Something about a scientist silently dedicating their life to a cause that they may never receive recognition for but which will ultimately save everyone and make the world an infinitely better place just gets me man
I feel like Clair Patterson's clean lab practices are one of the most important parts of his legacy. Having standards of practice to protect experiments from outside contamination ensures more accurate and more repeatable results
Definitely. Clean rooms are all over the place now and used in many cases to directly save lives. The guy did a lot of good, much the opposite of the guy who came up with adding lead to petrol.
It is for reasons like this that I'm perfectly OK with science funding for science's sake. The value you can get from this kind of research is absolutely amazing.
This is why public funding of science is necessary. The private sector is strictly after profit, stifling scientific progress. It takes great cost and resources to advance sciene that the private citizen will not fund for science's sake.
This is exactly what NASA is about for instance. There's no money in sending rovers to Mars, but NASA can do it without expecting to turn any kind of profit
There are many things we use in the modern world that were found completely by accident by scientists trying to investigate something completely unrelated. And there is also knowledge gained that we wouldn't have otherwise. Like when a researcher who was trying to study a certain type of fish figured out that nonylphenol and other compounds used in the manufacture of plastics have detrimental hormonal effects.
Makes sense we haven't heard a lot about Clair Patterson before. An activist who got his activist zeal on because of science? Not great for big industries. Glad we have SciShow to teach us about the unsung heroes of science and the world!
I actually read about that just recently in Bill Bryson's Short History of nearly Everything. Patterson doesn't get anywhere near enough credit for helping to put a stop to this poison being blown into the atmosphere.
Interesting, but many details have been left out. It wasn't so much the oil industry that fought for lead, but the Ethyl Corporation, a division of GM. The danger of lead was well know. Back in the 20s NY & NJ were trying to get production banned in those states, but GM appealed to the president, who commissioned a panel of experts (auto industry experts) and they determined that with a few safeguards for workers it was completely safe.Patterson's research had actually been funded in part by GM, but once the results were out GM pressured him to do other research, When he refused GM tried to discredit him and even get him fired. GM started a campaign of science denial,. You know the "not enough is known", "conflicting data", "we need more research", etc, that also was later used by the tobacco industry and even later by the oil industry. Possibly GM started all of the anti-science crap that we deal with every day. BTW, Henry Ford had argued against the use of TEL in gas, and pushed for an alcohol solution for the octane problem with early gas.
Yep. Definitely a case of Deja Vu, hearing that…I think it was Exxon, that had research showing that yes, anthropomorphic climate change is a thing, back in the SEVENTIES…or the 80s, can’t remember which. Either way, they knew about it decades before it became a hot button issue.
@@GrumpyOldFart2 I came across a Guardian article this morning that claimed that the Keeling curve research was (at least partially) funded by oil and car manufacturers back in 1954.
Just to correct a detail or two. Ethyl wasn’t a division of GM, it was a company created by GM and Exxon in which they held equal shares. The decision to allow lead in gasoline in the 1920s was made in a process under the Surgeon General (since there wasn’t yet an EPA) in 1925-26, not by the president. Patterson’s confrontation with industry was with Exxon. Yes, there is a tobacco connection. The company b that ended up buying Ethyl in the 1960s from its founders was Albemarle, which produced paper for cigarettes.
@@michaelmayhem350yeah. In amazingly brain-damaging how many children and ruining their lives and lives of their families and society.😮 Lives ruined, lives hurt. A one-man environmental disaster, as Fred Pearce wrote.
@@michaelmayhem350 Amazing for for leaded gas and chlorofluorocarbons? Did you read about how many of his workers died of lead poisoning and how he kept lying about its dangers to the media ?
The billions of years was already being used so was the same evolutionary absolute space time cosmology despite, Einstein it was already being used and pushed it wouldn't matter
Whenever this topic comes up I can't help but wonder how much all of that lead has exacerbated things like public mental health, aggression, violent crimes, etc.
as @birdwomanobservations pointed there are many studies linking lead levels to various antisocial behaviors. I'm paraphrasing here, but they suspect the high crime statistics of the 80s were directly related to lead levels.
The phasing-out of lead paint and leaded gasoline is _one_ of the suspected reasons for the US's big drop in violent crime, after the peak of the early 1990s. The US finally banned lead paint in the 1970s.* That same decade, stricter air pollution laws practically required catalytic converters in car exhaust systems -- which began the end of leaded gasoline, since lead in the exhaust would quickly "poison" the platinum catalyst and keep it from doing its job.** By the mid 1990s, children growing up after this change were reaching their teens and 20s -- and had a lot less lead in their bodies than their parents had at that age. * About 50 years after most of Europe already had. Alternatives had already been in use for that entire gap, and new ones (like latex paint) came up in the meantime. ** The job of reacting carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and unburned fuel into less-immediately-harmful things. Lead gets in the way of this.
@@birdwomanobservations Makes me wonder whether I personally would be smarter and healthier if lead had been banned a couple decades earlier, or better yet never used so widely in the first place. How many illnesses among loved ones were lead-related, or developed because lead weakened the body or mind? Statistics are one thing, but realizing how they can apply to you and your loved ones is another!
