The chemical history of a candle - with David Ricketts

[@Ray_of_Light62]

Merry Christmas to everyone! Thank you Royal Institution for repeating Prof. Faraday lecture on the candle, as it is a very bright presentation. Greetings, Anthony

[@dannicatzer305]

Used to watch this every year when I was a kid... Still feel a great nostalgia for the christmas lecture..

[@davidevans3227]

is this Christmas lecture? i think that's to come in the bbc.. end of this week?

[@mattschultzy671]

3 minutes in and I love it already! Wonderful!

[@Pamudder]

A simple yet glorious demonstration, showing the genius of Michael Faraday from 160 years ago.

[@rickardandreasson5095]

I love to watch RI lectures. Really interesting stuff. And you can learn a lot

[@littlec916]

This guy, including his name, is right out of the Harry Potter universe. Professor Rickets. What a name.

[@AlanCanon2222]

Loved reading the original lecture by Faraday himself!

[@Thisandthat8908]

in case you're wondering: it is now considered less damaging to old books not wearing gloves. Even really old ones. So it's correct what they do there.

[@RFC3514]

It's not really a matter of being "less damaging"; cotton gloves don't cause any damage. It's just that the damage caused by (clean) fingers is practically zero, and gloves reduce sensitivity and make it more likely that people will accidentally rip the edges of the pages.

[@jessiepooch]

So many whiners.

[@brittmurray9818]

What a wonderful idea. Attending a Royal Institution Christmas lecture is now on my bucket list!

[@effychase62]

Good stuff all the way through.

[@n.b.p.davenport7066]

In rule Arizona I had a Seville refrigerator that ran off of propane, with fire😮

[@arthuroldale-ki2ev]

Yes , I had a Calor gas fridge back in the 1960s and it was old then .

[@peter-radiantpipes2800]

Illuminating

[@Norfolk250]

I was hoping for one of those relighting candles

[@n.b.p.davenport7066]

I know I just started watching this and poking fun at it, play wonder if he's going to get into the modern candles with the glass and carbon candle wicks

[@DavisNgugi-j7y]

It's a good science demonstration of how a candle burns👍👏...buh I would like 2 know what did he deep the melted candle in to 😁...after all those yrs from Michael Faraday till now it remains a good lecture😏👏👍

[@notquitecopacetic]

wax vapor, i'll be damned, only took me half a century to learn

[@davidevans3227]

why isn't this on the bbc? like it used to..?? enjoying the language 🙂 x thankyou for sharing this .. apologies, it is on the bbc still..

[@brinh123]

You're right that they are on BBC - This isn't the Ri Christmas Lectures you were thinking of, that is on BBC4 and presented by Dr Chris van Tulleken. This is just another lecture the Ri put on, as they do other lectures all year. - sorry, didn't see all your comment until after I'd posted as it was hidden under the "Show more"

[@tinderboxcreations]

This begins like a Reggie Watts show.

[@sinestarproject1023]

Doesn’t it!! I noticed this also!

[@n.b.p.davenport7066]

Mommy said don't play with matches I'm going to burn the house down😢

[@n.b.p.davenport7066]

I was watching One video where the guy was making candles out of sugar, Burns super bright

[@DavisNgugi-j7y]

Wats its name...

[@XAirForcedotcom]

Oh man, I thought it was gonna introduce the fusion candle : )

[@XAirForcedotcom]

Oh well, maybe next Christmas

[@XAirForcedotcom]

I used to work in one of Faraday’s cages. He will be big trouble if anyone finds out that I was caged like that. The missile field so I could fix communications equipment without anyone being able to detect the admissions because I had the equipment open.

[@XAirForcedotcom]

My intro-induction to Faraday was in basic electronics. 😂

[@RFC3514]

That's still 20 years away.

[@topos100]

For anyone who wants a different point of view...pls read Dr. Philip S. Callahan..."Tuning into Nature"

[@PBeringer]

A "different point of view" on science sounds highly suspicious. :/ EDIT: Well, at first glance, it doesn't _seeeeem_ to be, but how it's a "different point of view" when it's a book about insects seeing in infrared (among other things), I have no idea; it doesn't appear to be the slightest bit relevant.

[@quill444]

_The constant clapping everytime someone nears or exits the desk gets thoroughly tedious after a while._ 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻 - j q t -

[@arthuroldale-ki2ev]

YES !

[@TheChipmunk2008]

welcome to future bryson :)

[@sstoharczyk4163]

23:23 ...?

[@chanpol321]

X-ray detector the same principle?

[@AkPK369]

Description saying simple candle demo this type of simple posible only for NileRed youtuber

[@AGAZOOLovesTrains]

I WAS THE ONE WHO SAID PETROL

[@RFC3514]

17:15 - This is *not* true and it's misleading to children trying to understand the physical phenomenon taking place here. Heat does *not* "cause air to rise above". Heat has no concept of direction. What's happening is that heat reduces the _density_ of the air, and the (colder, denser) _surrounding_ air gets pulled _down_ by gravity, displacing the hot air (which is then forced to rise). It's not rising because it's *hotter,* it's rising because it's *lighter* than the cold(er) air around it, which is being pulled down by gravity. It's rising for the same reason that air bubbles rise in water. Without gravity, the heat (and the hot air) would spread evenly in every direction.

