Cobalt - Periodic Table of Videos

A new video about Cobalt, including reactions involving Cobalt Chloride.
More links and info in full description ↓↓↓

Featuring Professor Sir Martyn Poliakoff. And in the lab with Neil Barnes.

With thanks to the Garfield Weston Foundation.

Thanks also to Sam Tang and Sean Riley for additional shots.

[Doc_Fartens]

"Did you buy it in the nineteenth century?"
You cheeky bugger, Brady.

[beefgoat]

Missed the professor! This guy inspired me to go back to school and pursue a degree in chemistry.

[leokimvideo]

When your neighbour is Iron and so famous, Cobalt had to show it's colours to impress.

[guitarz]

"Did you buy it in the 19 century?" Instantly shut down by the professor with a common sense mundane answer.

[griffinlady]

I work with ceramics, Cobalt Carbonate and Cobalt Oxide are my favorite elements in my glaze color palette. Thank you for the videos! I love them.

[waltermarlin]

3:23 I agree with this sentiment. Leave it closed.

[iurirobert]

i believe that when showing those reactions the chemical equation should be on the screen, it would help to those that really like this channel but dont have english as they first language, love your work guys

[rayoflight]

High voltage transformers which are insulated with oil (in power stations) have these little indicators made with cobalt chloride - when it turns pink it means there is water in the oil; so the oil is losing its dielectric properties and the transformer needs to be replaced before it blows up.
Nowadays we use cheaper ceramic high voltage transformers in many applications.

I used cobalt chloride to make the best possible invisible ink.

Nice to see you Prof. Poliakoff!
Wish you all the best...

[DasDieDerErik]

Could you please, for future episodes, show us the equation of the shown reaction? I know that chemistry can be really beautiful to look at, especially with macro shots of the percibitation of colourful salts, but I'd like to be able to comprehend the process taking place in the test tube. Maybe you could arrange them like subtitles or something.

As always a pleasure to watch though.

[danardalin]

I dealt with cobalt glass beads for a long time when I was a teenager working with a bead trader.
The real ones, always old now, are very expensive and highly sought after. I've seen stands of 24 beads go for hundreds of dollars US. The blue of those beads are unmatched by any modern made, non-cobalt blue bead.
Loved learning more about the element. Makes me wish I still had some of those beads.
Keep up the great videos!

[Robin_Nixon]

"Like most elements, it's really quite interesting".

This makes me wonder: is there a really boring element - or perhaps a least interesting one?

[gauravmanwani]

In India we have to memorize the colors of more than 150 salts for the IITJEE Exam, without ever actually seeing them!
You are a good man, Brady.
Thanks so much!

[momofwifeof]

Cobalt is one of the four elements with magnetic powers. It gets its name from the German word for goblin. That's because medieval German miners kept digging up what they thought was silver-- only to find it was cobalt! Cobalt chloride keeps up the cobalt brand of trickery as invisible ink. Nowadays, cobalt helps make superalloys that can take extreme temperatures in jet engines.

[ontheheath]

That's such a sweet reaction from PSMP (Professor Sir Martyn Poliakoff) when you teased him. I love how fond you are of each other. Beautiful video; really liked the music as well, nicely suited.

[tornadokat]

In all the videos from Periodic Tables this was the first time I heard him mention *why* colors change in chemical reactions. I had often wondered why. Thank you. It still seems like magic when you think about how fast an electron can circle a nucleus, or its spin, or the spin of a nucleus itself. Just to look at any object and think about all those molecules and what's happening in each one of them is amazing.

[veratek]

Cmon, with his wonderful hair, glasses, and features, this guy has the quintessential look of a chemistry professor of all times. It can't get more perfect.

[frognik]

Can you do a video of Neil and his job?
How he got there?
Is he a professor or just a helper?

[secretsquirrel]

I was just working with cobalt-60 in my lab 2 days ago. It’s one of the most important isotopes of Cobalt. It’s commonly found in nuclear power reactors. We can detect leakage by looking for its distinct spectra when it beta- decays to nickel-60.

[superman]

7:49 He is talking about Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis in case somebody wanted to know😉

[patdohrety]

This man is talking way above my head, but I still love the videos! Thank you for making chemistry make sense for people who don't know chemistry professor!