Milking the Thorium Cow - Periodic Table of Videos

How to produce Actinium from a "cow" of Thorium... Filmed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
More links and info in full description ↓↓↓
More on Actinium: • Actinium - Periodic Ta...
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (nuclear science): www.ornl.gov/science-area/nuc...
With thanks to Rose Boll and everyone else at Oak Ridge.
Discuss this video on Brady's subreddit: redd.it/aeuv0v
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From the School of Chemistry at The University of Nottingham: bit.ly/NottChem
With thanks to the Garfield Weston Foundation.
Periodic Videos films are by video journalist Brady Haran: www.bradyharan.com/
Brady's Blog: www.bradyharanblog.com
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[@VeraTR909]

I love how the guy controlling the arm points things out and shakes the thorium bottle, much respect for their work!

[@adamkendall997]

I thought I was watching the shopping network for a moment there.

[@ronnetgrazer362]

@@adamkendall997 But wait, there's more! Call now, and get a second nanogram of actinium two-two-five completely free of charge! And that's not all! Your vials, the accessory kit, and the complementary steak knife set are shipped to you in a stylish lead-clad container, ready for use!

[@h0verman]

its like an alternate universe neil but just an alternate university

[@BlackEpyon]

As with any piece of equipment, you use it enough, and your brain develops the neural pathways to manipulate that equipment as if it were your own body.

[@johnarken1810]

You should see him juggle!

[@edgeeffect]

In fact, that "glovebox" operator is REALLY showing off his skills with the manipulators as much as he possibly can.

[@koenth2359]

Actinium from a cow --> Lactinium?

[@bbates6454]

LOL... ;-)

[@gamer_kid_naz4942]

You deserve more likes

[@bpccmath251calculusiihitch4]

Well done. Wish I had thought of it.

[@switchamafuck78]

Koen Th no

[@stuarteames7262]

Gon the baptesd

[@Christoph1990]

Still not as expensive as printer ink...

[@happosade]

Actually, I checked the prizes on Amazon and printer inks are not that expensive. You might want to change your supplier or question their pricing. 🤔🤔

[@ooooneeee]

Just buy a laser printer instead.

[@error.418]

@@ooooneeee A laser printer still needs toner cartridges which aren't cheap

[@charliewallace4804]

joke ^ over | these replies

[@error.418]

@@charliewallace4804 I mean the OP joke was great

[@Rahbeep]

"Highly radioactive materials handling" 4:24 Uses container for Mini Cream Puffs

[@FalcoTheImpaler]

"gamma ray camera" and not "gammera"? come on scientists

[@hydrochloricacid2146]

You need to ask the engineers for that instead

[@harshrajkamal3943]

@@hydrochloricacid2146 Thanks for the complement. We are highly unimaginative.

[@hydrochloricacid2146]

@@harshrajkamal3943 not saying scientists aren't creative with names, just saying I've seen many wacky and arguably terrible names come from the engineering department

[@harshrajkamal3943]

@@hydrochloricacid2146 I know that. Because I am of them.

[@thomasdyke2293]

We actually call it "the Gigi"

[@rafaburdzy449]

Long time no see and finaly back again. 👍😊 I realy like Professor Sir Martyn Poliakoff. I am very excited to see Professor again in video.

[@electronicsNmore]

One of those videos that keeps you watching. :-)

[@InTheFilth]

I love the "Not to Scale" disclaimer at the bottom of the animations. Lol

[@paulcampbell5202]

