Extracting Neodymium from Harddrive Magnets 

Music: 'Aphlygeo', taken from the album The Loser by Hoverman beautyworldrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-loser

How dare you post this video when I am 37 hours from having to submit my honours thesis on lanthanoid magnets, which has applications in quantum computing. You've given my procrastination brain exactly what it wants! Something that feels productive, but ultimately isn't writing the chapter I still haven't finished

“Phd candidate in laser physics” “Can’t use a torx screwdriver” Actually makes sense…

75% Neodymium, 25% bird feathers. Decent yield!

I love this channel. I am an appliance technician of 25 years. I believe it's safe to advise you to stick with chemistry. Seeing you fight with the Torx driver along with your description of it, I feel that if you refrain from any kind of mechanical engineering, it will be the best for everyone involved

"Even though the computers might control our lives, every so often we can dissolve a couple in acid and feel better about things." - & Ire, Extractions. 2023

Imagine getting here so early the Cubane still hasn't been synthesized

31:05 "Wherever you are bird, keep working on that project. It'll... it'll get there" I did not expect something this wholesome, but honestly I needed to hear that ;w;

Hey Tom, those metal brackets that the magnets are attached to are made from mu metal, a Nickel alloy that weakens magnetic forces. It shields the other components of the computer from the magnetic field. They are about 77-80% nickel and are heat treated in a hydrogen atmosphere to achieve a super high magnetic permeability. It should be possible to get a lot of nickel from them if you need it.

What a fancy lab you have, those automatic bird synthesizers are a luxury many industries cannot afford

That was incredible! I don't think you said neodymium correctly once!

It's always unfortunate when a random bird takes over your entire lab and claims it for themselves.

4:05 - I used to work as a “computer butcher”. It’s not your fault, those harddrive screws were a pain in the ass to deal with! We eventually got a small industrial shredder to destroy the drives with, and it was so much fun to watch ‘em get chewed up!

I for one approve the introduction of Birdwatching segments. As an American I was initially confused by the label of "Blackbird" to what is clearly a Thrush. But I learned that's just what this particular species is called in Europe and Australia, and that the blackbird family here in the states got its name due to apparent visual Similarity between them and this particular species, although the new world Blackbirds are a family group unrelated to Thrushes and by extension the European Blackbird.

Came for the chemistry, stayed for the bird

The story arc of the bird was very well developed and was crucial to the plot of the video! Masterfully done Tom!

I was doing this a while back, on the ScienceMadness forums. Hitting the magnets with a propane torch made it very easy to physically peel off the nickel plating. Dissolving and filtering a hot solution of magnets and sulfuric acid made it easy to separate the insoluble boron and flecks of missed nickel coating, but *some* does dissolve and will crash out when the solution cools as a very fluffy boric acid crystals. Once cleaned, this doesn't affect the rest of the process much. Once you have this filtered solution of Fe and Nd sulfates, this is further differentiated by heating to ~60*C to boil off water just until some of the Nd starts crystallizing out, then slowly cooling to

Name another chemistry channel that has baby birds hatching as a sub plot. You can't.

Another video on "Australian dude does alchemy". Watching this just convinces me science is actually magic and everyone involved with the industry just doesn't want to admit it yet.

As a computer engineer I can confirm, sometimes you just need to break a computer. My preferred method is waaaaaaaay to much voltage or current into something important, but acid is good too. I do have to reccomend the electricity approach though. Motherboards blow up real good.

The high speed of you smashing the hard drive plates with the hammer is maybe one of the coolest high speeds I have ever seen, it's so COLORFUL!

There's always another screw under the label of these hard drives, very easy to miss if you've never taken one apart 😁

hey tom! thank you for making these silly chemistry videos i've been going through some nasty medical issues (due to disability) and ive been watching your videos to keep me company when no one else can. thank you for everything you do.

Those really were some pretty crystals. It's always nice when your suffering is at least aesthetically pleasing.

Fun fact, neyodimium iton boron magnets are pyrophoric, and once the nickel has been peeled off, they can be used with a file or stone as a fire starter.

