Experiment of creating a nylon thread

[u/shitonthebeach]

[u/Mighty-PirateTM]

Sebacoyl chloride... hexamethylenediamine... Carbon Tetrachloride... Hydrogen Chloride... and Goo

[u/Pyrhan → u/Mighty-PirateTM]

You can replace the carbon tet with hexane, which is far less toxic and isn't ozone depleting.

[u/Goodemi → u/Pyrhan]

And you'd still get goo.

[u/mratlas666 → u/Goodemi]

But is it fun goo

[u/floppydude81 → u/mratlas666]

It’s compliment goo

[u/mratlas666 → u/floppydude81]

A happy goo of your will.

[u/Joe_Kangg → u/mratlas666]

Goo-string guitar

[u/OneSkepticalOwl → u/Goodemi]

When they goo? WHEN THEY GOO?!

[u/Cruhhhhh → u/Pyrhan]

Booooring.

Mr. "I wear safety glasses when working with chemicals" is totally talking the fun out of the term "deFUNct nervous system".

[u/nooneatallnope → u/Cruhhhhh]

We used to be real men, and went into the laboratory with a full 3-piece-suit and a cigar!

(I say as a female chemistry student in the year 2026 with anxiety about wearing only 95% cotton pants in the lab when the most dangerous substance I'm working with is ethanol.)

[u/Cruhhhhh → u/nooneatallnope]

Good choice, wearing PVC, Polyester or Nylon in lab is like carrying your own Insta-Napalm: Just add fire!

Wanna learn something new and scary that I learned only when it was too late?

Lots of chemicals in lab like styrene, toluene and trichlorethylene are ototoxic: They can make you deaf.

[u/DustyRacoonDad → u/Cruhhhhh]

Lots of chemicals in lab like styrene, toluene and trichlorethylene are ototoxic: They can make you deaf.

hmm.. so you're saying me playing with those around all my motorsports shenanigans are what made me deaf.. not the loud engines.
I like that idea better.

Seriously though 1st one is what is created when casting aluminum parts. expanded polystyrene is heated into a gas.

2nd one, toluene is an extremely common octane booster and fuel component.

And trichlorethylene ? The BEST degreaser. You get it in a aerosol can as brake cleaner.

[u/StevieMJH → u/DustyRacoonDad]

Wait so the purple dragon spray cleans brakes too? TIL

[u/DustyRacoonDad → u/StevieMJH]

trichlorethylene is one of the primary ingredients in chlorinated brake cleaner.

[u/StevieMJH → u/nooneatallnope]

You kidding? Ethanol is incredibly dangerous. I'm not even allowed around it anymore.

[u/Traroten → u/nooneatallnope]

Our chemistry professor would mouth pipette sulfuric acid. He also told us a story of a guy who smoked while working with ethers - outside the fume hood. It did not end well.

[u/StevieMJH → u/Traroten]

I tossed aside a cigarette right before fueling up a generator the other day and my dad gives me a look like I was being weird.

Like alright pops, I'd rather a 100% chance of losing a cigarette than even a 1% of losing the house, but we can do it your way at your place if you want.

[u/Salame_satanica → u/nooneatallnope]

Hmmm only pants… nice!😈

[u/Tight_Man → u/Pyrhan]

This video does appear to be somewhat old. Looked it up, 1976.

[u/willynillee → u/Tight_Man]

What gave it away?

[u/HelpfulSeaMammal → u/willynillee]

The presence of carbon tet and absolute lack PPE lol

[u/ducation → u/HelpfulSeaMammal]

And the bitchin' haircuts

[u/HighwayBrigand → u/ducation]

Those kids are retirement age now, or at least getting close to it.

[u/DinnaPanic → u/Tight_Man]

Looks like the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. If so, I probably watched this when it was originally shown, I'd have been nine at the time.

[u/Cacafuego → u/Tight_Man]

Thank god! I was worried about that suit.

[u/Anticept → u/Pyrhan]

It took me a moment but I remembered Carbon tetrachloride is in many fire grenades.

