website that teaches you how to think like a scientist. Mmmm, a refreshing glass of cold water. If you think Im talking about H-2-O, then
youre right. But I could be sipping on heavy water, or
deuterium oxide, aka D-2-O, just as easily.
Well, not just as easily its super expensive,
and you have to, like, buy it from lab supply stores, but you get my point. Deuterium is a form of hydrogen, or isotope,
with a bonus neutron, which makes it twice as heavy as the regular hydrogen we all know
and love. Thats why when theres deuterium in water
molecules, its about 10% heavier, and we call it heavy water. And one of our patrons on Patreon, who goes
by Kutsop, wanted to know what would happen if you just drank a glass of heavy water.
Well, in small amounts -- even a glass or
two -- heavy water is fine. In fact, in combination with an oxygen isotope,
its used in lots of nutrition experiments in humans because its a useful way to track
how much energy youre spending. But dont go filling up all your bottles
with pure deuterium oxide, because too much will almost definitely kill you. Mice and rats die when about a third of the
water in their bodies has deuterium in it.
Plants also arent big fans, and will stop
growing. The toxicity is related to whats called
the kinetic isotope effect. Basically, the extra mass of the isotope slows
chemical reactions down -- including all the super important reactions that keep you not
dead. In the case of heavy water, the bonds between
deuterium and oxygen are stronger than those between hydrogen and oxygen in normal water.
That means it takes more energy to break those
bonds, which slows everything down. Its not totally clear how much heavy water
would do a person in, but experts estimate that anything more than 10% of your total
water intake could start causing problems. So a sip is okay, but dont push it. Also it's not going to help you at all, and
it's going to cost extra money.
I don't really know why you would do this. Still, there is a form of heavy water you
should avoid: tritium oxide, or super-heavy water. Instead of hydrogen or deuterium, it contains
tritium, an isotope of hydrogen that has two neutrons. And is radioactive.
Now, as far as radioactive things go, tritiated
water is pretty weak. It emits low-energy , which are a type of
electron that cant penetrate skin. But drinking them is another story. Theres some evidence that once inside the
body, beta particles might even be better at causing cancer than the higher-energy gamma
rays that come from things like radium.
Scientists dont actually have a great sense
of how dangerous tritiated water is, they're not just putting it in cups and having people
try it, but they assume exposure isnt good. We all come into contact with a tiny amount
of it naturally, which isnt a big deal. But because tritiated water is used in nuclear
reactors, the real concern is when those reactors leak, or if theres an accident. So, Im not recommending you do this, but
if you really want to test out some heavy water, make sure its deuterium oxide.
Me however, I'll just stick with the stuff
that comes out of the water cooler at work, because it's nice and cool and made up of
normal things that I understand. If you liked learning about the weird chemistry
of heavy water, you probably like getting smart and staying smart. Brilliant.Org is a problem-solving website
that teaches you how to think like a scientist. Brilliant presents short, conceptual quizzes
that supplement what you have seen on SciShow.
A great way to retain that information is
by actively solving problems on Brilliant. Each course guides you through easy and challenging
problems with interactive graphics and questions. One course, Physics of the Everyday, teaches
you the science of your refrigerator and toilet, atmospheric pressure systems, nuclear reactors,
and more. In one lesson, you math your way through estimating
what it would take to build a Dyson sphere before our oil reserves run out on Earth.
By breaking the problem into bite-sized concepts,
thinking clearly through each part, and building up to the stunning conclusion, You better
understand the process behind Dyson spheres. If humans keep a keen focus on advancing science
and math, anything is possible. 4 Million people are already using Brilliant,
so join them in sharpening your STEM skills. To support SciShow and learn more about Brilliant,
go to brilliant.Org/SciShow and sign of for free..
No comments:
Post a Comment