Laura: Hello and welcome to another episode of Lexx Education, the Comedy Science podcast, where comedian me, Laura Lexx tries to learn science from her microphone for getting younger brother normal Ron.
Ron: Hello?
Ron: Normal ron.
Laura: How'S it going, Ron?
Ron: It's good.
Ron: I'm tired.
Ron: I'm making black bean burgers for dinner.
Laura: How'D you do that?
Laura: You soak in your beans.
Ron: I feel like I've talked about this on the podcast 100 times.
Ron: I've become a dry bean guy.
Laura: Yeah, I don't think we have talked about it on the podcast.
Laura: I think you just told me a lot about it when I was impressed.
Ron: Yeah, but I'm loving it.
Ron: Loving it, loving it.
Laura: Ron'S got a real sexy, organic supermarket really near his house, and he goes there and does refillable boxes of beans and stuff.
Laura: Yeah, European supermarkets are so much nicer.
Laura: They just have really fit lighting.
Laura: They don't have these strip lights that make everybody look like they haven't slept for a week.
Laura: They have, like, down lighting and cute little lamps.
Ron: Big up.
Ron: Del Hayes.
Ron: It's good, actually.
Ron: It's a farm.
Ron: It's called a farm.
Ron: The one that I took you to, the bougie one.
Ron: It's really nice because usually when I make this recipe big Up, Siriuseats.com best recipe website I know.
Laura: Tell them BBC good food.
Ron: BBC Good Food has a lot of gems, but I feel like you have to kiss a lot of frogs, whereas sirius eats it's not necessarily like, super fancy food, but it's got a lot of the molecular gastronomy stuff in it where it'll be like, this is just the really scientific way of doing this.
Ron: And that's where I got the mac and cheese recipe from.
Ron: But, yeah, usually you have to dry out your beans so that your bean burgers aren't too squishy.
Ron: But if I cook my own beans, I'm not going to have that issue.
Ron: Laura and I can't wait.
Laura: This is amazing, ron and you put.
Ron: In peppers and you put in feta and cashew nuts for the protein, and for some reason, two scoops of mayo.
Laura: I love mayo.
Ron: Me, too.
Ron: It's right in the burgers.
Laura: I watched a really bad film the other day that you've probably never seen, but it's called The Whole Nine Yards.
Laura: Anybody that's my age or older will remember this from the early 90s with Bruce willis and Matthew Perry.
Laura: And one of the main plot points in that is how no one likes mayonnaise.
Laura: The whole thing like, I love mayonnaise.
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: But I feel like that's one of those things that comes up and it's just like, where are all these people that don't like mayonnaise and hate the word moist?
Ron: Yeah, you just don't see them in real life.
Laura: Moist is always my first guess on wordle.
Ron: Is it?
Laura: I do moist and then I do vague, and that gets all of my.
Ron: Vowels out into I mean, 20 years ago, when I was playing Werdl, I would show that slide a dew, because then you just like bang out basically all of the vowels.
Ron: Follow that up with a strap because then you've got STR in there.
Laura: Yeah, well, there you go, there's your up to the minute.
Laura: What's everyone doing on the internet?
Laura: Chat.
Laura: I mean, who's in hideous for anything other than bean chat and word or?
Laura: Right, we now listen, at the very top of the show, we've got a little there's so much for us to talk about.
Laura: Why did we just do that?
Ron: Anyway, listen, we haven't chatted much recently.
Laura: No, we haven't.
Laura: I've been very busy.
Laura: There's a new patreon episode this Friday.
Laura: Hello to all of the fabraats in the patreon.
Laura: If you would like to join the patreon, go to patreon.
Laura: ComLexxxeducation.
Laura: This week I am going to be explaining to Ron what glasses I am in detentron and I've done some research all by myself and I have learned what glass is and I will be telling Ron, so if you'd like to join us, then sign up for the patron.
Laura: It's only £3 a month and that gets you an extra episode and you might make it so that we can afford to keep doing this.
Laura: We have been chatting as well.
Laura: We are going to increase the number of extra episodes as the patreon subscription grows, so the more people that join, the more fun stuff you'll get.
Laura: So jump on board and be part of the swell and then we'll have more and more episodes the more people join.
Ron: Yep.
Ron: And as you sign up from now on, you'll hear at the end of this episode you're going to get a lovely shout out.
Ron: I don't really know how to describe it.
Ron: You're just going to have to hear it then.
Laura: Ron, I think, is exercising his creative writing desires and has decided that everybody that signs up to the Lexxx Education patreon will be getting their own personalized shout out, complete with a job role at Lexx Education hq.
Laura: So, hey, that's his project, he's having a lovely time.
Ron: Or just kind of where you fit into the Lexx Education law.
Laura: Yes, we're becoming a little world.
Laura: It's tolkinesque now.
Laura: That's ron's project for the week and you can hear those at the end of the episode.
Laura: I thought we could play a fun game this week which is all about spreading the love of Lexx Education.
Laura: So you might have noticed every week we choose the episode title based on a line that we enjoy that one of us says when we're listening back and editing.
Ron: But every week it's usually the person that's editing likes their own jokes and.
Laura: Picks them out pretty much.
Laura: But there's normally like three or four in a short list because as you're listening through, you make a note and then we pick the one that we like best at the end.
Laura: So I thought we could do a fun thing, see if you like this game.
Laura: This week there were four options shortlisted of little standout lines that could have been an episode title.
Laura: We chose one of them and we want you to try and guess what the one of the other three was.
Laura: So tweet us or comment on Instagram or Facebook or what's the other one?
Laura: TikTok.
Laura: God, I've never sounded older than that, have I?
Laura: So comment somewhere publicly with what line you think might have been in the running for the title this week.
Ron: Tag us, though.
Ron: We're not going to go search it.
Laura: For no comment on our stuff, Ron.
Laura: Or tweet us.
Laura: Yeah, don't check.
Laura: No.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: Tag as soon as we can see it.
Laura: And then we thought, like, that's quite fun.
Laura: We can see what you think the episode tied to it might have been.
Laura: And it's the sneaky way of sharing all the little funny lines from Lexx Education to make all those other idiots that aren't listening go, oh, that does sound funny.
Laura: What are they talking about?
Laura: And then we can have a million listeners and it'll all be brilliant.
Ron: And yeah, we'll probably tell you how brilliant you are in the next episode.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: So I don't know what the prize will be.
Laura: We might be able to send you a hat or it might just be a shout out on the episode.
Laura: We'll see where we go with that.
Laura: We'll see what the week turns into.
Laura: But, yeah, we would love to swell the listening ranks of the podcast.
Laura: And we know that you guys listening are super engaged and really helpful and lovely, but obviously this is a completely DIY project.
Laura: We don't have producers or backers or sponsors or anything, so all of the people, we can gather it's down to us and you.
Laura: So thank you.
Laura: And I think it might be quite a fun game for you to play.
Laura: S***.
Laura: And I'm being really patronizing tonight.
Laura: One or the other, but anyway, right, we're going to jump into the episode now.
Laura: It's radioactivity this week and it is.
Laura: It's quite fun, actually.
Laura: I quite liked this one.
Ron: Good episode?
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: Do you want to sing the song to take us in?
Laura: I don't even know what song you mean.
Laura: I'm focusing so hard.
Laura: Radioactive.
Laura: Radioactive, right.
Laura: Have a lovely time.
Laura: bye.
