Thulium (new) - Periodic Table of Videos

A new and improved video about Thulium. More links and info in full description ↓↓↓
Support Periodic Videos on Patreon (and appear on our table): / periodicvideos
Videos on all 118 elements: bit.ly/118elements
Cleve on the discovery of Thulium: babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?i...
Thulium I paper by C.James (with the 15,000 crystallisations): pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ja02...
Thanks to Anthony Lipmann for the samples
Music: Henrik Johansson
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

[@periodicvideos]

Support Periodic Videos on Patreon (and appear on our table): www.patreon.com/periodicvideos

[@pandaman9690]

117 tiers

[@pandaman9690]

hydrogen burns clear professor, but you already knew that

[@pandaman9690]

i need to go over there immediately. please take my brain

[@castlering]

So I might have gone smiled just a bit when I saw my name on the screen - I'm a Helium level patreon :D

[@joshuakarr-BibleMan]

I like your videos, Doc. My parents are approximately your age, and they probably have seen you even more than I have.

[@notforwantoftrying1]

i love how observations about how neil feels about the reactions are as important as the observations of the reactions themselves

[@Embassy_of_Jupiter]

"The observed reaction yielded a score of 7 on the Neil scale, indicating a notable degree of chemical transformation."

[@BadMadChicken]

To be fair, Neil is a lab rat and have observed incredible amounts of observations. His intuition is invaluable

[@avoirdupois1]

It reminds me of the Monty Python sketch about Sir Robin's minstrels, "And there was great rejoicing. Yay."

[@christopherleubner6633]

That little mad scientist so excited of getting thulium for his birthday warmed my heart.

[@comicomment]

Of course, someone got atom-69-ed 😅

[@hi_im_angelatrainor]

@@comicommentleave the child alone.

[@four4eight]

@@comicommenthe’s too innocent dont give him curiosity

[@mustelidify]

I laughed at Martyn's excitement at seeing Neil's office, as if Neil's such a hermit that nobody else has ever seen it 😄

[@JakobBerry]

A smiling thumbs up from Neil! I've never seen him so emotional.

[@nussiskate3]

I think Neil deserves a window in his office

[@DreadX10]

@@nussiskate3 Windows 10 or Windows 11 maybe?

[@darylcheshire1618]

how can you tell if Neil is pleased? Less lines on his forehead perhaps?

[@jacobmarczak7337]

Professor Martyn Poliakoff, thank you for all your amazing content and contributions over the years. As a boy I was very excited to watch your videos… and today I still get giddy when I see a notification! Godbless!

[@paulmichaelfreedman8334]

Sir Martyn!

[@jacobmarczak7337]

@@paulmichaelfreedman8334 I suppose it may be Sir Doctor Professor Martin Poliakoff... Oops. I would edit it but then I lose my hearted comment (which feels like a real accolade!)

[@tfvfdeee7647]

Congratulations on acquiring the tholium sample from Sir Martyn Poliacov! It's truly a remarkable feat and a testament to your dedication and passion for science. I'm genuinely thrilled for you and wanted to take a moment to express my happiness and admiration. Please accept my apologies if my comment unintentionally intruded on your personal memory. Wishing you continued success in your scientific endeavors!

[@MaddAddamx]

Neil is my absolute favourite. Wears a vest and suspenders, has Jagermeister, brandy and a coin collection in his office, and never misses the chance to do a hydrogen pop test. Keep rocking buddy 🍻

[@Muonium1]

Trivalent thulium ions exhibit the very strange and rare property of anti-Stokes fluorescence upconversion. In addition to fluorescing blue under the ultraviolet as seen, it will also fluoresce blue when irradiated with high intensity INFRARED light, naively appearing to violate fundamental thermodynamics (the excitation photon energy is LOWER than the emission photon energy!), but what's really going on is triplet-triplet annihilation, where two ions in their excited states interact to add their excitation energy together into another ion which then undergoes normal relaxation with emission of a photon at approximately double the excitation photon energy.

[@spacejunk2186]

So its not a way to turn heat radiation into more usable forms of energy?

[@Muonium1]

@@spacejunk2186 the efficiency of upconversion processes is generally EXTREMELY low.

