Spinning Sphere of Molten Sodium
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 13 июл 2018
- An experiment on how turbulent convection in Earth's core makes a magnetic field
Get a free audiobook with a free 30 day trial at www.audible.com/Veritasium or text Veritasium to 500-500
Huge thanks to Prof. Dan Lathrop and team: ve42.co/Lathrop
Companion video to explain Earth's magnetic fields in more detail:
• How Earth Creates Its ...
Australians! I'm on my way. I'll be doing live shows in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne. Details and tickets here: ve42.co/tour
Find out more about the film Vitamania: ve42.co/VITA
Special thanks to Brady Haran and Periodic Videos for sodium vs water footage. Original clip is here:
• Sodium v Water (slow m...
Special thanks to Patreon supporters:
Donal Botkin, Michael Krugman, Jeff Straathof, Zach Mueller, Ron Neal, Nathan Hansen, Yildiz Kabaran, Terrance Snow, Stan Presolski
I learned a lot in making this video and the one on my second channel with Prof. Jon Arnou. I changed a lot of my preconceptions, specifically I thought:
1. That the Earth's magnetic field was a passive thing - it shouldn't need a continuous input of energy to maintain itself (that seemed reasonable to me because the magnetic field has been around for a long time and it seems mostly stable). But as it turns out, the Earth is a giant electromagnet, and so of course those currents dissipate their energy as they encounter resistance in the liquid metal through which they flow. So the energy to continuously create these currents comes from the kinetic energy of the liquid metal flows in the Earth's outer core.
2. If it's convection, I'm thinking hot things rising, cooler things falling. But apparently the main effect driving convection is the compositional differences at the boundary with the Earth's inner core. This is because of the differential freezing at the boundary. Things like iron freeze into the inner core, while elements like sulfur do not. Hence the pockets of lighter material which then rise outwards.
3. I didn't get why the fluid motion was necessary for the generation of the magnetic field. I mean if it's a conducting liquid, it can conduct currents whether it moves or not. But the key is that the liquid metal can 'trap' magnetic fields. I imagine this like how iron channels magnetic fields. Then once these fields are channeled, they can be pulled and stretched, making more magnetic field.
4. Fluids operate very differently in rotating frames of reference. This is something I didn't intuitively grasp. But, as fluids move from the inner core outwards, those particles are moving much more slowly in the direction of rotation than the matter that has been there for a long time, which means the convection currents get deflected and form helices.
Music by Kevin MacLeod incompetech.com Brandenburg Concerto No4
![A Day To Remember: Feedback [OFFICIAL VIDEO]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/iXVnysmQ4e0/mqdefault.jpg)
"Describe your life in two words."
Me: "Modestly catastrophic."
"insanely lonely"
"gamer life" also "no life"
"kil me"
Weeaboo no-life
Woof!
@@biggreenleaf7035 @65259840 Audrina writes...
["see what you are drawn to. Ask about bullying policies, extra curricular activities etc."]
Drawn to..what exactly? I hit up a few Schools today looks to me if the grounds are well-kept, friendly staff encounters and well-behaved pupils gives me a positive first impression (Or am I being too naive/easy to please?)
- I even ask some kids Where's The Office? and lightly notice how they respond.
Have yet to hear back for some ACTUAL tours :)
And thanks for reminding me to ask Bully policies / activities.
@65261296 Spannerr writes...
["I know some schools near me offer really solid music and sports programs at the sacrifice of really quality education, while others do just the opposite."]
"And everything just Chills." You gotta love this guy.
Cool beans
I feel like he is insulted by ignorance
he is absolutely fantastiv
@@ranmindyt2902 cooler legumes
Took into account the heat capacity of sodium? Which is enourmous? hmm? And the heat capacity of liquid nitrogen? Wihich is miniscule? The reason you can put you hand in it for a moment or two?
I think the guy better prays every day he plugs his device in to those consumer-grade sockets (:D) that his fail-safes work.
"Yeah we have a giant spere of flammable explosive stuff that spins really fast, and in case something goes wrong we just dump some hella cold stuff on it"
gotta love science
Thanks for pointing that out in such a fantastic blunt way. 😂 Do love me some science.
