*[rocking holiday instrumental]
[drumroll]
[Science is Fun Band plays a regal fanfare]
[cheers and applause]
[blasts fire extinguisher]
[fire extinguisher hisses] [cheers and applause]
- Bassam Shakhashiri: Hello, everyone, and welcome to my lab.
I'm so happy to see you
on this very special anniversary program,
the 50th annual
Once Upon a Christmas Cheery in the Lab of Shakhashiri.
[cheers and applause]
Thank you!
It's a very special event
and I'm thankful to the Science Is FunBand ,
under the direction of Professor Mike Leckrone.
[cheers and applause]
I'm also thankful
to PBS Wisconsin.
We have had a partnership for five decades
where they bring this program
to people all around the state of Wisconsin,
indeed, all over PBS stations around the country.
So, thank you again for being part of this very special event
where we will do science experiments.
Together, we will explore and learn
and think about what you experience.
In my lab, we always obey the safety rules.
You notice, already I have my goggles on
and I have this fire extinguisher.
It's not a toy.
It's part of the safety procedures that we have.
And I'm going to set it right here
so you and I know where it is,
just in case it's needed
for something that might go out of control.
We're not planning on anything going out of control.
We just have it as part of the safety regulations.
Safety is paramount in everything that we do.
And in the experiments that we're doing today,
we will be, you will be, along with me,
looking for color changes, explosions,
liquids that glow in the dark.
You just be on the lookout!
So, sit back and relax,
and if you pay attention, you're going to learn
quite a bit of science and you're going to be having,
I hope, an enjoyable experience.
So, are you ready to learn?
[audience cheering] - Yeah!
- Are you ready to have some fun?
[applause]
Well, let's get started then.
And I'm going to turn this on,
and 'Oh!' [audience oohs]
That got your attention. [laughter]
This is an example
of what we call
a controlled combustion reaction.
The gas propane is burning,
and gives us this nice beautiful flame.
You can see the yellow color at the top.
And down at the bottom,
if you're close enough, you can see
a blue tinge through the flame.
There it is.
Very beautiful blue tinge that we have.
And this is controlled combustion,
just like the reaction of a flame in the candle,
and I'm gonna try to lower it down
a little bit here, like so.
Now, when you came in,
you noticed that we have a lot of equipment and material,
not only on the tabletops,
but we have some things up in the air.
What do we have up in the air?
- Audience: Balloons!
- And how many balloons are there?
- Audience: Six!
- Are they all the same color? - No!
- Well, maybe that is a hint,
for me and for you, to pay attention.
Because I'm going to tell you that these balloons,
as you already know, have gases in them
that are lighter than air.
That's why they're up in the air.
And what I'm going to do is take this flame and set off,
if I can reach it--
Yes, I'll be able to reach it.
I'm going to set off the flame
to this balloon,
and we'll see what happens.
You ready for this? - Yeah!
- Some of you are covering your ears.
Why are you covering your ears? [audience laughs]
Because you know from experience
that there might be a loud sound here.
So, here we go.
Let's try it and see what happens.
[balloon pops] [audience screeches in surprise]
Well, that balloon had in it the gas helium,
and helium does not burn.
What we always do in science is repeat the experiment.
So, let's go over to the same colored balloon.
I like the smile on your face.
And, you ready for this?
Let's see what happens now.
[balloon pops] [shrieks of startled delight]
Did the same thing happen? - Yes!
- Exactly the same thing? - No!
- No, in the second balloon, the flame went out.
Maybe you're thinking about, why did the flame go out?
The balloon had in it the gas helium.
Maybe the flame went out because I brought it
too close to the balloon?
You think about what you see and what you hear,
and try to make some sense out of it
so that you can enjoy, as much as possible,
explorations that we go through here.
Well, I have a couple of other balloons right here.
And let's see what happens when I put the flame
to this balloon here.
Are you ready for this? - Yes.
- You sure you're ready now?
- Yes! - Here we go!
[loud boom] [audience squawks]
Did that balloon have helium in it?
- Audience: No!
- That balloon had in it the gas hydrogen.
And hydrogen combines with oxygen from the air
in what we call an uncontrolled combustion reaction.
You know what's another name
for uncontrolled combustion reaction?
- Audience: Explosion. - Shakhashiri: Explosions, yes.
And what do we always do in science?
- Repeat the experiment. - Bassam: Repeat the experiment.
So, let's repeat the experiment,
but this time, let's do it in the dark.
And see if we can learn some more as we bring this here.
Ready for this? Here we go.
[loud boom] [audience screams]
Did you see that ball of fire? - Yeah!
- And did you hear a louder explosion
than the popping of the helium-filled balloon?
Let's have a look at this last experiment in slow motion.
So, watch the monitor.
You see the flame coming close.
You won't hear a sound right now.
And there
is that big ball of fire.
So, when we look at things in slow motion,
we learn a few more facts
and we can think about what we've learned.
All right, so we've got lots of experiments lined up here,
but we still have two balloons over there.
Shall I do experiments over here or do more balloons?
- Balloons! - More balloons?
Okay, let's move over to more balloons.
And, when we do these experiments
and we make sense out of them, we pay attention.
You paid attention and you noticed
that the hydrogen-filled balloons
gave us a louder sound than the helium-filled balloons.
