Always remember to ware safety glasses when throwing experimental super heated materials into experimental molds. I talk out of experience. Some times you get unexpected reactions when your melted substance hits your mold. If I didn't follow these safety protocols, I would be blind right now. Always beware the explosive reaction.
+MyLonewolf25 Wood is not a compount. It's a mixture so it doesn't have a melting point. It turns to carbon and releases various volatiles like water, acetic acid, ammonia, some other nasty organic compounds, etc. Charcoal will then, at way higher temperatures, sublimate into carbon gas. It will not melt at normal atmospheric pressure.
I think people that have hobbies like this are the most content people in life. I'm not exactly looking forward to fighting traffic Monday morning while I go to my job (which I do actually quite enjoy) and timing my departure to the minute to avoid the returning traffic. Since I travel a crazy amount for work, I don't have a steady place to develop of hobby like this. But I'm thinking I really need to take stock of my life.
The thing about time is running out! You can spend it, but you cant keep it. Once it's gone you can never get it back. Spend it wisely get a hobby and call it your life.
I think it is going black because the sodium which is an alkali metal is reacting to the water in the air and it is oxidizing. I would also becareful when melting salt since normal table salt is NaCl you are turning the Na(sodium) into a liquid metal but the Cl(Chlorine) might be escaping and i think it is general knowledge that Chlorine is toxic
+Devils Advocate That's what I have heard/read as well, that you need an electric current running through the molten salt to separate the sodium from the chlorine.
+Valentin Lance Keypoint is: to get Chlorine (Cl2) from Chloride (Cl-) the Cl- has to get rid of electrons and someone has to take them. This is usually done by electrolysis where you take electrons from the chloride on one electrode to turn it into chlorine, and you pump electrons in the sodium (Na+) to get elemental sodium (Na) at the other electrode. You will not get elemental chlorine or elemental sodium by just smelting NaCl.
diskordianer Yes, that is what I was trying to get at, that you need two electrodes, running a current through molten (there is better conductivity that way and the salt becomes less stable), the current would pull electrons out of the salt, and the elements end up separating because the elections are what made them stick together in the first place.
Not sure if someone has already said this, but I think the reason the salt is black is because it's cooling so rapidly it has no time to form the pretty crystals, and instead just makes some kind of salt obsidian.
Chefs "season" black steel pans by heating salt in them. It draws any impurities and moisture out of the surface of the metal, so as it cools, you can replace that with oil which then gets trapped in the surface, making them non-stick.
In ceramics salt is sometimes fumed in the kiln for a particular effect. The sodium reacts to the silica in the clay making glass and releases toxic chlorine gas. This is done anywhere between 2,381°F and as low as 1,641°F. I thought for sure that what you were doing would release toxic gas and leave you with a highly explosive chunk of sodium, but nothing so glamorous appears to have happened. The more i know the more i know that i know nothing.
+Eric Cowan To get the sodium, from a salt melt, you have to pass electric current through it. You get chlorine gas at one electrode and sodium liquid at the other. Neither is something you want to be anywhere near, at any time! Think "unexploded bomb".
+Janet Wilham Car battery got water in it. If you overcharge, you get hydrogen gas, which if in a confined space can cause an explosion. Chlorine gas is toxic, burns the lungs and kills you. Sodium metal is extremely reactive; if you drop it on water, you have a big problem with the hydrogen gas generated so quickly, but also if it touches you, it reacts fast enough that the heat melts it, and the effect on your skin is like napalm (guess where the "Na" comes from).
The blue glass is called cobalt. It requires far more heat than normal glass to melt. If you want to melt glass go with a "flint" your normal everyday clear glass.
The salt acts like flux to strip iron oxide off the cast iron, which makes the salt black when it solidifies. If you had a ceramic crucible and mold, you could probably get it to be clear or white.
