1 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:09,799 Speaker 1: Hey, Daniel, what do you think of all those videos 2 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:12,560 Speaker 1: of UFOs? You know, those fine things doing things we 3 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:13,680 Speaker 1: can't quite explain. 4 00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:17,120 Speaker 2: I love those videos. I can't get enough of them. 5 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:19,160 Speaker 1: What do you mean you watch them on repeat all 6 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:19,480 Speaker 1: the time. 7 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:24,080 Speaker 2: I've seen those hundreds of times, absolutely hundreds. 8 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:28,120 Speaker 1: That's a lot of time. Do you think they're videos 9 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: of aliens? 10 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:31,920 Speaker 2: Oh? Man, I really want to believe. I really hope 11 00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:32,760 Speaker 2: they are aliens. 12 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:36,120 Speaker 1: That doesn't answer the question, do you think they are aliens? 13 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:38,320 Speaker 2: I think the truth is out there, I. 14 00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:43,800 Speaker 1: Guess, well, definitely, and it's not in here, not yet, 15 00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:46,320 Speaker 1: at least That's what I want people to believe. This 16 00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:49,080 Speaker 1: is all a big gaslighting operation by US aliens? Is 17 00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:49,560 Speaker 1: it working? 18 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:50,960 Speaker 2: I believe? 19 00:00:51,440 --> 00:01:00,240 Speaker 1: All right, I'll take that as a yes. 20 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:08,240 Speaker 2: Hi. 21 00:01:08,319 --> 00:01:10,760 Speaker 1: I'm Moorhey, ma cartoonist. I'm the author of Oliver's Great 22 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:11,560 Speaker 1: Big Universe. 23 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:14,800 Speaker 2: Hi, I'm Daniel. I'm a particle physicist and a professor 24 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:17,479 Speaker 2: at UC or Fine, and I'm not sure if I'm 25 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:19,920 Speaker 2: Mulder or Scully in this conversation. 26 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:26,560 Speaker 1: Oh tough choice. Let's see. Are you handsome and happy, 27 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:29,319 Speaker 1: go lucky like Mulder? Or are you a stickler for 28 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:32,200 Speaker 1: the small details? Like Scully. 29 00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:37,160 Speaker 2: Can't I be handsome and a stickler? P? 30 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:40,280 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean you bose the two options. 31 00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:43,720 Speaker 2: I'm the quantum superposition of Moulder and Scully. 32 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,120 Speaker 1: I see you're Mully or Scolder. 33 00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:49,559 Speaker 2: I'm neither a stickler nor handsome. 34 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:52,760 Speaker 1: Wait so you're neither, Then you're Nully. I can't take 35 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:57,560 Speaker 1: your hat. Well, I'll take either one. I think they're 36 00:01:57,560 --> 00:01:59,800 Speaker 1: both great. Were you a big fan of the X Files? 37 00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:02,520 Speaker 2: I love the way they capture that mystery and the 38 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:06,440 Speaker 2: enthusiasm to understand the unknown. Yeah, it was well written stuff. 39 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:08,520 Speaker 1: You know they're doing a reboot right. 40 00:02:08,680 --> 00:02:11,639 Speaker 2: Yes, and I'm a superposition of excited and terrified. 41 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:17,640 Speaker 1: The word reboot almost never goes well unless well, although 42 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:20,720 Speaker 1: recently Dune that movies just came out by the time 43 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:22,880 Speaker 1: this comes out, and that's a pretty good reboot. 44 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:25,799 Speaker 2: Yeah, mister and missus Smith was a great reboot. Enjoyed that? 45 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:28,760 Speaker 1: Mmm, I haven't seen that. Which myth are you, mister 46 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:29,519 Speaker 1: and missus? 47 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:33,520 Speaker 2: I think that's too personal a question. 48 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:38,080 Speaker 1: But anyways, welcome to our podcast Daniel and Jorge Explain 49 00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:40,560 Speaker 1: the Universe, a production of Our Heart Radio. 50 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:42,840 Speaker 2: In which we want to believe that the truth is 51 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:46,160 Speaker 2: out there, that there exists an explanation for everything that 52 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:49,200 Speaker 2: happens in the universe, that we live in a cosmos 53 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:52,239 Speaker 2: that follows rules, that makes sense, that it is governed 54 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:55,560 Speaker 2: by order and principles, and that we can reveal those 55 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:58,839 Speaker 2: by doing experiments and thinking deeply and peering out into 56 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:01,400 Speaker 2: the far reaches of space. It is possible to understand 57 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:03,920 Speaker 2: everything out there in the universe. And our goal on 58 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:06,200 Speaker 2: this podcast is to bring all of that knowledge and 59 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:07,760 Speaker 2: all of those questions to you. 60 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:11,400 Speaker 1: That's right, because we're all special investigators, we're all Scully 61 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:14,119 Speaker 1: and more. They're both excited about what could be out there, 62 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:16,480 Speaker 1: but also we need to be a little skeptical about 63 00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:18,400 Speaker 1: what we see or think that we see. 64 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:21,519 Speaker 2: That's right. We need to restrain our budgeting enthusiasm for 65 00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:24,600 Speaker 2: talking to aliens about the mysteries of the universe with 66 00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:27,120 Speaker 2: the healthy note of skepticism, so that we don't fool 67 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:29,440 Speaker 2: ourselves into believing something that isn't real. 68 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:32,120 Speaker 1: But Daniel, do you think if aliens do exist and 69 00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:33,960 Speaker 1: they come here, are they going to be offended by 70 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:34,800 Speaker 1: our skepticism. 71 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:37,160 Speaker 2: I think they'll respect it absolutely. 72 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:39,240 Speaker 1: That's a no. 73 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:42,280 Speaker 2: Then no, I don't think they'd be offended. I mean, 74 00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:44,880 Speaker 2: if I landed on an alien planet, I would expect 75 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:48,360 Speaker 2: them to ask a few questions before they accepted my story. 76 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:51,200 Speaker 1: Oh that's an interesting phenomenon. You could be the alien 77 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:53,120 Speaker 1: in another plan, but you would never leave your couch. 78 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:54,200 Speaker 1: You've stated that before. 79 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:57,080 Speaker 2: Yes, but I know that you have a kidnapping scheme 80 00:03:57,120 --> 00:03:59,440 Speaker 2: ready to launch me into space, so I'm mentally preparing 81 00:03:59,480 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 2: for it. 82 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:01,960 Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not sure I would pick you as our 83 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:05,560 Speaker 1: ambassador or humanity. You seem too eager to sell us out. 84 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:08,160 Speaker 2: I think that's great news for everybody. 