So, maybe these will give us even a louder sound?
And that's why I want everyone to protect your ears
from potential damage by taking both fingers
and you stick 'em in your ear very tightly.
I cannot do that
and do the experiment at the same time.
That's why I have ear protection like this.
Now, if you can hear the sound of my voice
that means you don't have your ears well-protected.
All right, I saw your smile!
That means you don't have your ears well-protected.
Please protect your ears very well,
as we go now to this balloon right here.
You ready for this? - Yeah.
[loud boom] [audience yelps]
[audience laughs]
[audience claps and some holler, "Whoo!"]
- Another uncontrolled combustion reaction.
And that is louder because the balloon had in it
a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen,
and gave us a louder report.
What do we always do in science?
- Audience responds in unison: Repeat the experiment!
- Repeat, also,
the safety precautions
as we go to this one
and try to do it in the dark.
If we have the lights down.
You ready for this? Ready?
- Yep. - Yeah!
[loud boom] [audience howls]
[cheers and applause]
- Let's have a look in slow motion.
Again, you won't hear the sound,
but you'll see a much faster reaction
because there is more oxygen on the inside.
The ball of fire did not last as long,
and, of course, you heard, even with your ear protection,
a much louder report.
Well, before I go on with the next set of experiments,
I need some help in cleaning up the mess
that I just made here.
So, could someone please come out
and give me a hand in cleaning this up?
[whimsical marching band music]
*
[applause]
Now, don't you wish you have helpers like that in your lab?
[audience laughs]
My next experiment
is with a series of beakers
that have colorless liquids in them.
And I'll bring this out here
so everyone can see it well.
I have
one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight beakers
in the front row.
In the back row, I have the same number of beakers,
but they are a bit smaller.
And what I'm going to do
is mix the contents of the beakers in the back row
with the ones that are in the front row,
and we'll see what happens.
All right, here we go.
Maybe you can help out, but we'll see.
Let's see if anything happens first.
You know nothing will happen
unless we mix the chemicals together.
So, what should I do? - Audience: Mix them!
- Just stop talking and get on with the experiment, right?
That's what I should do.
All right, here we go.
One, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight,
nine.
[audience oohs and ahs] - Whoa!
One, two, three, four, five, six,
seven, eight, nine.
Can we get some help from the band, too? [bass drum beats]
One, two, three. [band resumes whimsical oscillating march]
[Shakhashiri counts to drumbeat] four, five, six,
seven, eight, nine.
One, two, three,
four, five,
six, seven, eight.
One, two, three, four, five,
six, seven, eight.
One, two,
three, four, five,
six, seven.
[band plays woodblocks in a metronome-like tempo]
One, two, three, four, five, six,
seven, seven-and-a-half, eight. [laughter]
One, two,
three, four,
five, six, seven,
eight, nine, ten.
[audience applauding]
How was that?
Did you like this experiment?
[cheers and applause]
What we're going to do now is
an experiment using
carbon dioxide.
Carbon dioxide is a gas at room temperature,
and I have--
We all know about carbon dioxide because
you know about carbonated beverages.
They have a lot of carbon dioxide gas
compressed in the liquid.
And we need to think about
carbon dioxide
in lots of different ways.
But right now, I want you to think about carbon dioxide
in the way that I have it here
because I have it in the form of chunks of dry ice.
Dry ice
is solid carbon dioxide.
I use my gloves to pick up those chunks
because the temperature of carbon dioxide
in the solid form is -78 degrees Celsius.
It's really, really cold and I use the gloves
to protect my hands from frostbite.
Dry ice changes from being a solid
to a gas directly, without melting.
When a solid changes
to a gas without melting, we call that sublimation .
Can you say sub-li-ma-tion ?
- Sublimation.
- Sublimation is happening right now, but we can't see it.
How come we can't see it?
We can't see it because
carbon dioxide gas is colorless.
It's invisible.
It also has... [inhales through nose, sniffs]
No smell. It's odorless.
And also, I tell you now,
carbon dioxide gas is a greenhouse gas.
And greenhouse gases have an effect on all of us.
But let's do the experiment now with carbon dioxide.
I ask you to focus your attention
on what I have between my two hands.
You see these cylindrical objects
and you see that they are arranged in pairs.
Pairs according to the substance that's inside them.
So, this pair has what color?
- Blue!
- This one? - Pink!
- This one? - Purple.
- And, what's in there are liquids.
How can we tell they're liquids, not gels?
Because from experience we know what liquids do
when we shake 'em up.
And what I'm going to do now
to help increase the visibility of the experiment
I'm gonna put this white cover back here now.
Can you see the colors better now?
- Yes! - I'm glad to hear you say that.
So, I'm going to reach for my bucket,
and I'm gonna take more dry ice,
and put the dry ice in the cylinders
in a special way.
And when I get done,
you tell me what the special way is.
Did I put the dry ice in every cylinder?
- Audience: No!
- I put the dry ice in every other cylinder.
We leave one of the pairs for comparison purposes.
Because a lot of things are happening right now
and the brain can't keep up
with all the information that we get.
But you see bubbles?
Those are carbon dioxide bubbles.
Where are they coming from?
They're coming from
the sublimation of the dry ice.