Veritasium did an excellent video on this subject, pretty in depth as well. Somewhere in the video he goes over some studies that determined, as a whole, the average IQ of Americans has dropped several points since the introduction of leaded-fuel. I believe that has started to go the other way but dont take my word for it, been while since i watched the video.
Point of order: Lead is not banned in *all* gasoline in the US. Though we are also working that way. Most small planes like the Cessna 172 run on Avgas, usually 100LL. In this case 100 means 100 Octane, and LL mean "Low Lead" (it's about the same amount of lead as car gas in 1973, but lower than historical aviation fuels). It's used for the same reason as Leaded gas was in cars: anti-knock and anti-detonation, which is arguably quite important when in a plane that you want to keep in the air. Piston airplane engines also tend to have much higher compression ratios than car engines because they're working in much thinner air, which is why avoiding pre-detonation is REALLY important. Various ULL (ultra-low lead) and UL (unleaded) aviation fuels are in development some even being certified for widespread use, but it's a slow process because again, can't have planes just falling out of the sky. The end is in sight, but it also isn't here just quite yet. Piston aircraft are generally not allowed to use car gas because the additives may work against the performance of the plane, as well as things like ethanol just completely separating out with the changes in pressure and temperature. Jet planes and turboprops don't have to worry about this because they don't use the four-stroke cycle, and don't have to worry about pre-detonation, they use kerosene based jet fuels (typically Jet A or Jet A1) which are completely lead free.
It's an interesting spot: the one niche in aviation that still needs leaded fuel is also the one where it's becoming viable to switch to battery power.
@@Roxor128 Have you seen Wendover Productions' video on why electric planes would be superior for short-haul commuter flights? He breaks down the numbers and they look pretty good.
It is kind of crazy to think of how recently it is we really figured out how old the earth is. So many things that seem like we've always known them are actually fairly recent discoveries in the grand scheme of things.
It is odd to learn that so many facts we were excited to learn about as kids were recent facts that our parents and teachers were excited to learn about as adults.
Some discoveries also feel crazy because of how old they are. Like the circumference of the Earth was calculated with couple of percentage of error by a Greek guy in 200 BC.
I just went into a deepdive on leaded gas. Turns out it wasn't completely removed until 1995! (!!!) And it's still used in fuel for aircraft like commercial planes. They also still allow older cars that need some sort of lubrication to add lead to the gas. I always thought it was phased out in the 80's.. So that dang old 50's car that was frequently idling outside my apartment, waking me up with exhaust fumes coming in my window was in fact poisoning me in my sleep. Thanks a lot. I also learned that Algeria phased out leaded gas only in 2021. Honestly so tired of cars.
Commercial aircraft typically run Jet A or Jet B which are kerosene based and don't contain the lead AvGas does, and in fact, if you burned leaded avgas in a turbine engine you would cause lead oxide fouling on the blades
Most commercial plane run on Jet-A or a similar fuel, which does not have lead in it. Though you are right that most general aviation aircraft (Cessna 150's, 172's, Piper Cubs, etc) have lead in their fuel. This has been an annoyance in general aviation for years now, with a few companies trying to produce a fuel with enough octane to avoid engine damage at higher altitudes. These alternatives have been promising, but the FAA certification process has been quite the challenge.
@@ronkorn8454 the octane content isn't the problem, the problem is the valves and valve seats, the lead oxide provides a bit of a cushion for the valve seats which prevents some amount of the wear they would otherwise face. Aircraft engine manufacturers really haven't changed anything significant about their designs since the 1940s
Clair Patterson is one of the most important and least well known scientists in history. He deserves FAR more recognition. Also. the tactics that the lead using companies used to fight his data are the EXTACT same tactics that tobacco companies used, And oil companies. Discredit, debate and deny to protect your business and profits, Human lives don't matter as long as you keep making money. If a corporation is talking about it's business assume it only cares about insuring it's profits, they can not be trusted.
Glossing over lead in gasoline as "help engines run" is towing a company line, they were trying to find a way to sell an industrial waste product and convinced oil companies that was the best way to fix a problem that could be dealt with via engineering (like we do now)
I think it's important to preface radiometric dating stories with a brief bit about how when crystals form they tend to be pure elements; this is the "reset" that starts the clock, when it crystalized from some melt. Like, finding an atom of argon inside a crystal containing potassium is a giveaway that that argon was not there to begin with. Of course other isotopes might still be present in the original crystal but certain decays are pretty clear. Most of the argon in the atmosphere comes from potassium isotope decay (think bananas)
Thomas Midgley Jr is the man responsible for lead in petrol. He was also responsible for the invention of Chlorofluorocarbon based refrigerants. Not only did he develop two of the worst things environmentally, he knew full well their dangers! And yet he still went ahead. Greed....
He went on to contract polio, devised a contraption so he could get in and out of bed by himself, and one day was found strangled to death by the ropes of his own device. The mind that wrecked so much havoc on others killed its owner too.
