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From: sixtysymbols
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  • It's mindblowing how ridiculously easy it was to scribble on the surface of a snowflake on a spontaneous whim.

  • Man, that year where it snowed everywhere in the UK, apart from where I live. Gutted.

  • thats where i have my thermo lectures

  • Wen will they use this ion blaster to blast cancer?

  • @ArtypNk They do something similar, it's called chemotherapy.

    You basically kill a tumor by sending high energy particles (radiation) in the path of the tumor. Unfortunately, this has the side effect of also killing cells that benefit your body, like white blood cells that help your immune system. This is where the risks of chemo come from.

  • I eat that?

  • this is some blade runner stuff right here

  • #omg #FTW #wtf #LOL #FAIL

  • #lol

  • #LOL

  • #LOL

  • With the way technology seems to operate (smaller, faster, cheaper), when will we be able to purchase that microscope at our local WalMart?...cause I really want one now.

  • ummmm, arnt you going to ruin your vacuum putting ice in there????

  • @physicsbugga

    you wont ruin the vacuum in the chamber because the ice is on a cryo stage, the stage is sitting at -130 degrees which is below the point of sublimation so water does not leave the surface of the stage. Along with this there is an anti-contaminator which is at -192 Degrees close to the pole piece of the SEM to attract any water molecules that may be in the vacuum thus meaning that the stage in the system is not the coldest point and will not frost up.

  • Woah!!

  • @ThaRicochet

    Yes - I agree with you entirely. I should have either been a little bit more imaginative in terms of examples of different length scales (see a comment I posted below) or I should have pointed out that human hairs have a range of different diameters. (Probably both)

    Apologies. We make these videos "off the cuff" with little or no preparation - to try to keep them as "raw" and honest as possible - and sometimes I forget to clarify certain points.

    All the best,

    Philip

  • daaam! i want this ION SCOPE :) HOW MUCH? can i buy it on ebay? :)))

  • intro is not true I haven't seen snow in 18 years

  • @RacerX5034 You just saw a shed load in the into >.<

  • Using focused ion beams to write on snowflakes, beat that religion.

  • @Unlocktube Ion Cannon Ready

  • omg ceciley commented before me I feel so connected to her

  • Amazing!

  • @ceciley nooh, you are amazing..

    damn i'm smooth xD

  • Brilliant

  • What a marvellous achievement!

  • @sixtysymbols That was just plain brilliant!

  • awesome video!

  • this was really good very interesting. wow

  • That's just amazingly mental. Wow is all I got

  • Can't say I've ever had much interest in physics. This however, has shown me just what I've failed to notice. Amazing.

  • I like it.......electrons seem to be everywhere , even in snowflakes !! See what you can see on the point of a needle ??

  • Great

  • Dumbing down science to my level. Thats something I can get behind.

    Its videos like this that generate interest in Science, yes taxpayers money may be involved, but if this money is getting younger people interested in persuing a career in science then fantastic. I imagine that in 20 years someone who will work on some fantastic breakthrough at the time was inspired by videos like this here and now.

    Simple science like this and other youtube experiments are exactly what the world needs

  • Omg I love science it's amazing xx

  • Ignore any negative comments...science should be fun. The fastest way to engage a child's interest is to make learning fun...keep up the good work.

  • Sixty symbols jabulani

  • wow i bet u were cool in skool nd got all de girls (sarcastic voice)

  • @joshuaegan75757 @joshuaegan75757

    At school I was unashamedly a geek - see the Sixty Symbols video on the jabulani football. I remain a very proud geek. Indeed, I tell the first year physics undergraduates to whom I lecture that far from being ashamed of their geekiness, they should embrace it.

    If it's a choice between science and, oh, the sheer soul-crushing mundanity of much of popular culture , I don't quite understand why everyone *isn't* a geek...

    Philip (speaking in video)

  • Scientists can do that but not figure out important things? I'm all for micro-science and stuff, but really?

    "Hey, shall we create a safer, more environmentally-friendly fuel, fix the O-Zone layer and solve world hunger?"

    "Nah, I wanna write on this snowflake and see how small I can write the periodic table!"

    Seriously?!

  • @blackasmidnight14

    Hi. I'd appreciate it if you could take a moment of your time to read over the comments posted below re. the motivation for the video.

    I'm an academic - 50% of my job is research, the other 50% is education/outreach. The video is a piece of light-hearted seasonal fun which aims to educate, not cure cancer.

    It's interesting - on one hand we're stereotyped as serious, nerdy geeks. And then we're told we're not serious enough...

