This daddy isn't something that I planned to do, and I kind of just stumbled onto it. Instead of just showing the final results, though, I figured it could also be interesting to go over my discovery process and to show how I got there. A couple of weeks ago, I posted a video where I grew lead crystals by adding zinc metal to a solution of lead acetate. I got a few good runs, and I was generally happy with the results, but I was still really curious to see if I could do it on a much larger scale. I wanted the lead to grow as long as possible, so I used a really big container. The major issue, though, was that I didn't have enough lead acetate to properly scale it up to this size. In theory, I should have used about 400 grams, but instead I settled on 100, and I figured the process would just be slower, but... I was wrong. When I went to put in the zinc, it quickly turned black and initially seemed okay, but it just didn't really progress from there. I even left it overnight, and by the morning barely anything changed. When I took a closer look, it seemed to grow outwards at the top, but it just never moved down. I'm not exactly sure why, but I'm assuming the low concentration of lead acetate had something to do with it. In any case, my attempt was a complete failure, and I was stuck with about 3 liters of lead solution, which is exactly what I feared would happen. I was honestly really tempted to just pour it all into a waste container and call it a day, but I figured I should at least try to do something interesting with it. I had some powdered zinc metal lying around, and I thought that it might be cool to see what would happen if I added it to the lead solution. As the zinc was added, it quickly reacted with the lead acetate, to form zinc acetate and lead metal. The zinc acetate dissolved into the solution, But the lead metal deposited onto the surface of the zinc powder The lead forms as extremely small particles, and between them light tends to get trapped. The light gets stuck continually bouncing around
between small particles and with each reflection a small amount of it is absorbed. It
eventually gets completely absorbed, and because of this no light is reflected
and it appears black To try and highlight this color change, I
shone in my flashlight and it seemed to help. I then turned off the lights hoping that
it would make it even cooler, but it kind of just ruined the contrast. It might
have worked better though if I had a more powerful flashlight. Anyway, at this point I turn the lights
back on and I figured I was done. Sure, the results here were kind of
interesting but nothing too exciting however, that all changed when I turned
on the magnetic stirring. Immediately, a bunch of powder gets knocked upwards
which I expected, but there was also some solid stuff. I was honestly really
surprised by this and I tried taking it out using my glass rod but it was really
soft and delicate. I was able to squish it a bit though, which seemed to harden
it and make it easier to lift What I recovered was really interesting
and at first I had no idea what it was I mean it had to be some combination of
lead and zinc but I had never seen anything like it before
it was malleable like a very soft clay but it also broke apart really easily.
When I squished it, it had no elastic properties and a lot of water came out. I broke it up into a few more pieces and
then I squeeze them down as hard as I could. By doing this, that became some really
hard pellets and you can hear the clink when I drop them in the dish. I then put
them all in my toaster to get rid of the water and in the meantime I did some
research. It only took about five minutes to find that what I have here is known
as lead sponge. I couldn't really find exactly what the sponge was structurally,
but I assume it's just a very weak network of lead.
There are many lead extensions growing from each zinc particle and these
extensions overlap with other ones. This creates a very weak pseudo solid
structure that's held together just by friction. Using zinc isn't the only way
to make it though. It's also possible to directly inject gas or to add foaming
agents to molten lead. This method basically just produces puffed up metal
and it's a much more stable and sturdy product. Sponge lead has a lot of
potential uses but the most common one is probably in lead acid car batteries.
The lead sponge acts as the negative electrode and it's very useful because
of its extremely high surface area. When they were dried, they looked exactly like
little rocks you just find on the street, the only give away though is that
because they're made of lead they're really heavy. Also, because it's just made
of weakly compressed powder, it lets off a lot of residue when it's touched. I
then tested its strength using some pliers and it just crumbled into pieces.
