Make a Gallium Beating Heart 

Several years later, enjoying for the first time. Appreciate the patient effort of a great teacher.

Honestly love the amount of people that thumb up your comments. It seems as though they don't have an extensive knowledge of chemistry and are trying to back you up anyway. Either way your videos are a good watch.

@lucklessluke I saved it into youtube's "Scheduled publishing" program so i could adjust and review it to make sure it was right. I didn't want the screwed up audio-channel fiasco i had last time. So youtube will show the upload date rather than the publish donate sometimes. Overall i think this will be better since i'll catch more errors and have time to fix and reupload them. But yeah, now you might see videos "uploaded" days/weeks/months before while i wait for the right time to publish.

@Almontmarine Yes, there is a dichromate approach to this. I went with a simpler sulfuric acid and iron procedure since it's safer. While the acid is hazardous and corrosive its not toxic and can be washed off easily. Gallium and iron are relatively safe. Teachers from various levels watch my videos and perform my experiments. So I selected these chemicals to avoid carcinogenic dichromate and neurotoxic mercury. Also the redox chemistry is simpler than dichromate and thus easier to teach.

Welcome back Dr. Lithium, nice to see another great video!

I knew there was something missing! Good to have you back then! :D

Dude your chemistry examples are the best ive ever seen!!!

I laughed so hard when Nurdrage said "All though that looks like a heart attack" that I accidentally dropped a whole pack of sodium sulfate in my tea XD

@dominic14061995 yup, just dump the solution with the gallium into cold water. the gallium should quickly freeze up and you can then retrieve it, dry it, and store it for later reuse.

@NurdRage: Glad to see you back. I've been wondering where you've been hiding all this time. Please record more videos! We all love them, even the non-Chemistry-aficionados like me!

Happy to see you back! We missed you!

That's freaking awesome never stop again!

this would make a great valentines day gift if the two people are nerdy enough

@TheChemtube as part of a "green" initiative to replace traditional laboratory demonstrations with more environmentally friendly approaches where possible, i've opted not to do the dichromate approach due to its carcinogenicity.

Is Gallium your favorite element?

This experiment is what started my fascination with chemistry. My professors are now officially sick of hearing me talk about gallium. I've done this experiment in the lab using sulfuric acid and dichromate, sulfuric acid and chromate, and sulfuric acid with chromate + and iron nail. I've seen several examples of these online and many mention "This can also be performed with sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide" but I haven't been able to find an example of this anywhere! I've tried it with 6M H2SO4 + 30% H2O2, and 1.4M H2SO4 + 10% H2O2. I've gotten a little movement but I think it's the gallium moving as a result of bubbles forming on the bottom of the metal. The most interesting results were with about a 50/50 solution of 30% H2O2 and 3M H2SO4 in a watch glass. I used enough solution to cover about half of the gallium and leave half exposed to air. It didn't give a 'beating heart' but it looked alive, the gallium was pulling the solution over the top of itself. I was hoping you might want to try to recreate the beating heart with H2O2 and H2SO4. I've been working on this project for a few weeks now with no luck. I was hoping to be able to get it to beat with a minimum concentration of both H2SO4 and H2O2 with the goal of getting more professors to do this in gen chem labs. I understand the school not wanting to use a bunch of dichromate, and it seems the professors don't want to or don't have time to set it up with the iron nail so I was trying to find the simplest way possible to do this so they'd be more willing to use it as a demo. This reaction is what sparked my interest in chemistry and made me switch from a bio to a chem major. Thankfully I had a professor that was willing to let me work in the lab after hours, provided I brought my own gallium. I think if more students were able to do this experiment in the lab they would be more interested in chemistry and might take more chemistry electives. Anyways, that's my sales pitch! Hope you have the time/interest to help. If not no worries, still love your channel!

I'm glad you started doing more videos. Very educational.

We was worried, glad to see you are still trying to simulate our nerd side! Please Keep making vids!

I missed these videos so much NERDRAGE, please come back to youtube and give us moar vids. I really appreciate how you do these videos and it is unique and educational.

this is an iron golem's heart on cocaine

Wow it has been a while Nurdrage. I completely understand being held up due to work. Hopefully your job will slow a bit down enough so you can continue making more videos. They are very informative and I enjoy everyone of them.

HEART ATTACK LOL

@dramey03 you're right, it's also not impossible that 1+1 =3, it's just improbable. You'll also note in the original post I said "scientifically impossible", but not "absolutely impossible" which is what you seem to be implying. In fact i even explained if it were to happen, current science would be unable to help since it would be outside of it. I don't need the respect of someone who doesn't understand the "straw man argument" or the "no true Scotsman" fallacies.

@gattler just 25 years. although i did a lot of sleeping, goofing off, and playing video games in between.

you should get your own tv show tbh, cuz this is the stuff i like to watch. Plus you teach me more than the public school system ever taught me.

I'm soo glad I had just swallowed my drink because as soon as you said it looks like a heart attack I cracked up laughing. You make awesome videos. Thanks NurdRage. :D

@legendaryPokedex I don't spam my stuff in their videos, i'd appreciate it if their stuff wasn't spammed here. Although if it's going to be done anyway, some equal opportunity spamming i think would be more fair.

Good to see you again. Im signing up for an ACS Chemclub at my school lol. Thanks for inspiration

@MrCpuclocker nah, its the same one i've been using for over a year.... perhaps i should get a new camera, the technology keeps improving exponentially.

You're back! Awesome video!

Long time, no see. Nice to have you back.