Carbon always cakes on hot surfaces. Its nothing to do with contaminants, you just have to keep the exposed face of the poured block oxygen deprived. Do this by keeping a cool flame on it while it hardens. Thats why people who pour gold bars put the cooling bars under jets of fire while the gold becomes barely solid enough to plonk into water.
working in a plant where salt cake was run through a smelter, I know for a first hand experience that salt that has reached the melting temperature it is very volatile and (can) explode in a sudden temperature change and, if it should strike you in your eyes, you are blind! SO,, you had better take precautions to protect your eyes
Nice video as always, always great to see a "youngster" not having his face buried in a video game. Sincerely brother, were safety glasses and a face shield. When you stuck your nose down there at the end of the vid I was hoping that the hardening didn't out run the off gassing. I burnt the crap out of my face once with lead, only 800 degrees, it beyond sucked, learn from my mistake.
its black/brown because of iron/rust that got into the salt. it will also turn black if it touches charcoal/carbon. it absorbs impurities really well, makes it hard to keep clean. I had this same idea though, I wanted to mix glass and salt, to make a salty cup or something xD imagine salty glass?
+Chef Vortivask First video I have watched of this channel. I thought he was going to trigger a massive explosion while just slowly walking away like a bad-ass.
You could pull a single crystal out of the salt. You need a small salt crytal and dip it into the molten salt and then pull it up slowly it should form a clean crystal without fractions.
+What We Made +FfejTball Was thinking the same thing. There's a super interesting documentary on that reactor from the 60's plus that guy from the TED talks.
Where that wood was smoking so heavily, it actually would have caught fire, if it was given a spark. It's not actually the solid wood that burns; it's the vapors (other than water) coming off of the wood when heated enough, that are fueling the flame. I'd also suggest that you find a material with a sufficiently high melting point (above the temperature of your furnace), that also will reflect/insulate heat better, and use that as lining for the burn chamber of your furnace. There's something called "refractory" that is designed for this purpose, but some really lightweight clay might work better than metal, if you can't get any refractory. I'm still researching ways to fire clay, but so far it seems tricky, so do the research beforehand, if you want to fire your own clay. I wonder if mixing the lighter-weight ashes with clay would produce a more insulating clay. Anyway, most important tip for firing clay: make absolutely sure it's completely super dry, before firing.
And now that I think of it, you probably wouldn't need whole, undamaged clay for lining your furnace with. Just some broken bits held together with some cement or something, forming a wall. (Use gloves when handling cement though. I think I've heard that it has a component that can eat away at skin. Lime, or Lye, or something.) Sorry if I'm just volunteering a bunch of knowledge you don't care about, by the way. I just kinda get excited about building things like this.
+Scott Veirs I used to work in a glass factory and you are correct 2400 F but they add some sort of lyme for breaking down the recycle glass. I used to work for King Seely Thermos some people did not know that there thermos bottles were made of glass. The thing I get is 'what? Have no clue to what it was'
@James Parker 2400 Farenheit, not Celsius . That's around 1315 C°. Also, glass becomes increasingly soft with temperature. What's considered melting temperature is higher than what's needed for it to become softer and malleable, so a bottle could flatten down cooler than that. (Flowing glass vs just malleable glass).
I would have never thought to try this but it's awesome that you guys did! I think that darkening might be the potassium Iodate (Iodized salt), it's stabilier, dextrose, or the calcium silicate that is frequently added to prevent caking showing up as a contaminant. The melting point of NaCl is 1474 degrees F. I can't believe you got it that hot!! (At that temperature, it seems to me that the dextrose should have been converted totally to water and carbon dioxide). Iodine is a black solid and purple gas so I am leaning towards the iodine contamination here. Awesome. :)
carultch Nope the salt itself melts, Salt has a melting boiling temp of around 370C, the reason it would be great for nuclear reactors is if there was ever a breach in the system the salts will plug the breach, Because they need to be heated to over 300 degree to be liquid when the salts come back into contact with the air they solidify, if we were using liquid salt reactors the Japan melt down never would have happened.
+roflcopterkklol nuclear criticalities are self heating. meltdowns happen when things jam up and the nuclear rods can't be cooled be the water. come up with instant permanent ice, and you got yourself a billion dollar product to sell to governments around the world
+Yvette Zarate the point of liquid salt reactors is that the salts are much better at conducting the heat away from the fuel. Meltdowns happen not when things jam up, but when there is nothing taking heat away from the core, like cooling water.