How come we don't see them here?
Because carbon dioxide gas is mixing with gas.
Over here, carbon dioxide gas is mixing with a liquid.
We learn from this experiment lots of different things,
including the fact that carbon dioxide gas
does not dissolve very much
in the water that I'm using here.
In fact, if it were
very soluble ,
we would not be able to see the bubbles.
But a little bit of them,
a little bit of carbon dioxide dissolves
and causes these color changes,
and with the acid / base indicators
that we have used.
And in all of these cases,
the carbon dioxide makes the solutions more acidic.
You've all heard of 'ocean acidification'?
That's when our carbon dioxide gas,
the greenhouse gas, interacts with water in the ocean,
in the lakes, everywhere else,
and lowers the pH.
You notice where the bubbles are coming up here,
we form a mist.
And this mist is condensed water vapor.
So, what I'm going to do now
is use my gloves to protect my hands
from heat,
because I have a conical flask here
that has in it boiling water.
And those bubbles that you see here,
they're not air bubbles,
they're not carbon dioxide bubbles,
they are... water bubbles.
And I pick this up carefully,
and then, I empty the water into the dishpan.
What do you see coming off the top?
- Steam! - Steam is invisible.
You can't see steam.
I can't see steam.
Nobody can see steam.
What you're seeing
is the condensation of water vapor.
That's what it is.
Look, when it's cold outside
and you blow your breath on your hands to warm them up,
don't tell me you see steam.
You don't "blow off steam" that way.
[audience laughs]
All right, so now I take
the bucket with the dry ice that's in it,
and I'm gonna dump all the dry ice that I have in here.
[audience oohing]
I'm still here. [audience laughing]
[audience murmuring]
You notice that the fog gets formed.
The condensed water vapor is moving downward,
reminding us that carbon dioxide gas is?
- Heavier! - Heavier or denser than air.
All right, so now I want to move over
and do an experiment.
And to do the next set of experiments,
I need to clear this a little bit,
and I need some chemicals from down here.
But, oops, I see I'm missing one chemical.
Is there someone in the lab that can help me
bring out the chemical I'm missing?
*["On, Wisconsin"]
[audience clapping and cheering]
- Audience: Whoo! [cheers and applause]
- Hello, Bucky,
I'm very happy to see you here.
Bucky, you are a very good student.
Bucky is a very good student.
Did you notice the eye protection he's wearing?
He's wearing goggles, you notice that?
And he also has a "Science is Fun button!" here.
So, Bucky, are you ready to help
with the experiment right here?
So you brought the ingredient I was missing.
What we have is three beakers in front of us.
This one has a clear and colorless liquid,
this one has a clear and blue liquid,
this one has a clear and green liquid.
So, why don't you take the ingredient
that you brought in here and add some of it
to the beaker that I'm pointing to right here, okay?
You ready for this?
All right.
Whoa! [audience exclaiming]
Isn't that beautiful?
Have you ever seen two clear and colorless liquids
mixed together and producing
such a beautiful yellow color before?
[audience yelling] Huh?
You like this experiment? - Yeah!
- All right, Bucky, they like your experiment.
So, let's see what you can do next with this one?
We have blue liquid in the front
and a clear and colorless liquid in the back,
and what you're gonna do is add, yes, yes.
You have good technique, Bucky.
A little more, little more.
And you succeeded
in changing the blue color to green color.
So, that's a very, very good way of doing an experiment.
[cheers and applause]
Bucky, we have one more to go here.
You ready for this one?
A clear and colorless liquid,
and we have a green liquid,
one shade of green in the front.
So, add that, just add a little bit.
Let's see what happens.
Ooh, ooh! [audience oohing]
You get two colors.
You have red floating on top of the green.
So that's a very, very good mixing
of different chemicals.
Very colorful, Bucky, just like you are!
But Bucky, I know that you are
a studious... [awkward pause]
...student, [laughter]
and you do well, now, I know you do well.
How long is it gonna take you to graduate?
What, let me see this.
One, two, three, four?
I have five. [audience laughing]
Well, we are different after all.
But I'm so glad you're gonna graduate in four years.
That's what everyone should try to do,
graduate in four years, so that you move on
with adventures that are meaningful in your life.
And Bucky, in order to graduate,
you have to do well on exams.
I know final exams are coming up here.
So, I know you have to go and study.
So, thank you so much for coming by, Bucky,
and doing all these wonderful experiments.
[audience applauding] Thank you, Bucky.
Thank you very much.
*["On, Wisconsin"]
[audience clapping and cheering]
I have another experiment
that I'm going to do with, what is this?
What does this look like?
- A ball. - Yeah?
What color is it? - Blue.
- Hey, do I have to ask all the questions all the time?
[audience laughs]
I know you're thinking them,
but we all have to develop the skills
of sharing what you have.
So, here is this nice blue racquetball. [thump]
It's pretty bouncy, [thump] as you would expect it to be,
because we know from experience [thump] what these balls do.
So, what I'm gonna do is put this rubber ball
in the liquid nitrogen like this.
I'm gonna move it over here.
And I need more liquid nitrogen.
Do I have any more liquid nitrogen?
Yeah, I have liquid nitrogen.
How much do I have in here?
I don't know. We're gonna find out.
There it is.
