Thallium - Periodic Table of Videos

A new video about the element Thallium.
More links and info in full description ↓↓↓
Featuring Professor Martyn Poliakoff and Neil Barnes.
Thanks to The Royal Society of Chemistry for supporting this episode: www.rsc.org
Some papers and credits...
Preliminary researches on thallium: royalsocietypublishing.org/do...
The Royal Society: royalsociety.org/collections/
MEL Science: melscience.com/US-en/
Videos on all 118 elements: bit.ly/118elements
Support us on Patreon: / periodicvideos
More chemistry at www.periodicvideos.com/
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And on Twitter at / periodicvideos
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
Join Brady's mailing list for updates and extra stuff --- eepurl.com/YdjL9

[@Ixaglet]

"Thallium poisoning makes your hair fall out" *Immediately cuts to Neil* LMAO

[@SylviaRustyFae]

He still has a **lot** of hair thats at risk of fallin out that isnt on his head tho

[@DoiInthanon1897]

The general humor of the Professor 🤣👌

[@ufuksnmez98]

Lol 😂

[@Inflammate]

Proff roasted Neil 😅

[@jameshounslow7013]

Could I suggest a subject to do a video on please? I’m interested to see how such dangerous chemicals and solutions are cleaned up after use, how the air filtration systems work so no poisonous fumes are let out into the atmosphere, and how do you know which solutions/chemicals render the dangerous solutions inert and how do you double check that they are inert. Thanks.

[@Divert486]

I recommend nilered's videos for those topics. He did a few.

[@francisstevens7003]

I'd recommend against nilered. Transition metal waste is made solid and stored indefinitely. Fume hoods dump the nasty air just into the atmosphere, little processing is done. This is ok tho, it gets diluted to negligible concentrations in the air

[@LabCoatz_Science]

These guys never disappoint; very cool to know Martin worked on those thallium halide windows! I would be very interested to see the test is for thallium poisoning demonstrated, if you ever return to thallium.

[@jimsvideos7201]

Thallium + person = dead person, I think.

[@mopedman666]

If you watch forensic files there are several episodes about thallium poisoning

[@r3q92]

@MichaelKingsfordGray you must be fun at parties... i mean, it's kind of your job, being a clown and all

[@PixlRainbow]

@@r3q92 tbh, I've seen him around and he seems to behave like a bot. 1. He never uses any actual curse words in his insults, resulting in an "old man"/"moderated christian minecraft server" feel 2. randomly replies to any comment on any video of diverse topics across youtube that is made by a user that doesn't have a "real-sounding" name 3. never actually responds to anyone or any prompts 4. he never seems to post any comments relevant to videos or threads 5. usually always uses the same few words in a sentence, with slight variation in order and sentence structure.

[@r3q92]

@@PixlRainbow ahh ok, now that you put it like that it... really makes sense actually

[@MMuraseofSandvich]

A friend with a Ph.D. in chemistry told me once that working with thallium is kind of like working with radioactive substances: you need an entire separate lab just to handle them safely and prevent the thallium from contaminating other reagents. That might be overkill (Neal certainly knows what he's doing), but I would imagine that would certainly be the case in a commercial lab, they wouldn't want the liability.

[@heulboje21]

Yeah at my University I think there is one guy working on thalium, he has to use separate glassware, discard of it differently and his own glovebox as far as I know.

[@randaranatunga7259]

This man is a true treasure, The way he explains theses are so interesting and fun to watch Thank you for brining us these videos Martin!

[@DoiInthanon1897]

Couldn’t have said it better myself!

[@glenngriffon8032]

That's what I like about this channel, sometimes the scientists are caught completely by surprise by an experiment. They know what to expect most of the time but once in a while something surprises them. Science isn't just about answering the questions we have but about finding new questions to ask and I see that every time Neil or the Professor are caught off guard by something.

[@garfstiglz3981]

That’s why I love science, you learn new things every day.