85 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:11,080 Speaker 1: But anyways, it is an interesting and amazing universe out there, 86 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:16,839 Speaker 1: full of mysteries and unknowns and potentially interesting technologies that 87 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:19,320 Speaker 1: we have yet to discover that could be used, maybe 88 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:22,320 Speaker 1: for things like making us aliens on another planet. 89 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:24,640 Speaker 2: There are so many mysteries we'd like answers to, so 90 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:27,800 Speaker 2: many tools we'd love to develop, And it's very tempting 91 00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:30,240 Speaker 2: to imagine that the aliens might already be here and 92 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:32,800 Speaker 2: might be sharing it. That there could be secretive labs 93 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 2: in which our government is right now reverse engineering alien technology. 94 00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:40,160 Speaker 1: I noticed you said could be You're not sold yet. 95 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:43,000 Speaker 1: You didn't say there are secret labs. 96 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:45,320 Speaker 2: I didn't say there are because I don't know. 97 00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:47,880 Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure there are secret labs, whether they have 98 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:51,080 Speaker 1: aliens or not. I think that's the bigger question. 99 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:53,360 Speaker 2: Oh, there are definitely secret labs. I mean I grew 100 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:55,360 Speaker 2: up in a town where most of the labs were 101 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:58,159 Speaker 2: behind this big fence with guns. So yes, I can 102 00:04:58,200 --> 00:04:59,960 Speaker 2: testify to the fact that there are a secret life. 103 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:04,000 Speaker 2: Whether they are reverse engineering alien technology is a much 104 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:04,679 Speaker 2: bigger question. 105 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:08,120 Speaker 1: Well, that's an interesting concept, the idea of reverse engineering 106 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 1: alien technology. I guess the scenario is that maybe the 107 00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:14,279 Speaker 1: US discovered or found some alien technology in the past, 108 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:17,039 Speaker 1: maybe it's high hiding an area fifty one or area 109 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:20,719 Speaker 1: of fifty two, And the question is could we ever 110 00:05:20,839 --> 00:05:24,640 Speaker 1: do something with that technology or would it be maybe 111 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:27,320 Speaker 1: too alien for us to figure out how it works? 112 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:31,160 Speaker 2: And more than just speculating generally, there are specific claims 113 00:05:31,200 --> 00:05:34,279 Speaker 2: that folks have made about the precise technology that the 114 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:36,839 Speaker 2: US government is right now or reverse engineering. 115 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:39,120 Speaker 1: So today on the podcast, we'll be tackling the question 116 00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:50,560 Speaker 1: can element one P fifteen be used for anti gravity propulsion? Well, 117 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:53,560 Speaker 1: there's a lot of words in this question which could 118 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:55,719 Speaker 1: be the basis of an X File episode, like, you 119 00:05:55,720 --> 00:05:57,240 Speaker 1: don't need all of it. You can choose have an 120 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:01,520 Speaker 1: episode on antigravity, propulsion or an element called element one fifteen. 121 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:04,360 Speaker 2: That's right. And this question sounds kind of out there, 122 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:07,760 Speaker 2: like an X Files episode, But this specific question has 123 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:10,599 Speaker 2: been sent to me by many listeners who've heard the 124 00:06:10,680 --> 00:06:14,040 Speaker 2: stories floating around about Bob Lazar and his claims about 125 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:16,839 Speaker 2: Area fifty one and element one fifteen. 126 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:20,039 Speaker 1: Hmmm, do you think those people are part of the 127 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:22,719 Speaker 1: cult there or people on the fringe of the cult. 128 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:25,279 Speaker 1: Are just people looking from the outside into this kind 129 00:06:25,279 --> 00:06:26,359 Speaker 1: of eighteen cult? 130 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:28,800 Speaker 2: I don't know. They could be Area fifty one security 131 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:31,320 Speaker 2: agents trying to figure out if we've cracked their codes. 132 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:33,480 Speaker 1: Oh my goodness. It could be like a double agent 133 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:35,359 Speaker 1: kind of they're trying to catch you. 134 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:37,880 Speaker 2: This whole episode is us walking into a trap. 135 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:43,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a drop. But I have to say I've 136 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:46,600 Speaker 1: never heard of this element one fifteen. It sounds very 137 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:47,440 Speaker 1: science fiction y. 138 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:50,840 Speaker 2: Mmmm. It's fascinating because at the time Lazar first talked 139 00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:53,400 Speaker 2: about it, it was science fiction y and now it's 140 00:06:53,480 --> 00:06:54,280 Speaker 2: just science mm. 141 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:56,719 Speaker 1: It sounds like elementium or by vranium. 142 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:02,320 Speaker 2: Yeah, that that element one fifteen is now very real. 143 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:03,880 Speaker 1: Is it more real than one fourteen? 144 00:07:05,240 --> 00:07:07,520 Speaker 2: I think they're both maximally real and a lot more 145 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:10,640 Speaker 2: real than unoptainium. 146 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:13,120 Speaker 1: All right, I guess we'll dig into what this all 147 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:16,560 Speaker 1: means and who is Bob Luzar, But first we were 148 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:18,920 Speaker 1: wondering how many people out there had heard of element 149 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:22,840 Speaker 1: one fifteen and whether it could be used for anti gravity. 150 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:25,720 Speaker 2: Thanks very much to everybody who answers my tough questions 151 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:29,040 Speaker 2: about physics and my weird questions about alien technology. Really 152 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:33,400 Speaker 2: appreciate your time and enthusiasm. If you have time in enthusiasm, 153 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:35,640 Speaker 2: please don't hesitate to write to me two questions at 154 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:37,280 Speaker 2: Daniel and Jorge dot com. 155 00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:38,960 Speaker 1: So think about it for a second. Do you think 156 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:42,720 Speaker 1: element one fifteen can be used for anti gravity propulsion? 157 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:44,600 Speaker 1: Here's what people had to say. 158 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:46,840 Speaker 3: So, I don't know what element one fifteen is off 159 00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:48,200 Speaker 3: the top of my head, but it is ringing a 160 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:50,720 Speaker 3: bell from the time when I went down some rabbit 161 00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:54,320 Speaker 3: holes of Bob lass are supposedly finding this while working 162 00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:57,880 Speaker 3: for the government in the area fifty one, and given 163 00:07:57,880 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 3: that I'm pretty skeptical of him, I would have to 164 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:01,240 Speaker 3: say say it can't. 165 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:02,440 Speaker 2: But I have no idea. 166 00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:05,520 Speaker 4: Yes, I believe that element one one five can be 167 00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:07,760 Speaker 4: used anti property proportion if it can be found, and 168 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:10,480 Speaker 4: it's not just a story. There is a specific element 169 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:11,160 Speaker 4: that can. 170 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:13,920 Speaker 2: Be used to define gravity to provide propotion. 