I think you should've treated the magnets with sandpaper / a belt sander to get rid of the coating.

Those brackets that the magnets stick to in the drives are made of mu-metal, a cool nickel-iron alloy that's really good for magnetic shielding.

It's so funny how this random bird joins the video and becomes motivation to overcome the magnet struggle

finally, beautiful chemistry instead of yellow over and over again

I love the midway B-plot going on in the video with waiting for the eggs to hatch.

I'm @10:30 and I think your easier solution is run them through the ball mill. Then put powder into water and agitate with a covered magnet in the water. The Nickle should adhere and also settle later then the ceramic core material.

I've always loved the little conversation about the sheds wildlife with Mum in there.

The bird subplot somehow really added to this, thank you

That slomo clip of the hammer shattering the hard drive platter is glorious 4:58

You really have to starte writing part 1 on the end of your videos. Here I was all excited to see you finish an experiment in one video. The betrayal is real ! Rock on, you are doing great. ;)

Clearly extracting the neodymium to combine it with cubane dicarboxylate and make a metal organic framework that you yeet at a magnetic surface and the impact from the acceleration induces catalysis by detonation. I see through you Tom, you can't fool me! In all seriousness, brilliant stuff. I just got my PhD after 9 bloody years (I did two Masters because I'm a masochist) and in all that time I had never herd of reverse solubility before. Had to hold my head in my hands for a few minutes and contemplate the very fabric of reality

I think another explanation for the different colours of precipitates of neodymium sulphate is crystal size and orientation. Research has been done in using both neodymium and samarium salts in paper money, to prevent counterfeiting, because the way the crystal structure is oriented with respect to the incident light source can apparently cause it to change colours. So slight changes in the overall distribution of crystals within a sample could bias the colour in one direction or another. I'm not actually sure if this is what's going on, but it is a known phenomenon.

The man, the myth, The Mustache...

The early bird loves this channel so much. She’s moved in!

If you can figure out a way to hold the solution at a high temperature and limit the evaporation for a few days , you could probably grow some very nice crystals. Also if you'd like to follow this up for hihg purity I have access to an ICP-AES, I'm the guy that did your cubane NMR a couple of years ago. QUT seems to be doing a good job though, all I can really offer is a few extra digits of precision haha

Neodymium and iron somehow don't like to separate, what I did was adding some hydrogen peroxide to force the iron to form +3 hydroxide, then filter it. Still, took several repeats to get to any purity. Even when re-crystalizing by slow evaportaion there still was some iron left. Most of other lanthanide sulphates also have this reverse-solubility thing.

you always have to add way more acid than you expect in magnet recycling, acid and peroxide mix is always a good go to for the dissolution of metal massive

I always love taking apart them for the extra strong fridge magnets

"Even though the computers might control our lives, every so often we can dissolve a couple in acid and feel better about things." Best. Mad. Scientist. Quote. Ever.

Can't believe the birds hatched. That's awesome. Also stuff with magnets! lol Love a magnet.

so i know this might seem crazy, but i would love to hear about the physics of rare earth elements. i'm one of those chem students who gets terrified when physics gets mentioned, despite knowing it really is important.

The mystical australian NeodyNium magnets :D love the mustache btw!

"This channel is not about easy projects, it's about suffering. *Heh heh heh heh*" I cannot stop laughing at this 🤣

I can't express how much I love the Aussie way of doing stuff. I feel like this is the guy to make the world's first Phaser the same day he gets drunk and loses his wallet at the bar. NEVER change brother. Cheers.

You have no idea how much my heart broke watching you break the hard drives... There are screws hidden behind the paper you know...

The ending with the birds was awesome 🙂

I like to think his parents don't know he has a RU-vid channel and he's just in the shed talking to himself for all these years.

I don’t think he pronounced it “Neodymium” once in the entire video 😂

Thanks for shining a light on Neodynium, hadn't even heard of that element before!

Neodiddlium magnets are pretty neat. It's pretty insane how strong those things can be.

