Dissolving Coins in Nitric Acid - Periodic Table of Videos 

im so glad the Professor is healthy and well.

The Professor's so polite that rather than 'ordering' Neil to do stuff for him, he always 'persuaded' Neil.

I'd be willing to bet that many viewers enjoy your videos way more than any chemistry class in school. :-)

Parents: "Meh, he's a Chemist, he's bound to be weird colours from time to time."

I'm so glad the Professor is reading Ignition! That is such a fantastic book, and as a fan of rocket engines I really hope you explore more of the ideas in it. I don't expect to see any experimental videos on FOOF or the other super dangerous and exotic propellants but perhaps you can discuss it?

As a mechanic working at a nitric acid plant back in the 80's, having yellow tipped fingers was part of the job. Everybody knew what unit you were assigned to work. Nice video thanks for the memories! 😃

2:29 "But its always satisfying when something you read in a book actually happens"😍

Neil so fearless he's recording right next to the aniline-nitric reaction without a cover for the GoPro

11:37 "Professor, is Nitric Acid dangerous?" "No, not at all! The warning signs on the bottle for a corrosive, toxic and oxydizing compound are there only for fun"

fun variation- In college we used American quarters and dimes and fuming Nitric acid which ate the copper from inside the coin leaving a thin coin shell.

I've never clicked a video notification so fast in all my life. Finally, my periodic table of videos fix! Oh how I've missed you. ❤️

I think that I'll come to the Nottingham university when I finish High School!

Note that the book _Ignition!: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants_ was first published in 1972 and was legendarily difficult or impossible to find. Fortunately, it was re-published in 2018 and remains available. Recommended.

"The temperature nearly doubled, from 50C to 100C" Kelvin spinning in his grave creating unlimited free energy 😂

Wonder if the Professor knows about Nile Red? He did the Nitric Acid “rocket” last year....

Ignition is a very good book and the author really has a way with words. Every chemist should read it.

And the award for Best Book Shelf In A Pandemic goes to.....................

The little wink from Neil at 6:12 made my day. But you know that tuppence could have been cautiously, patiently, prudently invested in the bank!

Your channel is the reason chemistry is my interest and hobby. Thank you

Awesome! I did the same experiment with a Euro 5c and wondered what was going on. I dropped it in a test tube not a beaker. It started slowly dissolved away the copper then heated it up and fizzed away like yours until there was only a small unrecognizable steel disc left. This is a great series!

What I love about Periodic video is the authenticity. Please don't spoil it with unnecessary special effects such as music background.

That was fabulous, thank you so much for making this video.

The Professor being with this channel and all of us, teaching us for so many years here now is short of a miracle in this age where people have nanodedication and microattention span. It's always great to see how excited he gets to see something or do an experiment, it rubs off on people.

I love you Sir Martyn Poliakoff, the world needs more people like you.

I've been waiting for some quality knowledge. Thanks for the delivery.

Even though I don't quite understand chemistry at all, I love the experiments. This one was great fun to watch!!

The timing of this video. My teacher needed a experiment from me. Thankyou guys

The bottom reaction at 5:07 doesn't add up properly...

I'm tripped by background music choice. Felt like I'm dissolving in the acid. Fantastic!

I'm loving the music in the background while you're experimenting Professor. Fascinating to see how these elements react!

You're too modest Prof. Thanks again for doing the experiments I would love to have done in my chemistry class.

10:45 I was so anxious watching this and feeling like the beaker would overflow at any second

its 12 am and i watch this at my bed, really addictive ^^

I know it's dangerous, but boy that reddish-brown nitrogen dioxide gas looks beautiful!

I’m always excited when I see these guys pop up in my inbox!

Delightful to watch something unexpected happen then the Professor think it through and test his hypothesis. Thanks all for these wonderful videos :]

ive been missing the videos! glad to see you guys again

Ignition! is my favorite non-fiction book by far. If not my favorite book in general. Love it.

This acid is a master of transformation. I once learned about the oxidizing nature of HNO3 when some little splashes got onto my olive shirt and transformed into many little violet dots. Then, during the washing cycle, the little violet dots transformed into little invisible dots. After drying they finally transformed into many little holes😣

I really appreciate to see that the Professor is well :)

I think the equation for the conc. reaction at 5:00 might have been written down wrong! The Oxygen doesn't balance: 6x3 = 18 atoms on the left, but 2x3x2 + 2x2+ 3 = 19 on the right. This looks like it works: Cu + 4HNO3 -> Cu(NO3)2 + 2NO2 + 2H2O Apologies if I'm missing something.

Great to see the professor and the tie is fantastic!

Thanks for the informative video as always.

'Ignition' was one of the best books I read in lockdown 😀 I was so happy to see Neil demonstrating the reactions, thanks

I love how you guys science it out when something unexpected happens!

I love your videos. I study chemistry all my life. What I did not find is where should I get a super cool tie like you have sir.

You are everyone's favorite wise teacher may u have many blessed days

Another fantastic video! Thank you for continuing to make these. :D

absolutely fascinating channel every time I get a notification i am here asap

Lovely video with great experiments!

Awesome - read the book in 1st lockdown and became somewhat obsessed with the "fuming" nitric acids and hypergolic reactions. Excellent to see them in the flesh (sort of).

Glad to see that the professor and team are doing well!

So glad to see this. I missed you! You are an inspiration and open doors in people's minds for understanding the wonderful world around us. Stay safe, and please do more, if only to keep others sane under lockdown (if that's alright with you. And Neil. And your GoPro. Or perhaps someone else's.). P.S. Was debasing our currency ever this much fun?

NileRed has done some of these reactions. He made a crude nozel out of a test tube.

