Why Does Everything Decay Into Lead

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  • čas přidán 26. 02. 2024
  • If you look at a copy of the periodic table, you might notice that basically every element after lead is labelled as radioactive. And the vast majority of those elements wind up decaying into some version of lead eventually. But why is lead so special?
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Komentáře • 1,8K

  • @uss_04
    @uss_04 Před 2 měsíci +4667

    Everything turning into Lead is similar to Everything turning to crabs. It all comes down to Shells
    07:17

    • @oxylepy2
      @oxylepy2 Před 2 měsíci +98

      Omfg. 😅😂😅😂😂😂😂😂

    • @Landersama
      @Landersama Před 2 měsíci +65

      This will not get as many likes as it deserves. 10,000 likes someday? Still not enough.

    • @MischaKavin
      @MischaKavin Před 2 měsíci +21

      Well played

    • @margodphd
      @margodphd Před 2 měsíci +12

      Brilliant 😂

    • @PaladinofRealm
      @PaladinofRealm Před 2 měsíci +6

      Sorry to be that guy... But atoms dont actually have shells.

  • @General12th
    @General12th Před 2 měsíci +4906

    Ancient Romans didn't reduce wine in lead vessels because lead acetate was amazingly sweet. (It's about as sweet as sugar, but there's less than a gram of it per liter compared to the 200+ grams per liter of regular sugar.) Instead, it's because the other vessel they _could_ have reduced wine in was made of copper, but copper acetate tastes _awful._

    • @wfemp_4730
      @wfemp_4730 Před 2 měsíci +266

      I don't know, I love the taste of copper acetate...

    • @HenryPlays923
      @HenryPlays923 Před 2 měsíci +73

      How do you know this?

    • @glacierwolf2155
      @glacierwolf2155 Před 2 měsíci +408

      This officially proves that lead is tastier than copper.

    • @bruceanderson7762
      @bruceanderson7762 Před 2 měsíci +6

      Hmmm😢

    • @ZenithWest169
      @ZenithWest169 Před 2 měsíci +373

      Ironically that does in fact (technically) means they did do it because lead acetate is sweet. But your fun fact does change what that specific means and gives way more insight as to why it was used.

  • @detritic
    @detritic Před 2 měsíci +277

    This video really feels like it needed that one extra anecdote about how Iron lies in the sweet spot between fission and fusion

    • @brassman7599
      @brassman7599 Před 2 měsíci +29

      I was thinking the same thing. There's a whole discussion to be had there about nuclear binding energy and fission/fusion as well as radiation and nuclear stability.

    • @kurosakiichigo7475
      @kurosakiichigo7475 Před 2 měsíci +1

      Really? He never mentioned this??

    • @spvillano
      @spvillano Před 2 měsíci +11

      Well, lithium deserves honorable mention, largely because it's weird.

    • @connerblank5069
      @connerblank5069 Před 2 měsíci +7

      That's my favorite nuclear physics fact! Was coming down here to mention it, in fact.

    • @spvillano
      @spvillano Před 2 měsíci +8

      @@connerblank5069as I mentioned, lithium is weird. It will fuse easily enough, but it'll also fission easily and is used in lithium deuteride form in thermonuclear weapons as a tritium source.

  • @Michael75579
    @Michael75579 Před 2 měsíci +34

    I like the fact that "magic numbers" was originally a derisive term but is now the accepted nomenclature, similar to the journey taken by "big bang"

    • @Sofie424
      @Sofie424 Před 2 měsíci +6

      And imaginary numbers.

    • @nobody.of.importance
      @nobody.of.importance Před 20 dny

      Was it originally derisive? I could see that because of the rampant misogyny of the time but "magic number" is actually a pretty widely used term for "this works and I don't know why." Just my thoughts.

  • @personaslates
    @personaslates Před 2 měsíci +1878

    The future is nothing but Lead Crabs.

    • @mikeoxmall69420
      @mikeoxmall69420 Před 2 měsíci +120

      All hail Carcinoplumbum, the Ultimate Lead Crab

    • @donhoverson6348
      @donhoverson6348 Před 2 měsíci +84

      All radioactive elements become lead. All living things become crabs and all food becomes candy so the ultimate endpoint of evolution is lead crab candy. Yum.

    • @TheReaverOfDarkness
      @TheReaverOfDarkness Před 2 měsíci

      All elements above lead are not simply plumbogenic but are also carcinogenic. Coincidence? I think not.

    • @tntgolem1623
      @tntgolem1623 Před 2 měsíci

      ​@@donhoverson6348yes, Yes, YES!

    • @intractablemaskvpmGy
      @intractablemaskvpmGy Před 2 měsíci +9

      Good one. Since different species have involved into crabs separately! Five times! That means crabs went extinct 4 times and a very excellent organism despite that. Like sharks and spiders

  • @superkamehameha1744
    @superkamehameha1744 Před 2 měsíci +2434

    Lead is the atomic version of Crabs

    • @vbeat8355
      @vbeat8355 Před 2 měsíci +46

      I can predict that this is gonna be an underrated comment!

    • @redmadness265
      @redmadness265 Před 2 měsíci

      ​@@vbeat8355Sitting here for it

    • @Bildgesmythe
      @Bildgesmythe Před 2 měsíci +63

      Lead crabs!

    • @baurochs2283
      @baurochs2283 Před 2 měsíci +63

      ​@@Bildgesmythedont be givin nature any ideas now, dont need crabs walkin around like metal mario

    • @tntgolem1623
      @tntgolem1623 Před 2 měsíci +13

      ​@baurochs2283 we sure as hell do need metal crabs running around!

  • @TampaCEO
    @TampaCEO Před 2 měsíci +104

    I am a software engineer with nearly no education in chemistry. I learned more from this 14 minute video than I did throughout my entire education. SUBSCRIBED!!!

