02.01: Potassium Phosphate, dibasic

When I decided to do the “Chemicals from a Hat” idea, I told myself right away that I had to include all the chemicals I have no idea what to do with, and when I pick them, I HAVE to feature them. The bonus is that I might actually learn something new.

When I saw “Sodium”, I was delighted. I knew right away what I was going to do. But that wasn’t the first selection… When my first chemical picked itself, I had to start the series with no clue what the first video was going to be about. It was great

Despite not having a clue what to do with this stuff, I managed to find a few interesting ideas. I was surprised by how uncooperative most of them turned out to be, though. For starters, how does a deliquescent chemical sit out for a week without turning into a puddle? Let alone, how does a deliquescent chemical sitting out for a week LOSE mass?!

It was nice to make the phosphates from transition metals, but since I’m too lazy to break out the vacuum filtration apparatus, there were some complications with the air-drying step. I was able to measure the mass of the dried precipitate, but they were stuck to the paper and recovery was too big of a pain to deal with. Not to mention the uncooperative nature of the iron stuff. I used a “filter funnel” so it would filter quicker. The funnel has ribs in the side so that water can filter through the sides of the paper as well as the bottom. It’s supposed to cut gravity filter time significantly. With a 15 minute head start, the other two were still done an hour before iron!

And the Christmas tree? I don’t want to talk about it.

All in all, this was a good first video in the series. I was able to talk a little more about chemistry, and I did some experiments I likely wouldn’t have. There is part of me that wants to experiment a bit with the crystal growing. I’ve never been good at that. And I still have quite a bit of this now-proven-useless chemical on my shelf. So why not use it up honing a new skill!

Moving right along!

-Jason