Don’t try this at home!
Learn about gasses in this amazing Christmas Science lecture.
Click the picture below to be taken to the video.
What is Air lecture
Take a deep breath. Inside your lungs is a mixture of highly reactive and incredibly stable gases. Oxygen is the most reactive constituent.
When we eat it’s these O2 molecules that seize electrons from our food to give our bodies the energy to live.
Add a third oxygen atom and we make ozone, a gas so reactive that it’s toxic if we breathe it in, but high up in the stratosphere this gas protects us from the sun’s radiation.
Add a carbon atom and we produce carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas responsible for warming the planet.
In his first Christmas Lecture, Dr Peter Wothers unravels the puzzle of how and why these compounds of oxygen hold the key to the viability of life on the planet.
Nitrogen, the most common element in air, is an unreactive gas, but a key atom in every cell in every living thing on Earth.
How can we imitate nature to bring this suffocating gas alive?
Even less reactive are the Noble or inert gases.
They’re so stable they are the only elements that exist naturally as individual atoms – but what is it about them that make them so inert?
And how can we excite these gases enough to join the chemical party?
As Dr Wothers demonstrates, we’ve come a long way from the days when alchemists thought air was a single element.
The Water Lecture
Water is essential to life since every reaction in our bodies takes place in it.
But what makes this fluid so special?
What happens when you add a lighted splint to a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen? Kaboom! But why?
What makes this particular rearrangement of atoms to form water so explosive?
Can we tap this energy release to provide environmentally friendly solution to our energy problems?
Plants have the ability to reverse this reaction by using the energy from sunlight to release oxygen from water.
We are starting to learn how to do the same. In this lecture Dr Peter Wothers unpacks how energy lies at the heart of chemistry.
We also look at the salts contained in water. Once again we will see the startling difference between a compound and its constituent elements.
Take sodium chloride – aka table salt. Sodium is a soft silvery metal that explodes with water; chlorine a deadly poisonous, choking green gas.
Both elements are lethal to us, but after they have met, a dramatic change takes place.
The sodium and chloride ions that form are essential components in our bodies.
They help generate the electrical impulses that make our brains and nerves work.
Lecture Two of the Modern Alchemist demonstrates how chemistry plays a vital role in our lives.
The Earth Lecture
The rocks that form planet Earth have always fascinated alchemists and this is the subject of third and final lecture by Dr Peter Wothers.
Deep in the bowels of the Earth they thought the metals literally grew in the rocks and that one metal over time matured into another.
They dreamed of replicating these natural processes turning ‘base metals’ into gold. Today the extraction of minerals and metals from rocks has made fortunes, but not quite in the way the alchemists imagined.
We now know many rocks are the result of oxygen combining with different elements – each with individual properties.
Breaking the strong bonds between oxygen and these elements has always been a challenge. Humankind learned how to release copper in the Bronze Age, and iron in the Iron Age, through smelting.
Now we can extract even more exotic materials.
By understanding the properties of materials, such as the silicon present in computers, or the rare earth magnets generating our electricity in wind turbines, we are entering a new era of chemistry in which we can engineer electrons in new configurations for future technologies.
We can now put together the unique cluster of protons, neutrons and electrons that form each of the 80 elements in exciting new ways.
If the ancient alchemists were alive today they’d be dazzled by the wonders created by the Modern Alchemist.
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Water:Fountain of youth
Thousands of years ago people were searching for the Fountain of Youth. They found it in Florida. Until then people thought water was an element of the Periodic table. Now we know that it is not an element but made up of Hydrogen and Oxygen.
The bonding of Hydrogen and Oxygen provides a lot of clean energy, whose by product is water which is re-usable and recyclable as seen on the motorbike. This technology is also used on modern London buses to reduce pollution.
Fluorine (which is a halogen) mixes easily with water.
Drinking water comes with fluorine to help prevent tooth decay.
In the chemistry lecture about air, I learnt about the different gasses in air [nitrogen, oxygen, argon, xenon,neon carbon dioxide,krypton.It is important to know the gasses in the air, when they were discovering phosphorus, they knew there was something reacting,but could not make out what it was, because they did not the gasses in air. Our air is mainly
I also learnt about the periodic table, and that there are so less unonoctium atoms that you cant fill a balloon with it.
**In the chemistry lecture about air, I learnt about the different gasses [nitrogen, oxygen, argon, xenon, neon carbon dioxide and krypton]. It is important to know the gasses and when we were discovering phosphorus we knew there was something reacting but could not make out what it was because we did not know the gasses in air.
I also learnt about the periodic table, and that there are so less ununoctium atoms that you can’t fill a balloon with it.
I found the lectures interesting as I learnt that in air there is 78% Nitrogen, 28% oxogen, 1% argon and 0.03% carbon dioxide. I also learnt that there were also rare elements in our air such as neon, helium, krypton and xenon.
This video is very inspiring and helped me understand more about the elements of the periodic table.
I liked the first lecture because it was very interesting to compare the skeletons and DNA sequences from humans with different types of animals.
I learnt how similar animals are to humans no matter if they are a mammal, reptile or amphibian and where they all fit on the tree of life. I also learnt that 8% of all the DNA in your body comes from viruses.
My favourite part was when they carried out the demonstration on how long the DNA in each of your cells is and I was shocked to hear that it was 2 meters per cell.
I also liked the part when they brought all the animals in and showed their skeletons.
Overall, I thought is was a great lecture an I learned so much from it.
air
Dr Peter Wothers showed how making air was really complicated and how the Ancient Greeks thought gases were made of only one molecule.
Atoms comprises of three particles, neutrons,protons and electrons. if you touch something you are actually touching electrons.