    Happy Christmas.

    Philip (speaking in video)

  • @blackasmidnight14 Its an indication of just how big the problems of fuel crisis and world hunger are that it is easier to etch writing at 50 microns on a snow flake than it is to solve them. Not even taking into account the enormous business potential that is piling even more research into alternative fuels. Also, You seem to portray it as some moral choice and those bonkers "scientists" are deliberately chosing to do nothing about modern humanitarian crises. What are you doing about it?

  • mind blowing stuff... 5 STAR...

  • The sample snowflakes are in a vacuum where they are bombarded by the electron beam - right?

    Why does the ice crystal not boil away in the vacuum please?

  • Congratulations ye turned something fun like snow into something boring and scientific!! Ughh if thats what ye call fun I'd hate to see what ye find boring! *shudder*

  • @Hausofcozy108 Ye ye ye go suck a potato you greasy consumer.

  • Freak atheists out...write 'Copyright God' on a load of flakes and drop them on Dawkins' house ;)

  • @wesmatron whaha brilian! ^^

  • @wesmatron

    I'd prefer to write "Copyright: Mullins-Sekerka" (Google "curiosity about crystals led to theory about instabilities" for information on who Mullins and Sekerka are and what connects them to snowflakes.).

    I think you might find the Sixty Symbols "Do physicists believe in God?" video interesting...

    Happy Xmas.

    Philip (speaking in video)

  • @Moriarty2112 Funnily enough I just watched that one. I'm loving this series. I have a series of lectures by Richard Waolfson which attempts to teach physics to non-physicists, and it's really good. These are top quality though I love it. Subscribed to all channels. Bring it on. Here's a question for them:

    If the whole universe was once contained in an infinitely small point in space, how much energy would it take to shrink a car down so I can pop it in my pocket?

    Have a warm winter solstice

  • @wesmatron

    Nice question - I'm sure Brady (the Sixty Symbols film-maker) will add it to the list. Delighted to hear that you're enjoying Sixty Symbols - Brady deserves all the credit, however!

    That's a genius comment you left under the "Do physicists believe in God?" video. Thanks for making me laugh on a cold winter's night here in Nottingham.

    All the very best - have a great holiday.

    Philip

  • @iamjoeburns See comments below regarding the width of a human hair. They span a range from about 20 microns to a little under 200 microns.

    Happy Christmas.

    Philip (speaking in video)

  • @ThirteenVolumeOne how did you get that 'fail' box above your comment?

  • wow :)

  • @ThaRicochet

    As my comment to @bben95 notes, human hair comes in a wide range of diameters - spanning 20 to 200 microns. So, it's not a great "calibration standard" but at least it's a length scale we're all familiar with. If you'd like another example, the writing is about the width of a dollar bill or a pound note.

    Have a very happy Christmas.

    Philip (speaking in video)

  • fan"bloody"tastic :)

  • umm wow and toobv htnettor get away from/ fro/4 s/se 3ct s==so nlol andnahaatc=Rt=E idsdu/dindestg=ss-=so lola dnnaaaecr=eiendeeosealngoalong tot ..et-=sonlol n:|p :P anshdhergthay/tjusietythef=REt­ye =RE

  • It must be absolutely freezing in there to keep that snowflake intact :P

  • What a pointless video.

  • RT @seanellis lol

  • wouldent it be great if when they zoomed in it just said FIRST

  • FAAAKEEEEE

  • Koool

  • the 19 people who disliked obviously were part of the student protests....

  • Reminds me of that scene in Bladerunner where the old Chinese woman shows Deckard the maker's microscopic serial number on the snake scale!

  • Great video, very interesting stuff! I loved it when you guys cheered at the end when it worked ;D

  • Just don't eat yellow snow is all I need to know lol :))

  • dublin =2 feet 

  • not as much snow as there is here in devon, around 8 inches

  • This is most probably a load of bollocks. Anyone can claim to 'write on a snowflake' but it's one of those things that can't really be proven. That image on the screen could be anything. It didn't look entirely dissimilar to a lot of image editing programs.

  • @jspesh

    I can guarantee that the "Merry Christmas" written on a snowflake in the video is not the result of image processing or other digital trickery. Don't you think we'd have made a rather more high resolution version if we were going to go the bother of faking it?!

    If you live in the UK and you're ever close to Nottingham, drop me an e-mail (Google "Philip Moriarty Nottingham" for my e-mail address) and I'll show you the ion beam system. It's real. I promise!

