Americium - A Metal, That Can VISUALIZE RADIATION!

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Hi, today I will tell you abot such unusual metal as americium.

[@Thoisoi2]

☢ This video was sponsored by Radiacode 102 - the world's first pocket-size radiation detector and spectrometer for all natural science enthusiasts Order now - 102.radiacode.com/3 and try out a new scientific hobby!

[@willo7734]

I bought one a year ago after seeing it on youtube. It works really well and the spectrum analysis in the android app is really interesting!

[@godfreypoon5148]

In Australia, we are allowed to put no more than 10 radioactive smoke alarms in our bin at once. If we have more than 10, we have to treat them as radioactive waste, or alternatively put the excess units in a different bin. There is no limit when placing them in a neighbour's bin.

[@kitemanmusic]

Why do you have so many?

[@godfreypoon5148]

@@kitemanmusic It's just for good measure.

[@DjResR]

What about shared bin of an apartment block?_

[@silversurfer3202]

Your Neighbor....😡😠☢️

[@MrLuigge]

"... Neighbor bin..." hahahahahha

[@rabdimrzi]

This is the most American metal I've ever seen

[@anvilleite198]

From the Estonian mad scientist guy.

[@cyberdemigod]

Especially since its used to tell fire to go fuck itself.

[@chaosreigns7386]

Careful there my friend, you say that too loud, they might come and try to get it canceled from the period table of the elements for being inherently racist and not inclusive of the other elements... ;)

[@DarkMetaOFFICIAL]

oh my god the comedy 😂

[@DarkMetaOFFICIAL]

@@chaosreigns7386 it is! racist priveledged metal

[@NightRunner417]

What's really interesting is when you rip one open but keep it powered, and then put an oscilloscope on the output of the detector section. You can literally see the voltage levels drop as air gets more and more blocked by particles like smoke. That in itself isn't particularly astonishing, but then when you think of that crazy shower of particles flying off the Am241 sample getting interrupted by teeny tiny bits of carbon in the air causing a high voltage ionized air path to disrupt... Yeah... it's just totally cool. :-)

[@PlasmaChannel]

Excellent shots you've captured here. What lens do you use for the tight macro shots?

[@Thoisoi2]

Hi, I use Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro.

[@destiny_02]

@@Thoisoi2 doesn't radiation damage the camera sensor ?

[@kisaragiayami]

@@destiny_02 Good question! Would love to hear an answer as well.

[@FutureChaosTV]

​@@destiny_02 The alpha radiation emitted shouldn't be able to but the secondary gamma radiation might.

[@islamahmedbakr7547]

@@destiny_02 Place a high Quality bromined glass so the radiation dosen;t affect the camera

[@CampyCamper]

The tracks through the ethanol vapour are beautiful!

[@JWolff-md3ij]

Agreed, I was hoping he would've found a way to increase the concentration of the vapor inside since he said it wasn't dense enough to show everything. Was my favorite part of the video.

[@gogartymike]

What a brilliant documentary. Your content is consistently fantastic.

[@brooksrownd2275]

I want one of those crazy Plutonium 238 smoke alarms. :D

[@jamesmorgan1063]

Top shelf visual explanatory lectures. Much appreciated.

[@makeracistsafraidagain]

Now you tell me. I've done this cloud chamber experiment. The spark gap is quite beautiful.

[@Vicus_of_Utrecht]

So you disavow Leftists, given your username...

[@FutureChaosTV]

@@Vicus_of_Utrecht No, he disavows racists like you.

[@qwertyqwrtyqwertyuio]

@@FutureChaosTV He didn't say anything racist you melt

[@_tyrannus]

I wish off topic political talk could be put away safely inside one of the concrete cubes at the end of the video.

[@the_kingslayer]

I saw you comment on another video couple days ago nice to see u again lol

[@BackYardScience2000]

Truly one of the only good science/chemistry based KZbin channels left on KZbin. My own channel doesn't even add up to near the greatness of this channel. Thank you for not selling out or changing to get more views like most other science based channels have done. Keep up the great work!

[@WaffleStaffel]

I agree, but don't sell yourself short, kiddo.

[@Vicus_of_Utrecht]

Spam comment. There's other comments with this same copy paste.