A great video, nice to see them up again. It should be stated that Thorium decay chain isotopes like Bismuth 213 are MUCH better for use in cancer treatment than most of those presently in use because they are mostly alpha emitters and as such less damaging to the normal tissue surrounding the tumour which has attracted the monoclonal antibody carrying the isotope. Most therapeutic medical isotopes in use today are beta emitters and this particle can penetrate further (into the normal tissue) than is the case with an alpha particle. The HUGE problem for the future is that these safer and better isotopes ONLY come from the decay chain of Uranium 233 and this in turn only comes from Thorium. At the present time, nobody is making any more Uranium 233 so once this "old stock" of the Thorium 299 is gone, that's it, there is no more! By the way, the best element to make Radio Isotope Thermo Electric Generators (Plutonium 238) to power satellites going into deep space where solar panels won't work because they are too far from the sun, also only comes from the decay of Thorium via Uranium 233. Thus once that stock is used up then there will be no more deep space exploration possible until somebody can work out an alternative method of electricity production or we get more Uranium 233 and allow it to decay. I would highly recommend looking up "Molten Salt Nuclear Reactors" as this type of reactor can use Thorium as fuel, and while there are some technical complexities, these reactors are MUCH safer than the present reactors in use to make electricity, produce far less long lived nuclear waste, would be smaller and cheaper to build and run, and can also run on the nuclear waste and spent nuclear fuel from present day pressurized water type reactors. By the way despite Molten Salt Reactors being considered as a "new" and Fourth Generation type nuclear reactor, one was built and successfully and safely run at Oak Ridge Laboratories in the 1960's and 1970's. The reason it was not further developed at that time was political rather than technical or scientific.

[@achalhp]

2:42 "Thorium was dissolved in nitric acid that's how we store it we don't want to take it back to the solid it becomes a very insoluble oxide so we keep it in liquid solution". Aqueous homogeneous reactors (predecessor of MSR, also called "solution reactor") can produce these isotopes efficiently.

[@KuK137]

Political? More like uneducated morons from pseudo-"green" organizations that should be banned for lies. And I say it from very pro-ecological standpoint...

[@coopergates9680]

Problem is that the product after the four alpha decays (thallium-209) beta decays twice.

[@MrMoriarty100]

Pity the British government doesn't build a fleet of molten salt reactors at Sellafield. Proliferation is the stumbling block hence they would need to be built only here where there is sufficient security.

[@red-baitingswine8816]

@@coopergates9680 What are the half lives for these beta decays of Thallium 209?

[@revcrussell]

Funny story. Just recently, my company is going to increase our production of Ac-225 (I don't work for ORNL) and the Big Wigs needed a calculation from me to prove that we couldn't do this without radiation shielding. Health Physicist and Nuclear Engineer here, if anyone has any questions about such a process you can reply to this.

[@flameslicer]

So why is it that we use dense materials like lead or concrete? Why not something like steel or aluminum?

[@Dsiefus]

Is the glass window from the robot arm cave enough shielding, for those materials?

[@koharaisevo3666]

@@flameslicer The denser the material the better it is at blocking radiation, you could totally use steel or even wood but then you need a much thicker wall to have the same shielding effect as lead, there are denser material but lead is cheaper. I'm not nuclear engineer though :)

[@F3Ibane]

@@Dsiefus The alpha and beta radiation needs a relatively small amount of shielding. You can stop alpha particles with a sheet of paper, and beta particles with a few millimeters of plastic. Neutron, gamma, and x-ray radiation are highly penetrative and are the ones that require thick, heavyweight shielding like lead.

[@pbandjcole]

@@Dsiefus That is not just one piece of glass either. Probably several inches thick and likely at least two pieces with some kind of oil between the pieces. The glass may also be impregnated with lead as well. They are designed to shield radiation very well.

[@Nighthawke70]

Nuclear diagnostics also use a cow to create a short lived isotope of TC. A "moly cow" contains a sample of Molybdenum-99 and a solution is put through the column to create the tracer of TC-99m. MO-99 has a half life of 66 hours, so it has to be replenished and recharged after.

[@pierreabbat6157]

Second. Could you show the moly cow?

[@evilferris]

Over the years, it’s hard to judge, but I think this is one of the most fascinating videos you’ve ever done. Thank you!

[@Acidtrip138]

I'm so happy you made a new video. It's been a min. and you came back strong with a radioactive element, they are my favorite videos you make I find it so interesting the more I learn the more I want to know. Please keep them coming!!!

