Hafnium (new) - Periodic Table of Videos

A shiny new video about Hafnium. More links and info in full description ↓↓↓
Support us on Patreon: / periodicvideos
And our thanks to Anthony Lipmann for the Hafnium samples.
On the Missing Element of Atomic Number 72: www.nature.com/articles/111079a0
Videos on all 118 elements: bit.ly/118elements
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From the School of Chemistry at The University of Nottingham: bit.ly/NottChem
This episode was also generously supported by The Gatsby Charitable Foundation
Periodic Videos films are by video journalist Brady Haran: www.bradyharan.com/
Brady's Blog: www.bradyharanblog.com
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[@me0101001000]

I was first introduced to this channel 15 years ago, in elementary school. Now I'm doing my PhD in chemistry. How time flies.

[@77Fmydog]

love it

[@Markle2k]

I remember the small children being shown the channel in the beginning

[@rubyperera8926]

That's so cool 😮

[@ACEsMatter]

That's awesome ❤

[@ACEsMatter]

I'm 45 years old and I just watch because it's interesting. I don't have a degree in chemistry but I fins this fascinating 😊

[@gthakur17]

the most rare earth element is Neil's voice

[@haoyuan92]

Atomic number infinity

[@StarWarsBattleflop]

I can’t remember hearing a full sentence from him😂

[@haoyuan92]

@@Andrew-ps9wd symbol Nl

[@eliezervega2644]

😂haha

[@Rabcup]

9:22

[@docwho9]

It's always a good day when Neil gets the Science Hammer out

[@ehsnils]

Any day we might see a hydraulic press.

[@joshmyer9]

​@@ehsnils '' -- Neil, doing his version of the classic "Welcome to the huudroolic press chan-nel" intro

[@lapurta22]

Plus he got to play with some Aqua Regia. Neil was a happy lad, indeed!

[@galefray]

Can we PLEASE call it something else?

[@ArawnOfAnnwn]

@@galefray Ok. I hereby christen it Neils' Marvelous Mental Mastery MALLET! 😁

[@PushyPawn]

New Periodic Videos are rarer than new Periodic Elements.

[@Jacob-Simonsen]

They only have 710 videos

[@1224chrisng]

​@@Jacob-Simonsen I mean, there are over 710 neutron stars in the universe, each has a different number of protons, and they're practically overgrown nuclei anyways, so it's technically correct

[@beeble2003]

They do about one video a month. That's quite a lot more often than new element discoveries...

[@snufkin4374]

Love these videos guys, been watching since elementary school and now I'm going into college in a STEM major.

[@me0101001000]

You and me both. I just started my PhD in chemistry

[@TheTKPizza]

Same with me. Started watching around 2010, doing my Master's in chemistry now and still looking forward to every update of the periodic table of videos. :)

[@herobrine1847]

What major?

[@randoliof]

Man, I love The Professor. Just always makes me happy listening to him talk

[@Jmvars]

6:02 They named the element after Copenhagen, but in Latin. Imagine if they named it in English, we were so close to get an element named Copium.

[@alexpotts6520]

I'm imagining the headline, "Chad has discovered new reserves of copium"

[@m.douglas8492]

Imagine dying because of copium ingestion.

[@jacobcastro1885]

Meme Copium

[@MurderBong]

ONE MUST ASK THEMSELVES, IS ‘COPENHAGEN’ IN ENGLISH? AN ENGLISH INTERPRETATION? 😂

[@TomFynn]

I can't Copium with this.

[@micahphilson]

The fact that it absorbs so many neutrons so well is actually what makes Hf the best material for nuclear control rods! It may be the worst thing for the cladding, but even just putting Hf tips on control rods can extend the life of the rods drastically!

[@sixft7in]

Depending on the starting isotope, a single hafnium atom can absorb seven (7!) neutrons before being reduced to 0 neutron absorption cross section.