    • @SweBeach2023
      @SweBeach2023 Před 2 měsíci +6

      No, maybe you understood more but only because you already had a pretty decent understanding of chemistry and physics including concepts such as neutrons, protons, electrons, decay, half-life etc.

    • @TampaCEO
      @TampaCEO Před 2 měsíci

      ​@@SweBeach2023OK you got me there. I did receive a really good education in high school. But my interest in chemistry really comes from studying astronomy. I have always loved astronomy even back to when I was a child. When I learned about how stars create the elements, chemistry suddenly became interesting to me. So everything I know chemistry, I learned from astronomy. It's all really fascinating stuff. 🙂

    • @louistournas120
      @louistournas120 Před 2 měsíci

      @@SweBeach2023 Remind me to send you a copy of the Chemistry book.

    • @LiborTinka
      @LiborTinka Před 2 měsíci +4

      I was a software engineer but burned out and now studying chemistry for couple years. I can say with confidence that even the most boring stuff taught in school (e.g. atomic orbitals) become interesting once you dig a little deeper. But the "deeper" stuff is never taught so people aren't able to make connections and mechanically learn the facts.
      I often started with questions like: "But why magnesium exists only as metal or in +2 state? Could there be any magnesium +1 compound? If so, how it looks? And if not, why?" ... then I continued on wonderful journey with Wikipedia and only then the chemistry textbook became entertaining!

    • @louistournas120
      @louistournas120 Před 2 měsíci

      @@LiborTinka How nature works is a very fundamental question that any human should have. Congratulations for studying chemistry. I am an amateur chemist.
      Why magnesium is a metal is a subject of the solid state and this is usually not explained at the high school level and bachelor level. I have taken a course in physics, solid state physics but this deals with semiconductors only. I remember that there was a lot of equations and non of them were explained.
      So essentially, when you have an atom where the final orbital electrons are loosely attracted to the nucleus, they are free enough to jump around from atom to atom. Such materials are metals. The free electrons participate in electrical conduction. The core electrons do not. The free electrons help in heat transfer so metals are always good heat conductors.
      The energy needed to remove the first and second electron of magnesium is pretty close, so magnesium loses 2 electrons during a chemical reaction.
      Once it loses those 2 electrons, 12 protons attract 10 electrons, so the atom contracts. It is more difficult to remove a 3 rd electron.
      If you want to figure out the electrical conductivity, heat conductivity, hardness, crystal structure, this is a topic in solid state physics and it is complicated. I have not really studied it.

  • @Qsie
    @Qsie Před 2 měsíci +54

    The fact that Tin has Ten stable isotopes is pretty hilarious

    • @Aethelia
      @Aethelia Před 2 měsíci +9

      But how Tan would a Ton of those Ten isotopes of Tin be?

    • @0w0-YEEEEAH
      @0w0-YEEEEAH Před měsícem

      Tin ten

    • @Qsie
      @Qsie Před 3 dny +1

      @@Aethelia You win 😭

  • @Impossiblah
    @Impossiblah Před 2 měsíci +632

    I love that the imagine chosen for "alchemists trying to turn lead into gold" you chose was Hennig Brand boiling urine until he discovered Phosphorus

    • @ThirtytwoJ
      @ThirtytwoJ Před 2 měsíci +41

      Being what he was shootin for, he prob ate the first batch too

    • @user-jc2we4sn1i
      @user-jc2we4sn1i Před 2 měsíci +1

      See Francois Boucher's paintings of "Bourdaloue" so before one uses an antique gravy remember where a lady from m 17th to 19th centuries had placed it so any asperities could contain traces of her excrement of secret recipe flavors of family get togethers .

    • @user-jc2we4sn1i
      @user-jc2we4sn1i Před 2 měsíci

      Did you see "Neo Seoul 2144 A.D." of "Cloud Atlas" for "Papa Songs Taste of a Waitress Sonmi 451" with a ship in the harbor or see 2020 production of "Brave New World" where protagonists flew past "chemical recovery crematorium furnaces" in an "Aurora" personal jet craft?

  • @mikki429
    @mikki429 Před 2 měsíci +962

    "It's still magic even if you know how it's done" - Sir Terry Pratchett

    • @CAPSLOCKPUNDIT
      @CAPSLOCKPUNDIT Před 2 měsíci +59

      ANY SUFFICIENTLY ADVANCED MAGIC IS INDISTINGUISHABLE FROM SCIENCE

    • @Numbabu
      @Numbabu Před 2 měsíci +14

      @@CAPSLOCKPUNDITany sufficiently crude science is indistinguishable from magic

    • @jesipohl6717
      @jesipohl6717 Před 2 měsíci +5

      Any philosophical truism is usually baseless.

    • @trueriver1950
      @trueriver1950 Před 2 měsíci +19

      ​@@Numbabu the original quote was from Arthur C Clarke, "any sufficiently advanced technology (? science) is indistinguishable from magic"
      Not sure if the original said science or technology

    • @Numbabu
      @Numbabu Před 2 měsíci +12

      @@trueriver1950 "Any sufficiently crude magic is indistinguishable from technology" is a quote from Cookie Clicker riffing on that one

  • @OrangeeDude
    @OrangeeDude Před 2 měsíci +730

    I'm really enjoying all the chemistry videos lately! Keep them up :)

    • @BDayGhostie
      @BDayGhostie Před 2 měsíci +23

      Bro what is this bot account doing

    • @iCortex1
      @iCortex1 Před 2 měsíci

      Fr yapping away ​@@BDayGhostie

  • @stuartaaron613
    @stuartaaron613 Před 2 měsíci +83

    It would be an interesting video to explain why Technetium and Promethium don't have any stable isotopes despite being lighter than Lead. Maybe a reverse magic number situation.