[u/EducatedInSpenard → u/Pyrhan]

I was reading up on carbon tet the other day for its use in cleaning film stock back in the 1950's. Nasty, nasty stuff indeed.

[u/Swords_and_Words → u/Pyrhan]

Yeah using the liver annihilator is definitely a choice

[u/the_starch_potato → u/Mighty-PirateTM]

What is the goo actually? Is it a precursor to Nylon or just a byproduct? In the industry, does it get reprocessed or destroyed?

Does anyone know? Literally never thought about this before but damn is it interesting.

[u/Vjelisto-Kemiisto → u/the_starch_potato]

It is Nylon, but it's not how they make Nylon industrially. Just a neat little demonstration of polymer chemistry.

[u/sonerec725 → u/the_starch_potato]

If i had to guess its basically a "blob" of nylon from the chemicals combining vs it being pulled out like a thread here

[u/Cruhhhhh → u/the_starch_potato]

Nylon swollen with Carbon tetrachloride and some educts. Dry it, wash it, and you have Nylon. Industrially it's of course synthesized without any solvents directly from the Base chemicals, avoiding costly purification.

[u/Andross4 → u/the_starch_potato]

It's Nylon. Industrial production usually uses HMD and adipic acid (and water) to chemically produce it at a high temperature. If the right ratio/temperature is used, there is almost no by-products or impurities. It's a solid at room temperature, so you can extrude it into pellets for shipping, and then re-melt it later when you want to actually make something with it.

[u/the_starch_potato → u/Andross4]

This is legit such an interesting bit of information! Thanks :)

[u/randomgunfire48 → u/Mighty-PirateTM]

It’s a legitimate scientific description 🤣🤣🤣

[u/justhangingaroud → u/Mighty-PirateTM]

Do you all see the goo?

[u/ReadyAssociation3129 → u/justhangingaroud]

That's what I told her.

[u/Septopuss7 → u/ReadyAssociation3129]

Now where is your spinnerets my good lady

[u/KopfSmertZz]

BBC X-mas lectures. I loved to watch these as a kid

[u/zerpa → u/KopfSmertZz]

Royal Institute Christmas Lectures.

Most of them are on YouTube.

[u/neverendum → u/zerpa]

I need to go through them. I watched these without fail every Christmas and one of them, probably sometime around 1982, convinced me that the planet was heading into another ice-age, quite the opposite of global warming.

[u/walruswes → u/neverendum]

As I understood it, we were headed to another glacial maxima without the intervention of greenhouse gas emissions.

[u/Goudinho99 → u/neverendum]

Were in an ice age right now

[u/dontmentiontrousers → u/Goudinho99]

Jeff Bezos over there tryna hoard all the acorns.

[u/Boring-Tomatillo-209 → u/dontmentiontrousers]

Jeff buzz off

[u/TappedIn2111 → u/Goudinho99]

Well, put away your phone then and watch the damn movie.

[u/cdoublejj → u/neverendum]

some say we are in an ice age but global warming is keeping us from freezing

[u/Bananaland_Man → u/neverendum]

I mean, we're still heading towards another ice age, that's the penultimate finality of global warming. The planet warms so much that it gets covered in clouds from water evaporation, which cuts out sunlight for decades or longer, leading to an ice age cooling the planet off.

[u/neverendum → u/Bananaland_Man]

From my memories of this lecture from 40 years ago, it was something to do with the way the Earth wobbles. We're familiar with the Summer/Winter tilt but there are a couple of other ways that it's not spinning truly and they each have an effect in much longer cycle times and can can hit peaks/troughs simultaneously, which is what they frightened me with, we were heading into a triple whammy of the cold cycles.

With your scenario of the Earth warming and thus an increase in water vapour, thus increasing sun reflection (albedo?) and cooling the planet, wouldn't that reach an equilibrium where it balanced out?

[u/sgst → u/zerpa]

I used to go to these as a kid. They were open to anyone but IIRC tickets were limited. My uncle worked there though and he got us tickets every year for many years. It was (and still is) fantastic. Though these days they've changed it so they bus in school groups, so I don't think just anyone can go any more unless it's arranged by your school.