Air comprises of from Nitrogen, Oxygen and carbon dioxide.
When a baby was born she had no oxygen so doctors gave her Xenon and she was as happy as ever so the Xenon worked as anesthetic.
If oxygen is mixed with Nitrogen then it turns a sort of a orangey colour.
if you remove air from a tin then the tin squashes up because you removed the air from inside and then air particles push from the outside.
chemistry: i’ve learnt about the periodic table and have thought that the lecture was overall great and helps me understand this topic
Air lecture:
In this lecture, Dr Peter Wothers taught me a lot about air. The ancient Greeks used to think that the world was made of only 4 elements: air, water, earth and fire. But they were definitely mistaken.
I’ve also learnt that the air is made up of 78.09% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.04% carbon dioxide and small amounts of water vapour and other gases, including helium, krypton, xenon and hydrogen.
Air is pushing us all the time, but we don’t feel it because humans have got used to it and have adapted to it.
The lecture included various bits of information about the periodic table, and how atoms bond to form molecules. If you add more electrons to an atom, the bond becomes stronger, until you reach the middle. After that point, the bonds get weaker, until you get to the noble gases, that don’t bond at all.
Peter Wothers also told me that the elements are arranged in an order depending on the atom’s number of protons.
Atoms contain 3 types of particles: protons, neutrons and electrons. The protons and neutrons are at the heart of the atom (in its nucleus), and they also determine the atom’s mass. Electrons are massless particles, and travel around the nucleus at a speed nearly as fast as light. The halogens and Alkali metals are most reactive. Many of the Halogens are also toxic.
Another thing I learnt, was that with less oxygen, it is almost impossible for things to burn. With too much, things burn rapidly and uncontrollably.
I really enjoyed this first lecture. The exciting experiments made it even more fun. It has also really increased my knowledge of air and chemistry. I hope to continue watching more lectures of this series.
🙂
In this lecture many different famous people or people who have something special come in and talk about science. Dr Wothers does some amazing experiments and tells you some amazing facts he also asks people from the audience to help in some experiments. He also asks some people to hold a piece of card with a element of the periodic table so when he says can I have my periodic table that is when a the people have to lift up the cards. It would be amazing to go and see it but you could just watch it on YouTube. That is what they show at the Christmas Lecture.
Atoms are made from three particles,protons and neutrons. When you shake someone’s hand, you are actually shaking electrons.
Each element is unique for how many protons it has.
The atoms of helium are much lighter than the atoms of xenon.
Thin strips of pure gold put inside a box will make the box sink in xenon.
If you breathe in xenon, your voice will change for a few seconds .
xenon is a bit like anesthetic .
21% of the air is made up of oxygen which is the amount we breath in.
I learnt that Air pushes down on us but we are so used to it we don’t even notice it.
I learnt that the Ancient Greeks though the earth was made up of four elements, air, water, fire and Earth.
Lecture one : air
This lecture was fascinating I learnt lots of new things like how powerful air can be and that fires cannot start in a room with only 15% oxygen but humans can survive.
And that they use explosives in car steering wheels for the airbags.
First lecture:
In the first lecture, Dr Peter Wothers taught me a lot about air.
At the beginning of the lecture, he said that the Ancient Greeks thought there were only four elements: fire, water, earth and air.
I learnt that air is made up of:
– 21% oxygen
– 78% nitrogen
– 0.963% argon
– 0.037% carbon dioxide
– an extremely small percentage of radon, ununoctium, methane, neon, helium, krypton and xenon.
Air is pushing against us all the time but we don’t notice it because we have adapted to it.
Also, I learnt a bit about the periodic table and that the elements are put in a specific order depending on how many protons it has.
– Hydrogen has one proton.
– Helium has two protons.
– Lithium has three protons, etc.
An atom is made of three different particles. In the heart of the nucleus, there are positively charged protons and neutral neutrons. Circling around are electrons.
I really enjoyed the first Christmas Lecture as there were lots of experiments and I learnt a lot.
I have learnt a lot of things from the first lecture
The air is made of:
78% Nitrogen
21% Oxygen
1% Argon
0.03% Carbon Dioxide
and a few other rare elements including Helium and Xenon.
There are 118 elements in the periodic table.
Atoms are made of electrons, protons and neutrons.
The number of protons in an element make it unique.
The number of an element depends on the amount of protons it contains.
Elements sometimes have pairs and groups.
The elements Xenon can make things float on air and it can make
your voice deeper if you breathe it in.
Electrons are like forces, they push and pull.
If you reduce the amount of oxygen in a room to a certain percentage, a fire will not be able to start.
Every cell in your body contains Nitrogen, it is vital for living.
Overall I really enjoyed the 1st Lecture and it has made me interested in chemistry and how different elements are formed
The lecture was great fun to watch. I learnt lots of facts such as that air is 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, 1% Argon and 0.037% Carbon Dioxide. I now also know that we can die of too much Oxygen and that a fire can’t light without enough of it ,(Oxygen). But the fact I was most surprised by was that the weight of air pushing on you is the same as two men.
I really enjoyed this video on the air lecture and Dr Worther made it more amusing. Especially when Dr Peter Worthers explained the different elements on the periodic table. I was particularly interested in how he made the perfect air that we breath by using different gas compounds. This consisted of 21% Oxygen -O2, 78% Nitrogen – N2, 1% Argon – A2 and 0.037% Carbon Dioxide CO2, I learnt that there were other gases included such as Neon, Helium and Zenon and air is a mixture of elements. I was found his explanation about the discovery of Phosphorous very funny, it was discovered by a German Alchemist by the name of Hennig Brandt in 1669. I learnt that when you heat up urine air is added and creates a reaction which gives light and the name the light giver is given to the element Phosphorous. Out of all the experiments I found this one really interesting and how the element Zenon reacts with the brain and relaxes the person and is where anaesthetic comes from.