171 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:18,800 Speaker 5: Assuming I knew what element one fifteen was offhand, Yeah, sure, 172 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:21,040 Speaker 5: Obviously we're just not working hard enough. 173 00:08:21,520 --> 00:08:23,000 Speaker 2: I want my anti GRAVI unit. 174 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:25,920 Speaker 6: I don't know what element one fifteen is, but I 175 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:29,120 Speaker 6: will throw out a guess that it could be if 176 00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:32,240 Speaker 6: we could make enough of it and keep it stable 177 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:35,680 Speaker 6: for long enough to disperse it slowly as a fuel 178 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:36,880 Speaker 6: or as a propulsion. 179 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:39,360 Speaker 4: I mean, I feel like there's other elements. I mean, 180 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:41,120 Speaker 4: there's one hundred other fourteen elements. You have to use 181 00:08:41,160 --> 00:08:45,000 Speaker 4: element one fifteen. I'll let you do it this one time, Daniel, 182 00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:47,000 Speaker 4: You guys can just do it this one time, or 183 00:08:47,040 --> 00:08:49,120 Speaker 4: anti gravity potion. But I feel like there's a lot 184 00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:52,199 Speaker 4: of radiation in bananas. We should use the potasium in 185 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:54,600 Speaker 4: the bananas. There's a lot of bananas, a lot of potassium, 186 00:08:54,640 --> 00:08:56,400 Speaker 4: probably a lot of anti gravity proportion. 187 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:56,600 Speaker 2: In that thing. 188 00:08:57,240 --> 00:09:00,400 Speaker 5: I took CAM in college, and I don't remember learning 189 00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:04,000 Speaker 5: anything about element one fifteen or even what it's called, 190 00:09:04,679 --> 00:09:06,880 Speaker 5: and I'm pretty sure if it was useful for anti gravity, 191 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:09,920 Speaker 5: the professor would have mentioned it in lecture and I 192 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:13,080 Speaker 5: would have remembered at least I think I paid attention 193 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:14,240 Speaker 5: to most of the lectures. 194 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:17,800 Speaker 2: I think that fully encapsulates the complete spectrum of answers. 195 00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:19,880 Speaker 1: Yeah, some people here I have never heard of it, 196 00:09:19,920 --> 00:09:24,120 Speaker 1: and some people are like, yes, I believe, let's do it, 197 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:25,360 Speaker 1: let's go to space. 198 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:28,679 Speaker 2: I know this is really enthusiasm out there. Right. 199 00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:32,680 Speaker 1: Well, I guess I've never heard of this, Daniels. So 200 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:36,000 Speaker 1: let's start with the basics. What is element one fifteen? 201 00:09:36,440 --> 00:09:39,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, element one fifteen is just an atom with one 202 00:09:39,559 --> 00:09:42,959 Speaker 2: hundred and fifteen protons in the nucleus. If you look 203 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:45,680 Speaker 2: at the periodic table, it's arranged by the number of 204 00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:49,440 Speaker 2: protons in each nucleus. Hydrogen means you have one proton, 205 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:52,160 Speaker 2: Helium means you have two protons, Lithium means you have 206 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:55,920 Speaker 2: three protons. As you add protons, you change the nature 207 00:09:56,240 --> 00:09:58,880 Speaker 2: of the element, and you can just keep adding protons 208 00:09:58,960 --> 00:09:59,679 Speaker 2: until you get to one. 209 00:09:59,679 --> 00:10:01,120 Speaker 1: Hundred fifteen and beyond. 210 00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:04,120 Speaker 2: Right or not, we've gone up to one eighteen by now, 211 00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:08,920 Speaker 2: that's oganessan The heaviest element we've ever made. We don't 212 00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:11,120 Speaker 2: know how far it goes. We think it might go 213 00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:13,160 Speaker 2: on for a long time, and that there could be 214 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:17,360 Speaker 2: really new, fascinating, even stable elements up at very high 215 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:20,880 Speaker 2: atomic number with very large numbers of protons. 216 00:10:20,440 --> 00:10:23,400 Speaker 1: Meaning like you can just keep adding protons to the 217 00:10:23,480 --> 00:10:26,560 Speaker 1: nucleus of an atom and you would get a different atom, 218 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:30,760 Speaker 1: and you can just keep going, I guess your imagination. 219 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:32,400 Speaker 1: But at some point there's a limit to which one 220 00:10:32,440 --> 00:10:33,719 Speaker 1: we've been able to make in. 221 00:10:33,679 --> 00:10:36,600 Speaker 2: A lab exactly. And there's two questions here, like how 222 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:38,880 Speaker 2: to actually make it, and the other is how long 223 00:10:38,920 --> 00:10:40,800 Speaker 2: it sticks around, whether it's stable. 224 00:10:41,559 --> 00:10:44,559 Speaker 1: So maybe as a reference, like I think most people 225 00:10:44,559 --> 00:10:47,040 Speaker 1: know that uranium is pretty heavy. What's the atomic number 226 00:10:47,080 --> 00:10:47,720 Speaker 1: of uranium? 227 00:10:48,080 --> 00:10:51,160 Speaker 2: Uranium is actually the heaviest element we find in nature. 228 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:55,240 Speaker 2: It has ninety two protons in it. So uranium is 229 00:10:55,320 --> 00:10:59,319 Speaker 2: made in natural processes. The universe started with almost all 230 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:01,880 Speaker 2: just hydrogen. Made it a little bit of helium during 231 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:04,480 Speaker 2: the Big Bang, but mostly it's been stars that've been 232 00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:08,000 Speaker 2: fusing those protons together to make heavier and heavier stuff. 233 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:10,480 Speaker 2: You can make like up to iron in the hearts 234 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:13,040 Speaker 2: of stars and then you need to like collide neutron 235 00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:16,520 Speaker 2: stars together or wait for supernova to make heavier stuff 236 00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:19,560 Speaker 2: up to like uranium. The heaviest thing that will stick 237 00:11:19,559 --> 00:11:22,920 Speaker 2: around forever is lead that has eighty two protons in it. 238 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:25,920 Speaker 2: But you know, natural processes make heavier stuff that that 239 00:11:26,040 --> 00:11:29,679 Speaker 2: decays away, like uranium, which turns into lighter stuff like lead. 240 00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:33,079 Speaker 1: Now uranium is the heaviest one we've found. Is that 241 00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:37,880 Speaker 1: because nature can't make anything higher or it just gets too. 242 00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:40,600 Speaker 2: Rare, Well, we don't know. It's definitely rareer. And everything 243 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:44,560 Speaker 2: else above uranium is also unstable, everything that we've discovered 244 00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:47,000 Speaker 2: at least, So it might be that that stuff is 245 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:49,520 Speaker 2: made out there in nature when neutron stars collide, it 246 00:11:49,600 --> 00:11:51,760 Speaker 2: just doesn't last long enough for us to find it. 247 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:54,959 Speaker 1: Wait, wait, do you mean we've discovered heavier elements than uranium. 248 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:58,760 Speaker 2: We have manufactured heavier elements than uranium in the lab. Absolutely, 249 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:03,040 Speaker 2: we can collide elements together and see them form atoms 250 00:12:03,080 --> 00:12:04,840 Speaker 2: of heavier elements. That's how we got it to like 251 00:12:04,880 --> 00:12:05,520 Speaker 2: one eighteen. 