I got the chemistry bug from reading "the discovery of the elements" when I was 14. One chapter that I loved was the heroic story of the discovery of the rare earths, including the four named after one Swedish village, Ytterby.
I don't want to hijack the thread - not an element but closely related - I'd really enjoy hearing your rendition of the history of molecular mass, Avogadro's constant and the mole etc from Dalton to Ostwald. That always fascinated me in chemistry how it was determined and what it meant for gas chemistry. The mole always seemed such an arbitrary and magical value!
Would it be fair to say that terrestrial helium is all formed from alpha particles emanating from the radioactive decay of uranium and similar elements or is there some other source of helium on earth?
Mendeleev initially thought that the Argon discovery was bogus because it seemed to violate his periodic table and attacked the discovery. As soon as the other elements were discovered it solidified the model of the periodic table and he added a new column for the noble gases
@@mr_b_hhcthat's why the process of peer review is so incredibly important. As long as we remain skeptical, together we can incrementally improve our understanding even when our human failings get in the way.
Should like to add on that Argon was not corrected to occur before Potassium (this was done by Mendeleev, who did not know of atomic numbers and so used the nucleon number/atomic mass) until Henry Moseley
Looking at the periodic table now it’s so easy to view it and think that’s how it’s always been, everything fits right into place, but the history behind every element is always so fascinating and the efforts it took to get there are astounding
@@Cokecanninja Wrong. Nuclei have 4 electron shells (as found in actual elements): S, P, D, F First row represents the S shell, where there are 2 * 1 electrons per shell. Second 2 rows represent the P shells, where there are 2 * (1+ 3)= 8 electrons per shell. Third 2 rows represent the D shells, where there are 2 * (1 + 3 + 5) = 18 electrons per shell. Fourth 2 rows represent the F shells, where there are 2 * (1 + 3 + 5 + 7) = 32 electrons per shell. 1, 3, 5, 7: Do you see a pattern here? First row: Hydrogen & Helium = 2*1 = 2 elements Second row: Lithium, Beryllium, Boron, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Fluorine, Neon = 2 * (1 + 3) = 8 elements etc. This image shows the ENTIRE periodic table with all four rows. Fourth row is frequently separated from the others so the table is not so long and flat, but that is mere typography. qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-f3cfa160d3c3e86927529c7a19ee2d2f-pjlq
@@DavidFMayerPhD had no idea about this, when we were memorizing the periodic table in middle school we just focus on how its usually organized and how to read it(more similar to labeling a map then learning what it was and how it worked). Thank you!
@@vijayvijay4123 Raman scattering involves a change in wavelength of the scattered light, whereas Rayleigh scattering does not: they are completely different physical processes.
Most "neon" signs DO NOT contain neon. Only the red ones that are transparent when turned off are neon. The rest are fluorescent lamps, filled with argon & mercury to make UV light, & a chalk-like phosphor coating on the inside of the tube. When those are turned off, they look chalky-white (unless the glass tubing is itself colored).
As far as I know it's not even the color of the power that makes the light turn color. I think the UV light hits the powder and is refracted into the visible light spectrum, depending on what you use you can get different refraction effects from shining UV light onto the powder
@@jllemin4 It is not refraction. (Refraction only changes the direction of light, not the wavelength.) It is fluorescence. In fluorescence, the atoms of the powder absorb light, exciting their electrons into upper atomic orbitals. When these "fall back", they release light. Since the distance they fall back to is less then the upward kick they got from the incoming light, the result is light of a longer wavelength. So UV from the mercury in the discharge excites the powder ("phosphor") & the phosphor emits light in the visible (longer wavelength then the UV light). The chemical makeup of the phosphor determines what color you get. (The color of the fluorescence is usually not the color of the powder when viewed under white light.) In real neon lamps, the light you see is directly emitted from the ionized neon. Other colors are not done this way because the efficiency of other direct visible colors from ionized gasses is poor compared with the mercury UV output to phosphor to get visible light.