When the Number One Atomic Pile was switched on at the University of Chicago, they had buckets of some solution (cadmium?) that was a poison to the reaction. If the reactor went supercritical, a grad student with an axe was to chop the rope that held the buckets. If any had spilled on the reactor during normal operation, they would have had to disassemble the entire pile to remove the contaminated fuel.
Hella cold explosively flammable don't forget explosively flammable
@@AlanCanon2222 watch chernobyl it's most noble gasses poison reactors
While hoping the really hot spinning stuff didn't fail horizontally and spray all over the room first.
"If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research, would it?"
Research starts with a hypothesis.
I don't think he said that
@@max0x7ba And a hypothesis is a grab in the dark.
@@bldjln3158 Not necessarily
That should be a famous quote
Lets just skip over "the magnetic field is dying and we don't know why"
Right?!!!!!!!!!
yeah lol
Decrease in intensity =/= dying magnetic field, but I understand the concern. What's not mentioned here is that while the magnetic field is important for life on Earth, there's no correlation between changes in the magnetosphere and extinction/mass die-off events. There's a healthy concern about how electronics will behave if/when an event happens (i.e. solar storm, pole inversion, etc), but magnets, however they work, are not going to kill you.
@@ETiWells
If the decrease in intensity continues at the current loss per year, there will be only x amount of years before there's nothing left. Maybe not "dead" but certainly not there. So if your argument is about correlation/causation I understand what your trying to say. The problem that we can track What is happening but we cant explain Why it is happening. But his point is perfectly valid in the context he was using.
@@cjr4666 so i dont dont have alot of knowdlege on this particular matter but i dont know hot to tell when a commented is a psudeo intellectual and when they actually know what their talking about you should try and learn that skill, because untill you commented it was 1:1 ratio but with your comment the dunnig krugger affect is present in 200% of the comments disgussing changes in the magnetic field
1:48
>Emphasizes the importance of safety
>Has power strip hanging by the cords plugged into it
No worries ... It was pulled in by the magnetic force and wrapped around many times... Thats how the cryogenics were tested
If you look it's actually attached to a bracket.
I have a feeling it is for the temporary lighting used to film the video. It seems to be partially illuminated from a low angle which doesn't seem normal. Just a guess.
This is every experimental physics lab I've ever been in lol
@@BLUEKOMMEH But the bracket isn't attached to anything else...
Can we get a follow up on some of these? I wanna know what they've learned in 2 years.
Yes please
Upvote for attention.. I'm curious too....
Veritasium doesn't think that much about their videos
@@jimsmith3715 you can't be out here hating on this channel with the high quality vids theyre putting out
They are discovering how to create a self sustaining Dynamo which will create a molten core,which will create a magnetic field,this technology can be used to turn Venus, Mars into life sustaining planets.
"It doesn't care where the tickle came from"
... so it's basically like the nucleation point when a liquid freezes to a solid. The tiniest little point and within a second the whole thing is frozen
"where the...." sounds like Pelosi....LOL
or like the mechanism of a kelvin water dropper
Sound gave the spark when God spoke and said "let there be light!"
A super saturated solution?
The older guy's enthusiasm makes me really want to listen to what he is saying.Kind of like a favorite teacher in school.You walk into class prepared to be a little bored and walk out excited for class the next day.
Wtf are you talking about? Older guy? Yo moms old
This guy is a bad ass. Great interviewee
Real Engineering Nice to see you here
Real Engineering Nice to see you buddy.
Impossible not to read this comment with an Irish accent :)
Agreed. He's friggin hilarious.
Fancy seeing you here.
It's always amazing to witness the machinations of crazy scientists that casually spin 12 ton molten balls of sodium.
The pens in his pocket are in such a harmonic position. I am mesmerized.
"Back up plan is put it out with cryogenics... it actually works great!"
ARE YOU IMPLYING, SIR, THAT YOUVE HAD TO USE THE EXTINGUISHER?
In scientists mind theoretical correct equations and reality is the same thing... If the maths works it will works
While unlikely that it's been applied on that scale, presumably its been proven on a smaller scale
*puts on blast goggles* We extinguish this sodium fire today.... in the name of science!
The nuclear power industry (and naval applications) has a lot of experience with liquid sodium and potassium. Some of it involved significant spills (it is called practice).