    Philip (speaking in video).

  • Thumb me up I dare you ;)

  • Wow!! That's really awesome and interesting :) I thought I saw a skull at 2:15 :P

    

  • Is that the university of Nottingham? Cause I applied there. And by God I'm getting in.

  • JOHN TRAVOLTA? HAHAHAHHA

  • haha nice :)

  • Are those 9-segment displays really called CAL 9900? Like, really?

  • They should zoom in on... FIRE! :D lol

  • WOW!! Thats amazing, thanks for showing this to us....BRILLIANT

  • @mulequeenchessy that's okay, thanks for watching and have a nice Christmas.

  • @sixtysymbols ohh fuck off JOKE i luv y'all really etc mm and spo lol so ahahaetc=Et=EW thtas ntthtaamdnyret tt wa scrpa rlasryfsiththggie wtsbetr/i epsxec beteer setc umand so lolandnaahetd=rr-E ht.a.jt-E

  • @sixtysymbols ohh fuck off JOKE i luv y'all really etc mm and spo lol so ahahaetc=Et=EW thtas ntthtaamdnyret tt wa scrpa rlasryfsiththggie wtsbetr/i epsxec beteer setc umand so lolandnaahetd=rr-E ht.a.jt-E ua dn rnasor obv/ now and / b4 berotffre crimbo R 4 e.g. etc. umadnttis/itthat=so lo weallabhad as aphoihgr/pic of s/e oene 4 the neoitfiicaiton of s.e ct-=so httQAEF=so loandshe/he had jsusdideid ert=so ew bacilr tcried Retc=so lol anp;;annndhe=E thtatee=Eut et=iekdupateoervtowrseiremseth­styE

  • @mulequeenchessy you meen thanks for snowing us lol

  • Woop snow

  • thumbs up if you think he sounds exactly like chris o'dowd :D

  • how about small crop circles?

  • Nice to see tax payers money being wasted like this! Surely he should be doing something more constructive??

    The public should be rioting never mind the students. Far too much time and expensive equipment on his hands!!!

  • @chrispaulhill I expected more comments like this, but I guess most people think it is a tired cliche to talk about "wasting taxpayers money" and "curing cancer", etc, when scientists do anything out of the ordinary...

    However I should say we waited quite some time for a slot when the microscope was free for this sort of outreach exercise.

    (By the way, I wonder if any taxpayers are among those who watched and liked the video?!)

  • @sixtysymbols Precisely. It is exactly this sort of thing that gets young people enthused about science in the first place. People who in the future may then make remarkable breakthroughs themselves. Its cliched, but entirely true. Bravo! money well spent :D

  • @Tossphate Yeh, I know. To make really remarkable discoveries, like everyone else is an Arshole!

  • @sixtysymbols @chrispaulhill I'm pretty sure a lot of stuff like this inspires young people today to go into physics in the first place - something as simple as this could spark a life long passion. It is absolutely essential that you make physics fun to get the next generation of great minds involved in the field, otherwise scientific breakthroughs would never happen in the first instance - and you have physicists to thank for you being on the internet and able to leave such comments.

  • @chrispaulhill

    Oh yeah, showing people the fun side of Physics which could lead to kids being more interested in the subject. A complete waste of time :?

    You don't think this is the only time the machine has ever been used do you?

  • @chrispaulhill

    As the person speaking in the video, I can assure you that it's not a question of having "far too much time on my hands". I left the lab. at 04:00 this morning and I'll be working until well gone midnight tonight. How about you?

    I'm a publicly-funded academic (a professor of physics). Half of my job is to do research. The other half is to educate. You might see these videos as a waste of time. I can ensure you that the 20,000-odd subscribers to Sixty Symbols don't.

    ...contd...

  • @chrispaulhill

    contd.

    Public engagement/outreach is a core element of my job. And to enthuse people about science we need to approach it in quirky and off-the-wall ways. This is what Brady (@sixtysymbols), the film-maker, excels at.

    The writing on a snowflake demo took us about an hour during "downtime" of the focussed ion beam system. If it enthuses even a small fraction of the 47,000 people who have watched the video to date about science, it's worth it.

    Philip (speaking in video)

  • @chrispaulhill Man, its got 50,000 views so far and is totally engaging. I cant think of a more cost effective form of public science education. Lighten up.

  • @rbairos1 It's MY opinion...get over it!