If i remember correct. First color tubes (Gas-discharge lamps) use different gases to produce color. Neon is red, argon deep pink or light purple (similar color to nitrogen) , add sodium and we have yellow. Fluorescent lamps are mercury vapor lamps using phosphorus coating. Mixing different fluorescent minerals or simple pigments or even top coating create color.
It always stuns me how fast science advanced from about 1850 to 1950. In 1850, we didn’t know anything about the make up of the atom. By 1950, we had already exploded an atomic bomb. Incredible times.
Thanks for this observation, I has not thought of it before but I wonder if this points to a convergence point between combined ethics (personal, social, religious, etc.), education and financial wealth (providing security, free time, ability to source and acquire resources, etc.) leading to this boom.
@@nullifye7816we live in the information age, you can learn anything you want. Absurd amounts of data is out there, look at Internet Archive, they have tons of media and websites, you can find tons of deleted or paywalled content there
I'm quite surprised, and impressed, that 19th century scientists could reliably measure a 0.5% difference in density of different gas mixtures. What method did they use?
well in science class we are told to repeat the experiments multiple times and the school equipment of nowdays are very low quality back in the day the actual scientists had super precise measuring methods which were still taught (tho our error rates are much more due to the equipment) its not a suprise he was able to measure such a diffrence especially as a chemist
Amazing video and superb historical research. If you think about that these scientists worked ages ago under rather simple conditions and with barely analytical instruments: That is really genius :)
In most cases they had to make their own experimental equipment. (I'm thinking of Cavendish and the equipment for his gravitational constant experiment)
As a Polish speaker, I pay my respects to you because of 8:16 (and onward). You pronounce both names VERY well, which is extremely rare for English speakers - and not because "Polish is hard". People practically always just replace all Polish letters ó, ł, ń, ą, ę, etc. with English letters that LOOK similar (o, l, n, a, e) and then just read everything in English, which makes absolutely no sense (visual similarity or even identicality of the Latin letters between languages has nothing to do with the similarity of how they sound in those languages). Often such inter-linguistic caricatures cause only laughter. Sometimes, however (e.g. in the case of names!) they cause a sense of disrespect. Thank you!
It's a sign of respect. Most English speakers do not have it. It's typical for imperialist cultures. The French and Russians do the same crap, butchering other people's names.
Hey I was just recommended this video out of the blue and I was surprised to see how small your channel is. It’s a niche topic for sure, but your style and presentation is high quality and professional in my opinion. By that I mean your video comes off like it’s made by a larger channel with the time and people to make it. Keep up the great work man you definitely earned my subscription do you have a patron or anything like that?
Hey, thanks so much! I don't have a Patreon, but I do have the following if you're interested in supporting 🙂 buymeacoffee.com/chemistorian ☕️ UnitedChemDom.redbubble.com 🛒
@@Chemistorian sent you a purchase thru the “buy me a coffee” site. Looking forward to watching you grow nice and big and make more videos about the interesting history of chemistry! Have a great day! ✌️😁👍
I first came across Ramsay's name when I studied at Glasgow University in Scotland - all these wonderful buildings named after their famous alumni; Lord Kelvin, Adam Smith, James Watt, John Logie Baird, Joseph Black, Colin Maclaurin, David Livingstone, Joseph Lister...a wonderful era of discovery.
I find it amazing that Ramsey had a role in the discovery of or identification all the noble gases except for oganesson (which may not be a gas at all). Apparently the reason radon was accepted as the name for element 86 was that radium emanation (radon) was the longest-lived isotope. Travers didn't share the Nobel prize in Chemistry with Ramsey, but nowadays he might have, though Ramsey was unquestionably the driving force. Except for argon, where he and Lord Raleigh share the honors. I still saw niton as the name for element 86 when I was a kid. By the way, Ramsey asked his son for a name for element 10, and his son suggested novum. Ramsey turned it into Greek to match argon and krypton, so neon was born.
