Dissolving styrofoam in acetone experiment

In this episode of TinkerTime, I'll be dissolving styrofoam in acetone. A cool little experiment that makes it look like you're playing with acid. The science behind this is that when you add styrofoam to acetone, the styrofoam dissolves because acetone breaks down the bonds in styrofoam, which is made up of long chains of a plastic called polystyrene.
Styrofoam also contains a lot of air, so when it dissolves, it seems to vanish because all that air escapes and only a small amount of plastic remains. This is why Styrofoam quickly shrinks and seems to disappear into the acetone.
When you see bubbling as you dissolve Styrofoam in acetone, it’s not actually boiling; what you're observing is the release of air trapped within the Styrofoam, which is mostly made up of air, with up to 90% of its volume being air pockets. This is what makes it such a good insulator and so lightweight.
As the acetone breaks down the polystyrene (the plastic material of Styrofoam), it frees the air trapped within the structure. The release of this air in the liquid acetone creates bubbles, similar to when you open a carbonated drink and CO2 escapes. It might look like boiling, but it’s just air escaping rapidly as the solid structure of the Styrofoam collapses.
That was it for this episode. Subscribe to stay updated on new releases, and share this video with the rest of your village. If you have any feedback or questions, drop them in the comments section and see what happens

[@Smickster01]

i make this with petrol/diesel 50/50 and its perfect for repairing canvas tent holes using a canvas patch. but ur correct, if it has no access to ambient air, it wont harden. but porus materials are perfect for a cheap effective resin alternative.

[@raudy6-]

Lmao dawg that's napalm

[@Fartofdarkness]

Came to comments to say this lol

[@c187rocks]

Use gasoline instead to get a lovely fire goo.

[@stevevanscoik398]

Use this solution to coat wood fence posts before burying them, or any wood that has to exist in a wet area, the wood will last a lot longer.

[@TinkerTime1911]

That's smart. Guess this stuff can be used for quite a lot of things

[@jimsonjohnson3761]

Maybe a little. It will only cost the wood. Moisture will still get into the wood and then will have a lot harder time drying out. Causing rotting faster Id imagine. Treated wood is made by getting the treatment into the grains. You're probably better off soaking the wood in mineral oil or even used car oil that will be submerged in the ground. The oil is a naturally hydrophobic.

[@TinkerTime1911]

Thank you for checking out my video. Be sure to subscribe to stay updated on new releases 😶

[@wdwadindwatri]

9:44 composite armor

[@TtheFG]

Use it as glue.

[@TinkerTime1911]

I actually tried that, it can be used as a glue indeed, but it doesn't take much pressure before it snaps off

[@1987methodman]

​@@TinkerTime1911 if u want it stuck more u have to add the white natural. I had try it

[@Fastskull]

Do this but with gasoline

[@TinkerTime1911]

After some research, it seems like the result is the same, only it goes slower than if you were to use acetone. Or does something else interesting happen?

[@nickthe5th2]

@@TinkerTime1911 NAPALM. dont do this in a video. youll get flagged by the fbi lol

[@koi3824]

@@TinkerTime1911 I'm no chem major but through associating myself with absolute crackheads of friends, I'm pretty sure it's a formula for a sort of napalm lol

[@koi3824]

more violently flamable than the acetone, I mean

[@BobboKingLife]

Hi, do you think it is possible to use it to repair or fill hard plastic such as HDPE? congratulations for the channel!

[@TinkerTime1911]

Hello Bobbo. I don't have any experience with that, but it ought to be great for patching up things like Michael says in his comment. It does get really hard when fully hardened, and its moldable, although it can be messy and sticky

[@BobboKingLife]

@@TinkerTime1911 Grazie mille!

[@rockmcdwayne1710]

You dont have to actually use anything else but aceton to bind 2 bits of plastic together unless ofcource you are dealing with a certain type of plastic that does not react with aceton!
If you have plastic that reacts with aceton you can literally melt the pieces together.

[@LocnavLivoc]

this reminds me of the band Napalm Death. don't know why ...

[@dod180]

I mix this as a filler for my small models

[@pooounderscoreman]

Eat it

[@TinkerTime1911]

I was quite tempted, but managed to resist the urge