[@AmorDeae]

Cody'sLab Explosions&Fire + Extractions&Ire TheThoughtEmporium NileRed Chemical Force StyroPyro Applied Science NightHawkInLight They're just the ones that come to my mind, some are based purely on science, some are mainly science projects. None of them make clickbait like this channel has come down to as I see. Combined with the hard to watch lip desync and having learned in school and youtube just about everything he has to say I'm reassured in not watching this anymore. Thought Emporium has his own video about cloud chambers, and it's that device that allows for visualising radiation, Americium is just an example source you can put in the chamber.

[@BobPapadopoulos]

I don't care about your channel.

[@kevinwillard6652]

But I love your channel too......don't sell yourself short.

[@thehyperscientist1961]

It's amazing what your doing here. Very few other chemistry channels I've seen talk about the radioactive elements in such detail and in a captivating way!

[@cpm1003]

I recently got some old radium watch hands, and a small sample of ThO2 for my element collection. The watch hands don't glow brightly, but if I let my eyes adapt to the dark for an hour, I can see the super dim glow, with crazy sparkling all over. For the ThO2, I bought a ZnS(Ag) screen to place on top, and it is also a super dim and sparkly light show. This is another cool way to visualize alpha radiation, although it is unfortunately difficult to capture on camera.

[@sb-cz7fk]

I love that as well when I can't sleep l like to watch my old alarm clock spark and shimmer i never realized how relaxing and mesmerising ionizing radiation could be.

[@HighlanderNorth1]

☣☢ Darn it! He just said its unsafe for a person to either swallow an americium sample or to attach it to your skin with a bandage.... But what else am I supposed to do with it!? Oh well, I guess I could just place it in a slot inside my element collection. But I REALLY wanted to swallow it! 😁

[@sb-cz7fk]

@@HighlanderNorth1 he never said anything about making a fetching hat out of americium sources or walking around with one on a leash as a pet.

[@HighlanderNorth1]

@@sb-cz7fk That's a great idea! I remember they used to sell these fake "ghost dog" leashes at Spencer Gifts, that gave the appearance you were walking an invisible dog. You could simply shrink the collar down from 8" in diameter to 8mm, which would fit seamlessly around the Americium disc! Walking a tiny disc of uncommon radioactive material attached to a goof dog leash seems like an incredibly logical and constructive way to spend my time!

[@sb-cz7fk]

@@HighlanderNorth1 sounds like a fantastic idea ! I mean they say walking a dog is a great way to make new friends and meet cute people so I wonder what walking a trans uranium metal around will get you.

[@Tomas_Prucha]

Very good! I couldn't wait until you would upload. I watched in Russian first because of being very impatient. Your chemistry videos are excellent. 👋 from 🇨🇿

[@happalula]

incredible... another awesome video about an every-day-appliance i never bothered to think about really glad i found this channel in the past!

[@ashutoshsuman9473]

Waiting for you to complete your playlist on Elements.🙏🤩

[@DaveDVideoMaker]

Thoisoi is back on his English channel after a month.

[@Thoisoi2]

Still faster than Nillered

[@bacnguyenvan4919]

@@Thoisoi2 and Chemical Force Edit: Now I am very regret about my comment.

[@Ayush-yj5qv]

@@Thoisoi2 😂😂

[@BackYardScience2000]

@@Thoisoi2 Still better than Nile Red, too.

[@Mamang-Maangas]

Nilered was uploaded a video 5 mins ago.

[@bernardthedisappointedowl6938]

A particularly good episode this, thanks for all the hard work you've put it to it, ^oo^

[@seanb3516]

I'm incredibly fortunate to have toured the 'back end' of the TRIUMF Research Particle Accelerator at UBC. When I toured I was in an area that was still contaminated with radioactive oxygen which had blown about. They had mostly cleaned up however you could also see black smudges of contaminated Carbon on the ventilation system. That's what you can do with a chem degree and a girlfriend whose father worked there for 20 years. :D (I didn't get a job when I applied, sad)

[@dims95]

Videos like this remind me why I subscribed to thoisoi in the first place👍🏽

[@galadriel4101]

My Grandkids are about to get educated by knowing more science and chemistry by watching your channel.

[@Hydrogenblonde]

Great video. Lots of important information! I've been wanting to see a video on this subject for a long time.