To those who don't know, chlorofluorocarbons destroy the ozone layer of the upper atmosphere that protects life on Earth from harmful ionizing radiation of the Sun. The use of these compounds greated huge holes in the arctic ozone layers and were on their way to destroying so much of the ozone layer that it could have caused a mass extinction event.
Technically he was fully aware of (and complicit in hiding) the dangers of tetraethyl lead, but not chlorofluorcarbons, as far as I know. Still a scumbag, though!
Never heard of Patterson and im blown away by his ambitions, perseverance and acomplishments. A true inspriration and a example figure I will remember and willing learn more about in the future. And a big cheers for your work as well, watching this channel for years and appreciate your endeavour very much. Keep up the great work. Cheers
@@TonboIV Have you forgotten Iran-Contra, Between 1981 and 1986, senior administration officials secretly facilitated the illegal sale of arms to Iran, who was subjected to an arms embargo at the time. The administration hoped to use the proceeds of the arms sale to fund the Contras, an anti-Sandinista rebel group in Nicaragua. Also the FBI gunned down a mans wife and child who committed no crimes in the early 90's and for doing so the US government had to pay the family 3.1 million dollars. Don't forget the time that the Federal government burned women and children alive at Waco Texas.
Those examples do not incriminate the EPA however. It is a bit of an overreach to claim that corruption in one department, or even several, that these would make all others guilty of the same thing. Can you name an environmental policy that has done harm like what you claim by the others?
There's been some research that indicates a reduction in violent crimes correlates to the first generation of children born and raised after the ban on lead being used in such masses. Even when adjusted for the slow removal of lead from lower income areas, there's a stronger correlation between lead in homes and violence and race and violence.
just google something like "increased violence and suicides linked to SSRIs". These drugs were carelessly deployed in the same way oxycotin was and the drug corporations were not honest about how exercise, diet, therapy/counseling and even placebo sugar pills performed the same or better for treatment. @@ericacook2862
@@drakep271 the reason we dont know which ones specifically is because big pharma threatens media outlets that report on it. the issue bubbles up every time theres a mass incident because something like 90%+ of suspects since 1990s were taking SSRIs. do not take these medications unless absolutely there is no other option. We now know that counseling, therapy, exercise and diet all work better and in many cases eliminate the problem. Read "Spark" , came out in 2008. By MD John J Ratey.
The longer format is great. This SciShow episode did a great job with the topic, adding more detail and nuance than was possible with just a couple of minutes to work with.
I was raised in So. Cal. back in the 50's and 60's when gas was leaded and we suffered some of the worse air pollution in the nation. Can't help but think that it cost me more than a few I.Q. points as a result and reduced lung capacity as well. Thanks to the pioneering work of Dr. Patterson, maybe future generations won't suffer the same fate.
Awesome video. As an older millennial I would 100% take a semesters long Scishow chemistry course. We've learned so much since I was in school I just wanna start over and pick up the things that weren't being taught when I was a child.
I sometimes think the best form of immortality would be something akin to the immortal jellyfish, when you start getting too old or sick you just go back to being a little kid and get to grow up all over again. Go through the whole schooling thing and learn modern science and tech once or twice a century. Barring that, a subscription to "Science News" has done wonders to keep me up to date on all the major advances in all sorts of fields! Some I use every day, and some I learned in college and would have forgotten all about if I hadn't been reading articles about new research every couple of weeks!
An impressive feat of scientific dedication and love for this planet, worthy of our undying gratitude. Thank you Shishow for telling us this beautiful story❤
Claire Patterson should be considered a national hero and be taught in every school. He should be a reminder to everyone that science can change the world and save lives.
Great episode, I knew some isolated facts about lead dating and the lead contamination topics, but it was great to see how it ties down to the work of one person (among many others)! And how one life of research can lead a person in quite unexpected directions! Thanks for the hard work to get all this together in this video :)
"Finally we get to Lord Kelvin, who was wildly wrong and thought the world was a turkey, but then his former unnamed intern did some stuff and got the closest than anyone has ever been in the history of Earth." Thanks history
Clair Patterson is the most unsung hero of the 20th Century. He improved the health of millions of people (and billions of animals, probably). And almost no-one knows about him.
It's one reason I quit using lead sinkers when fishing. I have switched to nuts (as in nuts and bolts), instead. Plus it's a lot cheaper. My dad's shed is full of them. And he's happy that what he saved, found a use.
Dam RUclips un-subscribed yet again. Loved this one, I had heard of Clair Patterson years ago I just never knew how extensive his research had lead to the banning of lead. It’s just a shame he never lived long enough to see his results of all those years of campaigning
As a leadworker in the UK, this was really interesting to know where stuff I use everyday actually comes from. Don’t worry folks, annual blood tests let me know that I’m being adequately sensible!
This is the kind of thing I want people to think about when they think about the potential for health and ecological justice. Lead was not added by accident and it was not removed by accident. Positive change that seems daunting may still be possible.
