Hey /diy/,
I have never seen a thread about /diy/ related chemistry such as home laboratories, simple experiments, and amateur research.
I was wondering if that is due to either lack of interest or if discussing these things is a violation of the rules. Going to err on the side of caution regarding this until I get some response as to whether or not it's OK to discuss those sorts of things here.
>>911363
Not against the rules, unless you want drugs and explosives.
Lack of interest is largely due to faggy restrictions and general terrorism & druggie paranoia.
>>911374
Oh, and personal protection and waste management tend to be problems as well.
>>911363
Three issues:
1.) Difficulty obtaining materials due to legal restrictions
2.) There isn't actually that much use for DIY chemistry. Other than household cleaning supplies and soap, I can't even think of anything off the top of my head that I'd need to do any chemistratin' for. Okay, well, I guess actually I made some copper chloride for etching circuit boards, but, other than that, nada. It's a fairly niche topic.
3.) It's kinda dangerous, depending on what exactly you're doing. It's generally fairly obvious when something's gone wrong with mechanical or electrical systems, but you don't usually get a warning with chemistry until your eyes are burning and you're finding it hard to breath.
But I feel like it's mostly #2. Just isn't much you can readily use it for outside of its own subject.
>>911363
I can buy anything I might need cheaper then I can make it. Unless you're a YouTube hotshot making coins melt, I see no reason to even get into chemistry. However, I'm open to seeing anyone's DIY setups and results. Perhaps you have some ideas or results that can change our opinion?
>>911410
>There isn't actually that much use for DIY chemistry. Other than household cleaning supplies and soap, I can't even think of anything off the top of my head that I'd need to do any chemistratin' for. Okay, well, I guess actually I made some copper chloride for etching circuit boards, but, other than that, nada. It's a fairly niche topic
This. Chemistry is nearly just as theoretical a topic as physics at this point. Doing chemistry "for fun" doesn't really tell you anything that you can't learn from a textbook, and new research requires an incredible investment; it's not within reach of the normal hobbyist. There are lots of other hobbies that require chemistry, like anon above who mentioned making etchants for PCBs, but it's not like you need an entire lab to prepare some chemicals.
The most you're gonna use chemistry for in a hobby is probably with homebrew bioengineering
>>911410
>I can't even think of anything off the top of my head that I'd need to do any chemistratin' for.
Personally, I've tinkered with various metal plating solutions, antique photographic processes and glasses. Extracting shit from natural sources seems to be relatively common, too.
That said, people do all kinds of stuff just for fun or out of personal curiosity.
>>911453
OP here, I would say that for me I am just genuinely interested in the science of chemistry. I have taken some university chemistry classes and I think that the history of discovery in chemistry is rich and full of accidental discovery as well as, yes, accidental "sudden exothermic reactions".
It for sure is not the most popular hobby, and it is very frustrating for me as a hobbyist chemist to run into legal barriers at almost every step of the way. Not to mention public stigma, I have to be very careful about who I tell about my hobby. "Chem lab" and "meth lab" seem to be synonymous in some people's minds, to say nothing of the DEA and the ATF. Breaking Bad has not been helpful in shedding the dingy, dangerous garage chem lab that pumps out nothing but drugs and explosives.
Chemistry for me is about the manipulation of matter in a controllable, precise manner. I find joy in chemistry from the electrolysis of salts, making thermite, or producing beautiful iron sulfate crystals. I've found that chemistry can come in handy with many other hobbies, such as amateur rocketry, electronics, and brewing.
It definitely isn't for everyone, and that's OK. I'm a strong believer that you need to try as many things as you can, otherwise you might miss something that you could really enjoy!
>>911481
OP, I personally like synthesizing common, but potentially useful materials from natural substances. A good experiment for you to try is synthesizing sodium hydroxide from calcium carbonate and sodium carbonate, you know what happens to be a common source of CaCO3?
