WEBVTT - World-Changing Science Experiments: Part Two

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff from the Science Lab from how stuff

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<v Speaker 1>works dot com. Hey guys, and welcome to the podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>This is Alice Madam, the science editor from how stuff

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<v Speaker 1>works dot com. And this is Robert Lamb, signed writer

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<v Speaker 1>from how stuff works dot com. And we hope you

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<v Speaker 1>caught the first part of our series on world changing

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<v Speaker 1>experiments because it was world changing and exciting and mentioned

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<v Speaker 1>some good good stuff. And today we're going to continue

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<v Speaker 1>with a couple of more experiments changing the world once more,

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<v Speaker 1>one experiment at a time. Yeah. So the first one

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<v Speaker 1>that we're talking about is primordial soup, which does not

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<v Speaker 1>come in a bowl. Though it did, it would probably

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<v Speaker 1>be pretty gross. Yeah, And here's why this boils down

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<v Speaker 1>to the the theory that at one point there was

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<v Speaker 1>no life on Earth is pre biotic, okay, and you

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<v Speaker 1>just had the chemicals for life flowing around out there.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, you had especially proteins and nucleic acids and

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<v Speaker 1>these were formed, you know, early in Earth's primordial environment. Okay, Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>So all the elements are there, right, it just needs

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<v Speaker 1>to be cooked. So the theory was that did something

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<v Speaker 1>say like a strike of lightning or um or um

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<v Speaker 1>or radiation from the sun sort of you know, cooked

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<v Speaker 1>the thing and set the thing off, got everything rocking,

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<v Speaker 1>and you know that's the catalyst for life. Yeah, and

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<v Speaker 1>a couple of guys, a couple of biochemists in particular

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<v Speaker 1>John Haldane and Alexander Operan came up with this idea,

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<v Speaker 1>and what do you know, a few decades later in

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<v Speaker 1>n Harold Jury and Stanley Miller obliged and tested their hypothesis.

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<v Speaker 1>And of course, how do you test something like that, Well,

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<v Speaker 1>you just have to make an artificial environment with the

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<v Speaker 1>with the same uh, you know, chemical properties. Right. Basically,

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<v Speaker 1>they were intent on recreating the early atmosphere of Earth

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<v Speaker 1>in carefully controlled, closed system. Does that blow your mind

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<v Speaker 1>for a second. You're creating the early atmosphere of Earth,

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<v Speaker 1>Like it sounds like it sounds like something from like

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<v Speaker 1>Outer Limits or Twilight Zone. It's like they've created like

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<v Speaker 1>the past in a in a in a little bubble,

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<v Speaker 1>and they're going to make life evolved and it's like

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<v Speaker 1>sand kings or something. You know, it's just so cool

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<v Speaker 1>and it's so simple. Right today, they had a warm

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<v Speaker 1>flask of water as the ocean. Yeah, the water vapor

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<v Speaker 1>rose up from the water collected in another chamber. Uh,

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<v Speaker 1>they introduced hydrogen, methane, ammonia. All this to stimulating oxygen

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<v Speaker 1>free and atmosphere, right, and then what do you know

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<v Speaker 1>if they discharge a couple of sparks, Yeah, representing lightning.

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<v Speaker 1>Of course, they had to wait for lightning to strike

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<v Speaker 1>the clock tower at the center of town. But then

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<v Speaker 1>they had that run to their experiment. No, no, no, no, no, no,

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<v Speaker 1>back to the future, reference spark. Just a few sparks.

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<v Speaker 1>Just charge a couple of sparks into the mixture of gases,

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<v Speaker 1>and finally the condenser cooled the gases into a liquid

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<v Speaker 1>they collected for analysis. And they opened it up and

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<v Speaker 1>there was a whole beaver in there. No, not not

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<v Speaker 1>a whole beaver, no, but but organic compounds, right, And

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<v Speaker 1>that was very exciting, almost as exciting as a beaver. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>the organic compounds were abundant in the cool liquid. What

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<v Speaker 1>did you find in particular that excited Miller? A whole bunch.