@hera666 i'm not sure if youtube would let me use such a long title ;)

Hooray! Good to have you back Mr. Rage :)

@MarxPennsWrite i wish. Perhaps someday if i can get a more flexible job or if these videos themselves produce enough money i might be able to do this full time. But for now, my current job makes excessive demands of my time and thus i often find myself unable to make videos. I'm working on it ;)

I absolutely love your videos. I learn something new every time I watch them(even if I do have to look some of it up). I absolutely love it!

and you are the reason i am taking a 2nd year of chem and going to major in it. it is all extremely interesting to me.

I ripped the audio of one of your videos, and performed a +20% pitch change using Audacity. I now know how you naturally sound. :)

I really like your videos man. I'm a new subscriber, and i don't want you to stop making videos. I'm sure all your fans would donate some money to keep you going.

the best of your videos is the explanation, thumbs up for that fellow nerd!

MISSED YA VIDEOS BUDDY! Glad to see your back mate!

If there is ever a zombie apocalypse...you will be recruited as my scientist! Ha ha. As always, you make complex reactions easier to understand. Thanks.

Oh wow, cant remember the last time you uploaded a video. Thanks for the present.

please try to make videos more often:) They are awesome !

ALL THREE!! (actually just a voice modulator he said so in one of his early videos. His voice is probably not particularly low or there would be distortions audible through the modulator I'm guessing tenor 1 range)

yay! you're back! I wanted to see some new experiments!!! :D

This would be even more amazing done on a massive scale!

Could this be used to make a piezoelectric generator?

That looks like tachycardia, not a heart attack but I imagine you get tachycardia during a heart attack.

AWESOME. THIS VIDEO WAS MADE BY A MAN WHO JUST MADE MORE CHEMISTRY ECO-FRIENDLY (NO MERCURY)!

good to see youre uploading again

Nice to see you're back. Great video. :)

Cool, you're back! An I actually understood the jargon.

Love watching your videos, can't say I am much of a chemist but enjoy them anyways. When the gallium started to melt it reminded me on the T1000 from "Terminator" LOL

You're finally back. :)

I find chemists to be the sexiest individuals in a way.

It sure does look like more of a heart attack than a beating heart.

Missed your voice, welcome back~

Good to hear from you, Nurdrage.

Watching your videos makes me feel smart

@YourFreeToys actually i don't get a kickback. I got a bit of free gallium and magnesium. the code does not give me anything if you use it.

@TheHomeGamer1 much less so than ammonium dichromate, and only if inhaled in mist form. If you're inhaling sulfuric acid mists you've got a much bigger problem than carcinogenicity. dilute liquid sulfuric acid has not been identified as carcinogenic as far i know. Also, you're still using sulfuric acid even if you use the ammonium dichromate approach. If you're honestly that worried about sulfuric acid then don't do the experiment.

So awesome that you're back :D

Wow! This is the closest to perpetual movement I've ever seen on RU-vid. Great videos BTW!

I forgot i was subscribed but its good to see another experiment!

For some reason I busted out laughing when he said "only this one looks like a heart attack"

like 4 months and not even a call :( .... great to have you back tho :)

i love watching these videos even though i'm never going to do this,i just like watching the weird things you do with SCIENCE(if my science class was like this,i probably might not fall asleep everyday in that class) ....you should make videos more often,also i've been subbed for a while now but i wanted you to know.you should make something disintegrate or spontaneously combust in the next video thumbs up if you agree

This makes a very nice valentines gift

15 Grams of Gallium: $40 Beaker: $10 Your girlfriend walking in on you making a gallium heart and yelling "ITS ALIVE!": Priceless.

@gyducp at the lab at work. But my actual job isn't this, it's the far different field of organometallic catalysis.

I'm a 10th grader waching NurdRage. Do I understand any of it? No way. However that doesn't mean I'm not fascinated/learning. Keep up the great work Dr. N Butyl Lithium.

Your videos inspired me to learn chemistry.

@legendaryPokedex to be fair, did you spam their video with links to my video as well?

Thank You so much for this... and P.S., We missed you!

You can, but in the process Chemical Energy is used up, the same way you can get energy from a battery, but it's not renewable.

I read "you have a deep ass voice" and laughed. Congrats, good sir.

lol @ heart attack! Chemistry is fascinating, but I only know pyrotechnic chemicals and reactions, great demonstration!

I forgot I was even honestly subscribed to you.

I'm really fascinated by all of this but a lot of it goes over my head because I've never studied chemistry before. Can anyone recommend some sites that teach basic chemistry so that I can appreciate the finer details of these experiments?

Nurdrage! You are back!

It is the beating of his hideous heart!

Good to see another video from you. Thought something bad might have happened.

I wish you uploaded more, I love your videos :'(

this is the first video ive seen in a while man...and like the way you say gallium :D

Great to see another vid. Keep 'em comin'!

WOOOO! Welcome back! Let's make this nurdrage's most viewed video! :D

This was the terminator's heart beat as he was crushed

"...pulsing like a beating heart....although this one looks like a heart attack." :D

I don't see how that contradicts the mass of 2g

Welcome back. Been reduced to watching lesser science chapters in your absence.

kids thats what your hart does when you do not play out side

you, NurdRage, are awesome.

Thanks for answering, I just bought some gallium and it was basically sticking to everything, tried in water after this video and it worked like a charm, though I got my sample of mercury now anyway so it doesn't really matter. but still good for my collection.

WELCOME BACK!

I love how this guys real voice is probably super nerdy and that's why he uses a voice changer so people don't make fun of him.

Welcome back! :)

Welcome back!

Thanks for uploading again! Keep it up!

In medical terms, this would be called ventricular fibrillation.

No chemistry nerd could have a naturally deep voice like that, he would be too busy having sex.