Extracting Cyanide From Cherry Pits

Cody extracts cyanide from cherry pits to dissolve gold, demonstrating a hydrolysis process with safety precautions in a chemistry setup.

Key Takeaways

Cherry pits contain cyanogenic compounds that can be hydrolyzed to release hydrogen cyanide.
Extracted cyanide can dissolve gold when combined with oxygen sources.
The process is hazardous and requires specialized equipment like a fume hood and airtight glassware.
Sodium hydroxide neutralizes hydrogen cyanide gas to form safer sodium cyanide.
Proper handling and disposal of cyanide are critical to safety.

What the video covers

Cody uses cherry pits collected over a year to extract cyanide for dissolving gold.
Cherry pits and other stone fruit seeds contain chemicals that hydrolyze into toxic hydrogen cyanide.
The process requires grinding the pits, adding water, and applying acid to catalyze hydrolysis.
Hydrogen cyanide gas is captured and neutralized with sodium hydroxide to form safer sodium cyanide.
The setup includes a bulb condenser, airtight glassware, and a fume hood for safety.
The reaction runs for about four hours with precautions against gas escape and cooling issues.
The resulting cyanide solution is tested by dissolving 24 karat gold leaf.
Cody emphasizes the dangers and advises against attempting this without proper equipment and knowledge.
Sodium thiosulfate is used to destroy any remaining cyanide after the experiment.
The video demonstrates a practical chemistry application while highlighting safety and chemical properties.

Chapters

Why are cherry pits dangerous to consume?

Cherry pits contain chemicals that hydrolyze into hydrogen cyanide, a highly toxic gas, especially if the pits are crushed.

What safety precautions are necessary for extracting cyanide from cherry pits?

A fume hood, airtight glassware, and a good understanding of chemistry are essential, and even then, the process is risky and not recommended for amateurs.

How is the hydrogen cyanide gas handled during the extraction process?

The hydrogen cyanide gas is captured by condensation into water containing sodium hydroxide, which neutralizes it to form safer sodium cyanide.

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

Speaker A

All right, everyone, welcome back to Cody's Lab. So today, I'm going to use these cherry pits, which I've been collecting for about a year now, to dissolve gold. How am I going to do that, you may ask? Well, I'm going to extract the cyanide from them.

Speaker A

from them you might know or at least you should know that cherry pits are not something you should eat especially if you crush them first because the little seed inside contains chemicals which hydrolyze in your gut to form hydrogen

Speaker A

You might know, or at least you should know, that cherry pits are not something you should eat, especially if you crush them first, because the little seed inside contains chemicals which hydrolyze in your gut to form hydrogen cyanide, which, of course, is very toxic.

Speaker A

know a fume hood and airtight glassware and a decent understanding of chemistry and even then you probably shouldn't do it or are better ways to get cyanide though I do think there is some value in you guys seeing the process so let's get

Speaker A

Actually, all stone fruits contain those chemicals: peach pits, bitter almonds, apple seeds, etc. It should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway because it is very important: you guys should not try this at home unless you have, you know, a fume hood and airtight glassware and a decent understanding of chemistry. And even then, you probably shouldn't do it.

Speaker A

roasted almonds which is due to the hydrogen cyanide being produced by spontaneous hydrolysis reactions which are occurring even at room temperature but the rate that it's producing it is low enough that I'm not worried about it right now anyway let's get these into

Speaker A

There are better ways to get cyanide, though I do think there is some value in you guys seeing the process. So let's get started. The first thing we got to do is grind up these cherry pits. This harder outer casing actually works pretty well for stopping the no reaction from happening.

Speaker A

a previous video you know what that's formed a pretty thick mash I probably need an oil bath much better now to set up the rest of the glassware so you can see the condenser here that I'm using the bulb type not the coil type the coil

Speaker A

And here is 700 grams of ground cherry pits. This actually has a strong scent of roasted almonds, which is due to the hydrogen cyanide being produced by spontaneous hydrolysis reactions, which are occurring even at room temperature. But the rate that it's producing it is low enough that I'm not worried about it right now.

Speaker A

temperature though it boils out as a gas it's kind of like ammonia in that regard the water containing cyanide otherwise known as prussic acid will flow down into this flask right here which you can see I've added a little bit of sodium

Speaker A

Anyway, let's get these into the reaction vessel. Now I need to add some water. This reaction is a hydrolysis reaction. This is where you're adding water to split molecules apart, very similar to how I was splitting the starches in the potatoes into sugar in a previous video.