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<v Speaker 1>In particular, they found amino acids, which are a vital

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<v Speaker 1>component for life as we know it, right, so you're

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<v Speaker 1>a Miller concluded that organic molecules could form in an

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<v Speaker 1>oxygen free atmosphere and that the simplest of living things

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<v Speaker 1>might not be far behind. Yeah, there you go. That's

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<v Speaker 1>that's world changing. That's basically like the smoking gun, um,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, for evolution if you will. Yeah, it's excellent.

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<v Speaker 1>It's such a cool experiment. So let's talk about making light. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>this is really cool. Um. And it's not really making light,

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<v Speaker 1>like measuring the more measuring light UM, kind of like

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<v Speaker 1>capturing light. It's kind of almost like, you know, I'm

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<v Speaker 1>gonna grab grab a beam of light and like force

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<v Speaker 1>it to run a whole bunch of laps, and I'm

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<v Speaker 1>going to watch it, measure what it's doing, and by

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<v Speaker 1>measuring it, figure out exactly how fast it's going. So

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<v Speaker 1>the light was still a mystery back when the nineteenth

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<v Speaker 1>century dawned, and it inspired a couple of fascinating experiments,

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<v Speaker 1>most notably Thomas Young's double slit experiment. But the one

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<v Speaker 1>that we're going to talk about I had to do

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<v Speaker 1>with a gentleman by the name of A. Michaelson, a physicist,

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<v Speaker 1>a physics instructor who in seventy eight devised an experiment

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<v Speaker 1>to calculate the speed lay. Yeah. I love this. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>can you not this is so cool any kind of

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<v Speaker 1>a big experiment. It's kind of cool, yeah, and it

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<v Speaker 1>but it's also it's big. But it also was fairly simple,

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<v Speaker 1>and I think he made it with materials that cost

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<v Speaker 1>less and ten dollars. I don't know what the equivalent

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<v Speaker 1>amount would be back then, but he made it pretty cheaply.

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<v Speaker 1>And what Michaelson did was he proved that light was

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<v Speaker 1>a finite measurable quantity. Quantity. Yeah, He basically set up

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<v Speaker 1>a couple of mirrors um about in a mile long tube,

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<v Speaker 1>all right, so that the light hit one of these

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<v Speaker 1>mirrors and then then reflected towards the other mirror, and

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<v Speaker 1>this mirror was was rotating. When the speed was correctly adjusted,

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<v Speaker 1>light reflected from the rotating mirror struck a mirror that

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<v Speaker 1>was in the fixed position, and a return to strike

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<v Speaker 1>the next phase on the spinning mirror. So do you

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<v Speaker 1>do you have a picture of that. You have light

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<v Speaker 1>streaking the rotating mirror, then it's going back to the

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<v Speaker 1>fixed mirror, and then it's going back again to the

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<v Speaker 1>rotating mirror, right, And he had an observation screen set

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<v Speaker 1>up as well, so he could you could measure these things.

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<v Speaker 1>So According to the University of Chicago, they did a

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<v Speaker 1>little right up on this experiment. The time needed for

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<v Speaker 1>the next phase to rotate into position to reflect the

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<v Speaker 1>light was the time required for the light to travel

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<v Speaker 1>the known distance to the station is the stationary mirror. Basically,

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<v Speaker 1>if you know how fast the rotating mirrors are rotating,

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<v Speaker 1>and you know the distance between those two sets of mirrors,

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<v Speaker 1>then you can figure out the speed of light. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>He sat, he set up the situation where math could

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<v Speaker 1>could calculate it, and he basically came really close. Is

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<v Speaker 1>that recall. Yeah, he came in in two hundred miles

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<v Speaker 1>of the actual value. Yeah. So more important, scientists had

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<v Speaker 1>a better picture of light and a foundation upon which

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<v Speaker 1>to build the theories of quantum mechanics and relativity. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>with the speed of light. Without understanding the speed of light,

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<v Speaker 1>there are so many theories about the universe. We wouldn't

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<v Speaker 1>have listen to any of our podcasts to deal with

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<v Speaker 1>space and you know, in big cosmological issues, and speed

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<v Speaker 1>of light has a way of coming up a lot.

