welcome back guys and thank you for
joining us here today on the king of
random a little while ago I saw a video
of something that seemed impossible
lighting a fire using water it’s an
experiment that I want to try and
replicate here today and find a recipe
that will work every time I did a little
bit of research and found that this
chemical mixture is something that’s
called negative X although I couldn’t
find anything that explained why it was
called that so if you have a source that
tells me where the name came from please
let me know down in the comments I found
a recipe for this mixture that uses only
three ingredients before you add the
water
ammonium nitrate ammonium chloride and
zinc powder so first I’ll talk a little
bit about what each of these ingredients
are and where you can get them and then
we’ll see if we can make fire from water
ammonium nitrate is a nitrate salt
that’s frequently used as a type of
fertilizer and when it mixes with water
it produces an endothermic reaction
endothermic means that it gets really
cold and that actually has to do with
where we can get ammonium nitrate you
can buy these instant cold packs that
are full of a bag of water and ammonium
nitrate beads there are a few different
types of these cold packs so make sure
you check on the box to see that it says
that it contains ammonium nitrate I got
these ones at Target in the ammonium
nitrate and it works really well for
this experiment the next ingredient is
ammonium chloride which is an inorganic
compound fairly similar to table salt
it’s often sold in blocks like this with
a primary use of cleaning the tips of
soldering irons in a few countries like
the Netherlands you can also find it in
a powdered form on the outside of black
licorice candy the box this came in has
a warning on it that says to make sure
you don’t ingest any of it but because
it is used as a food in some places I’m
gonna lick it and see what it’s like
[Music]
all right so this stuff is weird it
feels like licking salt and a 9-volt
battery at the same time I don’t know
exactly what the chemical reaction
happening is but it really like buzzes
and fizzes on your tongue a little bit
it’s very strange
I’ve never had a food product do that
before and in case any of you were
worried I did look up the safety specs
for this stuff and I would have to eat a
fair amount of this block before I
really had to be worried about my health
the last ingredient we need today is
zinc and zinc is a fairly common metal
but we need it in a very pure form and
unless you have just the right equipment
we need to buy it to get it in this very
fine powder now we know our three
ingredients let’s try mixing them
together to see if we can start a fire
using water to start we’ll measure off
six grams of the ammonium nitrate next
we’ll scrape off one gram of our
ammonium chloride from the block before
we add our zinc we want to grind our
first two ingredients together into a
fine powder
[Music]
in a separate container or on a piece of
paper measure out 14 grams of the zinc
powder now we haven’t mixed the two
together yet because as soon as they are
combined you have something that’s
incendiary meaning it can catch fire
very easily and we don’t want to do that
while we’re indoors apparently you’re
not even supposed to mix this stuff up
if it’s raining outside or particularly
humid because it can catch fire just
from that so we’re gonna take our
ingredients outside carefully mix them
together and then see if we can light
them on fire just using water we’re
going to mix the ingredients using
what’s called the diaper method for all
of your powdered ingredients onto a
piece of paper and then lift the corners
to gently mix them together these larger
lighter colored bits of the ammonium
nitrate that probably weren’t ground-up
quite enough we’ll see if it will still
work even though I didn’t grind it into
quite as fine as a powder as I should
have all right I’ve got our negative X
mixture sitting on this piece of foil to
protect the ground underneath it I’m
gonna spray with a little bit of water
and then back off because when this
burns it releases zinc fumes which are
not good for you here goes nothing
[Music]
there we go now it’s starting around a
wider bevel
Wow look at that plane that is such a
cool bright green blue color
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
okay look off to the side you can
actually see it’s spitting little bits
of burning zinc
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
and I was faster
Oh
well
okay so I had a bunch of the negative x
mixed up getting ready to burn it in
separate little piles but remember my
warning about how you’re not supposed to
mix it up on a humid day today is a
little bit humid there’s clouds in the
