The Swedish Mine That Changed the Periodic Table Forever — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:02Did you know that this hidden Swedish
2. 0:04mine changed the history of the periodic
3. 0:07table forever?
4. 0:08>> Do I look like I know what a JPEG is?
5. 0:11>> Four of the elements of the periodic
6. 0:12table were named after this place. And
7. 0:14today I am taking them back to their
8. 0:16birthplace. Let's go.
9. 0:20Hey there, it's Elena, your friendly
10. 0:22nuclear physicist. And today we are at
11. 0:24the EV mine, the place that led the
12. 0:27foundation for so much of the modern
13. 0:30science and technology that we use in
14. 0:31our everyday life. I brought the
15. 0:33elements of the periodic table from
16. 0:35Engineered Labs with me and I am ready
17. 0:37to show you everything. Without further
18. 0:39ado, let's get into it. In the Resero
19. 0:43Island in Sweden, not very far from
20. 0:46Stockholm, we have the Itbe mine which
21. 0:48was very popular and very well used in
22. 0:51the 18th century mostly for extraction
23. 0:54of felspar and quartz. Felspar were used
24. 0:57for iron cleaning and quartz for very
25. 1:00well-known porcelain and glass objects
26. 1:02that we use today. However, around 1787,
27. 1:07the attention was caught by the
28. 1:09scientists and the chemists of the time
29. 1:11at a very dense, dark mineral,
30. 1:16which actually switched pretty many
31. 1:18names during the history of time, but
32. 1:20ended up being called Gadolinite, which
33. 1:24they did do lots of studies on and try
34. 1:27to understand what it contains. And uh
35. 1:29there is a very popular research article
36. 1:32which explains that the elements that
37. 1:34are contained uh in it are 38% unknown
38. 1:38and they were quite difficult to
39. 1:39separate because the elements contained
40. 1:41in it are quite similar chemically and
41. 1:43it took them quite a while with the
42. 1:45chemical extractions to separate them
43. 1:47and eventually they named four of the
44. 1:50elements found in this rock after the
45. 1:52mine itself. It
46. 1:55turbium were all found in gadalinite.
47. 1:58So, I brought the geer with me to try
48. 2:00and examine these rocks and see a little
49. 2:02bit what they contain and if they are
50. 2:04radioactive at all. I mean, we expect
51. 2:06that some of them will contain some
52. 2:08uranium. And I'm here to scout around
53. 2:10and find out. So, let's see. We have
54. 2:13roughly background uh dose at this
55. 2:16point. So,
56. 2:25nothing much is happening. Oh, we have
57. 2:27some increase.
58. 2:31Yes, we found some uranium.
59. 2:34Wow.
60. 2:36We can see different holes here that uh
61. 2:39the miners probably used in order to
62. 2:42basically break down and extract all of
63. 2:44these different rocks. And what we can
64. 2:47see here is different shades. And as I
65. 2:49said, both feltspar and quartz were
66. 2:53mined from this mine. And they are not
67. 2:55particularly color dependent because
68. 2:57they can be white and pink both of them.
69. 2:59But what we can see and what we learned
70. 3:01is that the more kind of dull rock is
71. 3:04felt spar. So all of that here and the
72. 3:07white one part here would be this.
73. 3:09However, when it's a little bit more
74. 3:11glossy and moist, then it's quartz. And
75. 3:13that we can actually see down here on
76. 3:16the ground. If you can see, it's a
77. 3:18little bit more almost like oily like
78. 3:20finish. And that's quartz down here.
79. 3:23However, their fame and recognition
80. 3:25didn't just stop in the 19th century.
81. 3:27All of these elements are quite
82. 3:29essential today for communication,
83. 3:31modern technologies, and you guessed it,
84. 3:33even nuclear energy. It behaves
85. 3:36chemically like lonites and is often
86. 3:38processed with them even though it sits
87. 3:41just above them on the periodic table.
88. 3:42It's widely used in Y A lasers, which
89. 3:46actually is an acronym for it aluminium
90. 3:49garnet lasers for industrial cutting and
91. 3:51medical surgery. It's also used in white
92. 3:54leads and in ceramic materials that
93. 3:56require both heat and mechanical
94. 3:57resistance. Utrium also plays an
95. 4:00important role in superconducting
96. 4:02materials such as itrium barium copper
97. 4:05oxides which are under study for next
98. 4:07generation power grids and also for
99. 4:10fusion energy systems because they have
100. 4:12high current carrying capacity. Turbium
101. 4:14with atomic number 65 is used in green
102. 4:18phosphorus for displays but also in
103. 4:20advanced materials like tflon D a
104. 4:24magneettorictive alloy which is used in
105. 4:26actuators, sonar systems and vibration
106. 4:29dumpers. In nuclear context, turbium has
107. 4:32a high neutron absorption cross-section
108. 4:34which makes it a good candidate for
109. 4:36radiation shielding materials.
110. 4:39Herbium with atomic number 68 is most
111. 4:42famous for its role in fiber optic
112. 4:44communication. It's used in herbium
113. 4:47dopped fiber amplifiers and allows light
114. 4:50signals to travel thousands of
115. 4:51kilometers without loss. Without
116. 4:54herbium, as a matter of fact,
117. 4:55long-distance internet infrastructure as
118. 4:57we know it wouldn't be a thing in the
119. 4:59nuclear field. Herbium is sometimes
120. 5:01added as a burnable poison to fuel
121. 5:04roads. It absorbs excess neutrons at the
122. 5:06start of the reactor's fuel cycle,
123. 5:08helping flatten the reactivity curve and
124. 5:11improving control of the reactor.