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<v Speaker 1>It does, and so does radiation, which our next experiment

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<v Speaker 1>is concerned with. Correct. Yeah, let's add to France. Let's

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<v Speaker 1>head to uh the curies. So the year was a

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<v Speaker 1>pretty momentous one for Marie. Curie should a first child

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<v Speaker 1>with her husband Pierre, also a non scientist, and a

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<v Speaker 1>few weeks later she went looking for a subject for

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<v Speaker 1>her doctoral thesis and what she settled on was uranium rays,

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<v Speaker 1>which were first described by Henri Becarel. And so Becarel

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<v Speaker 1>had discovered that these rays accidentally because he left uranium

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<v Speaker 1>salts in a dark room and when he came back

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<v Speaker 1>he found that they had exposed a photographic plate. I

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<v Speaker 1>love that story. So like simple and accidental, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>and he's just leaving uranium lying around the house. That's always.

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<v Speaker 1>That's good. So Marie chose to study these mysterious rays,

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<v Speaker 1>and she wanted to see if there are other elements

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<v Speaker 1>that gave off similar emissions. And she found them. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>she um, she discovered polonium would she name would just

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<v Speaker 1>named for poland her homeland. And then she also discovered radium.

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<v Speaker 1>So there's a pretty end. And and also she really

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<v Speaker 1>narrowed down that you had radioactive compounds, but it wasn't

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<v Speaker 1>the compound that was radioactive, it was an element in

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<v Speaker 1>the compound. And so curity when to Nobel presses for

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<v Speaker 1>her work. Quite a gal, quite a scientist. But let's

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<v Speaker 1>talk about dogs. This is I think it's more exciting,

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<v Speaker 1>and I think everyone's more or less familiar with this one,

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<v Speaker 1>if not the actual experiment. Wasn't that cartion about Pavlov

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<v Speaker 1>like a like the likes of Scooby Doo or something,

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<v Speaker 1>no cartoon that ran into Sunday newspaper? Yeah, like a Marmaduke,

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<v Speaker 1>A Marmaduke. Um, you know there's going to be a

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<v Speaker 1>Marmaduke movie by that. I saw this crazy because I

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<v Speaker 1>love the idea of Marmadude because it's like it's not

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<v Speaker 1>really funny and like every but everyone is the same.

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<v Speaker 1>It's like like, oh my god, goodness, the dogs so big.

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<v Speaker 1>Look how huge that dog is. And it's like the

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<v Speaker 1>same thing every time, and it's it's kind of it's

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<v Speaker 1>so bad, it's awesome, you know. Yeah. It reminds me

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<v Speaker 1>a family circus where, um, did you ever read Family

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<v Speaker 1>circus movies before your time? I used to read the

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<v Speaker 1>comics and there was that one comic that the whole

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<v Speaker 1>joke was the child was asking what was for dinner

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<v Speaker 1>and said pisketti and meatballs. That was it. That was

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<v Speaker 1>the joke pisketti and meat balls. Then he like just

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<v Speaker 1>specifically or he like milk that joke. For like twenty years,

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<v Speaker 1>like something. That cartoon was pretty popular. I think I

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<v Speaker 1>might even seen it posted up at my dentist's office. Yeah. So, anyway,

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<v Speaker 1>back to Pavlov of the Russian born physiologist and chemist

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<v Speaker 1>responsible for the salivating dog's experiment. So Pavlov it all

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<v Speaker 1>already noted that the stomach won't start digesting without salivation

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<v Speaker 1>occurring first, right, He wasn't actually interested in psychology behavior.