I need to get myself a Periodic table as its really cool and want to know more.
I have just watched the air lecture and it was very amusing
I have learnt that the air we breathe is most abundant in nitrogen (78%),then oxygen (21%),then argon (1%).Carbon dioxide corvers a small 0.037 % of the air.Air is everywhere and is always pushing down on us although we don’t actually feel it because we are used to it.Air molecules are made up of three things protons,neutrons and electrons.When you touch anything you are just touching electrons.Each element on the periodic table goes up by one proton and one electron and sometimes a neutron.One of the elements on the periodic table is phosphorus and it was first discovered from urine. In 1669 a German alcomist heated up his wee and an amazing substance was created.This was phosphorus.It means light giver because of the light it gives off.
I have also learnt that helium is light and that is why it floats.
Thank you Peter Worthers for the video.
Christmas Lectures- Air Lecture
I watched the first Christmas lecture (Air) and after watching it I learnt some new and interesting facts about the air all around us. My favourite part of the lecture was when the cast of the musical ‘Loserville’ sang a song naming some of the gases in the periodic table. They sang very fast and well! The lecture was by Dr Peter Wothers (a chemist). Some examples of facts that I’ve learnt are:
1. The alchemists were medieval scientists that believed that the knowledge of chemistry gave them magical powers.
2. Chemistry is all about how one substance interacts with another, to give us something new.
3. A substance called gun cotton was discovered 200 years ago.
4. The most common gas in the air is nitrogen (78%). Oxygen forms 21% of air, Argon forms 1% of air and Carbon dioxide forms 0.037% of air – this would have been a lot less 200 years ago as we now have more machines, like cars, that produce this gas.
5. Chemists think that atoms are made up of three different particles. In the centre of the nucleus, are positively charged protons and neutrons. The protons and neutrons, in an object and liquid, give the element its mass. Whenever you touch something, you’re touching electrons. What makes an element unique is the number of protons in the atom.
6. Hydrogen has 1 proton. Helium has 2 protons and 2 neutrons. Lithium has 3 protons
7. Over 2,000 different compounds have been discovered, but only 118 elements have been discovered.
8. A German scientist called Hennig Brand took his own urine and heated it up and turned into phosphorus. Phosphorus needs to be stored underwater as it reacts with the air.
9. If there was too much hydrogen in the air, it would make the air very flammable. If there was too much chlorine and fluorine in the air, the air would be incredibly toxic. Fluorine and chlorine are noble gases.
10. Halogens are poisonous, and they form salts very violently.
11. Xenon is very dense, but still has some amazing properties that can be used in medicine. If you inhale this gas, your voice will become very low. The first person to use this gas was a baby called Riley Xenon. Riley had to use the xenon as when he was born he didn’t have a pulse, so the doctors had to resuscitate him as he was starved of oxygen. Luckily, it worked!
12. Diamonds are strong because of the strong bonds between the carbon atoms. Bonds that do not help bonding are called anti-bonding levels.
13. Fluorine weakens the bond (anti-bonds). Fluorine is reactive.
14. Lime water reacts with carbon dioxide. When this happens, the lime water turns cloudy due to the formation of calcium carbonate.
I certainly think that Peter explained the different elements well. I really enjoyed watching this lecture and found it very interesting.
lecture 1 was very interesting and I have learnt that we can’t live without nitrogen and it is vital to us.
Dr Wothers
AIR
I learnt that if you take air out of a drum it will push some inside, air is made of
1% of Aragon, 21% of oxygen, 78% of Nitrogen and 0.037% of Carbon dioxide. Mr.Wothers showed us the periodic table and there was a group singing the it in order.
If you have more than 21% of oxygen then there will be a fire, if you have 100% of oxygen there will be a fire that you can’t put out and if you have less than 21% there will be no fire at all and we can still live (we can stay in that place forever).If you put breakfast cereal in a bowl then put liquid oxygen then put a flame then it would make the brightest light.
The lecture was great and I can’t wait to watch the other two lectures.
The second lecture is on water.
The third lecture is on the earth.
I learnt all about the periodic table and how many gases there are in it. Also I learnt that the periodic table’s order was from which chemicals had the highest reaction.Finally I learnt that in air there is 0.037% of carbon dioxide, 1% of Argon, 21%Oxygen and 78% of Nitrogen.
The three lectures, air, water and fire.
The first lecture was fascinating as not everyone knows about all the elements that build up air and no one really appreciates the job oxygen and all of the other gases do for us.
The second lecture taught us about how the alchemists tried to find the fountain of youth and how water helps reactions take place in our bodies.
In the third lecture, Dr.Wothers makes many wonderful experiments on metals and how you can change a material’s properties and how to turn materials into other materials by either adding another element or just give or take an electron or a proton.
Mr. Wothers really explained everything to do with the elements and during the three lectures, I certainly learnt lots of facts.
Air is pushing us but we don’t feel it. When he pulled the air out of the drum it made a big bump in it. Even with a hammer it does not make a bump.
AIR
From this lecture, I have learnt many interesting facts such as, helium is the lightest gas, air is made from many different gases like nitrogen, oxygen, argon and carbon dioxide and atoms are made from protons, neutrons and electrons.
I really enjoyed this lecture, and thought it was brilliant.
There are many types of gases in the air. Most are harmless to the human body but some are poisonous.
The main four gases in the air are:
Nitrogen=78%
Oxygen=21%
Argon=1%
Carbon Dioxide=0.037%
Gases are made up of different types of particles. For example, Hydrogen has one proton and one electron. Helium has two protons and one electron. Lithium has three protons and one electron and so on.
