Even before his Big Brother 15 days, Nick Uhas was a science enthusiast, which eventually led him to create the wildly popular YouTube channel, Nickipedia. This modern-day science guy has posted videos of inventive and amazing science experiments , with his latest filmed endeavor involving an epic journey across the globe to explore the phenomena called Indonesian Blue Fire.
Nick set out on the trip with friend Mike Capetta, who is also a producer at NBC’s Today Show . According to Nick’s video travelogue, it took the men three days just to get to the base of the volcanic crater of Mt. Ijen. There they were met by an experienced guide who took them on what Nick called the most difficult hike of his entire life.
The toll the hike took on Nick can be seen in the video, as he notes how the climb up the mountain was nothing short of “intense.” At one point in the footage, as the men make it less than halfway through their trek, the former marathon runner says to the camera as he sweats profusely and is short of breath, “I am dying up here… my lungs are on fire… my heart is beating out of my chest…”
About halfway between the base of the mountain and the top where the blue fire awaited them, the men were able to take a short respite and obtain some food and drink at a small, unconventional café.
The group eventually made it to the edge of the crater and Nick noted that the smell of sulfur in the air was nothing short of pungent. Thus, those in the group were required to wear gas masks for safety reasons as they made their way into the open mouth of the awesome crater. Plumes of steam and pools of sulfur surrounded them as they continued their adventurous walk.
Finally, Nick and Mike were able to observe, up close and in person, what they had traveled to Indonesia for; the incredibly hypnotic blue flame emanating from the Ijen volcanic crater.
Following the footage from the Indonesian trip, in the same video, Nick explained the blue fire phenomena, noting that the Ijen crater emits an unusual amount of sulfur gas from a fissure. According to Nick, the gas is super hot at 1,112 degrees Fahrenheit, so when it comes into contact with the Earth’s oxygen-rich atmosphere, it literally “bursts into flames.”
However, instead of being orange or yellow like flames produced from coal and other materials, the flames are blue due to the sulfur content of the gas.
Nick recreated the blue fire phenomena back home in Los Angeles, with an Ijen sulfur stalactite, which must be seen to be believed.
You can see more of Nick’s awesome and unusual science-based experiments and adventures anytime on his Nickipedia YouTube channel, including the extremely popular video entitled “Burning Doritos to Cook Chicken.”