  • @Sirfing_Wolf
    @Sirfing_Wolf Před 2 měsíci +529

    Somebody at Scishow has gotten into a chemistry obsession recently and I’m loving it

    • @samandom8772
      @samandom8772 Před 2 měsíci +13

      He got the Hankfection. Makes you hyperfixated on a specific topic for a brief period of time.

    • @NotSoMuchFrankly
      @NotSoMuchFrankly Před 2 měsíci

      @@samandom8772I'm sure Mr. Green will be glad to know he's got a disease named after him.

    • @gamtax
      @gamtax Před 2 měsíci +14

      Because NileRed stops giving us chemistry content. 😥

    • @aristokatclaude3413
      @aristokatclaude3413 Před 2 měsíci +1

      ​@@gamtaxdidn't he recently release a video?

    • @gamtax
      @gamtax Před 2 měsíci

      @@aristokatclaude3413 He does. Just much less than before.

  • @davetoms1
    @davetoms1 Před 2 měsíci +983

    The Island of Stability is one of my favorite scientific predictions. I hope we discover one!

    • @Mr-__-Sy
      @Mr-__-Sy Před 2 měsíci +163

      and have the decency to name them all the fantasy metals we have in myths and comics, I mean come on how fun would be to have oricalcum or adamantium as an element in the periodic table?

    • @xenmaifirebringer552
      @xenmaifirebringer552 Před 2 měsíci +91

      ​@@Mr-__-SyI'll have some mythril please 😊

    • @davetoms1
      @davetoms1 Před 2 měsíci +32

      @@Mr-__-Sy yes!! Tolkeinium, Darksideium, Enterpriseium 🖖🤓😂 Let's make science (even more) fun!!

    • @slimjimnyc270
      @slimjimnyc270 Před 2 měsíci +33

      I want my Dilithium (Crystal).

    • @kraneiathedancingdryad6333
      @kraneiathedancingdryad6333 Před 2 měsíci +46

      Yea, though I wander through the valley of stability, I will fear no electrons

  • @sydhenderson6753
    @sydhenderson6753 Před 2 měsíci +37

    Americium 241 is the isotope used in most smoke detectors. It's part of the neptunium series (in fact, it decays into neptunium 237) so in a few million years, it will become bismuth, and a few quintillion years after that thallium (unless thallium 205 turns out to be radioactive with a half-life of quadrillions of years and we haven't discovered that yet). By the way, Indium 115 is unstable but has a very long half-life, and is actually much more common than stable indium 113..

    • @HappyBeezerStudios
      @HappyBeezerStudios Před 2 měsíci +3

      In ionization-based smoke detectors. Photoelectric detectors also exist and don't use any radioactive source.
      And optical detectors are more and more widespread, some areas have even banned radiation based detectors.

  • @plebcrabslayer
    @plebcrabslayer Před 2 měsíci +22

    All roads lead to lead.

    • @swiftmatic
      @swiftmatic Před měsícem +3

      Noice!😂😂😂

    • @paulglawson2866
      @paulglawson2866 Před 11 dny +1

      Well that’s just plain dumb and stupid: And absolutely brilliant!

  • @JamieElli
    @JamieElli Před 2 měsíci +211

    I have a lump of bismuth on my shelf. Obviously with that half life it's not going to irradiate me any time soon.

    • @theslavegamer
      @theslavegamer Před 2 měsíci +60

      bro people literally ingest bismuth to help treat stomach inflammation all the time in the form of pepto-bismol

    • @NotSoMuchFrankly
      @NotSoMuchFrankly Před 2 měsíci +45

      @@theslavegamer The bismuth might be safe but eventually the peptobium will make you glow pink.

    • @tonyduncan9852
      @tonyduncan9852 Před 2 měsíci +4

      It depends on what you mean by soon.

    • @granthurlburt4062
      @granthurlburt4062 Před 2 měsíci +22

      I suppose if I said maybe some was mine, you'd tell me it was none of my bismuth. (I'll see myself out).

    • @frtzkng
      @frtzkng Před 2 měsíci +11

      With its long half life it was even considered stable until quite recently. Same with Tellurium, whose most abundant isotope has a half life in the order of 10^24 years.
      When it comes to irradiation it generally depends on how stuff it is stored. Bi and Te radiate way too little to be harmful. Even with Uranium the biggest concern is its chemical toxicity. You can store it in a glass bottle and it will block all of the alpha radiation, and alpha decay is Uranium's main way of decaying.

  • @seniorbob2180
    @seniorbob2180 Před 2 měsíci +563

    "Now before we get to any magic we should start with some nuclear physics basics"
    That's some pretty hardcore magic.

    • @IgorL-rv1mn
      @IgorL-rv1mn Před 2 měsíci +1

      Pretty sure that's a bad idea.

    • @SanHydronoid
      @SanHydronoid Před 2 měsíci +3

      Isekai magic moment

    • @bigmaxporter
      @bigmaxporter Před 2 měsíci

      That would go hard I think

    • @CliffSedge-nu5fv
      @CliffSedge-nu5fv Před 2 měsíci +12

      Heavy Metal Alchemist

    • @nexdemise4182
      @nexdemise4182 Před 2 měsíci +14

      It's all fun and games until the wizard turns off your strong nuclear force.

  • @hanksimon1023
    @hanksimon1023 Před 2 měsíci +39

    Great discussion. Clear and easy to understand. In the 1960s, Element-114 was proposed to be the island stability, and some suggestions included a positronium decay path [similar to Na-22, but with much more energy. There were other speculations based on Gibbs Free Energy minimization, increased shell organization, and positive energy generation. ] I don't recall the details, but unfortunately 114 is not as stable as predicted... 60 years ago.

    • @tonyduncan9852
      @tonyduncan9852 Před 2 měsíci +1

      I remember that.