[@knumbtummy]

Friday. New Periodic Video. Perfection

[@StripeyType]

Those manipulators - the MSM-8's (for Master-Slave Manipulator Mk. 8) - were installed in a long-term exhibit which may even still be there in St. Louis that I remember from my childhood. The exhibit had a manipulator installed at a height appropriate for children to use, and the remote end was set up such that the user could stack foam bricks and knock them down, and that sort of thing. I have many fond memories of using that manipulator.

[@thomasdyke2293]

Nice! We actually have some on a trailer that the lab (ORNL) takes around to events and museums as a mobile children's (and adults obviously because how cool) exhibit.

[@skizzik121]

StL Science Center? Greatest place on Earth! and a quick walk from the best free zoo in the country!

[@StripeyType]

@@skizzik121 no, this was over at the Magic House in Kirkwood.

[@StripeyType]

@@skizzik121 agreed that the Science Center is the greatest place on Earth. I grew up on the other side of Forest Park and would ride my bike there most days in the Summer.

[@murkyseb]

Thats amazing. Love learning about chemistry and the periodic table, especially about the radioactive elements

[@comradechris7975]

The professor has his crazy hair again! Don't know what he enriched it with but hopefully it doesn't decay as bad this time

[@ristopaasivirta9770]

Must be Einsteinium.

[@theblackbaron4119]

Yeah, this Professor is a national treasure :)

[@RoastCDuck]

It still have a periodic table

[@samuelnakai1804]

He probably wakes up accidentally synthesizing radioactive materials.

[@koenth2359]

He was knighted as Sir Frizzalot

[@damanifesto]

As an ex-nuclear pharmacist, I really appreciate the attention to detail in the video. Well done.

[@EnderCreeper0458]

The Professor never seems to get old.

[@chromosomegun5845]

Glad to see these videos are still being made. I watched them nearly 10 years ago studying general chemistry in college. :)

[@jordangipson1125]

I was just thinking earlier today that it’s been a very long while since I’ve seen something from one of my favorite and longest subscribed channels. This makes me happy!

[@caseybingham7674]

I try to watch as many videos from your channel as possible! So when I found out yall were on location @ ORNL i was thrilled, as I am 1 city away in Knoxville Tennessee, USA! Awesome

[@fret1]

The thumbnail is missing red arrows and circles

[@RoastCDuck]

Its missing neil or an explosion

[@Trident_Euclid]

That's instant dislike for me

[@sniperammow4865]

fret did not think these guys would reduce to eye catching childish thumbnails that don’t have a lot to do with the video. But hey got to compete with buzz feed right?

[@BiggestRedditor]

Milking Thorium Cow At 3 AM🐮💦 Gone Sexual💦💦🐮 Gone Wrong💯😳👏🐮 Warning. Scary😮💦💯🐮

[@Trewwert12]

I clicked on the video thinking they had put out a bunch of videos on thorium

[@jpdemer5]

At $1 trillion per gram (the prof. is off by 10^3), this may be the most expensive material on the planet that's actually bought and sold in commerce.

[@lovetroublecat]

That’s free and left over having already been paid for by the public

[@PedroDelimaMarcano]

Once again hooked in your video... Thanks Professor& the whole team. THUMPS UP.!!!!!

[@carlosbornes]

My PhD project is about studying solid acids so good to hear a bit about it

[@shruthim5180]

That thumbnail though xD

[@keithbecker3142]

Hello from Tennessee! Good to see you had a visit!

[@medcologytutorials2636]

omg! i missed the periodic table of videos so much. Please please make more videos and upload them more frequently.

[@philipocarroll]

Great to see you back Prof!

[@sandeepshastry6647]

Belated happy new year professor and the whole periodic videos team!

[@TheManLab7]

2:40 😂 Well, at least he's honest.