And you see it's boiling, the liquid is boiling.
Why is the liquid boiling?
Because the ball is warmer than -196 degrees Celsius.
So, what I want to do is cool this off.
Stay down there, stay down there.
Another interesting thing about the ball:
it floats in liquid nitrogen.
So that's something else to think about.
How come it doesn't sink in there?
It floats in there, so stay in there
because what I want to do next is fill up my big Dewar
with more liquid nitrogen.
There we go.
What is this white stuff that's coming off the side?
You're thinking about that, right?
You're wondering what it is, right?
You know what it is.
It's called, it's cold nitrogen gas,
and hitting the environment
where there is moisture in the environment,
so a little bit of condensed water vapor.
So, more over here.
All right, so let that cook a little more, a little more.
Why is it boiling now?
Because the tongs are metallic
and they're warmer than -196 degrees Celsius.
So, I've got this balloon in here, and you can tell
it has a gas in it lighter than air.
You're covering your ears again?
[audience laughing]
Maybe you need to do that, maybe you don't.
So, let me show you what happens
when I take liquid nitrogen
and I put it on top of the balloon here
to cool off the gas that's inside.
[trombones play warbling "Wah, Wah, Wah" fail music while balloon crinkles]
Sounds like the balloon is hurting.
[audience laughing]
And then, we wait for it to warm up.
As it warms up, the gas atoms,
the helium atoms that are in there,
are going to move faster, move faster.
And then, there is the balloon going up.
[ascending climactic music] Up.
[audience applauding]
Up.
All right, well, there's one other item
that I would like to work with, with you.
And as to reach back here
and get one of those very pretty chrysanthemums.
Isn't that pretty?
[boiling liquid nitrogen hisses]
Beautiful color.
[boiling liquid nitrogen bubbles]
Where are you going? [laughter]
What I'm going to do is take this very beautiful flower
and put it in liquid nitrogen.
And add more liquid nitrogen.
What do you think is gonna happen?
Anything? [audience murmuring]
It's gonna get cold.
I know it's gonna get cold.
Really cold, but what else?
[audience responds indistintly]
You think it'll stay pretty?
- Audience: No.
- Let's find out.
It still looks pretty, right?
But something has happened to it.
It has become, [petals clinking]
very fragile. [audience oohing]
Very fragile, so, all right.
Now, I go back to the rubber ball,
and a rubber ball is still there.
I think I should put my gloves on, right?
To protect my hands from frostbite,
because what I'm going to do is use the tongs
to get the rubber ball out.
So, come on, come on out, hello.
Come on out.
[laughter]
There it is. I've got it.
And when I walk over here, and let's see now,
how bouncy this ball is.
You ready for this?
Here we go. [cymbals crashing]
- Audience: Whoa!
[audience applauding]
- That was a shattering experience, wasn't it?
[ Science Is Fun Band plays triumphant music]
- Tin Man: Is this the right way?
- Dorothy: Well, I'm not sure.
- Where are we?
- Hmm, I think we should explore a bit more.
- Oh, look what's up ahead!
- Oh, I know where we are now!
- Where?
- Well, this is the lab of Professor Shakhashiri!
["If I Only Had a Brain" from The Wizard of Oz ]
- Tin Man: There are many wonderful things here!
*
- Hello. - Shakhashiri: Hi, Dorothy.
- This is my friend, Tin Man. - Hello.
Welcome back, Dorothy.
- I'm so glad to be back. - I'm very happy to see you.
You know, in my lab, we like to do experiments.
Would you like to do some experiments?
- Well, of course.
Oh, I think I see some things I'd like to use.
Ooh, how about that one?
- All right.
- That cylinder, does that have water in it?
- Yes, that's water in the cylinder.
- All right.
Well, first I need to wear my safety glasses.
- Ah, you remember.
Obeying the safety rules.
- Hmm.
This is milk of magnesia, right?
- Yeah, that is milk of magnesia, yes.
What are you gonna do with it?
- I'm gonna add it to the water.
Ooh!
I like that. - Shakhashiri: Yeah.
- But, I like things that are more colorful.
This says "universal indicator."
I'm gonna add that, as well.
- Dorothy, you know a lot about chemistry.
- Well, you haven't seen anything yet. [Tin Man laughs]
This is vinegar, and when I add it,
just watch what happens.
[Dorothy and Tin Man "Ooh"]
- Tin Man: Wow, that sorta looks like a rainbow.
- Oh, it does.
You know, that reminds me of one of my favorite songs.
*["Over the Rainbow" by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg]*
* Somewhere over the rainbow
* Way up high
* There's a land that I've heard of *
* Once in a lullaby
* Somewhere over the rainbow
* Skies are blue
* And the dreams that you dare to dream *
* Really do come true
* Someday I'll wish upon a star *
* And wake up where *
* The clouds are far behind me
* Where troubles melt like lemon drops *
* Away above the chimney tops *
* That's where you'll find me *
* Somewhere over the rainbow
* Bluebirds fly
* Birds fly over the rainbow
* Why, then, oh, why can't I
* If happy little bluebirds fly *
* Beyond the rainbow
* Why, oh, why can't I
[sustained vocalizing]
[audience cheers and applauds][Dorothy giggles]
- Thank you, Dorothy.