    • @jaylopez6450
      @jaylopez6450 Před 2 měsíci +3

      That said, flerovium still has a fairly decent stability relative to its neighbors, and we're still a bit of a ways off from the specific flerovium isotope that's thought to be the center of the island.

    • @Xnoob545
      @Xnoob545 Před 2 měsíci +1

      There are some way heavier isotopes of elements such as Cn that are predicted to be stable
      We just need to add like, iirc, 10 or so neutrons

    • @edwardz.rosenthal9946
      @edwardz.rosenthal9946 Před 2 měsíci +1

      Wasn't there a wacky theory circulating that Element-114 was the secret material used by space aliens in their spacecraft? Or was that an episode of X-Files?! 🤔😝

    • @tonyduncan9852
      @tonyduncan9852 Před 2 měsíci

      I don't think it was that pos. It was another pos. @@edwardz.rosenthal9946

  • @CLipka2373
    @CLipka2373 Před 2 měsíci +25

    4:20 - The list of decay products shown has a typo: Radium-228 is listed twice, when really the second occurrence should be Radium-224.

  • @steverempel8584
    @steverempel8584 Před 2 měsíci +305

    Fun fact: Lead is one of the 7 classical metals, that have been known and in use during classical times. (There may have been more, but these 7 are the main ones.)
    They are: Lead, Tin, Copper, Iron, Mercury, Gold, and Silver.
    All these metals, except for Iron, have a very low melting point, but are fairly rare in the crust. Iron is the opposite, being super common, but high melting point.

    • @ernestsmith3581
      @ernestsmith3581 Před 2 měsíci +22

      And native (unoxidized) iron occurs in meteorites. I'm not sure if native tin occurs in nature.

    • @muninrob
      @muninrob Před 2 měsíci +25

      I don't think there are any deposits of "pure" tin, but it smelts & reduces easily enough that it "could" happen through common natural processes - campfires (and wildfires) get hot enough to smelt it, and IIRC the PH required to reduce tin oxide isn't that impressive either.

    • @WingDiamond
      @WingDiamond Před 2 měsíci +7

      In my day we only had One Heavy Metal genre, we called it "Heavy Metal" 🤘🏻😅😂

    • @puffin88
      @puffin88 Před 2 měsíci +22

      And it's easy to remember which ones these are because they're the ones whose symbol on the periodic chart doesn't match up with their names in English. Why is that? Because humanity knew about them long before anyone spoke English

    • @Leyrann
      @Leyrann Před 2 měsíci +5

      You're technically missing out on (according to Wikipedia) Mercury, Zinc and Platinum. However, Mercury probably wasn't recognized as a metal at the time, and Zinc and Platinum seem to not have been recognized as such in ancient Rome or Greece, which 'classical times' of course usually refers to. (Zinc was used in India, Platinum in the New World)
      Other elements known at the time were Carbon, Antimony and Sulphur, but these are not metals.

  • @user-pk4hn1uz1k
    @user-pk4hn1uz1k Před 2 měsíci +149

    Lead is such a great tool in science when you treat it with the respect that any neurotoxic chemical should be given, very underrated element IMO given all the justified fear over lead exposure now.

    • @theslavegamer
      @theslavegamer Před 2 měsíci +4

      Lead is for sure my favourite element, solid its low melting point an mailability are super useful and chemically its so incredibly useful

    • @aikonlatigid
      @aikonlatigid Před 2 měsíci +3

      Its all about stability, adding some lead hydrocarbon in gasoline, make it more stable againts self ignite..

    • @NotSoMuchFrankly
      @NotSoMuchFrankly Před 2 měsíci +10

      @@aikonlatigidYeah, and great for the environment.

    • @andredelacerdasantos4439
      @andredelacerdasantos4439 Před 2 měsíci

      It's impossible to deny Lead's usefulness as a shield from radiation used in hospitals, but I can't feel confortable defending its use since in most third world countries, people aren't very aware of its dangers, there aren't as many regulations on its use and when there are, its a third world country and no one gives a damn and just uses it extensively anyway. I've lost count of how many times I found this pesky substance hidden in all kinds of house objects, from toys to curtains.

    • @StepSherpa
      @StepSherpa Před 2 měsíci +2

      ​@NotSoMuchFrankly nice thing is that it's so stable so even when spread all over it is still stable as lead :D
      My favorite metal but having it all over is not the best :P

  • @trueriver1950
    @trueriver1950 Před 2 měsíci +21

    Intuitively I might have expected everything to decay into iron, which has the least binding energy of any nucleus. Certainly on those grounds it would be energetically favourable for lead to do that.
    However it's like a pebble on a shelf: moving to the floor would be energetically favourable, but there is no route from the shelf that is open to the pebble.

    • @edwardz.rosenthal9946
      @edwardz.rosenthal9946 Před 2 měsíci +2

      A petulant cat would remedy that. 🤪

    • @mymatesi
      @mymatesi Před 2 měsíci +2

      There actually is, but its a hole other discussion

    • @whuzzzup
      @whuzzzup Před měsícem

      Iron does NOT have the highest binding energy. Nickel-62 it is.

    • @grebulocities8225
      @grebulocities8225 Před měsícem

      It is indeed energetically favorable for lead to emit an alpha particle to become mercury, but the decay energies for its "stable" isotopes are all very low, and alpha decay half lives are very strongly dependent on decay energy. I plugged the numbers for Pb-208 into the Geiger-Nutall formula once and got a half-life of about 10^110 years, IIRC.

  • @BahKnee
    @BahKnee Před 2 měsíci +8

    This video reactivated parts of my brain. Chemistry and physics classes were a long time ago, but this jogs the memory.

  • @justanotherguywithamoustac8893
    @justanotherguywithamoustac8893 Před 2 měsíci +193

    Because that's where all roads Leads

    • @IanGrams
      @IanGrams Před 2 měsíci +17

      That reminds me of a phrase I saw once that goes, "read rhymes with lead, but read rhymes with lead".