Ron: Bye.
Laura: Hi, Ron.
Ron: Hi, Laura.
Laura: How are you?
Ron: Excited.
Laura: Oh, that's spicy.
Laura: Spicy?
Laura: What are you spicy about?
Ron: Flying to Mexico tomorrow?
Laura: Oh, yes.
Laura: I mean, this is confusing for the listener because it's February now, back.
Ron: By the time that your ears are sipping up this hot cocoa, you're going.
Laura: To be a haggard old goat again.
Laura: All of the rest and relaxation will have worn off.
Laura: You'll be a little s**** how I'm going to react?
Ron: Because I've never been on holiday for this long before.
Laura: You're away for like two weeks, aren't you?
Ron: More than that.
Ron: The caps climbed in this open fridge behind me.
Ron: yucky.
Laura: Maybe she's playing Indiana Jones in the Crystal skull.
Ron: No, I've just called her closer towards the fridge.
Ron: Okay.
Ron: She's fine.
Ron: I've never been on holiday for this long before.
Laura: Are you actually doing some relaxing or are you adventuring every day?
Ron: No, there are some places that we're going to for, like, five days, so there will be time to relax.
Ron: I'm awful at relaxing.
Laura: Have you spent all your money on this holiday?
Ron: Yes, a little.
Laura: Poor boy.
Ron: Yes.
Ron: No, I just make loads of money.
Laura: Oh, give me some of it.
Ron: No, you make more money than I do.
Laura: I doubt I do.
Laura: Highly doubt I do.
Laura: Anyway, I expect we will have discussed this holiday many, many times over in intros and outros between then and this going out.
Laura: So, Ron, it's physics Today, which doesn't usually bode well for us, but you said that it will be okay today in the princeton message.
Ron: It's not going to be too bad today because what we're studying is something that you sing about or interested in, that you've heard of.
Laura: The elephant patrol.
Ron: The physics of the elephant patrol.
Laura: It's the question rather droll.
Laura: That's one of my favorite songs.
Ron: Drool was the word of the day on my laptop, too.
Laura: That's fun.
Ron: The Word of the day on macbooks truly is random.
Ron: I sat down at my laptop after getting a coffee the other day and it just said bigot.
Laura: Time to claim my search history.
Laura: Clearly, I've got Jeremy clarkson's laptop.
Ron: Yeah, no.
Ron: So we are studying radioactivity today.
Laura: Radioactive.
Laura: Radioactive.
Laura: Is that the song you meant?
Ron: Yes.
Ron: You're allowed three of those.
Ron: You've just used up one.
Laura: Nah, that was before you put the rule in.
Laura: So I've still got three.
Ron: Fine, you're allowed four.
Ron: You've just used that one.
Laura: Fine.
Ron: Both of them.
Laura: I agree to those terms.
Laura: Radioactivity.
Laura: That's exciting.
Ron: What do you know about radioactivity?
Ron: Now, before we get into it, very little.
Laura: Having a guess from months of context, what are you showing me?
Ron: A Nintendo Switch Game.
Laura: Why are you doing that?
Laura: Oh, s***.
Laura: Tom was meant to bring your Switch.
Ron: Did he not bring it?
Laura: I got you.
Ron: You did get me, yeah.
Ron: That would have been such a chore, because for the listener, I really struggle to sleep, so I've struggled to sleep in a bed, let alone a plane.
Ron: So I need this console if you.
Laura: Got Animal Crossing, that's lovely to play.
Ron: I was going to meant to ask you whether we could borrow any of your games.
Ron: We haven't got any games yet.
Laura: Aren't you leaving tomorrow?
Ron: We're just going to download them.
Laura: Oh, get animal Crossing.
Laura: It's delightful.
Ron: Yeah, probably we're going to get that going to get a Mario game and I'm going to get a pokemon game for me and have a regression session while judith lots of red wine and passes out.
Laura: You can get overcooked on the Switch, too.
Ron: Yeah, we'll probably do that.
Laura: Anyway, you asked me a question.
Ron: Would you simmer down?
Laura: Well, radioactivity, is that to do with splitting an atom?
Laura: Or like forcing an atom into a weird situation.
Ron: So sort of you've kind of used language there, as if someone is doing this to something, which an atom does, in some circumstances, split during radioactive decay.
Ron: But nothing is making it do that.
Laura: Right.
Ron: And no one is forcing it to do that.
Laura: So what is radioactive, then?
Laura: A star is radioactive.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: Someone tweeted us about stars today.
Ron: So basically it's just that some atomic nuclei are unstable.
Laura: Poor things.
Laura: I don't know how you feel.
Ron: So then what they do is they give out some radiation, effectively energy, and then they become more stable.
Laura: Okay, so I've had too much coffee and they go for a run and they feel better.
Ron: It's more like had too much coffee, taking a dump feel better.
Laura: What do you mean, unstable?
Laura: So it has so much energy in it, it's wobbling?
Ron: No, it's specific atoms, like you might hear in a Mission Impossible movie or something, where there's like a dirty bomb, where they're talking about, like uranium two, three, five, or something like that.
Ron: So that's like carbon twelve.
Ron: That is saying basically how many neutrons there are in that isotope of uranium.
Ron: Certain isotopes are unstable.
Laura: But it's different to it just being charged.
Ron: Yeah, it's not charged.
Ron: It does not have an electromagnetic charge.
Laura: But it has energy in it.
Ron: Everything'S got energy in it, but it's too much energy.
Ron: It's unstable.
Laura: I don't know what you mean by unstable.
Ron: It's radioactively unstable.
Ron: It has the propensity to radioactively decay.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: I don't know what that means, though.
Laura: It's like fall apart.
Laura: Let bits start falling off it.
Ron: Yes, like I say, it can give off some radiation and then it will become more stable.
Laura: So radiation is energy in some forms.
Ron: So that's what I'm about to say, is that there are three different types.
Ron: Four different types of nuclear radiation.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: We have Alpha particles.
Ron: We've heard of these before.
Ron: Can you remember when?
Laura: Is it in my mentions all the time.
Laura: When I put out a video of me being confident and funny.
Laura: Someone has to turn up and call me a fat bit chore that needs to shut her mouth.
Ron: No.
Ron: And I told you I'd stop doing that.
Laura: You are not an Alpha.
Laura: ronnie hunks, you little shy nerd.
Laura: hugging your noisy cat and teaching your sister about science.
Laura: You are a little sub beater boy.
Laura: Alpha.
Laura: Did you say it was called Alpha?
Ron: What an alpha particle?
Laura: Alpha particle.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: And then you asked me a question.
Laura: You asked me what I was no.
Ron: But those have come up in our travels before.
Ron: Can you remember when?
Laura: Alpha Particles?
Laura: See, this is where you realize what a good invention computers are.
Laura: Because I could then search the words Alpha Particles and find them in my notebook.
Laura: But because this is paper and pen like the past, I can't do that.
Ron: No.
Laura: Alpha Particles.
Laura: It's not ringing any bells.
Laura: The Listener will be shocked to hear.
Ron: What if I said the name Rutherford to you?
Ron: There's a screaming.
Laura: What did he do?
Laura: Was he the gold particles guy?
Laura: Gold foil.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: So it was alpha particles that Rutherford shot at the gold foil.
Laura: Oh, well done.
Laura: grag.
Ron: So, fun fact one of the people that helped rutherford with this experiment was a guy called geiger.
