The Periodic Table of Videos is a series of videos on YouTube produced by Brady Haran, a former BBC video journalist, featuring Sir Martyn Poliakoff ("The Professor"), Peter Licence, Stephen Liddle, Debbie Kays, Neil Barnes, Sam Tang and others at the University of Nottingham.
Development
The project began recording on 9 June 2008 and the initial videos were completed on 17 July 2008. The collection includes videos, each just a few minutes long, for all 118 known elements with a video for each element, as well as many additional supplemental chemistry videos. The 118 element videos and introduction videos were all shot unscripted in June and July 2008.p>
Since the initial videos were completed in 2008 the team has been refining and uploading revised versions of the videos with new video and in higher resolutions. A key example of this revising is with the xenon video that was redone in honour of professor Neil Bartlett who died on August 5, 2008; Bartlett prepared one of the first xenon compounds, xenon hexafluoroplatinate.
Content
Poliakoff is the most visible presenter on the videos and his hair, reminiscent of Einstein or a mad scientist, is frequently commented upon in the videos. The combination of the professor's hair and sometimes crazy experiments has made these videos quite popular. Although uncertain what to think about the attention given to his hair, Professor Poliakoff is excited with the success of the videos, stating "With a few hours of work, I have lectured to more students than I have reached in my entire career." The YouTube channel as of November 2013, has over 344,000 subscribers and the videos have had just short of 50 million viewers. The YouTube channel is now one of the most popular chemistry related channels on all of YouTube. The producers of the videos have received praise from Nobel Laureates, chemistry professors, and the general public, says Professor Poliakoff. Chemistry Nobel Laureate Roald Hoffmann has even offered his praise of the videos, stating they "are like the best reality show I've ever seenâ€"the universe revealing itself, element by element."
The videos feature various experiments and demonstrations of the elements, some quite dangerous that can't be performed in a classroom. The presenters in the video though take all appropriate precautions when doing these experiments and provide adequate warnings before the dangerous experiments, still some scientists have criticized the dangerous experiments fearing people might try them at home and get hurt regardless of the warnings. The intent of the videos is to bring chemistry to a new generation of students and to get them enthused about science and understand how chemists think and what chemists are trying to do. Many school teachers now incorporate these videos into their classes, and the professor has even recorded video responses to some of the students' questions. Some of the most popular videos are those of sodium, potassium and uranium.
The Periodic Table of Videos team has had two live performances to date, the first in May 2009 at the Broadway Media Centre in Nottingham and most recently in July 2010 at the EuroScience Open Forum in Turin, Italy.
Financing
A grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council of £25,249 was awarded on 19 January 2010 to extend the video library to include topical videos on molecules of general interest. The first of these new videos was on carbon dioxide and methane.
Videos
The Periodic Table of Videos has filmed at least one video for each of the 118 elements (from hydrogen to ununoctium). They have also filmed several videos that discuss molecules such as D2O (heavy water) and sulfuric acid. Also filmed are "Chem definitions" that provide an explanation to words that are used in chemistry. Lastly, the team has filmed "Roadtrips" where they travel to different places in the world that have an importance in chemistry (such as the mine outside Ytterby, Sweden, which had four elements â€" yttrium, terbium, erbium, and ytterbium â€" named after it.)
References
Further reading
- Haran, Brady; Poliakoff, Martyn (21 February 2011). "How to measure the impact of chemistry on the small screen". Nature Chemistry 3 (3): 180â€"182. doi:10.1038/nchem.990. PMID 21336314. (subscription required)
- Haran, Brady; Poliakoff, Martyn (27 May 2011). "The Periodic Table of Videos". Science 332 (6033): 1046â€"7. doi:10.1126/science.1196980. PMID 21617067.Â
External links
- The Periodic Table of Videos
- The Periodic Table of Videos's channel on YouTube
- Test Tube Project
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