Dr. Laude displays his school spirit while running electricity through pickles to excite electrons into giving off light.
Dr. Laude demonstrates how to make ice cream using a mixture of sugar and gelatin, liquid nitrogen, and milk while stirring vigorously. However, the key is to not stir too vigorously or else too much heat will be added, and the ice cream won’t be fully frozen.
Dr. Laude combines his innate love for balloon animals with his scientific penchant for keeping things cool.
In this demo, Dr. Laude shows off an example of an endothermic reaction by freezing a board to the bottom of a glass beaker. He goes through that although endothermic reactions seem counterintuitive, they fulfill the second law of thermodynamics. The surroundings may have decreasing entropy by getting colder, but the gaseous ammonia being produced increases the entropy of the system, increasing the total entropy of the universe.
Dr. Laude demonstrates how some chemical reactions (like calcium oxide in water) can be so exothermic that you can actually cook an egg on them!
In this video, Dr. Laude demonstrates how the metals that make up coins, such as copper or nickel, do not dissolve when hydrochloric acid is poured onto the coin. He pours hydrochloric acid onto a copper penny, and nothing happens because copper is a coinage metal. However, since copper has gotten expensive, “copper” pennies are zinc pennies with a thin copper coating on the outside. Zinc dissolves in hydrochloric acid, so if the zinc in a penny is exposed, the zinc dissolves when the hydrochloric acid is poured onto the penny, leaving behind a hollow penny.
In this video, Dr. Laude demonstrates how oxy acids such as nitric acid are able to oxidize metals such as nickel and copper. He pours a small amount of concentrated nitric acid into a large Erlenmeyer flask and adds a dime to the flask. As the dime’s nickel coating is eaten away, nitrogen oxide (a noxious brown gas) and a copper dime are produced. Therefore, this reaction can be used to create coins that are copper in color.
In this video, Dr. Laude explains the concept of “like dissolves like.” He explains that substances with the same structures will be able to mix and dissolve when combined. Dr. Laude then proceeds to demonstrate this with a lab demonstration.
Dr. Luade demonstrates how to perform titrations by hand using a color changing indicator to know when the equivalence point has been reached.
Dr. Laude demonstrates a possible application of indicators that utilizes their color changing property.
Dr. Laude introduces an unfamiliar category of reactions involving metals known as displacement reactions. He then proceeds to describe the reactivity of metals across the periodic table, including the ability of transition metals to dissolve in acid. Dr. Laude proceeds to demonstrate the reactivity of transition metals by dissolving zinc in hydrochloric acid. The reaction foams due to the evolution of hydrogen gas from the zinc metal.
Dr. Laude demonstrates the color change property of a universal indicator. This indicator changes colors multiple times across the pH spectrum. Solid dry ice is placed at the bottom of a graduated cylinder and allowed to bubble up through the solution as carbon dioxide reacts with water to form carbonic acid. At the same time, base is added to the top of the graduated cylinder in an attempt to display a color gradient in the universal indicator.
Dr. Laude takes some time in the laboratory to perform some modern alchemy by taking a piece of copper, transforming it into ‘silver’, and finally ‘gold’.
Dr. Laude demonstrates how pH changes as acids become more and more diluted.
In this video, Dr. Laude reminisces of his love for rocks as a kid and of simpler times when he collected colorful rocks. He explains that rocks are different colors due to the different oxidation states of the compounds within rocks. Dr. Laude proceeds to demonstrate the different colors Manganese can have based on its oxidation state. Dr. Laude rediscovered his enthusiasm for rocks in college. It’s never too late to rediscover the things you used to love.
In this clip, Dr. Laude freezes an overripe banana and proceeds to use it to hammer a nail into a wooden board.
In this clip, Dr. Laude demonstrates a precipitation reaction in the lab by combining lead ions and chromate ions. When the ions are combined, a yellow precipitate is formed.