The end of Cubane (for now)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 พ.ค. 2024
- A retrospective and Q&A on the cubane series. Merch (cubane shirts!): explosionsandfire.shop/
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The end of an era...
What a absolutely legendary saga
...and possibly the start of another!
Time will tell 😊
The beginning of another :)
He is now Cuban, apparently
Maybe cubane was not the important part, but the friends we made along this journey were
*but the tar we made along this journey
@@HermanCrantz I definitly should've said that
This comment is overused, but appropriate
The real cubane was the friends we made along the way
@@Sniperboy5551 kinda
“Methamphetamine but with a cube”
Legendary line.
I need cube meth
Timecube
@@MrBn100fuland cube dexys
Cubeamphetamine
methamphetamine³
My personal favorite quotes from this saga: "I love suffering"; "Chemolius"; "this is surprisingly approachable"
"I love sulfering" 😅
Methamphetamine but a cube
Approachable for suitable values of approachable.
@@GoikOSheaI like my meth *cubic*
i talked about your cubane series in my interview for oxford and it worked. i am now in 3rd year. thank you for bringing us along the way!
Haha hell yeah, that’s amazing to hear
@@ExtractionsAndIrei take it that you've finished your fiziks digree now?! Chem degree next? Or out into industry? 😊
Uh, we need more information.
How did you reference it? Why? What is your degree path? Etc.....
wait im a third year oxford chemist as well lmaoo. i love ex&f
Ahaaa, I also started my degree in 2020 but then in business, currently just gotta do the Thesis and i'm done (november probably)
Tom approaches chemistry the way I approach playing Dark Souls. Or the diamond industry approaches diamonds. It's the suffering that makes it special.
See that’s the true reason why natural diamonds are better than lab-grown, they are imbued with the power of blood sacrifices
13:28 "I love suffering" - Tom, 2024
"We don't do things because they're easy, but because we THINK they'll be easy." - Justin, The Thought Emporium
Mate, I've followed your growth from young boy with braces messing about in his shed to fully grown moustachioed man, messing about in his shed. I'm very proud.
The "best tasting salt" video doesn't seem that old - how has this series been THREE YEARS?!?!
"The Best Tasting Salt" is the video that got me hooked on his channel tbh, it's how I found him!
bro hit his late 20's and immediately metamorphosed into every australian dad
slash cricketer.
I’ve done an engineering degree that finished this January that started the same summer as the cubane series. Actually insane that it’s finally over.
I mean.... you gotta buy the shirt dude.
You finished a degree in the time it took for Tom to make a cube… amazing
I think that's actually quite special.
dirt tooth
We choose to make the Cube... We choose to make the Cube in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others, too
*standing and clapping*
Watching you struggle angrily with chemistry I don't understand has been absolutely fascinating... I learned literally nothing other than "tar is bad" and "yellow = tar"
Thank you for this series! Im glad you did it!
it's been a fun ride!
Other youtube chemists: Showcases each reaction, uses state of the art materials, gets a nice product, done in one video. Simple tidy and clean.
Tom: Has a long series doing the reaction and a "Making of" documentary on it, and does a great job showcasing the ideal reaction versus trying to get it to actually work without highly specialized materials.
"I'd like to think i would do it well and i'm not gonna prove myself wrong by trying" is my new life slogan now
Exactly, lols
Congrats on the PhD! I’m excited to see what’s next.
I have a possibly interesting/terrible (your pick) suggestion: grab a kids chemistry set, a good one assuming they still make those, and see how off-script you can go with only what is included.
I had a chemistry set in 1976. I purchased one in 2005 for one of the neighbor's kid.
I was sorely disappointed. We made gunpowder from scratch instead - then made a few mediocre bottle rockets. I'm not sure you can do much of anything interesting from the modern neutered kits.
All modern chemistry sets just grow crystals from AlKSO4
YES YES YES
The ones that are still on the market are pretty lame, with big skull and bones warning signs on a small bottle of vinegar. It's uncanny how far standards have dropped in just a few decades.
Ohh I think I got one of those from a magazine back in early 2000s. It had a lot of samples from the periodic table. I think some were hazardous too 😂
Just bought the T-shirt, I had so much fun watching you during this project mate! Thank you for your endurance when faced with enemies as terrible as Tar and UV-reactions:)
I had fun making it, although I think I was nearly at my limit of making videos about the UV step… if we hadn’t got it working when we did (finally!) I’m not sure how many more failure videos I could’ve made before finally cracking haha
Good thing that even your "failure" videos are very entertaining haha Ive already met 3 people at my first job that know of this series, maybe ill get to know some more now with the shirt :)@@ExtractionsAndIre
I'm a PhD student in the group of Ben Feringa (photoswitches and molecular motors, nobel prize 2016) and photoswitchable explosive sounds like a dream project. would love to hear how you envision that ahahaha but I think some of our motor intermediates should be explosive :)
You started your cubane series before I even started my chemistry degree and I'm now half way through my masters degree specialising in synthetic organic, and have done some research projects in energetic material chemistry - you were my biggest inspiraiton when I was younger and it's great to see you finished the synthesis.
