Thunder and Lightning

[Shalek]

Is it dangerous to get close to that thing?

[JeffersonLab]

@Shalek Nope.

[monkeysareawesomeful]

omg your awesome my teacher did this! :D keep up the good work!

[droppinstep]

If these thunders are hotter than the surface of the sun, it generates a lot of heat in the room? you can feel it?

[JeffersonLab]

@droppinstep No. Temperature isn't the same thing as heat. An iceberg has a lower temperature than a cup of coffee, but the iceberg contains much more heat. Temperature is a measure of the average energy of the particles in an object while heat is a measure of the total energy. So, while the spark has a high temperature (high average energy), it isn't made from a huge number of particles, so it doesn't contain a huge amount of energy.

[hexmeohdear]

would you die if you put your hand in-between?

[JeffersonLab]

@hexmeohdear Nope.

[Jefforsonlab]

Soooo just like real lightning you'll get electrocuted if it/u touch/touches u????

[JeffersonLab]

@Jefforsonlab No, it has far, far less current than actual lighting.

[ThePokemon966]

Please do do do uranium

[JeffersonLab]

@ThePokemon966 Do what with uranium?

[myanime1011]

Lol what happens when you put some water inbetween them? I thinl it will ether boil or evaporate because the particles are moving super fast.........

[JeffersonLab]

@myanime1011 Nothing much, really. Although hot, there's very little heat in the spark. It isn't capable of doing much.

[DRAWDE8999]

I love it how you have subtitles for "(snap)" at the end

[jarydgrace]

@JeffersonLab if you put an egg or other food in between the two spheres would it cook the food

[JeffersonLab]

@jarydgrace Eventually, it would take a long time. While it has a high temperature, the spark doesn't contain a lot of heat.

[23davvy]

@JeffersonLab you'll probability starve before its ready to eat lol

[softwhere07]

that was pretty cool.

[ainmelover321]

I remember the vandagraph! I'm my 8th grade physical science class we all got on the tables and joined hands by fingertips in a circle. One person had their hand on the vandagraph and touched the fingertip of the person next to them and it would send an electric shock threw everyone It was amazing! If you touched the ceiling or put say your braces near it or put your tongue near it it would create a spark. It was a really fun day.

[STeNeNSTeN96]

this may sound stupid, but if the sparks are hotter than the surface of the sun, couldnt the oxygen in the air set on fire and kill all life on earth? :)

[JeffersonLab]

@STeNeNSTeN96 Oxygen doesn't burn. And, if some sort of reaction could happen, lightning would have triggered it long ago.

[softwhere07]

its only that hot for a split second. oxygen's not even flammable is it?

[GreenDay5119]

what would happpen if you'd put your hand between those 2 domes?

[JeffersonLab]

@GreenDay5119 You'd get shocked.

[evertkiller2]

I love that the Van de Graaff generator is a dutch name :)

[Th3RussBus]

Hey guys this is a myth I heard, but if a man was struck by lightning while he jumped in the air, he would be unaffected due to his body not making contact to the ground. Sorry if it seems stupid but I dropped Science as a subject in my final year of high school.

[JeffersonLab]

@Th3RussBus Jumping isn't going to help. The lightning had no trouble going through a mile or so of air. Creating an air gap of a foot or so between you and the ground means nothing to the lightning.

[derPeddern]

what would happen, if you put your hand between the spheres? would the baby lightnings hurt you?

[JeffersonLab]

@derPeddern It wouldn't feel good, but it wouldn't really hurt you.

[itsLean]

@JeffersonLab and what if you touch the generator sphere with one hand and the earth sphere with the other? mmmh :P

[JeffersonLab]

@itsLean See our video called "Should a Person Touch 200,000 Volts?"

[levilisko]

ok, and what are lightning flashes?

[JeffersonLab]

@levilisko Lightning at a distance. Depending on conditions, it isn't uncommon to see 'flashes' from a storm that's 50 miles away.

[SuperLaw911]

haha lol, i remember back in high school me and my buddies would mess with one of these in science class by shocking each other with it. we discovered that if you sit in a chair with some type of metal on it....the result would be getting shocked in the butt lol =P

[benattck]

Once she turned on the generator the video froze.

[JeffersonLab]

@benattck Think that might be a problem with your connection. The video plays normally for me.

[PleaseShareCash]

@JeffersonLab sorry if this might sound dumb i havent really learned about this and i aint good in science... What would happen if liquid nitrogen and lava somehow join together , like what would it make?

-Thanks

[JeffersonLab]

@PleaseShareCash The lava will make the nitrogen boil and change to a gas while the nitrogen will cool the lava. Whether you end up with rock (frozen lava) or just cooler lava depends on the relative amounts of each.

[PleaseShareCash]

@JeffersonLab Thanks so much ill definitly come to you when ill have some hard homework ! subscribed :)

[darkheat246]

@JeffersonLab Wouldn't the liquid Nitrogen become gas before it even touches the lava; making that question completely illogical.

[JeffersonLab]

@darkheat246 It depends on how much of each you have.