WOW! Mind blown. I am really good at science and I'm gobsmacked. Unbelievably good video! I'm hoping you can do a video for my global warming denier friends about the ratio of Carbon-14 in the atmosphere as a result of burning fossil fuels versus Carbon-14 from modern sources, which removes all doubt as to where the hell our greenhouse gases are coming from and the rate in which we are emitting them since the dawn of the industrial age. You just got a new subscriber and I will tell my friends about you. Good job and thank you.
The same person who invented tetra-ethyl lead as a gasoline additive was also the person who invented chlorofluorocarbons. Another fun fact; one of the reasons ethanol is now added to gasoline is to act as an anti-knocking agent in place of tetra-ethyl lead.
I really enjoyed this video. But can somebody explain to me starements starting at 8:40 : "Meteorites are effectively rock-based time capsules that were created and sealed back when the Earth and all other planets were forming. In other words, the age of the meteorite is the age of the Earth itself." Hypothetically a meteroid could streak into the atmosphere tonight and if it survives be discovered as a meteorite tomorrow. It wouldnt be the age of the Earth, right?
Must have been nice to be an adult in an age (the 1990s...?) where science could force the government to force the petroleum industry to change their practices. How far this country has fallen in such a short span of time
I’ve only ever known of Unleaded gas. It’s crazy to me to think that we were still using leaded gas up until I was 3. For some reason it seemed like learning and getting rid of lead in everything happened years before I was even born.
The only leaded fuel commonly used is aircraft fuel. The hoops one must jump through to get a new, unleaded, 100 octane fuel approved with the FAA are quite heinous, so no unleaded "drop in" fuel yet exists.
@@deetheoriginal3117or just a troll, anyone that actually believes that would be way more cocky about there comment. Something along the lines of” how do these idiots think the earth is over 4 billion years old when it says loud and clear in the BIBLE that the earth is only 6000 years old”.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
Something about a scientist silently dedicating their life to a cause that they may never receive recognition for but which will ultimately save everyone and make the world an infinitely better place just gets me man
same, why am i crying right now 😩💜
The talles of unsung heros.
Yeah. The part about him passing away 3 weeks before the law was passed definitely hit me in the feels.
Lead was replaced for something non toxic, that for sure yall so be chill
"Infinitely better" 💀💀💀😭
I feel like Clair Patterson's clean lab practices are one of the most important parts of his legacy. Having standards of practice to protect experiments from outside contamination ensures more accurate and more repeatable results
I agree, it is the polar opposite of how at least two artificial sweeteners were discovered. Hand washing and clean labs for the win!
Definitely. Clean rooms are all over the place now and used in many cases to directly save lives. The guy did a lot of good, much the opposite of the guy who came up with adding lead to petrol.
It is for reasons like this that I'm perfectly OK with science funding for science's sake. The value you can get from this kind of research is absolutely amazing.
This is why public funding of science is necessary. The private sector is strictly after profit, stifling scientific progress. It takes great cost and resources to advance sciene that the private citizen will not fund for science's sake.
This is exactly what NASA is about for instance. There's no money in sending rovers to Mars, but NASA can do it without expecting to turn any kind of profit
We no need math. What good for? Brontosaurus steaks need eaten, not counted. Dum dum.
Critical thought - don't leave home without it! 😂
(I'm tired 🤪 But I do very much agree with you)
There are many things we use in the modern world that were found completely by accident by scientists trying to investigate something completely unrelated. And there is also knowledge gained that we wouldn't have otherwise. Like when a researcher who was trying to study a certain type of fish figured out that nonylphenol and other compounds used in the manufacture of plastics have detrimental hormonal effects.
Makes sense we haven't heard a lot about Clair Patterson before. An activist who got his activist zeal on because of science? Not great for big industries. Glad we have SciShow to teach us about the unsung heroes of science and the world!
I actually read about that just recently in Bill Bryson's Short History of nearly Everything.
Patterson doesn't get anywhere near enough credit for helping to put a stop to this poison being blown into the atmosphere.
Interesting, but many details have been left out. It wasn't so much the oil industry that fought for lead, but the Ethyl Corporation, a division of GM. The danger of lead was well know. Back in the 20s NY & NJ were trying to get production banned in those states, but GM appealed to the president, who commissioned a panel of experts (auto industry experts) and they determined that with a few safeguards for workers it was completely safe.Patterson's research had actually been funded in part by GM, but once the results were out GM pressured him to do other research, When he refused GM tried to discredit him and even get him fired. GM started a campaign of science denial,. You know the "not enough is known", "conflicting data", "we need more research", etc, that also was later used by the tobacco industry and even later by the oil industry. Possibly GM started all of the anti-science crap that we deal with every day. BTW, Henry Ford had argued against the use of TEL in gas, and pushed for an alcohol solution for the octane problem with early gas.
Don't forget the hysteria over hemp that ignored science in favor of demonization….
Yep. Definitely a case of Deja Vu, hearing that…I think it was Exxon, that had research showing that yes, anthropomorphic climate change is a thing, back in the SEVENTIES…or the 80s, can’t remember which. Either way, they knew about it decades before it became a hot button issue.