Laura: Lovely shoes.
Ron: When you see in movies and TV and that, people checking out radiation, they've got those things that they point and.
Laura: Then it goes like it's a geiger counter.
Ron: The geiger counter named after the person they worked with, rutherford.
Laura: So what are those?
Ron: What are geiger counters?
Laura: No, alpha particles.
Ron: So alpha particles, they are made up of two neutrons and two protons.
Laura: No electrons.
Laura: So they're just positive boys?
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: So it's this positive particle made up of two neutrons and two protons.
Ron: They just shoot out of the nucleus, basically.
Laura: Out of the nucleus?
Laura: Yes, because the protons and the neutrons live in the nucleus.
Laura: But the nucleus isn't a bag, it's just an area.
Ron: So interestingly.
Ron: Well, don't be rude.
Laura: Interestingly.
Ron: Don't be rude, mate.
Ron: Don't be rude when I'm talking about my alpha particle.
Laura: I'm telling you some facts here, buddy.
Ron: So two neutrons and two protons is the same as a helium nucleus.
Ron: So what it's effectively done is just.
Laura: Emitted some helium but with no electrons.
Ron: With no electrons.
Ron: No.
Ron: That's why I said helium nucleus.
Laura: It's not helium.
Laura: No.
Ron: It's a helium nucleus.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: That's funny, isn't it, that they're alpha bros, but then if you get them inside you, you start talking like a squeak little tears.
Ron: It is.
Laura: Science labs must be so s***, because every time I talk about all the cool bits of it, you just go, can we please get back to all the formality?
Ron: Well, that's why I didn't continue with science after my degree.
Ron: Want to halfway through is because everything I did in the lab was just mixing colorless clear solutions together and then waiting 2 hours and then being like, that worked, or most of the time like, that didn't work, but we get the marks anyway.
Ron: So laureate so you got an unstable particle.
Ron: It emits an alpha particle.
Ron: What happens to the unstable nucleus that's left behind.
Laura: Has to adjust to what's happened in somehow calms down, gets raggedya.
Ron: Becomes less becomes less unstable.
Ron: That is part of it.
Ron: But what property of that nucleus that the atom that it leads behind.
Ron: What changes about it?
Laura: Smaller.
Ron: Yes.
Ron: What's it lost?
Laura: Helium.
Laura: What's helium made out of two neutrons and two protons.
Ron: Yes.
Laura: Less charged.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: It's lost two protons.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: Lighter.
Ron: What do protons do?
Laura: Attract electrons.
Ron: Yes.
Ron: But the number of protons in an.
Laura: Atom defines the element.
Ron: Yes.
Ron: So after it emits an alpha particle, it changes element.
Laura: Wow.
Laura: Says I didn't really know if it was an element to begin with, to be honest, or if it was just the nucleus.
Laura: The more I learn, the more raggedy or the initial learning I did become.
Laura: And now I just don't know about anything.
Laura: Earlier on.
Laura: Ron I had a complete space out in the kitchen because I spilled some tea everywhere.
Laura: And then I put a tissue in it to mop it up, and then all the tea got in the tissue.
Laura: And then I was confused about whether the tissue was still a tissue because now it's technically in solution and has any bonds happen there or is the tissue just wet?
Laura: And what does wet mean anymore?
Laura: Is my t just forming and reforming all the time?
Laura: It's horrible.
Laura: I feel like the world is unraveling around me every time I learn a new thing.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: I get how you cope.
Laura: I scientists cope.
Laura: It's like the worst times of my depression when I felt like I could really see quite clearly how humanity was just this ball of sin eating itself.
Laura: And now I feel like that about like a table streadful.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: I'm featuring a goat.
Ron: How to talk.
Ron: Shouldn't have too many questions.
Ron: Shouldn't be thinking on that level.
Laura: Horrifying.
Laura: Just the whole world.
Laura: It's just whoa.
Laura: wiggling things.
Laura: I do.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: Anyway, so, okay, so I might have some beryllium, and then it spits out a couple of helium nucleuses, and now it's lithium.
Ron: Well, it's about too I'm just saying.
Laura: For worry about it, captain, rubbing your eyes.
Laura: I can't feel positive about my learning when you're rubbing your eyes like that.
Ron: You got there in the end.
Ron: But it's just every time we've spoken about protons, do we go through this argument where I make you say, protons, define the element?
Ron: You then say something like, oh, so if we change the number of protons, we change the element.
Ron: Then every time I say, yeah, well, that doesn't really happen, apart from in specific types of radioactive decay, and we'll talk about that later, and then you go, okay.
Ron: And then we're finally talking about it and I don't know why I expected any different.
Ron: You don't give a s***.
Laura: I'll get off my case because I've tried really hard this episode so far.
Ron: Yeah, we're having a nice time.
Ron: Let's not spoil it.
Laura: I haven't even given no s**** yet.
Ron: So the next type of particle is a beta particle.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: So a beta particle is a high speed electron, but this is emitted from the nucleus.
Laura: What?
Laura: I thought the electrons were never in the nucleus.
Ron: No, and they're actually not before this.
Ron: This is where it gets interesting again.
Laura: Sucked in and spat back out like a catapult.
Ron: No.
Ron: So actually what happens is a neutron shoots out an electron.
Laura: What?
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: So one of the neutrons in nucleus shoots out there's beat particle, a very high speed electron.
Ron: So it's shot out and what?
Ron: It shot out an electron, which we know is negative, negatively charged.
Laura: There are electrons in neutrons.
Ron: So what do you think happens to the neutron?
Laura: It becomes a proton.
Ron: Exactly.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: My God.
Laura: Now, even neutrons aren't what I thought they were.
Ron: Now, don't think that a neutron is just a proton with an electron.
Laura: That's exactly what I'm thinking now, but.
Ron: That'S not what it is.
Laura: Sounds like it's what it is.
Ron: It's not what it is.
Laura: It really feels like if you're a thing and you spit out one thing and then you're another thing.
Laura: Now, you are those two things, but.
Ron: It'S not the case, so don't worry about that.
Laura: Is that in a bag?
Ron: Nothing'S in a bag.
Laura: And this doesn't melt your little knob off at all?
Laura: I meant noggin.
Laura: This is too much, man.
Laura: Is this what taking lsd is like?
Ron: No.
Ron: No, I've never taken lsd, but I can assure you no.
Laura: When we finally get dad on the podcast, we'll ask him.
Laura: Maybe that should be a picture.
Laura: And I'm saying we do lsd with drugs.
Ron: With dad.
Laura: Got it sad that our dad is way cooler than us.
Laura: He's currently refusing to be on our podcast because he's not talking.
Ron: He's booked out.
Ron: He's on off menu next week.
Laura: So an electron gets spat out of a neutron.
Ron: Hello.
Laura: My God.
Laura: And nobody knows why this is happening.
Ron: I'm sure people do.
Ron: It's a measurable and predictable phenomena, but.
Laura: We still don't know what radiation is.
Ron: Why not?
Ron: Well, I'm telling you what radiation is.
Ron: I've just told you two types of it.
Laura: Why does it spit it out?
Laura: What makes it spit it out?
Laura: It was unstable, but I don't write okay, I need to clarify what this unstableness means.
Laura: What does that mean?
Laura: How can just some things hanging out together be unstable?
Laura: What does that mean?
Ron: So this is one of the barriers that we run into with this podcast.