[@bjornmu]

Thallium was used in a murder case in my city (Trondheim, Norway) in 1999. He first denied everything but then admitted to having poisoned his ex girlfriend but didn't intend for her to die. He said he wanted her to lose her hair and become less attractive to other men. I think he's still in jail.

[@darnoc4470]

Isn't there a max sentence of 21 Years for sane people in Norway? If so, he might be free by now.

[@bjornmu]

@@darnoc4470 He was released on probation in 2013 (normal after having served 2/3), but broke the conditions the next year so he was arrested and sent back to serve the rest of his sentence. But the 21 years should be done soon I think. Or maybe he's out already.

[@tor-einarjarnbjo1661]

@@bjornmu He had 6 years and 87 days left of his sentence when he was arrested and put back in jail in October 2014, so he must have been released in January 2021. At least that is what media reported back in 2014. But when I think of it, if he was released on probation in May 2013 after being imprisoned since January 1999, the remaining sentence should have been closer to 6 years and 250 days.

[@zapfanzapfan]

@@tor-einarjarnbjo1661 Time under arrest deducted from prison sentence?

[@tor-einarjarnbjo1661]

@@zapfanzapfan I'm not sure what you mean. He was arrested in 1999, some sources say on January 31th, other on February 2nd. He was not sentenced until later in year 2000.

[@Bigcubefan]

A few years back in 1983 there were cases of Thallium poisining at the University of Würzburg in Germany. Someone left some juices and beer on a table at a public place with a note "free drinks". All were treated with Thalliumsulfate. One student died, one became permanently disabled and 10 others had to go through immense pain. As far as I know the case is still unsolved to this day.

[@MortRotu]

Poisoning is a tricky one to solve I understand

[@deelaneenn6677]

Just brightened my whole day. Always a pleasure seeing the professor.

[@DoiInthanon1897]

Indeed it is. He is really what makes Periodic Videos. The cornerstone, if you will.

[@Eddie42023]

There's irony, a most poisonous element named after 'the color of life'.

[@Noble4Truths]

I find it so wonderful when science surprises even those most learned researchers.

[@johnsmith1474]

You don't see that here.

[@MMuraseofSandvich]

Agatha Christie had a fair bit of knowledge of all kinds of poisons from working in hospital dispensaries (pharmacies in US English?) during both World Wars, and she was a pioneer in murder mystery literature where the murder weapon was a poison of some form; over half her novels feature poison as the method.

[@PaulSteMarie]

Pharmacies is the usual term in the US. If you say dispensary, people will assume that you're talking about a place to obtain medical cannabis.

[@Stettafire]

Pharmacy is also the term in the UK

[@theunknown4834]

"Doesn't worry Nill, but makes me nervous" Professor, shall your hair be as bountiful as it is beautiful

[@ottolehikoinen6193]

"Neil got nearly 50 grams of Thallium" and everybody ran of of the lab?

[@LardGreystoke]

Everybody ran for the camera.

[@eggsngritstn]

Neil can handle anything.

[@ufuksnmez98]

Lol 😂

[@AttyMonroe]

What a great surprise! I was just watching the old videos when this popped up.

[@r3q92]

ah yes, lead's angrier little brother

[@senorelroboto2]

Perfect description

[@herrbrahms]

The poor kid grew up in a house between lead and mercury. He never had a chance.

[@r3q92]

@@herrbrahms at least he didn't end up like polonium...

[@AlonsoRules]

only an angry supernova can make it

[@renanzorzatto]

Well, the brown precipitate might be thallium(III) hydroxide - Tl(0H)3 -, which is formed throughout the solvation of TlCl3. In fact, the Ksp for Tl(OH)3 is ca. 10^(-45.2).¹ Therefore, perhaps Neil could have measured a decrease in the pH as TlCl3 hydrolysed to precipitate into Tl(OH)3. Reference: 1. Lin, T. S.; Nriagu, J. Air & Waste Manage. Assoc. 1998, 48, 151,

[@sillysausage4549]

It's possible, but I prefer the bbq sauce explanation

[@RexxSchneider]

Maybe, but thallium (III) hydroxide is white as a solid, and he was starting from thallium (III) nitrate, also white in solid form. Thallium (III) does form hydrated salts, so perhaps it has a hydrated hydroxide with that brown colour?