What I have here is a mixture of lead and zinc but it might be a useful way to
make lead powder if the lead sponge were first soaked in hydrochloric acid before
squishing it down. The zinc could be pretty easily removed. The next thing I
wanted to try was to see what would happen if I dried some of the sponge
without compressing it first. By the time I went back to the container everything
had settled down and a bit more had formed. I did my best to take out the two
pieces here without squishing them at all but it wasn't really possible. They were quickly dried using a paper
towel, and then I went to make more. There were actually some pieces still at
the bottom, but I wanted to make some really large ones so I dumped in some
zinc on top of them. I waited for everything to settle to the
bottom and then I turned on the stirring to push everything to the sides. I turned the stirring off after about 30
seconds and then I was ready to start taking it out again. I did my best to
squish it as little as possible, but it was kind of unavoidable. I didn't have
one at the time, but I really should have invested in a cheap plastic spatula. The final recovery was two major pieces,
but they both ended up falling apart. I used the portion that fell off the one
on the left for a couple boring tests that I didn't bother filming. The other
pieces were allowed to dry a bit more, and then they were combined with the
ones from the previous run. Before putting them in the toaster though,
I wanted to try one last thing: Instead of using zinc powder, I wondered
how it would turn out if I used zinc granules, so I poured in a bunch and I
time-lapse did over a few hours. The result was honestly really cool and I'm
sad that I kind of messed up the focus. A little later on I tried to recreate the
effect, but unfortunately it didn't work for some reason. I'll cover this as an
added bit at the end though, for those who are interested. Anyway just like the other runs, I turned
on the stirring when it was done. The spongy material lifted up, and underneath
it was most of the zinc. I was almost able to get it out as one
solid piece, but it broke at the last second. I managed to recover three major pieces
though, and I put them all on some paper towel to dry. I decided to sacrifice one
of the pieces to see how tough it was, and I wasn't really surprised that it
fell apart quite easily. The zinc granules are relatively large, so
they compromise the strength of the lead sponge network that grows around them.
Unlike the powder runs, with the granules it's actually possible to grow crystals,
but I don't think these are gonna last for very long when exposed to air -
they're gonna react relatively quickly and get pretty dulled out or turn white.
In the end, these were all the pieces that I got, and I put them all in a
toaster at a relatively high heat for a couple hours, and just like before they
all ended up looking like rocks. In my opinion, the ones from the powder runs
were the most interesting because of the color. I think this happened because I
didn't wash any of them, and they were all still covered with zinc and lead
acetate. As the water was evaporated and boiled off in the toaster, both of these
salts showed up as white spots then under the heat of the toaster I think
some of the lead acetate decomposed to yellow lead oxide. I honestly thought the
final result was really cool and it looked exactly like a rock with a bunch
of mineral deposits. The main giveaway in this case though is that they're way too
light because I tried to not compress them at all. They're not very dense, and
feel a lot more like a brittle foam. When I move them around and scratch them
together you can just hear how hollow and brittle they are. In my opinion, the granule run was a lot
less interesting. It did kind of retain its shininess though, which honestly
surprised me. I checked back on it a few weeks later, and it was definitely dulled
out but it was still kind of shiny. Anyway, the last thing that I wanted to
test was their conductivity, because they're all made of lead and zinc metal;
they should all be conductive. To do this, I'll be using a meter which beeps every
time an electrical connection is made. The first one I tested was the
compressed stuff which immediately gave a beep. Then I went with the piece from
the granule run, and it also conducted. The uncompressed powder ones though were
much harder to get a signal from because the surface was covered. To get it to
beep, I had to dig the probes in a little. So, basically, in conclusion, they're all
conductive. What they could be used for though I'm not exactly sure. I could
probably try molding it and making different shapes which might be useful
for something. If you guys have any cool suggestions, let me know in the comments
because it might be worth making a follow-up video. Earlier on, I mentioned
that I tried recreating the time lapse, and these are my attempts. The first
thing I tried was to just pour a bunch of the granules in, but it was a total
failure - it just ended up getting furrier, and it never grew any crystals. I figured
that maybe at this point the concentration of lead acetate was too
low, so I made a fresh batch. I used the same concentration as my original
large-scale setup, and I dumped in a bunch of the granules like the last run.
It all initially puffed up, but then the crystals just grew everywhere at the
same time. Also, for whatever reason, it didn't seem like the density of the lead
crystals was nearly as high. I decided to try it again but this time
I covered the entire bottom of the container. The results were very similar
though, and the crystals just kind of grew everywhere at the same time, so I'm
not exactly sure how to recreate that effect. This isn't based on much evidence
at all, but I think it has a lot to do with the concentration of the lead
acetate. Although in these runs, I'm replicating the same concentration as
the original run, it is technically not the same. I started with the same
concentration, but before adding the granules I added a whole bunch of powder
which definitely lowered it. I personally think this put me in the proper
concentration window for the effect, but who knows, I could be totally wrong. If
any of you have any theories, I'd love to hear them.
Okay, so just as one final thing - some of you might be wondering why this month is
kind of slow in terms of videos. Well, the reason is actually kind of an exciting,
one and it's because I'm putting together a proper lab and studio. I've
rented out two rooms in an industrial building, and I've spent the last few
weeks prepping it and building everything. It should be done in the next
couple of weeks, and I'll post a video documenting the whole process as well as
a lab tour. As usual, a big thanks goes out to all my
supporters on Patreon. Everyone who supports me can see my videos at least
24 hours before I post them to YouTube. Everyone can directly message me and
anyone who supports me with $5 or more will get their name at the end like you
see here.
