I wonder if the Professor's hair is made entirely out of platinum wires.

If anyone was interested that Platinum ingot was worth around £455,000.

This channel is the best thing I've seen on KZfaq to date.

”You can see the wire goes to nearly as thin as my hair, and that [my hair] in itself is pretty amazing.”

Hearing the professor say "bling" made my day :)

I would just like to say, thank you for the time and effort, put forth, by all of you, for making these informative videos.

More videos of the good goctor playing with really expensive metals please. His indifference to the price when compared to how it is made and what it will do is awesome.

Thank you Google for having confidence in my language skills but I don't need Portuguese subtitles. I understand English just fine and absolutely no Portuguese. Does anybody else get subtitles forced on (always a random language) for Periodic Videos?

I'd be interested in seeing these weaves of platinum in action.. if at all possible, and maybe a more detailed look in how long it lasts, what it does as a catalyst, and so on.

hearing the Prof say bling made my day

I know someone with a green lab coat that would have been very, very jealous at 3:12

The tie is perfect! His love for science is just lovely!

Your videos really got me into science, thank you very much, to all of you. :D You are the reason I'm studying chemistry (well, biochemistry, w/e :p), and I can't thank you enough, it is so fun, and interesting. Better to do experiments in class than listen to some old history presentation. :p

Amazing stuff, I didn't know catalytic converters used platinum. Our demand for rare earth elements will push demand way beyond supply making it incredibly expensive. One reason why asteroid mining in the future will become profitable really. Would be so incredibly cool to hold such a huge amount of platinum in your hand.

Platinum is my favourite metal. By miles.

You can't lift 13kg? Professor, do you even lift bro?

Thanks for showing that catalyst that fits inside of a exhaust tower, that was pretty interesting.

I love this guy, he's absolutely adorable. And he conveys his interest and excitement in chemistry so well it's infectious. He also married a very beautiful woman, so I know the man has got it goin on.

to be exactly : reactions sometimes need a big amount of energy to take place called activation energy a catalyst lowers the activation energy and might speed it up. It doesn't get used up or involved in reaction and always stays clean platinum

Platinum is so pretty.

absolutely fascinating.

You're clearly not interested enough to understand the subtle humor there is in theses videos. And that's way more valuable than a big pair of * to keep everyone interested ! English is not my native language, and even I can understand and fully know how perfect theses videos are. Because they are not living in a fantasy world to make every child interested, but are representative of the reality. And making the reality look great is way better than spicing it up and then realize it was a lie !

This video contains the best use of the word "bling" ever. Leave it to the professor to make that word cool.

3:19 Yes, indeed, his hair is pretty amazing

It's somewhat of a surface for the reaction to take place on, and it lowers the 'activation energy' so essentially chemicals that collide with less energy, will still react.

that 13 kg sample of platinum is worth 572 000 US dollars

You say "The wire goes to nearly as thin as my hair, and that in itself is pretty amazing" Which is amazing- the wire or your hair? Keep these great videos coming.

Take something that weights 13 kg and let it drop on your feet, well, what do you expect to happen? Problem is that it is quite heavy and the brick would break at least some bones of the professor and that is not worth it... (don't think he could take the platinum bar with him if he would drop it and has some broken bones...)

tis great stuff! we use it in our XRF lab as an inert mould when we cast the sample beads before analysis

As always, great video, very informative!

I once saw on the site the percentages of elements in the universe and on earth's crust, one thing that was very interesting was the fact that gold and silver were estimated to be in equal quantities universe wise, but had an exceptionally skewed proportion here on earth, wouldn't mind seeing a video or two about why certain elements that are far more abundant in the universe are so much more rarer on the earth.

Absolutely amazing

Always a thumbs up for the Professor.

Hey it was just the 4th of July for the USA, how about the chemistry behind fireworks! It would be a very interesting video.

A catalyst is anything that reduces the initial energy required to run a reaction (typically for endothermic reactions). If you choose to have a broad definition, they can also create situations where one product is generated more than another in a reaction

Some reactions have a certain input energy that must be reached before it will occur, this is the Activation Energy. A catalyst will lower the amount of activation energy required and therefore speed up the reaction as it take less time to reach the Activation Energy. The catalyst is never used up in the reaction as it is always reformed when the reaction has finished.