[@urbannanni5864]

This was fascinating! I saw my first cloud chamber on TV back in the very early 60's on a Mr. Science type show. My whole life I have wanted my own cloud chamber, and yours looks quite attainable. Thanks for the facility tour, also. I've wondered what happens to old smoke detectors. A truly wonderful science channel.

[@dsandoval9396]

I really want to build a cloud chamber, it was awesome to see these things flying around. I saw one for the first time last year and while that one was professionally made, even a well build amateur one can be very cool. I have my 99% IPA sitting on my shelf waiting until I get the rest of the materials. I just really don't have the time unfortunately.

[@urbannanni5864]

@@dsandoval9396 and I have all the time in the world...

[@FlyTimeLapse]

I came to know about application of Americium during a project. Americium was used there to determine thickness of the metal sheet. It was amazing to know how the radioactive property is used to determine metal thickness. Your videos are really informative and useful. Thank you.

[@karlpron]

Truly amazing video. You always make great videos, but this was exceptional. Keep up the good work.

[@cethgames8423]

your videos are so well explained and produced. I can see you put lots of work into each one. I'm really grateful for your work!

[@The_Modeling_Underdog]

14:17 Our man has created minilightnings. Hence, he'll be known from now on as Thorsoi2.

[@Robert_McGarry_Poems]

🤔😆

[@rvxn]

Thoisoi2*

[@KillersFromTheWest]

You’re the one that got me into chemistry, I had zero interest in this subject since I only cared about physics but you’ve sparked something big in me. Thank you for all that you do, I hope you make a lot of money off these videos.

[@jameslanglois2264]

I love your content. I’m actually shocked you don’t have more subscribers. The level of detail you go into it great.

[@Christophe_L]

Don't know how I missed this channel all these years. I've only been following for a few months and you always deliver excellent, consistent content.

[@alexgh4621]

I went to Griffith Observatory today. They have an exhibit there that showed something I had never seen before that really intrigued me. It showed a cloud chamber and a spark chamber detector and they were being used to detect secondary cosmic rays. And then I come across this video later today purely by coincidence that showcased the same type of cloud chamber and the spark chamber detector. I don't know what to think now...

[@milolouis]

Brilliant, fantastic. Loved every moment of it.

[@tr0798]

Happy to see new element videos :)

[@seanb3516]

If you open a source chamber on a smoke detector stop when you see the tiny piece of gold. The Source is safe to handle at this point. It is still in a protective and shielded container with only the one window. The ionization chamber (cover) makes a great cap to control radiation. I always store mine above head level pointing upwards. Alpha radiation is used industrially to control static. I used to play with a source used during newspaper printing to control static cling.

[@Flederratte]

Great video! As usual! I watch all of them! Keep up the good work!

[@kychemclass5850]

If I'm not mistaken, also, alpha particle emission takes place over a range of energies depending on several factors so some can penetrate paper. (Also the type of paper is a factor too)

[@Vulporium]

Great video, and inspiring. I learned a lot from this one. I'll for sure be watching more from this channel.

[@LevidelValle]

Just love your vids on chemistry.

[@n2n8sda]

Amazing demonstrations

[@crazy8sdrums]

Excellent production! I enjoyed this a great deal!

[@OnTheRiver66]

Great video. I used my home smoke detector to check my first Geiger counter before getting a test source and some uranium ore samples which I use now. I never saw a spark detector before, thanks for the all your effort in making yours work.

[@thisguy41487]

Excellent video! Keep up the fantastic work!

[@nickjones3605]

This was one of the best videos you have done! AND IT ENDS WITH A FLASH! As all good stories should.

[@mikefrizzell2532]

Thank you, Sir! You are a remarkable scientist.

[@mccallfineart7589]

Excellent explanations and a passionate attitude to help others understand. Keep at it!

[@ian6083]

Really amazing demonstrations and information. Thank you!

[@Mountainmonths]

great video. I always learn things on this channel I've never heard of anywhere else

[@supahfly_uk]

Love your videos bro I have learned so much from watching your stuff. Thanks.

[@kirtankumar3695]

As expected , above the level🤩👍

[@AlbertStraub]

This channel is great! Thank you for the education.