[@gnypp45]

When I started my PhD project in infrared materials there was a Japanese research group which used to grow TlInP on InP substrates with molecular beam epitaxy. It was so dangerous that the professor allowed no one else but himself to clean the chamber afterwards.

[@christopherleubner6633]

Grew GaAlAsP red 500mw 635nm lasing crystal wafers in a MOCVD at Boston Lasers several years ago. The chemicals used to make them were terrible. Also did InGaAsSb crystals too. Those lased at very long wavelemgths, aimed for 1.5um for rangefinder applications. Using that crystal baking machine was a black art though and the sligtest contamination could mess it up. One run did make a rather amusing mistake though, a little too much trimethyl aluminum ended up in the mix and made some laser chips that wanted to lase at 614nm but required a cool temperature of 5 deg C or less to do so. Was pretty amusing to see a witness test of over half a watt of pure orange laser light come out instead of the bright red 635nm we expected. We capped a few of them up in TEC cooled to-3 packages, but nobody wanted 250mw of 614nm unfortunately. 🤓

[@christopherleubner6633]

TlInP would be a near IR emitter. Grew some GaAlAsP wafers in a MOCVD machine, the InAsSb stuff was deep in the IR, 1.2 to 1.8um, but we typically made 1.55um wafers for rangefinder lasers. The coolest one was when the mocvd AlEt3 dosing pump failed and added 2 extra shots in the chamber. We rolled with it and finished the batch ending up with a 604nm wafers that made multitude chips at 120 to 228mw at 1A 2.6V and 15 deg C junction temp. Was crazy seeing that much orange light that didn't originate from a dye laser. ❤

[@CYXNIGHT]

This is the most wholesome channel. I love you guys

[@periodicvideos]

Thanks

[@seandepoppe6716]

Thanks for sharing! I'm no chemist but enjoy learning about everything

[@thehyperscientist1961]

Always a pleasure to see grown men being excited by science. Shows that we're all young at heart 😉

[@graemepennell]

Seems like YEARS since there was a new one. Great to see.

[@freddiey1799]

Martyn might be coming into my Sixth Form, and I can't wait for his talk

[@odinfromcentr2]

Lucky!

[@mytube001]

Irish also has a word for a bright and vivid green color: uaine. The "normal", darker and more muted green is: glas.

[@tiny_toilet]

It's one word all the Celtic languages share but with minor differences in usage, I guess. "Glas" in modern Welsh means blue, but it used to refer to silver or slate grey or pale green or blue and also described the greenness of plants, which is why grass is called "glaswellt".

[@bumpty9830]

Interesting! Does it split any other colors dark/light that way? Russian does something similar with blue (синий vs. голубой) and English with red/pink. I enjoy the variety.

[@gurrrn1102]

The West Germanic language English has a special word for certain light shades of red, known as “pink”.

[@gurrrn1102]

Dark yellow is often described as “brown”.

[@jonmarquez128]

Green is my favorite element

[@Milamber7Pug]

Haven't aged a day, it's great to see that enthusiasm.

[@penanceii8201]

These videos are always so comfy.

[@sandiegofun1]

As an undergrad, my inorganic lab was very unstructured (which was pretty awesome). Near the end of the course, we had to find a publication and reproduce the inorganic synthesis. As a naive individual, I selected a synthesis that included thallium, and went to the chem store (in the attic), and gathered all of my components. The professor would visit the lab about once a week, and when he came in and casually asked me what I was working on, I told him that it was a reaction including thallium. He literally shrieked and ran out of the lab telling me to immediately seal everything up and return it to the chem store as it was highly toxic. I still find the reaction rather interesting!