sky and apparently that was enough to
set it off the bowl that it was in was
completely dry no water got sprayed on
it whatsoever and hit ignited it just
burst into flames and it actually
completely destroyed the my mixing bowl
as well you can probably see right here
there’s just shards of glass the extreme
heat from that just demolished it so
gonna have to get a new one of those but
that worked really well so this is what
is left over from this mixture if you’ve
seen it on the other pieces of foil as
well this is zinc oxide and then of
course little bits of shattered glass
everywhere because that’s why you don’t
mix it up until right before you’re
ready to use it so I am extremely glad
that it took a small precaution while it
was just sitting in that bowl it was
originally sitting right next to my
phone on the ground and I didn’t think
it was gonna light on fire but I thought
just in case because in theory this
stuff can just sort of spontaneously
combust I moved it out of the way and
kind of behind this pole so there would
be a layer of protection and then it lit
on fire and I’m happy to report that my
phone was not damaged I managed to pull
it out of the way even though it was
about a foot away it does sort of send
little sparks of molten zinc through the
air alright guys I’ve mixed up another
batch and I’m about to start gently
mixing it in this plastic bag and I’m
gonna pour it out onto the foil but it
has actually started to rain a little
bit maybe I didn’t choose the best day
to do this experiment so what I think is
gonna happen is I’m gonna start pouring
this powder out and it’s just gonna
start lighting on fire after a couple
seconds because there’s even water on
the foil already so let’s just watch
what happens
[Music]
alright I’ve poured it out so far it
doesn’t look like anything is lit on
fire it’s not raining very heavily so it
might be that there isn’t enough for it
to start quickly if it doesn’t start in
the next few seconds I’m just gonna grab
the spray bottle and get it going
unbelievable I’m giving it some help
doesn’t light as well if it’s not in a
pile new plan I’m just gonna pile it up
instead of leaving it in a snake
[Music]
try not to breathe just cooling it down
a little bit okay guys I’m gonna call
that a success despite a few hiccups
here and there
we got the negative X to light on fire
using just water at first it took a
little bit longer than I expected so I
mixed up a new batch being sure to grind
it into a much finer powder while we’re
doing our second test the bowl with the
rest of our batch bursts into flames
I don’t know if it was too humid outside
or if a stray raindrop hit it or if the
natural chemical process that takes
place in this reaction just started on
its own which can happen to understand
what was going on let’s talk a little
bit about the chemistry behind this
reaction when the water interacts with
the ammonium chloride it lets the
chloride act as a catalyst on the
ammonium nitrate the ammonium nitrate
breaks up into nitrous oxide and water
the water continues to react with more
ammonium nitrate spreading the reaction
at the same time the nitrous oxide
begins reacting with the zinc forming
zinc oxide and that puts off a zinc
oxide and nitrogen gas so then the whole
thing puts out a whole lot of heat
lights on fire and what you’re left with
is zinc oxide nitrogen gas and water in
the form of steam you can see the
residue left over this is mostly zinc
oxide of course the nitrogen gas and the
water in the form of steam dissipated
into the air a word again about the
safety of this stuff as I think you’ve
seen it can be pretty dangerous it takes
just a little bit of water and only a
couple seconds to light on fire or in
the case of what I had in the mixing
bowl it takes I don’t even know maybe
just humidity in the air and there was
enough of it in one spot that it just
ignited and it broke my mixing bowl
because it was so hot so fast so be very
careful with this stuff you cannot store
it even if you have a clean dry jar
eventually the ammonium chloride will
start to react with the ammonium nitrate
so never make this until you’re ready to
use it also be aware that the zinc fumes
are toxic so you want to be upwind from
your mixture thank you so much for
joining me in this video I look forward
to the next one talk to you then also
you should like this stuff it’s
we look at that that’s your zinc oxide
right there this turns to dust there’s
also a little bit of wind here goes
nothing oh come on you right there the
one who just watched this video to the
end you are the reason that we work so
hard to make these videos it’s for
people like you thank you very kindly
for being as supportive as you are you
keep watching the videos we’ll keep
making more
