I've had this idea for a few years that the Golden Rain experiment (a double displacement reaction between potassium iodide and lead nitrate) might be one of the early inspirations for alchemy and the idea that lead might be transformed into gold. In this video I attempt to make all of the compounds required for this reaction from ingredients that would have been accessible in ancient history.

One of the key ingredients, lead nitrate, would not have been available at the time according to my research (please leave a comment below if you have information showing otherwise), so instead I attempt to use lead acetate which I was able to make via acetic acid in vinegar. I believe the most likely ancient source of an iodine component is the ash from burnt seaweed. While I myself was only able to extract a small amount of iodine from ground kelp (you will see in this video that I supplement my yield with commercially made potassium iodide) you can see a more successful extraction on the channel Cody's Lab to prove a larger quantity is possible:    • Extracting Iodine From Seaweed (First...  

This video was unscripted and filmed as I made my very first attempt at testing this idea. I take a while to reach the final result but I hope you enjoy watching the process! I really want to thank my Patreon supporters for helping me to keep this channel going, especially my top patrons: Syniurge, Matthew Leitzke, & TheBackyardScientist

You can check out my Patreon page if you'd like to support my channel yourself through this link:   / nighthawkprojects  

Thanks for watching!