252 00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:11,040 Speaker 1: But somehow nature has not made heavier ones because maybe 253 00:12:11,040 --> 00:12:14,320 Speaker 1: it made them, but they decayed and broke apart. Or 254 00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:17,120 Speaker 1: is it just like there's some sort of energy barrier there. 255 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:19,680 Speaker 2: It's more likely that they were made and then just 256 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:22,320 Speaker 2: broke apart. The half life of these really heavy elements 257 00:12:22,679 --> 00:12:25,240 Speaker 2: can be like tenths of a second or half of 258 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:27,720 Speaker 2: a second, and so if these things were made in 259 00:12:27,760 --> 00:12:30,200 Speaker 2: collisions far far away, then they're not going to last 260 00:12:30,280 --> 00:12:32,760 Speaker 2: long enough to get here and to like sit around 261 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:34,600 Speaker 2: in the Earth for us to dig up. 262 00:12:35,640 --> 00:12:38,080 Speaker 1: Okay, so then, h that's kind of how the atom works. 263 00:12:38,080 --> 00:12:40,880 Speaker 1: You can just keep piling on protons to the nucleus. 264 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:42,800 Speaker 1: But then how did neutrons figure it? 265 00:12:43,200 --> 00:12:45,439 Speaker 2: Yeah, the neutrons are actually what helps us make them 266 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:48,080 Speaker 2: and keep it stable because it's a little tricky, Like 267 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:50,320 Speaker 2: it's not that easy to put two protons together. They're 268 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:52,800 Speaker 2: both electrically charged. They like to repel each other. You 269 00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:55,319 Speaker 2: got to get them close enough that the strong force 270 00:12:55,360 --> 00:12:59,800 Speaker 2: within them helps attract them. Protons are bound states of 271 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:03,480 Speaker 2: quarks inside each proton are upquarks and down quarks stuck 272 00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:07,720 Speaker 2: together with gluons. Technically, it's all neutral. The color charges 273 00:13:07,760 --> 00:13:10,400 Speaker 2: inside the proton all balance each other out. But if 274 00:13:10,400 --> 00:13:12,960 Speaker 2: you're really close to one side of the proton, then 275 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:15,080 Speaker 2: you're like closer to one of the quarks than some 276 00:13:15,120 --> 00:13:17,440 Speaker 2: of the other quarks. So you're feeling a little bit 277 00:13:17,480 --> 00:13:20,199 Speaker 2: of residual color charge. And so there's like a little 278 00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:22,640 Speaker 2: bit of strong force there enough to bind them together. 279 00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:25,520 Speaker 2: But the neutrons help out by keeping the protons from 280 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:28,520 Speaker 2: getting too close together so they don't repel. It's a 281 00:13:28,520 --> 00:13:31,599 Speaker 2: whole theory for how you build a stable atomic nucleus 282 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:35,200 Speaker 2: involves like building shells of protons and neutrons. It's not 283 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:37,440 Speaker 2: just like a big pile of them all slashing around. 284 00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:40,479 Speaker 2: There's an arrangement sort of similar to the way electrons 285 00:13:40,520 --> 00:13:43,440 Speaker 2: are arranged in shells around the atom. We think protons 286 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:46,600 Speaker 2: and neutrons are arranged in shells within the atom. 287 00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:49,520 Speaker 1: I see because I guess protons that are positively charged, 288 00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:53,120 Speaker 1: right like they're the opposite of electrons, And so you 289 00:13:53,160 --> 00:13:56,160 Speaker 1: get two positive protons together, they repel each other, sort 290 00:13:56,200 --> 00:13:59,800 Speaker 1: of like two magnets might repel each other. And I 291 00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:03,520 Speaker 1: think you're saying that the neutrons they're neutral, but they 292 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:07,000 Speaker 1: are sticky in the strong force. Yeah, and so they 293 00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:09,840 Speaker 1: somehow they're like a sticky filler so that you can 294 00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:13,120 Speaker 1: pile on more protons in one place exactly. 295 00:14:13,120 --> 00:14:15,040 Speaker 2: They have the stickiness you need to the strong force, 296 00:14:15,160 --> 00:14:17,800 Speaker 2: and they help reduce the repulsion among the protons by 297 00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:21,080 Speaker 2: keeping them further apart. That's why you need more neutrons 298 00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:24,480 Speaker 2: than protons, especially as these things get heavier and heavier. 299 00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:28,640 Speaker 2: So above lead everything is unstable. But that's only as 300 00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:31,360 Speaker 2: far as we've gotten. We've made up to one eighteen 301 00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:35,480 Speaker 2: by gently tossing together a lighter nuclei. This is also 302 00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:39,440 Speaker 2: really tricky because if you smash two nuclei together really fast, 303 00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:42,120 Speaker 2: they just explode and you got shrapnel from two nuclei. 304 00:14:42,680 --> 00:14:45,080 Speaker 2: If you toss them together too slowly, they bounce off 305 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:47,560 Speaker 2: of each other like two baseballs. You got to find 306 00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:50,440 Speaker 2: just the right sweet spot where they like stick together, 307 00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:53,600 Speaker 2: they like mush together and become one new atom. It's 308 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:55,160 Speaker 2: very very finicky work. 309 00:14:56,320 --> 00:14:58,200 Speaker 1: How do you do it? Do you? You just can 310 00:14:58,280 --> 00:15:00,480 Speaker 1: like shoot them from a cannon other or what. 311 00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:04,920 Speaker 2: I never thought of particle accelerators as cannons, but yeah, 312 00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:07,800 Speaker 2: they kind of are particle canons. Yeah, you just use 313 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:09,880 Speaker 2: an accelerator so you have ions of these things. You 314 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:12,720 Speaker 2: strip off the electrons so they're positively charged, and you 315 00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:15,080 Speaker 2: put them in an electric field that accelerates them, you 316 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:17,200 Speaker 2: point them at each other and you have collisions just 317 00:15:17,240 --> 00:15:18,960 Speaker 2: like we do at the Large Hadron Collider, where we're 318 00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:23,400 Speaker 2: colliding basically hydrogen ions, protons and protons against each other, 319 00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:27,680 Speaker 2: except they're colliding like calcium into emerisium. 320 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:31,720 Speaker 1: They see, you can just maybe smashed to uranium nuclei together, 321 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:32,240 Speaker 1: can you? 322 00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:33,800 Speaker 2: You can try that if you want to make the 323 00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:36,720 Speaker 2: atom with one hundred and eighty four protons in it, 324 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:39,680 Speaker 2: And nobody successfully done that yet. The highest we've gotten 325 00:15:39,720 --> 00:15:41,080 Speaker 2: up to is one hundred and eighteen. 326 00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:44,600 Speaker 1: I see, And then when did that happen? 327 00:15:44,680 --> 00:15:46,600 Speaker 2: So that was like in the last twenty years. It's 328 00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:49,239 Speaker 2: this facility near Moscow which has like all the expertise 329 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:51,080 Speaker 2: and the machinery to do this. They've made all of 330 00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:53,720 Speaker 2: the heaviest stuff. It takes a long time for people 331 00:15:53,720 --> 00:15:56,080 Speaker 2: to officially recognize this and pour through the data and 332 00:15:56,080 --> 00:15:59,640 Speaker 2: convince themselves that it really is real. So element one 333 00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:03,480 Speaker 2: eight it was only recognized in twenty fifteen, some like 334 00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:06,920 Speaker 2: twelve years after the experiments were done, so it's pretty 335 00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:07,600 Speaker 2: recent stuff. 