[@charlesachurch7265]

Than you for another succinct and fascinating explanation of a complex idea . I am so impressed I will show this to my friends . xxx

[@tradeviper874]

Hooooray, a new video, well done Doc and Brady

[@NathanGreenberg]

Incredible. Thank you for sharing this knowledge in the fight against cancer.

[@tomwilliams1199]

Incredible people doing fantastic work, it really is lovely to watch

[@johnopalko5223]

Absolutely fascinating, as usual. Thanks again, Professor.

[@andrewcaruana6611]

You are amazing and I am really amazed and impressed by ALL this work that you are doing.👍🙂

[@VraccasVII]

I love the cream puffs plastic container casually sitting in the radioactive cow cave

[@thomasdyke2293]

hahaha We are all about that Reduce Reuse Recycle in the lab. Imagine how much money we saved the tax payer by reusing that container rather than buying a trash can from Fisher

[@PacoOtis]

Bravo! Whew! Thanks for the video and thanks for these dedicated professionals!

[@hamoudi_d]

Watching periodic videos not only helps me to learn about Chemistry, but in the same time it helps me to learn english. I love the simple English our professor, American English hurts my ears.

[@Damariobros]

When I was in Kindergarten, there was someone in my class who, for most of the year, did not show up at all due to having cancer. I remember the day he walked into class and had a hat on to cover his bald head. His name was Alexander.

[@GodlikeIridium]

Wow! The gamma ray camera is one awesome peaxe of equipment! We have a gamma ray spectrometer and this is pretty awesome on it's own. But a camera visualising the spectra? Awesome! Simply amazing

[@Guru_1092]

Glad that we're putting the remnants of such destructive weapons to a more peaceful and helpful application.

[@distorta]

Yeah they sell it to pharmaceutical companies to inject into peoples bodies

[@sneakerbabeful]

@@distorta They use it to make medications which treat cancer.

[@distorta]

@@sneakerbabeful "treat" is subjective. They are injection people with literal poison that has terrible odds. The energy companies make money off this lie

[@maxhaibara8828]

so this is the new super hero. Thor's cow.

[@uglyweirdo1389]

Mjilknor

[@ragnkja]

Ugly Weirdo Mjólknir.

[@czdaniel1]

Thor's Cow; only works assuming the cow is perfectly spherical traveling in a vacuum

[@clarkelliott5389]

Great video with great information!

[@WhichDoctor1]

Sure the physics and chemistry is really interesting but I'm most fascinated by those mechanical manipulator arms! They look soo cool

[@MrMattumbo]

I wonder if an operator has ever screwed up and cracked a glass bit on the "cow" cause he was swinging that arm around really close to the udders, even touching the glass at one point. That'd be a hell of a mess to clean up if it broke lol

[@thomasdyke2293]

@@MrMattumbo Thankfully, we haven't had an accident and killed any cows yet! Buuuuut we definitely have cried over spilled milk

[@czdaniel1]

@@MrMattumbo-- I thought that too, but the material used is probably engineered to withstand the arms. I mean, if you can build a thermonuclear bomb, you can engineer a glass able to withstand the destructive tendencies of Tom Servo's arm

[@pirobot668beta]

I had a chance to use one of these manipulators; they are entirely mechanical! No servo motors, all done with pull-wires. The rationale is that you don't trust motors and servos when handling stuff this dangerous. If a control circuit gets stuck, the manipulator could do some real bad damage in a hurry. Muscle power only!

[@DFX2KX]

@@pirobot668beta That also gives you a lot of feedback that electronic systems wouldn't (namely pressure on the glass)

[@niklas6744]

Great video, thank you

[@_Agosto_]

BB-8 calendar, Aperture Science logo... yes, Periodic Videos is an awesome channel

[@theh0r5e90]

I love these videos please keep them up

[@dustyprater7884]

This is so cool! I never had any idea that stuff like that happened in Oak Ridge, just 75 Km away from where I live.