    • @Shreyas0501
      @Shreyas0501 Před 2 měsíci +5

      Underrated Pun

    • @thomasslone1964
      @thomasslone1964 Před 2 měsíci +1

      they should have never legalized marijuana

    • @Rylan_The_Scarecrow
      @Rylan_The_Scarecrow Před 2 měsíci +3

      All roads lead to lead?

    • @bozhijak
      @bozhijak Před 2 měsíci

      LMAO!!

  • @kimarna
    @kimarna Před 2 měsíci +25

    I laughed a lil when he said not to put lumps of anything radioactive on your desk cos I have a uranium glass vase on my desk. It is radioactive, but barely above background levels. It's not dangerous unless used te eat/drink from or you fill a lead lined room with them lol

    • @NotSoMuchFrankly
      @NotSoMuchFrankly Před 2 měsíci +19

      You'll regret this in a few trillion years!

    • @edwardz.rosenthal9946
      @edwardz.rosenthal9946 Před 2 měsíci +1

      @@NotSoMuchFrankly Where DOES the time go?! 😕

    • @mariuszmoraw3571
      @mariuszmoraw3571 Před 2 měsíci

      ​@@NotSoMuchFranklyI think we all do. Sun will turn into red giant.

    • @nickolaswilcox425
      @nickolaswilcox425 Před měsícem

      ive got an old candle stick on the shelf, picked it up because i always wanted to get some uranium glass and it was the densest item of the material i could find at the time, they also had a tea set, plates and cups... yeah no, fragile and of greater potential risk plus i dint want that many pieces of it... although if they still have the lemon juicer next time im there i might finally grab it

  • @Samael1113
    @Samael1113 Před 2 měsíci +22

    For the record, IIRC there are two, currently theoretical, elements above lead that would be perfectly (or at least reasonably) stable, and are also "Reasonably Attainable". We just haven't officially created and confirmed them yet.
    (Which you do touch on in the last minute of the video, so there ya'go)

    • @patriciaaturner289
      @patriciaaturner289 Před 2 měsíci +3

      Adamantium and Vibranium.

    • @SpottedHares
      @SpottedHares Před 2 měsíci +3

      What defines reasonably stable? Thorium 232 has a half life of 1.4 Billion years, while Uranium 238 is 4.5 Billion years. Again that’s with a B. So what’s reasonable stable with as old as earth isn’t?

    • @HappyBeezerStudios
      @HappyBeezerStudios Před 2 měsíci +1

      @@SpottedHaresI guess any time long enough that you write the half life as exponent.

    • @gregorygant4242
      @gregorygant4242 Před 2 měsíci

      What are you Tony Stark ?
      I don't think so !

    • @nobody.of.importance
      @nobody.of.importance Před 20 dny

      Don'tcha hate it when you point out something you think is neat mid video and right as you unpause they bring it up? Happens so friggin often.

  • @michaelblacktree
    @michaelblacktree Před 2 měsíci +10

    The segue to the Patreon plug was pretty slick. Well done. 👍

  • @shimrrashai-rc8fq
    @shimrrashai-rc8fq Před 2 měsíci +9

    It's worthwhile added _why_ "adding more neutrons" only goes up to a point: in theory, it _would_ work further on, but the trick is as you start adding too many neutrons, that little thing known as the "weak nuclear force" starts getting in the way and causing the excess neutrons to want to decay into protons. So you get a rock and a hard place situation between the electrostatic force on the one hand (i.e. too _few_ neutrons) and the weak nuclear force on the other hand (i.e. too _many_ neutrons) and eventually the two squeeze out all room left for stability.

    • @aqdrobert
      @aqdrobert Před 2 měsíci +1

      The Doctor: We need to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow. It's a Time Lord thing.

  • @marginbuu212
    @marginbuu212 Před 2 měsíci +32

    Lead is like crab. Got it. Also, met my quota as a guy for thinking about the Romans.

  • @watchyourlanguage3870
    @watchyourlanguage3870 Před 2 měsíci +6

    Really enjoying this “properties of specific elements” series, wish I’d learned this level of detail in school

  • @logan_wolf
    @logan_wolf Před 2 měsíci +7

    6:16 Yea, though I walk through the shadow of the Valley of Stability, I fear no decay.

  • @VictorLHouette
    @VictorLHouette Před 2 měsíci +3

    And every cassette left in a car for long enough will eventually turn into the greatest hits of Queen

  • @Pro-kesh
    @Pro-kesh Před 2 měsíci +7

    I’m not sure about heavy elements, but with enough time all lighter elements will undergo cold fusion through quantum tunneling to turn into Iron-56. It has the highest binding energy per nucleon

    • @garethdean6382
      @garethdean6382 Před 2 měsíci

      Heavy elements via a complex decay process will fracture, actually much faster than things fuse via tunneling, so all our gold will decay away before what it turns into becomes iron.

    • @whuzzzup
      @whuzzzup Před měsícem

      No it does not. Ni-62 has the highest binding energy.

  • @sandman0829
    @sandman0829 Před 2 měsíci +1

    The best kinds of educational videos are ones that raise questions in my mind as they are going, and explain them all by the end. This video is a great example! Nicely done

  • @johnnyrasputin4819
    @johnnyrasputin4819 Před 2 měsíci +3

    I love the connection he puts on the end. Something poisonous turning into something poisonous. Chef's Kiss!