336 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:09,840 Speaker 1: Yeah. So and then you make them, but then they 337 00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:13,360 Speaker 1: quickly break down. Is that what happens to these elements? 338 00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:13,800 Speaker 1: You said? 339 00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:16,640 Speaker 2: Maybe the only last few seconds. Yeah, exactly, they can 340 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:19,920 Speaker 2: last a few seconds or tenth of a second. These 341 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:23,840 Speaker 2: really heavy elements are really unstable. They think though, that 342 00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:27,080 Speaker 2: as you add more protons and more neutrons and you 343 00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:30,080 Speaker 2: get to heavier and heavier elements, something weird might happen 344 00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:33,240 Speaker 2: that instead of getting more and more unstable, you might 345 00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:37,560 Speaker 2: reach some island of stability where you've completed some internal 346 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:40,800 Speaker 2: shell inside the nucleus, you have like enough protons to 347 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:42,960 Speaker 2: all click together at a form like you know, a 348 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:46,920 Speaker 2: roman arch of stability effectively, and you might get really 349 00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:49,680 Speaker 2: heavy stable atoms. We have a whole podcast about the 350 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:53,080 Speaker 2: possibility of super duper heavy stable atoms that might exist 351 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:55,680 Speaker 2: out there in the universe or even be buried in 352 00:16:55,720 --> 00:16:58,160 Speaker 2: the crust of the Earth. Nobody's ever found one, and 353 00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:01,400 Speaker 2: it's still theoretical. But these heavy atoms are starting to 354 00:17:01,440 --> 00:17:04,760 Speaker 2: show slightly longer lifetimes, which suggests we might be like 355 00:17:04,840 --> 00:17:07,160 Speaker 2: on the shore of the island of stability. 356 00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:11,000 Speaker 1: And now, if they last for so little of a time, 357 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:12,680 Speaker 1: how do we know they were there. 358 00:17:12,840 --> 00:17:15,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's one of the tricky parts. They have to 359 00:17:15,080 --> 00:17:18,760 Speaker 2: display behavior that's consistent with our predictions. So they have 360 00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:22,520 Speaker 2: to interact in a certain way or emit photons, et cetera. 361 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:24,879 Speaker 2: And because they don't last very long and we can't 362 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:27,359 Speaker 2: make very many of them, you can make only a 363 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:30,000 Speaker 2: few kinds of measurements. So that's why these things are 364 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:32,160 Speaker 2: sort of subtle. It's not like you've made an ingod 365 00:17:32,200 --> 00:17:34,240 Speaker 2: of it and you can now sit around and play 366 00:17:34,240 --> 00:17:35,800 Speaker 2: with it for five years and you're like, yeah, this 367 00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:38,680 Speaker 2: is the stuff of one fifteen. For example, we've only 368 00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:41,560 Speaker 2: made one hundred atoms of this element ever. 369 00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:44,240 Speaker 1: Yeah, so one fifteen is the one that's tied to 370 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:48,119 Speaker 1: these alien conspiracies. And so let's talk about it one fifteen, 371 00:17:48,119 --> 00:17:50,160 Speaker 1: Where it came from, when it was made, and why 372 00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:52,879 Speaker 1: do people think it has something to do with anti 373 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:56,920 Speaker 1: gravity and aliens until let's stick into that. But first 374 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:11,679 Speaker 1: let's take a quick break. Al Right, we're exploring the 375 00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:16,440 Speaker 1: X files here on the podcast, or at least the 376 00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:19,840 Speaker 1: wires Z files, which a letter of the alphabet or 377 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:32,280 Speaker 1: be some alien alphabet alpha alpha dema blurb blurk, blurk, exactly, 378 00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:36,119 Speaker 1: the blurk files. That's what they watch in the alien planets. 379 00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:39,600 Speaker 2: Somewhere out there, some alien parents yelling at their kids 380 00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:40,680 Speaker 2: to practice their blurk. 381 00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:44,040 Speaker 1: Bet there you go. Well, we're talking about this idea 382 00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:47,280 Speaker 1: that maybe element one fifteen can be used for anti 383 00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:51,119 Speaker 1: gravity propulsion and somehow tied to alien conspiracies, and so 384 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:53,879 Speaker 1: we'll dig into that. But first, Daniel, I guess we 385 00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:57,560 Speaker 1: talked about what element one fifteen is, which is just 386 00:18:57,600 --> 00:19:01,439 Speaker 1: an atom maybe with one hundred and fifteen protons in 387 00:19:01,520 --> 00:19:04,600 Speaker 1: the nucleus. Does it have neutrons in it? Does it 388 00:19:04,640 --> 00:19:06,720 Speaker 1: matter if it has neutrons also in the nucleus. 389 00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:09,040 Speaker 2: It does also, of course have neutrons in it. Like 390 00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:12,000 Speaker 2: every other atomant needs neutrons in order to make it 391 00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:15,760 Speaker 2: more stable. You need those neutrons like buffer the protons together. 392 00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:19,639 Speaker 2: And so element one fifteen has one hundred and fifteen 393 00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:22,880 Speaker 2: protons and a total number of one hundred and seventy 394 00:19:22,960 --> 00:19:26,840 Speaker 2: two protons plus neutrons, which means it has fifty seven 395 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:27,520 Speaker 2: neutrons in it. 396 00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:29,520 Speaker 1: Wait, so it doesn't have one hundred fifteen protons in 397 00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:32,280 Speaker 1: it has one hundred and fifteen protons or neutrons. 398 00:19:32,560 --> 00:19:34,879 Speaker 2: Yeah, So like every other heavy element, it has to 399 00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:37,880 Speaker 2: have neutrons in it to buffer those protons to help 400 00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:40,000 Speaker 2: make it stable. In this case, it needs a lot 401 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:43,520 Speaker 2: of neutrons. So there are one hundred and fifteen protons 402 00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:47,800 Speaker 2: in that nucleus. That's what makes it element one fifteen muscovium. 403 00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:51,880 Speaker 2: But there are also one hundred and seventy two neutrons, 404 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:54,920 Speaker 2: so in total, there are two hundred and eighty nine 405 00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:58,719 Speaker 2: protons plus neutrons in this fat blob of a nucleus. 406 00:19:58,800 --> 00:20:01,480 Speaker 1: Well, that seems like an number, so there's more neutrons 407 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:04,040 Speaker 1: and protons. This is the only formula they've been able 408 00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:07,639 Speaker 1: to make, because you maybe could make this element with 409 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:09,040 Speaker 1: a different number of neutrons. 410 00:20:09,160 --> 00:20:12,119 Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. That's what comes out when you smash calcium 411 00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:16,479 Speaker 2: forty eight together with emerisium two forty three, which are 412 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:18,479 Speaker 2: two things that they also know how to make and 413 00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:19,440 Speaker 2: shoot at each other. 414 00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:20,480 Speaker 6: Hmmm. 415 00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:25,040 Speaker 1: And so you call it Muskovium. What was that named after? Moscow? 