125. 5:13Aurbium with atomic number 70 is a bit
126. 5:16of a hidden gem. It's used in atomic
127. 5:19clocks, particularly optical latis
128. 5:21clocks, which are now accurate enough to
129. 5:23measure relativistic time deation over
130. 5:26just a few cm of altitude. It's also
131. 5:29under study for use in quantum computing
132. 5:31and advanced stress sensors embedded in
133. 5:34aerospace in submarine structures. Its
134. 5:36high neutron cross-section makes it
135. 5:38another candidate for specialized
136. 5:39shielding materials in nuclear systems.
137. 5:42This quiet Swedish mine that is not
138. 5:44really that big relevant to its
139. 5:46contribution to science is probably the
140. 5:49only mineral place that has contributed
141. 5:51so significantly to discoveries that
142. 5:54have to do with the periodic table as
143. 5:56well as advanced technologies today.
144. 5:58from modern communication even to
145. 6:01nuclear power. The elements discovered
146. 6:03here all the four named after this place
147. 6:05as well as more discovered in this place
148. 6:08are all contributing to shaping our
149. 6:10modern world today. So thanks to the
150. 6:12engineered labs for these pretty cubes.
151. 6:14And if you want to experience your own
152. 6:17real piece of science, you can order
153. 6:19them from engineeredlabs.com
154. 6:21and you can use my discount code YFNP to
155. 6:24get a 10% off on any of the orders that
156. 6:27you would like.
157. 6:29That's how it probably sounded here when
158. 6:31the dynamite was discovered. And we can
159. 6:34see actually, interestingly enough, both
160. 6:37by hand chopping off pieces of the rock
161. 6:40by the miners, and that's mostly the
162. 6:42middle part of the rock that we see here
163. 6:44that goes a little bit straight down.
164. 6:46However, the more irregular shaped
165. 6:48pieces, they were the ones that were
166. 6:49blown up by the dynamite that was also
167. 6:51discovered in Sweden in the 1866. And if
168. 6:55you want to know even more details about
169. 6:57the history of the mine, you can visit
170. 6:59their website which is quite nice and
171. 7:00they have a lot of clips and videos that
172. 7:02you can find out more information about.
173. 7:04And they also do on site a few tours
174. 7:07every summer both in Swedish and
175. 7:08English.
176. 7:10Don't forget our giveaway in
177. 7:12collaboration with Engineered Labs. We
178. 7:14are giving away this stunning real life
179. 7:17periodic table as well as a t-shirt of
180. 7:19your choice from my science clothing
181. 7:21line. So, don't forget to choose an
182. 7:24element of the periodic table that is
183. 7:26your favorite. Let us know in the
184. 7:28comments down below and DM me on
185. 7:30Instagram. What is your favorite element
186. 7:33and why? Because I'm curious. Follow my
187. 7:36socials on YouTube, Instagram, Tik Tok,
188. 7:38and the YFP clothing line. Follow the
189. 7:40engineer gloves. And this might be
190. 7:43yours. And I am shipping it worldwide.
191. 7:45So, wherever you are, best to leave. I
192. 7:47will find you.
193. 7:48>> I will find you
194. 7:49>> and ship you this giveaway.
195. 7:52We did see the gadolite stone before the
196. 7:55black heavy stone and interestingly
197. 7:57enough gadalinium it's not included in
198. 8:00that stone.
199. 8:03I would think that the element also
200. 8:05existed in the stone but it actually
201. 8:07wasn't. It was also discovered in Sweden
202. 8:09in a place called Westeros roughly an
203. 8:11hour and a half away from here where one
204. 8:14of the biggest nuclear fuel fabrication
205. 8:16factories in Europe is. And I am trying
206. 8:19my best to get you in there and show you
207. 8:22how nuclear fuel is fabricated. So
208. 8:24besides gatalinium, holmium was also
209. 8:27discovered in Sweden and interestingly
210. 8:29enough named after Stockholm. And that
211. 8:32makes a total of something like 9 to 11
212. 8:36elements discovered in this area. It's a
213. 8:38little bit debatable.
214. 8:39>> You know, I just don't like pineapple
215. 8:41pizza.
216. 8:42>> Well, you don't like pineapple pizza?
217. 8:44Anyone who puts pineapple on pizza
218. 8:46should burn in hell. there were nine or
219. 8:4811 and a total of 23 elements discovered
220. 8:51in the whole of Sweden which given the
221. 8:53size of Sweden and the number of people
222. 8:56that are in the country it's quite
223. 8:58impressive the impact that they had in
224. 9:00tech and science. Thanks so much for
225. 9:02joining me in this tour of the mine. Let
226. 9:05me know what you thought in the comment
227. 9:06section down below. Don't forget to like
228. 9:08and subscribe and turn on the bell
229. 9:10notification icon. It's been Elina, your
230. 9:12friendly nuclear physicist and until
231. 9:14next time, stay curious, stay nuclear.
232. 9:18Okay, now you have to get home without
233. 9:20breaking all this.
234. 9:22[Music]
235. 9:35And modern solutions require modern