke was really harmful for people who have gone through that experience and even if it’s a normal person seeing this it’s still bad to say these type of things please learn from your actions and never say these things again

[@acevalr3714]

@Empty and even if you don’t care about having common sense on the internet if a friend sibling parent follower subscriber looks at this they will probably tell everyone and by the end you will be friendless and your siblings and parent won’t talk to you

[@huzudra]

You can also start the crystal reaction with a sharp force such as tapping a stir rod against the bottom of the beaker very firmly, the commercial hot packs use a metal snap inside to start the reaction. It would be neat to see how many different weird ways you can start the crystallization! Sound? Laser? Hitting the outside of the beaker?

[@westie430]

Oooh good idea!

[@darkness74185]

splash it semi-aggressively against a wall so you can freeze an explosion

[@treely6647]

@@darkness74185 something just seems so funny to me about the "semi-aggressively"

[@shable1436]

The metal snap contains a small seed crystal, read how to do one with alligator clip

[@347Jimmy]

Yelling at it to start the reaction would be priceless

[@margaretzhu4553]

I remember doing something like this in my high school Chem lab, except it was with salt. Our procedure was that you make a saturated salt solution first and then heat it so that more salt could be added and dissolved. When it eventually cooled down, we added a single salt crystal and a bunch of crystals started forming. I believe that what made the sodium acetate structure so solid was that there was very little to no water. It basically became sodium acetate but in liquid state. So when he added the liquid to the crystal, all the sodium acetate fell out of the solution and crystallized around the single crystal, forming a strong structure. But then, I’m no expert and this is just my speculation/opinion. Love the video btw ❤.

[@TrinityCodex]

love these experiments that use easy ingredients!

[@asha_013]

WHEN THE WORLD NEEDED HIM THE MOST, HE RETURNED

[@runrickyrun157]

FINALLY A NEW SHORT! THANK YOU!

[@altega]

i am SO adding this to my weird tower bucket list!

[@ExtremeBirdTypography]

As soon as you said it generates a lot of heat, I recognized it from handwamers. Neat!

[@juliuszkocinski7478]

After all this years, Nigel finally did vinegar - soda volcano

[@Zero.0ne.]

thanks for posting nigel!

[@alyasuramza]

BRO it's a relief to finally hear from you!! I legit thought there were accidents with some random experiments..

[@xcoder1122]

Usually it's done the other way round: You drop a bit of crystal into the solution (instead of pouring the solution onto the crystal) and watch the solution freeze, as that will really look as if you watch water freezing in fast motion.

[@nicholasbento3257]

yay something safe/easy I can do at home, thanks for the great content

[@SaheeliRai]

Boiling acid is not really a safe thing to do 😅

[@Cineenvenordquist]

@@SaheeliRai It's been neutralized with the baking soda. Maybe another KZbinr will follow through with adapting an old print head to 3D print a tower then do a lost acetate casting of maybe an ionic fluid solvating lignins.

[@EliaForce1984ita]

This was my most favorite chemical reaction back in high school days, I looked it up for months and saw pretty much all KZbin videos about it, tho I never accomplished to try it out myself. Another reaction I loved was the slime one with borax and glue

[@handpaper6871]

The liquid immediately prior to crystallization isn't a supersaturated solution, but a supercooled liquid. It's Sodium Acetate cooled below its freezing point, but lacking a suitable nucleation site. This is provided in this case by the Sodium Acetate crystal, and in handwarmers by the metal 'clicker'. The heat produced is that of solidification or crystallization, the inverse of the heat required to melt a solid.

[@Parallel_26]

When The World Needed Him Most, He Returned.

[@Trolligi]

Pov literally every comment after a hiatus

[@InstagramUser2]

I'm better than NileRed, My content is better!

[@vaibhavibaranwal8886]

Finally! A video without Nigel using his hammer :')

[@BLUE-hu5df]

We really missed u. It's great to see you post again.

[@sundaycorner]

This type of a experiment can also be done with ice and half frozen cool water . As you take out the water from the freezer make sure that the water is not disturbed much ....and then pour it carefully onto solid ice cube and you can actually form this type ice tower ...

[@camryngallagher]

Yesss now I can grow a weird tower like I always wanted🤩

[@Cineenvenordquist]

Now you're building with the power of hydrated glop! 😒 Maybe you can do a variation w.r.t. the art installation that spouted like red lipstick all over its room. Continuously.

[@frozensalt6174]

1:39 pour your what? 🤨🗿

[@Deltexterity]

oh my god the knife cutting it is so satisfying that sounds like the best texture in the world i want it so badly

[@atimidbirb]

You are right, it is pretty cool!