[@jamescaley9942]

I recall finding a sealed test tube labelled thallium in a dusty old draw at university. Nearly had a heart attack when I later read the MSDS.

[@chemomania927]

Spatulas in pocket..thats the most chemistry thing in my life

[@chemomania927]

Didnt expect 21 likes😁😁

[@MortRotu]

Pipette teats, a pencil and glassmarkers/OHP pens as well. I always used to have a spare pair of clean gloves in a separate pocket as well, just for emergencies

[@chemomania927]

@@MortRotu super bro

[@ryandavis5475]

Your enthusiasm for chemistry is so much fun to see. It's infectious. I get excited to watch your videos

[@PaulSteMarie]

Aieee! That's a scary amount of thallium in one place. I'm a bit surprised he's not using a glove box or some other sealed environment to work with it.

[@thatmaskedguy2727]

Love you sir from India u are my inspiration and u motivate me everyday thank you sir

[@curiodyssey3867]

Aw that's nice bro pursue your passion!

[@thatmaskedguy2727]

@@curiodyssey3867 Thank You and u also follow it 😇

[@rafi5298]

Just when you see the sign of an element, you can't resisist the video. Always love these basic details and prayers for professor.

[@asikram7888]

Always exciting to get a new video notification from periodic videos. Thank you for your amazing content.

[@ignusarzero6898]

Ahhhh new haircut of my fav chemistry professor... Stay healthy and stay safe ❤️ from Ph

[@randyhavard6084]

I've been a fan for many years. I'm glad to see new content to come out on one of my favorite channels

[@xyz.ijk.]

I love your work. The content keeps getting better and better ... and I didn't really think that was attainable in this format. Thank you for the best of continuing eduction.

[@invisibledave]

Neil gets bored and naturally he starts setting things on fire.

[@MauriceFiorenza]

I've never seen a better explanation about volume. Thank you.

[@zivfriedman2312]

Wonderful enlighting and exciting as always thanks

[@stianaslaksen5799]

Always a pleasure watching. Thanks for posting again.

[@greggashgarian8360]

Wonderful! Simply wonderful! Thank you.

[@DanielleWhite]

Thallium It's also used in a cardiac stress test. A coincidence of name of a former co-worker led to a joke that had to do with the murders when he had to have such a stress test. His name was Robert Curley and at the time he was working in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Several years earlier there had been a local thallium poisoning murder case of an unrelated man named Robert Curley and it had been a big enough news story that everyone knew the case.

[@MortRotu]

Tl interferes with K+ ion channels in the body, that's why they use it for the stress test (and also why its poisonous)

[@MrBitterman75]

Really pleased to watch the new video. You were missed. Thank you.

[@viperfang5291]

Glad to know professor’s hair was and cut it wasn’t the thallium.

[@tncorgi92]

I almost didn't recognize him 😀

[@sorinichim4737]

This old man is a national treasure! Cheresh him ! I wish you Sir, all the best, a long and joyfull life!

[@oafkad]

I imagine ending up in the UK and seeing the Queen. Thinking "Ah neat." then seeing Professor Martyn and panicking. Too cool for me.

[@migalbryers]

Love listening to this guy talk

[@officialspaceefrain]

We have to protect that hair at all costs. :)

[@DoiInthanon1897]

The all illustrious Thallium gets a new makeover…by none other then the equally illustrious Periodic Videos! Great overview of an often overlooked element 👍👌

[@WheezerOfJuice]

Thank you for still making new videos :)

[@johannesthe5th154]

4.21 looks like a yellow dragon taking a dive down. Beautiful

[@johannesthe5th154]

Or the chest buster from aliens 👀

[@douro20]

Thallium iodide is one of the salts used in high-CRI metal halide lamps to adjust the overall emission spectrum. Thallium is used for green, sodium for its very pure yellow, and caesium for its intense blue lines.

