Home Chemistry: 9mm Bullet in Acetic Acid & Hydrogen Peroxide - As or Sb Byproduct?
1,273 views · Published 27 November 2018 · 6:33 · Indexed 6 October 2026
Channel: Matthew Wilson · 2018 · Howto & Style
My title sucks for this video and the video itself is probably not a spectacular cinematic experience, but I thought the topic was note worthy enough to make a short video. In previous experiments I've performed making lead acetate, I noted the formation of a white precipitate byproduct which didn't seem to match any lead compound which could have been formed with the given reactants. The only white insoluble lead based solid I knew of at the time was lead sulfate, but acetic acid (aka ethanoic acid) doesn't form any insoluble lead compounds. I figured this byproduct was just contaminates from the lead I had used. I have done a lot of research over the past year and I've become aware of what elements are added into certain alloys. Arsenic is commonly alloyed with lead for ammunition/bullets. I'm not sure of the alloyed material in other common lead products such as fishing weights, but this is typically what I've used in the past to generate lead acetate.--specifically "Bullet Weights Inc" lead coil. Arsenic is also common in the lead alloy used in lead acid batteries, so if recycled lead is used for other products, chances are there is going to be some arsenic carried over to the new lead based consumer products. The thing which alerted me to possible arsenic exposure began with etching igneous rocks with acid. I wanted to know what was in the waste solution so that I could store and categorize the hazmat material accordingly. This ultimately lead me to the realization that arsenic was a very common byproduct in just about everything, though the abundance varies greatly. The surprising discovery for me was finding out arsenic was deliberately added to numerous metal alloys, with lead being the main element of interest. Arsenic trioxide is a white solid which is insoluble in water, and it will ultimately be formed upon dissolution of lead in an acetic acid & H2O2 solution. I took note that Nile Red also formed a copious amount of an unknown white precipitate while making lead acetate and I came to the realization that arsenic trioxide is a real possibility especially given multiple examples of a mystery waste byproduct. If the experiment forming the "Tree of Saturn" is performed using purified lead acetate, the resulting lead product formed can be accumulated and redissolved to form lead acetate again. This 2nd generation of lead acetate does not form a white precipitate, so this further inclines me to examine the waste products to test for arsenic. In a future video, I'll be taking the waste byproducts from forming lead acetate and placing the material through a process called the "Marsh Test". The Marsh test is a highly sensitive procedure to test for arsenic and is the most accessible test I'm able to perform at home. It goes without saying, DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. The procedures I am running are inherently dangerous and should not be performed without adequate knowledge, training and experience. I'm not a professional chemist by any means, however, I've performed a great deal of research into every compound I've worked with or will work with. I perform tests at a micro-scale before scaling up and I take all appropriate safety precautions to protect myself and the surrounding environment and community.
