Investigating the Periodic Table with Experiments - with Peter Wothers

[@drfirenugz2641]

I haven't had a chemistry class, thought, seen, breathed anything chemistry in like over 15 years. This was an absolute delight and refresher on many things forgotten, ty

[@MrEzPc]

Love seeing the children actually excited sitting and watching through all this science. Marvelous to see young ppl engaged with science.

[@iameddywonder]

Chemistry is literally and figuratively the only way to end with a bang! Thank you, RI.

[@aasemahsan]

12:20 Nitrogen Iodide 15:35 Discovery of Inert Gases 21:16 Transitional Metals 27:50 Iron 33:18 Soda 33:40 Calcium Carbonate 40:00 Reactions with Oxygen 41:20 Lithium 45:00 Sodium 49:45 Magnesium Scandium Aluminium

[@johndawson6057]

Love you❤

[@TraneFrancks]

Chemistry left me so cold in school. I wish I'd had lectures the likes of this when I was a student. Absolutely wonderful.

[@neilwilson5785]

Gosh, I feel the same. The periodic table was not explained to us at all (UK in the 1970's-1980's), and we didn't have the fundamentals. I switched off.

[@randomdude9135]

I left Chemistry and Biology cuz they only concentrated on memorizing some random reactions, drawing some body parts etc. So I agree.

[@sulljoh1]

Same. I had awful chemistry teachers

[@radiationman72]

Trane Francks fortunately i did have these type of experiments in high school. But now you’re seeing it hope you can still enjoy and be fascinated enough to ask why is it so?

[@CuriousMindUnplugged]

cx& ;)¿

[@zk513]

I always loved chemistry and, in fact, almost went studying chemistry at university. I've had some very good teachers, but Mr. Wothers takes it to a completely new level. Thanks for this very interesting lecture.

[@DavidInSydney1]

Fascinating, clear and well presented. As a layman, I now have an understanding of why the periodic table is arranged the way it is. Thank you Dr Wothers.

[@bitTorrenter]

It's High School education.

[@Name-js5uq]

Mee too

[@jpdemer5]

I was a professional chemist for many years (Ph.D.), and I've never seen that potassium mirror demonstration before. There's always something to learn from these lectures!

[@JohnHlavaty]

I gleaned more from that 85 minute video than I learned from high school chemistry. I believe, it's all about the quality of the teaching. A teacher has to either possess the ability to actively engage her students in the subject matter or the university must teach it as a necessary skill.

[@iarwainben-adar8978]

If you want more information about the coulombic explosions you see the actual discovery experiments as one of the team is youtuber Thunderf00t.

[@drmoss_ca]

I think the thing that makes the difference is that the properties of the groups can be explained by the valencies, and in particular the number of electrons in the outermost orbit. When I asked my chemistry teacher why certain reactions went the way they did, his best answer was 'that's the way it works'. It's so much easier to understand when you have a 'why it works' rather than just the 'way it works'.

[@iarwainben-adar8978]

@@drmoss_ca I'm sorry to hear that, if your chemistry teacher really did just respond like that they have no business pretending to understand chemistry at any level a child will be examined at. We learned this stuff at 14-15 at my school, but that was last century :)

[@drmoss_ca]

I suspect my experience was a little further back in the last century!

[@tibfulv]

We used to teach rhetoric to people, which is all about effective speech. These days, it's much more haphazard, as teachers have to rely on their natural abilities instead of a trained skill.

[@mariusvanc]

These lectures for kids are always so informative, and no one's trying to sell you their book.

[@ddavidmac6009]

Kids? Man im in my 70zz and it Hurts my head. It HURTS IT HURTZZZ

[@ddavidmac6009]

@Martin Jansen uhuh, and that being what is for ????

[@Orcman666]

If for example Sean Carroll tells me how the universe works he can plug in his newest book as many times as he wants.

[@robglenn4844]

And no one's trying to sell me a Jaguar this time lol!

[@randomdude9135]

*Richard Dawkins would like to know your location*

[@miinyoo]

Dr Wothers. Very good presenter. I've seen many of these presentations and he is easily among the most entertaining while doling out a surprising amount of information.