That was really, really beautiful.
- Thank you! - Such great talent right here!
[cheers and applause]
- Thank you.
Aw, but the rainbow's gone now.
Oh, let me see if I can bring it back.
[poured vinegar glugging] Oh, there we go.
- Tin Man: Well, that's beautiful, Dorothy.
You know, I think I could use some help
with some chemicals, too. - Shakhashiri: What do you need?
- Well, my arms are feeling a bit creaky
and I could use some oil.
- You would like some oil? - Yeah, but my can is empty.
- Oh, well, let's see if I can help you.
Actually, I think I can help you.
I have a lot of oil in here.
But watch this experiment first.
- Okay. - I have this glass container
and a smaller glass container.
I put it in here, and what I'm going to do
is fill the small container with oil.
So, are you ready for this?
- Yeah, I'm ready. - Here we go.
We pour it in like so. - Mm-hmm.
- Like so, and now it's overflowing.
- But, that seems like a lot of oil.
- It is a lot of oil, yes, yes.
And what else do you see?
- Tin Man: Well, the beaker, it's disappearing!
- Professor Shakhashiri: The beaker is disappearing?
The beaker is still there.
- But where'd it go? - I'll show you.
I'll fish it out.
It's right here.
[Tin Man laughs in amazement]
So, you always have to think about what's going on,
what is happening in the experiment.
But you said you needed some oil. - Sure do.
- So, I've got some oil for you here.
I hope this helps. - It sure will, thank you.
And you know what?
I was also kind of in search of a heart.
- Dorothy: Oh, well, I think I can help you with that.
- You sure know a lot
about working in a laboratory, Dorothy.
- Well, especially in such a well-equipped lab as this.
Well, see that paper over there? - Yeah, this one.
- Is that piece of paper like the one I saw you use before?
- Yes, it is.
- Well, watch as I spray this onto that paper.
[spritz, spritz, spritz] - Audience: Ooh!
- Tin Man: Well, it's a heart! - It is, there you go.
- Thank you, Dorothy. - Shakhashiri: How wonderful!
You're happy now? - Tin Man: Oh, I sure am.
- Well, would you like to do some more experiments?
- Oh, I would, but I think we need to get going.
- Shakhashiri: Aww. - Thank you so much,
and we will be back. - Thank you for saying that,
and that you for coming, Dorothy and Tin Man.
- Tin Man: Thank you. - Have a safe journey.
- Dorothy: Thank you. - Thanks, Professor.
- Thank you very much. - Bye!
[" The Wizard of Oz Score" composed by Herbert Stothart]
[cheers and applause]
- And now, I move over here and try to do another experiment.
This experiment is going to be done
in a very special glass assembly.
This is a glass spiral
attached to a funnel on top.
And what I'm going to do is
mix different liquids
with it,
actually, two different liquids.
One is clear and colorless
and the other one is clear and blue.
And the way I will do this is:
first, I will take the stoppers off,
and then, I will mix the liquids
by pouring them down the funnel,
in the dark, please.
So, if we turn the lights down...
There we go.
(bubbling, audience exclaiming)
[warbling music]
[Band plays descending notes unharmoniously]
*
[dark, discordant music]
This is the release of energy in the form of light.
There's no heat involved here.
This is still at room temperature.
Let's have a quick look at this in slow motion.
And then, you see the nice blue emission of this mixture
[warbling music] spiraling down.
[dissonant instrumental descends to lowest notes]
Isn't that beautiful? [cheers and applause]
Thank you, Band, thank you for that.
[jolly laughter] - Ho, ho, ho, ho!
[band plays "Jingle Bells"]
[Santa "Oh, ho, ho, ho-ing"]
- Shakhashiri: Hello, Santa.
- Santa: Happy holidays!
Happy 50th anniversary!
- Yes, 50 years, yes! [cheers and applause]
Wonderful!
I'm so happy to see you, Santa.
Did you get my list?
- Oh, a very, very long list, yes.
- It wasn't all that long.
I've been good, haven't I been good?
- Audience: Yeah!
- Did I get anything, Santa?
- Has he been good?
- Audience: Yeah!
- Have you been good?
- AudienceL Yeah! - Santa: Oh!
Let's see what a good boy gets.
Are you ready? - I'm ready.
- Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho! - I'm ready.
Oh, my goodness, oh, my goodness!
This-- look at this!
Can you see what this pillow says on it?
[laughter]
It is the International Year of the Periodic Table.
The periodic table was proposed
150 years ago,
and the periodic table
has in it, of course,
element number 50, right? - Santa: 50!
- Which is the element for this year's program,
and the element is tin.
- Tin! - Tin is the element here.
So, oh it's on both sides, too.
Let me show you this.
Thank you, Santa.
That's really, really cool.
I appreciate that, thank you.
- My pleasure. - Did I get anything else?
- Oh, in this year of tin, of course.
- In a deflated voice: A box? - Santa: A box.
- Shall I open it now?
Shall I open it now? - Audience: Yeah!
- All right, let me open it now
and see what the elves have prepared.
Ooh, ooh, ooh, that was really on my list!
This is two tin soldiers.
They're made of tin.
And the elves in your workshop
are very, very good at what they do.
They're very skilled.
Do they learn from you or do you learn from them?