The solar industry is building on that for solar thermal power stations.
I wonder if the temperature difference wouldn't bring out the leidenfrost-effect, or sthng?
I like that statement. "Modestly catastrophic". Lol
Granted, that's worst-case scenario. The destruction might in fact be very localized, limited to merely our own galaxy.
he is so genuinely enthralled by his work. I can only aspire to live like this man
I worked for him when I was an undergrad in '99-'00 and he was indeed as you describe. It was inspiring to be around him.
"Practicable" - pure mad scince guy 2020
did he just say the earth's magnetic field has reduced by 10% in the last 100 years? ... thats scary
It is cause for concern, which is why they are studying these things. It probably is something completely natural that has happened to the Earth many many times over the past billions of years. It should be no threat to life on Earth.
But up until 100 years ago, we didn't have sensitive electronics, and those can really suffer very badly if the magnetic field gets weaker in keeping charged particles from the sun away from Earth. If in the future the magnetic field will go below a certain level, we will have to design our future electronics differently so they can handle it. But for that we need to know how weak the magnetic field will get before it gets stronger again, and how much time we will have before that.
That's why they are doing this research.
The magnetic field is dynamic, it "has weather", as mentioned.
@@Yora21 eliminating the field that protects us from cosmic rays is not a threat to life?
it very much is a threat to life, since we would be exposed to tremendous amounts of solar radiation.
Welp... what are we going to do?
5:40 There is no way we'll ever know which dinosaur comic that was stuck to the machinery
That comment brought me joy thank you.
with enough manhours we can find out. I recognize the style and know the artist, its just a matter of checking every comic for similarity :)
It's a blank comic strip that you can add your own words to, there are loads of versions of it out there (just do a search for dinosaur comic strip and you will see), so you're most likely correct in saying we will never know. :)
Parody Week: Dinosaur Comics by XKCD
xkcd.com/145/
Damn. I searched the comments to see if anyone knew. I suppose one of us could write an email to someone at the lab?!
This is fantastic content. Those sulfur spirals extending from the solid/liquid core interface were fantastic for explaining the twisting magnetic fields. Just a perfect use of this medium. Subscribed!
I keep coming back to this video because the logistics of such a thing as a 12.5 tonne spinning sphere of molten Sodium are just insane to think about.
Now I really want to see liquid nitrogen put out molten sodium
I didn't even know that was something I wanted to see until it was mentioned in the video. lol.
or cody
"It works extremely well actually!"
That means he has seen it done right?!
I... I'd really like to see a 12.5 tonne molten sodium explosion.
N-Na!
These are scientists we need.
_"Yea its risky. Yes it could be a catastraphy. But were going to try it. And we've even invented new ways to prevent things going really really baddy"_
Bold science is best science.
Charles Lynch Its a symptom of the cult of religion that science has become.
I fear one day you will regret this comment.
Is strong weather the best weather?
@@loke703 if we were the weather it would be good
@ 3:00 "...and everything just chills..." had me cracking up
That is the demeanor of a person who has self actualized. I hope I can work on something I love some day.
Wait, what? The Earth's Magnetic Field has weakened by 10% in the past 170 years? Why is this not something more talked about, seems like something incredibly alarming.
Lucian N this is why it's not talked about. People flip out over something that we have zero control over and will happen regardless of how much people worry about it.
I don't get what you're freaking out about. At that rate, we've still got 1530 years before it becomes our problem. Just let the kids deal with it.
Yes, or even the grandchildren.
Because it will still be million years before it will become a problem. (That is if by then the Sun didn't swallow us up)
Considering that the scientist specifically said we don't have any predictive science about Earth's magnetic field, it seems likely to me that losing 10% over the last 170 years might prove to be a much bigger problem much sooner than you'd expect. So yeah, I think people should be freaking out and investigating whatever's causing it.
that is one excited scientist.
Then again i'd be just as happy with a giant sphere of molten sodium
6:02
Veritasium: "Why is it important to know when the magnetic field will change?"
Professor: "So we can have a forecast for planning purposes."
Me: "..... ok.... did i miss something?.... the heck..."
This reminds me of the "black hole engine" in Event Horizon
Definitely a movie that can induce nightmares.
