Thorium - Periodic Table of Videos

[JossJossJoss1]

Dear Brady,

Big video about Thorium please! About it's use as a fuel. Cheers!

[johnchj]

Not quite what I was looking for Uranium boy :-)

[wenloh]

can you @periodicvideos do a video about thorium as nuclear fuel! thorium for life <3

[Monosandalos]

@periodicvideos Why don't you redo the video about Thorium, especially now that it is in the news?

There are some articles on how car makers are considering using Thorium hit by a laser to generate heat to power a car. Furthermore, the efficiency claimed is something like 8grams for 500.000km.

I hope you and the profs find this an interesting topic

[CrooksAlan]

Can I echo Jaquoh's request (2 below) to expand this thorium video to include reactor technology, proton therapy etc in the light of work being done at Daresbury on EMMA (Electron Model of Many Applications). This is also applicable to uranium reprocessing

[Jaquoh]

Can you guys do a video in reguards to thorium reactor technology?

[ru2118]

@Jaquoh That's really not a chemistry question.

[Lighthammer18]

an element with my name and it's just 33 seconds T.T

[Merecir]

Thor s the God of power.

How fitting then that 1 cubic meter of average earth crust will produce 12 grams of Thorium and if you stick this into a liquid salt thorium rector it will cover the power needs of one human being (with western lifestyle) for 12-15 years.

[Nguli34689]

I would like to see more discussion on Thorium as a nuclear fuel. I want to know more about its isotopes, its behavior, and its other uses in industry today or possibly tomorrow.

[OfficeThug]

@Nguli34689 Google Energy from Thorium, or Thorium Alliance. These are groups dedicated to demonstrating and even developping nuclear technologies that utilize thorium (EfT's chief writer even started a company to build a thorium molten salt reactor, with hopes of achieving criticality in 2015 and building commercial plants in 2020). India has launched a program to use thorium in solid fuel reactors, while China is taking a page out of one of the US' old experiments and going with molten salts.

[wispa2]

@Nguli34689 Have a look for LFTR.

[HWGuyEG]

@Nguli34689

This.

Do it.

[thehantavirus]

well he forgot to mention thorium is highly radioactive

[TeronGorefiendxxx]

@thehantavirus : it has a half life of 1,4 * 10^10 years. It is the radioactive element with the longest half life after Bismut.

K40 is even more radioactive, So lets say Th is slighty radioactive.

Lets praise Thor by making a remake of this video. Thorium is quite an interesting element, so please make a longer video

[vmelkon]

@thehantavirus It isn't highly radioactive. If it was, there wouldn't be any left on Earth.

[QcTechs]

You probably wont because it's somewhat radioactive, but it's rather easy to get, since they add small quantities of it in many different alloys.

[vmelkon]

So Thorium burns like magnesium? Can I see that?

[FordPrefect23]

Lanthanum is also used in camera lenses, many older soviet SLR and rangefinder lenses make use of it.

[sjp092]

I have to say, this video should have been longer. Lots of information could have been added...I'm actually a little disappointed now =*(

[Ragnark1]

And they didn't mention what a great energy producer it could be...

[kurtilein3]

thorium might serve as a fuel for nuclear reactors, it is 4 times more abundant than uranium.

if you ever do a remake of this video, you need to include the role thorium plays in nuclear physics and how close it is to uranium. apart from that, i didnt know about the lenses, but given that its nuclear weight is close to uranium while some people probarbly wouldnt like depleted uranium in their lenses, it doesnt surprise me.

bill gates is advocating a reactor that could use thorium as a fuel.

[TheReaverOfDarkness]

@kurtilein3 Thorium also fuses cleaner than plutonium. It has previously not been the choice reactor because it was more expensive to produce or use. But a new find strongly suggests it can be produced more cheaply than uranium, making it quite easily and by no small margin the best fuel for atomic fusion in most applications.

[kurtilein3]

@TheReaverOfDarkness

fusion of an element like thorium consumes incredible amount of energy, but does not produce energy at all. you cannot fuse heavy elements, and thorium is a super-heavy element.

also, thorium is 10 times more abundant than uranium, always has been, always will be. no new finds necessary, its just that until now thorium has little use so it hasnt really been mined.

[TheReaverOfDarkness]

@kurtilein3 Sorry I used the wrong word. I meant fission. How embarrassing!

[JoFergusons]

I've chosen to treat the Thorium issue as a "Tipping Point" in history on my new Blog (click my Username above), and would appreciate Comments from you if you're fascinated by the Science and Politics of Thorium, or any of the other factors that went into it's early demise...and possible re-emergence!

If you know of any other interesting, controversial, or speculative Tipping Points, feel free to submit them to Reddit: r/TippingPoints/

[douro20]

Thorium-233 is used as a fuel for fast breeder reactors like the Monju reactor in Japan, where it is converted into uranium-233 and reprocessed back into the fuel cycle. Thorium oxide is used as a coating for the filament wires in vacuum tubes because it is a very good electron emitter.

[firegeek22]

I named my band after this element. We are also learning about the Periodic Table in School and I think thats what inspired me.

[chromecrescent]

solid name

[firegeek22]

haha thanks

[JoFergusons]

@firegeek22 I'm sorry to say that some Danish dude has been sitting on this band name for years, with three albums to his credit: SEE allmusic. com

[firegeek22]

@JoFergusons thats me haha, no jk plus thats not our band name anymore.

[dradeel]

Only 33 seconds? :/ Would be nice to hear more about Thorium and the thoughts around its potential in nuclear power :)

[CharlieBBoy12345]

Thorium is named after Thora Hird, who was well known for her friskiness.

;)

[Armonis]

:B  Actually, named after Thor, Norse god of Thunder.

[CharlieBBoy12345]

Ah yes, indeed, but the ancient Norse god of Thunder was named after Thora Hird (1911-2003), because of her legendary temper, so indirectly I was right.

[Armonis]

I can't argue with those facts.

[seneca67]

What are the units of measure for friskiness? Perhaps a frisker? This is no doubt a consequence of the charm quarks, which are notoriously abundant in friskiness.

[archaedemos]

very funny  (;

[maekern]

I don't know about friskiness, but I do know that the SI unit for measuring beauty is the helen. One millihellen is the amount of beauty required to launch a single ship. :)

[seneca67]

Ah, that is very well thought out. : )

[themountainviewguy]

@maekern

Could also be a measure of jealousy of male insecurity as well? Or maybe it measure sexual technique ... how about a bit more rigor here? ;-)

[mergaman4]

@maekern Yeh mate perhaps it neighs and goes for a quick canter tooLOL!!