Laura: Every now and again, the podcast, because science doesn't know.
Ron: No, science does know, but we're doing f****** GCSE main.
Ron: Sometimes you just got to accept things because it can't go into that much detail.
Laura: I can't understand things I don't know.
Ron: Yeah, but you've got to.
Laura: But then this is another my score reports constantly.
Ron: Yes, but this is another problem, because you don't retain any knowledge.
Ron: So all of it has to be explained all at once, every time, where it's like, what would be super lovely, what would be just a little cuddle to my life would be if we could just learn a thing and then build on it in like, a month or two.
Laura: Rying.
Ron: Oh, I know it's not bashing you.
Ron: It's just the way that you are.
Laura: I retain other things.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: I know how to drive.
Ron: You got a different brain.
Ron: You don't have a science brain.
Ron: No, that's fine.
Ron: Maybe we just shouldn't do a science podcast.
Ron: But we're here now.
Ron: Carol got a tattoo.
Ron: We're locked in.
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: Again.
Ron: I'm so nuclear.
Laura: Wear a tattoo.
Laura: Wrong.
Ron: Well, the rat that we came up.
Laura: With is yeah, that's true.
Ron: High speed electron ejected from the nucleus.
Ron: So again, we've changed the number of protons in the nucleus, haven't we?
Ron: But this time it's gone up.
Ron: Yeah, again changes the element.
Laura: Yeah, yeah.
Ron: The next one we've had gamma radiation.
Laura: Gamma radiation.
Laura: Oh, I hate Meghan.
Laura: markle, I want to eat my gingerbread half too much.
Ron: Is that for Christmas?
Laura: No, I've already eaten some of it.
Laura: I made it for my party that no one came to.
Laura: My dad won't be on my f***.
Ron: Three one.
Ron: So the third type is called gamma radiation.
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: Laura, don't spiral on this because you've made up the d*** thing and people couldn't come to the party because of the weather.
Laura: No, it's good gamma radiation.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: So gamma radiation isn't a particle at all.
Laura: Oh, for the love of f***.
Laura: Not a particle.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: No.
Ron: Gamma radiation is electromagnetic radiation.
Laura: I agree.
Laura: It's electromagnetic radiation.
Laura: So the word radiation, in this sense, it literally means particles or whatever are giving something out, like a radiator gives out heat.
Laura: So radiation just means like that.
Laura: It means like, oh, two neutrons on a protons are shooting out, or an electron is shooting out.
Laura: It's radiating something.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: Is that not what it means in all context?
Laura: But I have trouble what do you mean?
Ron: Just because you think of radioactive decay.
Laura: I think of it as such as green goo.
Ron: Yeah, but that is radiating something.
Laura: Yes, and I'm starting to understand that now that radioactivity isn't what it's like.
Laura: It's a bit like when we learned about cancer and we learned that cancer is not a specific thing.
Laura: There isn't a thing called cancer.
Laura: There's not an elemental cancer.
Laura: There's not a liquid or whatever.
Laura: It means uncontrolled growth of a previously normal cell, but now replicates unhampered.
Laura: So I had to reassess what my 36 years of understanding that word meant.
Laura: And that's just happening again now with radiation, where I've always known, like a radiator means that or she radiates once, you know, might be something somebody would say nicely about me in a review of this podcast on Apple podcasts.
Laura: But now I'm learning that it's not like goop or a special type of radio wave.
Laura: It just means things are coming out of atoms in an odd way.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: So you know, like we were talking about with geiger counters, they measure radioactivity.
Laura: Yes.
Ron: So when they're doing that little ticking thing, literally, what that is is the way that a geiger counter works is a tube.
Ron: Okay?
Ron: And the tube has a needle inside it, and there is an electric current run across the tube.
Ron: And the needle, when nothing is in there, no current can pass because there's too much of a gap between them.
Ron: When a radioactive particle enters the tube, the electrical current passes between through that particle, and then that gives a little tick.
Ron: So when they're walking up to the barrel of green goo with their geiger counters, and you hear each one of those is a little particle going through.
Laura: The Geiger counter, right?
Laura: And so things become radioactive around like power plants that have gone wrong and stuff, because an energy creating experiment or thing has put a lot of energy out into the world, which has made these things unstable.
Laura: So now they're too full of energy.
Ron: No.
Ron: So it's a common misconception with these sort of things that being close to something that's radioactive, unless you get loads of that on you, you don't become radioactive.
Laura: Spiderman.
Ron: For example, there was a thought at some point that what you could do with all food like chicken that you were selling or something like that, is you could irradiate it with gamma radiation.
Ron: Because what that would do is that would just kill all of the bacteria in that thing and then you'd never get salmonella.
Ron: You could eat chicken sashimi if you wanted to, if you wouldn't want to, but if you irradiated it with gamma radiation and just killed everything that was in it right, there was an uproar about this because people are we don't want radioactive chicken, we don't want like radioactivity near our food and stuff like this.
Ron: Gamma radiation is electromagnetic radiation.
Ron: This is exactly the same kind of radiation as light or heat.
Ron: It is just at a different frequency.
Ron: So thinking that that would then make something radioactive is the same as like shining a torch on something and then expecting that thing to glow.
Laura: Okay, that's interesting.
Ron: Yeah, good bit, Ron, thank you.
Ron: So the gamma radiation is electromagnetic radiation.
Ron: It's a sine wave.
Ron: It's literally the same type of energy as light or heat.
Laura: And is that say someone now had no concept of what light and heat radiation because their brain was a bottle in their feet.
Laura: What do you mean?
Laura: It's electrons moving in a funny wave?
Ron: No, it's electromagnetic.
Ron: It's not electrons, it's electric.
Laura: It's electricity.
Ron: No, it's electromagnetic.
Laura: What does electromagnetic mean?
Ron: So the reason why it's called that is because it happens in two axes and one of them is electric and one of them is magnetic, I think.
Ron: But don't worry about that.
Ron: Electromagnetic is just the name of it.
Ron: That's just what it's called.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: Gaming radiation is so you know how.
Ron: Light like a rainbow is?
Ron: Light is white light all spread out.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: So what you are separating there is electromagnetic radiation at different frequencies or wavelengths.
Laura: And this is just energy.
Laura: Light is just pure energy.
Laura: So gamma radiation is pure energy?
Ron: It's a form of energy.
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: So it's just at a different wavelength to visible light.
Ron: So in the visible light spectrum it goes from red to blue.
Ron: So red has longer wavelengths than blue, and then they get shorter and shorter and shorter from red to blue, and that's all the different colors.
Ron: However, we through our eyes can only see a really small proportion, or visible light is a small proportion of the electromagnetic radiation spectrum we call.
Ron: It.
Laura: Yeah, because we've got like, infrared and ultraviolet.
Ron: Exactly.
Ron: So those are the immediate ones on either side.
Ron: But then you've got microwaves and X rays.
Ron: These are also just the same thing as light.
Ron: Just we can't see it.
Ron: And X rays are very long.
Ron: Radio waves can be meters long.
Ron: The wavelengths on those gamma radiation is very, very high energy.
Ron: That's why it's so dangerous.
Ron: High energy, high frequency, short wavelength.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: Why is it grouped in it sounds like such a different thing to alpha and beta radiation.
Laura: Why are they both radiation?
Ron: Because, like you were saying before, because it's using the word radiation, that it's very basis sort of definitional form.
