clay culture periodic table of videos The Periodoc Table of Videos is a project developed by the University of Nottingham in England. Several chemists host the videos, which look at each element on the periodic table, and discuss their various properties as they relate to everyday life, or life in the lab. Of particular interest to a ceramics audience are the videos featuring common elements that are also near and dear to our studios. From shells to stalactites to the White Cliffs of Dover, the video on calcium (Ca), one of the most common non-gaseous elements on earth, shows various examples of calcium carbonate (whiting). Professor Martyn Poliakoff, research professor of chemistry (that’s him at the top of the page), explains that calcium compounds are white because they have no free electrons to move between different energy levels, which is what produces the colors we see. Tiny crystals in the compounds scatter the light, making them appear white. When burned, however, calcium compounds produces a red flame. Magnesium (Mg) is the lightest, most easily used alkaline earth metal. We use magnesium carbonate as a flux in high-temperature glazes, and as a refractory or opacifier in low-temperature glazes. The fact that it is one of the lightest elements on the periodic table explains why it is so light and fluffy, and why a 50-pound bag of the stuff is so much larger than a 50-pound bag of other materials. When heated by Dr. Pete Licence, who does most of the more explosive demonstrations in the videos, it combusts and gives off a brilliant white light as it burns. This property made it useful as a component in some of the early flash bulbs for film cameras. Silicon (Si) which we use in the form of silica (silicon dioxide or SiO2) is most commonly found on earth as sand or in quartz. Prof. Poliakoff shows off a silicon wafer of single crystal silicon 20 cm in diameter with computer microchips built up or “grown” on top by 32 march 2011 www.ceramicsmonthly.org layering different materials. Silicon is used because it is a semiconductor. After the chips are created, they’re cut from the wafer, and then tested before being used. Boron (B) is a metalloid, and has some properties of metal, and some properties of a non-metal. It’s commonly used in households. That box of 20 Mule Team Borax or Persil Laundry Detergent booster is a compound of perborate and silicate that when placed in 60°C water, forms hydrogen peroxide, which bleaches clothes. The experiment done by Dr. Debbie Kays shows that there’s an organic boron compound that, when burned, gives off a similar (though smaller) green flame to pentaborane, nicknamed the the green dragon, which was investigated in the ’50s as a rocket fuel. Zinc (Zn) is an abundant soft metal. We use it in oxide form as an auxiliary flux, but zinc is also found in high quality roofing material because it is slow to oxidize. Zinc is also essential to life in many ways. In fact, if you don’t have enough zinc in your body, you can’t smell things. Oh, and the chemists can’t help but show us that when it’s combined with certain other elements and set alight, it makes a fantastic show of popping, arcing sparks. Iron (Fe)—some of us in the ceramics world love it, some of us not so much, at least when it comes to having iron oxide in our otherwise perfectly white clay body. The chemists do an experiment involving iron to show what is called a thermite reaction (an oxidation/reduction reaction between a metallic oxide and a pure metal that produces an extreme amount of heat). They’re conducting the experiment outside, usually a clue that they anticipate a big bang or fire. Using iron oxide powder as the oxidizer, aluminum powder as the reducing agent, and a flowerpot on a stand as the crucible, Dr. Licence lights the heat source—a sparkler—and sets off the reaction shown in the image above. The result is the violent reduction of the iron oxide, with the aluminum metal stealing the oxygen to form aluminum oxide. The reaction is so hot that the side of the pot explodes off, and the iron melts into a molten mass of pure metal. To see the strength and power of a thermite reaction as elements fight for oxygen, or the sparks, fires, and mini explosions created during many experiments demonstrated, visit www.periodicvideos.com and click on each element’s symbol on the chart to watch the videos.
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