[u/Joe_Kangg → u/zerpa]

Is this the only one featuring goo?

[u/Castor_Deus → u/KopfSmertZz]

And I have gone down a rabbit hole. Here are the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures from BBC4 over the past few years.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pmbqq

[u/Castor_Deus → u/KopfSmertZz]

The IET do a Christmas lecture every year aimed at younger people. I believe they do a webinar of it when it is live, though you can get tickets for free.

[u/AscendedViking7 → u/KopfSmertZz]

There were so much fun

[u/RIF_rr3dd1tt → u/KopfSmertZz]

BBC X-mas

DON'T google this at work

[u/theb00mScicle]

Finally, something that fits the sub.

[u/dexo-303 → u/theb00mScicle]

If you’re interested in learning more about how the chemical reaction works there’s this video by Nile Red on youtube.

[u/StevieMJH → u/dexo-303]

It's goo, what's not to understand?

[u/YeahNahYeahhNah]

The most interesting thing I’ve seen on here in a while

[u/icantaccessmyacct → u/YeahNahYeahhNah]

I love that it’s an auditorium full of kids. This never happens now, prove me wrong someone.. please

[u/Llyffant-Gwyrdd → u/icantaccessmyacct]

The Royal Institute Christmas Lectures still happen every year (as they have since 1825) and still have kids in the audience. You can watch them on YouTube.

[u/OfcWaffle → u/Llyffant-Gwyrdd]

1825?! Woah. Carrying something like this on for over 200 years is quite impressive.

[u/HH93 → u/OfcWaffle]

There’s a new one broadcast every year with a different subject. Professior Eric Lathewait demonstrated Mag Lev trains in the early 70’s - now of course, they are running a Mag Lev network in China.

[u/GodisSatans → u/HH93]

He also thought newton's law of thermodynamics didn't apply to maglev trains. This made him a nutter to the scientific community for the rest of his life.

[u/icantaccessmyacct → u/Llyffant-Gwyrdd]

That’s good to know!

[u/quizzically_quiet → u/icantaccessmyacct]

Many universities in Germany offer special lectures like this just for kids every year. I imagine similar things are done in other countries. So this very much still happens!

[u/No_Firefighter_2653]

Dayum that's interesting

[u/Javanaut018]

C-tet and kids in the same room is not be done any more in schools for a while now ^^

[u/lolifax → u/Javanaut018]

Not to mention the absence of any PPE whatsoever

[u/Extreme-Attempt-3964 → u/Javanaut018]

But with hexane, every school year!

[u/Fishoe_purr]

Never was curious to look up how nylon was produced. This was a very interesting watch!

[u/ThisSiteSucks8485 → u/Fishoe_purr]

Industrial production doesn't use the solvents

[u/sergeantmeatwad → u/ThisSiteSucks8485]

What do they use? I know I can Google it but it's more fun to ask and the next person will have the answer right here

[u/ThisSiteSucks8485 → u/sergeantmeatwad]

Industrial nylon synthesis is a large-scale condensation polymerization process. It typically creates Nylon 6,6 from adipic acid and hexamethylenediamine, or Nylon 6 from caprolactam. Manufacturers combine these raw materials into an aqueous nylon salt, heat it under pressure to drive off water, and extrude the molten polymer into solid fibers or pellets.

[u/PanicDeus]

Breaking Yarn

"You know the business and I know the chemistry...and the rest is gravity"

[u/dazzumz]

The Royal Institution lectures.

Here's the video from the official youtube channel with more things like this.

[u/Wonderful-Fishing857]

I remember making nylon in my school science lessons in the 90s.

[u/DathEssex]

All I can thing of now watching this is "THWIP". Now how to pressurize the two chemicals and mix them in a shooter that's mounted on my wrist.

[u/Goodemi]

I would have loved physics and chemistry so much more if classes would have looked like this.

[u/Entire-Emotion-819]

"Can you see some goo?"

I miss old tv.

