Coke Cans in Acid and Base - Periodic Table of Videos

We put two aluminium Coke cans into Hydrochloric Acid and Sodium Hydroxide.

Periodic Videos films are by video journalist Brady Haran

[ncgljib]

A chemistry lab is like a party. Some drop the acid, others drop the base.

[RFC]

"It looks pretty disgusting." - Another successful day at the lab!

[lavaX]

I think many of your viewers would have appreciated knowing what the concentration of your two solutions were...

[NurdRage]

I was going to do this for my channel, now you beat me to it :P

Great work though! :)

[maxovitsj]

Pretty awesome video, clearly shows how dangerous both an acid and a base can be. I think that most people don't realize how dangerous a base can be.

Keep up the great videos Brady!

[sethappleton]

Back in before we did acids and bases in chemistry everybody wanted to know what would happen if you combined an acid and a base. When our chemistry teacher finally caved in and showed Huge disappointment

[desvlogs]

My science teacher played this in class and I flipped out because I never thought he would play one of these videos but I was so darn happy when I heard Sam's voice as I looked up from my notes

[mbanana]

It's all about that base no acid.

[sysprog]

Neil, can you clean up for us. LOL, poor Neil, always gets stuck doing the necessary work.

[aaronedvalson]

In another video where a lightbulb was submerged in HF acid I noticed a similar effect. The surface of the liquid is where the activity seemed to be most prominent and cuts a neat line around the objects. Why is this? What's the property of a liquid that makes the surface so different? I imagine it's related to the actual energy being exerted in surface tension. I have done many electrolysis experiments where the anode will separate at the surface and remain.

[soylentgreenb]

Most cans have a thin layer of epoxy on the inside, including soft drink cans. This might skew results.

[mrazaboi]

Is this what scientists do all day?? I'm in the wrong job

[praspurgh]

1:12 you made a mistake, it made aluminum chloride and hydrogen gas in the HCl, not water.

[jhaaglund]

The acid was pretty cool, but personally I'm all about that base.

[wippip]

Its spelled Aluminium everywhere apart from the US.

[alecdoyle]

I love all the videos you and the team have it it over the years. I enjoy watching the reaction and having you explain what and how it is breaking down. It’s 🤩 amazing. I’m going to be practicing quick lime this winter to try and grow a winter crop I’m hoping it keeps them warm.

[theRealPlaidRabbit]

I'd love to see a comparison between how both the NaOH and the HCl affect the Aluminium and the steel cans.

[TheCorrectionist]

I would never have expected NaOH to do that. I used to dissolve cans with HCl (brick cleaner) as a kid and collect the hydrogen that evolved with a garbage sack and light it. This brought back memories.

[stevenfyfe]

 Someone asked and there was no reply button so I thought I would copy and paste the question.
How does sodium hydroxide react with aluminum? NaOH + Al --> NaAl + (OH)-? How does that work? Where does the hydroxide end up?
My understanding is that OH is not a product.   I think H2O is also in the reactants and Hydrogen gas is a product.  In chemistry not all the information is given in a chemical formula.  The real chemical equation is below.
2Al(s) + 2NaOH(aq) + 6H2O → 2Na+(aq) + 2[Al(OH)4]- + 3H2(g
You see you have Aluminum, Sodium Hydroxide, and water = sodium, Aluminates. and hydrogen gas.

[downfromabove]

This isn't an experiment; it's a demonstration. The goal of the whole video was to show how acids and bases would react with an aluminum coke can. It had me pretty entertained. Just appreciate what they're showing you and don't be too pretentious.