[@mmmhorsesteaks]

I prefer Szydlo from a purely stylistic point of view, but the RS's lectures are all excellent. Accessible and informative, while still being quite entertaining.

[@AnoNymInvestor]

@@mmmhorsesteaks I agree 100 %.

[@kevintotimeh6648]

@@AnoNymInvestor I agree 100% as well!

[@8698gil]

I would have loved to have seen this when I was in school. A lecture like this could easily turn a kid toward a career in science. Both informative and very entertaining.

[@crispi101]

totally agree with you!

[@LiborTinka]

The bonding simluator explained me a lot. What a great educational tool.

[@whysa4]

Another great talk aimed at a younger audience introducing the wonders of chemistry, well done to Dr Wothers and the RI.

[@thomasmuller8558]

That's remarkably incredible lecture i'm a 4th grade chemistry major and of course know almost every thing been said in this lecture but what amazed me that the way he say the information that even make kids understand really difficult concepts Much respect❤

[@JorgeRamos-xw6dy]

So much fun. I graduated in chemistry and never saw such a cool lecture.

[@Daniel-rz5pi]

What you doing now? Analytic or organic? :) im a 3rd's year student.

[@jamesmeyer6992]

That's because this is put on by the Royal Institute.

[@larissapereira1838]

Same here mate, they made the periodic table boring but it is such a remarkable arrangement

[@gaussianvector2093]

really, i didn't even get my minor (3 credits away but couldn't be organic, I loved organic too much to strive for a sidenote on a piece if paper) and I did all these experiments (except fluorine) myself. Alkalis with water, mirror, decomposing and recompising H²O .... Then it got even cooler, using H²CCl² regularly, crystalization, spectroscopy. Those were the days.

[@gaussianvector2093]

Did you enjoy the labs or (as I often observed) did you try to get through them as quickly as possible. I say this because I hypothesize that many remarkable phenomena go unappreciated by trying to "get it right'" or understand the math your expected to preform (very basic, but many chem majors loathe math and hence don't retain it, so in some sense they learn it all over again in chem). I loved lab and fell in love with chemistry all over again, eventually somewhat regretting my choice if major. But maybe it was the way I walked that path that allowed me to experience the experiments in a way much more akin to discovery than a required curriculum. (Especially as much of my chem was not required or even counted towards a minor and I was too far and too in debt to major at that point. I just kept taking all the ochem they would let me.)

[@kantanlabs3859]

This one is fantastic in many respects, behind the didactic and impressive experiments, lots of science, history and even modern discoveries. For instance I never heard of explosions induced by Coulomb's force before. Surely one of the best conference here for a long time !

[@ezza88ster]

Wonderful lecture! Well done! If this video doesn't get a few hundred kids into chemistry I would be amazed. Maybe one of them could be a Nobel Laureate?? Basically all chemists just love bangs! :-)

[@palp1880]

thanks to chris brackstone for his tireless effort in preparing these lectures

[@jakeblack6128]

Huiiuiuihihihihihihiihii

[@Ireniicus]

Utterly brilliant and I think every child on earth should get the opportunity to watch it.

[@profphilbell2075]

Those doing rocket physics do.

[@ZeedijkMike]

Yes - That's the way to teach and entertain at the same time. Well done.

[@rajukep6599]

Amazing never thought would sit through 1+ hr of pure chemistry 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@monika.alt197]

You’ll definitely enjoy Andrew Szydlo’s lectures at the RI too!

[@kevintotimeh6648]

@@monika.alt197 Andrew Szydlo is an excellent science educator, love his presentation. I can tell these educators such as Peter could be influenced by the man that inspired me to become a scientist- Bill Nye the Science Guy himself ❤

[@山田素子-s1q]

Thank you very much for your lecture. A few years ago l attended your seminar in CAMBRIDGE Summer Programmes. At that time I didn't understand well what the periodical table means. This lecture helps my understanding much better. From JAPAN.

[@manamsetty2664]

Magic of internet anyone from the world can view these so awesome

[@eskayblack]

This was the most beautiful lesson on periodic tables I have ever attended/seen.

[@chococandy8009]

Thank you @The Royal Institution for uploading these marvellous and content rich leactures here on youtube for free. We are really very fortunate to watch and enjoy such great experiments done beautifully by these knowledgeble professors. I hope we could get such curious environment in our schools also so, that student can explore the beauty of chemistry which is far beyond just few chemical reactions which they cram for their exams.