In the Periodic table there are 118 elements! One of the elements is another Gas – Xenon – which has a strange effect on humans. If you breathe it in, the Xenon makes your voice sound very deep like Darth Vader!
My favourite facts from the lecture were learning that if the Air we normally breathe in contained less than 21% Oxygen then it wouldn’t be possible to light matches or for things to catch fire, and the reason that Diamonds are so hard is because their electrons are closer together than the electrons found in gases, and this is what makes the Diamond strong.
Air
After watching this lecture, I have learnt that there are lots of different elements in air. There is 72% of nitrogen, 21% of oxygen and 1% of Argon and 0.037% of Carbon Dioxide in the air. There are protons, neutrons and electrons in atoms. There are only 118 elements but thousands of compounds. Hydrogen has only 1 proton and 1 electron so it is one of the lightest gases around us. Electrons are the things we touch so if two people were shaking hands, they would be shaking electrons in one cup of coffee scientists have found more than two thousand compounds. when a volunteer was holding a balloon filled with Helium, it shot strait up because Helium is lighter than air and is one of the lightest gases around us. Phosphorus was first discovered in urine and scientists discovered it had a glowing light which was much brighter than a lamp or candle. They named it Phosphorus because the word means glowing light.
Overall, I have learnt that there are many different gases inside air such as Nitrogen, Oxygen and Argon.
Air
In the air lecture I learnt that there is 78% Nitrogen,21% Oxygen,1% Argon and 0.037% carbon dioxide. Plants need Carbon Dioxide and oxygen is the elixir of life but yet it is not the most common gas because Nitrogen is. From this we know that air is not only one element but is a mixture of many. Atoms are made of three different particles. In the Periodic table there are 118 elements and each element has its own number of protons and electrons for e.g Hydrogen has 1 proton and 1 electron and that is what makes it. Circling around the protons and neutrons are electrons. If you pick something up and say it is heavy it is because of the protons and neutrons. If you shake hands with someone your shaking electrons. There is a nice analogy between letters and words such as these elements and their compounds. Words like “I” and “A” are made up with a single letter. The words that have two of the same letter “AA” is a type of Hawaiian Lava. I also learnt that –
1. Phosphorus means the light giver.
2. Xenon is a heavy element
3. Potassium is a metal
In a cup of Coffee, 2000 different compounds have been detected. There are loads of compounds but only 118 elements
Earth
I have watched the earth video,from this I learned that lithium is very light so it could float over water.Diamonds are a good conductor of heat and that the scientific name for an iron ore is hematite.In an iron ore the iron is combined with oxygen.
When Dr Peter Wothers puts petrol on a wooden torch and puts that it in a tank of carbon dioxide it comes out without any fire,this is caused by magnesium reacting to it.
My favourite part was when they found a diamond in a rock from the ground.
During these three lectures I have learnt many facts about the periodic table and how Dr. Wothers’ experiments proved that many things were right. Some of his experiments weren’t even tested before which I found fascinating to watch. Here are a few facts that I have picked up.
Lecture 1 – Air :
– Chemistry is when you change one thing into another.
– Air is a mixture of different components, not just one.
– Air is made up of Oxygen (21%); Carbon Dioxide (0.037%); Nitrogen (78%); and Argon (1%). It also contains some rare gases such as: Neon; Helium; Krypton; and Xenon.
– When you pick something up, it is heavy because of the protons and neutrons, but the electrons are around the outside.
– Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe.
If something is a neutral atom, the number of protons are balanced by the number of electrons.
Lecture 2 – Water
– Our periodic table has over 100 elements.
– Hydrogen combines with the oxygen from the air to form water. You might see machines in buildings which make water from the air instead of it being filled up; this creates a lot of energy.
– Salts have very different properties when they’re dissolved in water.
– Flourine is the most reactive element in the entire periodic table.
– Caesium is also reactive and is quite close to how reactive fluorine is.
– In World War 1, Chlorine was used as a toxic gas.
– Natrium gave the symbol for Sodium.
– Sodium can give its electron to hydrogen gas and oxygen gas.
– When you separate water monecules it creates steam. 1ml of water could create over 2000ml of steam.
– Water is made up of twice as much Hydrogen than Oxygen.
Lecture 3 – Earth
– Radioactivity is when you change one element into another.
– Even if you leave gold for thousands of years, it will still have the same appearance.
– Lithium is the lightest metal.
– Osmium is the densest thing on Earth.
– One of the uses of Carbon Dioxide is to put out flames.
– Graphite is the material that you find in pencils.
– Diamonds are incredible conductors of heat.
Earth
By Dr. Peter Wothers
In this lecture Peter Wothers tries to change 1 element to another. He started of by changing some fake lead to an orange coloured form of it by letting it react with oxygen. He talks about the saying that your worth your weight in gold. A volunteer weighed around 40kg and it cost £1.5 million. He said that you should really compliment someone with osmium as it is much more dense and expensive. Then a Nobel Prize winner who discovered another form of carbon helped burn a diamond and some lead. Magnesium can actually be on fire in carbon dioxide and it separates oxygen from carbon. There was a new type of synthetic diamond which conducts heat as it was tightly packed. He demonstrated it. Metals like aluminium and iron were really expensive long ago as it was hard to extract them from ores and rich people only used aluminium and they gave poorer people gold! Radioactive particles are so far the only things that change from one element to another. Mostly they lose an alpha particle and instantly become helium(2 protons). He ends the brilliant lecture with magnets.
It has been a great series of lectures by Dr. Peter Wothers.