@@GrumpyOldFart2 I came across a Guardian article this morning that claimed that the Keeling curve research was (at least partially) funded by oil and car manufacturers back in 1954.
@@jadoei13 Oh, thanks! I sub to The Guardian so I’ll have to read that article. 👍
Just to correct a detail or two. Ethyl wasn’t a division of GM, it was a company created by GM and Exxon in which they held equal shares. The decision to allow lead in gasoline in the 1920s was made in a process under the Surgeon General (since there wasn’t yet an EPA) in 1925-26, not by the president. Patterson’s confrontation with industry was with Exxon. Yes, there is a tobacco connection. The company b that ended up buying Ethyl in the 1960s from its founders was Albemarle, which produced paper for cigarettes.
Clair patterson . Amazing guy , should be celebrated as a hero.
Thomas Midgley Jr. was way more amazing
@@michaelmayhem350yeah. In amazingly brain-damaging how many children and ruining their lives and lives of their families and society.😮 Lives ruined, lives hurt.
A one-man environmental disaster, as Fred Pearce wrote.
@@michaelmayhem350 Amazing for for leaded gas and chlorofluorocarbons? Did you read about how many of his workers died of lead poisoning and how he kept lying about its dangers to the media ?
The billions of years was already being used so was the same evolutionary absolute space time cosmology despite, Einstein it was already being used and pushed it wouldn't matter
@@michaelmayhem350 Nah, he sucked. You'd have to have lead poisoning to think otherwise
"Zircon are forever" sounds so much better than diamonds :)
"Zircon" just sounds better than "diamond" - sounds like something extraterrestrial.
*de Beers had just left the conversation
@@caydennormanton9682Zirconium is better than diamonds confirmed.
One could say Patterson seriously took the lead
Actually the word to use is lead not lead
Whenever this topic comes up I can't help but wonder how much all of that lead has exacerbated things like public mental health, aggression, violent crimes, etc.
This article (and one it links to ) address the crime/violence and leaded gasoline connection you reference. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraethyllead
as @birdwomanobservations pointed there are many studies linking lead levels to various antisocial behaviors. I'm paraphrasing here, but they suspect the high crime statistics of the 80s were directly related to lead levels.
The phasing-out of lead paint and leaded gasoline is _one_ of the suspected reasons for the US's big drop in violent crime, after the peak of the early 1990s. The US finally banned lead paint in the 1970s.* That same decade, stricter air pollution laws practically required catalytic converters in car exhaust systems -- which began the end of leaded gasoline, since lead in the exhaust would quickly "poison" the platinum catalyst and keep it from doing its job.** By the mid 1990s, children growing up after this change were reaching their teens and 20s -- and had a lot less lead in their bodies than their parents had at that age.
* About 50 years after most of Europe already had. Alternatives had already been in use for that entire gap, and new ones (like latex paint) came up in the meantime.
** The job of reacting carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and unburned fuel into less-immediately-harmful things. Lead gets in the way of this.
@@birdwomanobservations Makes me wonder whether I personally would be smarter and healthier if lead had been banned a couple decades earlier, or better yet never used so widely in the first place. How many illnesses among loved ones were lead-related, or developed because lead weakened the body or mind? Statistics are one thing, but realizing how they can apply to you and your loved ones is another!
Veritasium did an excellent video on this subject, pretty in depth as well. Somewhere in the video he goes over some studies that determined, as a whole, the average IQ of Americans has dropped several points since the introduction of leaded-fuel. I believe that has started to go the other way but dont take my word for it, been while since i watched the video.
Point of order: Lead is not banned in *all* gasoline in the US. Though we are also working that way. Most small planes like the Cessna 172 run on Avgas, usually 100LL. In this case 100 means 100 Octane, and LL mean "Low Lead" (it's about the same amount of lead as car gas in 1973, but lower than historical aviation fuels). It's used for the same reason as Leaded gas was in cars: anti-knock and anti-detonation, which is arguably quite important when in a plane that you want to keep in the air. Piston airplane engines also tend to have much higher compression ratios than car engines because they're working in much thinner air, which is why avoiding pre-detonation is REALLY important. Various ULL (ultra-low lead) and UL (unleaded) aviation fuels are in development some even being certified for widespread use, but it's a slow process because again, can't have planes just falling out of the sky. The end is in sight, but it also isn't here just quite yet.
Piston aircraft are generally not allowed to use car gas because the additives may work against the performance of the plane, as well as things like ethanol just completely separating out with the changes in pressure and temperature.
Jet planes and turboprops don't have to worry about this because they don't use the four-stroke cycle, and don't have to worry about pre-detonation, they use kerosene based jet fuels (typically Jet A or Jet A1) which are completely lead free.
Great summary! Thank you!!
It's an interesting spot: the one niche in aviation that still needs leaded fuel is also the one where it's becoming viable to switch to battery power.
@@Roxor128 You think they'll be using lead-acid batteries?
@@AlbertaGeek No, lithium-ion. You can already buy small planes that run on them.
@@Roxor128 Have you seen Wendover Productions' video on why electric planes would be superior for short-haul commuter flights? He breaks down the numbers and they look pretty good.