I used to work at an aero space company that kept a large "salt bath" going 24/7 which was molten salt. Used for heat treating certain things I believe. Now the reason I mention this is because they were always highly worried that the salt would get too hot and go exothermic and EXPLODE...They paid to have an electrician and plumber on duty 24/7 365 days a year due to the extreme danger involved with that and some other stuff...anyway I know diddly about such things but thought that maybe it is something that someone might want to look into befor melting much salt??
When you say 'salt' I assume you mean sodium chloride.... Generally speaking, sodium chloride is acidic. This is due to the nature of the chloride ion, and it becomes more pronounced the higher the energy of the overall system. Molten sodium chloride is probably pretty acidic. Silicon Dioxide forms a variety of complexes, but it does so under basic conditions. In fact, acidic conditions are noted for increasing the melting temperature, depending on the silicate that forms, so it's not too surprising that the glass failed to dissolve in the molten salt, despite it being hot enough purely by comparing melting temperatures. You can actually get glass to dissolve into regular temperature water, but you have to use strong bases to do it. Sodium and Potassium silicate are relatively easy to get a hold of and are the product of dissolving glass into a strong hydroxide solution of potassium or sodium respectively. Sodium silicate is referred to as "Water Glass" and it's usefulness is hard to understate. Potassium silicate might actually be more useful, since glasses containing potassium are noted for their strength, but it's use isn't as well documented. Molten salt is useful in it's own way though. Actually there's some interesting stuff you can do with salt and polycarbonate. Polycarbonate is considered more transparent then glass, allowing a wider range of light to pass through it unimpeded; if you combine this with a transparent salt, you can make lenses and optics that can see in different spectrums and stuff.
RhetteLawe you're pretty much right on about the silicate chemistry. pure silica is also "water glass" as its totally water soluble as well. typical glass formulations are fluxed with sodium bicarbonate and limestone, to lower their melt point and increase their solubility resistance
RhetteLawe though i do have to say there are quite a few formulae of clear glasses that produce far superior refractivity characteristics than polycarb , english leaded crystal and borosilicates such as old pyrex (new pyrex post sale of the brand is just dual tempered window glass no boric oxide in it at all) being two examples you might be familiar with.
The usefulness of polycarb as an optic lies in it's extreme transmission range. lead crystal glass, although they don't have physical flaws, don't transmit all wavelengths of light. Specifically, there are some infrared wavelengths that polycarbonate is good at transmitting, and specifically glass is bad at transmitting. This is why you have to use a salt and plastic cover like polycarbonate to make focusing lenses. Infrared lasers are cheap atm, so having the ability to make opts for them might be something useful.
true i was referring purely to the lack of those physical flaws, you are of course right in terms of transmitted wavelengths. are you familiar with methods of making things like synthetic opals? theres a ton of neat stuff that can be done artistically.
Josh S I have not specifically messed with trying to make synthetic opal, but I am aware of several methods. It depends largely on what aspect of the real opal you're trying to go with. Emulating the natural product is tedious, purely through the components given in the natural product, but there's things out there that can work. Dichroic glass mostly.
+carultch I don't know what does it have to to with the Salem Witch Trials? I was referring to the contraption that they are using to melt the glass and sodium.
John Doe There's a story about the Salem Witch Trials called The Crucible. And I've always wondered #1 what a crucible is, and #2, what it has to do with the story.
carultch The Crucible is a 1953 play that was a fictitious dramatization partly based on the a Salem Witch Trials but a 'crucible' is also a noun describing a metal or ceramic pot used to melt glass and metals.
Had you passed an electric current through the salt it would have broken the molecules down into base elements NA & CL. The sodium is fun to play with but the chlorine gas will kill so make sure to use some sort of powered ventilation system to keep it well away from people. Also the the sodium Will react violently with the moisture in the air so it should be keepers in oil.
If you don't want to contaminate your salt, poor a pile and use a propane torch. Heat it from the top. You will have a clean melted salt, which look likes water except it glows red. I have done it with salt (NaCl mp 801 °C) and I have done it with Na2CO3 (mp = ~850 °C)
+Elevate sounds Spanish: aluminio Portuguese: alumínio Brit English: aluminium Dutch: aluminium Turkish: alüminyum Italian: alluminio French: aluminium German: aluminium Swedish: aluminium see the trend? then came an american and say: Nooo i can't say that, it's too hard. aluminum is bettah!