[@ARandomTroll]

oak ridge was actually one of the main facilities in of the manhattan project back when they were developing the first nuclear weapons during WW2

[@sujimtangerines]

There's even a joint DOE and NPS progran to detail the contribution of Oak Ridge to the Manhattan Project. The bus tour was informative and we saw not only the decommissioned piles but also learned how the original residents were displaced.

[@superman9693]

Yay finally a new periodic video 😍

[@iamthatis3587]

You make me not hate life, periodic videos and Nottingham professors. Thank you

[@Nexfero]

cool science, well done Brady

[@SigEpBlue]

Cancer SUCKS! It's really great to see the men & women on the front lines battling that vicious disease, and that they take such pride in their work.

[@SpinHalo76]

Excellent video ! Gamma ray cam is awesome

[@rolandgerard6064]

This professor is just great, thanks for sharing knowledge.....

[@jkrigelman]

Ah. My periodic video itch has been scratched. Was just trying to figure out last night where you guys were at.

[@nammmy1]

Great video !

[@hellblazer275]

The professor is like gale banks I could legit sit there listening to them go on and on about this stuff and never get bored

[@skodwardeSWF]

Well, great video as always

[@jlunde35]

Great video.

[@chrisnemec5644]

I had to watch this twice to understand it. Very fascinating stuff.

[@terryfish6900]

I watched it twice because it is pure applied chemistry.

[@speedbird7587]

bringing science and technology into medication is really fantastic

[@macoson]

This is actually a big thing. Actinium-225 radiopharmaceuticals seems to be able cure prostate cancer in late stage, even with metastasis. Progress of clinical trials is limited by Thorium inaccessibility. There is a hope though, there is a way to produce this isotope in cyclotrons in Ra-226(p,2n)Ac-225 reaction.

[@michaowczarek9499]

7:08 Aperture Laboratories xD

[@thomasdyke2293]

Cool toy. well done!

[@mr.cosmos6110]

Where's the cake?!?!

[@czdaniel1]

Aperture Science!!

[@OverSoft]

I scrolled down to see if this was already spotted. I was not disappointed. :P

[@Pangloss6413]

and that letter looks like an upside down half life lambda

[@glenngriffon8032]

I was honestly expecting some kind of moo cow(s) that was exposed to radiation in such a way that didn't kill it but made its milk rich in radioactive isotopes that scientists harness through chemistry to pull it out of the milk solution.

[@tori6741]

People use the word "awesome" too loosely some times but now I shall use it properly. That video was awesome. 😁💖

[@toolhog10]

Very cool. Can you do a part 2 with the customers inside their medical lab?

[@geraltrivia951]

Discarded waste from weapons of mass death, to saving the desperately ill from death. Poetic in its chaotic irony.

[@karhukivi]

Weapons of "mass death" include bullets, aircraft, cyanide, alcohol and many other things. Hundreds of thousands died in the fire-bombing of Dresden and Tokyo during ww2. We all die eventually, but I guess you know that.

[@meretruant]

this was an especially good video from this channel

[@atheermmadlool2862]

I am rally lucky to follow your activities prof. I am really interesting to meet you sir because I am planing to do postdoct this Sep.

[@AlexDuWaldt]

Wowzers, excellent and dangerous work done by true heroes, literally saving lives.

[@saltycajun438]

As always, thank you professor

[@Dylan-we5dz]

That is udderly amazing!

[@OneironauticalOne]

So much work goes into one Nukacola Quantum!

[@squirrel5809]

This is amazing, thank you

[@user-tu4fx5bl5t]

I waited for a new video and here it is

[@kosmonautofficial296]

Great video

[@hafizajiaziz8773]

over 4K views in less than an hour. that's just amazing

[@acoow]

I spend about 15 years doing the same kind of work that Jay is doing in this video. Not medical isotopes, though. The professor is right. It's takes a several months before using those manipulators becomes a natural thing.

[@tjvaughan1515]

what smashing info

[@resonantdave]

This is great!

