Videos before 2021... I hope! (Patreon)

Hello everyone!!

If you're new here (which once again is quite a few people... thanks so much!), usually the way I do projects is work on one short, medium and long project at the same time. So if I get about 6 videos done a year (sad but that's been the case) then I'd be looking to complete 3 short projects, 2 medium and 1 long project.
[counting it up out of interest sake, since deciding on this format in Oct 2018, there's been 4 short, 2 medium and 2 long projects made into videos, so I guess that's about right, although slower than predicted of course]

This has worked well I think, but I'm looking to ditch it now.

In Feb 2021 I'm starting a 4 month internship. I'm pausing my PhD to do it, and after the internship I only have a few months left of PhD in which to finish my thesis. So... the first half of 2021 is pretty hectic for me in 'real life'. Also, out of respect for the internship (amongst other issues...) I think it would be best if I didn't upload at all to either channel while I was doing that work. So really, i'll be having a break from Youtube for the first half of 2021. Sad.

So, what I want to do is get as many videos done as possible before I go on the break. At the usual upload speed, I'm only looking at finishing another 2 videos or so before the break. That's no good. Honestly, I would like to do about 4 more videos before the break.

To do this, I'll be leaving behind any 'long' projects. Next year, even though I wont be uploading, I'll probably still be tinkering away in the lab.... not officially... but it does give me the perfect opportunity to slowly work on some big long projects, so when i'm back in late 2021, there'll be some serious chemistry projects completed! Now however, is the time to try and get some quick chemistry projects done... well '''quick''' in my sense.

There's a lot of ideas of course, and so many will make good videos I feel... but I've been thinking this over and I think the last few videos of 2020 will be from this list:::

Coloured flash powder - Using Rare Earth Metals for unique spectral lines
Cool bit: Using a spectrometer to analyse flash powder spectrums. Use of the homemade glove box (coming soon!) to powder rare earth, maybe even making pyrophoric flash powders?

Ascaridole from Epazote - Extracting an explosive from a plant
Cool bit: how long i've spent on this project.....

Tetrazole N-Oxides - Adding oxygen to the tetrazole ring
Cool bit: using the slow-motion camera to get proper high speed footage of cans blowing up

Cesium - Distilling cesium from CsCl and lithium from batteries
Cool bit: slow-mo camera again. The glove box to allow some handling capability.

Bismuth and Perchloric acid - An unknown black explosive
Cool bit: The lack of a good explanation, and the ease at which this works... i enjoy that.


Ok so that's 5 videos, so hopefully I can get 3-5 of them done.
A lot of ideas miss out, including:

- Napalm 1 vs Napalm 2
- Ammonium dinitramine
- NCl3 remake
- Explosive antimony
- Cl2O7
- Nitration of Food

But we will get to them sometime eventually I guess... I hope!!

Also, there's our two current long projects, which will go on in the background:
- Cubane
- Flash powder from Platinum Group metals
And the first half of next year is a great time to work on them. Actually.... I want to see how far I can get with the cubane synth before the break, because that's been really fun on Extractions&Ire.

All this being said, i'm always taking suggestions! Hopefully these ideas seem fun... personally i'm really excited about all of the, and can't wait to start!

Thanks for all your support that has allowed all this to happen! If I make 4 videos before the break, I might break even on the camera and the spectrometer and the furnace and the rare earth and.... but that doesn't even matter. The fact that I can even budget for it is all thanks to Patreons, and I think the end of this year is going to be some of the best content yet.

Thanks,
Tom