  • @chrispaulhill

    you mean they shouldn't be inspiring youngsters to study physics and have a bit of fun with science, instead they should be reading the daily mail, getting armchair-angry and shaking their fists at lazy scientists? i know which side i'm on.

    ps: i pay tax, work public sector for a meagre salary, and LOVED this video! keep up the hard work guys!

  • @evavu84... was just MY opinion. Can't see how it will inspire youngsters to study physics though!

  • @chrispaulhill It's Christmas. Cheer up!

  • what if you have long hair or you are a girl

  • @TTantrumArtist Width of a human hair not length..

  • 50 microns - so thats about the width of a human hair ... later on: 100 microns, thats about the width of a human hair.

    wtf

  • @bben95 It's science, don't fight it.

  • @bben95 Hi there. The diameter of human hair spans a range from about 20 microns to 200 microns. So you can have hairs which are 50 microns across and other hairs which are 100 microns (or larger) across.

    But I should have shown rather more imagination and used something other than the "width of a human hair" (repeatedly!). Let's put it this way, the "Merry Christmas" in the video would fit a couple of times across the full stop (period) at the end of this sentence.

    Philip (speaking in video)

  • @bben95 An average human hair has a diameter of 50 to 120 microns, obviously its a range...

  • search for "epic 25 second rubix cube solve "

  • and i thought my life was cool! :)

  • Who needs a cure for cancer when you can write Merry Christmas on a snowflake!

  • @Retardis True dat

  • yup we no its the width of a huma hair stop saying it

  • Comment removed

  • @moriarty2112

    :O thanks for explaining

    i learnt somehing new today :P

  • @bigglessy

    lol ima girl but good one :P made me laugh xD

  • could you project 'Happy Christmas' on to the moon so everyone down here could read it? That would be cool.

  • emboss merry christmas on a dead cancer cell that a cure had been found for and that will impress me, all this is a obvious waste of lab time and technology and highly paid staff involved.

  • @lndac02 You do realize they have nothing to do with cancer research. This is the physics department, not biomedical sciences. Next time if you want to slag off someone who is highly educated and works hard, at least think up the appropriate insult. For example, complain about them not finding a way to mass manufacture super conductors.

  • @Soger91 makes no difference, they are well paid and they are monkeying around with technology which has better uses then etching snowflakes just so they can be youtube superstars. Re- working hard, there is not much evidence of that in this video, well is there?. I don't insult and I certainly take no notice of internet flotsum suggesting how I should comment in the future.

  • @lndac02 bah humbug eh?

  • wooo Nottingham

  • that was the last straw for me! Now the periodic table Yeah wow seen this technology multiple times over the last year. I still havent seen anything of real use come out of this yet apart from scientist messing about. what the hell are we going to do with a periodic table that no one can see? soz for the downer comment i try to keep them positive for you guys but its done my nut in! scientific research should not be a playground!

  • @jamiehasnomercy

    I'm at lunch at the moment so before I go back in the lab I'll address your comment.

    I'm a publicly funded scientist. As an academic I have two roles: to do research and to *educate* (and, if at all possible, entertain and enthuse) students and the general public who fund my research. We want to inspire people to think about science in different ways via Sixty Symbols (and PTOV). That means we sometimes do light-hearted videos.

    Philip Moriarty (speaking in video)

  • @Moriarty2112 well yes in your position then it is necisary to entertain. helps with learning! im basically trying to say i wouldnt mind seeing more videos on this tech! microelctronics sounds interesting! any chance you could return and show us some of that please? I would hope that the lab research scientists take it a bit more seriously! you guys do a great job of keeping my unquenchable thirst for all scentific knoledge.

  • Comment removed

  • @Moriarty2112 cont: at bay! say thankyou to all the people that contribute to the videos keep it up and i hope you all have a very merry christmas.

  • @jamiehasnomercy

    contd.

    The focussed ion beam system presented in the video has been used to do research in a wide variety of areas: pharmaceuticals, microelectronics, catalysts, food, biomedical applications. We took advantage of some down time to do the writing on a snowflake demo.

    A key reason I'm an academic scientist rather than a researcher in a corporate laboratory is that, like very many of my colleagues, I see outreach and education as a central part of my job.

    Happy Xmas.

    Philip

  • @jamiehasnomercy Why do people think that they know enough about science to claim that things it doing are useless? You know absolutely nothing about this. I barely know anything about it either, I'm only just doing A levels in maths physics chemistry and biology and since I know incredibly little about science I'm not going to go and tell real scientists that what they're doing is useless since clearly its very unlikely to be since scientists are incredibly intelligent people.