[@chasewatkins9661]

@@spacejunk2186 there's ongoing research into upconverting infrared photons to higher energy levels for better PV efficiency.

[@lafcursiax]

1:15 Charles James is one of my heroes for his tireless persistence in crystallizing rare earths, and his modesty (and dedication to science over politics) in allowing Urbain to take credit for lutetium.

[@lucdrouin2625]

Thank you for making these nearly impossible experiments, their results, context, and historical perspective understandable for mere mortals! Bravo! BTW, my little daughter amiably calls you "Professor Fuzzy", obviously referring to your unique recognisable hairstyle.

[@vrowniediamond6202]

I still remember watching these videos back in middle school... And now I'm almost at the end of my education, working towards a master's degree. Time really goes by fast, and seeing the professors gray hair just makes me kinda nostalgic 😢

[@andie_pants]

Is that Neil saying "That's a really nice sample"? 😃💜

[@robsokolowski9015]

OMG if that's Neil's voice

[@RedSunT]

I remember being surprised about Neil's deep voice in one of the older videos, so I'm pretty sure it's him. Unfortunately I can't find the video - I rewatched "Neil" and "The Hauksbee Medal (awarded to Neil)" (and skipped through a few others), but he doesn't speak in those.

[@CookingWithCows]

It's element 69, what other comment can there be?

[@andie_pants]

@CookingWithCows 😎👉👉

[@iggzistentialism8458]

Professor Poliakoff is one of those rare human beings that I greatly respect in their field, and adore as a human being - despite never meeting. I appreciate the team for making these videos and the work that goes into them, and the professor's wonderful descriptions and clear explanations.

[@edwardp7725]

I seriously get so happy when you guys upload another video. I wish there were more content from this channel, I cant get enough.

[@giordy9013]

Just love how these overlooked elements are actually so interesting and amazing

[@franslooy3151]

Neil is always a some mysterious person, never speaks, but in fact I am quit jealous about his job. Working with special equipment, and performing tests where everybody can always only dream about😋

[@Aristothink]

Hi Martyn, I love your videos. I've been watching them for almost a decade or more and still seems to be yesterday I discovered your channel, 😂. Please, live for another 2000 years !!!! We need professors like you to make the World understand how important and delightful is to study Chemistry. Thank you for existing and being such a lovely person....🙏🙏🙏

[@denispol79]

Thanks, professor. Very interesting demonstration! Thule, besides being an ancient name for Norway also means "Far". Remember the first unofficial name for (486958) Arrokoth - the trans-neptunian asteroid that was visited by New Horizons after it flew by Pluto? It was called " Ultima Thule", or "The farthest".

[@MrMoccachinoo]

„Quite exiting. His office has no outside windows“ 😂 Poor Neil!

[@epincion]

I'm retired now from a life in academia and a number of my co-workers had offices wth no windows - all of which on the original architects plans (it was a new build 2008) had been designated as storerooms. Nell's office looks just like such.

[@LouisGarez]

Hi professor, Following you for more than 10 years. And still an honor to see your videos!

[@marcduhamel-guitar1985]

Love your videos! I have shared a few with friends. Keep up the excellent work! Cheers ! !

[@periodicvideos]

Much appreciated!

[@akizeta]

The only thing I knew about thulium before this video was the way Tom Lehrer carefully pronounced it in 'The Element Song'.

[@LalaLa-ld1gs]

Very nice video, it's been about 10 years since visiting your channel, I'm happy to see young fans coming to your attention Professor, I too was inspired by you and am soon going to study organic chemistry. Much love to you Professor, thank you for being with us all these years!!

[@Alex-uy6rk]

nice

[@davidpack4158]

Best wishes from USA and love the professor, and all the periodic videos

[@Goldtiger927]

nice.

[@snabelanton]

The brother likely was the founder of a lime quarry on the island of Gotland with another brother taking over. One of them likely founded the "farm" where my grandfather grew up. So 2 brothers found and worked with limestone on an island primarily made of limestone, and one brother found some new elements.

[@chasewatkins9661]

It's funny that you mention limestone in Gotland because Gotland is a very important location for paleontology, especially regarding certain minor extinction events. My geology PhD work relates to limestone in Oklahoma, USA, and there's an important erosional surface in Oklahoma that somehow ties in with the Lau event, which is one of two or three extinction events recorded on Gotland.

