Making Fuming Nitric Acid: Synthesis and Reactions

Duration: 5:31

Nitric acid is an extremely important and useful acid, and fortunately for amatuer chemists, it can be made from ingredients you can buy in most stores. So in today's video, I'll be doing the reaction that every chemistry YouTuber and their mother has done: distilling fuming nitric acid from a nitrate salt! Want to support LabCoatz? Then feel free to join my Patreon page! It literally costs less that a cup of coffee: https://www.patreon.com/LabCoatz Don't want to pay monthly and just want to be a one-time supporter? Then follow this link to donate: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/labcoatz Want your own glassware at an affordable price? Check out CELL Supplies! They are a fairly new company that sells all kinds of labware at a very modest price (seriously, you can get a set of six 250mL 24/40 flasks for about $50). If you're into hobby or professional chemistry, I definitely recommend checking them out: https://www.cell-supplies.com/ And speaking of glassware, this is the bottle I used for my nitric acid. The Teflon (PTFE) lid is necessary (unless you use a glass stopper), since fuming nitric acid will react with most other plastics: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002RS5AWQ?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details WARNING: nitric acid is a fairly hazardous substance. It can ignite certain materials like plastic and rubber, it accelerates most combustion reactions, and it can burn flesh. Mixing it with the wrong things can also lead to the formation of dangerously unstable explosives, so it's best to avoid messing with this acid unless you know what you're doing! I take no responsibility for possible harm caused by replication of this procedure. 0:00 Warning and intro 0:55 Reagents 1:26 Synthesis 2:17 Yield and concentration 2:44 Reaction with acetone 3:20 Disappointments and the questionable solution 3:39 Reaction with sulfur chloride 4:14 Magnesium reaction (and explosion) 4:44 Conclusion and outro