[@neillioen]

I was hoping this was going to be about Thorium reactors as an abundant source of renewable energy. Would love to hear the professors opinion on that..

[@ricks.1092]

It's not financially worth it. One gram cost 1 Trillion dollars. Hence refining and purification is probably a lengthy and expensive process.

[@boffo25]

He alredy did in another video.

[@truthpopup]

Rick S, you're talking about the rare isotope thorium-229. The isotope thorium-232 is four times more abundant than all isotopes of uranium in Earth's crust and is a potential source of energy.

[@neillioen]

@@boffo25 Thank you, just watched it. Glad to hear an academic confirm what the internet tells me. Sounds like it has potential.

[@johnosullivan675]

Thorium power plants would be carbon neutral but not renewable.

[@barendts]

Amazing. This was very educational. But, how do you repair or resupply any of the things in the controlled environment?

[@douro20]

The gamma ray camera is a microarray of germanium diodes made of very high purity germanium which are deposited on silicon, and it is supercooled to maximise the sensitivity. There is also a visible light camera, and the image from this is superimposed in software with the image from the microarray.

[@MadCodex]

In case you were wondering what Aperture science is up to these days - 7:09

[@AtlasReburdened]

"and here you see what we call the gamma ray camera. It's currently printing a report, let's take a look. Oh, It says you're a horrible person... we weren't even testing for that.

[@nhra7110]

fascinating! thank you

[@subhabrataghosh3565]

professor u know.. when i watch ur video then i become so much involved with it that when a send video peeps out on the side of the video i go to that after ending that one.. but after that i realised that i haven't commented the previous one.. but i am not willing to go back and waste my time... so i carry on......probably this the first comment to any of ur videos as far as i can remember i have watched 75 videos of urs approx..but i haven't commented any one of them....so apologies....for the largest comment.....

[@HugoBloem]

Damn Professor. Back at it again with the Periodic tie

[@ormarion552]

Such a good title

[@Brian-wm7pd]

Oak ridge puts out some awesome works. Still have their nuclear war survival guide.

[@montlejohnbojangles8937]

Properly interesting stuff folks. ❤️

[@0409hdl]

The really scary part of this story is that the medical isotopes are running out, and there are no plans to make more. Humanity needs Liquid Salt Reactors starting up NOW.

[@Kaos1382]

It's scary, but I would hope there is research being done on how to synthesize the isotopes, which would be much more beneficial and practical than relying on the hopes that the "cow" doesn't stop producing

[@0409hdl]

@@Kaos1382 I understand your sentiment, and would agree with you if it was not physically impossible. There is no other way to obtain these isotopes other that a fission reaction where the isotopes can easily be separated. Liquid reactors are the only option.

[@Valfaun]

lovely cinematic music

[@bcddd214]

That was a re really cool video.

[@Olhado256]

I don't have anything smart to say but Rose Boll seems to be a really cool person.

[@samhaines8228]

Wondrous to behold!! Cherenkov in full effect!!

[@BeCurieUs]

Actually in this case it is air ionization. It is often mistaken for that, but this sample is active enough that it cases the legendary blue flash often mistaken with Cherenkov, but it is more similar to air sparks

[@MrChaoticDog]

If it's 1000$ per nano gram surely 1gram would cost 1 trillion (ie 10^12) dollars and not 1 billion (ie 10^9) as stated in video?

[@tidklaas]

He is using the proper long scale (powers of millions), like most of Europe.

[@JohnDlugosz]

@@tidklaas Probably his age -- they changed to short scale in the mid 1970's.

[@adamkendall997]

I thought he said one thousand million which would be a billion.

[@tomkandy]

@@tidklaas This is wrong, he says "thousand million" which is unambiguously 10^9. Also nobody in the UK uses long scale numbers any more.

[@AgentFriday]

@@tomkandy -- A lot of scientists seem to still use it, esp. those on this channel and sister channels (although they generally translate to American style... which is how I know they're using it :p)