[@fensoxx]

@@sixft7inyou two can’t be just civilian fans of nuclear power to break out these facts

[@sixft7in]

@@fensoxx I'm a former US Navy nuclear reactor operator. 🤣

[@junkmail6475]

I love how each successive version of the elemental videos become more detailed

[@pompom45]

I love that my Australian high school chemistry class photo is still in the background of your videos!

[@Hashishin13]

A documentary about the hunt for predicted elements would be cool. Going over the notes of the people talking about the elements before they were discovered and what the discoverer thought on the way to the discovery.

[@Xirpzy]

I find it fascinating that weve had knowledge about elements like this for more than a hundred years.

[@georgesheffield1580]

???

[@ingihrannar8781]

Me too. Likewise i find it absurd that we have had jet power for 70 years, and steam power for over 200

[@DerekWoolverton]

Hafnium is used in plasma torch tips as they make starting the electric arc much easier. I was told long ago that Hafnium was also used in plasma screens as the electron gun for each pixel.

[@christopherleubner6633]

Yup it is used in those. The thin oxide coating is an excellent thermo ionic electron emitter. The old HP single frequency helium neon lasers used a halfmium or zirconium cathode which made these lasers have a service life of over 100,000 hours. The reason is the metal emits electrons easier than the aluminum used in regular laser tubes and its active enough to combine with nitrogen hydrogen and oxygen but it will not sputter coat the inside of the tube ❤

[@theSam91]

It's also currently used in the tip of the electrode for most(all) plasma cutting torches. Something to do with it's emission of electrons helps to get the pilot arc started when you pull the torch trigger.

[@lilmohawk5280]

Omg I'm early. I've been watching you guys for over a decade.

[@aloe7794]

Man, I was actually watching your videos from 10+ years ago and I just finished my IB chem exam today - didn't think I'd see this video pop up on this day haha Absolutely love your videos, they're so informative as well as entertaining

[@ylette]

"What they thought Copenhagen was called in Latin" I like how they didn't even bother to look it up. 😃

[@Bohr2um]

Waited for a revised video for Hafnium, because of the missing mention of the origin of the metal's name. Glad we finally got it, i love you guys 🇩🇰

[@jimsvideos7201]

I knew of Hf from its use in plasma cutter electrodes, but this is a lovely way to expand on that on a Friday afternoon 🙂

[@dvwegner]

Yes! One of my favorite series.

[@jimquinn]

Lots of thermal spray applications with hafnium oxide, carbide, nitride, diboride, etc.. Loved the Nature article noted Moseley's great importance.

[@prdoohan]

Amazing, I love watching these videos before bed and I find them both educational and super relaxing.

[@Exarathas]

A new Legend of Zelda game and a new Periodic Videos video, what a day!

[@RFC-3514]

If you fuse two atoms of hafnium, do you get an atom of holnium?

[@simonblake1434]

Gotta love Neil - nice to see him smiling. Thank you for another video, new ones always welcome !

[@justicesportsman6020]

Tony Lippman is a great friend. Those are some beautiful samples. The crystialite one is lovely

[@Bergensape]

I love The Professor recounting what happened in the experiments, with his funny remarks. Thanks for the videos guys!

[@met9009]

You guys forgot titanium burns too! I love hearing the back stories.

[@webchimp]

That was a plot point in an old Iron Man comic. The Soviets had created a suit out of it and called their guy Titanium Man. During a fight one of Iron Man's boot jets ignited Titanium Man's suit, incinerating him

[@williamm8069]

I used to teach chemistry in high school years ago in Costa Rica and I used to show this channel to my students. My students were from all around the world and I'm glad to have introduced them to this grand show of humor, lab and chemistry - Cheers!

[@dfh1299]

I am working right now with HfCl4 as a precursor, actually. I use it for creation of high entropy perovskite oxides. Very interesting compound!

[@ksilebo]

What do you do with these compounds?

[@dfh1299]

@@ksilebo You mean the perovskites? Potential materials for semiconductor industry. They have a large variety of properties like ferroelectrics, magnetism, optics etc. They are deposited onto different substrates like MgO or Si.