After watching the Christmas lectures based on: Air, Water and Earth I have learned many things. Alchemists first thought that air was made from one element but they were wrong as it was made from many elements such as nitrogen, oxygen and argon. Surprisingly, there is only 21% of oxygen in the air. Without oxygen we wouldn’t be able to live but with too much we could die.
After watching the water lecture, I was surprised to hear that you create water when popping a balloon filled with hydrogen. This happens because the hydrogen combines with the oxygen forming water. I was also stunned to hear that you can create 2000 ml of steam from only 1 ml of water! I also enjoyed an experiment that looked like magic. Water at -3 degrees didn’t freeze but when a tiny ice crystal was dropped in the water freezes (like it should) but the temperature gets hotter because the water molecules are moving about but as soon as they are locked in the ice they’re forming bonds with the water molecules and then the temperature goes up. There are metals in water but we don’t see them as they react with the water. We eat sodium chloride which is salt which is really amazing. Sodium mixed with chlorine reacts and makes salt.
And finally after watching the Earth lecture I have more fascinating things such as:
* Diamonds are the best conductors of heat
* Lithium is the lightest metal but if it was made into a spoon it will react with the food
*You find silicon dioxide in sand
*When lithium and silicon dioxide are mixed together and then heated up, lithium will steal the oxygen from the silicon dioxide making silicon
*Sand is smashed up pieces of quartz
*Purified silicon is used to make Silicon chips for phones and computers
*Changing one element to another can be done using a process called radioactivity
*Changing one element into another is done in a process called radioactivity
*What makes an element unique is in the heart of its atom called the nucleus. You would have to count the protons to work out which element it is.
I learnt that air is made up of many gases but 78% of it is Nitrogen and 21% is Oxygen and the remaining 1% is made up of all the other gases such as Hydrogen, Argon, Carbon Dioxide, Neon, Helium, Krypton and Xenon. I also learnt that atoms are made up of neutrons, protons and electrons. In the water lecture I learnt that from 1ml of water you can get 2,000mls of steam. If you heat Hydrogen it reacts with Oxygen in the air to form water.
I learnt in the air lecture that there is 78% nitrogen,21% oxygen,1% argon and 0.037% carbon dioxide
Water
Peter Wothers starts by talking about the fountain of youth. Some water was air mailed. He gave a volunteer some to drink. He moved onto the elements in water. Nearly all of the elements found in water are highly reactive and toxic. .He tried to make water by using pure gases. He said later it was horrible. A person from fuel cell had come on and hydrogen powered bike. He tried to replicate it by asking an Paralympic gold medalist to ride a bike. He got the audience some balloons and then asked them to act like water. Then he got water at -3 degrees and put in ice and it froze. Then he wanted to show how much ml of steam comes from 1 ml of water. It reached over 2000 ml. He got a cacalist and made water like plants but with uv. He then got a sample of water from the Dead Sea and put bleach in it. It turn orange. Then a professor from Leicester university came and mixed sceaum with Florine. It blew up. He then got a six year old banana and a two week old one. The six year one had survived because there was no water in it. He then ended with a large explosion of oxygen and hydrogen.
I’ve learnt are that the air contains lots of the elements from the periodic table. Another thing is that if you reduce the oxygen in rooms things can’t burn in the environment.
Water
The legend of the fountain of youth says that it could restore frail old men back to health.When Dr Peter Wothers sent up a bottle of the fountain of youth an old man drinks some and it was supposed to make him feel younger but it didn’t.
When Dr Peter Wothers lights up a balloon it was on fire and that was because the hydrogen combines with the oxygen from the air to form water.This we couldn’t see because all the energy vapourised it and dispersed all the droplets.The flame was releasing hydrogen and oxygen.
When Dr Peter Wothers mixes oxygen with hydrogen,it lights up with fire the flame gets hotter and then you could see sodium atoms.When water is produced it’s making energy this is as we’re making hydrogen atoms and oxygen atoms as they are forming droplets of water that were starting to collect.
Another experiment was when Dr Peter Wothers put a little bit of crystal ice into a test tube of water and the water froze even when the temperature is at -3 when water is supposed to be ice at 0.
When Dr Peter Wothers presses a metal button on a hand warmer,the salt inside it spreads.We can get more than 2 liters of steam from one millimetre of water.To make hydrogen you split up water molecules so you need to put more energy into them.
When Dr Peter Wothers was doing an experiment,Mark Colbourne powers up a machine by pedaling on a bike,giving energy and two tubes,a negative tube and positive tube is where the hydrogen atoms are collecting.From this experiment it proves there is more hydrogen.
Dr Peter Wothers uses a machine made by Professor Akihiko Kudo from The Tokyo University Of Science and it can use the energy of light to split up water.This machinery is made up of the elements:sodium,tantalum,oxygen and lanthanum and this can use the energy of light to create water and as you put the UV light you can see bubbles at the top of the chamber tube.
Air lecture – by Dr Peter Wothers.
He describes how the Ancient Greeks thought there were 4 elements in the world and he is starting with air. He begins with proving that air actually exists by asking a volunteer to hit a barrel really hard with a hammer. After 2 attempts he did not even dent it. Whilst Dr Wothers removed the air from inside the barrel ( making a vacuum) he explained that air is pushing on all sides of the barrel in every direction. After some time the barrel suddenly imploded and shocked everyone. He said we don’t feel the air pushing down on us because we have adapted to the air’s weight.
He wanted to show exactly how air was made up of so he brought some gun cotton. He dropped some on a brick which suddenly blew the gun cotton up. He said Ancient Greeks would believe gun cotton was fire and air put together, but actually it blew up because of the particles in the air. He asked another volunteer to creat pure breathing air. He says the most common gas is nitrogen (around 78% of the air). Next most important gas was oxygen (about 21%). The 3rd most abundant gas was argon (1%). There is only 0.037% of carbon dioxide in the air! The rare gases that are remaining are : neon, helium, krypton and xenon.