[@Swingingbells]

Wittgenstein's ladder, bro. Also, your explanation doesn't add anything. It's just a more verbose way of restating our observation of the phenomena. It's unnecessarily pedantic to specify that it only occurs under the conditions of (Earth's) gravity.

[@RFC3514]

My post is an actual _explanation,_ not just a (misleading) _observation._ In fact, it also explains the _following_ experiment, where they used a suction pump to change the direction of the flame. If _heat_ truly did "rise above", then the suction wouldn't make any difference, because "up" would still be "up". What the suction pump is doing is making the pressure on one side of the flame even lower, thus causing the hot air to get pushed into it by air pressure on every _other_ side, and carrying the flame with it. These are supposed to be *_science_* lectures, not "give a vague description of what you see and suggest some alternative laws of physics".

[@wiegix]

@@RFC3514 yours is uneeded word soup. What they did was perfect and simple. I say it as a viewer.

[@DonaldSleightholme]

candle light might work on a solar panel 🕯️🙇‍♂️

[@woundedone]

It does. The thing is you won't really get much energy out of a candle that way, it's better to just use the candle to boil some water, then run the steam through a turbine/ dynamo.

[@Andrew.Centanni]

If he hasn't already, Tom should see an ENT; his breathing sounds very labored. (Otherwise fun lecture!)

[@JusticeAlways]

Rocket scientists. 😅 (I love hearing that British accent)

[@PBeringer]

The world's a fascinating place; try leaving the county one day ... one day ... maybe. Unless something strange happens (I'm only ten minutes in), or you're referring to one of the assistants, he's a Yank.

[@opperhoofdgeilebizon]

What a great lecture, even for a 40 years old kid 😁

[@aloluk]

Ah stop saying twenty point twenty!!!!!! Its twenty point two! Or is it twenty point two million?

[@Sumit-i8p]

More Oxygen🎉

[@lionelfischer8240]

It's so easy to test water with copper II salts becoming blue, rather than dangerous and expensive sodium. OK for children it's more spectacular.

[@Czechbound]

Very poor camera work and editing. Not like RI lectures of old. Director and producers : please rewatch the shows from 20 years ago to see how it's done.

[@festivitycat]

It did feel like some of the demo team and film crew were a little underprepared. Prof Ricketts was superb though. Also worth noting this is an RI in-house production rather than a big-bucks BBC Christmas Lecture.

[@justinpyle3415]

Look at their view count. Its their own fault for pretending gender equity has anything to do with effective scientific progress

[@fra8156]

I was writing the same, then I saw your perfect comment. The editing is done by someone that doesn't care about what is showed at RI....and that's a pity!

[@Gravitational234]

Very poor level of donation with your whinge

[@Gravitational234]

@@fra8156 The RI can't afford a dedicated production team because people like you spend too much time complaining about something you got for free

[@Ranjanapati07]

Take a break David

[@Cumbriman]

I think they should have given them all a beta blocker beforehand, they're all hyperventilating and shaking

[@Serezin234]

I think in Faradays times people were really impressed by this lecture but times have changed a little bit dont you think?

[@noahwinslow2692]

Yes I agree, but science is timeless! Even the most simple of things can be explored in more ways that we could ever imagine !

[@arthuroldale-ki2ev]

I would much rather live in his time , an exiting time .

[@n.b.p.davenport7066]

Who doesn't know anything about candles those people in the audience didn't go to school, I hope they didn't pay to get in there to watch this. My wife said this is close to a nuclear reaction😂

[@Slarti]

26:05 "that is why the sun is the colour it is, because of the extremely high temperature that it burns at" Seriously? This whole lecture is a complete sh!tshow when it comes to the demos and all the individuals involved, but that one statement just takes the biscuit!

[@barnwobble]

How does the wish work when ye blow them out though?

[@EclecticBuddha]

This is how children in the UK will learn what candles are after they're banned to prevent people being lit on fire in the subway.

[@RobinCrusoe1952]

It's the Tube over here

[@myriaddsystems]

Duh?

[@jessiepooch]

So many daft comments. Banned? smh.

[@JohnSmith-s6n5d]

Should have been wearing cotton gloves instead of pawing through the book barehanded.

[@RohanShekharSawant]

First Comment

[@kevinbush4300]

Well done!! Immensely constructive!

[@Romamb]

Here...have a medal to show your family 🥇

[@Safetytrousers]

Congratulations, such a magnificent achievement. And so creatively achieved.

[@timothy8426]

Really, a candle? Royal candles institute of chemistry?

[@asmaSalman-ju7cx]

Make me feel famous pls 😁