[@ksilebo]

@@dfh1299 Isnt it CaTiO3? Where is the Hf in there?

[@dfh1299]

@@ksilebo This is the crystal Perovskite but I am talking about the crystal structure perovskites with the general formula ABX3. And high entropy oxide means that there are at least five metals involved (and Hf can be one of them)

[@resqmeskincare6175]

Thank you so much! Your videos are so entertaining and informative! I turned my first and second year Chem students on to your periodic table with rave reviews!

[@thomaswright7841]

Hope you’re keeping well Professor and the rest of the Periodic videos team. Sending all my love and thanks for the fabulous videos 💜

[@o0Donuts0o]

Man I love this guy. Wonder how he gets the time make videos and also play guitar in Queen.

[@DouglasZwick]

Can someone please tell the professor that we love him so much ♥

[@Vazgen_Ghazaryan]

Such a brilliant series! And such a great professor to host it. Thank you!

[@connieembury1]

A lovely way to end my day. A new periodic video always makes me smile.

[@mythics791]

Really enjoy these videos has been many years since my university days but still enjoy learning.

[@awestwood3955]

Fascinating Video!! Thank you for your continuing updating of Elements.

[@kevenquinlan]

Aww, great vid. Interesting if it could replace indium. A lot of people don't realize the Earth as far as we know has a very finite amount of it left and currently, we don't recycle it. The arc would be that Phones would increase in price and that eventually- only the Very wealthy would own a touch screen phone, which would make most common people have to revert back to flip phones, which would negate the desire to be on one 24/7, which would arrest our desocialization from each other. Can you imagine, it's the 80's all over again and people are talking to other people, and we are connected to one another again. The Sim puts interesting paradox's out there but not without correcting them when they become too one sided. Us running out of Indium in the not-so-distant future is a way for the sim to balance itself again. With that in mind, I'm hoping Hafnium is only theoretically able to replace it. Anywho, I think I've seen this vid though can't remember- but I watched all of the ones you made a few years back, enthralling.

[@Cketzalcoatl]

Some other interesting facts about hafnium: Hafnium carbo-nitride is thought to be the material with the highest melting point in the universe, around 4200°C. We can't be sure because of the difficulty involved. Any container will melt before HfCN! Another interesting fact is hafnium's reactivity with oxygen, one of the greatest of all the elements. People might be familiar with the thermite reaction where aluminium "steals" the oxygen from iron oxide to form alumina and molten iron. Well, it should be possible to make hafnium+alumina thermite! That is, the hafnium can steal oxygen atoms from alumina to form hafnia and aluminium!

[@mpschab1]

Hafnium is also used in control rods in some pressurized water reactors. It has many stable isotopes, and a propensity to absorb neutrons.

[@iamdarkyoshi]

Very neat stuff, glad you were able to get some samples to experiment with. Those sparkles from the burner were really pretty.

[@joohop]

We're Living In The Future But The Past Rewinds Bless Up Team

[@jessicatymczak5852]

It also forms one of the highest temperature ceramic. HfC

[@jacobs83133]

Great video.❤I finally have time to watch it carefully.Cheers❤

[@JerryBiehler]

Halfnium is used in plasma cutter tips. It sits the in center of the copper center electrode and the tiny chunk of hafnium melts and forms a pool where the main plasma arc originates from. It makes for much longer lasting electrodes than the old tungsten electrodes.

[@ttsuter87]

It’s like an extremely expensive sparkler when burning…I can hear professor being like “now this sparkla is quite fantastic.”

[@autismparent]

💯 for having twisty puzzles on your desk!

[@ferretyluv]

You mean Rubik’s cubes?

[@autismparent]

@@ferretyluv Rubik's cubes are a subtype of twisty puzzles. He has at least a megaminx, pyraminx, and what I think is a Fisher cube on his desk.

[@magickymajk]

Hafnium is one of my favourite elements solely because "haf" means "woof" in my native language (Czech)

[@pacificcoastpiper3949]

And isn’t your language the one that gave us sailors the ahoy greeting??