[@VoIcanoman]

I've done this before, and it's pretty fun. But it's also hard to judge when the solution is just on the brink of crystallizing on its own. I would get to the point where I was ready to pour, and it would just crystallize in the beaker (throwing off a LOT of heat), which was still cool, but not what I meant to do. And resetting the whole thing (re-dissolving, etc.) is a pain in the butt, something that takes 30-40 min. to achieve. So maybe fine-tuning this is possible, but I wasn't able to - it's just too sensitive.

[@gaboanimador]

How do you make it a liquid again?

[@VoIcanoman]

@@gaboanimador You heat it. This is simple super-saturation. A lot more sodium acetate can dissolve into 90°C water than 20°C water, but saturating the solution at 90°C and then cooling it ever-so-gradually will allow this state of disequilibrium to persist, wherein the sodium acetate wants to drop out of solution, but can't...at least not without a stimulus (like adding a tiny crystal of the same material to the liquid...or merely striking or scratching the wall of the vessel holding the solution). Once you provide that stimulus, and it crystallizes, all you have to do is stick it on a hot plate and heat it up again, and the solid will once again dissolve, and you can do the demonstration again. Well, that's the theory at least. In practise, it really doesn't take much to cause the solution to crystallize as it cools down. Therefore, about half the time you try to get it to room temperature as a super-saturated solution, it will crystallize without you intending that to happen. That's my experience with this, anyway. Maybe my solution was just too concentrated to work properly, or perhaps my acetate wasn't pure enough, and there were other things coming out of solution that formed nuclei for sodium acetate crystals. I don't really know. Just...know that this demonstration has driven thousands of science teachers insane, and for good reason.

[@HyperFluffed]

I did this for a science fair experiment once! Very neat. Got some of it stuck in a wineglass for a few months

[@vedantidate8391]

Glad to see you back nile

[@Lorecastapendragon]

thank you I loved this

[@cheesemcmuffinjr]

Looks delicious.

[@shroom-]

i absolutely love your videos and binge the shorts you post :) what the actual hell is wrong with these bots.. i just wanted to be nice :(

[@InstagramUser2]

I'm better than NileRed, My content is better!

[@greedthenyavaricious]

love this man's idea of fun. and it always is

[@emmanuelkwesiga1119]

0:43 Bro just created a tornado 💀

[@davethebrave.]

i love how aigo is growing a tower lol

[@HansLabTW]

It's a fun experiment! In our country, we call it "hot ice". In fact, if you wait longer, the solids will become very, very hard and less brittle.

[@mandyrey7122]

Cool! In your native language how do you call hot ice?

[@HansLabTW]

@Mandy Rey 熱冰. It looks like ice, but it's very Hot!

[@I_AM_THE_HYPE]

ive been watching your content for a while and im literally watching a vod of paymoneywubbys stream where he mentions you and i just thought that was cool👍🏾 Great vid btw

[@bazelgeese1283]

Ah yes another wonderful thing to try as a dnd artificer with a biochemist DM

[@Zeldocto]

So cool, love how you directed it and revealed that hot packs use this

[@thebarkingmouse]

Sodium acetate is what those heating packs are made of, isn't it? The things that have the little clicker in it that you boil it it stays liquid and then when you click it or hit it hard enough it will solidify and get hot

[@cameronbigley7483]

That's correct. It's very energy-inefficient due to the latent heat, but it's certainly a great hands-on reusable resource for demonstrating supersaturation, as well as latent heat.

[@shalinishalu7333]

Just awesome 🪄✨😌..keep rocking 🌟

[@shalinishalu7333]

Say your channel name...

[@cosmicjamy3178]

Nilered.. We missed you so muchh.. Pls don't stop uploading videos on this channel..

[@Davetherave3154]

Nile, your videos are the reason I am the top test scorer in science in my school, you're the reason I'm interested in science and I am fascinated

[@filonin2]

*you're

[@Davetherave3154]

@@filonin2 you didn't have to correct me, sorry

[@vituperation]

@@filonin2 Hey. They said top scorer in science, not English.

[@Davetherave3154]

@@vituperation respect :) thanks

[@michaelfischer8756]

@@filonin2 In this context, *your* is actually correct. You wouldn't say "Nile, you are videos are the reason etc.." You're welcome!

[@sparkyheberling6115]

Would it be any faster to concentrate the liquid by freezing?