He now wanted to show the gases in nature by having people in the audience raise some cards. To do them in an order, Dr Peter got the cast of a musical in the west end to sing a song saying the complete periodic table. To understand the order he said how atoms were made. He said scientists believed atoms have 3 different particles. These were protons (positively charged), neutrons (neutral) and electrons ( negatively charged). Protons and neutrons give mass but electrons actually are the things that touches others. To differentiate atoms we see how many protons are there. Hydrogen only has one proton and electron. In the same row there is only one other helium which has two protons. Lithium has three protons and the pattern continues in the periodic table.
He says there are 118 elements but there are 10,000s of compounds. He begins to explain it as that in a cup of coffee there are more than 2000 compounds found! He say that in every word there are just 26 letters that make them, but some letters repeat; it is exactly the same with compounds. All the elements along the left hand side or are noble gases are always found on their own but elements like oxygen are mostly found in pairs (2 oxygen put together). He now wanted to show what happens when two elements get mixed and uses phosphorus and oxygen. He says it comes from urine and tricked everyone into thinking apple juice was it. Henig Brant was a German alchemist and he discovered phosphorus. He did it by heating his urine and letting air combine with it and phosphorus began to glow. It means the light giver because it gave a light that had not been found like it. To celebrate its discovery there was painting made.
They did not know why it glowed but now we do. There are many elements in the air. The periodic table was made so that all the elements are grouped with others that have similar properties. He gave the noble gases a balloon filled with their gas ( except radion (for medical purposes) and onoctium (because there was hardly enough to fill a balloon)). All of them fell except helium when Dr. Wothers told them to release them. Neon weighs about the same as air but the balloon made it sink. And as they went along the order the sank further. He then filled tubes with noble gases and then lit them with electricity. They all had a different colour.
To show how important some gases are , he showed how helium can help for medical uses and that xenon is so heavy that you could nearly float a foil boat on it. He asked a volunteer to help put some weight into the boat. Dr. Wothers gave her a piece of foil made out of pure gold to put in the boat. He also took in a deep breath of xenon to show its other properties. He said it had relaxed him and deepened his voice.
Then he had invited some guests to come, and had asked for the son’s middle name. It was xenon! He was the first baby to receive xenon as a medicine and now he has completely recovered from his illness.
He wanted to show how atoms bond and he started with the weakness of potassium. He gently heated it up but then it split and exploded. He said that the more electrons there are the stronger the atom is. But then there are electrons on the outside which are called anti-bonding levels which separate the atoms. He then moves to oxygen. He added liquid oxygen to the rice crispies and lit it. A massive fire started. He got a volunteer to breathe in and out with a mask then when she breathes out it goes in lime water. He says it becomes cloudy with carbon dioxide. He moves onto how fires need oxygen. He lights a saugage on fire and increased the oxygen around it. The fire was massive. To much oxygen is bad as everything will be too flammable. He tried to light a news paper on fire but in 15% oxygen the fire could not survive.
He could live because nitrogen can support you because of strong bonds. Dr. Peter hits nitro glucose with a hammer and it exploded. When in a car crash the pillow that comes out of the steering wheel is pushed by nitrogen. When nitrogen is mixed with oxygen it creates nitro oxide with is visible. He got a tesla coil and it produced 1000v. It was able to separate and rip nitrogen and oxygen.
He summed it up. Over all it was a brilliant lecture by Dr. Peter Wothers.
From the air lecture, I have learnt that the four main elements are: air, water, earth and fire. The air is made up of different components. Some gases in the air are Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide and Nitrogen. The most common gas is Nitrogen. In the air, there is 78% of Nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% of Argon and 0.037% of Carbon dioxide. Some of the other gases in the air are – neon, helium, krypton and xenon. These gases only make up a tiny portion of air. The periodic table is made up of gases and metals. Balloons filled with the gas Helium can fly up because Helium is lighter than air. Potassium is a metal. Diamonds are stronger than glass and can cut glass by sliding the diamond on the glass. Whatever we exhale will always contain some Carbon dioxide. This can be proved by passing exhaled air over lime water. It will turn lime water cloudy.
Air
From watxhing the air Christmas Lecture, I have learnt what gasses are in the air. These gasses are oxygen, carbon dioxide, argon and nitrogen.
I have also learnt that if you take the oxgen out of a room a fire cannot burn
Air
From watxhing the air Christmas Lecture, I have learnt what gasses are in the air. These gasses are oxygen, carbon dioxide, argon and nitrogen.
I have also learnt that if you take the oxgen out of a room a fire cannot burn
I also learnt about the earth lecture. I learnt that gold can never change, even when it was found millions of years ago. I now also learnt that diamonds are an incredible conductor of heat. In metals I found out that iron reacts with oxygen to make iron oxide and that lithium is the lightest metal. Also, many years ago a man called Glen Seabourg made N element into gold which scientists wanted.
Today I learnt about the air lecture. I learnt that there are many gases in the air. The main ones are hydrogen, oxygen, argon and carbon dioxide. There are 100s of rare ones as well.
I also learnt that when air is removed from something it becomes flexible and bonding and anti-bonding electrons make things stronger and weaker.
There is 21% of oxygen in the air but if there is too much it is not good. Also from the periodic table, hydrogen can save lives and prosperous comes from urine.