[@dontedimora5942]

Fantastic video as always

[@Kurukx]

Love when you release videos :) Chemistry was always my bane... Im more physics. Never stop learning however :P I am not however game to taste chemicals for science :)

[@giordy9013]

New periodic video out *me screaming of happiness* So interesting this one for a quite rare and little known element

[@radders261]

What a fascinating video, thank you for sharing!

[@scrotiemcboogerballs1981]

Thank you for sharing everything with us great video

[@anaghshetty]

Not gonna lie, I came for Professor Poliakoff but got hooked while watching

[@peterpiper7094]

The precipitates are an absolute work of art so beautiful 😊😊 especially the yellow

[@brucesmith9144]

Liked the atomic graphics of Thallium as well as including the stoichiometry for the experiments.

[@UAa320]

Love the periodic table of elements series.

[@mr.n0ne]

Great content. Greetings from India, to the team and ofcourse to the Professor.👍

[@caidenmurphy9486]

Love your channel always very intresting videos!

[@aldovictoria8925]

Glad to see the professor is fine! cheers

[@helloarigato]

I would love to know more about prof. Poliakoff's research work. Much like how we have seen Prof. Moriarty's work on Sixty Symbols. The brief discussion of absorption of infrared light was very interesting.

[@LarryKidkil]

thank you for introducing me to thalos. I live in a forest and that is a very handy term.

[@jonathanturek5846]

Somewhere out there some massive event like white dwarf collision or neutron star process happened and the result was thallium being created and ejected into space .. Just fascinating everything comes from a about 100 different elements

[@ghlscitel6714]

I made lovely green fireworks with Thalliumnitrate. That is 50 years ago now. Today i still get sweat in my face thinking of someone got the cloud to breathe while firing the firework. But the colour was a lovely strong green never seen.

[@LockeSoriku]

New periodic video; very nice!

[@NextLevel5horts]

Nice quality! Clear improvement :)

[@daverei1211]

I recall there was a movie about Thallium poisoning called “The young poisoners handbook”.

[@chrishenniker5944]

Based on the story of Graham Young.

[@peterdekker8545]

Thallium (III) nitrate is a strong oxidizer which, according to The Handbook Of Chemistry & Physics, indeed decomposes in water. I'm not sure what it decomposes into. Maybe some Thallium(III) oxide is formed, as this has a brown color.

[@omsingharjit]

Every video is different and Informative than others

[@Torby4096]

Crooks! I was trying to remember the name associated with my radiometer. Thanks Sir Martyn!

[@sillyvilly2611]

7:07 closed captions: "this is phallus after which thallium is named"

[@ivandemiguel8607]

Yes, that is why In Spanish “tallo” is the word for the newborn branch of any plant

[@alandyer910]

Murders, poisons and scientific rivalries - what more could you want in an elemental story! Thanks for a fine video!

[@helixrelicsshow9651]

Hope you're doing well professor I haven't seen you in a while 🙂

[@hpekristiansen]

A forest in bloom, a sunset, or a beautiful woman? No - I just sit at home watching solid precipitation all day.

[@spencerpanes8748]

I love these videos❤️

[@periodicvideos]

Thanks

[@saidurmursalinrafter9673]

@@periodicvideos Thanks to you for new videos

[@QuantumAD09]

Today I completely by hearted the periodic table, and your new video came

[@archive6094]

I will literally never find these people boring

[@AndrewHalliwell]

I heard about it from the film "The complete poisoners handbook. " Little bit disappointed you didn't grow any crystals. They're beautiful according to that film.

[@oscarn-]

I learned from the film Young Poisoner's Handbook.

[@hardwareful]

We did experiments with a Thallium spectral lamp... the green line is really very beautiful (it also makes a prominent UV line, too)

[@douro20]

I know I already mentioned this but some metal halide lamps, particularly those used in applications where colour rendering is critical, use thallium iodide in the salt dose for its intense green spectral line.