I'm not an educated man but I still love the videos Professo

Catalyst is a substance that changes the speed rate of a chemical reaction without changing its quantity or quality (it remains almost intact after the chemical reaction) It also decreases the energy requred for the two (or more) elements to form a compund.

Heat speeds up a reaction, but it isn't a catalyst. A catalyst is something that provides an alternate pathway for a reaction to take place. Apologies if this comes across as arrogant, I'm still suffering post-Chemistry exam stress disorder.

Superb video from the professor as usual.

A catalyst is a material that accelerates a reaction, so the platinum accelerates the production of ammonia, faster than it would otherwise. The speed of the reaction is also dependent on the surface area of the catalyst and that is the reason why the platinum is weaved, to maximize its surface area.

It's something that speeds up a chemical reaction without being involved. For example, Potassium. Potassium is a good cataclyst for table sugar (C12H22O11). If you try to burn sugar it will caramelize. But if you add some Potassium or another chemical like KNO3 to the sugar it will burn and create carbon and water vapor (C12H22O11 → C12 + 11H2O). Hope I helped.

Thank you professor. You make all of us, who has interesst, more klever.

Lowers the energy needed to start a reaction, which typically speeds up the reaction because it gets the necessary energy quicker

It's an element (in the case of platinum) which takes part in a chemical reaction, but also comes out again, thus keeping the reaction going.

the way he said amazing was amazing

That's a myth. Both Mythbusters AND the UL standards lab busted that one a while back. Also, if your toes are crushed, they don't just "Heal back." You MIGHT regain a bit of your use of them if you get to the hospital quick and not all are crushed, but most doctors in ERs (At least those polled in the US, I haven't a clue about the UK) would just amputate and make you deal with prosthetics because it's usually quicker, easier, and gets you back into a working condition instead of a injured one.

You mention the platinum being used as a catalyst in a tower with ammonia in it.... but you never mentioned what KIND of tower or what it's doing with the ammonia at all! I know platinum is used to catalyze a whole lot of different reactions, but what were you talking about specifically in the video?

This is so interesting.

If the column was filled with ammonia and oxygen, the byproducts would be nitrogen gas, and water. The platinum acts as a catalyst, meaning it speeds up the reaction. But the platinum itself is not used up. Over time, it could develop an oxide layer, but this can be reversed through heating.

It's not anything that speeds up a reaction, it's anything that speeds up a reaction and is not consumed in the process. It's an important distinction.

its not just platinum, many other elements are being sourced to the hilt, copper, helium are also said to be about gone in about 20 years time.

Assuming he's talking about the Haber process, there is no byproduct. N2 + 3H2 -> 2NH3. The platinum is a catalyst, so it is not a reactant or product, as it is present at both the start and end of the reaction. The platinum will eventually deteriorate as impurities in the reactants bond permanently to the surface, which stops it working as a catalyst.

iirc (i was pretty young at the time of my visit), they use magnesium-toed shoes at the NY Federal Reserve down in the gold vaults

Us users of the metric system have to convert imperial weights ourselves as well. But that's how you learn both systems! I know that 1 pound is equal to about 450 grams (roughly half a kilogram) so then it's just a matter of converting it in your head.

Wonderful video..

steel toed shoes are for preventing 'minor' injuries to your feet...such as a dropped hammer or equivalent weight. If a fork truck ran over your foot, it doesn't matter what you are wearing, you've just lost at least a portion of your foot.

I love the professors hazy smile in the thumbnail!!!!!!!!

When he said really bling i died

Great work!

to put it simply a catalyst lowers the energy required to run a reaction (e.g. 2H2O +energy -> 2H2 + O2) the platinum group is good because it ADSORBS (not absorbs!!) gas particles very well (search it up im running out of words). this brings the particles closer to each other, making the reaction easier. as to why this particular metal is good as opposed to others, i dont know.

Great video, thanks. Good to know there are people thinking about this kind of stuff and putting dollars into it too.

what is the byproduct of the reaction in the large columns with the sheet of platinum? does the platinum change into a different material that you can use for something else? or does it simply deteriorate and you have to throw it away?

Each passing video has Professor Poliakoff in rooms full of progressively more valuable stuff. One of these days the people working here will let in the wrong sweet old man and they'll be missing a couple million pounds worth of platinum!

Here's an interesting video you can make: One about how different elements are "endangered" (so to speak) and how their specific properties make them very difficult to replace.