It is kind of crazy to think of how recently it is we really figured out how old the earth is. So many things that seem like we've always known them are actually fairly recent discoveries in the grand scheme of things.
It is odd to learn that so many facts we were excited to learn about as kids were recent facts that our parents and teachers were excited to learn about as adults.
Some discoveries also feel crazy because of how old they are. Like the circumference of the Earth was calculated with couple of percentage of error by a Greek guy in 200 BC.
I just went into a deepdive on leaded gas. Turns out it wasn't completely removed until 1995! (!!!) And it's still used in fuel for aircraft like commercial planes.
They also still allow older cars that need some sort of lubrication to add lead to the gas. I always thought it was phased out in the 80's..
So that dang old 50's car that was frequently idling outside my apartment, waking me up with exhaust fumes coming in my window was in fact poisoning me in my sleep. Thanks a lot.
I also learned that Algeria phased out leaded gas only in 2021. Honestly so tired of cars.
Do you even drive?
It does say that 1995 date in the video, fwiw
Commercial aircraft typically run Jet A or Jet B which are kerosene based and don't contain the lead AvGas does, and in fact, if you burned leaded avgas in a turbine engine you would cause lead oxide fouling on the blades
Most commercial plane run on Jet-A or a similar fuel, which does not have lead in it. Though you are right that most general aviation aircraft (Cessna 150's, 172's, Piper Cubs, etc) have lead in their fuel. This has been an annoyance in general aviation for years now, with a few companies trying to produce a fuel with enough octane to avoid engine damage at higher altitudes. These alternatives have been promising, but the FAA certification process has been quite the challenge.
@@ronkorn8454 the octane content isn't the problem, the problem is the valves and valve seats, the lead oxide provides a bit of a cushion for the valve seats which prevents some amount of the wear they would otherwise face. Aircraft engine manufacturers really haven't changed anything significant about their designs since the 1940s
One of the best videos you have ever published. What storytelling!
Clair Patterson is one of the most important and least well known scientists in history. He deserves FAR more recognition. Also. the tactics that the lead using companies used to fight his data are the EXTACT same tactics that tobacco companies used, And oil companies. Discredit, debate and deny to protect your business and profits, Human lives don't matter as long as you keep making money. If a corporation is talking about it's business assume it only cares about insuring it's profits, they can not be trusted.
Glossing over lead in gasoline as "help engines run" is towing a company line, they were trying to find a way to sell an industrial waste product and convinced oil companies that was the best way to fix a problem that could be dealt with via engineering (like we do now)
Yep, someone get the Nolan brothers, that’s a biopic we really need
I think it's important to preface radiometric dating stories with a brief bit about how when crystals form they tend to be pure elements; this is the "reset" that starts the clock, when it crystalized from some melt. Like, finding an atom of argon inside a crystal containing potassium is a giveaway that that argon was not there to begin with. Of course other isotopes might still be present in the original crystal but certain decays are pretty clear. Most of the argon in the atmosphere comes from potassium isotope decay (think bananas)
Thomas Midgley Jr is the man responsible for lead in petrol. He was also responsible for the invention of Chlorofluorocarbon based refrigerants. Not only did he develop two of the worst things environmentally, he knew full well their dangers! And yet he still went ahead. Greed....
And his company and the ones involved in leaded gas are still alive and well today, Ethyl Chemical, Dow Chemical, and DuPont.
He went on to contract polio, devised a contraption so he could get in and out of bed by himself, and one day was found strangled to death by the ropes of his own device. The mind that wrecked so much havoc on others killed its owner too.
True. I recall watching Veritasium's video covering him a while back. It was pretty interesting.
To those who don't know, chlorofluorocarbons destroy the ozone layer of the upper atmosphere that protects life on Earth from harmful ionizing radiation of the Sun. The use of these compounds greated huge holes in the arctic ozone layers and were on their way to destroying so much of the ozone layer that it could have caused a mass extinction event.
Technically he was fully aware of (and complicit in hiding) the dangers of tetraethyl lead, but not chlorofluorcarbons, as far as I know. Still a scumbag, though!
wow, never heard of this dude, much thanks! clearly, claire patterson wasn't just a great scientist, *he was a great human being.*
Clair Patterson is a hero
Never heard of Patterson and im blown away by his ambitions, perseverance and acomplishments. A true inspriration and a example figure I will remember and willing learn more about in the future.
And a big cheers for your work as well, watching this channel for years and appreciate your endeavour very much.
Keep up the great work.
Cheers
Clair Patterson: cleans lead off of everything
Stanley cup: hold our beverages
The Moon has been trying to date the Earth for at least 4.46 billion years. They're just making circles around each other.
Dang, that's an incredible episode, well done.
This may already be one of your top best videos this year in my opinion! Awesome job! I love it so much.
Just remember this every time certain politicians say we don't need the EPA.
While the EPA has done good things, eventually every government agency over reaches its authority and becomes tyrannical.
@@opossumlvr1023 Saying things doesn't make them true, and that's a very big claim you're making.