[@Anijerang]

One of the best science based channels on KZbin.

[@3VILmonkey]

Considering how old and prestigious is that lecture hall, I wonder how many other explosions have occurred there as a result of lectures and presentations.

[@theskett]

I'm now curious to know the ratio of intended vs. unintended explosions :-)

[@3VILmonkey]

@@theskett Ha! Great point!

[@alexenriquez3997]

@@3VILmonkey p!

[@garymingy8671]

One per semester per 100 students..taking chem. Things happen one goal for is no deaths no hospitalisation , a couple stiches is knda ok.

[@sixstringedthing]

Deflagration encouraged, detonation slightly less so. Costs a lot in glassware and insurance premiums. :)

[@urlkrueger]

Fantastic presentation. I had never seen the Potassium mirror demonstration before nor the baloons of different gasses. Thank you.

[@lineikatabs]

If my chem teacher was explaining things as well as Mr. Wothers, life would have turned out very differently for me, even without these lovely experiments.

[@bryankirk3567]

If mister Wothers was teaching at Prince Edwards Boys High in the early seventies, I would definitely be a Chemist today. Thank you Sir!

[@bretthurst5716]

there is chemistry going on in the skin of the people in the mid-back row. "As we can all see, the constant heat of the spotlight slowly but surely draws the H2O out of their pores and evaporates it into the air as 'water vapor', quite brilliant really"

[@Kalumbatsch]

42:42 "and my rod has gotten much smaller" *muffled laughter*

[@alexvaughan5269]

Sounds like a line from the Bible..

[@JerryEricsson]

I am, I guess, a rather old man now. Well not old, but surly a bit over middle age, at the age of 68 years, yet I find this entire series very enlightening. Rather then watch young men open old rations from wars gone by and eat the food, I can review much of what I learned as a child, and even add new knowledge to my aging grey matter. For this, I offer my most sincere thanks.

[@johnmcaree7298]

Excellent way to spend an hour and a bit. I loved chemistry at school, and wish my 16 year old self had had the foresight to continue with it.

[@tdhanasekaran3536]

The Calcium oxide that is mentioned in this video is called 'Sunnambu' in the Tamil community in India. After mixing with water it is used to paint the walls that gives a glittering white color. If the Calcium oxide is left in open for a longer time it will react with the carbon dioxide in air and turns into a nice white powder and totally unreactive Calcium Carbonate. In fact the original 'Sunnambu' is made from collections of calcium carbonate sources found in the sea shores (many varieties of marine species known as 'kilinjal' in the Tamil language) which is burned at very high temperatures in air tight kilns known as 'Sunnambu kalavai' which turns calcium carbonate into the reactive calcium oxide. Calcium sulphate is another interesting material known since several thousand years of human knowledge.

[@dembro27]

That potassium mirror demonstration was awesome.

[@aureliamitchell478]

This video is amazing! I get bored real easily but I watched the whole video no problem

[@matthewjohnston3195]

Chemistry was my favourite subject about 60 years ago. I even remembered the name of the deflagrating spoon. I learned something new, that diamond is the best conductor of heat.

[@KrazyOnIce]

im 12 and im in 7th grade and i had to watch all of this for homework. This is the one time homework was fun :(

[@christine2689]

“Physicists, of course, love smashing things even further and breaking everything”

[@jerrylong381]

Yeah, you would think they wouldn't have any nice things by now.

[@Adam_Adamsky]

Yeah, and you didn't have to wait long for the effects of such approach. 4:23 the fella showing the electron flying around the proton, which is a complete bulls#*t. Every secondary school student knows that.

[@ptitera]

@@Adam_Adamsky I'll bet he knows too. But this model works quite good for most of the basic chemistry.

[@Adam_Adamsky]

@@ptitera - the model of flat Earth supported from below by four elephants would also work equally "quite good for most of the basic geography" 🤣

[@ptitera]

@@Adam_Adamsky Yes, and unless your measurements do not exceed about 30km in length you may freely use it (except of height measurements). The thing is you have to know limitations of your model and when to switch to another one. Keep in mind too that this lecture is intended for young audience. They are not ready to understand the physics of electron.