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<v Speaker 1>He was interested in the bodily functions, digestion and blood circulation. Yeah. So,

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<v Speaker 1>but the experiment itself involved feeding dogs and like having

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<v Speaker 1>a whole bunch of flashing lights and noises going on

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<v Speaker 1>at the same time. And then you feed them without

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<v Speaker 1>those noises or the lights, et cetera. But then you

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<v Speaker 1>don't feed them that hit the lights and they start salivating. Anyway,

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<v Speaker 1>a conditioned reflex. Yeah, it's so. It's it's like, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>you hear people talking about a something having a Paplovian effect.

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<v Speaker 1>It's kind of like I have a certain ring tone

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<v Speaker 1>that goes up in the morning that wakes me up

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<v Speaker 1>and so there's like a response it's like, oh goodness,

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<v Speaker 1>I have to get out of bed. So if you're

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<v Speaker 1>ready to hear that ring tone it other times, yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>I hear like occasionally office will have that ring tone

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<v Speaker 1>go off and yeah, my heart jumps and I'm like,

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<v Speaker 1>oh my goodness, I just dreamed half my day and

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<v Speaker 1>I'm not really out of bed yet. Well. The interesting

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<v Speaker 1>thing that Pablo found was that this type of reflex,

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<v Speaker 1>like you're running for the shower when you hear that

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<v Speaker 1>ring tone, um, it dies out if the stimulus is

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<v Speaker 1>wrong too often. So if you hear it in the

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<v Speaker 1>office too much, then you're not You're not going to

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<v Speaker 1>have that urge. So so yeah, if you So, if

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<v Speaker 1>he pulled this on the dogs too much, they'd be like, hey,

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<v Speaker 1>I don't actually get fed every time you sound an

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<v Speaker 1>air horn. Yeah, the canon's got smart and Pablo published

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<v Speaker 1>his results in A year later, he won a Nobel

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<v Speaker 1>Prize in medicine, but it wasn't for his work with conditioning,

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<v Speaker 1>but rather in recognition of his work on the physiology

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<v Speaker 1>of digestion, through which knowledge on vital aspects of the

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<v Speaker 1>subject has been transformed and enlarged. That comes to you

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<v Speaker 1>compliments of the Nobel Prize dot org site, which is

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<v Speaker 1>such an awesome site. Have you been to the Nobel

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<v Speaker 1>Prize I have. It's pretty cool. It just contains a

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<v Speaker 1>wealth of information. I just love it. The other great

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<v Speaker 1>thing about this experiment is that, aside from maybe being

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<v Speaker 1>old freaked up on the noise, like, nobody was like

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<v Speaker 1>mean to a dog or or any kind of an animal.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, I mean not only mean, you know, just

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<v Speaker 1>kind of messing with them a little, but no more

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<v Speaker 1>than your average dog under my vivisection. Yeah, like so

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<v Speaker 1>many of these animal experiments, it's like even if for

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<v Speaker 1>if it's for a good cause, it's like you're like, oh, man,

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<v Speaker 1>you're gonna blast another chimp into space. That's great. So really,

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<v Speaker 1>he didn't do anything. He didn't engage in any animal cruelty.

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<v Speaker 1>I I don't know, or well, the experiment itself is

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<v Speaker 1>what I'm The experiment itself is not overtly based in

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<v Speaker 1>animal cruelty, as some experiments definitely are, right, I guess

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<v Speaker 1>it depends on your definition of animal cruelty. But oh,

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<v Speaker 1>there's some experiments definitely animal cruelty. Well, somebody classified this

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<v Speaker 1>one else. Well, but it's a far cry from say,

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<v Speaker 1>cutting a dog's head off and then trying to sew

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<v Speaker 1>another dog's head onto the stump. That's a little Butchers

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<v Speaker 1>in my mind, there is a disparity between the two.