[@MNbenMN]

​@@pacificcoastpiper3949 It might be the other way around. "Hoy" in middle english revived as "ahoy" in english used in sailing, then later popularized in Czech and Slovak as "ahoj" in the 1930s.... but I'm not a linguist. Just a guy with google at his fingertips :)

[@pacificcoastpiper3949]

@@MNbenMN interesting 🤔

[@beeble2003]

@@pacificcoastpiper3949 Any story about a landlocked country's language being the source of a nautical term is _very_ suspect.

[@TheTikiMan]

This is my first experience with this channel. I'll be immersed in its contents for the next few hours, days, and months. My biggest takeaway from this video, unfortunately, is that everyone knows this, and subsequent generations would struggle to differentiate between two elements because they begin with the letter "C".

[@KnightsWithoutATable]

Considering the properties of Titanium, the chemical resistance to acid and the bright oxidation in flame make sense.

[@shrilabasu9072]

It's truly exciting! When a new video is posted

[@us89na]

11:25 - Hf neutron absorption cross-section and its corrosion resistance, hardness, and chemical compatibility with Zr fuel cladding make it superb for reactor control rods, but it's too expensive (outside of special reactors) so most are made of cheaper neutron absorbers like silver or boron.

[@grantbitman1448]

The subs I served on used hafnium control rods.

[@MediaSubliminal]

I wish you the best my man. You are a wonderful scientist

[@NONFamers]

Very interesting video about Hafnium. I happen to live in Denmark, and as a patent attorney, I get to read a lot of patents in my work. As an electronics engineer, I am not that familiar with the sub-branch of patents directed towards chemistry. However, I always find your videos and thorough explanations worth watching.

[@ferretyluv]

How are you both an engineer and an attorney?

[@davidrenton]

@@ferretyluv i would imagine as patents for certain areas, such as Electronics Engineering need a specialised knowledge that would not be common for a Lawyer. So effectively you would need an Engineer who is also a qualified Lawyer. I would imagine it's quite common esp in areas such as Medicine, Chemistry

[@TheDisabledGamersChannel]

Wow, so great to see another video from you guys, totally made my day, hope to see another soon, thanks for the brain fuel.

[@mikeall7012]

Hafnium is used as a control rod material in some types of nuclear reactors. It has a unique property in that it has several stable isotopes and the nucleus can absorb a lot of neutrons without becoming unstable or transmutating.

[@nealgray4071]

Love this professor

[@c.a.r.s.carsandrelevantspecs]

Another fantastic video! Thanks for sharing!

[@clivematthews95]

What a fascinating discussion 😊 I love the Titanium/ Zirconium group

[@searchpei470]

3:08 never have I laughed so hard - "much to Neil's pleasure" simply melts the moment.......

[@WAMTAT]

"Nitric acid has met its match"

[@tuitiontv918]

Your videos are really inspiring and new video always makes my day and it was so full of knowledge which I love ❤thank you from Pakistan

[@hashikasoni8100]

This channel video is very important 😢 It deserve more subscribers 👏

[@Pablo_El_Mago]

Every time I watch one of your videos, I miss being in a chemistry lab!

[@Nefville]

Wonderful fireworks for his majesty's coronation.

[@StuffandThings_]

Hafnium seems like a fantastic element for alloys, especially with titanium! That toughness, high melting point, and general unreactivity seems quite nice. Shame its so expensive. Its kind of amazing how many elements are downright ignored, especially considering that there's a limited number of stable ones.

[@beeble2003]

It's expensive and "ignored" because there's not much of it around.

[@janewray-mccann2133]

I would alloy it with berylium.

[@smitemus]

Love the fact that the impurity that was thought to be a nuisance in nuclear energy production is now considered for use in everyday devices replacing other material that is more scarce. Store. Recycle. Profit.

[@wario8855]

Great video as always

[@TheSpaceEnthusiast-vl6wx]

Thanks! I did not notice that it was a new video! Thanks!