After watching the science lecture about earth i learnt that the alchemists were obsessed with the producing a phillosophers stone which was meant to be a rock or powder that could turn metals into gold.And there were even kidnaps and murders in bid to steal the secret of the stone.some alchemists even used to convince people that they could make gold , but it was just hot coal and led.pure gold can be found in nature.If you leave gold somewhere for tens ,hundreds of years it will still look the same as for an example there was an emerald bracelet that had pure gold wire going through it and it was from the early roman times and it still looking like it did after all these years .
Air
I have watched the air science lecture,from the video I know the four elements:air,water,earth and fire.When Dr Peter Wothers was taking air out of the drum,it started of with air molecules pushing against the drum.When the air was out,the air molecules were pushing against the drum causing a new
shape.Air is made from different components joined together.Atoms are made from protons,neutral neutrons and electrons.When Dr Peter Wothers put a foil in a shape of a box on top of a gas called xenon, it was floating! He put screwed up pieces of gold foil on each corner and then it sank.
When Dr Peter Wothers was at the University of Sheffield, he breathed xenon and that caused his voice getting deeper.When Dr Wothers gently heated a flask of potassium it turned into a blue and purple color on the inside and that was caused by the atoms separating from each other.
When Dr Peter Wothers lit a stick with petrol it caused fire and oxygen should be in the air 21% but when he went into a room of 15% the fire was out as there wasn’t enough oxygen.
After watching the air video I have learned:
Diamonds are stronger than glass and can cut glass by sliding the diamond on the glass.
We have over 100 gases in the air and Oxygen is only 21%.
Fire requires oxygen to burn and by reducing oxygen from 21% to 15% will put out a fire easily.
There are few dangerous gases in the air which can react and hurt you.
There are not that many gases such as chlorine in the air.
I have learnt from watching Apollo 13 that there are lots of dangers when you travel to space. For example, you could run out of oxygen and there would be too much carbon dioxide and if you breath in too much carbon dioxide you would start to feel dizzy and then you would faint. You also won’t be able to focus.
You might run out of fuel and you either wouldn’t be able complete your mission or you wouldn’t be able to get to your destination. One of the parts of the rocket could fall off and cause more problems.
My favourite part of the film was when the crew on Earth found a way of getting oxygen to the astronauts and this was my favourite part because it saved the astronauts from dying.
Air Lecter :
I have learnt about all the main gasses in the air. I have enjoyed it and loved watching all the amazing science in it. There is 78%of nitrogen and 21%oxygen and 1% of argon. These are the main ones.
AIR LECTURE:
Today I have watched the air lecture.
I have learnt about all the main gases and how much of these gases are in the air.
I have learnt that there is 78% of Nitrogen
21% of Oxygen
1% of Argon in the air
Dr Peter Wothers explains how the Alchemists wanted to make gold. In this lecture, he looks at the elements of the Earth and how they can be extracted and how one element can turn into another.
Dr Wothers focuses on some of the elements and describes them. For example, Lead and Oxygen, which mix together and react to make something that looks like gold.
One fact that I have learnt from this lecture is that gold is the 79th element of the Periodic Table of Elements.
Earth
I have been watching the Earth science lecture. It was very informative. I have learnt that lots of alchemists were trying to find a way to create gold out of different types of metals. This would turn into the Philosopher’s Stone.
One of the experiments was a girl who weighed 41 kilograms and was measured against some gold! It happened to be that the amount of gold that they used was worth £ 1.5 million…!
I have watched the Air Christmas Lecture and I enjoyed it immensely. I learnt some very important and useful facts which will help me over the years.
Nitrogen is very important to the air because it’s so inert, because of these very strong bonds. Every protein and every cell in our body is made up of amino acids and every one of these amino acids contains nitrogen.
I also learnt that a Tesla Coil can generate up to one million volts of electricity.
The air is more complicated than we thought it ever would be as it is made of many different gases.
I loved watching the Air Christmas Lecture and would recommend it to anyone as it is so useful and it makes everyone want to learn.
EARTH LECTURE:
Today I have watched the Earth video and I enjoyed it a lot.
I have learnt about the wonders of gold and how you can experiment with it. Everyone knows that gold is worth a lot of money. Did you know that Osium is more expensive and much more valuable than gold. In this video a child was taken out for an experiment, which was how much gold will balance to an average child’s weight? The conclusion was that the 43kg child weighed the same amount as the gold put on the balance scale.
An interesting fact that I have learnt was that if that child was covered in gold she would weigh 8000kg which was the appriximate wheight of a small car…….
AIR
I have enjoyed watching “the science air lecture.”
I have learnt a lot of things here is one of the things I have learnt:if you reduce oxygen the surroundings won’t burn. I have another fact and that is air isn’t just one element it is a lot put together.
I watched the water Christmas Lecture and I enjoyed it a lot. One of the things I have learnt is that you can use a catalyst and UV light to split up water. I also learnt that sodium is a metal and when you mix it with water it dissolves and lets out hydrogen. Another thing I saw in the video was that Sodium Chloride is actually salt, but if you have chloride and sodium on its own, it is poisonous. Did you know that if you take water out of a body, the body can be preserved for up to 800 years
Earth
I have watched the earth lecture and learnt that gold kept the same shape and mass over long periods of time. Additionally that a 43 kg child weighs 8000 kg in gold which was as much as a small car.The total amount of gold that was used was worth 1.5 million pounds. I also learned that osmium is the densest element on the Earth.
I have watched the Royal Institution air video.I have learnt that if a room has less oxygen than normal,nothing can burn.Well,you might see flames but in a matter of seconds the flames will be reduced to nothing.
Also,in this video it told me that the air has at least 4 elements from the periodic table in it.
I have learnt that air is a mixture of different gasses such as nitrogen. Another fact I found interesting was if you reduce oxygen levels then nothing can burn but we can still survive. Overall I have learnt a lot of things about air from this lecture.