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<v Speaker 1>So let's talk about authority figures. Yeah, let's move on

0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:56.480
<v Speaker 1>to more human cruelty, because that's what this this experiment

0:11:56.520 --> 0:11:59.720
<v Speaker 1>centers around. And Stanley Milgram was a pretty famous experiment

0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:02.720
<v Speaker 1>and sure you guys have heard of it. Yeah, his

0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:06.640
<v Speaker 1>nineteen sixties obedience experiments, and they're some of the most

0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:11.920
<v Speaker 1>famous and controversial science experiments. So what did Milgram do? Yeah,

0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:14.960
<v Speaker 1>so basically, you know, he's sitting around his laboratory and

0:12:15.000 --> 0:12:17.200
<v Speaker 1>he was thinking, you know, you know what I would

0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:19.840
<v Speaker 1>like to do. I would like to to know how

0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:23.640
<v Speaker 1>far ordinary people will go in delivering painful electric shocks

0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:27.400
<v Speaker 1>to a friend or just your peer, when commanded to

0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:30.920
<v Speaker 1>by a scientific authority. Can you imagine that's his laboratory thought,

0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:35.199
<v Speaker 1>just sitting there, musing upon the newspapers headlines, and then

0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:38.240
<v Speaker 1>he thoughts wander over too, Yeah, or he has like

0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:40.440
<v Speaker 1>a lab assistant and he's like, how far would this

0:12:40.480 --> 0:12:42.200
<v Speaker 1>idiot go if I just told him to do it?

0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:45.920
<v Speaker 1>And Uh, as we find out pretty far. Yeah, it's

0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:50.080
<v Speaker 1>kind of disturbing, right. So this is his experiment. Milgram

0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:54.200
<v Speaker 1>recreated a couple of volunteers just ordinary to deliver the shocks.

0:12:54.559 --> 0:12:57.400
<v Speaker 1>You created the actors to be the subjects who had

0:12:57.440 --> 0:13:00.520
<v Speaker 1>received the shocks. So there's no actual shocking, no actual

0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:03.520
<v Speaker 1>shocking going on. They're just pretending to be shocked. And

0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:06.200
<v Speaker 1>but the people that are employing the shock don't know it.

0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:10.400
<v Speaker 1>Can't pretend I just gave you a shock, Okay, I

0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:14.120
<v Speaker 1>just I just amph why jerryus listening in the headphones.

0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:16.640
<v Speaker 1>If I scream into the headphone, I mean into the mic,

0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:20.360
<v Speaker 1>she's gonna at right. So you have your actors, you

0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:22.240
<v Speaker 1>have your ordinary residence, and then you have an authority

0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:24.160
<v Speaker 1>figure of scientists who would remain in the room for

0:13:24.160 --> 0:13:28.640
<v Speaker 1>the study station. And the authority figure was the one

0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:31.520
<v Speaker 1>who began each experiment. They showed the volunteers how to

0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:34.439
<v Speaker 1>use the mock shock machine. That's a kid name the

0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:38.120
<v Speaker 1>mock shock machine. The machine allowed the volunteers to deliver

0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:41.920
<v Speaker 1>up to four, which was a shock light labeled as

0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:46.439
<v Speaker 1>highly dangerous. What happened next? So next the scientist told

0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:49.240
<v Speaker 1>the volunteers that they were testing to see how shocks

0:13:49.320 --> 0:13:54.160
<v Speaker 1>might improve word association recall, which I don't know why

0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:56.400
<v Speaker 1>they fell for that, because it it was kind of like, oh, man,

0:13:56.480 --> 0:13:59.640
<v Speaker 1>I stuck my finger in that lightstock, and I totally

0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:03.120
<v Speaker 1>better with my vocabulary. Um. So I instructed the volunteers

0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:06.960
<v Speaker 1>to shock the learners, who again were actors for wrong answers,