@@TonboIV Have you forgotten Iran-Contra, Between 1981 and 1986, senior administration officials secretly facilitated the illegal sale of arms to Iran, who was subjected to an arms embargo at the time. The administration hoped to use the proceeds of the arms sale to fund the Contras, an anti-Sandinista rebel group in Nicaragua.
Also the FBI gunned down a mans wife and child who committed no crimes in the early 90's and for doing so the US government had to pay the family 3.1 million dollars.
Don't forget the time that the Federal government burned women and children alive at Waco Texas.
Those examples do not incriminate the EPA however.
It is a bit of an overreach to claim that corruption in one department, or even several, that these would make all others guilty of the same thing. Can you name an environmental policy that has done harm like what you claim by the others?
@@opossumlvr1023 Well said! That's a fair point ☝️ made there.
There's been some research that indicates a reduction in violent crimes correlates to the first generation of children born and raised after the ban on lead being used in such masses. Even when adjusted for the slow removal of lead from lower income areas, there's a stronger correlation between lead in homes and violence and race and violence.
sadly just as lead was being removed from gasoline children were being put on toxic anti-depressants that spiked the violent crime rates again
@@artcurious807 I'd be interested in seeing the articles you get this information from because the research I've done indicates the opposite.
just google something like "increased violence and suicides linked to SSRIs". These drugs were carelessly deployed in the same way oxycotin was and the drug corporations were not honest about how exercise, diet, therapy/counseling and even placebo sugar pills performed the same or better for treatment. @@ericacook2862
@@artcurious807 which anti-depressants? There's dozens of them
@@drakep271 the reason we dont know which ones specifically is because big pharma threatens media outlets that report on it. the issue bubbles up every time theres a mass incident because something like 90%+ of suspects since 1990s were taking SSRIs.
do not take these medications unless absolutely there is no other option. We now know that counseling, therapy, exercise and diet all work better and in many cases eliminate the problem. Read "Spark" , came out in 2008. By MD John J Ratey.
The longer format is great. This SciShow episode did a great job with the topic, adding more detail and nuance than was possible with just a couple of minutes to work with.
I was raised in So. Cal. back in the 50's and 60's when gas was leaded and we suffered some of the worse air pollution in the nation. Can't help but think that it cost me more than a few I.Q. points as a result and reduced lung capacity as well. Thanks to the pioneering work of Dr. Patterson, maybe future generations won't suffer the same fate.
Awesome video. As an older millennial I would 100% take a semesters long Scishow chemistry course. We've learned so much since I was in school I just wanna start over and pick up the things that weren't being taught when I was a child.
I sometimes think the best form of immortality would be something akin to the immortal jellyfish, when you start getting too old or sick you just go back to being a little kid and get to grow up all over again. Go through the whole schooling thing and learn modern science and tech once or twice a century.
Barring that, a subscription to "Science News" has done wonders to keep me up to date on all the major advances in all sorts of fields! Some I use every day, and some I learned in college and would have forgotten all about if I hadn't been reading articles about new research every couple of weeks!
An impressive feat of scientific dedication and love for this planet, worthy of our undying gratitude. Thank you Shishow for telling us this beautiful story❤
Excellent video
Clair Patterson deserves a Nobel and more recognition. Thank you Clair for making a better tomorrow.
Reid! awsome storytelling. Dr. Patterson was a true hero several times over.
Great video! Thanks!
He went from cleaning the lab to clean the entire planet!!
I remember this story in the Cosmos series. So interesting.
as someone not very into history, this video has made Clair Patterson one of my favorite persons from the past
Best video yet!
Claire Patterson should be considered a national hero and be taught in every school. He should be a reminder to everyone that science can change the world and save lives.
full of unwavering appreciation for scientists and science communicators on this rainy saturday morning
Gosh, dude was DEDICATED 😅
I dont know what it is , but i honestly think this video presentation is one of the very best SCIShows I have ever watched.
Patterson litophilia is too much. Years trying to date rocks.
LMAO 🤣🤣🤣
Boooo! 🤦♀️😂
Lithophilia?
Get outta here 😂😂😂😂
@@iCarus_A A love of stones.
There is LOT of important information in this episode as well as history and science, well done!
This is the greatest thumbnail
I really do appreciate what Patterson did for us normal folk.
Great episode, I knew some isolated facts about lead dating and the lead contamination topics, but it was great to see how it ties down to the work of one person (among many others)! And how one life of research can lead a person in quite unexpected directions! Thanks for the hard work to get all this together in this video :)
Wow , less than 4000 patreons , that is shocking 😲
Great report , keep up the great work !
Wow what a hero. Love hearing stories like this!
"Finally we get to Lord Kelvin, who was wildly wrong and thought the world was a turkey, but then his former unnamed intern did some stuff and got the closest than anyone has ever been in the history of Earth." Thanks history
Clair Patterson is the most unsung hero of the 20th Century. He improved the health of millions of people (and billions of animals, probably). And almost no-one knows about him.
Excellent video! Thank you for posting..