- Oh, [jolly chuckle] we learn from each other.
- You learn from each other.
And how is the weather up there?
Is the North Pole affected by global warming?
- We have some very skittish polar bears these days.
- Well, we all have to pay attention
to that very important challenge that we all have.
So, Santa, thank you so much for this.
Was there something else that I got?
- Oh, yes.
- Oh, okay, open this?
- Please! - All right, I open it.
And I pull something out.
Ah!
It's a tinsel. [laughter]
- Santa: Tinsel. - A tinsel.
You get it? It's a tin sel.
[Santa chuckles] Thank you, Santa.
It's very thoughtful of you and of the elves.
- Oh. - And, Santa?
Would you like to do an experiment with me?
- Oh-ho-ho, would I! - All right.
Well then, come around the other way.
All right, and you know, Santa, in my lab
we always obey the safety rules.
So, guess what I have for you here?
- Santa: Goggles! - Yes, you knew that, right?
You knew that.
- [laugh jovially] Of, course. - And Santa,
what we're going to do, you and I,
we're going to do an experiment
by taking the clear and colorless liquids
that are in these two round bottom flasks
and emptying them into there.
But they're hot, so we put our gloves on.
If you put your gloves on, please.
- Gloves. - So that we don't
burn our skin, and so, the first thing we do,
after putting the gloves on, - Mm-hmm.
- Is to take the rubber stopper off, just like I did.
You do it over there, I do it over here.
And we lift up, okay.
And then you just empty it in here.
Just glug, glug, glug.
Go ahead. [Santa laughing merrily]
And you see the condensed water vapor coming up,
coming up the top.
Right, okay, so then, we quickly go back here
and we take the bigger flask. - Mm-hmm.
- And we put that in here,
like so, without spilling it.
And then we take the smaller flask,
take the rubber stopper off,
and put that in there, like so.
And then we take the big rubber stopper,
put it on,
and we have to mix the chemicals together.
And I can see changes already.
[Santa laughs festively]
I can see changes.
Can you see changes in what you're doing?
- Yes! - I see the liquids
are getting darker.
- I can see your face!
- You can see my face?
I can see your face, too.
[Santa laughs cheerily] - Santa: Lucky you.
- And the black color is changing.
Yes, I'm very lucky that you're here, Santa.
[audience laughing]
And now, Santa, you see what you and I have done.
We have made holiday ornaments!
- Whoa, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho!
- By depositing a thin film of silver
at the bottom of each one of those flasks.
- Fantastic! - So, we can put them here.
And if you would like to join me in holding one up,
and lift them up like this.
You like this experiment?
- Audience: Yeah! Whoo! [cheers and applause]
- Well, Santa, I know you have so many stops to make.
I don't wanna keep you here.
Thank you so much for joining me today
and giving me great, great pleasure.
Thank you so much.
- Thank you for all you teach us, Professor.
- Thank you so much, Santa. ["Jingle Bells"]
Happy holidays to you, thank you.
- Happy holidays, happy holidays to you!
Happy, happy holidays!
Happy, happy, ho, ho, ho!
Happy holidays!
[clapping to "Jingle Bells"]
- My next experiment will be done here,
and I'm going to ask Professor Leckrone to join me.
- Mike Leckrone: Certainly. - Are you willing?
- I'm happy to do it. [applause]
- Mike-- - But first, Professor.
- Yeah? - Safety goggles.
- Safety, of course, safety.
Put your safety goggles on.
And I have this liquid here,
and I'm gonna turn this liquid blue.
So, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna add it here,
and I want the liquid to be blue.
- Mike Leckrone: Well, it's not blue now.
[audience laughing]
- Well. - Leckrone: It's not blue.
- Be patient. [audience laughing]
Let me try this one here.
Does that help?
Is it blue? [stir stick clinking]
I have to mix things together.
Is it blue?
- I don't see any blue yet. - No blue yet?
Okay, well, I'll tell ya what.
You know, I have a battery right here
and I'm gonna put the battery in there.
- No, you shouldn't put a battery in there.
- Why not?
In this day and age, you know,
we use a lot of battery-operated things, right?
[Mike Leckrone chuckles]
So, we're gonna put the battery in there.
And, we're gonna mix.
[clink, clink, clink]
[audience exclaims excitedly]
What do you say now, Mike?
- It's turned blue!
- It turned blue, the liquid is blue.
So, this is a battery-operated chemical reaction.
[everyone laughing]
But we should recover the battery.
- Mike: Yes, yes, let's get the battery out of that.
- We should recover the battery.
So, let me do that by
pouring this blue liquid into this beaker here.
[audience responds tentatively]
- Mike: But it turned clear again.
- Well, you just be patient.
The blue is there.
It's hiding, you can't see it.
[laughter]
- Mike: Get the battery, too.
- Oh, yeah, pick up the battery, I pick up the battery.
Okay, yeah, it's there.
And, what's your favorite color, Mike?
- Well... that's nice, the blue is nice,
but I prefer red.
- You have anything red on you
other than your very nice outfit?
- Mike: What do you think? [laughter]
I always carry a red handkerchief, wherever I go.
- Thank you.
So, may I borrow it from you?
- Absolutely. - Okay.
So, the blue is there. It's hiding.