[@audreymciver3087]

I could listen to his lecture for hours because of his voice.

[@twosongs7396]

Brilliant presentation. Impressed as an adult, I can only imagine how elated I’d have been, as a child, watching this, live in your lab. Good show!

[@akoponen]

Excellent presentation! I expect that one could differentiate solid gold bars from tungsten containing gold bars by the different sonic responses.

[@twosongs7396]

What would Au’s frequency be, do you know?

[@boonencrocket3541]

I would like to Very Respectfully remind Dr. P. Wothers, that the proper pronunciation of Nucleus is "Nuke-LEE-es". Both my wife & I, time & again, listened to your pronunciation of Nucleus (right after mentioning Potassium...) said, "Nu-Kee-les in the heart..."!! (chart of Electrons: 19, Neutrons: 20). Please notice that by no means I mean disrespect. In fact, I gave a thumb up. Thank you for giving all the youngsters interest in science.

[@arik9112]

I never knew that diamond was the best conductor of heat, thanks!

[@xxxrst]

Chemistry has always fascinated me, electrons, protons , neutrons. The lecture was very informative and entertaining, I will be looking forward to checking out more of your lectures. Thnx dr. Peter worthers. ✝️🙏

[@ventsislav1796]

Incredible! I haven't seen so clever man for a long time! He didn't have a look at some helping pieces of paper! It means only one-he really knows what he does! I'd fancy meeting that guy!

[@g-palmer4760]

Should have explained a bit about how the orbitals and shells are structured, as this would lead to a better understanding of why elements react with each other. EG: Helium is stable because the S1 orbital is full - no need to try grab another electron from somewhere else...

[@karapuzo1]

Nitrogen is still called Azot in a lot of languages, French, Russian , Bulgarian and even Turkish, among others.

[@kudosdc]

Azides are nitrogen compounds

[@tiborpurzsas5465]

Nitrogen is called nitrogen in Hungarian! Just saying . I know ,Because I'm hungarian

[@christiangeiselmann]

Bulgarian too.

[@karapuzo1]

@@tiborpurzsas5465 ok, corrected

[@Nivola1953]

karapuzo1 you forgot Azoto in Italian

[@johncuzzourt2118]

So cool! I'm an old (retired) chemical engineer and I just learned about coulombic explosions from the sodium-water reaction!

[@nivinajith5334]

Thank you so much @The Royal Institution for this superb show,❤

[@loops8274]

Chemistry teachers always have an unfair advantage because there's literally always a good reason for them to set things on fire

[@jlp1528]

Chris is like Neil on Periodic Videos - technicians are the unsung heroes of science. :)

[@martineastburn3679]

I had a Mebus band version (2D version) and the Lanatide fit into the standard table. It was made in the 70's by a Sr Scientist Chemistry - G.E. as I recall. I got it and gave mine to the Chem teacher next door. I taught Technical Electronics. Never got a picture of it and is my lament since.

[@PlasmaHH]

The way this guy pronounces "order" he could very well be speaker of the house of commons...

[@ZeHoSmusician]

24:35 I'd have said that helium extinguished the flame because, at least locally, it prevented oxygen from keeping it burning... (If it literally "did nothing", the flame should've been unaffected, no?)

[@finchisneat]

Yeah I caught the same thing... Lack of precision of speech, hopefully they know what he meant. I could imagine have questions as a kid after hearing the way he said that. "How does it put it out if it does nothing?" What it's doing is displacing oxygen...

[@dannywlm63]

fascinating . i was expecting to learn how to cope with my wife once a month. but this was even better

[@terrybailey2769]

Lots of good practical demonstrations. A very entertaining lecture, this what get kids interested rather than some of the rather tame Christmas lectures of recent years. Brilliant.

[@stephm4047]

That was really an AMAZING lecture ! Packed with information, history, and entertaining visual experiments. I really had a great time watching this. Thank you. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@davequinn4701]

Only 227 thumbs up..... this deserves so much more..

[@tdhanasekaran3536]

There is another nice technique where Coloumb explosion occurs. That technique is femtosecond laser ablation and laser micromachining. It is of course not known to the general public. The highly energetic and intense laser power used causes the atoms on the surface to be fully ionized (stripping of all the electrons leaving a positively charged atom) and the resulting columb explosion vaporizes the material without heating the surrounding (it is not the traditional thinking of melting followed by vaporization).