Laura: But radiation actually means a lot of things, doesn't it?
Laura: Like just sound is radiation.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: Or to radiate from something like radiate comes from, like, radius, like it's all just coming from a point.
Laura: But gamma radiation is nuclear radiation.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: It is coming from the nucleus.
Laura: Okay, right, okay.
Laura: That I hadn't grasped that.
Laura: Okay, so gamma radiation, so it's an energy wave coming from a nucleus.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: That makes sense.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: And then also on this list, it just says, literally just a neutron, which I've never heard of as nuclear radiation.
Ron: So we'll ignore that until it comes up again.
Ron: Okay.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: Who are you?
Laura: I'll just write that down.
Ron: So the different types of radiation, they kind of have different seriousnesses, basically.
Ron: So alpha radiation, you actually don't have to like, if someone handed you of something that was emitting alpha particles, you shouldn't touch anything that's radioactive as a rule, it's bad for you.
Ron: But alpha radiation, because it's such a massive particle, it's kind of like it's like shooting a paintball at something.
Ron: It's big and it just smacks against it.
Laura: Right.
Ron: The alpha radiation can't even go through a sheet of paper.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: Beta radiation is smaller, high energy, so that can go through a sheet of paper, but would get stopped by a thin plate of wood or like a fairly lightweight metal, like aluminium or something like that.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: Because of that reason, like beater radiation, I don't think you should be near it.
Ron: But I think if you're like, a couple of meters away in the air, I think you're safe as well.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: Gamma radiation, if you need several inches of thick lead or iron or something like that to stop it, basically.
Laura: Right.
Ron: So gamma radiation is the really dangerous one, because even if you've got a wall in between you and the source, it's still going to be getting to you.
Ron: The best thing that you can do if you're near something that has gamma radiation coming out of it is to just get as far away as you can.
Ron: Because things like this obey an exponential law of intensity.
Ron: So if you double the distance in between you and it, you square, it squares how little you get, basically, if that makes sense.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: Okay, but didn't you say that one they were talking about using it on chicken?
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: Radiation can be harnessed.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: So we're talking about just wild radiation.
Ron: Well, these things do crop up because we haven't always had the understanding that we've got now of these things.
Ron: So every now and again you see a picture online of someone that's digging through one of their granddad's chests or something in the attic and then they pull out just a radioactive rod or something.
Ron: These things do happen.
Ron: And this is one of the problems with nuclear energy in general, is that we are creating huge, vast problems for future generations that we have no idea what to do with.
Ron: Because effectively what we've done by creating all of this radioactive waste is that there is something that's going to be there in perpetuity that could kill a person just by looking at it.
Ron: They're not going to feel anything when they go near it.
Ron: They're just going to get really sick two days later because it's going to wipe out their immune system and they're going to die.
Ron: What we've effectively probably done is create the devil for future peoples when they don't understand what is just making them sick.
Ron: And there are just these cursed places that are killing them.
Laura: So when something is radioactive, there's no visible or feeling.
Laura: You wouldn't know?
Ron: No.
Ron: It doesn't glow, wouldn't be hot to.
Laura: The touch or wouldn't feel buzzing or anything?
Ron: No.
Laura: That's depressing, isn't it?
Laura: Was it us talking about it?
Laura: What was I listening to where they were talking about the problem of labeling radioactive waste?
Ron: We have talked about it.
Ron: I think it was on no such things as fish.
Ron: They talk about it.
Laura: That's it.
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: Have you seen those plates that they made and then put at the original nuclear test sites?
Laura: No.
Ron: So that was really interesting.
Ron: They got a linguist to analyze language and work out from how words have been preserved up until now, how we could write a message that even if they didn't speak English in 2000 years, they could rosetta Stone what we meant by these plates that we put the initial testing sites and it's really interesting.
Ron: They're really scary.
Ron: Oh, yeah.
Ron: This is this is it.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: This is not a place of honor.
Ron: No highly esteemed deed is commemorated here.
Ron: Nothing valued is here.
Ron: What is here is dangerous and repulsive.
Ron: This place is best shunned and uninhabited.
Ron: And like they got like a linguist to work out what words would still hold their meaning in a long time.
Ron: Yeah, I saw another one where it was something about like no courageous events happened here or something.
Ron: Yeah, it's super interesting.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: I feel a bit sad now.
Laura: I'm going to have another advent calendar.
Laura: Chocolate.
Ron: Okay.
Laura: I've eaten them all.
Laura: No, I think there's some on the table.
Laura: Hang on, run.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: Hang on, run.
Laura: I found one.
Ron: Hooray.
Laura: What do you want to talk about now.
Ron: So we're going to talk about radiation a bit more.
Laura: Oh, that makes sense.
Ron: So what they do sometimes is they do what are called nuclear equations to represent radioactive decay.
Laura: Oh, this is where it goes downhill.
Ron: No, these are actually all right.
Laura: You've said that so many times and it's been a lie.
Laura: there'll be a super cut one day of you going like, no, this is not really interesting.
Laura: And then it's nine times eight to the power four.
Laura: Get it?
Ron: So in a nuclear equation, we use it in kind of the format that you see things on a periodic table.
Ron: So, like, he to be helium, a little four up at the top, that's the mass number, and a little two at the bottom, that's the atomic number.
Ron: Do you remember what a periodic table is?
Laura: Yeah, I was actually just trying to remember what the atomic number meant.
Laura: Is that the number of electrons we.
Ron: Go through this every time, is that protons?
Laura: Because the mass is the neutrons, basically.
Ron: Neutrons and protons.
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: The difference between the mass and the atomic number is the number of neutrons.
Laura: I thought the neutrons were the heaviest bit.
Ron: They were exactly the same as the protons.
Laura: How come they if they've also got an electron in them?
Ron: Because, as discussed before, they don't have an electron in them, remember.
Laura: Just not believe you.
Laura: But then, for example, hydrogen is number one eight.
Laura: The neutron only weighs zero eight.
Ron: There is no neutron in hydrogen most of the time.
Laura: No.
Laura: Wow.
Ron: Remember that they're decimals, because that's an average yeah.
Laura: System in very isotopes.
Ron: You do get very rare hydrogen isotopes.
Ron: I believe it's called deuterium.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: I think you can get triterium as well, where there's three particles in it.
Laura: Wow.
Laura: What were you saying?
Laura: I'm sorry, where were we?
Ron: We use this format where we've got the mass number at the top, the atomic number at the bottom, and then we use the chemical formula mass number at the top.
Laura: That's different to mine.
Laura: Hang on.
Laura: Shouldn't be mine's got, like, number one at the top and then 1.008 underneath.
Ron: That's wrong.
Ron: Well, it's not wrong.
Ron: It's just not conventional.
Laura: Oh, bloody h***.
Laura: And I've got to start the notebook again.
Laura: Oh, yeah.
Laura: It explains what everything is down there.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: So beryllium, for example, if I was doing the nuclear beryllium, I'd write be and then I'd write 9.1 at the top and four underneath it.
Ron: Exactly, yeah.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: So at the alpha particle, we can represent as helium, with the mass number being four and the atomic number being two.
Ron: Because an alpha particle is essentially a helium nucleus.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: An alpha particle is basically a helium.
Laura: So if I'm depicting an alpha particle in an equation, he four above it, two underneath it.
Ron: Exactly.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: And then a beta particle we depict as a little e to stand for electron.