  • @trueriver1950
    @trueriver1950 Před 2 měsíci +7

    The magic numbers are all even, just as the electron shell sizes. That's because there are exactly two spin states for electrons and for nucleons (collectively called fermions). When you add onto an odd shell, the next fermion of the same type preferentially pairs up with the impaired one, but with the opposite spin.
    So the same even numbers rule applies in both shell theories.😊

  • @vicious12394
    @vicious12394 Před měsícem +11

    Why is Tyson Fury teaching me science

  • @GenoppteFliese
    @GenoppteFliese Před 2 měsíci +1

    Great video, especially the part with the decay chains is something I wondered about when it comes to radioactive elements you might have been exposed to. This is nothing you hear much about outside physics lectures, so I really liked to see the chains presented here.

  • @4RILDIGITAL
    @4RILDIGITAL Před 2 měsíci

    Really informative video, the concept of magic numbers and their impact on atomic structures is fascinating! It's also interesting to think about the possible extension of the periodic table.

  • @bernstock
    @bernstock Před 2 měsíci +4

    This was a great episode 👌🏼
    Watched it twice!
    Makes me think of how nuclear fusion stops at iron, any elements heavier than that require the force of at least a supernova to form.

  • @radRadiolarian
    @radRadiolarian Před 2 měsíci +19

    everything evolve into crab and everything turn into lead

    • @radRadiolarian
      @radRadiolarian Před 2 měsíci +10

      at the end of the universe everything is lead crabs

    • @donhoverson6348
      @donhoverson6348 Před 2 měsíci

      All radioactive elements become lead. All living things become crabs and all food becomes candy so the ultimate endpoint of evolution is lead crab candy. Yum.

    • @erkinalp
      @erkinalp Před 2 měsíci +1

      @@donhoverson6348and all vehicles become trains

  • @Roberto-REME
    @Roberto-REME Před 2 měsíci +2

    Outstanding video. Very well narrated, interesting, educational and very interesting. Well done!

  • @Video2Webb
    @Video2Webb Před 2 měsíci

    New to your channel, thanks be to CZcams for presenting it! I loved this presentation, although probably need to watch at least once more to take it in better. Thank you!

  • @GRichardWrotten
    @GRichardWrotten Před 2 měsíci +20

    With all the usual stories about women’s contributions to science being marginalized or outright denied, this story made me literally sit up and smile. Would that the rest of the world could take notice of such collaborations.

    • @edwardz.rosenthal9946
      @edwardz.rosenthal9946 Před 2 měsíci +2

      You may collect your "Pick Me" badge at the door on your way out. 🤪

    • @dirtdiggity1714
      @dirtdiggity1714 Před měsícem

      We've HAVE noticticed a distinct rash of gash licking, of late. Now that you bring it up. Again. 🤨

    • @Alex-vl1mk
      @Alex-vl1mk Před měsícem

      ​@@edwardz.rosenthal9946What?

    • @Lovangeline
      @Lovangeline Před měsícem

      @@edwardz.rosenthal9946Pick me, what?

    • @le13579
      @le13579 Před měsícem

      Meh. Re-fighting yesterday's battles. Today's battle is to ensure the quality and replicability of scientific research in the face of funding, political and career pressure.

  • @DarthMrMeeseeks
    @DarthMrMeeseeks Před 2 měsíci +9

    7:59 why is thallium (81) and lead (82) in the wrong position on the periodic table??? am i missing something??

    • @wvdh
      @wvdh Před 2 měsíci +3

      Damned, nice catch. How on earth did you notice that?

    • @DarthMrMeeseeks
      @DarthMrMeeseeks Před 2 měsíci

      lol@@wvdh, It jumped right out off the screen tbh, and i had to rewind to make sure i didnt miss a joke or a reference to explain it. 😆

  • @craigschaffert
    @craigschaffert Před 2 měsíci

    Thanks for coming back, we need you, great to see ya.

  • @collingallaway5541
    @collingallaway5541 Před 2 měsíci +2

    This answers so many questions I’ve had about radiation, stability, etc thank you!

  • @Anonymous-jo2no
    @Anonymous-jo2no Před 2 měsíci +14

    Well quick corrections:
    1:43 Nah radioactive materials are all around us: radon, potassium-40, tritium etc. If the lump's radioactivity is small enough that it only increases the background radiation by a negligible amount, it's safe. Bismuth-209 is for all practical purposes considered non-radioactive because its radioactivity is negligible and you can safely have a gigantic lump of it on your desk. For nuclear physicists though they compare it with uranium-238, especially when talking about nuclear wastes.
    6:43 Indium-115 is radioactive; it's just that it has very long half-life, and ironically the isotope that forms the majority of indium. Lots of odd-numbered elements have only one stable isotopes so I wouldn't call two "only".
    Otherwise this video is good science.

    • @AlbertTheGamer-gk7sn
      @AlbertTheGamer-gk7sn Před 2 měsíci +1

      Also, indium and tellurium are the only elements with stable isotopes that have the most naturally occurring isotope being radioactive.

    • @Anonymous-jo2no
      @Anonymous-jo2no Před 2 měsíci +2

      @@AlbertTheGamer-gk7sn Rhenium also actually XP

    • @yar3333
      @yar3333 Před měsícem

      Also during a beta decay a neutrino is being emitted...

  • @Babygirlyouretheheart
    @Babygirlyouretheheart Před 2 měsíci +15

    My toxic trait is watching these and pretending I understand it all

  • @frosuski
    @frosuski Před měsícem

    I've been watching your videos for years, and this one was particularly interesting and well explained :)

  • @kats9755
    @kats9755 Před 2 měsíci +3

    Big fan of that shirt, Reid. Love a fun pattern.
    Edit: 13:04 I cackled at this. Good job, writers.

  • @A-physics-and-theology-nerd
    @A-physics-and-theology-nerd Před 2 měsíci +3

    2:25 - Neutrinos pass right through this video unnoticed, just like they do through you and the earth.

  • @TheOtherSteel
    @TheOtherSteel Před 2 měsíci +11

    Video title: Why Does Everything Decay Into Lead
    Everything either fuses, or decays, into iron.

