Watch What Happens When A Guy Pours Molten Metals Into Water

Watch A Guy Pour Molten Metals Into Water

Ever wonder how molten metals react when poured into water?

Even if you haven't, the results are still pretty cool.

In a video released this week, the Backyard Scientist, who appears to have a thing for reducing elements to liquid on YouTube, melted pewter, tin, bismuth, lead, zinc, aluminum and thermite and dropped them into an aquarium to see what happens.

The metals with the highest melting points -- aluminum and thermite -- produced the most interesting results. The aluminum piled at the bottom, forming the equivalent of drip castles you might make at the beach, and the thermite remained on fire even as it descended through the two-foot tall tank.

The Backyard Scientist noted that he conducted the experiment because he's told that working with molten metals could kill him -- something he disputes to a certain degree. While what he's doing is dangerous and shouldn't be attempted at home, he emerged unscathed.

Incidentally, the metal with the highest melting point is tungsten, which at 6,170 Fahrenheit would likely prove problematic for a backyard experiment.

Before You Go

NASA/SDO/AIA/LMSAL
The 100 millionth image captured by the Advanced Imaging Assembly on NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. It was taken on Jan. 19, 2015.
NASA/SDO
This "mosaic" image, also captured on Jan. 19, 2015, shows the sun in multiple wavelengths.
NASA/SDO/AIA/LMSAL
This photo shows a spectacular eruption on the sun. It was taken on June 7, 2011.
NASA/SDO/LMSAL
Taken Oct. 22, 2014, this SDO image shows an unusually large group of sunspots.
NASA/SDO/HMI/AIA/LMSAL
This false-color image from Oct. 24, 2014 shows magnetic fields produced by "coronal loops."
NASA/SDO
SDO captured this time-lapse photo showing Comet Lovejoy traveling around the sun in Dec. 2011.
NASA/SDO
This image was captured on Feb. 24, 2011. It shows a plume of plasma erupting from the sun's surface.
NASA/SDO
This image shows features on the sun that look a bit like a human face. The "eyes" show areas of hot material, the dark line of the "mouth" shows cooler material, and the "hair" around the outside illustrates material floating in the sun's atmosphere.
NASA/SDO/Pesnell
This three-color image was created with the help of a contrast-increasing filter. The dark spots represent the hotter regions.
NASA/SDO/Goddard Visualization Studio
This composite photo shows a rare transit of Venus as seen by SDO on June 5-6, 2012. The next Venus transit will occur on Dec. 10-11, 2117.
NASA/SDO
Sometimes the moon comes between SDO and the sun, as seen in this image taken on Nov. 22, 2014. If you look carefully, you can see that the edge of the moon is not a perfect circle--you can spot lunar mountains along the edge.
NASA/SDO
Captured on May 30, 2011, this two-part image shows an active region on the sun's surface where a moderate flare lights up a ridge in the region (left) and the difference between this exposure and an earlier one (right).
NASA/SDO/GSFC Visualization Studio
In this color wheel image, each color represents a different wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light present in the sun's corona.
NASA/SDO/Mosaic created with AndreaMosaic
A mosaic image of the 100 millionth image snapped by SDO's Atmospheric Imaging Instrument.

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