Speaker A

will go up through this tube and into a flask which I've got some more sodium hydroxide and an inverted funnel and just add some water here and this should trap most of the remaining hydrogen cyanide but again just in case I get any

Speaker A

You know what? That's formed a pretty thick mash. I probably need an oil bath. Much better. Now to set up the rest of the glassware. So you can see the condenser here that I'm using, the bulb type, not the coil type. The coil type plugs up in this orientation.

Speaker A

the acid gives me lots of free hydrogen ions which catalyze the hydrolysis a shield is down and I'm ready to begin heating so here we are almost 5 hours later I let it run for about 4 hours and

Speaker A

And you can also see it. I've primed it with a little bit of water. The hydrogen cyanide gas at low temperature is very soluble in water, so it's going to come over and absorb into the water. At high temperature, though, it boils out as a gas. It's kind of like ammonia in that regard.

Speaker A

foil to help insulate it a little bit there may be some chemicals which still are yet to hydrolyze there wasn't really good mixing going on my stir bar was unable to move this much mash but I'm certain I got enough of it to do what we

Speaker A

The water containing cyanide, otherwise known as prussic acid, will flow down into this flask right here, which you can see I've added a little bit of sodium hydroxide. The idea here is to neutralize the prussic acid, apologies if I'm saying that wrong, to form sodium cyanide, which is far safer because it's not sparkling—no, it's not vaporizing hydrogen cyanide into the air.

Speaker A

liquid that's over here the secondary scrubbing flask is clear and should also contain cyanide probably have a higher quality so now I'm going to turn the fume hood back on run this liquid that's still trapped in the condenser out maybe

Speaker A

And whatever doesn't get caught there will go up through this tube and into a flask, which I've got some more sodium hydroxide and an inverted funnel. And just add some water here, and this should trap most of the remaining hydrogen cyanide. But again, just in case I get any escaping, I am doing this in a fume hood. It's a pretty powerful fan.

Speaker A

actually did make cyanide so let's put a little bit of this nasty liquid over here and then I want to check this other beakers liquid as well to see how much actually boiled off now I need a source

Speaker A

All that's left now is to plug in the fan and add a strong non-volatile acid to my slurry. I'm gonna do this quickly and recap it. The acid gives me lots of free hydrogen ions, which catalyze the hydrolysis. A shield is down, and I'm ready to begin heating.

Speaker A

if cyanide is present it should turn blue due to the formation of Prussian pigment which is actually used in the least was used in blueprints oh yes I say we do have it both of them contain cyanide okay you can tell that the

Speaker A

So here we are, almost five hours later. I let it run for about four hours, and for the last hour, I've let it cool. The only real issue I ran into was the wind from the fan was cooling off my glassware, and as you can see, I've solved that by wrapping it in some aluminum foil to help insulate it a little bit.

Speaker A

have sodium cyanide let's get another beaker going here and let's see if we can dissolve gold let's get a bunch of the nasty liquid and since in order to dissolve gold cyanide needs a source of oxygen I'm going to

Speaker A

There may be some chemicals which still are yet to hydrolyze. There wasn't really good mixing going on. My stir bar was unable to move this much mash, but I'm certain I got enough of it to do what we need.

Speaker A

solution which may react with the peroxide so I want to make sure I have an excess now for the gold I'm going to add a piece of 24 karat gold leaf this I might put a timeout camera right about

Speaker A

So as you can see, I'm left with this nasty looking liquid, which presumably contains our cyanide. It really should be clear if it was just the cyanide, but obviously some oils and stuff have co-distilled over. But this liquid that's over here, the secondary scrubbing flask, is clear and should also contain cyanide, probably of higher quality.

Speaker A

can still see that the gold dissolves in about an hour and a half here's another run that I did without the lines and a little bit better lighting and just like that the gold is dissolved using cherry pits hope you

Speaker A

So now I'm going to turn the fume hood back on, run this liquid that's still trapped in the condenser out, maybe flush it with a little bit of that, and then we can test to see if we actually got the cyanide. I'm using some sodium thiosulfate to destroy any remaining cyanide.

Topics:cyanide extractioncherry pitshydrogen cyanidegold dissolutionchemistry experimentsodium cyanidehydrolysis reactionfume hoodsafety precautionsCody'sLab

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