[GamerGuy800]

What would hapen if i put my hand inbetween the domes and then started them up? Would the 'baby lightning' create a clean hole in my hand like a lazer, or would it just electricute me?

[JeffersonLab]

@GamerGuy800 Neither. You'd get shocked, but not electrocuted.

[GamerGuy800]

@JeffersonLab I see, and would that shock be enough to kill you?

[JeffersonLab]

@GamerGuy800 No. That's why I said you wouldn't be electrocuted. Electrocuted means 'killed or injured by electric shock.'

[2015fatboy]

where's the liqiud nitrogen?

[perkinsx21]

You people are awesome.

[Arch1Kid]

Get a rave going with that Van de Graaf.

[mrazlan9876]

hi

[JeffersonLab]

@mrazlan9876 Hello.

[mrazlan9876]

@JeffersonLab hi

[mrazlan9876]

@JeffersonLab hey can u tell me why it says comment pending approval?

[JeffersonLab]

@mrazlan9876 Because we approve comments before they are posted publicly. Since our videos are intended for educational use, we don't want inappropriate material to work its way onto our pages. Posts with swearing, general meanness and spam are what we generally block.

[version1x4]

The lightning isn't as hot as you Joanna ;)

[Shockcaptain117]

@version1x4 Haha! They actually approved that?

[oalh970]

I will only say these are the kind of videos that really can show us how wonderful and interesting science can be. Sometimes we forget that Physics is an experimental science. This video just reminded me that is not all about equations and Calculus. :)

[Jeepers014]

what would happen if put your hand in between the domes as the electrons traveled?

[JeffersonLab]

@Jeepers014 You'd get shocked.

[ultislasher1]

@JeffersonLab I always thought that thunder was the sound that was made when you break the sound barrier..?

[JeffersonLab]

@ultislasher1 That's a sonic boom.

[ultislasher1]

@JeffersonLab yyyyyyeeah...

[TheParpaing]

According to the subtitles, at the end of the video, the thunders are saying something like : "Snap - snap - snap - ..."

Very interesting/

[coppsass]

what happens if you touch the domes???

[JeffersonLab]

@coppsass Do you mean if the domes touch each other? Nothing. Both domes are grounded and the charges immediately flow to the ground.

[SuperKiraDesu]

this is one of the reasons i love chemistry, so much to learn, and so many fun experiments to try out

[GLamoRousCooKie]

My God if only you would be my science teacher, then maybe I would actually understand something.

[herdaddy123]

i just wanna say you guys are awsome

[JeffersonLab]

@herdaddy123 Thanks!

[yoyomaster223]

has anyone noticed the left dome was moving away? lol!

[abcdefghij29993]

What happens when you put liquid nitrogen in the middle

[JeffersonLab]

@abcdefghij29993 Nothing much. It sparks to the container and then through the person holding onto it.

[akram4179]

@TINYmoviemagic Wow, i was thinking the exact same thing!

[AndromedaChao2]

In a hydrogen bomb explosion, the light flash is seen first and then the blast sound of the explosion is heard.

[InvestWebbot]

Internet waves !!!

[JeffersonLab]

@TINYmoviemagic You get shocked.

[awagnerable]

@JeffersonLab is it a reallly bad shock, or just small

[JeffersonLab]

@awagnerable It's enough to get your attention.

[fflattliner]

@JeffersonLab how doe's light travel faster than anything and also can it break the sound berrier.

[JeffersonLab]

@fflattliner I can't give you a simple answer other than just saying that, in vacuum, the speed of light is the ultimate speed because that's how the universe works. Since it travels much faster than sound, I guess that you can say that light breaks the sound barrier, although that's usually used for things that start off moving slower than sound and then accelerate past the speed of sound. Light doesn't do that, though. In air, it's never slower than sound.

[SuperSpells]

@JeffersonLab Did you hear that scientists have observed a particle moving faster than the speed of light?

[JeffersonLab]

@SuperSpells Well... they -think- they have observed neutrinos moving faster than light. This is far from being a confirmed result. The main issue seems to be how they were determining the pulse profile of their neutrino beam. They are making assumptions that are... assumptions. A good write-up can be found at ZapperZ's 'Physics and Physicists' blog. Search for 'physicsandphysicists' and read the entry called 'Most Credible Challenge To The OPERA Result'.

[flowercowable]

awww no liquid nitrogen?

[JeffersonLab]

@flowercowable We don't -just- do stuff with liquid nitrogen... we're multifaceted!

[SammyWinters442]

Ha ha sparks in the dark XD

Best saying ever ha ha .

[ahmeeeeeeeeeeeed]

Ok maybe they're hotter than sun surface but they aren't hotter than it's core right?

[JeffersonLab]

@ahmeeeeeeeeeeeed Right. The surface is only about 5800 K. The core is 13-14 million K.

[ahmeeeeeeeeeeeed]

@JeffersonLab Thanks for reply man

[JPortfolio]

What do you mean with hotter than the surface of the sun? Is it a matter of energy density? the energy in the volume occupied by a spark is higher than the energy in the same volume in the surface of the sun?