I love in this super-rich hi-tech place, in the forging machine, they still have a guy holding the red-hot ingot with tongs.. I bet he always wanted to be a medieval blacksmith. LOL

He means safety shoes. They have a solid toe that protects the foot from crushing if a heavy object - like a thirteen kilo block of platinum - falls on it. Industrial regulations probably require anyone who is carrying heavy objects to have safety shoes.

awesome video. fantastic.

3:20 Yes, we all know your hair is "Pretty amazing"

It is worth over 400.000 pound sterling -(GBP) British currency, estimate 640240 US dollar for that 13 kg platinum

Sometimes that is made, depends on actual platinum price. Because there is so little platinum used it really depends if it is economic or not to process the recycling.

Pt is one of the most efficient Hydrogentation catalysts out there, you need only the tiniest amount to do the reaction. And then its mounted on a carbon base.

I think they do it by pumping a gas mixture (air) into a huge cylinder. Then pressing the insides into a smaller volume using a huge piston. This produces a huge amount of heat which will have to be conducted away. Then they release the pressure back to 1 bar and the gasses turn to liquid instantly. I'm not sure how they do it industrially, but this method would produce liquid nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen.

This guy is so awesome

Gosh, can you guys just stop complaining that 13 kilos isn't heavy. This was meant as an educational and informational video not something to criticize about. Lucky us we get to see Pt here. Some people live their lives without knowing how Pt looks like

Pt used to convert NH3 to ammonium nitrate or urea ? Am I right ? I would be interested to be reminded how nitrogen is extracted from the atmosphere to become the largest fertilizing source available.

Isn't the Platinum (or really any other catalyst) technically recoverable from the reaction? From what the professor is saying, in the future due to scarcity, wouldn't it be advisable to try and recover the catalyst, even if only a small quantity is needed, from reactions?

Do those special boots have soles made of lead to make running away more difficult or something? ;P What makes Platinum such a great catalyst? :) BTW. If Platinum did not bond well with iron it would still sink to the core, simply because of its density. It is true for all heavy elements.

very well said

But is not net lost or gained as a result of the reaction. It may be an inert as a place for the reaction to occur, or participate as a step in the reaction but then not be bound in the product(s).

You can reattach severed toes/fingers and they will become functional again. Crushed toes/fingers (where the bones break in many different places) do not heal and have to be removed.

When I was a kid, my grandfather had some white ceramic rods that had platinum flecks embedded in them. Any idea what those were?

I imagine it's more to do with safety regulations than with the actual risk of injury. But yeah getting such a dense object dropped on your foot would no doubt be rather painful, I once saw a girl drop a metal weight on her foot at the gym. It took two of her toes off, or rather it turned them more or less into mush, thanks to high density and relatively sharp edges, much like that bar.

As of July 4th 2013 the price of that bar of Platinum is exactly $623,862.17. The price of platinum has gone down recently though.

These videos cater perfectly fine to the types of people that actually want to fucking watch them.

This guy is the definition of science

That's a really quite beautiful lump of platinum. I wish Martyn would have let me show you guys the wire.

Only with weights well above the limit the shoe was designed for. Derp. And they wouldn't "heal back". In any case for which the weight was sufficient to crush the metal would almost certainly require amputation of the toes anyway.

of course it participates in the reaction. It's just either regenerated (through a series of steps) or is not consumed at all.

All chemical reactions require activation energy (e.g. a match doesn't catch fire until you strike it), unless there's some bizarre exception I'm unaware of. Anyway, a catalyst lowers the activation energy required to start the reaction.

Could we get an explanation as to how a catalyst works and why platinum of all elements is such a good one?

does it dissappear duing the reaction? wont we run out eventually?

Yay! a periodic video!

A catalyst speeds up a reaction by lowering the minimum energy needed to start the reaction. The advantage is that a catalyst isn't used up in a reaction so it can be used again and again

I would imagine he's talking about the Haber process, where nitrogen and hydrogen are converted to ammonia, which is important in fertiliser production.

You use a Catalyst to start or accelerate a recation.

Not exactly. Yes, catalysts do speed of reactions. However,they also are not used up during the reaction.

i love to hear that professor speak!

What does one of those circles of platinum weigh?

Thanks for doing the calculation for everyone. But it's not much use saying the time if you're not specifying your time zone.