Cursed comment
Seen that movie once... "ONCE"... Cannot, will not, watch it again... ever...
It kinda looks like that guy secretly wants to see the whole thing explode just for the sake of it
Would be more accurate if you also said that all of us want to see a big explosion.
"Modestly catastrophic" - love it! I'll definitely use that in the future. That guy is funny.
This was really cool. I would love to see a follow up video.
Oh my god I love how happy this guy is to talk about his research
I love how they have all these fail safes to prevent the sodium from going boom, but they still left that live power strip hanging out the door from its cords 1:48 XD
Haha, that cracked me up, too XD
Modestly catastrophic... my new favourite tag line :))))
Gotta love it when he causally reminds you how deadly everything is then laughs after considering it might fail
Wait until he starts using lasers to pop off electrons and finds, he's created a black hole! haha, sure that some advanced civilisation, is simply holding back, waiting... purely to witness the horror on mankind's face, when he finally realises subatomic properties, mirror the macroscopic. As above, so below.
Greetings from S. Africa🤩 love watching Veritasium
It's like...
The more i learn about the intricate systems necessary to maintain life on earth, the more i get the feeling that, yes..
... Yes, we are alone.
Yea but when you consider the scale of the universe, Inifinity, there is infinite chances for the systems to line up. Although it may be too far away for us to ever hope to see, which in a way is the same as being alone I guess
Only is you assume that life can only exist on perfect copies of Earth.
The reason why we need things like sunlight, and magnetic fields is because we were evolved under these conditions.
A puddle takes the shape of the hole it exist in, and not vice versa.
@@TheMegaOne1000 that's also a good point
We are carbon based life. Who says that sulfur based life cant exist in different conditions? Or any elemental based life, evolved to use whatever is un their environment to sustain life over billions of years. I would say based on human history and the estimated history of the actual universe, that it's a 50/50 chance that we are the 1st intelligent life. Possible if another evolved from the first year of the big bang, it could have gone extinct before humans could communicate.
we are alone
Yesssss new video from Veritasium! :D
This man seems very enthusiastic about his research. This is a fascinating subject and I'm very glad the people studying it enjoy it so much.
Thank you so much for using metric units in your videos.
Before the scientist pulls the lever to kill off the fire, he looks at it over his shoulder and says, "Chill."
Heavy breathing
... and then this plays on the background
ruclips.net/video/NXCaHq-F0m4/видео.html
David Furor Curser no say take a chill pill
"Cool it, pal."
wow the first veritasium video in what feels like years...
JimmyTheChicken He literally just said he’s releasing a feature length documentary. Use your thinking brains and put two and two together.
WimsicleStranger all I’m saying is that I’m glad that he is back to posting, calm down bro.
This seems very important please do more videos about it!
Man's really said: *"The magnetic field has dropped 10% in the last 100 years, we don't know why 😀"*
"Yeah, so we use sodium because it has one of the highest electric conductivities of any molten metal... So i has the downsides of being hazardous and flammable but... The failure would be... Modestly catastrophic?... :)"
What an absolute lad, love the guy.
The scientist is essentially an NPC from Half-life. They're waiting for you Mr. Freeman.
wouldn't you like to get one of *these* blood samples under a microscope
Half Life 3 confirmed? (IRL)
Can you put a piece of hardware on their head to make them jump to the next step ?
...in the tesT chambuurrr.
Do you know who ate all the donuts?
I love that Professor. I would love to have a beer with him. I bet he could tell an awesome story.
this video definitely should've been longer! please explore this topic more if possible
I keep checking back for an update!!...
I like how there is a dinosaur comic giving instructions about the machine.
Thank you for interviewing Dr. Dan! There is no video out there like this on his dynamo experiment. Looking forward to seeing what this experiment will teach us about the Earth's magnetic field.
Important setup and still bigger and wider experimentation is required.
I wish this was a longer episode! This is very interesting.
I have studied geophysics. Even if i am not an expert in geomagnetics i have to say: "Damn thats impressive"! Nice Vid. Thanks!
Glück auf
"and everything is just chilled."
The best way to contain a catastrophhic disaster.
I want to hear more from this guy! This is so fascinating.
Now that’s science. Incredibly important, incredibly complex, only understood by a few and done with passion.
