@chemteacherphil: In 1884, an Austrian chemist named Carl Auer von Welsbach invented the thorium gas mantle, sometimes called the Welsbach mantle or Auerlicht. It was actually the first commercial use of thorium, and it became the way to light homes, cabins, and eventually camping lanterns like the one you see me use in this video. The mantles start as a mesh fabric dipped in thorium nitrate. Chemists would tweak the mix; add cerium to boost brightness, or beryllium to add strength. Once dried, they were coated with lacquer and made into either soft bag-like mantles or hard dome-shaped ones. When you burn them for the first time, the lacquer and mesh fabric burns away, and the combustion converts the thorium nitrate into thorium oxide. The once flexible mantle becomes a fragile, glowing shell that shines brilliantly when heated by kerosene or propane, a process known as incandescence. The catch? Thorium salts are radioactive. Burning a mantle releases some of its decay products (primarily radium) into the air, and used mantles can stay “hot” long after. That’s why by the 1990s, companies like Coleman switched to safer yttrium nitrate based mantles. They glow about 20% less bright, but they last longer, and you don’t have to worry about radioactive ash on your camping trip! #chemistry #chemteacherphil

dyojtx4xse1k :

Many people don't know but coal gas is carbon monoxide.

jimdalyhardware :

How long will one gas bottle produce light for?

Krieger :

Awe, they got rid of the radiation?

Ryder Bettencourt🇺🇸 :

cApiTalIsm dOeSn'T iNnOvAte

cardsncubs :

How long do those bags last and does it just finally burn away?

TheGayElkSystem :

fun fact! one of the reasons they got rid of the Thorium is becuse a kid named David Hahn used those mantals and a bunch if smoke detectors to try and make a Mini Nucler Breeder Reactor.

AshVesuvius :

Those lanterns are masterpieces of technology. It probably took over a century to make a better and cheaper portable lamp

Jojo 🔳🔘➰ :

Do the people still using this for camping know that we have LED lights these days, that will produce very bright light for days on a single battery charge?

⋆｡Lia °✩ :

That's called a Glühstrumpf in German btw which translates to Glow Sock 😂 But I never knew what it was used for until now

:(){ :|:& };: :

Is the light being produced by these mantle monochromatic like low pressure sodium bulbs ?

Steelydan001 :

The mesh bag 🤰

JackMehoff :

How many uses do these bags get

Sofie :

Jamm3r :

I remember those from scouts

bloatware boi :

I remember this from the Technology Connections video!

Anthony Galatianos :

We have these on our little island cottage (because islands make electricity hard) and the light they emit is so pleasant- along with the fact that it’s incredibly cool/novel as a means of producing light

Mehdi :

These were very common when i was a kid in Morocco and the street lights weren’t the best. Vendors at night would use a version like this and I was always perplexed on how a tiny gas bottle can power a lightbulb

ChrisW :

DON'T TOUCH DA BAG

bobabuiltmyhotrod :

The Amish store near me uses these. There’s a set of gas pipes that runs through the whole store with the mantles every so many feet to light the whole store. Always thought it was neat.

Bernard Wrangler :

I've used those lanterns for years with my scouts and never knew there was so much to the technology. now just make them less fragile. and they are still better than LED

kim :

we used to play cards by the light of one of these when the power went out! fun fact, this light makes blue and green Uno cards look identical 🤣

Rogers Mutunga :

Very common in Kenya in the 90s.

Lucifer666 :

they still use this in Austria for road repairs during night work ...new version..but same principle.

Tuube :

we used these in scouts! put on top of a propane tree so 2 stoves and the lantern all fed from 1 tank. x6-7 Patrols and the leaders stove meant our troop had quite a few (if you don't have backups you don't have lights)