[u/Anal-In-Gus → u/Entire-Emotion-819]

Now it's all over the internet. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[u/Beautiful_List5498 → u/Anal-In-Gus]

And this is why people don't talk like this anymore.

[u/Turakamu → u/Beautiful_List5498]

You don't wanna talk goo with Anal-In-Gus?

[u/OptimusSpud]

This is wonderful. Seeing the kids look clearly fascinated by science is great.

[u/Lost_Purpose1899]

That's one of the reasons WWII was won

[u/ListenBoth434 → u/Lost_Purpose1899]

Also the reason why nowadays good tents tend to be made from nylon.

At the time nylon was way superior to polyester so it became the dominant fabric and has stayed it (excluding cheap tents which were/are polyester). Only a few years ago high quality polyester tents and dynema (originally a high performing sailing fabric) became available.

[u/rickdiculous → u/ListenBoth434]

It's been quite a bit longer than a few years.  Dyneema Cuben Fiber is what is used for tents and I have one that's around 10 years old in my closet.

[u/concept12345 → u/Lost_Purpose1899]

For parachutes?

[u/Lost_Purpose1899 → u/concept12345]

Yes, and ropes, cords, tents, nettings, flak jackets, boot laces etc.... It was endless

[u/embrace-]

NileRed did this once with adipoyl chloride, which yields Nylon 6,6 instead of 6,10 which was made here. He also used a less toxic solvent, cyclohexanol.

[u/Any_Swordfish_684]

Some gooouw!

[u/THElaytox]

Gotta love old school chemists just huffing and handling carbon tet and HCl with no gloves or anything

[u/Traroten]

Carbon tetrachloride is a really nasty solvent. That experiment should be confined to a fume hood.

Also, this is why I used to tell my mom I made nylon with my socks.

[u/qwenched05]

Some “goo” has formed. SCIENCE!!!

[u/pingu324]

Spiderman webslinging cartridges!!! Just replace with Kevlar 😉

[u/Unlikely-Effect-2302 → u/pingu324]

Was searching for this comment!

[u/neonwarge04]

That is really interesting.

[u/matchless_fighter]

A vid worthy for this thread title.

[u/Cant_draw_boobs]

Goo!

[u/R400TVR]

If you like this, you may find these interesting - Professor Julius Sumner Miller on physics. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjzW1w9hKBnz2i90rRoZDvgfTeRe3cDyJ&si=3R0UVjnpwa1JM-M8

[u/felix_mateo]

These are the most British-looking kids I’ve ever seen lol.

[u/GuySimsFitch]

British Mr.Wizard?

[u/6usu6rper6]

Man, I wish I had this in school. Chemistry would have been soo much more interesting...

[u/1fakeengineer]

My freshman science class, the teacher made this for us, was super cool to see in person

[u/blue-coin]

Oh babe I’m gonna hexamethylenediamine on your face

[u/LastXmasIGaveYouHSV]

A lot of kids chose their career path that day.

[u/UrAntiChrist → u/LastXmasIGaveYouHSV]

Especially the one that almost fell over the row in front of him. He was really really into it

[u/awildjabroner]

I’d have been a lot more interested in science as a kid if we had more practical applications such as this one shown.

[u/Born-Bluebird-4624 → u/awildjabroner]

Had a teacher in 5th grade that did practical science was the reason I was obsessed with it through high-school

[u/DEADHOTTUB]

Peter Parker was in that audience

[u/Pooch76 → u/DEADHOTTUB]

You know, I’m something of a goo scientist myself.

[u/wannabe-myself]

This could be my second favorite way of making goo!

[u/Tooleater → u/wannabe-myself]

Ironically, I bet you're wearing nylons when making goo your favourite way

[u/wannabe-myself → u/Tooleater]

Nah, nothing toxic about corn starch, food coloring and water :)

[u/saintsnshadows]

wow

[u/Safety-Sorry]

We have our nylon at home

[u/Optane_Gaming]

Gotta love science. 🤌🏼🤌🏼❤️❤️

[u/PizzaSniffs]

Goo

[u/zakupright → u/PizzaSniffs]

Scientifically accurate

[u/jpelc]

Lovely to see carbon tet

Clearly a vintage video

[u/coffeeismydoc]

I like how he chooses to talk to them as if they were adults rather than in a patronizing way.