joining us here today on the king of
random a little while ago I saw a video
of something that seemed impossible
lighting a fire using water it’s an
experiment that I want to try and
replicate here today and find a recipe
that will work every time I did a little
bit of research and found that this
chemical mixture is something that’s
called negative X although I couldn’t
find anything that explained why it was
called that so if you have a source that
tells me where the name came from please
let me know down in the comments I found
a recipe for this mixture that uses only
three ingredients before you add the
water
ammonium nitrate ammonium chloride and
zinc powder so first I’ll talk a little
bit about what each of these ingredients
are and where you can get them and then
we’ll see if we can make fire from water
ammonium nitrate is a nitrate salt
that’s frequently used as a type of
fertilizer and when it mixes with water
it produces an endothermic reaction
endothermic means that it gets really
cold and that actually has to do with
where we can get ammonium nitrate you
can buy these instant cold packs that
are full of a bag of water and ammonium
nitrate beads there are a few different
types of these cold packs so make sure
you check on the box to see that it says
that it contains ammonium nitrate I got
these ones at Target in the ammonium
nitrate and it works really well for
this experiment the next ingredient is
ammonium chloride which is an inorganic
compound fairly similar to table salt
it’s often sold in blocks like this with
a primary use of cleaning the tips of
soldering irons in a few countries like
the Netherlands you can also find it in
a powdered form on the outside of black
licorice candy the box this came in has
a warning on it that says to make sure
you don’t ingest any of it but because
it is used as a food in some places I’m
gonna lick it and see what it’s like
[Music]
all right so this stuff is weird it
feels like licking salt and a 9-volt
battery at the same time I don’t know
exactly what the chemical reaction
happening is but it really like buzzes
and fizzes on your tongue a little bit
it’s very strange
I’ve never had a food product do that
before and in case any of you were
worried I did look up the safety specs
for this stuff and I would have to eat a
fair amount of this block before I
really had to be worried about my health
the last ingredient we need today is
zinc and zinc is a fairly common metal
but we need it in a very pure form and
unless you have just the right equipment
we need to buy it to get it in this very
fine powder now we know our three
ingredients let’s try mixing them
together to see if we can start a fire
using water to start we’ll measure off
six grams of the ammonium nitrate next
we’ll scrape off one gram of our
ammonium chloride from the block before
we add our zinc we want to grind our
first two ingredients together into a
fine powder
[Music]
in a separate container or on a piece of
paper measure out 14 grams of the zinc
powder now we haven’t mixed the two
together yet because as soon as they are
combined you have something that’s
incendiary meaning it can catch fire
very easily and we don’t want to do that
while we’re indoors apparently you’re
not even supposed to mix this stuff up
if it’s raining outside or particularly
humid because it can catch fire just
from that so we’re gonna take our
ingredients outside carefully mix them
together and then see if we can light
them on fire just using water we’re
going to mix the ingredients using
what’s called the diaper method for all
of your powdered ingredients onto a
piece of paper and then lift the corners
to gently mix them together these larger
lighter colored bits of the ammonium
nitrate that probably weren’t ground-up
quite enough we’ll see if it will still
work even though I didn’t grind it into
quite as fine as a powder as I should
have all right I’ve got our negative X
mixture sitting on this piece of foil to
protect the ground underneath it I’m
gonna spray with a little bit of water
and then back off because when this
burns it releases zinc fumes which are
not good for you here goes nothing
[Music]
there we go now it’s starting around a
wider bevel
Wow look at that plane that is such a
cool bright green blue color
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
okay look off to the side you can
actually see it’s spitting little bits
of burning zinc
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
and I was faster
Oh
well
okay so I had a bunch of the negative x
mixed up getting ready to burn it in
separate little piles but remember my
warning about how you’re not supposed to
mix it up on a humid day today is a
little bit humid there’s clouds in the
sky and apparently that was enough to
