Why Molybdenum is named after Lead - Periodic Table of Videos 

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Nice to see our professor doing well. What legend he is, he had a huge impact on many generations. Long life prof. Martin

I like how the professor never gets any older, his hair just gets bigger and whiter

The greek word for pencil is ΜΟΛΥΒΙ too. Greetings from a greek chemist!

I’ve been following this channel for a decade and more and just now I’m noticing that the Professor is left-handed.

The story of molybdenum and its etymology was a treat to watch! Thank you, Professor!

"I'm at home so I don't have samples of elements." "So here's some molybdenite..."

"Neil's favorite..." Things like that are why I come here. Neil has a favorite element and The Professor both knows it and is HAPPY about it. That's cool.

Over 40 years ago I went to visit the Climax molybdenum mine in Colorado. Basically they’ve crushed most of a mountain to a powder and mixed that with oil and soap (molybdenum and its ores have an affinity for oil) to separate out the molybdenum. Quite messy, although I think they’ve tidied up the tailings quite a lot. The mine was shut for a few years but is operating again.

It‘s also one of my favourite elements: In my research, I do optical spectroscopy of heterostructures including MoS2 and MoSe2, which are 2D semiconductors.

I've only now realised that in Polish the word "ołówek" for pencil comes from lead, which is "ołów". Really cool!

Outstanding hairstyle, Professor. Quite literally.

i have a tube of moly-graph which is a grease that uses both graphite and molybdenum. its an excellent lubricant

I used to live in Keswick and knew of the pencil museum. In fact I even used to live/work in what was a converted graphite mill in Newlands valley which is the next valley over from Borrowdale. It took me this long to realise the mining around that area wasn't just slate, but also graphite. The more you know.

1:20 I thought he was writing something in Greek at first and spent a few seconds pondering what "RTON" meant.

"I'm at home, so I don't have samples of elements." I'm not sure that I believe you.

I like how graphite basically means “writing stuff”.

Thanks to Professor P., Neil, and the rest of the Periodic Table of Videos team. Been watching for a number of years and always love to see what interesting things the team is up to. Glad to see that the team is all healthy and able to do some new videos. Cheers!

That's the first time I've seen lead sheathed cable like that.

There is a pencil museum in the Lake District, I'm told it's quite graphic.

For a split second I thought Brian May was going to enlighten me. Hadn't seen this in my recommendations in a while and nearly forgotten about this channel. Great content.

I'm going to be so sad if the professor ever passes...He had such a huge impact on my love of science and chemistry.

I wish chemistry was taught as a mystery or puzzle in schools. I think that's the key aspect why these videos are so interesting and enjoyable. Instead of the audience being uninformed and merely informed by an authority who already is informed, we see experiments, tests, or recalling of previous research. It doesn't matter if the subject is history or chemistry, professor never relies on his authority. He uses phrasing like "we were taught in university that...", "I searched up papers about this and they demonstrated..." or "as I was working on this research, I learned...". And often enough the videos make sure to demonstrate the theory anyhow. Ironically it takes immense experience and knowledge to avoid relying on ones own authority to this extent. Most information one knows is just not valid for this kind of teaching, as the basic idea is to share not only that but also why one knows and and where one learned it.

So interesting! The way language plays into science here is awesome

My periodic table from school years! Most probably the professor came to Cyprus at some point. KEO is a spirit manufacturing company in Cyprus, mostly known for its beer and St. John's Comandaria. The company supported the effort of ΠΕΕΧ (Pancyprian Union of Chemists) in developing the specific table and it was given to us in 2002 when I was a senior at high school, having chemisty as an elective. Nice video and very accurate pronouciation of the words!

Martyn's hair is looking especially floofy and majestic in this video!

At this time of year I expected the Prof's hair to blow away, like a dandelion.

I always love Professor Martyn's videos.

I first learnt of molybdenum from the film based on the play, Paint Your Wagon. The town, named after the metal, was called Molly Be Damned.

Your hair is outstanding, Professor.

Hi professor, thank you for making these vedios. I use your vedio to teach my 12 old child and we both learn a lot. Thank you so much from Taiwan.