[@laxr5rs]

Fantastic video. Thank you very much.

[@allenvaughan1]

Thank you for this excellent presentation!

[@LuMaxQFPV]

Great vid. Totally fascinating!

[@iramshahzadi9971]

I liked this channel, all videos and content were recorded amazingly. Nice teamwork. I am using these videos for my students to increase their curiosity or chemistry. Keep it Up

[@ihateyoutubehandles]

Another amazing video, thank you for this.

[@matthewday7565]

With a RTG, it will last longer using a longer half life element, but at a much lower power density, that's the trade-off - you need a much larger and heavier unit.

[@meloney]

And a whole lot more of the element :D

[@user-vb7mf5cb3k]

Brooo great video, one of my favourite channels mannn!! no science fiction bullshit, always valuable content

[@sergiobarros6102]

Thanks for the class!

[@kookwater456]

The tour of the Estonian radioactivity disposal site was a very welcome surprise. Thank you!

[@fjs1111]

awesome!! Good luck with the channel your getting close to 1M subs!

[@dannydetonator]

What to do with Americium, take #2: 1)Get a bunch of ionising chamber detectors. Scrape off the gold layer. If Am²O³ stays on the plate, skip to step 4). 2)Seperate Am²O³ from gold by dissolving it in a drop of acetic acid or melting off the gold. 3)Reduce Am (|||) from oxygen, turn it into hydroxide or just heat it to dry out. 4)Dissolve it in small drop of acetic acid, then in diluted citric acid and put in the syringe with a long, strong needle. 5)Travel to Altai Pukin',s unofficial castle residence. Find his favourite wine or other sour beverage. Bribe the distributors of this beverage to let you deliver them. Lace the bottles with Americium by injecting it equally trough corks. 5)Sit back, and enjoy the irony..

[@sunrazor2622]

It would be ironic if the only reason some facilities were top secret in the past was because the officials didn't want the world to see how irresponsible dangerous materials were being handled.

[@808bigisland]

Secrecy has the purpose to avoid and negate responsibilities of individuals in a bureaucracy. That's why we live in such miserable times.

[@brandonbaier5809]

oh the irony abounds my friend.

[@kitebabe05]

wow,very fascinating!! best education channel, thank you!

[@j_sum1]

This is one of your best videos ever. Thank you.

[@zoepertom]

Amazing stuff!

[@anonymouse9105]

It seems like the Americium sample could also be used to recharge the battery or power smoke alarms, but we're forced to buy disposable devices which don't allow the battery to be replaced. More planned obsolescence.

[@Ithirahad]

Not nearly enough americium for that. Adding that much would be insanely expensive and would give regular people access to dangerous amounts of nuclear material.

[@godfreypoon5148]

@@Ithirahad If you give those people enough nuclear material, they will become irregular. The problem is self-resolving.

[@misugijun]

amazing content as always. thank you for this top quality informative video

[@EduardoRohdeEras]

One of the best Thoisoi videos!

[@squigglesmcjr199]

Literally one of the best channels on KZbin!!!

[@Paddydapro]

Love the video and love this channel :)

[@jdlives8992]

Glad to see you again

[@danieldollive4660]

Thank you for providing an actual true explanation for how lightning is formed by ionization of the air. It makes far more sense now how lightning is formed by this process. Also your demonstration was great enjoyed this, Thank you.

[@greasymoth4172]

Americium, the United State's response to the dread alloy known as Stalinium

[@bacnguyenvan4919]

Good joke lol

[@roelfbackus]

Professional video shots. Excellent diagrams and explanation.

[@d.cypher2920]

Wow! Thank you very much for the video! *i found the homemade alpha particle detectors quite fascinating!* 😎🇺🇸

[@andrewbaker234]

Another great video thanks.

[@nikospapageorgiou57]

Great video, great channel !👍

[@11131618570]

This video was very enlightening! 👍

[@KOKO-ui4on]

Thank you, excellent channel

[@NicholasA231]

Great video as usual, but I have to contest one important thing. 9:15 - 60 keV X-rays (or gamma technically in this case) definitely aren't "safe". The TVL of soft tissue to 60 keV photons is like 11-12 cm/~4.5". Basically, 1/2 will penetrate at least 3.5cm/1.5", and 90-99+% will be absorbed by the body, and they are definitely highly ionizing in tissue. At 4uSv/hr, at that distance, you'd probably have to wave that thing over someone for a year in order to generate enough to make a single chest x-ray, so I'm not suggesting that it's dangerous to handle, but yeah, 60 keV is right in the middle of the range that penetrates enough to damage tissue, but not enough to pass right through. If you generate enough 60keV photons you basically have a perfect x-ray machine.