I'm gonna show you.
I take your red, yes?
I'm gonna put it here.
- It looks clear to me. [Mike and audience gasp]
- Mike: It turned blue!
- Bassam: There's the blue, yeah.
But what's your favorite color?
- Well, I like red a whole lot better than I like blue.
- You like the red? - Mike: I like red all the time.
- You like the red, okay.
So, let's see what we can do.
[audience exclaiming Oooh!]
- You're amazing, it turned red again.
That's absolutely amazing!
- Do you like this experiment? - Oh, science is crazy!
- Do you like this experiment?
[cheers and applause] - Audience: Yeah!
- Bassam: But you know what?
The blue is still there.
I'll show you.
I'll just take this cloth that you gave me, the red one.
- The red one? - We'll keep it red.
I'll rinse the blue out, right there.
[liquid dripping, audience laughing]
Isn't science wonderful, Mike? - It's absolutely wonderful.
[audience applauding] And I love,
I still love the red handkerchief.
- Thank you so much, Mike,
for helping with this experiment.
Thank you, thank you so much.
*["If You Want To Be a Badger"]
[audience claps along to song]
Now, I would like you to welcome
my long-time friend and collaborator,
Dr. Rodney Schreiner. Rod?
*["Bugler's Holiday" by Leroy Anderson]*
[audience claps along]
Hello, Rodney. - Hello, Bassam.
- Always happy to see you.
- And I'm happy to be here on this special 50th anniversary.
- Thank you, Rodney.
Rodney and I have known each other
for 49 of these 50 special presentations.
Thank you, Rodney, thank you.
Yes, he deserves a hand, yes. [audience applauds]
- It's a great pleasure to be here.
Oh, and you notice,
I brought you something in honor of the 50th anniversary.
- Yes? - It's a token.
- And it says 50 on it. - And it says 50.
Yes, but element 50 is tin. - It's tin, right.
- This doesn't look like tin.
- That's not tin, that's copper.
I was going to make you a tin one,
but I learned something about tin,
and that is: tin is very soft,
and it would be hard to make one that's sturdy.
- Well, copper is pretty hard here.
- Yeah, copper is very sturdy. - Yeah.
Is there something you can do with the copper?
- I think I can make it look like tin.
- Ooh! - How's that?
- Yeah, let's see that. - Well, let's try it out.
Let's try it out.
So, I am going to... well, let's see.
We are going to need some heat.
And,
I am going to put
some gray granules in the bottom of this dish.
There we go.
Spread them out a bit.
And then, I'm going to take the 50,
and put it on top of those granules.
- What is this gray material?
- Rodney: This is zinc. - Bassam: The element zinc?
- Rodney: The element zinc. - Bassam: Metallic zinc?
- Rodney: Metallic zinc ground up into a fine powder.
Well, let's see.
Now I'm going to add some of this liquid,
and cover it all up
with liquid.
- Bassam: What's this liquid?
- Rodney: This liquid is a solution of zinc chloride.
- So, zinc chloride dissolved in water.
- So, I'm going to set them up here,
and then we're going to light a burner.
- All right, I can help with that.
- Yes, turn on the gas. - Ready?
- Rodney: Yes. - Bassam: Okay.
[flint striker chirps while sparking]
- Rodney: There it is. - Bassam: More?
- No, that's good, that's good. - Bassam: That's good?
Okay. - All right, and so
I'm going to put the burner there,
and it's going to have to cook a little while.
And while it's cooking,
I'd like to show you a few things
about the element of the year, about tin.
- Yes, please.
- So, what I need to do is get some things from back here.
Now, I told you that tin is a soft metal,
and here is a bar of tin.
And to show you that it is indeed quite soft,
I'm going to bend it.
It's very easy to bend.
Very, very easy to bend.
Oh, and I can hear something happening too.
- When you bend it? - When I bend it.
[tin crackling]
- I can barely hear it.
[tin crinkling more loudly] Oh, yes, I hear it now.
- Yeah? - Yeah.
- Maybe if I bend more than one at a time.
Here I have three of them, here I'll--
[tin crackling more loudly]
- Oh, yeah, I can hear that.
- Yes, that sound that we hear, that's called the "tin cry."
[Bassam speaks soothingly] - Ohhh... is the tin sad?
[laughter] - Well, it sounds that way,
but all that's happening is that
tin has very big crystals inside,
and when I bend it, those crystals break.
And so, we're hearing
the crystals of tin breaking as I bend it.
- I see.
- Now, because tin is a very soft metal,
it can be formed into a very thin sheet
like most soft metals can, like aluminum can.
And a long time ago,
tin used to be formed into a foil,
just like aluminum foil.
- This is tin?
- This is made of tin, this is pure tin metal,
pure tin foil.
Now, this has been replaced now in our everyday lives
by aluminum foil.
But some people still call "tin foil,"
they call aluminum foil "tin foil."
- I remember that when I was a little kid.
- Yes. - It was a long time ago.
- And I know some people who still call--
- They still call it tin foil?
- Still call it tin foil.
Now, most tin today
isn't used as pure tin.
It's mixed with other metals
to form alloys.
And one of the oldest of the alloys of tin,
it's a mixture, mostly copper with some tin,
and it's used to form bronze.