[@brendanfarquharson1874]

Excellent lecture. Best explanation of periodic table with real experiments to prove. And fun too!

[@pellechem]

Always so inspiring chemistry from Peter W Thanks from Sweden.

[@patientson]

Thank you, Mr. Peter Wothers.

[@DCFusor]

BTW, pure hydrogen burns without noticeable color. I believe I saw sodium lines in that fire. Not surprising, it doesn't take very much impurity at all to color a flame (it was the basis for some uses of spectroscopy to test what you had). Probably the talc they usually put inside balloons during manufacture.

[@brcardoso00]

The color of the flame in this case comes from the combustion of the baloon, not the hydrogen.

[@DCFusor]

@@brcardoso00 Ah, so the rubber jumped to the center and evenly dispersed to all of the gas. Gotcha.

[@brcardoso00]

@@DCFusor No need to be rude; the color of the flame is indeed given by the baloon burning (to be precise, by the carbon in the rubber that it's made of, which gives a yellow color).

[@DCFusor]

@@brcardoso00 Sorry if I came off rude. I own a lab, we use H and D ( we have a fusor ) from high purity (5 9's) tanks, and have, yes, burned it in various ways - usually on purpose. I submit that rubber from the balloon doesn't fly into the center across the pressure differential, and indeed, if you've done this, as we have at our lab (scientists like fun too) - the rubber doesn't even get hot unless it's a pretty large balloon. It certainly does not disperse perfectly evenly into all parts of the resulting flame. _I've_done_this_.

[@brcardoso00]

@@DCFusor It's funny, because at virtually every lecture in the RI where they do this experiment, the presenter generally explains the color as the combustion of the baloon.

[@ezzulhilman7626]

Thank You Dr. Wothers

[@angermanager2116]

8:33 A satisfying "Nucleus". Use it to ignore all the instances of "nuculus".

[@alancurtis9155]

An absolutely brilliant lecture, the lecturer has a great ability to hold your interest.

[@hlr3932]

Such a great lecture. One question that always comes to mind: HOW did the chemists at those times design and carry out their experiments (without the kind of info we have now), without burning/injuring/cutting/blowing themselves or the labs (guess there were some who did), but yet it is remarkable. Perceiving the elements with the 5 senses would be relatively painless (mostly); see (color), taste (sweet/bitter/sour), smell (odorless/pungent), touch (smooth/rough), hear (hissing/cracking), but other tests would be way more problematic especially considering dearth of equipment.

[@itzybitzyspyder]

What an amazing teacher he is.

[@coriscotupi]

What a great lecture, I only wish I'd had nearly as good and enthusiastic chemistry teachers and professors back in the day. The one amendment I'd make is about the object shown at 18:20. It's not a turbine blade but actually a compressor (or perhaps a fan) blade. They both work in the opposite way to a turbine blade, i.e, their objective is to move fluids by their rotating motion around a shaft, whereas a turbine blade uses the fluid's motion to impinge rotation upon a shaft. They're quite different, really.

[@circumworld-no-ticket]

the end is fantastic 😊 I'm crying 😭 all the kids teachers must look like

[@2yugen2]

Good stuff. Fun demonstrations. I bet those kids had a blast.

[@thevoiceharmonic]

There was one mistake, perhaps 2. At 29m we have burning iron wool and it is claimed it became lighter because the hot air inside the wool, doesn't weigh as much. The atmospheric pressure on the scales will not change. The apparent reduction in weight is due to air movement. The hot air inside the wool rises blowing the wool in an upward direction. Air blows in from all around the base to replace the hot air that leaves the wool. So the iron wool is being blown upwards making it seem lighter. The second one is a bit more tenuous but still interesting to think about. The candle is blown out by the helium balloon. Perhaps it was, but the sudden appearance of pure helium next to a candle will also deprive it of enough oxygen to continue to burn as it was accustomed, by suddenly depriving it of a significant proportion of oxygen through diffusion into that helium space, and helium suddenly diffusing around the flame, restricting oxygen diffusion. The balloon burst would provide a pressure wave by increasing the radius of the space helium had held by a few millimetres, until atmospheric pressure returned to equilibrium a thousandth of a second later. We sense the pressure wave as a bang, then as echos off all surfaces.