"My strength is not really one of my strengths" ... that had my in tears ... I got to use that at some point lol!

I don't have much depth in chemistry, but I hear you on the suffering and admire your persistence in the face of it.

Pointed scalpel blades have always been pretty effective for removing that nickel coating from the magnets. You can get it underneath and kinda peel it away. In a hurry a sanding wheel attachment for a dremel is pretty quick but also messy and shrapnel-producing.

The fact that you are doing this in Mum's shed... The world turns because of people like you. Should I ever win the lotto, I pledge to buy you a castle and an Igor. As always, I don't really know what the Hell you are doing, but it sure is fun to watch!

I guess one other thing you could try is oxidising the solution and adding oxalate. The iron should remain in solution as a ferrioxalate complex while any transition metals and lanthanides precipitate out. I'd guess it'd be a bit easier to separate then.

I discovered by accident that a couple of days of HCL vapor exposure will corrode the iron under the nickel coating and very neatly flake it off.

Great video mate . I too was caught up in the procrastination cycle and stumbled upon the new video and it was exactly what my brain needed. A video that felt productive but ultimately wasn’t dealing with any of the things I need to focus on. Much appreciated 😂

Magnet soup just like NaNa¹¹ used to make.

I remember that Science madness thread. At the time I wasn't really able to get hole of any sulphric acid so I used white vinegar instead. It's doesn't react with the nickle or boron much but the boron does tend to make it froth up a bit. I tried to separate the iron and Neodymium by dropping in ammonium hydroxide which seemed to work, leaving a pretty pink solution. However that might have been an ammonium complex with the iron or neodymium. Also from memory, neodymium salts are sensitive to light. It's been over 10 years since I tried the experiment. I still have some jars of it in my shed, lol.

Wasn't expecting the wholesome bird arc but im here for it.

3:18 all it takes is for the entropy change of dissolution to have the opposite sign than usual, as usual dG = dH - T*dS explains like 80% of chemistry

My favorite Australian chemboi playing with magnets, my favorite spooky magical science objects. What a time to be alive.

This was such a riveting story! The bird had a character arc, the sulphate had a character arc, YOUR FACIAL HAIR has a character arc stretching years and years! Good stuff. You're worth your weight in gold y'know, because you're an Au-stralian chemist

Try adding sodium sulfate to the dissolved solution of the magnet in acid. The neodymium ions form an insoluble sulfate double salt and precipitates. This can give you a better neodymium removal than simply recovering the neodymium sulfate.

It's almost a drinking game hearing you say "neodynium" (with an N) over and over all while I can see the title of the video that clearly reads "noedyMium". But don't feel too badly. Most people over hear can't say aluminium properly. 😂

I've had the opportunity to smash a computer while at work (full Office Space moment). It is every bit as satisfying as Tom makes it sound. 10/10 would recommend.

It's really self-affirming watching someone this smart melt a table that stupidly. You bring a comforting level of humanity to RU-vid.

You were defeated by some small screws, no wonder you struggled with the UV step

My favourite video so far purely for the new lab partner

4:37 your hard drive is severely fragmented, the system has indicated it has filied 😂❤

I'm pretty sure computers feel pain, and you actually put them out of their misery of ever having to run an excel spreadsheet again

Imagine thining Torx is some alien technology that takes a year to solve 🤣 We trust you bro 👌🏿

Those crystals look reaaally nice

In a situation where either the most or least reactive metal ion in your solution is the one you want, electrolysis might save you a lot of work for purification in some projects. A variable voltage and variable current-limited bench power supply can be bought pretty cheaply online (I bought a 0 to 32V, 0 to 5A power supply for about $50 USD) and has a lot of uses. In regards to this project, you can precipitate pretty much 100% of the iron and nickel as metal on a cathode (which could just be a steel nail) while leaving all of the neodymium in solution. This also lowers the amount of sulfuric acid you would need to use and makes recovering any excess sulfuric acid used possible. You just need to use the right anode for the job. I bought a small piece of platinum jewelers wire as my first anode for around $50 USD and it worked great for turning copper sulfate (dissolved in water) into copper metal and (dilute) sulfuric acid.