[@Ripen3]

If it takes a year to resemble a typical chest X-ray, isn't that safe enough?

[@NicholasA231]

@@Ripen3 It isn't likely to cause any harm at those levels. That's why I said it's not unsafe - quantity-wise. The quality/energy level of the radiation, however shouldn't be characterized that way. It's probably irrelevant to 99.9% of people in any situation they are likely to even encounter. Just that, to say 60 keV photon radiation is harmless is exactly the opposite of true. It gets slightly complicated... For radiation safety guidelines we use a linear non-threshold model. That means we take levels with known harmful effects and assume that, for instance, 1/1000th of that is 1/1000th as harmful. We know that's not true based on epidemiological data that we have - low levels up to a few 10's of times normal background *may* even be slightly beneficial - but it's the standard practice for regulatory purposes to assume "no safe dose". Also, If you ate it 🙄, kept it near your eye for a long time, or carried it in your pocket every day... You might increase risk of cancer, cataracts, or fertility issues respectively. Honestly probably still not, but having no respect for it isn't a good approach is all I'm saying. Or if you got 1000 of them and tried to extract the Am (someone did that) - that'd be dangerous. It's hard to communicate radiation health physics effectively. That's why everyone is (wrongly) afraid of nuclear power.

[@techtinkerin]

Fascinating vid thanks ☺️❤️

[@mattbranham1105]

Great vid!

[@devhassanmehdi]

I am a computer science major and don't understand most technical details about chemistry, but your videos make it so easy to understand. Thank you.

[@bhblueberry]

Hi Thoisoi :) Haven't you heard about American teenager who had built nuclear reactor in his yard using many smoke detectors?

[@BackYardScience2000]

The radioactive boy scout, David Hahn? I'd wager to bet that he had heard a lot about him. Everyone in this field of study has. But he used far, far more than just smoke detectors. He even ended up with a lot of radium compounds that he also used.

[@markshort9098]

He was also collecting old clocks to get the radium when he found an old clock that had a bottle of radium paint inside it so he hit the mother load with that one clock.. every nerd knows all about the radioactive boy scout

[@antongolovko1149]

He didn't actually build a nuclear reactor, this is a common misconception. David Hahn was trying to build a breeder reactor, a breeder reactor is a reactor that makes more fissionable material than it uses.

[@jasonwilliam2125]

So much better now we have a face for the voice. That 1 million subs is so close its exciting.

[@johanbenko7818]

Can you please provide the link to the site with the 3d step files for the spark detector? This episode is a very interesting contribution. Thanks for making us smarter!

[@JohnMullee]

Thanks this is wonderful stuff :)

[@duncancargill6371]

this is one of the most informative of your of your very informative videos

[@jec_ecart]

The tour was such a bonus!

[@chikkenbonz]

To be honest, I wasn't expecting a whole lot from this video. It's in smoke alarms...what else can you talk about?? But it turned out to be one of the most interesting and favorite videos from you! I've seen Cloud Chambers before, but have never made one...I need to try this! That was fascinating seeing the atomic particles shooting thru the mist vapor! Thanks so much for such a cool presentation.

[@3ccdmike]

Very nice, thank you.

[@roybm3124]

Amazing footage

[@RONIN-112]

great channel , one of rare people whose english gets worse while speaking it more often ..... great work , love it

[@lukehanlon9965]

Nice work bro 👍

[@FxTR22]

Thank you for the assem video again.

[@ivanahumpalot7346]

A pleasure to watch.

[@cezary7082]

Seriously, this is attracting such attention it cannot be just skipped by

[@goofypettiger]

Well done, dude. Very informative, thank you!

[@johngreally9599]

Best Thoisoi2 Video so far. 10/10

[@Litepaw]

Dude just showed up at an ex-soviet nuclear waste disposal facility and they give him a tour. Nice