Ron: It's got a mass of zero.
Laura: I just want it to go down on the record that I'm choosing not to call bullshit, because E has already been loads of stuff when it's a little E, but like change or something.
Ron: No, that's famously delta.
Laura: What was e in that?
Laura: E was in that.
Laura: I know he was in that.
Ron: No, it was a capital E for energy.
Ron: Little E.
Ron: Literally, it's got a mass of zero because it has no neutrons or protons mass number zero.
Ron: And then as an atomic number, we give it a minus one.
Laura: Oh, I think I love beta particles.
Ron: So let's see if you can work this out.
Laura: Okay, we can work it out.
Ron: We've got some raid on.
Laura: Lollipople bath.
Laura: Lollipoli bubble bath.
Ron: So how would we represent radon 219 in this?
Laura: First of all, I've got to find radon on my periodic table.
Ron: I'm going to get some water while you do then.
Laura: There it is.
Laura: It's rn.
Laura: Right?
Laura: bollocks.
Laura: I forgot what he said.
Laura: And I was going to get some water.
Laura: Raid on 219.
Laura: We got a 20.
Laura: 319.
Laura: I got raid on 219 to radon radar.
Laura: Radon.
Laura: Hey, Ron.
Ron: Hey, Ray.
Laura: Ron.
Laura: Hey, Ron.
Laura: Radon.
Laura: My chocolate really worked to perk me back up.
Ron: Lovely.
Ron: So did you find raid on?
Laura: Yes, I did.
Ron: So we got some radon 219.
Ron: How are we going to represent that?
Laura: Rn 219 above it 86 down below.
Ron: Beautiful.
Ron: Okay, that's perfect.
Laura: Now this, thank you for that praise, Ron.
Laura: I loved it.
Ron: You're doing really we're having such a lovely episode today.
Ron: We don't know why I said that.
Ron: The raid on decays via an alpha particle.
Ron: Okay, so draw an arrow to the right from from where you've written your 219 rn.
Laura: I've written it really?
Laura: At the right hand side of the page.
Laura: So I'm going to have to do another one.
Laura: Hang on, I wrote it over there.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: rn little arrow.
Laura: Yes.
Ron: So an alpha particle has left our radon.
Ron: What are we?
Laura: Hi, elvis.
Laura: So it's now it's now polonium.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: And what does it weigh?
Ron: What does it weigh?
Laura: How can I know that?
Ron: Because you know how much an alpha particle weighs.
Laura: How much does it weigh?
Ron: What's an alpha particle?
Ron: So how much does that weigh?
Laura: I don't know.
Ron: How do you not know?
Laura: 295 by 86.
Ron: Why would it be that?
Ron: Why would it be that?
Laura: Because that's the mass and that's how many bridge ons it's got.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: So it's lost.
Ron: It's lost.
Ron: So what's the mass number?
Ron: Yeah, but what is that?
Ron: How do we get that?
Laura: I don't know.
Laura: This advertisement actually different towards on mine, anyway.
Laura: Mine says 222.
Ron: Yeah, but do you remember how that's an average yeah.
Laura: Oh, yeah.
Laura: This is 219.
Laura: So that means it's got 219 neutrons.
Ron: Neutrons.
Laura: Neutron.
Laura: Samprodon.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: So it's lost wait, 219 of each or added together.
Ron: Added together.
Laura: So it's got 86 protons.
Ron: Yes.
Laura: Okay, so now I know I can work out how many neutrons it's we.
Ron: Don'T need to do that.
Ron: You don't need to do that.
Ron: So it's got 219 neutrons and protons.
Ron: That's how much it weighs.
Ron: It's lost two neutrons and it's lost two protons.
Ron: How much does it weigh now?
Laura: 217.
Laura: 215.
Laura: f*** me.
Ron: Yes.
Ron: 215, subtract four.
Laura: But I really subtracted two off the bottom.
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: Because both have gone down.
Laura: They haven't gone down by four and two it's gone down by four totals.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: So the mass has gone down by four, the number of protons has gone down by two.
Laura: Yeah, you're right.
Ron: I'm going to give you a birthday present to Tom tomorrow.
Ron: I'm very glad.
Ron: It's just a big thing of children's sisters.
Laura: They make paper chains out of my science book.
Laura: Okay, give me another one of those.
Laura: I do one now.
Ron: Yeah, you do one now.
Ron: Okay, let me get some up.
Ron: So we're doing some proper spark size radiant equations.
Ron: Okay.
Ron: So uranium, two, three, eight.
Ron: Let's do that.
Ron: One.
Ron: Uranium, two, three, eight.
Ron: Wait, sorry.
Ron: Just while we're in the polonium one, what do equations need to be?
Ron: They need to be balanced.
Ron: Right?
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: So oh, plus yeah.
Laura: H e 42.
Ron: Exactly.
Ron: Nice.
Ron: Great work.
Ron: Give yourself a mid lesson, Mark.
Laura: Yes.
Laura: I'm going to play that ding noise so loud.
Laura: Actually, this is you.
Laura: Can you put it in really loud, please?
Ron: Maybe this is run while editing.
Ron: I'm not going to okay.
Laura: Uranium, two, three eight, you said.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: That's going to emit an alpha particle.
Laura: I wish.
Laura: The periodic table is an alpha particle order.
Laura: It's so hard to find anything.
Ron: Well, it's in ascending order of sort of size two, three, eight, then.
Laura: Oh, yeah.
Laura: That's going to be big.
Ron: Yes.
Laura: I think mine doesn't go up that far.
Laura: Oh, there it is.
Laura: Because mine's got upside down numbers, so that's what it was.
Laura: That's going to lose a little helium as well.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: So easy peasy pie.
Laura: That is now 90.
Laura: So uranium turns into thorium.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: Named after the norse god.
Laura: Nice.
Laura: Two, three, four.
Ron: Perfect.
Ron: Easy peasy subtractor subtract two.
Laura: Yes.
Ron: Cool beans.
Ron: So there's another kind of decay that we can do this for.
Ron: So carbon 14 is prone to beta radiation.
Laura: Carbon 14 is prone to beta radiation.
Laura: rut row.
Laura: What do I need to do now?
Ron: So we know what happens when something emits a beta particle.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: It's going to spit out an electron which has negligible weight.
Ron: Yes.
Laura: But it is going to gain a proton and lose a neutron.
Ron: Yes.
Laura: So it's going to become carbon 13.
Ron: Is it still carbon?
Laura: No, because it's gained a proton.
Ron: And why is it weight?
Laura: So it's going to turn into nitrogen.
Ron: Yep.
Ron: And what's the mass of it?
Laura: The same.
Ron: Exactly, yeah.
Ron: Because neutrons and protons weigh the same.
Laura: So it's going to be N 1314.
Ron: Where'S the 13 coming from?
Laura: Because it's gained a proton.
Laura: It was carbon twelve.
Ron: No, it was carbon 14.
Laura: It was carbon 14.
Laura: I've added the wrong one.
Laura: It's going to be N 1215.
Ron: No.
Ron: where's the twelve coming from?
Ron: where's the 15 coming from?
Laura: Twelve is the number of neutrons.
Laura: No, it's N eleven because it's lost a neutron.
Laura: Twelve is the neutrons.
Ron: It's it's carbon 40 that we're talking about.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: So it's going to be it's going to become carbon N 13.
Ron: Why is it N 13?
Laura: Because it's lost a neutron, but it's gained a proton.