Over the course of three RI lectures- air, water and earth- I learnt many things. In the air lecture, I learnt that air is made up of many gases but 78% of it is Nitrogen and 21% is Oxygen and the remaining 1% is made up of all the other gases such as Hydrogen, Argon, Carbon Dioxide, Neon, Helium, Krypton and Xenon. I also learnt that atoms are made up of neutrons, protons and electrons. In the water lecture I learnt that from 1ml of water you can get 2,000mls of steam. If you heat Hydrogen it reacts with Oxygen in the air to form water. In the earth lecture I learnt that Osmium is the densest element. Carbon dioxide doesn’t support combustion which is why it is used for putting out fires.
Water:
This lecture was very interesting because the man tried to make water(H20) to make this he used the periodic table elements Hydrogen
and Oxygen.
Air:
This lecture was also very interesting because if you reduce the Oxygen in rooms nothing can burn(in that room).
The Christmas Lectures: Air, Earth and Water
All throughout the Christmas Lectures by Dr Peter Wothers, I have learnt a countless number of facts about rocks, precious metals, the periodic table and elements and much more.
In the Air lecture I learnt about all the elements in the air and that air is the Elixir of Life that keeps you alive. One of the facts I learnt is that air is made up of Oxygen, Nitrogen, Carbon Dioxide and Argon.
In the Water lecture I learnt that people had been searching for many years the Fountain of Youth, which would restore their health. This place has been found but when one of the elders in the audience tried it, they didn’t get younger! Also I now know that common, harmless table salt is formed with two deadly elements.
In the Earth lecture I saw that many years ago, scientists wanted to know how to turn metal into gold. Today we can turn metals into diamonds! Nowadays, we are figuring out how to use metals in all sorts of things and how to convert one metal into another. A fact I have picked up is that if you take a proton away from an element, it changes form.
I enjoyed every bit of the Christmas lectures and the experiments were really engaging.
Air
I have learnt about the different elements in air such as nitrogen.
Also an amazing fact is that if you reduce oxygen levels fires cannot
light.
AIR
I have watched the air christmas lecture and learnt that it contains lots of elements from the periodic table. The Alchemists thought that the air was only made of one element but they were proven wrong.
Our air is mainly 21% Oxygen, 75% Nitrogen, 0.9% Argon and 0.04% Carbon dioxide. Ozone gas is three oxygen atoms together. Too much of each gas can be very dangerous, for example oxygen increases fires,so lots of oxygen can create many problems, though carbon dioxide (CO2) is a very good fire extinguisher.
Nitrogen is another very useful and important component of the air and is vital for life. We can’t live without it. Every protein in our body is made of Amino acids and every one of those Amino acids contains Nitrogen!
It is the sudden release of Nitroglycerine that gives it its explosive power. That is why when a car crashes, it releases all the particles of the gas in a split second, which enables the air bag to be released quick enough. Nitrogen and Oxygen make Nitrodioxide. With thousands of volts, this substance is ripped apart and this is the cause of lightning.
Helium, Natural gas and methane can be lighter than air. Many gases are poisonous and most unpigmented. Chlorine is a heavy coloured gas.
Overall, I have enjoyed learning about substances, different gases and their properties…
Air
I have watched the air Christmas Lecture and have learnt a lot about air. Some of the things I’ve learnt are that the air contains lots of the elements from the periodic table. Another thing is that if you reduce the oxygen in rooms things can’t burn in the environment.
When medieval alchemists staged spectacular stunts in front of royalty they never revealed the secrets of their mystical potions and fire-breathing creations. – Some were even trying to turn lead into gold. In order to do this they must be able to change 1 element in the periodic table such as lead or gold. Osmium is more expensive than gold and in the video there is 1.5 million pounds worth of gold.
From the water lecture I learnt that a man tried to make water (H2O) and a parcel with the fountain of youth was sent down. People say that it makes wrinkles and creases disappear on your skin.
I have learnt a lot from these 2 videos and I was very interested.
Royal Institution: Earth
From the Earth Lecture I learnt that scientists are attempting to make a Philosophers Stone. To do this they have to be able to change one element in the periodic table to another e.g lead – gold. After many tries they have concluded that such a feat is possible and can be done with a bit of skill and persistence. In one of the experiments the man picked a girl weighing 41kg and placed her on a life-sized scale. Have you ever heard the saying ‘Worth Your Weight In Gold’. Well, that’s exactly what he did. To make the equivalent of 41kg the gold bars came to a grand total of £1.5 million.
Royal Institution: Water
In this Lecture the man tried to make WATER (H20) with the elements Hydrogen (H2) and Oxygen (O2). A parcel with a Fountain of Youth was air-mailed to the electro theatre. Legend has it that it makes wrinkles and creases on the skin disappear. This clip also includes the boiling point (100 Degrees Celsius) and freezing point (0 Degrees Celsius) of water.
There are many type of lectures but the best science one is the Christmas Lecture this is all to do with science experiments and there are many new things you learn.One of them is air so I am going to talk about that. In this lecture many different famous people or people who have something special come in and talk about science.Dr Wothers does some amazing experiments and tells you some amazing facts he also asks people from the audience to help in some experiments. He also asks some people to hold a piece of card with a element of the periodic table so when he says can I have my periodic table that is when a the people have to lift up the cards.It would be amazing to go and see it but you could just watch it on youtube.That is what they show at the Christmas Lecture.
Earth
I have learnt a lot about the earth like for example gold for a child it takes 43kg of gold to lift a child and if a child was made out of gold it will probably weigh 8000kg which is really heavy. Osmium is more expensive than gold! And in the video there is about 1.5 million pounds worth of gold.