416 00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:28,640 Speaker 2: Yes, named after Moscow. The guy who pioneers this, who 417 00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:31,119 Speaker 2: like developed this special technology and really has like the 418 00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:35,080 Speaker 2: finesse to do this is a Russian scientist named Yuri Oganessian, 419 00:20:35,600 --> 00:20:39,120 Speaker 2: and so element one eighteen Oganessan is named after him, 420 00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:43,720 Speaker 2: and one fifteen muscovium is named after Moscow because this 421 00:20:43,800 --> 00:20:46,600 Speaker 2: facility is in Dubno, which is near Moscow. Oh. 422 00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:52,679 Speaker 1: Interesting, that feels very Russian socialist. Like the first element 423 00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:56,120 Speaker 1: you discover has been ended after the state, the government, 424 00:20:56,200 --> 00:20:58,120 Speaker 1: and then and then if you find three more, we'll 425 00:20:58,200 --> 00:20:59,479 Speaker 1: let you name one after yourself. 426 00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:02,120 Speaker 2: I think there must have been a lot of high 427 00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:04,680 Speaker 2: level arguments about the naming of these elements. You notice 428 00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:08,359 Speaker 2: there's like emerisium, there's a berkeleam. You know, there's a 429 00:21:08,400 --> 00:21:10,720 Speaker 2: lot of politics about who gets to name these things. 430 00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:13,320 Speaker 1: Oh, there's a trend of naming them after the city 431 00:21:13,359 --> 00:21:14,480 Speaker 1: in which you discovered them. 432 00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:16,439 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I don't even know the politics behind all 433 00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:16,679 Speaker 2: of this. 434 00:21:17,080 --> 00:21:19,320 Speaker 1: WHOA. I guess I should get going. If we're ever 435 00:21:19,359 --> 00:21:26,879 Speaker 1: going to discover Pasadenium or as you say, south pasadenium, 436 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:29,600 Speaker 1: When was this muscovovium discovered? 437 00:21:29,880 --> 00:21:32,040 Speaker 2: So it's made in two thousand and three in the 438 00:21:32,080 --> 00:21:36,399 Speaker 2: same facility as ogonnessan element one eighteen and recognized in 439 00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:37,560 Speaker 2: two thousand and. 440 00:21:37,640 --> 00:21:39,919 Speaker 1: Fifteen to twelve years. Mmmm. 441 00:21:40,119 --> 00:21:41,840 Speaker 2: Yeah, this is subtle stuff. You know, they've made one 442 00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:44,440 Speaker 2: hundred atoms of this stuff. They think it only lasts 443 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:48,040 Speaker 2: for like zero point six y five seconds. At the 444 00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:50,160 Speaker 2: time that they were running, they could make like one 445 00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:53,720 Speaker 2: of these atoms every day. It's like very very finicky. 446 00:21:53,920 --> 00:21:57,280 Speaker 1: Whoa, And then what happens? They just split up into 447 00:21:57,280 --> 00:21:58,160 Speaker 1: smaller atoms. 448 00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:01,720 Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. This one decays down into one thirteen, which 449 00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:04,959 Speaker 2: then decays down into other stuff. There's nothing heavier than 450 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:08,560 Speaker 2: lead that's stable, so eventually everything decays down into something. 451 00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:11,119 Speaker 1: Stable, like it just kicks out a proton or something 452 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:12,040 Speaker 1: or two. 453 00:22:12,119 --> 00:22:14,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, it kicks out a proton, or you get beta 454 00:22:14,119 --> 00:22:17,639 Speaker 2: decay where neutron turns into a proton they split or something, 455 00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:19,879 Speaker 2: or inverse beta decay. There's all sorts of stuff that 456 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:23,320 Speaker 2: can happen for radioactive decay down into lighter stuff. 457 00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:27,160 Speaker 1: And what can we say about this muscovium? Is it 458 00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:30,640 Speaker 1: super hard? Is it super special? Can it absorb vibrations 459 00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:33,720 Speaker 1: like rebranium? Can you make a shield out of it? 460 00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:35,399 Speaker 1: To the American flag in it? 461 00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:38,480 Speaker 2: I don't think you could build an entire African economy 462 00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:40,959 Speaker 2: based on this thing, especially since we have only made 463 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:44,440 Speaker 2: one hundred atoms ever, but based on where it sits 464 00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:47,000 Speaker 2: in the periodic table, we can speculate or predict its 465 00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:50,159 Speaker 2: chemical properties. So we think it's probably similar to like 466 00:22:50,359 --> 00:22:54,200 Speaker 2: nitrogen and phosphorus. And arsenic and thallium. That's the group 467 00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:55,639 Speaker 2: of elements that they put it in. 468 00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:58,840 Speaker 1: M all right, So then this is part of a 469 00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:02,080 Speaker 1: pretty serious scientific which is like what's the heaviest element 470 00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:04,520 Speaker 1: we can make in a lab and to study maybe 471 00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:07,320 Speaker 1: the limits of these atoms and what is stable or 472 00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:10,160 Speaker 1: not stable. But then somehow this got mixed up into 473 00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:12,320 Speaker 1: alien conspiracies. What's the story. 474 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:15,240 Speaker 2: So the story started in nineteen eighty nine a guy 475 00:23:15,280 --> 00:23:18,800 Speaker 2: named Bob Lazar came forward claiming to have top secret 476 00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:21,680 Speaker 2: information about element one point fifteen. 477 00:23:22,359 --> 00:23:23,280 Speaker 1: Who's Bob Lazar? 478 00:23:23,480 --> 00:23:25,800 Speaker 2: That's a really deep question and there's a huge internet 479 00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:28,280 Speaker 2: rabbit hole about who is Bob Lazar? Where does he 480 00:23:28,359 --> 00:23:30,840 Speaker 2: come from, Where did he actually work? Where does his background? 481 00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:32,520 Speaker 2: Is he really an alien or not? 482 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:35,879 Speaker 1: Wait, he could be an alien. He could be an 483 00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:37,920 Speaker 1: alien theory floating out there. 484 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:39,840 Speaker 2: Anybody could be a lizard person man, you. 485 00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:44,480 Speaker 1: Never know, well, suspicious, his last name is Lazar, a 486 00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:46,760 Speaker 1: lizard person exactly. 487 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:49,160 Speaker 2: I've seen him blink. How many eyelids does he have? 488 00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:49,560 Speaker 2: You know? 489 00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:52,960 Speaker 1: Okay, so that this person just came out of nowhere 490 00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:56,400 Speaker 1: or he started publishing, or how did he come into prominence? 491 00:23:56,720 --> 00:23:59,840 Speaker 2: He approached a local news reporter with a really compelling story. 492 00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:03,680 Speaker 2: He claimed to be an Area fifty one employee. This 493 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:06,280 Speaker 2: was in about a near Area fifty one, and he 494 00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:08,919 Speaker 2: said that his job at Area fifty one was to 495 00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:13,280 Speaker 2: reverse engineer crashed alien flying saucers. He said that he 496 00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:15,560 Speaker 2: had seen these craft, that there were nine of them 497 00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:18,960 Speaker 2: in the facility, and that he had personally worked with 498 00:24:19,119 --> 00:24:23,760 Speaker 2: Element one point fifteen, the crucial element to piloting alien spacecraft, 499 00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:26,480 Speaker 2: which relied on anti gravity technology. 