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Chemistry: 4.2 Subatomic Particles 209 Views


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Description:

Get ready, Shmoopers, today we're going to take things subatomic. But not in the dangerous way that Ant Man did. We're not as brave as he is.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

Isaac Isaacson is a fan of both [Scientist in a lab]

00:06

science and science fiction. His all-time

00:09

favorite book is Fantastic Voyage (he was

00:12

even named after the author, Isaac Asimov),

00:15

where a few people are shrunk down to a

00:17

microscopic size and injected into a [People shrink, and an injection is given to a girl]

00:19

human body. Anyway, Dr. Isaacson has always

00:21

dreamed of taking a similar journey--not

00:24

into a human being, but into various

00:26

elements--and now thanks to his new

00:28

invention, the Shrinky-Dinker 2000, he [Strange looking gun appears]

00:31

can. With the help of his trusty lab

00:33

assistants, Larry and Curly (yeah, [Larry and Curly bump heads]

00:35

their names are totally just a

00:36

coincidence), the good doctor is about to

00:38

take the adventure of a lifetime. To get [Dr Isaacson rubbing his hands together]

00:41

things started, Dr. Isaacson is

00:42

miniaturized and his subatomic

00:45

submarine is sent sailing into a tank of

00:47

hydrogen. As the doctor navigates his [The little submarine is put into a tank]

00:50

ship about the tank, he observes the

00:51

hydrogen atoms in action and makes some

00:54

notes, although it would be tough for any [Making notes in the cockpit of the submarine]

00:56

normal-sized human being to read them...

00:57

Well, hope the re-enlargement phase goes [Person trying to read the notes through a microscope]

00:59

okay. Well, the first thing Dr. Isaacson

01:02

observes is the nucleus of a hydrogen

01:04

atom, which contains just a single proton, [The submarine going around the proton]

01:07

making hydrogen the lightest of all the

01:10

elements. If you're ever going to give an

01:11

element a piggyback ride, well you want [Girl with a hydrogen atom on her back]

01:13

to ride this one. The doctor then takes a

01:15

gander at the atom's neutron, the only

01:17

subatomic particle present with no [The submarine going around the neutron]

01:19

electrical charge. Yep, it's neutral, which

01:22

is where the word neutron comes from. Yeah,

01:25

it's the Switzerland of subatomic particles. [Switzerland with its hands up]

01:26

Well now, outside the nucleus, Dr.

01:28

Isaacson notices an electron go whizzing

01:31

by the outside of his submarine. He knows

01:33

that these are the negatively charged

01:35

pieces of an atom, and the reason they [The submarine next to an electron]

01:38

aren't flying off into other regions of

01:40

the tank is because the negative charge

01:41

keeps them attracted to the positive [The negative charge attracting the electron]

01:43

charge of the proton, so they stick

01:46

around. An electron is like a

01:48

star-crossed lover who can never be with

01:50

the object of his unrequited love but

01:52

hangs out so he can keep an eye on her

01:54

all the time. Okay, that's not a star- [Electron wearing love heart glasses following the proton]

01:56

crossed lover, that's a stalker, but still... [Police officer gets out a restraining order]

01:58

Once Dr. Isaacson has had his fill of

02:01

hydrogen, Larry and Curly remove him from

02:03

the tank and let him play with a few [The submarine is swapped tanks]

02:04

other elements. There's helium,

02:08

with an atomic number of two, meaning it

02:10

has two protons--twice as many as [The two protons are demonstrated]

02:12

hydrogen; copper, with 29 protons; and

02:16

uranium, with a whopping ninety-two

02:19

protons. Of course, no matter how many

02:21

protons an element has, Dr. Isaacson has [Drawing a love heart on the periodic table]

02:24

no favorites; they're all his babies. After

02:26

a long, exhausting day of voyaging

02:27

through the elements, the doctor is

02:29

finally ready to be retrieved and

02:30

returned to his normal incredible height

02:32

of 5 feet 2 inches. If only Larry and [The doctor asking to be taken out]

02:34

Curly hadn't bumped heads while rushing

02:36

about the lab in a frenzy... Well, they should

02:38

come to in an hour so. They can't see you,

02:41

doctor. Yeah, wave your arms all you want. [The doctor waving his arms in the submarine]

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