#ModestlyCatastrophic
great band name....
great band name....
we need a t-shirt
Haha this is awesome. I've stood up there on top of the sodium ball, our lab is right next to this. Modest catastrophe means our project gets wiped out!
Carl Schmidt salt is sodium chloride...this is sodium metal, veerry different animal
Very interesting video as always.
Im South African born and raised, lovely place to be when you know where to be.
You gotta love that guy’s curiosity and enthusiasm it is very refreshing
That's really cool and all... But what does the comic with dinosaurs glued to the side of the machine says?! I need to know!
it must be from www.qwantz.com ... but WHICH ONE?? :o
I was thinking the same thing? Which one!? (All of them are great, though.)
We need a 4k version of the video!
I think they put it there just in purpose in order to people on RUclips could write comments about it.
Some guy commented: "It's qwantz.com comic number 2018"
Dude seems like he's on the edge of crazy. Love it. haha
What? He's completly sane and your just a kid ho doesn't understand what he's saying.
He is excitedly passionate on what they are working on unfortunately some people will never or know the power they possess.
I see what you're saying. I wonder what this guy's relationships are like. My father was a passionate engineer. He was good to his colleagues and took pride in his work. He was kind of a workaholic and a perfectionist. But he was an asshole at home. I was afraid of him, the dog was afraid of him, and my mom... didn't care for him very much...
This guy reminds me a lot of my father.
@@drained1177 you sound like your projecting there, dumb kid. i don't even see why you're so mad, he said the guy was eccentric and he loved it.
@@borggambsmash7825? Mad? You're mad hurling insults at me for no reason? Irrational being.
0:01 OMG this scientist looks exactly like one of those Half Life Lambda scientists
they almost look like they're making the "Resonance Cascade"
I was thinking of Half-Life too. You just can't predict what's going to happen other than a modest catastophy.
"Quick! It's about to go critical!"
Love the quantz comics on the machine 6:30 lol
Modestly catastrophic would make a cool band name.
Love how enthusiatic this guy is, you can tell he loves what he does!
This video is intensely calming as in relation to the work being modestly catastrophic
Just read that the South Atlantic Magnetic Anomaly, along with one other similar anomaly have been identified as two tremendous chunks of what's left of Thera, the Mars size planet that crashed into Earth some billions of years ago (its aftereffect creating the moon), now residing somewhere deep into the lower mantle or outer core...Wow!
4:35 Yeah, this is instructional and very interesting and all, but I'm way more interested in that little comic strip or whatever hanging on the apparatus in the background!
Can anyone help me know what it says? It's really hard to see.
That's always one of my favorite things about scientists, there's almost always some number of apt comic strips hanging around offices or wherever.
no, no pin up girl. go back to your work shop please.
It's an issue of Dinosaur Comics, but hard to tell which one. Its main thing is that it always has the same six panels, only the dialogue is different.
This comments are the only reason I came to the comments section.
you're looking for qwantz.com
You came to my University and spoke to my professor and didn't tell me?!! You son of a...
He has filmed multiple times at UCLA but never let the students know :( That's so bad Derek
son of a father
Son of a bitcoin... son of a birch... son of a bilge water... son of a build channel... son of a budgie...
Came to my University and spoke to my father and didn't tell me...
Paul Lathrop Oh you're his son? Cool!
He seems moderately calm about the impending catastrophic disaster of the weakening of the earths magnetic field. all though there is a silver lining to our magnetosphere fading and disappearing... it will be the greatest ever 'we told you so' to the flat earthers...
We are not sure if it will continue at this pace, and predicting it is not yet possible. When you see the night fall for the first time, you might think, that your star is fading. This is the reason why this lab exists.
I’m pretty sure what scientists are saying the reason it’s happening is because the poles are going to flip soon. Mind you, it’ll take a long time, but yeah. Earth’s been around for 4 billion years. It probably isn’t going to stop generating a magnetic field while we’re here.
he's calm because its only a modestly catastrophic impending disaster
I suppose working next to a mildly catastrophic 12.5 ton Na bomb daily, the Earth’s magnetic field decaying takes a back burner
Hollow sphere. Toroidal forces. Ancient history. Supporting current majority believed theories with further observation.
love the trex and raptor comic on that sphere casing.. best early 2000s meme to date
I get the feeling that these experiments are going to be vital to earth's future survival.