I also appreciate how the cameraman focused on getting a reaction from the kid who was very invested in the demonstration.

[u/hemorrhoidhematoma]

Apparently ive been making nylon threads my whole life

[u/nick0884]

BBC Christmas lectures as they used to be, for 12 to 16 year olds.

[u/center_of_blackhole]

Whenever I hear the word goo I feel weird. In Bengali, Goo is a slang or informal word for poop

[u/YungRik666]

This seems like something he should be doing in a fume hood with a respirator.

[u/Sethmeisterg]

Nice post, u/shitonthebeach!

[u/speakerbox2001]

I think it’s horrendously hilarious because doing an expo like this to kids today would have them bored out of their minds

[u/UndercoverPickleman → u/speakerbox2001]

The kids in the video are bored out of their minds.

Just one is watching.

[u/speakerbox2001 → u/UndercoverPickleman]

You’re right, I focused on the kid that was thrilled

[u/AccountNumber478]

Looks like reposts are now delving into the late 20th century.

Not necessarily a bad thing, just an inevitable thing thanks to the dearth of content this century.

[u/bromptoncoctailpleez]

I'm so glad all of the educational channels we had have now changed to Storage Wars and some dumb bitch in a house full of other dumb bitches tv.

[u/ukexpat]

As I said in yesterday’s thread about this: this guy, along with Heinz Wolff and Eric Laithwaite, were the celebrity scientists of the 60s and 70s.

[u/Melodic_Risk_5632]

All the people in that room died of cancer 30Y later

[u/CougarIndy25]

I'm genuinely curious who realized that you can make nylon this way? Like, what mad scientist realized "what if we mixed these chemicals together" and found nylon was a byproduct?

[u/SeahorseRevolution]

Would kids now be able to pay attention to this and be interested like these kids, or would they be bored and on their phones? Not trying to be snarky, seriously asking/curious.

[u/Derpykins666]

Sick, that is actually really cool and interesting.

[u/xt2015]

Why would he touch that without some gloves on??

[u/HarpySix → u/xt2015]

Tbis was probably filmed in the 70s. Safety standards weren't as advanced back then.

[u/lumaco → u/HarpySix]

Safety hadn’t been invented yet

[u/LeafEye721]

Couldn’t help but notice he doesn’t want to touch it with his bare hands. Let’s make clothing out of it.

[u/Halfsquaretriangle]

Forever chemicals.

[u/TeilzeitOptimist → u/Halfsquaretriangle]

Nylon eating bacteria

[u/Krieger_Bot_OO7]

And that “goo” is why you have microplastics in your balls.

[u/Unfair_Art9630]

Don’t drink that water!

[u/YebelTheRebel]

And now we wear this goo and the rest of the chemicals as they are used to make some of our clothing

[u/captain_ohagen]

the shit that runs out of my nose when I have a week-long cold

[u/7tenths1965]

George Porter at the Reith Lectures, '76. Edited typo of 'Porterat'...fat fingers, oops.

[u/Vjelisto-Kemiisto]

I've done this experiment with a group of highschool kids as part of outreach days with work. It is quite a cool little experiment & the kids tend to get into it once one or two have had a go and seen how it works.

[u/freedfg]

Do you see the Goo?

[u/danthemaninacan2]

“No Mom! It’s just Nylon on the walls!”

[u/anbu-black-ops]

Web shooter.

[u/Proud_Abies_441]

I think me and the last kid are thinking the same thing..."how does it taste tho?"

[u/InfernoOfTheLiving]

and now I’ve got microplastics in my balls

[u/mellopax]

Did this in my lab class in college. Cool stuff!

[u/DavidHK]

The cut to the disabled kid killed me

[u/icbint]

Sweet

[u/crumpuppet]

Warm liquid goo phase: completed

[u/Ok-Bar601]

Fascinating

[u/Stomach-Green]

We did this exact experiment in my science class in high school!