[@arwo1143]

The burning steel wool looks so fucking cool

[@slightlygruff]

He should have shown high speed footage of sodium explosion and credited Thunderfoot as well as saying that was just a very passionate youtube guy who did that high speed camera work

[@Dave5843-d9m]

Argon is used as a gas shield for welding or any process where air has to be kept out. But it’s only separated when gasses are refined from air for use in steel works. No steel works - no separated oxygen, no liquid nitrogen and no argon

[@MannyXVIII]

1:05:40 you can savely assume tho that it is H2SO3 instead of H2SO4 since it needs special catalysts or other conditions so that sulfur form SO3 when burning ( the temperature of the burning sulfur is too high for So3, so even if it forms it will react in the manner 2 SO3 -> 2 SO2 + O2)

[@ronaldderooij1774]

Chemistry was fun at school, until I had to write down the reactions on paper..... Big white paper... staring at me.

[@chinesecabbagefarmer]

I tried to tell jokes about Chemistry on stand-up night once. Unfortunately, there was no reaction.

[@GodlikeIridium]

Great lecture. I am a chemist but have never known about the history of the periodic table. Super interesting

[@Nivola1953]

Greatly appreciate these presentations especially because they target a young audience and create that sense of amazement that may inspire them to pursue a career in science. these lectures are also the best tools to keep humanity from regressing into the dark ages because of the Dunning Kruger effected, social media empowered conspiracy theorists idiots whose absurd comments can be found even under here. if you think that science is a conspiracy and you know better, why are you using these quantum physics enabled tools to communicate your dumbness, since you know better why don’t you “invent” your communication tools

[@MadScientist267]

Could have saved a lot of typing by calling them simply what they are... Re-tart-ed

[@davidhughes2960]

Phedamine and alpha brain ?

[@lalleyatata]

I am 7th grade schooling I did understood and learned about elements out of this lecture Teacher of all the time thank you for Enlighten my curiosity

[@robinbrowne5419]

Cool experiments. Entertaining and educational. Thanks. Cheers from Canada.

[@Tularis]

I love ❤️ this guy and his lectures!

[@paulharvey1756]

been watching at 3/4 spped after a dube and loving science thumbs up!

[@pappaflammyboi5799]

Electrons don't orbit the nucleus, otherwise, they would emit radiation. They are in a probability cloud defined by the Schrodinger wave equation. The rest of the lecture and presentation was quite enjoyable.

[@fiegenfiegen]

Terrific lectura indeed! I understand the periodic table at last… 35 years after I left school!

[@RZero7]

Thank you! Nature is fascinating, so is Science.

[@armandmajer8049]

What an amazing professor!

[@chan_for]

50:05 element for making Flashbangs/Stun-Grenades in Military

[@ccgtn00]

Great lecture. Science as it should be accessible and fun.

[@williamfabuien1125]

I hated school and found reading boring when I was young. Now age 46 I am addicted to videos like this and can’t stop reading.

[@savage22bolt32]

Me too, & I'm twice your age!

[@bad71hd]

Why the FAQ is Q-BERT being played in the back ground on he black board?

[@frankrwalsh]

Has anyone else noticed that Manganese is the only stable element with seven electrons in its outer shell?

[@82rah]

The the other group 7 elements and group the group 17 elements also have 7 valence electrons. That's why the chart is arranged as it is.

[@jerryclarkiancabuntucan9375]

This lecture is REMARKABLE!

[@marsy1480]

Brilliant! Don’t remember much of this from when I did chemistry at school in the 80’s. Very informative.

[@simonboulton8347]

You should try potassium with silver nitrate! Be careful with minimal quantities... a reaction quite divine

[@jeffreyfugh7602]

Finally, you guys are acknowledging the colombic explosion theory which is by far the most plausible explanation hahaha

[@CalculatedRiskAK]

FINALLY someone who refers to water by its proper chemical name: Hydrogen Oxide. Hydrogen's naming convention follows that of metals, so you don't put the prefix for the amount of hydrogen atoms.