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A few people have asked about the molarity of the acid and base used in our recent Coke Cans video...

Sam and Neil did not make any exact measurements (it was just a demo, not a proper experiment).

However the pair have made a few retrospective estimates and tell me the likely molar concentrations were roughly 12 for the Hydrochloric Acid and 16 for the Sodium Hydroxide.

We've just posted a new video in which two Coke cans are dissolved in acid and base.

We used hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide. The results were impressive.



However making this video was not straightforward.

Originally the idea was to dissolve two different aluminum cans - Coke and Pepsi.

We thought it would be visually striking because red (Coke can) is traditionally associated with acid and blue (Pepsi can) with base.

However an initial test run resulted in virtually no reaction.

We quickly realised this was because the cans were covered with a protective coating, inside and out.

Lab technician Neil Barnes sand-blasted the coating from the inside of the can (it took two attempts to remove it).

The cans then sat on the shelf for a couple of weeks while we made other videos.

Then we noticed another problem.

Just before filming, Dr Sam Tang noticed the sanded Pepsi can had rusted slightly!

This should not have happened to aluminium.

A quick check with a magnet showed the Pepsi can was not aluminum but steel... A fact we then noticed was written on the can itself!

So the Pepsi cans were put to one side, and the whole experiment was done only with aluminium Coke cans.

Below is an extra video we've created showing it in real-time with less editing.

So astronomer Tycho Brahe's body has been being exhumed (again) for scientific testing.

It seemed a perfect excuse to make a video about this famous and eccentric scientist.

But what symbol would represent him on the Sixty Symbols website.

To me, the solution was obvious?



Tycho also lends his name to perhaps the most identifiable crater on the Moon.

Films buffs may know that the crater Tycho is where the monolith is discovered in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

It also pops up in other books and movies.

On Wednesday I visited Google’s UK offices in London.

It was essentially to have a chat about making and promoting videos on YouTube (which is owned by Google, of course).

I told them about the bits of YouTube I like, and suggested a few things that would make life easier for film-makers like me.

It was also a chance for me to tell them what I’m doing over the next few months (stay tuned to this blog for more about that).

The people I met seemed very interested and took lots of notes (on laptops of course).

I don’t expect to see big changes as a result of my humble suggestions, but it was nice that they took time to meet some its video makers in the flesh.

My main YouTube channels can be found at:

http://www.youtube.com/nottinghamscience

http://www.youtube.com/periodicvideos

http://www.youtube.com/sixtysymbols

http://www.youtube.com/bibledex

http://www.youtube.com/wordsoftheworld

http://www.youtube.com/FavScientist

This week we updated our copper film on The Periodic Table of Videos.

Here's the new one:



And here's some extra footage we posted on Test Tube, in our time-honoured tradition of using that site to share extra material:



For real copper nuts, here is our original video from a couple of years ago - you'll see we kept a couple of the old clips and used them in the update, such as The Professor's fun fact about crabs and lobsters:

Our recent video about astronomer Norman Pogson has unearthed a surprising result.

The video's part of the series My Favourite Scientist. Dr Daniel Brown from Nottingham Trent University chose to speak about Nottingham-born Pogson.

Pogson - who did significant work on stars and asteroids - died in India in 1891 and faded into history somewhat.

After posting the video to YouTube, we received an email from Pogson's great great grand daughter - a woman named Julie who lives in Australia.



Julie is a descendant of Pogson's daughter, Fanny Sappho.

And Julie has been kind enough to share some photos from the family's personal collection.

First, here are a few of Pogson himself.




And here's Mrs Pogson:



And finally here's Fanny, one of their daughters:


Our thanks to Julie for getting in touch and showing us these photos.

Less than a month to go until we judge our poster competition.

This week I posted a video to let viewers know about it - and some great entries have followed.

Click here for details.

First prize is the gold watch we "made" a few months back and one of The Profesor's famous ties.