Pharao's snakes Made with Calcium gluconate tablets

[lemmi]

I found this video of our user andrewtretiakov on youtube:



I wonder what the bases, on which the tablets are posed, and which then are ignited, are made of? I also would be interested in the composition of the tablets. In Germany we use Emser Pastillen, which contain sodium hydrogencarbonate, for this purpose. Sadly ist seems to me, that the formula of the Pastillen has changed. They don't work as well as formerly...

[aliquis]

ISadly ist seems to me, that the formula of the Pastillen has changed. They don't work as well as formerly...

Recently my daughter and me made the same disappointing experience when we tried this years after my last attempt when the Emser pastilles still worked perfectly.

Gluconate tablets are composed quite differently and used for other purposes then the Emser ones. They should be mostly made of calcium gluconate and used as a supplement or an antidot (everyone who handles hydrofluoric acid should have them in reach, just in case).

https://divari.lt/de/kalzium-glukonat-5 ... -tabletten

I guess the bases are simple fireclay tiles. I use a slightly thicker version of them, available in every hardwarestore:
https://www.hornbach.de/p/schamottstein ... 60EALw_wcB
They are well suited for burning solids on it without setting the underground under thermal stress.

[mgritsch]

I guess the bases are simple fireclay tiles.

The tiles are not in question. I guess he rather refers to the white cubes that the tablets are placed upon. As the tablets don't burn well on their own it requires some fuel to decompose the gluconate. My guess: Esbit ("Trockenspiritus", Urotropin)

[MarbsLab]

Read the description of the video

"All you need is solid fuel tablets (such as the ones used to cook or heat liquids when going out camping). These hexamine tablets have the advantage that they do not produce any smoke, leave almost no residue behind and they burn for quite some time."

Cheers

Markus

[lemmi]

Gut, und wie funktionieren die Calciumgluconat-Tabletten? Zersetzt sich das irgendwie unter CO2-Entwicklung, so wie Natron?

[MarbsLab]

Jup. Hier wird der Versuch auch beschrieben: https://melscience.com/BE-en/articles/g ... xperiment/

[aliquis]

Die Volumenzunahme erfolgt jedoch nicht nur aufgrund der festen Endprodukte, sondern auch aufgrund der freigesetzen Gase, die im dem Gebilde teilweise eingeschlossen werden und es dadurch aufblähen. Das Gluconat übernimmt also sowohl die Rolle des Natrons wie auch des Zuckers in den Emser Pastillen. Gluconolacton, welches sich unter Wassersbspaltung aus Gluconsäure bildet, kann sogar als Backtriebmittel verwendet werden: https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucons%C3%A4ure
Zuviel auf einmal von dem Gebäck sollte man jedoch nicht verputzen, sonst wirkt das Zersetzungsprodukt des Gluconolactons noch ein zweites Mal als "Triebmittel"...

[andrewtretiakov]

Read the description of the video

"All you need is solid fuel tablets (such as the ones used to cook or heat liquids when going out camping). These hexamine tablets have the advantage that they do not produce any smoke, leave almost no residue behind and they burn for quite some time."

Cheers

Markus

Thank you Markus I was just about to say that

[andrewtretiakov]

I found this video of our user andrewtretiakov on youtube:



I wonder what the bases, on which the tablets are posed, and which then are ignited, are made of? I also would be interested in the composition of the tablets. In Germany we use Emser Pastillen, which contain sodium hydrogencarbonate, for this purpose. Sadly ist seems to me, that the formula of the Pastillen has changed. They don't work as well as formerly...

Thank you for posting the video. I first tested the Emser Pastillen many many years ago and as you said the results were disappointing. A change of some of the ingredients or quantities are probably the cause of this. The gluconate tablets I used I got them from Ebay. They work really well when you pile them up one on top of each other (they are rather small). Regarding the fuel, it is a solid fuel usually found in camping shops or steam model shops. As I wrote in the video description, these hexamine tablets have the advantage that they do not produce smoke and leave little to no residue behind.

Alternatively, some sweets here in the UK (Love Hearts, Giant Fizzers, Refreshers – look for sodium hydrogen carbonate or sodium bicarbonate in the ingredients) will produce similar but not spectacular results.
https://edu.rsc.org/exhibition-chemistr ... 76.article

Hope to see if you can find any sweets or other pastillen that work in Germany.
Cheers,
A