500 00:24:27,119 --> 00:24:30,280 Speaker 1: Wow. Yeah, I thought he was just someone with like 501 00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:32,520 Speaker 1: a conspiracy theory, but he's saying he was a person 502 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:36,439 Speaker 1: in Area fifty one working on these aliens bishops mm. 503 00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:38,639 Speaker 2: And the thing I'll say about Bob Blazaar is that 504 00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:41,680 Speaker 2: his story is compelling. It's like he's a good storyteller. 505 00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:43,680 Speaker 2: It's like one of those stories you hear where it's 506 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:47,040 Speaker 2: almost immediate, you know, my friend saw this, or I 507 00:24:47,119 --> 00:24:49,680 Speaker 2: heard from my sister. So he's one step away from 508 00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:52,000 Speaker 2: you being able to verify it yourself. He says he 509 00:24:52,119 --> 00:24:54,800 Speaker 2: worked with this stuff, and he's a good storyteller. It 510 00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:56,040 Speaker 2: sounds very compelling. 511 00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:59,840 Speaker 1: Can he drive like you know, and she's like sketch 512 00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:00,560 Speaker 1: out what he saw? 513 00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:03,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, he's provided a bunch of details. The more details 514 00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:07,280 Speaker 2: he provides, the less the story seemed to hang together scientifically. 515 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:09,879 Speaker 2: You know, that's sort of the question of the episode, like, 516 00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:12,800 Speaker 2: does Element one fifteen actually have anything to do with 517 00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:16,040 Speaker 2: anti gravity technology now that we've actually synthesized it and 518 00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:18,240 Speaker 2: made it and created it. At the time, element one 519 00:25:18,359 --> 00:25:20,760 Speaker 2: fifteen was sort of a fantasy. Nobody had ever made 520 00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:23,760 Speaker 2: it before knew of it was even possible. But you know, 521 00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:26,480 Speaker 2: Bob Blazar claimed in his drawings that the US government 522 00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:31,560 Speaker 2: had five hundred pounds of element one fifteen. To date, 523 00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:34,159 Speaker 2: we made one hundred atoms of it. But he claims 524 00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:36,840 Speaker 2: that in Area fifty one they're sitting on a pile 525 00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:39,440 Speaker 2: of this stuff. That's five hundred pounds. 526 00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:42,879 Speaker 1: Wait, wait, so what's his background? I guess is Lazar 527 00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:46,480 Speaker 1: an engineer himself or you know, or was he like 528 00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:49,360 Speaker 1: the janitor working there, or does he have diploma from 529 00:25:49,359 --> 00:25:50,480 Speaker 1: somewhere you can track down. 530 00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:53,320 Speaker 2: That's a really good question. And because his story is 531 00:25:53,359 --> 00:25:56,320 Speaker 2: so compelling and has received a lot of attention, a 532 00:25:56,359 --> 00:25:58,720 Speaker 2: bunch of people have dug into the background of Bob 533 00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:01,679 Speaker 2: Blazar and he claimed to have gone to MIT and 534 00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:04,040 Speaker 2: he has his pedigree. But then there's this long argument 535 00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:06,800 Speaker 2: about whether he graduated from MIT, whether he was actually there. 536 00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:09,800 Speaker 2: He claims to have worked at Los Alamos, which would 537 00:26:09,800 --> 00:26:11,880 Speaker 2: also like add to his scientific credibility. 538 00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:14,080 Speaker 1: Well, I feel like this could be easily settled. I 539 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:16,119 Speaker 1: did you just sit him down with the real engineer, Like, 540 00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:18,159 Speaker 1: you know, like if you sit him down with the 541 00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:21,200 Speaker 1: real engineer, the real engineer will very quickly be able 542 00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:24,159 Speaker 1: to tell if this person is trained, if they've actually 543 00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:28,639 Speaker 1: seen what they see, they can describe accurately whether they saw. 544 00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:29,840 Speaker 1: Nobody start to do that. 545 00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:32,199 Speaker 2: He came out initially with this story, which was reported 546 00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:36,040 Speaker 2: by local reporter George Knapp, and then he sort of 547 00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:38,320 Speaker 2: retreated from a lot of the attention, and he sort 548 00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:42,000 Speaker 2: of emerged periodically to answer questions and then retreat back 549 00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:45,960 Speaker 2: into isolation again. Recently, there was a detailed documentary put 550 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:49,119 Speaker 2: out by Jeremy Corbel interviewing him and asking him a 551 00:26:49,119 --> 00:26:51,399 Speaker 2: bunch of questions. But you know, I think that the 552 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:54,440 Speaker 2: scientific community feels like there's still a lot of unanswered 553 00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:56,560 Speaker 2: scientific questions about his claims. 554 00:26:57,040 --> 00:27:03,080 Speaker 1: Yeah, it sounds like it's all questions, all right, But 555 00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:04,760 Speaker 1: I think what you're trying to get to is that 556 00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:08,359 Speaker 1: he claims that the US government had a lot of 557 00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:11,080 Speaker 1: Element one fifteen, and he claimed that it was somehow 558 00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:13,640 Speaker 1: tied to the spaceship's abilities. 559 00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:17,200 Speaker 2: To fly exactly. And the positive thing about Bob Bazar 560 00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:19,600 Speaker 2: is he tells a really really good story. It sounds 561 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:22,240 Speaker 2: really good. I mean, you start digging into details and 562 00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:24,520 Speaker 2: you have questions that aren't answered, but it's a well 563 00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:27,280 Speaker 2: told story. It also lines up with other reports of 564 00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:30,560 Speaker 2: like flashing lights people saw over the desert dot dot dot. 565 00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:33,480 Speaker 2: The difficult part about Bob Blazar is that that's all 566 00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:36,280 Speaker 2: there is. There's just this story. He doesn't have a 567 00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:38,720 Speaker 2: piece of Elepment one fifteen. He doesn't have a piece 568 00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:40,800 Speaker 2: of the alien craft. He can't lead us to it. 569 00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:44,840 Speaker 2: You know, there's nothing physical, nothing hard, no concrete evidence 570 00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:47,679 Speaker 2: he can point to or produce to show us that 571 00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:49,840 Speaker 2: a story is more than just a story. 572 00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:52,240 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean you could just he could describe as 573 00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:55,160 Speaker 1: co workers, he could describe, you know, all these things 574 00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:58,200 Speaker 1: that it could be verified. It seems pretty crazy anyone 575 00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:00,280 Speaker 1: would believe him with any of any of this proof. 576 00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:01,879 Speaker 2: I think a lot of people will want to believe. 577 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:04,720 Speaker 2: I mean I want to believe also it's a great story. 578 00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:05,760 Speaker 2: Wouldn't that be awesome? 579 00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:08,600 Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm noticing a lot of empathy here. Yeah, I'm 580 00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:09,640 Speaker 1: here for Bob Blazaar. 