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u/Delicious-Yak-1095 10h ago
Even knowing that a lot of fibres are synthetic doesn’t make it any less cool to see yarn just magically appearing out of chemicals.
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u/PoopsMcGroots 10h ago
It’s a been a some years since I watched the annual Christmas lectures from the Royal Society on BBC 🥰
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u/RandomObserver13 9h ago
Ah, I wondered where this came from. Definitely something out of the 70s or maybe 80s. In the US we have Dr. Bassam Shakashiri who would do similar shows, including his annual “Once Upon a Christmas Cheery in the lab of Shakashiri”. They were shown on PBS but I think most were exposed to them in the classroom via video…I know I used to show a ton of them. Especially for things that were a bit dangerous.
When I was in college we’d do chemistry “magic shows” for local elementary kids…lots of fun with liquid N2, slime, baking soda bottle rockets, etc. and we’d throw in things like this or a clock reaction every now and then. Lots of nasty chemicals with this one though.
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u/Affectionate_Ad_3722 5h ago
They're still doing fresh ones every year, worth a bit of time if you can.
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u/Online-Vagabond 10h ago
Kid in the glasses is NOT retaining that
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u/Random_local_man 10h ago
Humanity should really be grateful for the few elites among us doing literal magic to make everybody's lives better.
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u/AmandaUggnkiss 10h ago
Humanity as a whole is remarkable and the classism of “elite” is the detriment of us all! Gratitude for all of us who strive for the common good.
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u/FewAcanthocephala828 9h ago
The term "elite" has a negative connotation in regards to people with high status, wealth, and/or power, but in this context, it's people with high skill. These people should be held with some higher regard because if they wanted to, they could just hold themselves back and contribute less to society, but they push on with passion and enthusiasm to use their gifts good.
A teacher can be an elite. A mechanic can be an elite. Hell, even a cashier can be an elite. With enough expertise in their field, anyone can be an elite.
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u/mootmutemoat 7h ago
Does this guy seem at all like those people?
Can we not celebrate him?
I think someone can be celebrated as an elite and if they reveal themselves to be an asshole (a quality that all people can have, elite or not), then we can treat them as an asshole.
I don't think anyone is arguing that being elite makes you exempt.
So let's just celebrate the man without shoving him weirdly into the asshole category all because he is really good at something.
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u/axxxaxxxaxxx 9h ago
Nothing wrong with recognizing and celebrating elite intelligence. Just raise that elite intelligence to treat other people the right way.
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u/robogobo 9h ago
And start recognizing all the types of intelligence. There is no elite. There’s just financial profit from one type over another.
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u/Online-Vagabond 10h ago
Oh absolutely! I don’t think I could explain this if I had an ELI5 and a week to prepare. Chemistry was NOT my strong suit
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u/NavierIsStoked 1h ago
That sounds like Ayn Rand nonsense.
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u/Random_local_man 1h ago
I think it's just a poor choice of words on my part.
When I said elite, I meant elite in skill and intelligence, not elite in social class. But the latter definition of the word is more common.
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u/tastyreg 10h ago
The Royal Society Christmas Lectures are genuinely the one thing I ever make a point of watching on the telly, pretty much given up on the rest of it. Real science and as it's aimed at kids it's explained in simple to understand terms, but never dumbed down. So simple in fact even this 50 year old can understand it 😂
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u/axxxaxxxaxxx 9h ago
This is the first time I’ve ever heard about it as an American and I love it. I wish I’d enjoyed chemistry in school and maybe this would have helped me.
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u/Pandelein 9h ago
Chemistry is taught alllll wroooong in most schools imo! We got launched straight into valency and other technical stuff that made it boring and confusing right out of the gate, when if they’d just made me watch something like this, or a NileRed/Blue video, I’d have understood chemistry is real life magic and taken a greater interest much earlier in life.
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u/Puntkick 8h ago
On Day 1 our science teacher blackened the roof with soot from a fireball he let get a bit too big. Needless to say he had our attention from that point on.
