Have We Found All The Elements?

This video surveys the work being done to create superheavy elements - from the Glenn Seaborg era through today. It's a good start toward understanding how new elements are created, though I would also recommend the book Superheavy - a copy of which I have on my shelves at school.

How to make Coca Cola

This sounds like a much more expensive, labor-intensive method of producing homemade Coca Cola.

...but it would give you big hipster, crunchy nuts and berries vibes, though, and it would be really cool to do if you have the time, money, and soda water.

How the Demon Core Killed a Man in 9 Days

The demon core is a legendary sphere of plutonium gallium alloy that was designed to be - when encased in neutron reflectors like beryllium or tungsten - just a hair away from achieving critical mass and releasing massive amounts of radiation.

That idea of making something that is just a tiny accident away from releasing deadly anything was - in retrospect - perhaps a mistake. 

The demon core became known as such because of two deadly incidents, the second of which is retold in the above video, fictionalized in the below clip from the movie Fat Man and Little Boy, and more thoroughly examined in the third video from Kyle Hill.

Check all the videos out and maybe remember not to build a gun that shoots bullets out in every direction while giving it a hair trigger, eh?

The Unknow Phase of Matter

God lord but Steve Mould is a brilliant communicator of science.

I've never really understood super critical fluids - even though I've posted about them before, but today's video - especially the part from about 10:20 through 14:20 or so - makes for a brilliant explanation of why fluids go supercritical at higher temperatures.

The use of the entropy and potential energy graphs in combination lays out the argument for supercriticality brilliantly.

Thanks, Steve...thteve.

AtomAnimation

 

That right there is a screenshot from AtomAnimation, a website that seems to do nothing more than provide animations of Bohr models for any element with any combination of protons, neutrons, and electrons.

It's kind of fun to play around with, though I warn you that the larger atoms take a decent amount of time to render and seemed to slow my browser down a bit while they were running.

Gold karats, percent purity, and uses

 

Nice little reference chart...

Stranger Things S1 Chemical Mystery

If you know me, you might know that I'm the kind of guy who would notice a scientific issue while watching a movie or tv show.

I didn't, however, catch the anachronism of a 2000s periodic table in season one of the 1980s-set Stranger Things.

Clearly, ten or so elements (#108 and #110-118) - those discovered after 1983's setting for the first season. Another couple of them would need to be presented in three-letter, temporary names because the controversies around the names for elements #105-109.

In all, I don't think the periodic table anachronism caused audiences to enjoy their Stranger Things any less.