0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:10.680
<v Speaker 1>and raise the voltage as the experiment progressed. Man. Yeah,

0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:13.920
<v Speaker 1>and so the learners cried out whenever they received a shock,

0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:16.520
<v Speaker 1>and at about a hundred fifty volts they would demand

0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:21.560
<v Speaker 1>to be freed. Well, the scientists, the authority figure encourage

0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:24.640
<v Speaker 1>volunteers to continue delivering the shocks, no matter how agitated

0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:27.880
<v Speaker 1>the learners became. Yeah, some of the volunteers stopped at

0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:30.880
<v Speaker 1>about a hundred and fifty volts, but most kept going

0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:33.360
<v Speaker 1>until they reach a maximum shock level of a four

0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:37.280
<v Speaker 1>hundred and fifty. It's crazy, It is crazy. So yeah,

0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:41.080
<v Speaker 1>the the the the lesson here then is that if

0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:44.720
<v Speaker 1>a scientific authority figure tell somebody to do something, uh,

0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:49.520
<v Speaker 1>you can really push them pretty far, you know. Yeah, yeah,

0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:52.200
<v Speaker 1>the power of authority most definitely a lot of people

0:14:52.280 --> 0:14:54.720
<v Speaker 1>later called into question the ethics of the experiment, as

0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:58.880
<v Speaker 1>you might guess, but the results were really fascinating. Yeah.

0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:01.240
<v Speaker 1>I mean it's often a were shadowed by by some

0:15:01.280 --> 0:15:06.160
<v Speaker 1>of the crueler psychological experiments like the Stanford prison experiment.

0:15:06.360 --> 0:15:08.600
<v Speaker 1>Definitely think about the Stanford prison experiment. Didn't they have

0:15:08.640 --> 0:15:12.400
<v Speaker 1>to call that one off early? I forget how that went. Yeah,

0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:15.800
<v Speaker 1>So we have a ton of really good experiment articles

0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:17.440
<v Speaker 1>on the site if you want to check them out.

0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:22.200
<v Speaker 1>On the home page. We have how human experimentation works.

0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:24.320
<v Speaker 1>That's a pretty good one. Yeah, we have five crazy

0:15:24.360 --> 0:15:26.600
<v Speaker 1>government experience and we also have this one that Bill

0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:29.000
<v Speaker 1>Harris wrote on ten science Experiments to Change the World.

0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:31.720
<v Speaker 1>And if you want to hear about even more experiments,

0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:35.920
<v Speaker 1>do check out our blogs because we're always covering experiments

0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:39.840
<v Speaker 1>there because they're constantly doing something fascinating out there in

0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:42.360
<v Speaker 1>the world of science. And uh and we'd like to

0:15:42.400 --> 0:15:44.880
<v Speaker 1>cover the really snazzy ones. Yeah, and a lot of

0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:47.480
<v Speaker 1>times we'll cover them on Twitter or Facebook as well

0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:49.240
<v Speaker 1>if we don't get around to posting on them or

0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:51.720
<v Speaker 1>written in an article. Yeah, that's lab stuff on Twitter

0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:53.760
<v Speaker 1>and on Facebook, you can just you can look up

0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:55.720
<v Speaker 1>lab stuff or stuff from the Science Lab and you

0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:57.800
<v Speaker 1>will find us and of course, if any of you

0:15:57.800 --> 0:15:59.360
<v Speaker 1>guys are listening here in the labs, we'd love to

0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:00.880
<v Speaker 1>hear what you're up to, so send us an email.

0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:10.200
<v Speaker 1>Science stuff at how staff works dot com. For more

0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:12.520
<v Speaker 1>on this and thousands of other topics, is it how

0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:16.280
<v Speaker 1>stuff works dot com. Want more how stuff works, check

0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:18.440
<v Speaker 1>out our blogs on the house stuff works dot com

0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:19.000
<v Speaker 1>home page.