Shrinking paper money with ammonia

TL;DR

By repeatedly dipping a dollar bill into liquid ammonia, the author demonstrates how it can be shrunk in size and increase in density.

Transcript

in a previous video I showed how to bend wood into interesting shapes using anhydrous ammonia the ammonia softens the wood and allows it to be bent into these tight curves so I also put a dollar bill into the ammonia chamber thinking that the fibers in the dollar bill would also allow it to change shape and as you can see here's the results this to... Read More

Key Insights

• 👻 Ammonia can be used to shrink objects, such as wood or dollar bills, by softening the fibers and allowing them to be manipulated into tight curves.
• 😚 The surface tension of liquid ammonia plays a crucial role in pulling fibers closer together during the drying process, resulting in shrinkage.
• 😉 The shrinking process can increase the detail level and ink density of a dollar bill.

Questions & Answers

Q: How does the author shrink the dollar bill?

The author repeatedly dips the dollar bill into liquid ammonia, then dries it. This process causes the bill to gradually shrink in size and become stiffer.

Q: Why does the author believe the dollar bill shrinks?

The author theorizes that the surface tension of the liquid ammonia is responsible for pulling the fibers of the dollar bill closer together, resulting in its shrinkage.

Q: What is the difference between using liquid and gas ammonia?

Liquid ammonia allows for the surface tension to pull the dollar bill fibers closer together during the drying process, resulting in shrinkage. In a gas ammonia chamber, there is no mechanism to pull the fibers closer, therefore not resulting in significant shrinkage.

Q: Is it possible to stretch the dollar bill using ammonia?

The author suggests that in a future video, they may attempt to stretch the dollar bill by putting it back into a dry ammonia gas chamber. The goal would be to pull the fibers apart and stretch it out.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The author previously showed how wood can be bent using anhydrous ammonia, and in this video, they explore if a dollar bill can also change shape using the same method.

• By soaking the dollar bill in liquid ammonia and then drying it, the bill gradually shrinks in size and becomes stiffer, with higher levels of detail and ink density.

• The author's theory is that the surface tension of the liquid ammonia is what pulls the fibers of the dollar bill closer together, resulting in its shrinkage.