  • @9hello123 I know it can have its uses! but every single time ive seen this tech in use it is just write things that are really small or just messing about. I was getting wound up by that i would actual like to see some practical uses for this tech!

  • @jamiehasnomercy The reason you haven't seen "this tech" in use for useful things is because you don't even understand what the periodic table is.

  • @jamiehasnomercy Richard Feynman thought research should be fun... didn't he he always say his greatest discoveries came when he treated science as bit of a playground?

  • @sixtysymbols did he say that before or after he had his hand cause 230000 casulties due to his work on the atomic bomb and fell into depression?

  • @jamiehasnomercy it was after the Manhattan Project that he did his work on QED... but if you're looking for an anti-Feynman discussion you're talking to the wrong person - I have a lot of time for him!

  • @sixtysymbols His work has obviously made a difference! I just work out people by what they do and not what they say! On a lighter note can you give us any previews or insites into the videos to exspect in 2011 like ive said before this channels the best one ive subded to this year and would love to get a sneak peak at whats in store!

  • @jamiehasnomercy we have a few ideas for 2011 an i think we need to do more viewer Q and A vids because I have so many questions now... but other than that, I'm open to ideas...

    if you like your physics and astronomy, make sure you're also subbed to my BackstageScience channel... that will have some pretty cool stuff!

  • @sixtysymbols Thats all very good paraphrasing someone... but a quote doesn't automatically offer clarity or reason. Until you back it up with evidence and analysis its just a sentance or line of words. But really... what does this 'experiment' (?? :/) seek to prove.. other then once a geek, always a geek!

    Either way... cool vid :D

  • @inmepete ha. If i was looking for clarity or reason I don't think I'd be doing it here.

    Writing Merry Christmas on a snowflake is not an "experiment" - it's just a festive-themed demo of what stuff can do...

    We could detail ways it's used and make a really nice "corporate video" about nanotechnology with buzzwords words like "real-world applications" and "semiconductor industry"...

    I prefer to let people just enjoy and imagine - and maybe explore more for themselvesI

  • @jamiehasnomercy And what else do you suggest them to do with this machine?...

  • @TheWelshGamers like Phillip Moriarty mentioned earlier there are fields like microelectronics/biomedical research that have also been researched. but i have not seen anything but writing messages on things! would love to see some of that other research!

  • everythings about the width of a human hair :)

    like if u agree

  • @keana10 no

  • @keana10

    Hi. Yep, you're correct - I use the width of a human hair "guesstimate" rather too much in the video. Apologies. Somebody else noticed this when we first uploaded the video and their comment got quite a few thumbs ups!

    Human hair spans quite a large range of widths (from about 20 to almost 200 microns) in any case so it's not a great "calibration standard". However, as @evilyakko points out, it's at least a fairly universal standard!

    Happy Xmas.

    Philip (speaking in video)

  • @Moriarty2112 ha ha... it's the film-maker's fault for making you constantly describe the width is non-numerical terms... and not working harder in the edit!

    You can slap him next time you see him! :)

  • @keana10 including your penis?

    lol sorry but it just had to be said :P

  • Fucking amazing! *adjusts nerd glasses* :D

  • Theres Been No Snow Here!

  • "fan-bloody-tastic!"

  • Not snow here =(

  • Nice to see the great Universities making good use of their staff and facilities to good use. No cancers cells needed checking that day?

  • @lndac02 oh grow a sense of humour you pompous windbag. universities were not set up with the sole function of researching cancer and equipment like this is barely used for the 60% of time that its not needed.

  • @lndac02 What was that comment for??, They don't need to dedicate there lives to cancer research.

  • @StarshineXC thats right, far more important to arse about with state of the art techology embossing merry xmas on snowflakes...thats what that comment was for.

  • 4kin geeky bullshit.

  • What are these machines actually good for? The rare occasions I've seen them in use, the technicians have been playing with them!

  • Really interesting. Thanks!

  • Pretentious and boring.

  • The grinch Lives there :D

  • Cool! I wrote something in the snow once but it was a lot bigger than 50 microns and it was in yellow ;-)

  • cool but i dont get how he wrote on it ?

  • cool. 

  • Fan-bloody-tastic xD

  • Doesn't God do this to every snow flake at christmas time anyway ???

  • Ah loving dat shit fan that's peenng ting day is I think sumin like dat is used to engrave the writing on back of ma iPod cos I always thought how the he'll does a laser do it?

  • @strikerextreme Up your hole as far as I know.

  • It's Windows not Mac