YAY NEW VIDRO FROM VERITASIUM!! Love the content keep up the awesomeness!!
Why do I find this so amazing?
One of the few useful experiments I have ever seen. like to know what they discover.
How fast does that sphere need to spin to get you guys to start calling it “natrium”?
Weird to click on this video and suddenly see my old neighbor.
@Studio Azarath Is your profile picture Hiro Hamada from Big Hero 6?
over00lord Unknown no
@@over00lordunknown12 no
@@over00lordunknown12 no
@@over00lordunknown12 no
This Prof is very very serious about his work. No time for humor. Man with a mission
Thoroughly fascinating!
This is amazing. If they could they perfect this and minimise it, could it like be use like in a space scarf to stop the radiation passing through it. That would be cool.
I love the fact that the big ball of molten sodium cage has a patch of gaffa/duck tape on it. #TrueScience
great video, first time watcher, subscribed
We need to bottle the passion and enthusiasm of Professor Lathrop, this guy would be a hoot to hang out with.
1:50 Look in the background at the power strip attached to the extension cord. "...hazardous and flammable. The failure would be modestly catastrophic." ROFL. Oh man I'm dying. Someone please get these scientists some slightly better electrical equipment. xD
We actually plug the coffee maker there too ;)
and some safety glasses :)
@@rubenrojas499 lmao
needs more salt
“Needs moar seasonin”
FarawayWayfarer Don't you mean some chloride?
You can find it in PVP free to play games
Needs more cowbell.
Im taking Dr. Lathrop's class on designing physics experiments this semester! He's just as awesome in person as he seems on camera 🤩
I love it. Slightly catastrophic! That bad boy would be a gnarly explosion! Hope there isn't any close neighbors
Great video, thanks!! We take the magnetic field for granted, but I'm glad to hear Prof. Lathrop is trying to understand it - we believe that Mars lost its magnetic field when its core cooled & solidified. It's believed that the atmosphere was blown away by the solar wind after the protective magnetosphere was lost. Methinks it would be helpful to know if that process started on earth...
Now ask yourself what could possibly cause all the oddities seen on Venus? ElectroMagnetic fields tend to line up in alternating layers of polarity. What happens if an artificial field gets insterted between the two outer layers?
B the Wile E. Coyote you're then ejected into space or cooked with ionized radiation
John Canniff yes, yes you are.
Frank Brants, mars and the moon have magnetic fields like any planet in orbit, or it wouldnt be in orbit. Theyre lieing.
Current causes rotation not the other way around
4:00 flat earthers' minds implode
That would be impossible. There's nothing to implode.
Thermometry, moderately catastrophic, practicable, this guy cracks me up with his vocabulary.
Ben Davidson on Suspicious Observers provides some great content on Earth's magnetic reversal in progress.
So this is the best place to be for potential terminator encounter...
Another huge question in my life answered
This is so fun
Excellent use of thermometry...
Derek -- you mentioned how the inner and outer cores are way too hot for the Curie temperature ... (I have not looked into this) the 2nd order phase transition that is ferromagnetism is almost surely influenced by pressure at some level, i.e. there is some term in the energetics that would account for it -- presumably at 'normal' (
Legend has it, Trevor Noa is a comedian.
random but true
For anyone who was wondering what comic was on the device at 4:15 / 4:30 / 5:40 / 6:27
It's an edit on this i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/591/927/85b.png
Best guess.
It's a dinosaur comic (qwantz.com). They all look like that.
LaurensK90 exactly, so which dinosaur comic is it
thanks, years since te last time i I've read the comic,
So.... I've watched many of your videos and you're definitely one of the best at explaining new concepts like in this video. Usually, you explain it well enough and go in depth enough such that I'm left fully understanding whatever it is you're discussing, I'm then left thinking and challenging the world on this new taught concept.. I do however feel like you did this earth magnetic field dirty and didn't go into much detail on all the pieces of the puzzle I'm now left with more questions but regardless, your videos are awesome! Maybe a little less commercial breaks if you're going to talk about your sponsor for the last 5 minutes of your videos now though.
I think it's Google who determines how many commercial breaks there are :)
This was amazing. Thank you