Ron: So because the mass number is the.
Laura: Neutrons and the protons yes.
Laura: Yes.
Laura: N 14 and twelve.
Laura: It's just the same number.
Ron: Yes.
Ron: It's n 14.
Ron: Seven.
Ron: Yes.
Laura: Why has it gone seven now?
Ron: It's gone from six to seven.
Laura: What?
Ron: There are only six protons in carbon.
Laura: Where did I get twelve from?
Ron: I don't know.
Laura: Why have I written 14 there?
Ron: Because it's carbon 14.
Laura: Okay, so now we're not writing down the mass anymore.
Ron: We are writing down the mass.
Ron: 14 is the mass.
Laura: 14 is the mass.
Ron: Are you okay?
Laura: Because mine's flip reversed.
Laura: It's difficult.
Ron: Don't look at that.
Laura: I have to find out the numbers.
Ron: I've told you the numbers.
Ron: It's carbon 14.
Laura: It's an oxygen.
Laura: Know that it went to nitrogen then without looking at the periodic table, you.
Ron: Can look at that, but then don't get the twelve off of it.
Laura: Well, I just am learning.
Laura: So it's carbon 14 at the top, six down below.
Ron: Taking you an awful long time to write this down.
Ron: I can't see.
Ron: Stupid f****** Japanese garden.
Ron: Don't turn it off just to show me.
Laura: I want to show you.
Ron: F****** problem.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: That scribbled out a bunch of times.
Laura: C, six underneath, 14 at the top, and then it's turning into N 714 at the top.
Ron: Yes.
Laura: Great.
Ron: Grand.
Laura: Plus an electron.
Ron: Yes.
Ron: Nice.
Laura: But is that negligible or do we write plus a little e?
Ron: Well, you do plus a little e because the mass is balanced, but then the e has a mass of zero, so that still balances.
Ron: But the mass number doesn't balance, does it?
Ron: Because we need the minus one of the e to add with the seven to equal six.
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: Because in all of these things, you can't lose or gain mass.
Ron: It's an equation.
Ron: Yes.
Ron: The mass is negligible.
Ron: That's why the e has a zero next to it.
Laura: Above it.
Ron: Above it, yes.
Laura: And one below.
Ron: It's got a minus one below, doesn't it?
Laura: I think we need to stop now.
Laura: Wrong.
Laura: Because it was going so well.
Laura: Wheels are flying off everywhere.
Ron: Yeah, we'll stop there, we could end on an interesting fact that the reaction we've just done there with the carbon 14.
Ron: That is how carbon dating works.
Laura: Spend an hour on all right.
Ron: Talk about anything.
Laura: Yeah, because that does sound interesting, to be fair.
Laura: But right now I can't start thinking about it.
Ron: Fair.
Laura: Thanks, Ron.
Laura: I liked that episode.
Ron: Thought you'd be a nice physics one.
Laura: Yeah, it was good.
Ron: I just edited the two hour special.
Laura: Oh, my God.
Laura: I wanted to die and not.
Ron: Neither of us come off wearing that.
Ron: You come off like an imbecile and I come off like a grumpy, grumpy man.
Laura: We truly bring out the best of each other.
Laura: All right, I'm going to try and hold on to some of this over this month.
Ron: Makes sense, right?
Laura: Oh, it does now, but let's play a sting and watch it be absolute trash apples.
Ron: But you just got to think, what's leaving?
Ron: And then there because at the end.
Laura: Of the day, let's reverse it and add them together.
Laura: And remember, at the end of the.
Ron: Day, it's subtracting four and subtracting two.
Laura: If it's one or two things leaving.
Ron: If it's an alpha part, there's only two particles.
Laura: What if it's particle two?
Laura: Particle alphas?
Ron: Well, then it's subtracting eight and subtracting four.
Ron: Something I'd also expect you to be able to do.
Laura: I can listen, I want to stop now before I say something horrible to you.
Ron: Okay.
Ron: We'll see you for the quiz.
Laura: Ron.
Laura: Okay, I'm recording.
Laura: I'm worried, Ron.
Laura: It's been months.
Ron: It's been two weeks.
Laura: No, we did this one before Christmas.
Ron: Did we?
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: Oh, yeah.
Ron: We've only recorded one since yeah.
Laura: So twiddling your massage like a baddie yeah, that we recorded this before Christmas and then and then we stopped and did the Christmas episodes.
Laura: So this has been, like, two months.
Ron: God, that feels like yesterday.
Laura: I'm worried.
Ron: What is the point of life?
Laura: Hey, Megan.
Laura: Two weeks time, Ron.
Laura: I'm coming to see you.
Ron: Yes.
Ron: You didn't respond.
Ron: On what days?
Ron: You're not doing anything.
Ron: Because I'll take a day off.
Laura: Oh, yeah, I'll respond to that later.
Laura: They don't need to hear that.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: Do you remember what we were doing?
Laura: No, you just said radiation, though, so that sounds positive.
Laura: Actually, do you know what?
Laura: That does ring a bell.
Laura: And I remember this as being quite interesting.
Ron: Yeah, I think we had one of our nicest physics episodes.
Laura: Yeah, I think it was interesting.
Laura: And lots of words that you use a lot like radiation and things like that made more sense.
Laura: And I was like, oh, that's what's happening when you say, it's going to.
Ron: Be a big surprise when we listen to this.
Ron: What's in this episode?
Ron: Right.
Ron: Okay.
Ron: 123456 points available.
Laura: It's the return of the rons counting feature.
Ron: Mark that off on your sheets.
Ron: Right.
Ron: Laura, what are the different types of radiation?
Ron: Five points available.
Ron: I don't remember how many of them we spoke about.
Laura: There are four.
Laura: What did you say?
Ron: I said five points available.
Laura: Pollocks now, you see, because what I've written down in my notes here is four times nuclear radiation and then I've written down three times.
Laura: Well, I've written down alpha particle.
Ron: Oh, wait, no, there are four.
Laura: Oh, that's good.
Laura: Alpha particle.
Ron: Yep.
Laura: Beta particle.
Ron: Yep.
Laura: Gamma radiation.
Ron: Yep.
Laura: And then it gets I don't know.
Ron: If we covered the next one, to be honest.
Laura: I've written I've got written in brackets, it says a neutron and then capitals afterwards, it just says, who are you?
Laura: Is that anything?
Ron: Yeah, a neutron is one of them, but I also don't know I've never heard of a neutron just being radiation.
Ron: I've heard of neutrinos being radiation and.
Laura: Neutrinos like baby neutrons, essentially.
Ron: They're very, very small part.
Ron: Well, I think they're just neutral particles.
Ron: Neutron radiation.
Ron: Yeah, it is.
Ron: I don't know if we covered that last time, though.
Ron: So you'll get three marks.
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: For alpha beta get four marks.
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: I should think.
Ron: We don't know if it should have been out of four or not, basically.
Ron: Laura, what is an alpha particle, please?
Laura: Two neutrons and two protons.
Laura: Ron.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: Bonus mark, if you can tell me what you could also call that.
Laura: Helium.
Ron: Yes.
Ron: A helium.
Ron: Bloody h***.
Laura: That's not even written down.
Laura: Ron everything's falling on the floor that's not even written down.
Ron: Wow.
Ron: Should we start just recording and releasing this once a month?
Ron: You just need a lot of time to marinate.