Finding earth's age is what ended an epidemic of lead poisoning.
Clair Patterson & SciShow Patrons are my heroes.
Clair is a hero
It's one reason I quit using lead sinkers when fishing. I have switched to nuts (as in nuts and bolts), instead. Plus it's a lot cheaper. My dad's shed is full of them. And he's happy that what he saved, found a use.
Well, now I know a lot about Earth's dating history. I'm a little uncomfortable, but I hope she's okay with it. 🌎♥️
😂
Is that you, dad?
Another great topic.
Very nice! Loved this story!
whenever you start talking about fission, you really start being meaningful.
Mr. Clair was the lead lead that led the way on lead lead dating.
Dam RUclips un-subscribed yet again.
Loved this one, I had heard of Clair Patterson years ago I just never knew how extensive his research had lead to the banning of lead. It’s just a shame he never lived long enough to see his results of all those years of campaigning
How did this person not get the Nobel prize?
Imagine a world were scientists run governments instead of living fossils and orangutans
Damn, Clair Patterson was a hero
They still use lead in general aircraft (aircraft with propellers) 100LL is still extremely prominent.
I don't think I've ever clicked on an episode so fast. Fantastic title!
Thank you Mr Patterson.
Brilliant
A lesson in how basic curiosity science benefits humanity in unanticipated ways.
I imagine it could be calculated roughly how many lives his work saved globally
❤❤❤ One of your best vids
As a leadworker in the UK, this was really interesting to know where stuff I use everyday actually comes from. Don’t worry folks, annual blood tests let me know that I’m being adequately sensible!
This is the kind of thing I want people to think about when they think about the potential for health and ecological justice. Lead was not added by accident and it was not removed by accident. Positive change that seems daunting may still be possible.
WOW! Mind blown.
I am really good at science and I'm gobsmacked. Unbelievably good video! I'm hoping you can do a video for my global warming denier friends about the ratio of Carbon-14 in the atmosphere as a result of burning fossil fuels versus Carbon-14 from modern sources, which removes all doubt as to where the hell our greenhouse gases are coming from and the rate in which we are emitting them since the dawn of the industrial age.
You just got a new subscriber and I will tell my friends about you.
Good job and thank you.
thank you clair patterson
Very cool!
It begs you to wonder where all that lead went that wasn't inhaled.
I heard this story many years ago and drew parallels to where we are today.
The same person who invented tetra-ethyl lead as a gasoline additive was also the person who invented chlorofluorocarbons. Another fun fact; one of the reasons ethanol is now added to gasoline is to act as an anti-knocking agent in place of tetra-ethyl lead.
We still use lead in the aviation fuel used by planes that still use reciprocating engines. How do we get rid of that?
Unfortunately, leaded gasoline (called "low lead" or "100LL") is still used for general aviation because the industry is stuck in the 1950s.
I didn't think a steady-state Earth had been broadly believed since Steno.
Anyone else think initially based on the voice this was Keegan Michael Key? Key & Peele going in a whole new direction.
I really enjoyed this video. But can somebody explain to me starements starting at 8:40 : "Meteorites are effectively rock-based time capsules that were created and sealed back when the Earth and all other planets were forming. In other words, the age of the meteorite is the age of the Earth itself." Hypothetically a meteroid could streak into the atmosphere tonight and if it survives be discovered as a meteorite tomorrow. It wouldnt be the age of the Earth, right?
That's some seriously hardcore science to reach that outcome!
Actually, nothing I do will ever be useful in dating Earth. I mean, she's just out of my league!
Reed is my favorite. so great to listen to, and definitely not half bad to look at 😉😅
We need someone like Clair to do something about the microplastics now.
Must have been nice to be an adult in an age (the 1990s...?) where science could force the government to force the petroleum industry to change their practices. How far this country has fallen in such a short span of time
Shalom!
Palestine
I’ve only ever known of Unleaded gas. It’s crazy to me to think that we were still using leaded gas up until I was 3. For some reason it seemed like learning and getting rid of lead in everything happened years before I was even born.
"climate change isn't real" - brought to you by the creators of "lead poisoning isn't real"!
This is more true than anyone realizes.
Lmao "The kingpin of clean" dude seriously earned that title
Clair Patterson was a hero 🥺
A certain bottle manufacturer should probably take some notes.
Does anyone know where that beautiful fault line stock footage from around 6:10 to 6:13 was filmed?
The only leaded fuel commonly used is aircraft fuel. The hoops one must jump through to get a new, unleaded, 100 octane fuel approved with the FAA are quite heinous, so no unleaded "drop in" fuel yet exists.
Hi Reid!
Down with lead!
You mean to tell me the Earth isn't flat & 6000 yrs old??
You’re brainwashed and clueless
@@deetheoriginal3117or just a troll, anyone that actually believes that would be way more cocky about there comment. Something along the lines of” how do these idiots think the earth is over 4 billion years old when it says loud and clear in the BIBLE that the earth is only 6000 years old”.
Sphere and 6k years old
@@cryptochris9001 the earth is approximately 4.54 billion years old.