Your point of being punished if you fuck up a multi-step syntheses, definitely relatable as someone who's working on a total synthesis project. As well, one thing about columns is that imo it's best to avoid them when you can because the amount of solvent needed to do an effective column is ridiculous, especially if you want to column say, 1g of material (1g of material for me will consume around 600 mL of solvent). Sure, for the compounds in this series, all you'd ever need would be petrol and ethyl acetate but it's still (like you said) not great timewise, especially for a home setup.
I think as a fellow hard core tinkerer, I enjoy your videos are fun because of the bodge factor that is required to get the job done when don't really have the proper materials or equipment or materials. Chemistry really isn't my thing but it is still enjoyable watching the frustrating process of working with what you have. Well done.
It's a good example of the phrase "where there's a will, there's a way".
I'll be honest, during the UV part of the suffering and re-evaluating I thought this series might just die a quiet death but I am really happy for you that you got there in the end Tom, you put in way more time and effort than I ever expected and you even replied to one of my comments in a smart and funny manner.
So for that, thank you for all of the entertainment and persistence, congratulations!
Here's a suggestion from a fellow chemist: do some carbohydrate chemistry. The starting materials are dirt cheap, the chemistry itself often makes you want to cry but it's doable in a shed, and you will have to get good at column chromatography 😂 I've just finished my PhD so thanks for coming on this fun suffering journey with me in the last few years ❤️
You made Cubane 'The Blender Donut' of the amature chemistry TH-cam space!
A friend of mine very unexpectedly passed away earlier this year, and the day before the funeral we were all sad AF. Then I discovered my deceased friend's best friend's partner is a CSIRO chemist who watches your videos, so then we were all sad AF while talking about cubane.
Thank you for bringing a little comfort into the lives of grieving strangers. ♥
"methamphetamine but with a cube instead" thank you man you give me the serotonin my brain cells can't produce
Thank you that you saw my Cubane Ep too!
Cubane brought so much YT channels together and made me some new Friends too!
Great work fella, I know next to 0 about the chemistry field but have been watching the whole series for these three years. somehow you can make it that interesting without me being about to understand 95% of whats going on
I still don't even really know what the F cubane is, but I still enjoyed the series.
Nice mustache by the way, very "backyard chemist" of you.
I don’t know if that’s a good thing for a moustache to be, but I’ll take the compliment haha
Its a GREAT thing for a mustache to be@@ExtractionsAndIre
"Acyl azide" is a concept that I had never even imagined before, and now I wish I never knew of it.
Absolutely enjoyed this series every step of the way! It's been an inspiration and now I am also becoming a chemist. Cheers Tom, we love ya🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡
hell yeah love that, thanks for enjoying the series mate!
@@ExtractionsAndIre look forward to the projects to come
Hearing you being excited to do another long series is great. I've absolutely loved following this series the whole way through.
I personally like that this was a long series. It really shows that real chemistry isn't like the perfect showcase science the public sees - it's messy, confusing, often headache and yellow chemical producing, with many ways where things can be improved on in the future and more things to try to mess up on. That and as the longer the series was, the more us non-science plebs learned.
Don't let the time investment daunt you. Even if it's only a 2 or 3 episode series, it's still really interesting.
I loved every twist and turn. Over the years this series loosened my bowels and brought the roses back to my knees...Thanks mate.
tom is one of the most entertaining chemist on youtube. i love the way he adds humor to a science most people find boring. he is both an educator and entertainer.i can't wait to see what the future holds.
This series was so cool and impressive, and your determination through all the trials and tribulations made for a gripping story. I can't wait to see the next one!
I'm so excited to see the next difficult series and whatever PhD you get making the next one.
Ohhhhh the super directors cut of 5 hours! :D definitely going to watch it, you always make me happy and relaxed, showing the stuff you do I know nothing about, but find fascinating. Thank you soooo much for this series!
This was my favorite chemistry series on TH-cam. thank you for your dedication to this project Tom and congratulations on completing your PhD! 🎊🎉👏🏼
now time to binge the 5 hour video instead of doing my work haha thanks for sticking through with this and finishing multiple milestones in the process ! congrats
5:35 this azide is exactly one of the reactions that I've been doing for my thesis! Although I did it to create a sulfonamide bond within the PROTAC that I was working on. In the end the coupling didin't happen though... So that step was a failure. By the way, be carefull with NaN3. It's not healthy.......