[@GodlikeIridium]

Great video! The flame test looks amazing! And talking about fluorescence: A few years ago I did a quick solubility test on a cannabis extract sample for an analysis. One was in water. It dissolved in water, producing a turbid solution, but homogeneous, perfect for the kind of analysis I had to do. And I kept the vial, in which I did the test, because surprisingly it showed a very intense fluorescence, intense enough to see in daylight, which is the only real I put it under a UV light to confirm the fluorescence. Under UV 254 nm light it glows blueish. But the amazing thing I've never seen before is that under daylight, its fluorescence is strong enough to be seen, so you can observe how it reemitts light instead of just reflecting or spreading it. And I have no idea why, but it looks amazing :D

[@MichaelKingsfordGray]

Thulium has been a mystery to me since high school chemistry. One of those "ghost" elements. Thank you.

[@jeffschoonover6470]

I’ve been watching forever, early 2012’s timeline? Every time I see a new video I’m always excited.

[@txhunter144]

Awesome as always

[@connieembury1]

Thank you for all the exciting chemistry experiments!

[@GraemeWight-wx3xz]

Thanks Prof, Neil and Brady.

[@jimmyc3238]

4:41 K2CrO4 is potassium chromate, not "bichromate". Still a great video!

[@TheCosmicGuy0111]

Nice

[@modisp]

Nice

[@herzglass]

Nice

[@Andeyunderscore1990]

Nice

[@leif_p]

0:28 Nice. Sample.

[@riverphoenix8847]

Thanks for the content. I always enjoy watching.

[@arunmacharla9977]

I'm excited whenever a video comes out from this channel.

[@JohnWick-rn6uv]

OMG new periodic video!! We love you guys!!!

[@jeffreywickens3379]

All these videos are very interesting.

[@ApotheosisTK117]

Are you certain you've used the right Bunsen burner clip in this video? It's the same clip as was used in the new Hafnium video back in May, I just played them side by side. It's the same video clip of Neil filing it with the help of Connor, and of Neil sprinkling the shavings into the flame.

[@tonyHern865]

00:57 even if you know swedish language, unfortunately you won't be able to read these papers : they are written in french mon ami. Cheers from France

[@TravisLee33]

Great video.

[@magnusbruce4051]

That bunsen test was really cool. Seeing the green colour on all sides of the fume cupboard was great. The camera seemed to be struggling with it so I guess it was extremely bright, but also highly variable.

[@allancopland1768]

Excellent. Very interesting as always.

[@mikeoftheclandobson5483]

I love the old wooden test tube stand!😊

[@prabjeetsingh4768]

Thank you, for everything 🙏🏼

[@Yakhashe]

0:27 after all these years, is it really the first time we hear Neil's voice? :-O

[@chitlitlah]

It can't be Neil. I've heard his voice is like the Deadlights and anyone that hears it goes insane.

[@scrotiemcboogerballs1981]

Great video thanks for sharing

[@premopreoni]

Thanks for the cool vid Professor!

[@rynnziolkowski4642]

We absolutely know that when you got the thulium you did indeed get that excited *giggles* i love these videos he is such a wonderful teacher

[@tsarmi9864]

I'm quite excited I can be featured beneath my favorite element. I need to find an extra $34 a month here somewhere!

[@LegendaryFartMaster]

1:55 The interesting thing about thulium is that it is element no 69. Nice!

[@dariusszablowski5474]

Could you go into why Thulium is so rare?

[@jlp1528]

One contributing factor is its odd atomic number. Nuclei with odd numbers of protons tend to have fewer stable isotopes than those with even numbers of protons. Why this one in particular is so rare though, I do not know. It would be an interesting thing to cover.

[@duncanw9901]

Element relative abundance is, to a large extent, an open problem in astrophysics. There are rules of thumb: low Z has nuclear stability peaking at iron, and there are "magic numbers" close to stability that arise from (iso)spin-pairing effects in the nucleus (giving rise to the odd rarity mentioned above). But _exactly_ how supernovae gave rise to the element/isotope abundance ratios we see today is one of the major objectives of nuclear astrophysics.