I usually don't have anything to add to chemistry videos because I'm here to learn. But finally I have a piece of advice that's relevant. To get your magnets to dissolve better, heat them to red and drop it in cold water, next hit it with a hammer to make it shatter into pieces.

What an awesome introductory video. This dude is great.

I enjoyed the commentary from your Mum. :) I hope your family makes further appearances in the future. Great video!

Great video mate! I love your editing style and humor. Keep up the awesome videos and chemistry. The ominous trance music was sweet.

Glad you left in the conversation with your mom, loved the concern and rambling about animals

I found this channel like 4 years ago and Tom is directly responsible for my new interest in chemistry. I'm not doing dick with it but I'm really interested lol

so many colors in this episode! Sorta missing Tar chemistry but crystals are cool too! You should try growing really big crystals

omg im literally doing lectures on actinides and lanthanides in my third year thank you tom !

I used to wonder why anybody would ever like a video before even watching it, and then I found Tom's channels. I now understand.

Neodymium can also make glass look really cool, similar to what you saw in the liquid in the beaker starting around 17:55. It's also got some REALLY unusual magnetic properties, but I'm not smart enough to understand that.

I think a hammer would be a good method to seperate the nickel plating from the ceramic core. The ceramic would crumble to sand, while the nickel would be malleable enough to turn into larger flakes. Then you can just seperate them with a sieve or some other mechanical method of seperation.

Your recommendation to take frustrations out on a computer (for mental health) is spot on. I once had a laptop with an intermittent fault which always occurred when doing something important. I couldn't afford a new one so i disassembled it, cleaned all contacts, checked power supply etc etc and thought I had it licked. It did it again an hour into typing up an assignment. I put it on the floor in the hallway, took a run-up and kicked it to glory right in the screen. Felt bloody good. That was the only time in my life that I resorted to violence. Great vid but PLEASE learn to say "neo-DIM- ium " with an M not "neo-DIN- ium" with an N. Hearing an intelligent educated bloke saying that was fkn annoying. Keep up the good work!

Cool video!! Neodymium being more soluble in cold solution blows my mind. Love the channel!! Entertaining af. Champion efforts.

I think hitting the magnets with a hammer would powder the magnet and leave the foil intact. Would make it the separation easier and make it so you can hit the computer with a hammer more.

Very cool video ! I actually had the same experience concerning the bird nest in my lab, however this lil lady decided to put it over my bottles of carbon tetrachloride and bromoform, for sure those kids might look funny now

I love this channel becausenI get distracted really easy, go on too many long rants and tangents, and I have messy workspaces. This man is living evidence despite all of that, I could still be a God damn chemist and scientist if I want

As someone who has worked in computing since the 90s I can confirm that “gravity therapy” of computing hardware is incredibly satisfying…

I swear you had a ball mill/rock tumbler at some point - just to get not-magnet powder first

Hi, Tom. It's good to see how enthusiastic you are in what you're doing. I would love to participate in your experiments by making some equipment and automation. Unfortunately, I live quite far away.) But if you need some microcontroller based stuff then you can use something widely available like RP Pico and I'd be glad to help with its firmware so you'd just need to connect all the stuff together. By the way, you can dissolve the top Ni layer on the anode in sodium chloride solution. At least until it can be grabbed by its edge and ripped away mechanically. It's a very controllable process.

I was thinking: 1) Use a screwdriver PROPERLY. Banging on them and breaking them only makes everything more difficult than it has to. 2) Demagnetize them, which has the benefit of also removing/destroying the glue. 3) Make a jig where you can put them on a table with a flat grind head and grind off the nickel. Of course you want wet grinding as nickel dust isn't tasty... Or healthy. 4) crush the ceramics. 5) Dissolve. 6)... The rest. 7) Profit!

I exposed myself to concentrated carbonyl fluoride for about 30 seconds. This is surely fine, never mind the intense burning of my lungs. Have a good one, mate!