Prof., can you do a video explaining why metals like Mo have a high melting point, whereas others like Pb have it lower? Are there any interesting trends or outliers to the general reasoning?

What a brilliant guy. In case my kid struggles with chemistry a couple of years from now, I'll make him watch this channel.

My dad told me when molykote (or molybdenum oil additive) came out in Argentina they did a demonstration where they ran an old jeep without oil, it failed immediately, and then they only added the additive (no oil) and it ran! What a great element molybdenum

You made my day professor!

Excellent video. Very interesting, informative and worthwhile video.

The German word for pencil is actually “Bleistift” which translates to “lead pen"

Dont stop doing what you all are doing, from Canada i say thanks for over a decade of knowledge

I find "molybdenum" easy enough to say on its own, but I do struggle a bit to recite the "manganese and mercury, molybdenum, magnesium" line from The Elements.

The word “plumber” also comes from the Latin word for lead “plumbum”.

Now that’s my kind of convoluted, Professor, and fascinating, to boot🖖🏼

not sure why but this is the first periodic videos new video i've gotten in my sub feed for like over a year. I thought you guys stopped uploading

When I lived in southern China for three and a half years I somehow ended up with molybdenum poisoning, presumably from polluted water. I never drank tap water but I rarely cooked at home so who knows how the cooking was done… but there’s also the possibility that it was due to severe repeated skin exposure (perhaps all the showering because of the tropical conditions?) Anyway, very unpleasant.

MOH-lee-vthos (th as in "the") Moh-lee-VTHE-nee-o (The capitalized "e" as in echo) I'm Greek. Hope this helps. Glad to see the professor doing well!

I’ve always wondered where that name came from. Never worked with it before, so I didn’t dig into the etymology. Now we know! Thank you, Professor!!!

If they decided to go with the Latin name "plumbum" something similar would happen with Mo-Pb names, but in Spanish instead of Greek. (Pb is "plomo" in Spanish).

Great video Sir.. Have watched the other molybdenum wire video & wondering if you ever persuaded Neil to try altering the frequency of the current , turn the wire vertically, as well as try DC ? If not perhaps you folks could add such a video to your to-do list please ?

It's always such a pleasure seeing the professor :)

Moly Dee, THE FINEST MACHINING ASSISTANT YET DEVISED BY NATURE AND THE SKILL OF MAN

I've used Molybdenum quite often in the grease used for CV axels (MoS2) really cool to see what it looks like in raw form :)

Graphite is also used as a lubricant for steel/brass stringed instruments. For example in the string grooves of a guitar's nut.

Watching these videos makes me want to study chemistry again, it was something that I really liked doing.

That periodic table of patrons is a really nice idea!!!

The periodic table section of the volume Matter, from the Time-Life Science Library, explained the etymology of Molybdenum! I knew that as a kid in the early 70s!

It's also called "Molly-be-damned". Well, at least in The Brothers O'Toole historical documentary it was.

Thank You Professor Sir Martyn Poliakoff .

There needs to be a huge playlist of fun but informational youtube videos and I would just become so much smarter binge watching it

How after all these years have I not realized the Professor is left handed! XD

I thought they were called lead pencil because of the similar colour! Never would have guessed that you could write with lead. Great vid.

These videos are a treasure. Thank you, professor!

I wish I'd have kept studying chemistry and physics. It's so fascinating. Internet web marketing is not nearly as fulfilling, but pays the bills. Keep 'em coming, professor! Love this channel!

The professor's fro is looking on point today!

I studied ancient Greek, too. And the professor told us modern Greek speakers would understand it. And the few times I tried this, it worked. Try Chaucerian English in NYC. You will not be understood. Great video as always.

Prof Polikaoff, you certainly have the appearance of the archetypal professor though much better groomed, but there is nothing whatsoever of 'madness' in your erudite yet gentle mini-lectures.

I'd like to see a video on Molybdenum (ii) acetate! The Mo-Mo quadruple bond feels like magic.

Molybdenum disulphide is specifically an excellent high pressure, high temperature lubricant. You’ll find it in constant velocity driveshaft joints. It’s the black grease that never washes out of anything.