This was like an experiment I did in school, I was trying to identify the composition of copper coins. I used concentrated nitric acid to dissolve them, which worked perfectly for my first coin but when I came in to the lab the next day after dissolving my second coin overnight I discovered my 2p coin had turned silver and was stuck to the magnetic stirrer! Completely changed my research, and gave me a wonderful passion for chemistry :)

Very cool you got to show how a lot of science works in general!

Fantastic as always. Thank you.

Always a great video thank you all for everything you do God bless science

Was very pleased when while studying architecture I saw the distinguished professor after one of our lectures (for some reason held in the chemistry building), ensuring i could get the complete Nottingham experience

What a great video and superb channel.

Great man you are! Thanks for being so passionate

Ignition! is a great book. I particularly liked the section when he talked about ClF3 :)

I missed this. This man is an inspiration.

Wow! Been waiting for the video😻 I love chem and wanna become a chemist like professor.

Who else randomly found this channel and then watch all the videos

Please make more frequent videos i love science and this is one thing i enjoy watching and would definately do a career like this. wish i could meet you in real life

This video will be vary useful in our research, thank you.

Seriously amazing editing

I love watching your videos sir.

The sound track is awesome 👍👍👍 great video 👍👍

This is a beautiful example of how even school chemistry has interesting depths to it, that can surprise even a professor.

Great vid guys!

Copper is one of my favorite metals. It forms very pretty blue to green compounds, and I enjoy the color of the base metal. It also has incredible importance for technology and electricity.

This is why I subscribed to this channel cause I like struggle with Chemistry. I want to go back to school. I'm taking a long break due to financial issues

I am a proud owner of several Ivar storage racks myself. Great minds think alike, it appears. ;) Stunning footage, cheers!

you are always inspiring me professor

Thanks for the upload love your videos

Sir you are doing great and you explain chemistry in easy words like someone from our won familu

that's some interesting background music

"Why did the Queen dissolve?"

Good to see Prof Sir Martyn Poliakov doing experiments again.

This reminded me of one of my favourite stories about science, that of Ira Remsen trying to understand something that he had read in a book about copper and nitric acid (Remsen founded the chemistry department at Johns Hopkins University). "While reading a textbook of chemistry I came upon the statement, "nitric acid acts upon copper." I was getting tired of reading such absurd stuff and I was determined to see what this meant. Copper was more or less familiar to me, for copper cents were then in use. I had seen a bottle marked nitric acid on a table in the doctor's office where I was then "doing time." I did not know its pecularities, but the spirit of adventure was upon me. Having nitric acid and copper, I had only to learn what the words "act upon" meant. The statement "nitric acid acts upon copper" would be more than mere words. All was still. In the interest of knowledge I was even willing to sacrifice one of the few copper cents then in my possission. I put one of them on the table, opened the bottle marked nitric acid, poured some of the liquid on the copper and prepared to make an observation. But what was this wonderful thing which I beheld? The cent was already changed and it was no small change either. A green-blue liquid foamed and fumed over the cent and over the table. The air in the neighborhood of the performance became colored dark red. A great colored cloud arose. This was disagreeable and suffocating. How should I stop this? I tried to get rid of the objectionable mess by picking it up and throwing it out of the window. I learned another fact. Nitric acid not only acts upon copper, but it acts upon fingers. The pain led to another unpremeditated experiment. I drew my fingers across my trousers and another fact was discovered. Nitric acid acts upon trousers. Taking everything into consideration, that was the most impressive experiment and relatively probably the most costly experiment I have ever performed... It was a revelation to me. It resulted in a desire on my part to learn more about that remarkable kind of action. Plainly, the only way to learn about it was to see its results, to experiment, to work in a laboratory." from F. H. Getman, "The Life of Ira Remsen"; Journal of Chemical Education: Easton, Pennsylvania, 1940; pp 9-10; quoted in Richard W. Ramette, "Exocharmic Reactions" in Bassam Z. Shakhashiri, Chemical Demonstrations: A Handbook for Teachers of Chemistry, Volume 1. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1983, p. xiv:

ahhhh...that feels better. Thank You Professor💋

I would like to see more about passivation. Thanks for the video.

Ignition! is a great book. Those early rocketry guys were a special kind of nuts!

Great videos, truly! Can we hear more from the organic chemists, if possible? Carbon is such a magical element. Some spectroscopy from one of the Nottingham channels might be nice, too (I confess my bias as a PhD student, working on Raman spectroscopy). Only Nottingham can make spectroscopy engaging to the world!

One if my favorite phrases the professor says on this channel is, "I persuaded Neil to...". 😁. Great to see some lab action again!

People like you make me love science

I can testify that concentrated nitric acid also reacts with cotton, paper and plastic. It changed the colour of plastic from black to orange, while just burning holes in the other materials.

Nice to see another video

I LOVE THIS CHANNEL

No periodic video about Nobel in chemistry 2020 😡 , but I really thank u I was missing u so much ♥️

A new great video. Finally...

Nice job guys

On NurdRage he had an experiment with fuming Nitric Acid in which it even passivated copper. By adding a few drops of water to dilute it he was able to continue the reaction. Pretty interesting demonstration (~6:30 in his "Make Nitric Acid - The Complete Guide" video)

Let’s Goooooo! Professor is still in the game!

Have to do oxidation theory in chemistry tomorrow thank you for helping me Periodic videos

Thank you so much sir for this help 😊😊

I used to do a synthesis with copper(I) chloride and vanadum(III) compounds, and the side product was metallic copper, which formed in copious amounts. My friend used to store the copper, but I would always digest it in aqua regia, so that deep green solid doing away with so much solid residue is a heartwarming reminder. Funny thing is that I had always assumed the green colour was due to the formation of a copper(II) chloride coordination compound, from the chloride anions in aqua regia. To find it is not actually the case is intriguing to me.

Great work