Potassium metal is like weird butter

I have this little tube from Russia, and it's been sitting on my desk for over a month. However, I think it's finally time to open it. What's inside is potassium metal, and it looks gross and dirty, because it's so reactive.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[UB]

"Now, just for fun, I chopped off a thin slice of it... and put it on some toast."

[brianlam]

My chemistry teacher used to have some decades old potassium laying around since the 70s and apparently before the school took it away, he used to have demonstrations outside where he would throw a chunk of potassium into water and it would explode, like “a hand grenade”.

[ShortHax]

Me eating banana and drinking water: “Guess I’ll die”

[SSSyndrome]

It's neat how central that metal is to our nervous systems and our health in general.

[ktrieun]

NileRed: “Okay, so it’s apparently stuck and it’s going to be a bit more annoying than I thought.”

I fully expected the hammer to fall… My disappointment is immense.

[nikel-]

NileRed : The metal is stuck and it gonna be more annoying than I thought
The metal : K

[Karuzo]

Nigel: " I chopped of a thin slice of it and..."
Me: "Chew on it! Please Chew on it!"
*Nigel Drops it in water and it explodes"
Me: "Yeah I'm glad I'm not a chemist..."

[Steve]

One thing I've learned from your videos is the importance of being careful with seemingly innocuous substances. It doesn't take much to generate a reaction!

[marspp]

My chemistry teacher (early 90s) showed us what happens when a little piece of lithium is dropped in a breaker of water, from behind a screen. It fizzed and popped. Then he did the same with some sodium and it REALLY fizzed and popped. He then did the same with a piece of potassium and the whole thing exploded. Very cool 🙃
He noted that he wouldn’t do it with caesium as he quite liked the chemistry lab building...
I recall the metals were stored in oil-filled jars to keep them away from the moisture in the atmosphere.

[adams]

"Time to butter my toast at Nilered's house!"

*explodes and dies*

[denremonxxx]

NileRed few years ago: you shouldn't cut old potassium metal in case of superoxides mix with unreacted metal and produce violent fire
NileRed now: cuts it

[The.RandomTube]

I've watched this video multiple times in the past but I never noticed the small ignition at 0:43 Really showcases how pottasium can ignite while in contact with air and constant mixing!

[afshankhan]

A metal that is soft and blow up when put in water.

Just unimaginable.

Edit: What is truly unimaginable is how someone bought up how Islamic God doesn't exist on a chemistry video in my reply section.

[CyberTheFurry]

My teacher was demonstrating how potassium reacts when it makes contact with water, but the science department gave her a bottle with a huge chunk of it and she even said "I'm so tempted to chuck this in but it'll destroy the class" everyone for the next 10 minutes were asking her to do it, she never did

[iammiban]

Everytime NileRed says "Now just for fun" he fulfills some of my fantasies.

[geostorm]

"So I bought this from Russia..." is how the legends start

[Woodpeckah]

Nile: 'Honey, why does the sandwich taste different?'
His wife: 'We ran out of butter so I used the one in your lab.'

[robertmiller]

Are we gonna talk about how it made a small spark and smoke when Nigel was trying to get it out the tube? Lol

[EverBread]

My chemistry teacher demonstrated with this before. This stuff is so reactive that you can’t touch it with your fingers otherwise the moisture of your hands will cause a reaction.

[ajvarninja]

1:02 Nice cook on the Potassium, very moist and tender inside, full of flavours. Perfectly seasoned, a stunning dish.