Sodium azide isn’t healthy but it’s very cool in why it’s unhealthy
You'll be back at it. We know you will.
😁
I love the casual Hamilton Morris in the acknowledgements without any descriptor. Hamilton's rad man, glad he was a part of it too (even if we can only guess the actual manner of help he gave 😅).
Love this series, it might need to be a thing I rewatch every few years to set my expectations in the lab back to reasonable levels. Thanks Tom!
Thank you for this awesome series! And congrats on finally getting some cubane! 🎉🎉🎉
I hope we get more -suffering captured on video- cool chemistry soon!
I have been watching the Cubane series as something to listen to in the background while I work in the lab. It’s really nice to get excited about chemistry again! I’m a biology grad, working in R&D. Inspiring me to brush off my chemistry knowledge and get cracking on home experiments:)
Thank you! It's been fun, amusing and just a right laugh and a smile! You did awesome
Best of luck to you in the future!!! Thank you for making and sharing your videos! Well done sir!
Honestly this series was super inspiring for me. I am also someone who has a tendency to get myself involved in things without having any idea how hard it'll actually be and I can easily go way above my capabilities. So this series has kinda reassured me that it's okay to do this and the reception to the series has showed me that honestly this is sometimes a good thing to do. At the same time I'm also a perfectionist and someone who is usually really good at science subjects so I can take it sorta hard when I fuck up and this series has also helped reassure me that this stuff is just hard and it's okay to mess up and that's just part of the process, and when you do fuck up there'll usually be someone there to help you. It's especially the community reception that's inspired and reassured you, the entirety of chemistry youtube came together around this series exactly because you were having a hard time, not in spite of it. Instead of looking down on you the entire community coalesced around finding it interesting and it became a collective effort to try to solve the issues, it's really an example of science at its best. Instead of saying “hah you're stupid for not being able to do it” it became “oh wow it's weird that you couldn't do it, now I'm curious about solving this problem too”.
thanks for doing this series. i really enjoyed it. please keep up with the epic stuff you do
Bro I love your attitude of a challenge can be fun, it's what makes you great to watch.
Still watching the video but just wanted to say thanks for the journey, it's been really fun to follow along.
I've studied fine arts, did a master in drawing, currently doing a PhD in arts and history.
I have non to little knowledge if chemistry and still I enjoy your videos and somehow understand what u are doing! Congratulations on finishing the Cubane series and lots of luck with future projects!
Hey Tom, the cubane series has been hugely inspirational to me as an undergrad. A lot of the chemistry experience on youtube is highly curated. where people only show their successes. Your vids are sweet because you make mistakes and talk about them. Its honestly refreshing and it adds a charm to it that a lot of other chemistry content doesn't have. Keep doing what you're doing. cheers from across the ditch!
It's amazing to reflect on how much my life has changed over the course of this series, from struggling at uni, to being offered a job as an explosive ordnance and guided weapons engineer, this channel and it's videos have definitely been a strong part in it all.
such a cool series man, watched every bit. so inspiring. 18:12 - this is the only way I've learned to wallpaper over my ADHD and actually get things done, I'm not successful very often yet so it's really inspiring to see it work so well for someone. three years dude! congrats!
Dr. Tom, you've done an amazing job with this, so glad to witness this wild ride.
Love the post-cubane Q&A, can't wait to see what the next series will be! You gonna be getting back to explosives any time soon?
Congrats man! Thanks for sharing everything with us.
I appreciate your genuine take on youtube. You are a gem mate!
Something I have always found interesting and think fits perfectly for the style/aesthetic of your channel, microwave chemisty like the strontium extraction, but would love to see you do some more of it.
this is a beautiful wrap up of a great piece of work
If you are looking for something achievable with a really cool end product: there are tetrazole based energetic ionic liquids. Ionic liquids look and behave really weirdly because we aren't super used to seeing liquid salts at room temperature. They also exist in a wide range of categories from mildly energetic, through stuff usable as monopropellants up to primaries.
Loved the Cubane series and really enjoyed this video. Thanks for the years of entertainment, and congratulations!
It's funny, I just found tour channel, found the second, channel, saw that you had a long term project, watched the whole playlist, and like 2 days later you release the the final video. Im hooked though.
You making cubane inspired me to do my bachelor's in chemistry actually. Finishing up this year. Going to be applying yo PhD programs later this year. You've been such a huge inspiration man ❤
I've watched your videos since high school and now am halfway to getting a BS in Chemistry at college. Your videos have not just warped my sense of humor irreversibly but also inspired me in caring about my studies.