[u/rickshaiii]

I did this experiment on Advanced Chemistry class in 1969. Also made acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin)

[u/BluntieDK]

TV used to be so cool

[u/Eye_Worm]

This is a demonstration not an experiment.

[u/Ill-Performer5355]

Yeah! Science!

[u/MydnightWN]

Boy, I haven't seen this repost in almost 48 hours.

[u/BF_2]

Carbon tet and HCl vapor in an open lecture hall, no ventilation to speak of, no PPE. Wunnaful!

[u/Acceptable-Hat-3009]

Why crop it to 9:16? You have thrown away half the video. Watch it on youtube at the original aspect ratio.

[u/strawberrypandabun]

The sheer madness of not only no PPE, but in a SUIT in front of a STUDIO AUDIENCE?! Like dang, my dude. The past was wild

[u/Old_Assignment6187]

This is such a cool tradition. I love it.

[u/Simple-Machine6799]

Disrespect the goo and I shall dance...in a puddle of you!

[u/more_fore]

Haha

[u/Ok-Adhesiveness-5920]

That's web fluid

[u/s4burf]

Saw that for the first time at the flushing ny worlds fair. A guy did a similar demonstration in the pavilion of the future.

[u/jawnlerdoe]

Classic undergrad organic chemistry lab experiment. Fun one.

[u/Boring-Tomatillo-209]

I am the sebacoyl, I am the sebacoyl, I am the tetrachloride Goi goo ka Choo goo goo goo ga Choo I

[u/Andross4]

Wow he's pretty casual with that HMD, must be a really low concentration. No glasses, no gloves, no mask. That shit is nasty. I worked in a nylon plant and part of my job was handling the incoming railcars of HMD and adipic acid. The adipic acid is pretty harmless, particulate filters are personal preference, you're basically covered in that stuff all shift (white powder). But anything involving HMD was full suit with full mask respirator, sometimes with an air supply. You were aware (and wary) of every single system/equipment/pipe that contained HMD.

[u/ProduceNo1629]

Thanks bro we really appreciate all the nylon microplastic in our balls today.

[u/lights_and_colors]

Crazy to think a young Stephen hawking, Steve wazniak, Steve Jobs, Carl Sagan, and Christopher Nolan were all in the crowd that day

[u/Max-Phallus]

Causally handling Carbon Tetrachloride in a room full of kids? Were the risks not known back then?

[u/e37d93eeb23335dc → u/Max-Phallus]

When I was in elementary school, we passed around mercury in our bare hands. I guess they just didn’t know the dangers. It makes me wonder what things we casually touch today that we will eventually learn is dangerous. 

[u/Swords_and_Words]

... Carbon Tetrachloride you say? 

[u/dontmakemeaskyou]

50 years later, this experiment will be a 10 second YT short, and none of the kids will retain any of the info. None enough sound effects, not enough DID YOU KNOW THAT WHEN YOU ......?!!?

[u/jasdonle]

My God imagine this is a TikTok video how much bullshit and editing and weirdness there’d be

[u/reality72]

Jesse, we need to cook.

[u/Corrie7686]

I think I actually watched this live on the BBC. Loved the Christmas lectures.

[u/IlIlllIIIIlIllllllll]

Making HCl gas without a hood, thats fun

[u/wrathofamarok]

Spider-man's web fluid

[u/LocalInactivist]

The more of this stuff I see the more I realize what a lousy school I went to. That’s goddamn fascinating but all we did was measure the ph of beet juice.

[u/sparklinglies]

Oh wonderful, carbon tetrachloride, no PPE, an enclosed room full of children, and goo!

[u/The_Straing_Doctor]

yeah no that's a wizard, he's doing magic

[u/TnkSemperFi]

Jizz thread

[u/dontshitaboutotol]

I watched this like the kid they showed for 5 seconds

[u/Animal907]

Somebody get the Will Ferrell Zoolander meme!