Cool. If you melted pure salt (not iodized) it should come out white. Molten salt is very reactive. Tiny impurities (like copper ions) can make it change color.
Wear something better than jeans for this. A hot welding rod will burn through work pants and flesh in a fraction of a second, I can't even imagine the horrors a drop of molten salt or aluminium would cause if it landed on you.
if you put two electrodes in the molten salt you can separate Sodium from the salt. its a metal that catches fire/ blow up when you through it in water.
oh also, most likely, the salt took the random molecular structure silicate glass has, and gave it structure. this is called devitrification, the act of taking the vitreous nature of its molecules away. and it will always always pour way smoother than any metal by virtue of its vitreousness.
The reason the salt turned out black is because the salt you used has dextrose mixed in it. The dextrose is used as a carrier for the iodine. Dextrose is a form of sugar, and sugar is made of carbon.
make some clean wet salt and dip the edge of a glass in it and see if it makes a nice clear ring around the top of a glass, then put beer in the glass and hand it to somebody.
I'm fairly certain they didn't melt the salt. They most likely have molten sodium metal with some dissolved chloride ions. The darkening is because it's mostly metal. Also sodium metal on a fresh surface reacts rapidly with oxygen. One last thing. I think the rust was dissolving into the sodium metal, reducing purity.
did someone seriously say salt is acidic? you do realize salt and water are the product of a reaction between an acid and a base and occur during neutralization. Keyword there is neutral, it is sad how many people do not even possess a middle school level of chemistry knowledge.
Salt + Cast Iron + time = rust Molten Salt + Cast Iron = rust in liquid form. It turns black because it has cast iron in it. Did you pour your aluminum before or after taking out impurities? It pours smooth when pure.
For future reference I don't know what type of salt you used, but if it is table salt the chemical composition is NaCl. If you were to separate the Chlorine from this you would get a chlorine gas, which is highly toxic and dangerous. Next time I would recommend wearing some sort of breathing apparatus. Just a suggestion, for your health, that stuff is really nasty. Cool vid though.
i built a kiln in order to make obsolete parts for a fame implement.,,,made the parts fine....then, hot forge and curiousity....a beer can did nothin'....but it could slump a bottle in 15 seconds... men and their toys. lol
Create a 1000 year old earth battery. zinc in cup then salt in a cup like you did then copper in cup take out of the cups then smelter weld them tall , volts come when soaked battery in any water liquid from.
How cool was that. I loved it very much. That fire was sure hot but isn't blue fire suppose to be the HOTTEST more than Orange like fire?.......anyway, I enjoyed your video. I like to get a chance to know how it feels to work with you in your shop. Thanks
I think the fact that it was "iodized salt" was what was causing the odd color... Try this experiment with Morton's "Kosher Sea Salt" in the box. It has NO impurities. It is pure salt.
If there was the tiniest microscopic bit of water on that wood when you poured it, the molten substance would have burst and severed limbs. Please be careful guys.
"...and then you will never taste anything again" your wrong... he will taste pain...MWAHAHA...MWAHAHHAHAHAHA... MEAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHAAAAAAHAAAAAAAA!!! XD
Here on youtube, in Spanish, there are videos showing people making outdoor clay ovens (think wood fired pizza ovens) that incorporate lots of broken glass and salt underneath the floor. I'm wondering if the molten salt and glass are an insulator to keep the floor of the oven cooler or hotter. Also if that were inside a homemade thermos would it keep the contents hotter longer? What are your thoughts?
Great video! I'm thinking about getting into beard culture(forging, blacksmithing, homebrew beers) If either of you gentlesirs have any tips please let me know.
+Reddit Gold User Well I can't help you with beers. I can however encourage you in blacksmithing. It is an enjoyable art and can be fairly simple to get started in. There are plenty of youtube vids about simple forges and whatnot. Depending on where you live city, suburb, small town or country it can be a bit more difficult to set up something to work with. Nonetheless I would encourage you to give it a shot. -Caleb
We already pored hot metal in this wooden mold, that didn't work.. Lets put hot in hot glass. Geniuses... I really thought Beavis would bite the glass. I really did.