    • @cholulahotsauce6166
      @cholulahotsauce6166 Před 2 měsíci +3

      Yeah that's what I thought too.

    • @gregorygant4242
      @gregorygant4242 Před 2 měsíci +2

      Yep, it's iron not lead .

    • @gregorygant4242
      @gregorygant4242 Před 2 měsíci

      @@studiouskid1528 Yep, either aliens or stupid humans will destroy it somehow.
      By either creating some device to get energy from the space of the universe that backfires and then starts imploding in on itself taking the whole universe with it!

    • @chuckgrigsby9664
      @chuckgrigsby9664 Před měsícem

      Actually, iron is the farthest up the periodic table that a normal star can go as it fuses atoms. Thus, iron is the end point of stellar fusion and not the result of radioactive decay.

    • @le13579
      @le13579 Před měsícem

      ​@@chuckgrigsby9664 why can't a star go further up/down the table?

  • @Saint_Wolf_
    @Saint_Wolf_ Před 2 měsíci +3

    The mouth X-ray thing reminded me when I needed to get one and I asked my technician if he ever had someone with a piercing on their tongue (I don't have piercings it was mere curiosity) and she told me this crazy story of the time it did happen, it was hilarious because the rays would scatter on the piercing ball and it'd just ruin all imaging, and the girl couldn't take it off because it was freshly applied.

  • @matthewtoohey4103
    @matthewtoohey4103 Před 2 měsíci +1

    Loved this video.
    What didn't I love? The lack of a question mark at the end of the title!
    Here's a suggested topic/title for a #SciShow video: Why Don't (Rhetorical) Questions End With Question Marks Anymore?

    • @DavidCooper-ej6rl
      @DavidCooper-ej6rl Před 2 měsíci +2

      I do that sometimes whilst texting. It's a statement as much of a question.

  • @gastonmarian7261
    @gastonmarian7261 Před 2 měsíci +3

    Saying something has a half life of 20 quintillion years feels like fiction

  • @ngcf4238
    @ngcf4238 Před 2 měsíci +3

    I thought Iron-56 was the most stable? at least in terms of decay over time

  • @ithasbeenwritten222
    @ithasbeenwritten222 Před 6 dny

    I loved this video. Thank and VERY well done! So friggin cool

  • @overestimatedforesight
    @overestimatedforesight Před 2 měsíci

    This helped me understand so many complex concepts in a way no one else had

  • @wumboism
    @wumboism Před 2 měsíci +58

    reid's voice is too good, cute asf too

    • @JapuDCret
      @JapuDCret Před 2 měsíci +6

      you are cute

    • @megadiabrous
      @megadiabrous Před 2 měsíci +4

      he's such a babe

    • @General12th
      @General12th Před 2 měsíci

      @@JapuDCretur mom cute

    • @EastNorthEast
      @EastNorthEast Před 2 měsíci +5

      Sounds like he constantly needs to blow his nose

    • @kylezo
      @kylezo Před 2 měsíci +2

      @@EastNorthEast no, he has extremely robust natural resonance, this is something you would observe frequently in baritone opera singers. he is also a singer so that's a big part of it. You might be one of the few people on the planet that likes bad sounding singing, though

  • @frankroberts9320
    @frankroberts9320 Před 2 měsíci +4

    VIG-ner, not WING-er. Eugene Wigner was a very smarticle particle physicist. The Wigner effect triggered the Windscale fire (Britain's Chernobyl) a week after Sputnik launched in 1957.

    • @Gandhi_Physique
      @Gandhi_Physique Před 2 měsíci

      Needless correction. If you want to correct that, you better be saying Volkswagen correctly too.

    • @AquilaSornoAranion
      @AquilaSornoAranion Před 2 měsíci +1

      @@Gandhi_Physique You edited your comment. Was THAT correction necessary?

    • @Gandhi_Physique
      @Gandhi_Physique Před 2 měsíci

      @@AquilaSornoAranion I can edit my own comment. Not even the same situation whatsoever.
      Here, I'll do it again.

    • @AquilaSornoAranion
      @AquilaSornoAranion Před 2 měsíci

      @@Gandhi_Physique It sure is nice to fix things, isn't it?

    • @Gandhi_Physique
      @Gandhi_Physique Před 2 měsíci

      @@AquilaSornoAranion Yeah. If I make a mistake, I try to fix it. If someone else makes a mistake, if it isn't something serious, why would I correct them? It's just obnoxious.

  • @FutureAIDev2015
    @FutureAIDev2015 Před 28 dny

    That was actually one of the most clever patreon plugs I've ever heard on CZcams

  • @BitCounter
    @BitCounter Před 2 měsíci +1

    This is great. Now to get this video in a loop so I can absorb it in my sleep.

  • @garbleduser
    @garbleduser Před 2 měsíci +3

    When are people going to realize that time is the original Alchemist.

  • @joereed8872
    @joereed8872 Před 2 měsíci +23

    I haven't watched the video yet and have minimal chemistry knowledge. My guess is that lead is primarily the first heavy stable element and secondarily an easy divisible of higher elements

  • @kevincronk7981
    @kevincronk7981 Před 2 měsíci +2

    Wow I am fairly interested in nuclear physics and have never heard that nuclei have shells. I saw the bobby broccoli video about the seatch for new elements and remember about islamds of stability from that video, but I didn't know it had something to do with nuclei being organized in shells like electrons. I thought that they basically worked like how you guys animate them, just a lump of protons and neutrons, albeit more quantum-y.

  • @Audiophile83
    @Audiophile83 Před 2 měsíci

    Awesome video my man!!

  • @megadiabrous
    @megadiabrous Před 2 měsíci +8

    I'm in love with Reid

  • @thespacecowboy420
    @thespacecowboy420 Před 2 měsíci +6

    It is a consequence of the construction of the universe, as are all stable atoms, is is more like a base state that exhibits atomic properties... the atomic equivalent of "brown".