>>911789
Limestone and the related products?
If you actually want calcium oxide or hydroxide, lime / quicklime.
Baking and love is chemistry
>>911789
Hey, so do I! I love synthesizing chemicals.
I actually just yesterday synthesized sodium hydroxide via electrolysis of sodium chloride. All you need is to make a saturated solution of sodium chloride (I made a saturated 100mL solution with about 36g of NaCl). Make sure to use de-iodized salt if you are using store bought sodium chloride.
2NaCl(aq) + 2H2O(l) => H2(g) + Cl2(g) + 2NaOH(aq)
For this you'll want carbon electrodes, which are fairly cheap at any welding supply store. However if you can't possibly get your hands on any, thick pencil lead can be a decent substitute. You can either burn off the wood around the graphite or sharpen both ends to expose the graphite core.
Then just perform standard electrolysis, I used a 9V battery for power. Be aware that you are producing H2 and Cl2 gas, so either have a method of collection or good ventilation. The NaOH solution that forms can be concentrated by boiling, if desired.
>>911955
Since this is a hobby chemistry thread...
You have roughly 0.6 moles of NaCl and in ideal case you'd need 0.6 moles of electrons or around 16Ah. 9V battery has a capacity of around 0.6Ah at low current and something like half of it at higher load. In addition, if you let the produced NaOH reach the positive electrode, you'll get hypochlorite as well. Plus whatever gunk your rotting electrodes produce.
It would make sense to try to assay the results. If there's no hypochlorite, simple titration with acid would do with NaOH. I think there's a similar method for hypochlorite with relatively easy-to-get chemicals, but I don't know the details. Since it interferes with the acid titration, you should at least boil the solution to convert the hypochlorite to chlorate first. Chlorate should interfere much less.
>>912152
That's a good point, I was using a 9V battery mainly because a friend is borrowing my variable dc power supply.
I didn't observe any gunk on my electrodes after several hours, but I am planning to do simple titration with HCl to find out the resulting moles of NaOH. Thanks for pointing that out, I will look into reducing the NaClO in the solution.
>>911363
Did you ever try to make chemical experiments?
It's not as easy as it stands in books...
It's much more work than with DIY. Higher learning curve. Less good resources.
While it's easy to find a handbook how to make explosives safely, it's hard to find a good tutorial on how to prepare and crystallize some common salt. Really.
I've pursing invisible ink for some time... Then, I needed some iron II compound for gall-iron ink...
Well, both succeeded, but at least after 4th try. And still my FeCl2 is impure (but does the job).
And, to my surprise, the paranoia of concealing synthesis of dangerous materials puts you to risk of producing something deadly without knowing it.
Just because you're too inexperienced to know it's going to be deadly... Did you know that hydrogen sulfide is not just stinking, but also extremely poisonous?
Recently I found a 100-year old book for children with chemical experiments. Now the book would be classified as dangerous by its contents. Where's the world heading?
>>912375
I've found a lot of great resources in my university library, collections of experiments and, yes, making crystals. I would check in your local library for these.
Totally agree though, a lot of the amateur chemistry community it seems is ridden with paranoia and fear about having the DEA or ATF come knocking. Or worse yet, a neighbor calling the police to report what they might see as a meth lab. It's terrible, legitimate amateur and semi-professional home chemists are getting their equipment and reagents seized by LE, often with little reason other than possessing "suspicious equipment".
Take for example, Victor Deeb, who was doing some research in his home on BPA free baby products. When firefighters came to put out a fire, they noticed the lab and police came and seized all of his equipment, chems, and notes. Not sure on the final outcome of the case, but that was in 2008. Give it a read yourself: http://makezine.com/2008/08/11/home-science-under-attack/
>>911363
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8Xo43sfLgY
Let's electroplate dildos!
>>913189
Cool shit! I may electroplate some tools, could be cool.
Know of any places where I can get nickel sulfate that aren't online?