I can watch anything Tom does. As long it involves his editing, his personality and tar, I'm in.
loved this series as it was coming out. although im kinda glad its over now lol. looked stressful. goodluck on your future endeavours
Cheers! Nice wrap up to the series
what an interesting and fun series this has been!
Haven’t done my AP chemistry lab reports in like 6 weeks, I’ve been watching your Cubane synthesis while doing it, thank you for making this fun
Awesome! Congrats on the upcoming PhD! Cant wait for the next series. Cheers mate!
Glad to have been along on this journey
God I love this channel. Epic journey through suffering, and failure. Man this is the good stuff, keep on doing what you do, I for one will always be watching.🔬👍
Good to hear your columns in undergrad were pleasant. Mine was shit and me and a labmate found a better solvent ratio which has now made its way into the official procedure for future undergrads.
Great work, I'd be hyped to see some more transition metal chemistry on the channel.
Idea for the next series: do an ambient temperature nitrification of something that usually needs
I have tried a nitration at dry ice temperatures before… it didn’t work I think? I think I screwed it up. But it’s a fun idea
These videos have been a highlight over the last couple years and I’m more sad than I’d like to admit that it’s over. Still the tee shirt will make a great memory. Cheers Tom!
I will absolutely be running your cubane super edit as my go to sleep video at some point. Probably multiple times so thanks for that.
Congrats Dr Tom! and Hello to Guest Voice
Mr guest voice is Mr machete ceiling fan dude, eah?
@@petevenuti7355 🤔🤔🤔
Hmm... I suppose it *_could be_* I Did A Thing, if he was intentionally altering his voice a smidge. _[in addition to the added reverb]_
(I prefer to refer to him as GIANT Saw Blade Bey-Blade Dude heh)
It kinda sounds like Tom Walker, and both he and explosions Tom have been guests on the podcast Boonta Vista.
End of an era truly! Just to top it off I caught your poster at PW2024, was a shock to see you in a bit more serious environment :D
Best chemistry channel on youtube, sure you don't always have the best yield or purity but i just live your videos, i keep watching them again and again 😂.
Thank you for the awesome cubane series
Its been a great watch from start to finish mate and even though it took some time, It was always well worth the wait!
Its always nice to finish something off and complete it, So sir i tip my hat to you!
Cant wait for the next saga of fighting inner chemistry demons!
Congratulations, mate, for finally coming to the end of this series, for the EPIC amount of editing that it must have taken to merge all of the episodes into one almost 6-hour long epic and for making it all the way through your Ph.D! 🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊
"Making this molecule is very very crazy"
Sounds to me its the perfect molecule for you to attempt next
This is incredible and honestly my favorite episode so far!
Mr Expulsions & Iron, I have watched since the beginning of cubane. Congrats on finishind and on your PhD! Hopefully now you're a big enough boy to tackle uranium chemistry!
Much love :D
I'd really suggest not doing this for legal reasons.
This series was a driving force in my choice for a major, cheers brother, can't wait to see what ya next hardware store adventure is.
23:10 That's wholesome. Good shit man, can't wait to see what's next
I have no schooling beyond physical science II. I have been glued to the entire cubane saga from the beginning.
Well done!
It was cool to see a long time series as opposed to the individual videos. I'm not saying I wouldn't like to see more of them, it'd be great, but to have a series where I'm looking forward to the next episode was fun, and I hope there's more in the future. Also hello from the QUT Chem club, we talk about the cubane NMR often
I've watched most of E&I videos and I'm not even a chemist. He's just so entertaining. Keep it up man! If the PhD thing doesn't work out, there's always breaking your glass on youtube for that sweet sweet ad revenue!
Enjoy the victory lap!
Please continue to share the struggle. Maybe it’s a trick of editing, skill in narration, self imposed constraints, or the interaction with your community, your videos communicate the process of snatching success from the jaws of defeat.
Explaining the conversion with the CON3 and talking about heating it, all i heard in my head was “heat it until dryness” :D
I dont know shit about chemistry but for some reason i still watch every upload
The length of this series is sorta mind boggling to me, especially when I look back at my life over the span of it. I had a gender identity crisis, graduated highschool, started college, got a job and dropped out of college, left that job and re-enrolled, and came out as trans and I can remember watching these videos for basically that whole time. Congrats Tom on finishing it. Can't wait to see how much life changes over the duration of your next long series.
Perfect timing just as I've given up on this day❤
Well done dude congrats on the PhD too I'm looking forward to the next series
Legend man 🙌🙌 congrats 🎉
I’m not a chemist (at all) but I loved watching this series! Thank you!