set it off the bowl that it was in was
completely dry no water got sprayed on
it whatsoever and hit ignited it just
burst into flames and it actually
completely destroyed the my mixing bowl
as well you can probably see right here
there’s just shards of glass the extreme
heat from that just demolished it so
gonna have to get a new one of those but
that worked really well so this is what
is left over from this mixture if you’ve
seen it on the other pieces of foil as
well this is zinc oxide and then of
course little bits of shattered glass
everywhere because that’s why you don’t
mix it up until right before you’re
ready to use it so I am extremely glad
that it took a small precaution while it
was just sitting in that bowl it was
originally sitting right next to my
phone on the ground and I didn’t think
it was gonna light on fire but I thought
just in case because in theory this
stuff can just sort of spontaneously
combust I moved it out of the way and
kind of behind this pole so there would
be a layer of protection and then it lit
on fire and I’m happy to report that my
phone was not damaged I managed to pull
it out of the way even though it was
about a foot away it does sort of send
little sparks of molten zinc through the
air alright guys I’ve mixed up another
batch and I’m about to start gently
mixing it in this plastic bag and I’m
gonna pour it out onto the foil but it
has actually started to rain a little
bit maybe I didn’t choose the best day
to do this experiment so what I think is
gonna happen is I’m gonna start pouring
this powder out and it’s just gonna
start lighting on fire after a couple
seconds because there’s even water on
the foil already so let’s just watch
what happens
[Music]
alright I’ve poured it out so far it
doesn’t look like anything is lit on
fire it’s not raining very heavily so it
might be that there isn’t enough for it
to start quickly if it doesn’t start in
the next few seconds I’m just gonna grab
the spray bottle and get it going
unbelievable I’m giving it some help
doesn’t light as well if it’s not in a
pile new plan I’m just gonna pile it up
instead of leaving it in a snake
[Music]
try not to breathe just cooling it down
a little bit okay guys I’m gonna call
that a success despite a few hiccups
here and there
we got the negative X to light on fire
using just water at first it took a
little bit longer than I expected so I
mixed up a new batch being sure to grind
it into a much finer powder while we’re
doing our second test the bowl with the
rest of our batch bursts into flames
I don’t know if it was too humid outside
or if a stray raindrop hit it or if the
natural chemical process that takes
place in this reaction just started on
its own which can happen to understand
what was going on let’s talk a little
bit about the chemistry behind this
reaction when the water interacts with
the ammonium chloride it lets the
chloride act as a catalyst on the
ammonium nitrate the ammonium nitrate
breaks up into nitrous oxide and water
the water continues to react with more
ammonium nitrate spreading the reaction
at the same time the nitrous oxide
begins reacting with the zinc forming
zinc oxide and that puts off a zinc
oxide and nitrogen gas so then the whole
thing puts out a whole lot of heat
lights on fire and what you’re left with
is zinc oxide nitrogen gas and water in
the form of steam you can see the
residue left over this is mostly zinc
oxide of course the nitrogen gas and the
water in the form of steam dissipated
into the air a word again about the
safety of this stuff as I think you’ve
seen it can be pretty dangerous it takes
just a little bit of water and only a
couple seconds to light on fire or in
the case of what I had in the mixing
bowl it takes I don’t even know maybe
just humidity in the air and there was
enough of it in one spot that it just
ignited and it broke my mixing bowl
because it was so hot so fast so be very
careful with this stuff you cannot store
it even if you have a clean dry jar
eventually the ammonium chloride will
start to react with the ammonium nitrate
so never make this until you’re ready to
use it also be aware that the zinc fumes
are toxic so you want to be upwind from
your mixture thank you so much for
joining me in this video I look forward
to the next one talk to you then also
you should like this stuff it’s
we look at that that’s your zinc oxide
right there this turns to dust there’s
also a little bit of wind here goes
nothing oh come on you right there the
one who just watched this video to the
end you are the reason that we work so
hard to make these videos it’s for
people like you thank you very kindly
for being as supportive as you are you
keep watching the videos we’ll keep
making more
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