Laura: Basted.
Laura: He's been marinated.
Laura: If you can tell me what film that's from?
Ron: The Wedding Singer?
Ron: No.
Laura: Aristocrats.
Laura: It's about that dog.
Ron: I always hated that one when I was a kid.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: I don't think I had it on video, so we didn't have the fondness for it.
Ron: What's the beta particle?
Laura: It is a high speed electron spat out of a neutron.
Ron: Yes.
Laura: Wait, what is an electron?
Laura: Wouldn't be in a neutron.
Ron: It wouldn't be in a nucleus.
Laura: But remember, a neutron is a proton and an electron together.
Ron: Yes, but not in the way you're imagining.
Laura: No, but it needs to be.
Laura: Once I've imagined a thing, it can't be changed.
Laura: So okay.
Ron: What is gamma radiation?
Laura: That is an energy wave coming from a nucleus.
Ron: Can you describe the energy wave at all?
Laura: Wiggily.
Ron: I need more.
Ron: There are two things you can say that will get you the mark.
Laura: Electromagnetic.
Ron: I'll give you it.
Ron: Yeah, that was one of them.
Ron: Yes.
Ron: The other thing is that it's very high energy short frequency.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: I'm going to add that to my notes.
Laura: In one of my notes, I was.
Ron: Just learning on learning.
Laura: On learning high energy short frequency, which.
Ron: Are the same thing, basically.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: I love that for us.
Ron: What, Laura, is the unit of radioactive decay?
Laura: Oh, that was a question we did, wasn't it?
Laura: Is it halflife?
Ron: No, a half life is a quality of something that's radioactive, but it's not.
Laura: The unit of the I know.
Laura: A geiger counter is the thing that measures it.
Ron: Is that how geiger counters work?
Ron: No.
Laura: Let me have a look at the notes.
Laura: It might be written down.
Laura: It's not.
Laura: I'm going to kick myself when this comes up, though, because I feel like it's in here somewhere under a blanket.
Laura: What letter does it begin with?
Ron: You're going down to half a mark.
Laura: Even if you get half a mark for one letter?
Ron: Yeah, the most important one.
Laura: All right, fair.
Ron: It begins with A-B-B.
Laura: Okay, maybe it's not in here.
Laura: Maybe I was just thinking about a blanket.
Ron: It's not blanket.
Laura: Is it named after a person, I presume?
Ron: Not someone that I know about.
Laura: Barbarianics.
Laura: Yeah, it is a dinosaur.
Laura: I don't know, Ron.
Laura: I don't know.
Laura: This is painful.
Ron: No, it's a beccarelle.
Laura: Yeah, no, I can't remember that.
Laura: I imagine I made a became a sauce joke.
Ron: Maybe you did.
Ron: Laura, finally.
Ron: You just mentioned them.
Ron: Could you describe what a half life is?
Laura: Oh, that is the amount of time it takes for half of a lump of element substance to radioactive substance.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: To half itself.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: Great.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: Awesome.
Ron: What a wow.
Laura: I'm so happy that you didn't ask me to do any equations because I can see loads of drawings on the other page.
Laura: I was waiting for that to happen, but that is good.
Ron: Oh, yeah, I forgot about no, too late now.
Laura: Quizzes over.
Ron: S***.
Ron: That is a good day.
Ron: But I remember you getting that last time.
Ron: That's fine.
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: It'S because sometimes in my notes it will say, use syllabus for this because there's just no point in me writing it out again in a separate document and I didn't look at the syllabus.
Laura: Wow.
Laura: I'm pretty pleased with that, given that that was months ago.
Ron: Yeah, I'm very impressed with that, actually.
Ron: I think anyone that's come here for angst and squabbling get away.
Ron: Yes.
Laura: Get you to another don't go to another podcast, please.
Laura: We'll probably squabble again in the outro.
Laura: We did pretty well there, Ron.
Laura: You didn't listen to it, did you?
Laura: I piece of s***.
Ron: No, no, no.
Ron: Since I got back from Mexico, I've been in, like, the awkward stage where I'm editing them about two weeks before they go out.
Ron: So then it's not long enough ago that I want to listen to them again.
Ron: But, yeah, I don't necessarily remember everything that's happened.
Laura: Yeah, I did listen back to this one, and I'm fairly sure there was a question in that quiz that did not come up in the lesson, actually.
Ron: Which one was that?
Laura: Well, I can't remember now about functional.
Ron: Groups because I've edited an episode recently and I'm fairly convinced I've ever edited the wrong quiz.
Laura: That's exciting.
Laura: We'll check that content before it goes out.
Laura: I love that we spend the first top of it like, hey, please give us some money to make this podcast.
Laura: And in the end going, hey, it is dog s***, isn't it?
Laura: But look, maybe if we got paid for doing it, we'd have the time to focus.
Laura: Listen, speaking of you guys giving us your hard earned cash, it's time to say thank you to our first batch of patrons, not necessarily the first five that joined up.
Laura: I don't know how ron's decided to pull the list out and write about them?
Ron: Well, I wanted to do a post in case anyone didn't want their name read out.
Ron: These people have commented so implicitly have said they're fine with it.
Ron: So we'll give everyone a week to say if they don't want it, and then we'll just assume everyone else does.
Laura: Sounds smart.
Ron: You want to go first?
Laura: I feel like you've written them in your voice, so you should say them.
Ron: No, I will do some each.
Laura: All right, then.
Laura: Yeah, I'll go first.
Laura: So our first patron that we're thanking is skylar mcfarland.
Laura: skyla is 100% the most hard working lab worker we've ever had.
Laura: Would be a credit to anywhere that decides to employ them.
Laura: So we're basically, as a thank you for being a patron, we're offering you an official reference.
Laura: If you ever need a job in a scientific role, just get your employer to contact Lexxeducation@gmail.com and we will get you that job, mate.
Laura: Thank you for being a patron.
Ron: That will make sense to skylar, by the way.
Ron: That's an injury I have with them.
Ron: The next one is Jenny ormrod, who we are very grateful for her for cleaning out the pool at the Animal Love Island villa.
Ron: Although we do know she makes a fortune selling molomola caviar on the side.
Laura: You can eat buffet.
Laura: You just lie with your head out the back of the molomola.
Ron: It's a regular Skip scramble coming out the back of that fish.
Laura: Thank you to kristen L, who is actually the guitar player for Bob marley.
Ron: Keita.
Laura: Keita.
Laura: What's a key tart, to be fair.
Laura: Okay, keita player for Bob marley as they cheer up the ho downing sad boys.
Laura: Oh, yeah, Bob.
Laura: This is a random one.
Laura: It's maya.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: kristin is the key to have love for Bomb marley while they cheer up the ho downing sound voice.
Laura: However, kristin is leaving the band due to a past torrid love affair with one of the sound engineers, aka Neutrons.
Laura: Aka Neutrons could be my rap name.
Ron: Okay, I like that.
Ron: And finally this week, Rebecca Green, who sells drugs to our dad.
Laura: Hey, legend.
Laura: So there you go.
Laura: If you would like your own personalized shoutout, and to make sure that we can run the podcast forever and ever and ever and ever, then please go to patreon.
Laura: ComLexxetucation and you will get a brand new shiny episode this Friday where we finally find out what glass is.
Laura: woohoo yay.
Laura: All right, and see you next week.
Ron: Class dismissed.
Ron: Patrons and future patrons.
