Weddings, Rings and Chemistry Cakes

Some pictures I've been meaning to share - these relate to weddings and chemistry.

The first comes from Thilina - a periodicvideos fan from Sri Lanka.

Dedicated viewers may remember Thilina - he was the young lad who received a tie from Professor Poliakoff at the 2010 Asian Science Camp in India.



Thilina has remained in regular contact and sent us this picture from his wedding!

And ever the chemistry nut, this was Thilina's wedding cake!

I hope his wife likes chemistry too!

This second tale comes from a viewer named David Adams.

Back in 2011, David submitted a viewer question which said the following:

"I am getting married to my fiancé next year (although I not sure who else anyone would get married to other than their fiancé, but anyway). There are obviously the standard metals of gold, silver and platinum. There are also some slightly more interesting options like tungsten and titanium. But is there anything more interesting that this? What metals would be non-toxic and suitable for a jeweler to work with? Neodymium perhaps? Maybe one for Pete?"

David's question resulted in the following video:



Well, much like Thilina's, this story has a conclusion.

I've just received the following email and photo from David:

Hi Brady

You may may recall me asking you guys what interesting metals would make a good wedding ring which you then made a video about.

I was quite pleased as to the extent for which I managed to stump the team and I was entertained by their responses.

Anyway, I thought I should let you know what we went for...

My wife Sarah chose diamonds set in platinum to match her engagement ring. Diamonds as the prettiest element and platinum as one of the most expensive. 

I went for tungsten. Although a cheap metal (and certainly cheaper than Sarah's - you could probably do a Numberphile video on the order of magnitude difference in the price) it was the perfect choice.

Firstly for its colour: a dark, masculine metal. Secondly for its strength, representing our love (and will preserve the brushed effect longer). 

And thirdly due to one of its most common uses: light bulb filaments. We both work in television as studio managers and I have a particular specialism in television camera colorimetry.

Tungsten plays a hugely important role in what we do everyday so seemed a fitting choice. 

The number 3200 is etched into everything we do. 

Thank you to you and the team for a brilliant video and please find a picture of our rings attached.

Kind regards

David

PS: Perhaps a Sixty Symbols videos in lightbulbs and tungsten?