  • @TakeTheRedPill_Now
    @TakeTheRedPill_Now Před 2 měsíci

    Very nice! Great overview of heavy-element nuclear physics.

  • @xcoder1122
    @xcoder1122 Před 2 měsíci

    The quality of SciShow videos vary a lot. This one, for example, is a very good one.

  • @markguyton2868
    @markguyton2868 Před 2 měsíci +4

    This just makes me wish we kept calling lead "Plumbum"...

    • @vincentyeo88
      @vincentyeo88 Před měsícem +1

      Most water pipes in those olden days were made of lead.
      Maybe that's why the repairman of pipes is called plumber.

    • @markguyton2868
      @markguyton2868 Před měsícem +1

      @@vincentyeo88 Makes sense actually

  • @davepoul8483
    @davepoul8483 Před 2 měsíci

    very interesting amd well presented... look forward to moree

  • @paulhansen5053
    @paulhansen5053 Před 2 měsíci +1

    Nice video, and well presented, thanks. This subject is the basis of recent work by Edo Kaal and his team, called the Structured Atom Model (SAM). There is a website and book about it. The model is very geometric and purports to have more explanatory power than other models. It's pretty radical, though, so if you go there, hold on to your hats.

  • @magubus
    @magubus Před 2 měsíci

    great video, as always! but the highlight was that shirt!!! i need one!!

  • @MarkWusinich
    @MarkWusinich Před 11 dny

    Great content!!!

  • @huw3851
    @huw3851 Před 2 měsíci

    Particularly interesting - I should watch it again and make notes.

  • @randomguy9241
    @randomguy9241 Před 2 měsíci

    Very comprehensive! I love it❤

  • @stco2426
    @stco2426 Před 23 dny

    This is a great video. I wish I'd had this sort of resource when studying chemistry and physics.

  • @daydays12
    @daydays12 Před 2 měsíci

    Just found your show. So good!

  • @ASMM1981EGY
    @ASMM1981EGY Před 2 měsíci +1

    Awesome episode, thanks a lot from Egypt

  • @donhitchcock6309
    @donhitchcock6309 Před 2 měsíci

    Thank you. You do an excellent job of making nuclear physics (somewhat!) accessible to the layman. Keep up the great work. I will keep a lookout for your other videos, they stretch my brain, but in a good way.

  • @JakeVanWickle
    @JakeVanWickle Před 2 měsíci

    There might be a typo at time marker 4:21.
    When thorium-228 goes through is 4 alpha decays, the list on the left says it goes back to radium-228, while the image says it goes to radium-224

  • @zacwilkins4344
    @zacwilkins4344 Před měsícem

    This guy is hilarious and communicates these concepts so clearly. 10/10

  • @grkuntzmd
    @grkuntzmd Před 2 měsíci

    That was fascinating! Thanks.

  • @ZoonCrypticon
    @ZoonCrypticon Před 2 měsíci

    A great video ! I have learnt at least 10 new items inside this video !

  • @232Gecko
    @232Gecko Před 2 měsíci

    Great video guys!

  • @ZaperSynax
    @ZaperSynax Před 2 měsíci

    Amazing video, thank you

  • @Kitsudote
    @Kitsudote Před 2 měsíci +2

    I wouldn't mind having a lump of Bismuth-209 on my desk. With a half-life that long, I bet most Geiger counters couldn't even tell it's radioactive :)

  • @tommunyon2874
    @tommunyon2874 Před 26 dny

    My friend and I were cleaning up around his dad's car. When we opened the trunk we discovered several lead shielding bricks that his dad apparently used to ballast the car's rear end in snow and ice. Since this was in Los Alamos we were pretty sure of the source of the bricks.

  • @EdMcF1
    @EdMcF1 Před 2 měsíci

    This video plumbs new depths.

  • @user-eu1zc1xm5k
    @user-eu1zc1xm5k Před 2 měsíci

    Very interesting subject in an interesting style. Thanks.

  • @icedragonair
    @icedragonair Před 2 měsíci

    Got to love it when part of your theory ends up being named something one your rival, who thought you were completely wrong, came up with to explain away your data.

  • @cal593
    @cal593 Před měsícem

    Hey in case people didn't know, a lot of the "ionizing" trinkets being sold (even on Amazon) actually have thorium powder in them and are extremely radioactive. They come as rings, cards, sleeping masks, and more.

  • @jameswasil8961
    @jameswasil8961 Před 2 měsíci

    Great video!! Thanks! Btw small point,Eugene pronounced his last name as Vigner not Winger.

  • @196cupcake
    @196cupcake Před 2 měsíci

    To build on this one, you guys might want to make a video about some research I heard about in Spring 2021 on NPR. The processes that make some elements, I think uranium (or plutonium?) was an example, are not well understood. They looked at the ratio of isotopes in rocks gathered from the ocean floor, and based on the ratio of various elements, they found that the rocks had to have started out as chunks of uranium meteors several million years ago. If the rocks had been melted down and mixed with other material then it would have had a different mix of elements and isotopes. Whatever it was that made it, we know it must have been very powerful, and it must have happened relatively recently.

  • @alexmourier2772
    @alexmourier2772 Před 25 dny

    I've always wondered about Technetium, its such a light element that's radioactive, I think that that element is a very special one as it's unique on the periodic table, possibly the only radioactive element to not decay into lead

  • @Adam-ui3yn
    @Adam-ui3yn Před 2 měsíci

    Thanks for a great video ! How the heck do they calculate/extrapolate the half life of elements that are many times older than our universe ?

  • @aepokkvulpex
    @aepokkvulpex Před 2 měsíci +1

    At 4:20 there appears to be a typo: Thorium-228 should be followed by Radium-224, judging by the diagram