About 5,000 years ago,
our ancestors discovered how to make bronze.
- Bassam: By mixing copper with a little bit of tin?
- With a little bit of tin, it's mostly copper.
But it's very sturdy, and it's now used
to make statues and plaques, like this one.
And now, there's another alloy,
also an old one,
of tin, which is pewter.
And here is a pewter goblet.
- What's that made of?
- It's also tin and copper, but in this case,
it's mostly tin, with a little bit of copper.
- Bassam: Okay, just the opposite of the bronze.
- Just the opposite of bronze.
Now, it can be polished with,
to look like silver.
So, sometimes you see pewter, which looks like silver.
This one doesn't, of course.
But the most
common use of tin
is in making solder.
Solder melts at a very low temperature,
and it's used to attach
two metal pieces together.
So, plumbers use it by melting it
to join copper tubing together or copper pipes together.
And people in the electronics industry use it
to join pieces of metal together
to make conductive materials.
Now, let's see what's happening over here.
- All right.
I see the liquid is boiling.
- It is boiling, yes.
- It has some color changes on the 50,
on the token that you gave me.
- Yes, yes, okay. - Yeah.
There's kind of a metallic,
silvery metallic color to it.
- Okay, let me rinse it off.
And now, it's wet, so I am going to dry it.
- Bassam: Dry it.
And, now--
- Most of it has changed color.
- Now, it's silvery.
- So, how, what happened here when you cooked
it in the mixture? - Well, I was,
while it was in here, it was being plated with tin--
with zinc rather.
There's zinc metal and zinc chloride in there,
so it coats the copper with zinc,
and that turns it, makes it look sort of like tin,
but of course it isn't tin-- It's zinc.
But this is a 50th anniversary,
and what metal do people usually associate
with a 50th anniversary?
- Gold.
- Gold, right.
So, let's see if I can make this look like tin.
I will move this away.
And we can turn this up a little bit so it gets hotter.
- More? - Yes.
And now I'm going to heat.
Heat it.
- Bassam: Do you need some more?
- Yeah, more gas please.
There we go, we want to get it nice and hot.
- So, there's a thin layer on top of most of the copper.
- Rodney: Yes. - Bassam: Oh, oh!
And it looks like-- - I can see changes, yeah.
- Rodney: It's changing color.
And again, what I want to do
is cool it off because I want to handle it,
so I'll put it in here.
[sizzles]
- Whoa.
- It was hot.
- Bassam: Do you still need the flame?
- No, we're done heating, we're done heating.
And, of course it's wet.
I'll dry it off.
And, so.
In honor of your golden anniversary,
we now have a golden 50.
- Bassam: Thank you so much, Rodney.
Thank you, thank you.
[audience claps]
- Thank you, Rodney Schreiner, thank you very much.
*["Bugler's Holiday" by Leroy Anderson]*
My next experiment is with plastic bottles.
I have three plastic bottles of different sizes.
There's one, there's another one,
and here's the third one.
And, of course, you see that I have a fourth one,
but the fourth one shows the inside
of how these screws are put in.
They are not touching on the inside.
So, this cutaway is to show you that they're not touching.
And each bottle has a small amount
of a clear and colorless liquid in it,
but also each bottle has a cork on top.
Let me show you what I'm going to do here.
I'm going to take this source of a spark.
It's called a Tesla coil.
I'm going to hold this metallic spatula very, very tight
and push the button,
and now you can see a spark.
[Tesla coil's current buzzing]
There you can see the spark, right?
Now, I'm going to touch this screw
and show you the spark is jumping across the gap
that separates the two screws.
All right, in the first bottle that I have over here,
I'm going to touch one screw
and see what happens.
You ready for this? - Yeah!
- You sure you're ready?
Here we go. [current buzzes, cork pops, audience shreiks]
Were you ready?
Are you ready for the next one? - Yeah!
[electricity sizzles, cork pops, audience yelps]
- Here we go.
And how about this one?
[electricity thrums, cork pops]
[audience yelps, laughs]
[audience laughing]
Are you ready for this one? - Audience: Yeah!
- Here we go.
[electron arc crackles, cork pops]
audience yelps, oohs]
[audience laughing]
You ready? - Yeah!
- One, two. - Three!
[electricity sizzles, cork pops, audience yelps] [audience exclaiming]
[audience applauding]
- I'm glad you liked that experiment.
I like that experiment, too.
You have been a wonderful audience
on this very special 50th anniversary program.
I wanna thank you for coming here,
I wanna thank you for your support of our program,
and I, of course, wanna thank everyone
who has made it possible,
and especially thanking you for
the eruption of your enthusiasm. [audience oohs]
And the outburst of your affection.
[audience ahs]
And thank you for all your support here
[audience cheering and clapping] in this very special program.
Thank you all very much, thank you, thank you.
*[slow, elegant version of "If You Want to Be a Badger"]*
[sparkly piano music]
And all of us, each one of us,
we all have awesome responsibilities.
Not only to ourselves, but to the future generation
that we love so much to protect our planet
and try to mitigate climate change.
And there's my daughter and my granddaughter.
Thank you, Violet, and thank you, Elizabeth.
[audience applauding] [inspirational music]
[exciting music]
[audience applauding]
*["On, Wisconsin"]