[@dariusszablowski5474]

@@jlp1528 I mean for the heavy elements anything heavier than iron-56 and nickel-62 tends to become rarer and rarer because of the energy needed to create these elements through fusion. If I am not mistaken. 🤔

[@jlp1528]

@@dariusszablowski5474 Duncan's reply is correct and relevant to this point. However, it's definitely still an open problem. Uranium, the heaviest naturally occurring element on earth, is about 2 ppm. Thorium, not far behind in mass, about 6 ppm.

[@fwiffo]

Abundance on Earth for some elements also has to do with the way the Earth formed; over time heavier elements migrate toward the core, and lighter elements float toward the surface. Helium gets its relative rarity (compared to its universe-wide abundance) due to the fact that it floats of the planet entirely. Smaller bodies like asteroids weren't so differentiated, or were part of a larger body that broke up, which is why they have a higher abundance of heavy precious metals.

[@Yezpahr]

Another successful experiment and video.

[@thekenneth3486]

A super-interesting episode!

I really enjoy your videos. Thank you and greatings from Germany. Speaking of symbols, can you do another video on how the different element abbreviations came about? Above all, I would be interested to know why the letters A, E, G, L, M, R have been skipped. IUPAC could have used the A for Aluminium, the E for Erbium, the G for Gallium or Germanium the L for Lithium, the M for Magnesium and the R for Rubidium. Or the other way around, why did Yttrium get the abbreviation Y and not Yt or Vanadium the abbreviation V instead of Va or Vn.

[@landsgevaer]

Before IUPAC various names and conventions were used by different authors in several countries. At some point they were standardized by picking the most common or sensible ones, I suppose. But to avoid confusion, no element symbol is allowed that in literature has already been used for some other element. For example, argon used to be A, so after it was changed to Ar in 1957, no other element may ever use A. Not exactly sure why they didn't simply keep the A, but you will find that most of these are historic accidents that just stuck and are inherited.

Yes. BTW: The D is used for Deuterium, the T fpr Tritium and X as general abbreviation for halogen. Thats why I skipped them in my question.@@landsgevaer

[@ferretyluv]

Isn’t Yt for Ytterbium?

Yb is Ytterbium@@ferretyluv

[@allancopland1768]

Big thumbs up from Neil.

[@bigsarge2085]

Fantastic!

[@SubTroppo]

The kid's reaction to receiving Thulium reminds me of my reaction to my granny turning up with Bluebird chocolate coated toffees when I was about the same age.

[@jasoncox7244]

Linguistic long shot: on the Tu => Tm transformation... if the Scandinavian conjecture is true, then it may be that the `h` Anglicised `THU-lium` has a more aspirated `h` that sounded more like `T'ulium` 🤔

[@arturrosa3166]

According to "Bard": "The change from Tu to Tm was made by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) in 1949. The change was made to ensure that there was no ambiguity in the abbreviations for thulium and tungsten. The IUPAC also changed the abbreviation for tungsten from Tu to W in 1949. This was done to avoid confusion with the element thulium, which was also abbreviated Tu at the time. The old abbreviation Tu for tungsten was first used in the 18th century. It is thought to come from the Latin word "wolfram", which is the original name for tungsten. In the early 20th century, it was decided that the abbreviation Tu should be changed to W to avoid confusion with thulium."

[@feynstein1004]

Wolfram is the German word for Tungsten iirc, not Latin.

[@DuchessandHammer]

I wonder if the crackling and light emitted with the bunsen is an indication of how much energy was required to refine it to its current form. Entropy and all that.

[@matthewspencer972]

It would be interesting to know if there might be semiconductor applications for thulium: possibly LEDS or, perhaps more usefully, UV sensors?

[@tmmtmm]

Nice.

[@maxinerosaler762]

most of the lanthanides are about as reactive as magnesium (the early lanthanides are about as reactive as calcium while Gd-Yb including thulium about as reactive as magnesium and Lu about as reactive as aluminum)

[@lazaruscain3424]

I'm curious as to whether the precipitates and other products fluoresce in colors different from the Thulium in Sulfuric Acid.

[@hammerth1421]

It should be the same since the thulium ion, the actual thing producing the fluorescence, didn't change. I wonder what would happen if you added something like ammonia to a solution of a thulium salt though. It should form a complex with the thulium ion which would change the energy levels the electrons can occupy and thus the colour of the fluorescence.

