Up Next
Back to Show
Reactions
The One Where We Put Stuff in Acid
Season 4
Episode 38
Watch as Reactions uses some acid know-how to tell a chemistry detective story and sort real gold from the imposters. Acids are reactive, and even weak acids like vinegar can wow people with their reactivity. But strong acids can really put on a show, dissolving otherwise relatively inert metals. And aqua regia, or royal water, is a mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acids that can dissolve gold.
Support Provided By
6:31
How did something meant to keep you safe end up killing over 100 people?
5:39
We try to find some of the 700 trillion dollars worth of gold in the ocean.
6:20
We show you how two simple changes can turn cardboard-y pizza into award winning pie.
7:19
We discover how the Surfside Condominium—a modern building built in 1981—fail.
7:38
But the furthest we’ve traveled is 7 miles down, so how could we know that?
6:43
Every year more than 1,000 tons of plastic rains down onto national parks and wilderness.
8:05
See what happens when we try to make a strawberry last forever.
5:55
We unwrap the possibility that lead caused the Roman Empire’s collapse.