24 reactions in 24 hours

On Monday (August 20) I'll be uploading 24 short videos to the periodicvideos YouTube channel.

They will be very short - usually around 20 seconds - and each shows a chemical reaction.

Each video will be released on the hour - sort of like a clock's chime - starting from midnight.

August 20 has been chosen for this celebration of chemistry because it's the birthday of Jöns Jacob Berzelius - a founding father of the field.

SUBSCRIBE TO PERIODICVIDEOS TO FOLLOW THE SERIES (it's free)

Why am I doing this? A few reasons.

1. I've never done it before... It's an experiment.

2. Many of the reactions to be featured were previously buried within longer films - I thought people might like seeing them on their own. They might be useful resource.

3. Seeing the reactions as stand-alone snippets may raise awareness of films we've done in the past that people are unaware of (some were filmed a few years ago).

Many of the reactions are among our most spectacular and fiery, but there are also a few peaceful colour change reactions.

Below is the video I used to introduce the idea and a discussion of Berzelius from Professor Martyn Poliakoff.