[@allancopland1768]

Poor Neil (my hero!). He only has a windowless cupboard/office.

[@tolkienfan1972]

A new periodic video! Nice

[@propheticprayerfornations]

If i had chemistry teachers like him i would have never wanted to go home

[@richardjx5442]

Tiule is an ancient Greek and Latin name for an island or region variously identified as one of the Shetland Islands, Iceland, or Norway: supposed to be the most northerly region of the world.

[@phonotical]

How about subjecting it to an acid that doesn't degrade into hydrogen

[@landsgevaer]

Like? Isn't the idea of an acid that it is an H-compound?

[@phonotical]

@@landsgevaer can you even hear yourself, no, of course not.

[@Polyglot85to90]

Thulium is named after Thule, which is an ancient name for Scandinavia, but there's also a town in Greenland that was named Thule by the Danes. Nowadays the town goes by the Greenlandic name Qaanaaq. Imagine if the element had been named after the town of Thule, it could have been renamed Qaanaaqium, symbol Qa, Qn, Qq or just Q perhaps?

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

Neil's powers continue to astonish us!

[@DuXQaK]

Petition: Neil deserves an office with a window. Sounds like hes been given a closet.

[@cursling]

Yay, thulium finally gets a new video!

[@billynomates920]

never heard of it! well, i have now, thanks!

[@me0101001000]

I have to ask. Besides funding the KZbin channel, does revenue from the channel help fund your research as well? Because if that's the case, that's simply fantastic, even if it's just a little bit. After all, chemistry research is notoriously costly.

[@ZombieFartDev]

office with no windows = mums basement

[@411Adidas]

Fascinating

[@NewDayRF]

Oh, Neil has his own office. That's pretty generous of the professor.

[@michael42158]

Given the valence shell is 6s2, why is the oxidation state +3 in these compounds?

[@michael42158]

For the reaction of Tm(III) with carbonate would the precipitate not be Tm(III) hydroxide? Would it not behave in the same way as Iron(III)? The large charge density makes the cation acidic such that Iron(III) carbonate does not exist as a discrete compound. Would Tm(III) not behave in the same way?

[@rursus8354]

Extremely expensive fireworks. The first pronunciation of Cleve was the correct one. Thule is associated with the entire Scandinavia. (Strictly speaking: the Scandinavian speaking Nordics) It presumedly derives from 'Thoula' that means something like 'the fjords.'

[@pandaman9690]

the nicest samples

[@jdos2]

Lighter flints are made of rare earths for the reason demonstrated over the Bunsen burner.

[@ehfik]

"neil was very pleased." - delightful.

[@TravisSteamAddict91]

Would y’all please make a video on the science and chemist of H2O, water. I’ve been subscribed since 2007. Been wanting a Video on this.

[@tom_something]

The main thing I've learned about chemistry from watching these educational videos is that whenever something is bubbling off hydrogen, you have to light it on fire because it's fun.

[@Grassy_Gnoll]

TM: *shows off my atomic number to the other elements* Other elements: Nice!

[@peterfireflylund]

Nice!

[@user-gf7zf9sx7w]

Exccellent video.

[@ccrider5398]

Are there any commercial uses for Thulium?

[@mohamedismailmohamed-ibrah8008]

4.40 I think the Prof meant to say potassium chromate and not potassium dichromate (K2Cr2O7)...

[@chlodnia]

Yes please

[@FarhanAmin1994]

‘Clay-vuh... Clee-vuh... I don’t know. I don’t speak Swedish’ 😂😂😂 I love the Professor ❤❤❤

[@quaqstar]

I like the concern of pronunication over Cleve but not over Thule (prionounced like tool) So it should be pronounced tool-ee-um?

[@highlandlab1924]

Should show some reactions of rare earth elements with metaloids. Antimony acts like an oxidizer... i got a few vids on RRE

[@therocinante3443]

If I could be anybody in that lab, I'd choose to be the one who has all the fun - Neil!

[@007bistromath]

This element is NICE

[@apertureonline9566]

This is tau along with high density of photons. If it were purple it be tau with more space I think green would produce yellow and dark red has a higher specific value of space then the difference between blue and purple.

[@Turcian]

A podcast with Neal would be amazing!