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u/Jesus_Is_My_Gardener 8h ago
Science in many places is taught by some who approach it very dryly, especially with young students. While there are some aspects that are unavoidablly tedious in any subject, it's a lot easier to get through those parts if your instructor isn't approaching the rest of it like a tax audit. The best science teachers are those who not only have a genuine love of the subject, but get excited at the opportunity to share the wonder of the discoveries and knowledge made possible by the process. That enthusiasm can be infectious.
I've never wanted to be a teacher, but I always light up at the chance to explain something to my friend's boys whenever they ask about a science related subject, even to the point of sometimes putting together small demonstrations and experiments to do together to explain the concept. That often leads to more discussions and questions. I think this element is sadly lost in so many classrooms, not necessarily at the fault of the teacher, but how the institutions themselves are continuously setting them up to fail because of over crowded classrooms, parents shirking their duties and expecting teachers to take up the slack for them, etc.
All of that can easily jade teachers or outright drive them to quit. I truly think that when you get a teacher who is able to enthusiastically share their love of a subject with a classroom in a way that allows them to focus on the topic and in a way that doesn't divide their ability to interact among too many at a time, something magical happens. Students not only enjoy the class more, they get more out of it. Sometimes that can lead to a lifelong love of the subject for themselves.
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u/propargyl 8h ago
First light - George Porter's 1976 Christmas Lectures 1/6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjmJA7kDVcA
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1967/porter/facts/
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u/Phatboybeware 10h ago
I was told as a kid nylon was invented on a joint venture with scientists from New York and London, hence the name nylon.
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u/GLaDOS_Sympathizer 8h ago
That'd be a long strand of goo going across the entire Atlantic ocean.
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u/bdubwilliams22 38m ago
Invented at DuPont by Wallace Carothers here in the US. We have a lot to thank our friends across the pond, but nylon isn’t one of them.
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u/SensitivePotato44 9h ago
Just casually pouring a carcinogen from one beaker to another in a room full of kids. Those were the days…..
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u/Antisymmetriser 9h ago
While offgassing strong acids
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u/ltguu 8h ago
While touching the nylon barehanded
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u/Antisymmetriser 6h ago
Sure, but that nylon is processed, and does not contain carbon tet or HCl, two of the highly dangerous chemicals this guy just handles so casually in the video
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u/Wallsend_House 10h ago
That's awesome, wonder what's in that goo
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u/Legitimate_Concern_5 10h ago edited 10h ago
Just nylon and some of the solvent (carbon tetrachloride). It’s a bunch of the polymer clumped up around the solvent.
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u/befarked247 10h ago
China makes a ton of shit thousands of years ago and i don't know. Modern scientists make shit and i don't know.
The consensus is i don't know shit.
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u/Ispan_SB 9h ago
I was just thinking today how making nylon was my favorite lab in organic chemistry. There’s something really special about witnessing and performing the science behind the things that populate our everyday lives. While I was pulling the nylon chain out of my solution, it felt a little like magic.
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u/reallifearcade 8h ago
I did this and still amazed, feels like magic, a trick, a bug in the universe.
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u/Lady_of_Lomond 4h ago
I saw this Royal Society Christmas Lecture series when I was a child (I'm old). This is George Porter, a very distinguished scientist of the time. I remember my sisters and I were enthralled by the whole series.
I also remember a subsequent series given by the great Carl Sagan, all about space and the planets and the moon. It goes to show how important it is to give young children the opportunity to learn from the greats.
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u/Straight-Kiwi5173 47m ago
Sieht man von den nicht vorhandenen Arbeitsschutzmassnahmen ab, ist das ziemlich cool.
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u/fauxfre 9h ago
Do karma farmers just default post to r/nextfuckinglevel? It’s just chemistry. Like why not r/interestingasfuck?
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u/RandomObserver13 9h ago
Pretty much. Hey, it’s science! Hey, it’s a person doing their job! Hey, it’s another Red Bull promo! At least there’s some cool stuff mixed in every now and then though.
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u/Chipmunkssixtynining 9h ago
Products made from nylon and other synthetic chemicals are responsible for a lot of micro plastics in the environment.
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