[@ferretyluv]

I heard of that story about the Nobel medals and aqua regia! I thought of it when you talked about Neil recovering the gold from the aqua regia.

[@shawnsustrich7981]

Hearing "This made Neil very happy" means this video is about to get fun.

[@GravityDabs]

I love the scientific examinations occuring at 2:01

[@charlesachurch7265]

Fascinating presentation thanks xxx.

[@w6wdh]

Hafnium is used in welding rods and plasma cutting electrodes because it emits electrons easily, in addition to its high melting point.

[@davidquirk8097]

The first time I came across Hafnium was about thirty years ago. I'd just bought a plasma cutter and the consumable electrode tip had a tiny Hafnium pellet in the end. They were stupidly expensive consumables.

[@jameswebbspacetelescope5159]

ahh i love seeing new periodic videos!!

[@vibratingstring]

Fascinating. I always liked halfnium--I figured it was half as good as Titanium but sounds twice as cool

[@scrotiemcboogerballs1981]

Great video love watching thanks for sharing

[@cpm1003]

Wow! I bought 50g of Hafnium a couple of years ago for $71. Looks like this was a lucky investment for me.

[@georgetirebiter6437]

This is a blast from the past. If I had known how expensive this was, I would have reclaimed the swarf out of my center-less grinder I was using to grind it

[@Josh-ck9bv]

Quite ironic that elements apart of the same group have such vastly different cross sectional absorptions of neutrons. Either way Halfnium is super important for reactors since they are used in control rods as well as the fact they have many stable isotopes. Unlike boron which turns to gas after absorbing neutrons.

[@PaulSteMarie]

You left out titanium when comparing flammability. It's notorious for causing fires when machining.

[@jtadevich]

Hafnium is more dense and perhaps fall into the flame better than Zirconium. I love how often I hear new explanations for simple observations.

[@JxH]

8:55 Hello Connor. On this day, a future KZbin star is born.

[@gcewing]

The corners of Neil's mouth turn up slightly. Martin: "A big smile spread across Neil's face!"

[@davidhilsabeck]

Every salute (a firework that makes a very loud boom), in every fireworks show you have seen, where the salute makes a large splash of bright sparks, those sparks are burning Titanium. I have seen salutes made with Zirconium, and it burns brighter still. I have heard of an amature pyrotechnics maker that made a salute with Hafnium, and it supposedly burned brighter than both.

[@Oxtorayk]

Love listening to the professor

[@yaad2226]

YO MAMA LIKE HIM??

[@bmelloyello]

Great video! I can't afford to be a patron, but someday if I'm able, I'd love to take the Tungsten spot :) Tungsten is my favorite element!

[@Diagnoc]

The professor is absolutely right: the French pronunciation of « celte », just as that of « celtium », would be as if it started with an « s » (like « sodium »), and definitely not a « k ».

[@fsmoura]

ooh noice... i love the smell of hafnium in the morning ( o.o)

[@The_OsmiumChannel]

You should have tried concentrated sulfuric acid!!! Hafnium and zirconium both dissolve in concentrated sulfuric acid.

[@ziggyc3004]

Not watching this most recent upload is a moral crime.

[@bobweiram6321]

Hafnium's anti-corrosive properties would make it an excellent liner for piping in molten salt nuclear reactors. It's strong capture of neutrons, however may pose an issue.

[@theaquariancontrarian3316]

This one of the most interesting videos he's produced

[@DumbSkippy]

I'm from Western Australia. We have discovered Hafnium here !

[@zapfanzapfan]

On the burning filings of hafnium and zirconium. I've been told that a titanium fire is a very bright fire so it fits with the other elements in the column too.

[@mikeconnery4652]

Excellent video

[@jacobs83133]

That is very interesting video.I will see it tomorrow.❤

[@stuartandrews4344]

Professor Sir Martyn Poliakoff is a national treasure, just brilliant video's, so informative, chemistry was never this interesting at school!