[JeffersonLab]

@JPortfolio As an actual measure of the temperature. This shouldn't be confused with heat. The temperature of the spark is high, but it doesn't contain much heat.

[atheistkyo]

We need more science channels on here, thank you very much for your efforts.

[PersianPaladin]

Are those sparks really hotter than the surface of the sun? Or is that just referring to lightning from thunder storms?

[JeffersonLab]

@PersianPaladin Those sparks really are hotter than the surface of the sun.

[wb5rue]

You are right, light travels faster than sound. Proof of that is that many people appear bright until you hear them speak.

I really love your videos. You seem to have so much fun making them and, being a teacher, that makes a HUGE difference.

[NothingIsPlausible]

lol at 0:58 the man face is funny

[pokemonandnarutofan1]

What happens if you put your hand through the Baby Lightning would it hurt or Burn?

[JeffersonLab]

@pokemonandnarutofan1 It hurts a bit. Not enough to make you cry, but enough that you don't really want to do it if you don't have to.

[Superemosewaful]

you could also use glass prisms

[JeffersonLab]

@Superemosewaful Those don't do as good a job as diffraction gratings, like the ones in the glasses you got at the Lab. We can place a sheet of the stuff in front of the camera and capture the spectrum that way. It then becomes a game of is the pattern bright enough for the camera to capture well. If not, we could use a still camera with a time exposure.

[Superemosewaful]

Let me re-phrase my question: Could you go to different lights (neon signs, light bulbs, the Sun, etc) and try to show the different patterns and shapes of spectrums they have?? Although I don't know if its even possible...

[JeffersonLab]

@Superemosewaful We could probably do something like that. We'd have to run a few tests with the camera to see if it can record a plasma's spectral pattern. Lacking that, we could use a still camera to record the pattern.

I'll put it on the list, just realize that there are other videos on the front of our list. It may be awhile before we can get to it. Good idea, though!

[Superemosewaful]

Thank you for answering my question. Although can you do a video on light and the different types of spectrums they make?

[Superemosewaful]

Can you make a vid on the different spectrums of light??

[JeffersonLab]

@Superemosewaful It's a possibility. Along what lines are you thinking of?

[Superemosewaful]

When you used the Van de Graaff generator, was it really dry in the room?? Because when I had visited the Jefferson Lab, you said the room was too humid to see lightning when the domes where far apart. Why is that??

[JeffersonLab]

@Superemosewaful Water molecules are polar, so they are attracted to charged objects, even if the water molecules are neutral. When it's humid, it's hard for the Van de Graaff to build up enough charge to create big sparks. It's kind of like trying to fill a bucket that has a hole in it. The larger the hole, the harder it is to fill the bucket. Humidity is like the hole in the bucket. The more humid it is, the larger the hole is and the faster the charge leaks out.

[weldmaster80]

that is a NICE Van de graph generator, thanks for sharing!!!

[dorkhawky]

soo cool!!

[Snakecharmer95]

very cool

[ThisIsArtem]

anti-freeze should be an interesting one

[dudeyourvideosucks]

Anti freeZe

[dudeyourvideosucks]

Antifreeze sounds good to me

[LBTennis]

Anti-freeze please!

[LBTennis]

More vids please.

[JeffersonLab]

We're working on it! Still trying to decide what to do next. It's between 'liquid nitrogen vs. anti-freeze' or 'liquid nitrogen vs. Starburst candy.' Both will eventually get done, it's just a matter of which one gets done first.

Let's try a vote! Leave a comment saying 'anti-freeze' to vote for us doing that first or 'starburst' to vote for doing that first.

[JeffersonLab]

We filmed liquid nitrogen and antifreeze today. Depending on how quickly we can edit it together, we may be able to upload it tonight or tomorrow!

[ThisIsArtem]

So, the baby lightning are the electrons jumping over to the other half of the generator?

[JeffersonLab]

Yes.

[tostrong4you]

sparks in the dark, nice

[omegahunter9]

I hope you don't tell your students that light travels "a million miles a second" ^_^

As I recall light travels at approximately 186,000 miles per second.

[JeffersonLab]

That's not what we said. We said that it takes sound about 5 seconds to travel one mile. We also said that light travels about a million miles in the same amount of time. So, in five seconds, light goes about one million miles:

186,000 miles/s * 5 sec = 930,000 million miles, which is 'about' one million miles.

[omegahunter9]

@JeffersonLab Oh, I misinterpreted what I heard O_o

[JeffersonLab]

No worries!

[dudeyourvideosucks]

Her hair grew alot

[ZepMan63]

This is cool but I like the one the Mythbusters built, it's about 7 or 8 feet tall.

[dafrandle]

didint you alredy do this

[JeffersonLab]

Yes, we did. However, the first version had a big enough mistake in it that we decided to do it over again.

New stuff is on the way!

[AshIsInsane]

Man I just love electricity. Reminds me of the time we had a Van de Graff generator in my science class! I stood on a chair so we could see if we could get my hair to stand on end and got shocked on my foot! And man it hurt! XD

Another great video from you guys! Thanks so much for sharing!

5* and favorited!

[Forlo12345]

HAHA!  Cool!