Thallium - Periodic Table of Videos

[jbeer82]

Thallium is EXTREMELY poisonous it was used as Rat Poison in the 19th century banned in 1975

[KarpKomet]

Love the vids...thx professor!

[sockington1]

graham young and the bovingdon bug

[MegaSnowflake420]

haha i like the crazy proffesor look...

[666pecker666]

Once inside the body Thallium causes nerves and muscles to atrophy and die. Victims typically experience burning sensations in their limbs, upset stomachs and hair loss. In severe cases the symptoms progress to tremors, delerium, paralysis, coma, and death.  GO Thallium GO.

[666pecker666]

Just reading a true story about Thallium poisoning. The ex-head chemist of a crank lab in the 70's, which have been known to use Thallium III Nitrate. Let it oxidise and Ti(NO3)3 decomposes to Thallium I Nitrate, wich is the only form that will disolve in Coca-Cola without changing the color or making it foam and lose more carbonation then normal tampering would allow.

[DimisWargame]

THE THALLIUM IS NOW DIAMONDS!

[EPICGUYDUDE]

you guys have uranium, arsenic which are very toxic. but not thallium...

[mrej96]

this guy looks like a scientist.....

[Nikolaii257]

The Soviet secret police have managed to have an former Sovet agent poisoned with Thallium which was subjected to intense bombardment with radiation. When absorbed into a human host, this Thallium would break down and disperse throught the organism. The agent in quesion was sent to kill an important anti communist, and NTS president. This agent's name was Khohlov and it happened in the 1950's. This element is also known to make one's hair fall out without it being radioactive.

[craftsmank]

A friend was poisoned with Thallium.

Paralised completely for several months, then he recovered - cant use his legs, hands are like claws, but he is there.

[Grundalizer]

@Nikolaii257 I don't get radiation poisoning...it seems so wierd that such a small amount of somthing can kill someone

[kamspioneerclass]

@Nikolaii257 It is radioactive, actually. You simply can't detect it using a Geiger counter or anything of the sort because it emits alpha radiation (as opposed to gamma radiation). I did read an article (I believe in Popular Science) about this, though.

[WeaselWJ]

@kamspioneerclass Nope, the most common isotope of Thallium is perfectly stable. Also, a Geiger counter can detect both Alpha and Gamma radiation and also Beta radiation. So you're wrong on both points.

[kamspioneerclass]

@WeaselWJ Well yes, I didn't mean to imply that all Thallium was radioactive; I thought Mr. Nikolai was talking about a case I'd heard of, and I remembered it as involving a common radioisotope of Thallium (although I heard about it a long time ago).Thanks for the correction on the Geiger counter, though, I didn't know that (clearly).

[WeaselWJ]

@kamspioneerclass Ah, ok then.

[gordongate]

gallium thallium arsenate was a another poison used in an infamous murder, colourless, tasteless and no smell

[ScottAKAposeidon]

The perfect weapon. lol

[esztier]

There was a movie about it, A young poisoner's handbook!

[MeetTheEnd]

Yes, I remember the movie. It was really good. Wasn't he obsessed with making some sort of crystal out of the stuff too?

[100PercentGeeks]

Mmm....Thallium.

:D

[ScottAKAposeidon]

Thallium and vinegar chips?

[Ormaaj]

It is a component of one of the highest temperature superconductors known.

[onelasssttime]

Thallium makes me horny!!!!

[BluBreathProductions]

I don't know how a highly toxic metal can make you horny.

[onelasssttime]

Then you are missing out

[LukeL007]

There was another case where a member of Mensa was angry at his neighbors for some strange reason and managed to lace a couple bottles of coke with thallium. He knew how to make the thallium stay in suspension and also seal the bottle caps back on without bending them and keep the coke under pressure. He was caught when a doctor noticed the mother had hair loss, which along with the burning feet made him suspect heavy metal toxcity.

[WhackCheese]

im watching that episode on forensic files

[onelasssttime]

Luke, You mean George Trepal/Peggy Carr case???

[manzilla86]

Want to know something funny? Thallium is used in Nuclear Medicine! Even though it is suuper toxic (used in some rat poisionings), we inject it into people!

The reason that this is no big deal is because we only inject a tiny, tiny amount. It is usually about 5mCi. If you use the equation A=kN; where A is Activity, K is the decay constant (LN 2/half-life), and N is the number of atoms-then do some math, it only comes out to about 40 nanograms! Crazy small mass that we CAN measure!

Thanks!