A ground-breaking Netflix original series, Breaking Bad, revolves around a chemistry teacher, Walter White, who suffers from cancer and starts a meth business to pay for his medical bills. This was a five-season series, in which central characters Walter White and Jesse Pinkman involve themselves in bizarre ventures.
Walter White is the sort of school teacher that one can barely imagine having in real life. Let’s take a look at the various scientific hacks and experiments featured in the series.
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“This is not meth”
Walter White destroys an entire floor of a building using a huge quantity of mercury fulminate. Mercury fulminate is an unstable chemical that is used as an explosive in the series. White launches a small amount of mercury fulminate completely destroying a floor of a building.
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A battery made of metal scrapes was used to escape the desert.
A battery is commonly a mercury battery, that generates 1.35 V of electricity. Walter White creates six mercury batteries generating 8.1 V of electricity which calculates equal to a typical automobile battery of around 12.6 V.
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A soapy sponge used to set a car on fire.
A man’s car engine is set on fire by using a petrol station squeegee. Walter, here, uses the process of electrolysis. The voltage of the battery’s terminal is conducted by soapy water, causing hydrogen and oxygen to release, thus, producing a spark.
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A phosphorus incendiary device
Phosphorus is a chemical that can transform into a combustible and poisonous gas when exposed to heat and moisture. Walter conducts a reaction using red phosphorus, releasing phosphine fire into the atmosphere. Phosphine fire reacts with the air producing phosphoric acid that floats in the air.
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Destroying a secured hard drive using a big magnet.
A large magnet, mounted on a vehicle, is driven to the police station. A strong voltage is established as the magnet is connected to the 42 automobile batteries. The vehicle is taken outside, where the evidence room is within range of the magnet. As the magnet is switched on, the power the batteries generate is strong enough to wipe out the hard drive.
