Making bakelite plastic (Part 1)

In part 1, I will be doing the classic Bakelite demonstration and making resole.

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[joshua]

"I tried several times to get it to explode" got to love these chemists.

[thescrimble]

"If someone gave this to me and said nothing, I would probably try to eat it"

-Nile 2017

[efenedick]

The knowledge that there's a machine out there called "the Bakelizer" that looks like a steampunk bomb but just makes cool plastic brings a smile to my face

[slook]

When I took industrial hygiene, my teacher showed us a formaldehyde detector and told us that he'd demonstrate it but that there's not likely any formaldehyde nearby us. I raised my hand and asked if there was any bakelite nearby, because that should have formaldehyde. He was surprised that I knew about that and said that he had a battery case or something made of black bakelite. So we set the monitor next to it and it worked! It detected a little bit of formaldehyde!

[gmc]

When I was in junior high I was really into chemistry and there was a chemistry book in the school library that had all sorts of dangerous experiments (mercury, nitric acid, fireworks) including making bakelite. This was back in the 70's.

[theolddeus]

Bakelite pool balls are pure auditory perfection.

[theCodyReeder]

wait... I have a bakalizer like thing!

[sugars]

"With great difficulty, I jammed it back into the mold"

_UPSIDE DOWN_

[hedgehogeli]

NileRed: is chemist
Also NileRed: jams bakelite back into mold in the **wrong orientation**

[alanstarkie]

Even though it's an early form of synthetic material, Bakelite has a certain tactile and visual quality that modern plastics just haven't got. I remember that it had a strong smell though.

[ElectraFlarefire]

If you wish to revisit this, you should be able to build a workable bakerlizer(sp) using a steel 'pressure pot' of the type used for paint sprayers. Mine has a working pressure of 80 psi(And according to steam tables, should be good at keeping water from boiling below about 160c) and has a silicon seal that should hold well with the heat.
Do be careful do to the whole 'steam explosion' risk if you wish to go down this path. :)

[shanemcdowell]

Bakelite was also used to make Kalashnikov style magazines due to it being cheaper than steel and more durable than aluminum.

[NicolasBana]

Cody will surely enjoy using his pressure chamber as a bakelizer !

[jacquelinehavermann]

I spaced out for a bit and had a good chuckle when he said "I turned off the toaster." Never thought a toaster would be used in science lol

[kevinbyrne]

Thank you. I can see that you spent a lot of time researching, doing the chemical experiments, taping, editing, ...
Your efforts are _much_ appreciated.

[harrickvharrick]

@NileRed I find myself 50 yo and I still remember many things that were made of bakelite. In my grandmother's house, the telephone, the wall sockets (outlets) and parts of her toaster were made from bakelite, for instance. All things made of bakelite I remember were coloured black. They all shared one aspect, they would break easily.. the bakelite used for them was hard, but brittle - it would not live up to any kind of impact. I always thought that that was just what bakelite was like, that it was an unavoidable sort of imperfection of the kind of material. Watching your video however makes me wonder if that brittleness actually rather was due to the amount of fillers that the producents of all those things put into it. I can imagine that using fillers would make it much cheaper to produce things that were made of bakelite. And, if I understand correctly, it was already put under pressure to cure it in the forms used - which also would have made it very easy to fill them up with a powdery filler first, then flood make that filler and make it absorb a much lower amount of the actual bakelite whilst still in liquid form. And when it was cured its surfaces would be as smooth as the insides of the forms that were used were, and you totally wouldn't be able to tell by sight that any fillers were in it anyway. .. until you actuality broke the household item that it most likely was what they made, and even then you'd only be able to tell be cause of the grainy inner structure that now got exposed. You think that is how it was, or were other effects causing these properties? And thank you by the way!

[mr.conductor]

"Release Bakelite into all passages and pipes up to Section 803!"
I know I'm not the only one...

[annelieseocallaghan]

Brilliant, I have an old Bakelite radio. The history and chemistry of plastic is fascinating.

[rheticus]

I just bought some cheap electrical switches made of soft plastic that melted when I tried soldering the metal connection tabs. Since the switch can fail, I will not use them except for low current and voltage applications, far less than the switches "rating." The old bakelite switches are really durable. Always wondered how it was made.

[BBand]

Novolacs sounds like a drug
Ask your doctor if Novolax is right for you.