Molybdenum is a hugely important element in alloying steels and industrial development, it increases the metal's strength particularly under high temps, deeper hardening for austenite steels, assists in welding and confers quite a lot of corrosion resistance.

*People in the 1800s:* "You found a new material that can make marks on paper? Sounds like lead to me."

I'm a firefighter and we use graphite to lubricate our cutters and spreaders. (Jaws of life.) It's strange to think that you can lubricate something with a dry film.

Interestingly, in the mountains of Colorado, the Climax mine was once the largest producer of molybdenite in the world and is located just outside the town of Leadville, CO (which got it's name from lead deposits in the area).

What just blew my mind is that, in my language, the word for pencil is also derived from the word for lead, and it's quite obvious, but I never made a connection untill now.

Slovenian word for pencil is "svincnik" and lead is svinec. Nice to see you, Prof!

I was expecting the chat to go down a graphene bunny hole but the professor wisely avoided it

You might not believe this but this is a true story: There was this quiz website called QuizUp (now gone) which allowed users to make quizzes. Once i made a quiz about element symbols and their names. For Lead (Pb), i put in some options like Potassium, Lead, Sodium. I couldn't think of what to put in the fourth option so i made up a name "Plumbum" to confuse the people taking the quiz because it was close to the letters Pb. I thought was quite silly. But nevertheless i searched it to make sure it wasn't any official name of something but to my surprise, it turned out to be the Latin name of the element itself! So in a way, i "invented" the name Plumbum! But of course it doesn't matter, because it was done before.

Molybdenum is by far the most exotic element that professional gardeners have to learn about in their education. The main elements plants are made of are Hydrogen, Carbon, and Oxygen (air and water) and the primary fertilizers Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium, and Magnesium are all stuff you encounter all the time if you have just a passing interest in chemistry. Zink, Copper, and Chlorine are also familiar element, and I think most people might at least have heard of Manganese. But Boron and Molybdenum really stand out as stuff I've never encountered in any other context before.

So glad to see this video pop up!

PTOV - Periodic Table Of Videos.

Love the videos, especially when the Prof. makes an appearance. Cheers

Dear Professor Polikaoff, can you please give your opinion on the use of molybdenum disulphide as a so-called "friction modifier" being added to auto engine oils to decrease internal friction and extend engine life? Thanks for all the great videos, I've watched them all with great interest.

MoS2 beyond used in greeses for lubrication, recently got a lot of attention as a potential semiconductor of the future, being better than Silicon or Graphene.

Love the garden Professor! ✌🏾

Question about compound naming: Why is it molybdenum disulfide (an ionic compound) rather than molybdenum IV sulfide?

Always awesome to see the Professor

Untamed Mane, the new album of spoken word formulas through the centuries! Preorder your copy now! The professor has a wonder voice for this!

The professor is a national treasure.

Another fascinating video thank you

I love you professor, hope you can provide us with these awesome videos for a long time. S2

That is interesting! In German we say Bleistift (literally lead pencil), too. I always thought it was just because of its colour.

I was not ready to see the professor's hair like that. But I love it.

very interesting and something I might have never stumbled upon on my own

I bought "Dry Lube" for an application at work, an its main ingredient is Molybdenum.

Ahh, the Professor. Still teaching me chemistry at random intervals ☺️

Wonderful video. I will always love these :)

The professor's hair game is on point!

I notice that the Greek for mercury is hydrargyros whence the symbol (although strictly speaking the etymology is via the Latinised form of the Greek). A bit of Greek and Latin helps with some of the symbols (Na, K, Sn, Sb, Fe, Au etc.) and some of the names like chromium, iridium and xenon.

Professor is such a smart person

When I was little my friend and I found a lead fishing weight and discovered that we could write on the pavement with it like chalk, and that was when I realized why pencil lead was called that! (This was in the 1980s when nobody supervised children. Don't play with lead, kids, it's toxic!)

Oh my gosh I'm so glad to know that you're alive and healthy and I hope everyone else on this channel involved are also I've really been worried for quite a while and I've been like questioning if you guys have been safe and like healthy continue to wear masks when possible for real

Are the names for elements the same in both modern Greek and classical Greek?

Just to let you know there is a typo in Poliakoff in the description