I'd like to see a sequel about the history (and associated accidents) of isolating fluorine. The most reactive element. A lot of brilliant people lost part or all of their vision, among other things, in the pursuit of isolated diatomic fluorine.
Hello, being a chemist myself I can apprechiate the work you did to unfold the history of this Elements. A good tale might be the discovery and separation of the Lanthinides, done mostly by extremely careful gravimetry around the 1920 (if I remember correctly). There is probably no living chemist around, who could nowadays do gravimetry with that precision as we now rely on other modern tools. Another gravimetry problem: Proof that the Lead from the different decay-chains has different weight, also confirming the decay-chains.
Imagine discovering the air is made up of multiple gases. That would be so cool. Imagine telling your friends "yo, I think the air is a mixture of gases." "What? That's crazy"
This video was spectacular in every respect. The science history was excellent but I particularly appreciate the detailed treatment of word origins and naming conventions that invites those with other backgrounds to appreciate the ideas a bit more. 😊
It is especially interesting, considering they had an observation that was consistent and repeatable and yet they didn't know how or why it worked at all. I might be skeptical but I think if a scientist nowadays would use a method to analyze their samples with a method the inner workings of which aren't described in literature, those findings would probably be dismissed.
I think I'm in love with this channel. It brings me huge joy to see the history of chemistry and some explanations of how things work. It's just beautiful art. My favorite chemistry channel is yours.
Honestly, this is one of the most informative chemistry videos I have ever watched. I am so impressed with how everything was explained so clearly, while managing to keep me excited to hear more. That's not easy, bravo!
excellent vid, you got a new sub here. these guys were such pioneers, their experimental design, patience and precision without any electronic equipment was so impressive.
As someone who didn't study science much in school, and has since come to really appreciate chemistry, I particularly enjoyed this. Really neat story, very well told.
Imagine where the world would be without Argon, Literally almost everything today uses Argon to some extent in manufacturing, Any metal-working involving aluminum, stainless steel, or titanium requires Argon as a shielding gas. It's used to purge vapor deposition chambers for making ICs. It's used for sputtering. It really has became one of those chemicals, like petroleum products, or sulfuric acid, that's just used for everything.
Absolutely fantastic video! Very informative especially concerning the order of discovery. Also wonderful descriptions of the experimental techniques used to isolate the gases. Clearly they has some very good analytical techniques back in the day.
what a great video man! fantastically written script regarding storytelling and great on the technical and informative side, too ♥ as a huge fan of chemistry and an amateur chemist I am happy I discovered this channel
Another fantastic video! I teach chemistry but with a background not strictly chemistry oriented and your videos give such a rich background and insight to the basic curriculum. So thank you! I would love to see a video on the halogens or group 1 metals at some point.
"Ramsey asked permission" is a wonderful construct, perfectly illustrating the collaborative and deferential ("gentlemanly") nature of science in some circles. How very British, an American might say. :)
This is amazing. From back when an insistence that others ‘‘Trust the science’ without a corresponding paper trail would’ve seen you heckled by passers-by as you strolled the streets of Prague.
"no matter what he did, the atomspheric nitrogen remained 1/2 a percent denser than the chemical nitrogen" Lol, I like how this reads like a line from a classic fairytale. Just an exceptionally boring one to people who need drama and action to be entertained XD Great video!
My grandfathers 4 older brothers made the first X-Ray tubes in the UK and died of radiation poisoning. They were a firm of glass blowers Tony Aimer Johannesburg
Really enjoyed the video! I only knew a little of this previously - it was great to have the full picture and the logical path Ramsey took to isolate the new gasses. It's truly amazing to follow this line of thought - when laid down like this it's logical but for him it would have been treading on new ground, as profound as the guy who stood looking at geological folds in various rocks and first realising how deep time actually was - from the 10,000 years of history he'd been told about to realising this would take hundreds of millions of years to form.