[@Cineenvenordquist]

No because it can crystalize cued by frost. Doesn't stir well then.

[@SharkLaserz]

One of my favorite science experiments as a kid

[@jaivarthsukhadia9796]

Pretty cool 😀😀 Listening after too many days 🙂

[@james64ibm]

If you feel like doing this at home I do recommend using vinegar concentrate (or pure acetic acid). This way you don't waste lots of time and energy boiling off the water.

[@EiffelTower-el5yv]

As a tower myself, I can confirm this is accurate and works.

[@gremlinman9724]

finally. the fabled short nilered project.

[@Micksoffthings]

I am teaching myself to play the drums and I am doing pretty good so far because I can see where I fall short and what I am doing wrong, but with chemistry, I just can't get into that flow state where I know what my next question is to answer

[@CarTrappa]

SODIUM ANDREWTATE??

[@tymz-r-achangin]

It blows my mind how such a TINY spec of something can make such a reaction to form a large volume/structure

[@Wotah6]

Finally something that i can do at home without poisoning whole neighborhood 💀

[@anastasiiachyzhykova4238]

hi! could you please write the detailed chemical formulas for us to pause and ponder? and the compounds as well:) love the content!

[@cookingforsingles]

That's wild! Love it!

[@Land-of-Chemistry]

Sir, Its really amazing. I am chemistry teacher I often show your videos to my students in the class, they really enjoy, and make curious in learning chemistry.

[@jonnyboi7671]

Sir....give me a kiss

[@sadev101]

this is that stuff or winnter time where you have a bag of it. click a clicker inside and it becomems solid giving of heat for cold hands for about 30 min heating it up in lets say boiling water (keeping the crystalised substance dry in a closed bag) will liquify it again and its a re-usable heat battery storing the energy from boiling it untill needed

[@cheeseburgermonkey7104]

when he says "and im gonna do something that I think is pretty fun" it's gonna be some funky stuff

[@MookVideos]

This is one of the most satisfying things I've ever seen.

[@JonMurray]

Awesome dude 👏🏻✌🏻

[@along5925]

I find all these posts fascinating... I never could get my brain wrapped around chemistry, but things like this show us just how intricate and beautiful our world is.

[@crackwitz]

Vinegar + baking soda is touted as a home remedy for clogged drains. You're literally supposed to dump it in one after the other without waiting. Acid + base produces some salt, nothing more. It's doing nothing except bubble. The acid and base, individually, would probably do something to unclog the drain from various buildup.

[@PsRohrbaugh]

You can do this with water if it's pure enough and the temperature is just right. I used to have a precision refrigerator I used to keep bottled water at 29F to drink it as cold as possible. Would instantly freeze if you hit the bottles hard.

[@bloob11]

this is so cool because I actually have one of those instant hot packs and I find them amazing

[@aleksanderagiurre29]

This is literally so cool, why didn’t we have this experiment in high school, so much funner than dissolving salt into water come back weeks later and see the salt remaining

[@katasiapa]

We need this

[@5k_Sub_challenge_with_no_video]

Nile red: "Weird tower" Random youtuber: "Life Hack"

[@Randomdud1022]

I have a feeling that the romans used this method to make their sculptures

[@christow7989]

I have some re useable hear packs that have sodium acetate in them. Thank you for explaining how it works.

[@seronymus]

Fun fact:Sodium acetate is also a flavor and texture agent added in many foods. Try adding a mix of baking soda and vinegar (after letting sit) to soup, melted cheese, and such things and enjoy :)

[@ADreamingTraveler]

That's absolutely amazing

[@Dragonpsychologist]

‘First, We’re going to take some vinegar and add some baking soda to it.’ Wait, I know this one!

[@saucepan300]

“this is just regular vinegar, and im gonna do something thats pretty fun” *proceeds to down the whole jug of vinegar*

[@nancy.nishino]

Idk whenever Nigel says "Now the fun part" I am scared that something is gonna break

[@recklessroges]

And if you heat it, it will melt below 100 degrees C and has a nice capacity to hold heat, (so some of the heat packs can be re-used just by putting them in hot water.)

[@zacharyrocks1]

Bro you could easily put this on the main channel. It's got the good good vibe

[@hobbes281]

Love super saturation. It's one of the neatest things to watch unfold.

[@i.dont.sleep.9718]

My mood always becomes better when Nigel posts..

[@aconsideredmoment]

I know what is going to happen, and I still smile and go "oooh, ahhh" and smile, call my kid over, watch it again, and do the same thing! (Turns out my kid is already a fan). I love it! Thanks!