[@jacobs83133]

Thallium is a very interesting and also very poisoning element,right before lead a.n. 81,with two oxidation states in,If properly remember,and that's +1 and +3.

[@RexxSchneider]

One of the interesting aspects of thallium chemistry comes about because of the inert pair effect. The two 6s electrons are quite loath to become valence electrons, and thallium (III) compounds have a tendency to spontaneously disproportionate to thallium (I) compounds at normal temperatures and pressures. The single 6p electron gives thallium (I) a semblance of the chemistry of the alkali metals, with thallium (I) hydroxide being a strong base.

[@alphonsokurukuchu]

1:27 what do you do with such test tubes? dispose of them in whole or is there a way to recover the test tube by cleaning it again somehow?

[@sachiel197]

you can try to clean them with acids for example but it might be more cost efficient to dispose them

[@Rayzersword]

You would be surprised by how much of the average lab trash can is filled with test tubes/other single-use glassware.

[@alphonsokurukuchu]

@@RayzerswordI've seen many things in my college lab's chemistry lab trash, sometimes people just throw pieces of sodium if they took too much of it for fusion test ...(I'm a student)

[@JDR71326]

They like clean the glass with acid if they can some send thier trash to a glass manufacturer where they make it to powder then melt it again

[@MrNoodlyone]

@@alphonsokurukuchu I've seen sodium thrown into 50% sulfuric acid... It was epic. I work for the man, now.

[@shivjikhanath3586]

He returns 😭❤️

[@johnl2727]

Thank you for the new video. John L., Ohio

[@leppeppel]

The last time I was this early, Ununseptium was an element.

[@devansh8737]

Professor and team of periodic videos please also Make videos on interesting compounds and types of bonding and new discoveries in it

[@Toastmaster_5000]

What I really want to know is how the 1800s and 1900s element discoverers come across such elements. It's not like you can just go in your back yard, dig up a rock, and think "hmm, I wonder if there's an element in here that hasn't been discovered yet".

[@MortRotu]

They kinda could in some cases, Crooke found Tl by looking where nobody else had (Se waste I think the professor said?) and looking at the colours emitted when it was heated. If that 'place that nobody else has looked' happened to be in their garden, then they could discover something new. You can probably still do this with minerals tbh

[@kellycharlton]

Just learned about Ultra Pure Water for semiconductor manufacturing and pharmaceutical manufacturing. Would love to see a video about how Ultra Pure Water is made, its chemical properties, and how it’s treated after use.

[@femmywemmy]

Can you do Mercury next ? The last video about Mercury wasn't very detailed other than some applications. I would be very much interested in the chemistry of Mercury Compounds & stories related to them!

[@shinki5361]

Honestly same

[@willnzsurf]

🌴😎💯Thanks Professor Martyn & Neil.👌

[@LookingGlass1865]

I'm a pretty new subscriber here. Does Neil ever speak? The "Hm!" at 2:16 is the only sound I've heard from him. I was shocked, haha. Great video as always.

[@GoatzAreEpic]

I'm doing research on thallium 201 so this video is very cool

[@karhukivi]

Thallium has an interesting connection with natural radioactivity, the characteristic gamma radiation from thorium ore is due to the thallium 208 in the decay chain from Th232. Also, the most common sensor for detecting gamma radiation is a crystal of thallium-doped sodium iodide (NaI:Tl) which is a scintillator (there are many other kinds) and the flashes of light or "scintillations" have an intensity proportional to the gamma photon energy.

[@VL125]

No notification, I'm glad I found this gem

[@periodicvideos]

Bash that 🔔 notifications on!!!

[@VL125]

I already have, since the day I found this channel :-)

[@Veptis]

About languages and the number of names for green. There is languages with more than hundred different names for green colors. It's a very interesting linguistics observation. The professor would know that in English we just have light blue and dark blue. However in Russian there is синий and there is голубой.