4 месяца назад
Very nicely done. May your channel grow to what it well deserves to be!
All other channels I've seen have an @ even mine, but not yours and it looks really weird
3 месяца назад
@@redmadness265 still a mystery to me what you're on about, mate.. I see no @ that isn't there.. 🤪
3 месяца назад
@@redmadness265 I've finally figured out what you meant. . yeah, it's kinda odd. Can't say I remember seeing it elsewhere either.. let's have a lookaround
This is an excellent video. Very well done. It always amazed me how the hell these early chemists managed to work with such tiny amounts of invisible gases without losing them in tubes and pumps. They obviously cooperated with skillful flameworkers (which were, back then, a staple of universities' laboratories) and even had such skills themselves. One thing I've never seen anywhere in literature or online, is condensed radon, liquid or solid. It's a fantastically radioactive substance and something tells me it is very well possible nobody extracted and condensed enough of it to show radioluminescence in bulk after first characterization was made. Afterall, it's a very dangerous procedure and today it would be so expensive to do, without enough cost return. :/
@Chemistorian I just discovered this channel, this is the first video i've watched and I must saw it a splendid video. I see myself watching more of your content. Chemistry experiments and the history of them are both important concepts that need to be shared. Keep up the good work.
That was so much fun to listen to. And putting it all in one video helps connect it so nicely. I assume there are so many many details implied by a statement like carefully doing fractional distillation over 2 weeks. It must have been very exciting for them.
Since I've known the basic chemistry involved since childhood. It was good to fill in the history. The last half of the 19th century was a golden age for discovering elements. Very articulate well-presented and definitely kept my attention throughout. Thank you.
What an enjoyable video! I'm shocked I hadn't chanced upon your channel previously, but I have your previous videos to catch up on, so I won't be too sad about it.
This is very intriguing and interesting id love to get a video of the lore(history and random info abot it) of each element. I just think it woukd be very useful to have all info in one place :D
Best, most informative YT video I've encountered in days! Thanks for the (historic) memories. Leaves out only Oganesson, discovered only this century, by very different means, and very short-lived, radioactively. I'm guessing that, were you to cover its discovery, it would be as the culmination of a series on the synthesis of the transuranic elements? Fred
Love your video. I’m a retired chemist and have always been fascinated by the multiple elements named after the small Swedish village of Ytterby. Possible video?
Thank you for mentioning Wróblewski and Olszewski's achievements, which, while revolutionary at the time, are now mostly forgotten, especially in the west.
I dont often find new channels to like and subscribe to. Thank you for your efforts, in the days when your up in the multiple 100k subscribers, I think going through each element in a seperate video would be fascinating. A great compendium to the table.
I am teaching the history of science to middle schoolers and your channel has just become a wonderful resource, thank you for all this hard work, subscribed!
Thoroughly enjoyable! Crazy to think of the sheer effort that went into these discoveries. One of those efforts would have to be overcoming repeated disappointments!
Both Argon and Neon are also used in so-called excimer lasers. ArF lasers are notably used for deep-UI semiconductor lithography. Some people may also know the He-Ne (Helium-Neon) laser, often used for school demonstrations.
amazing video! It's crazy to me just over 100 years ago we didn't know shit about some of the elements that our modern-day society has become so accustomed to.
Wow! I keep reading about a voltaic pile that some Englishman went from proving the existence of hydrogen and oxygen, to discovering several more elements in quick order, but they never tell is what all these elements were or how they discovered them. It would be interesting if you could elucidate this
Very impressive job of historical research, production, and editing. Work of professional quality. (I wish that videos like this had been available when I was a student.) Thank you for posting this video.
A great story well told, thanks. It is amazing to think that Lord Rayleigh's chief fame is as a theoretical physicist, his papers fill 6 volumes. So, discovering a new element was a bit of a sideshow.