581 00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:12,399 Speaker 2: I do. I do because it's exactly the fantasy that 582 00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:15,640 Speaker 2: I wish were true. Aliens come and have this technology 583 00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:18,480 Speaker 2: and we're busy reverse engineering it. Oh my gosh, how exciting. 584 00:28:18,840 --> 00:28:20,720 Speaker 2: But you got to engage your skepticism and be like, 585 00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:22,280 Speaker 2: all right, how do we know it's not just some 586 00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:24,479 Speaker 2: dude with a story, Because there's lots of dudes out 587 00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:26,920 Speaker 2: there with stories. They're usually called science fiction authors. 588 00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:30,199 Speaker 1: So his claim is that element one fifteen is somehow 589 00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:33,600 Speaker 1: tied to anti gravity, So what's the connection there? 590 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:38,760 Speaker 2: So basically, there is no connection as far as I'm 591 00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:41,560 Speaker 2: aware of now. Element one to fifteen is something that's real, 592 00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:45,719 Speaker 2: something we've made, something we've studied. Anti gravity is a 593 00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:48,720 Speaker 2: real area of research. It's like something people are actually 594 00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:51,160 Speaker 2: trying to do. You and I had a whole podcast 595 00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:54,400 Speaker 2: episode about whether anti gravity is a real technology, whether 596 00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:56,560 Speaker 2: we could ever achieve it. There are people who have 597 00:28:56,640 --> 00:29:00,240 Speaker 2: claimed to achieve anti gravity, and that's been debunked. Anti 598 00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:03,000 Speaker 2: gravity as a research area is real, and there are 599 00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:06,720 Speaker 2: some potentially some avenues you could explore. But I'm not 600 00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:10,800 Speaker 2: aware of any connection between anti gravity and element one fifteen. 601 00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:14,200 Speaker 2: We've made element one fifteen. It doesn't display any anti 602 00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:16,960 Speaker 2: gravity properties or any connection to any of the possible 603 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:29,440 Speaker 2: directions for anti gravity. 604 00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:34,160 Speaker 1: Well, I can't make a connection. But since we're down 605 00:29:34,160 --> 00:29:36,720 Speaker 1: the rabbit hole, Daniel, if you were writing the science 606 00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:39,760 Speaker 1: fiction story here, what's it a connection would you make? 607 00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:42,200 Speaker 1: What kind of an excuse would you make to tie 608 00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:44,880 Speaker 1: element one to fifteen to anti gravity? Like, does the 609 00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:50,320 Speaker 1: number of protons somehow reach a special state where, somehow 610 00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:52,480 Speaker 1: anti gravity particles are generated? 611 00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:57,720 Speaker 2: You know, sound that was fantastic about. 612 00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:01,720 Speaker 1: Da YadA YadA antigravity? 613 00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:04,400 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the mental YadA YadA YadA. Okay, Well, let's 614 00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:07,920 Speaker 2: do the exercise right. How might anti gravity be possible 615 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:09,280 Speaker 2: in our understanding of it? 616 00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:11,440 Speaker 1: Yeah? I can tell you've thought about this and you've 617 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:13,080 Speaker 1: already had an answer. 618 00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:16,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, so you know, how can you achieve anti gravity? Well, 619 00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:21,240 Speaker 2: there's one idea that anti matter might have anti gravity. 620 00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:24,320 Speaker 2: Antimatter is like matter, but with the opposite charges. So 621 00:30:25,120 --> 00:30:29,000 Speaker 2: we have protons, we also have antiprotons. Antiprotons have opposite 622 00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:32,760 Speaker 2: electric charge. Anti electrons have the opposite electric charge of 623 00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:36,960 Speaker 2: an electron. Antimatter is a real thing, but because antimatter 624 00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:41,320 Speaker 2: is so rare, we haven't really verified that antimatter feels 625 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:44,880 Speaker 2: gravity the way that matter does. Like it might be 626 00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:49,640 Speaker 2: that antimatter falls up and matter falls down. Antimatter might 627 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:52,040 Speaker 2: have an anti gravity effect. 628 00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:55,840 Speaker 1: Wait, wait, is the idea that maybe an anti electron 629 00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:59,000 Speaker 1: has anti gravity, or is the idea that maybe there's 630 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:01,720 Speaker 1: an electron out there that has anti gravity. 631 00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:04,400 Speaker 2: Now, the idea is that anti electrons might have anti 632 00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:07,520 Speaker 2: gravity and antiprotons might have anti gravity. 633 00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:10,240 Speaker 1: Because an anti electron has the opposite charge when electrons 634 00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:12,240 Speaker 1: to happen, and it also has the opposite of other 635 00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:16,320 Speaker 1: things than an an electron. Right, like quantum property is true. 636 00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:19,440 Speaker 2: Yeah, it has the opposite weak and electric charges. It 637 00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:21,640 Speaker 2: doesn't have any strong force charges, so those are just 638 00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:25,680 Speaker 2: zero becas all of its quantum charges flipped. And since 639 00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:28,040 Speaker 2: we don't really understand gravity, we don't know like it's 640 00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:31,120 Speaker 2: gravity a quantum thing anyway? Is the mass, like the 641 00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:34,280 Speaker 2: quantum charge is that flipped? Does an anti electron have 642 00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:37,640 Speaker 2: negative mass or negative gravity? This is sort of like 643 00:31:37,880 --> 00:31:40,840 Speaker 2: big open questions. There's actually an experiment that's turned to 644 00:31:40,840 --> 00:31:44,440 Speaker 2: probe exactly this question. They've been playing with antimatter and 645 00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:46,200 Speaker 2: trying to see like does it fall up or does 646 00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:49,440 Speaker 2: it fall down. It's a surprisingly difficult question to answer 647 00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:52,200 Speaker 2: because antimatter is hard to make and gravity is super 648 00:31:52,280 --> 00:31:55,560 Speaker 2: duper weak. Particles have almost no mass. It's affected by 649 00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:57,720 Speaker 2: everything else out there that might be tugging on it. 650 00:31:58,160 --> 00:32:01,880 Speaker 2: Initial indications suggests that it's more likely that antimatter has 651 00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:05,720 Speaker 2: normal gravity, so you couldn't build anti gravity out of antimatter. 652 00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:08,560 Speaker 2: But it's you know, not totally ruled out, so it's 653 00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:12,400 Speaker 2: a basis for you know, plausible speculation. But even if 654 00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:16,080 Speaker 2: you go there, if you say antimatter might provide anti gravity, 655 00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:18,080 Speaker 2: I still don't even know how to YadA YadA YadA 656 00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:21,400 Speaker 2: that to element one fifteen because element one fifteen is matter. 657 00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:23,880 Speaker 2: Unless then I'm just thinking about this. Now they have 658 00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:27,440 Speaker 2: like antimatter element one fifteen, and that's what they've got 659 00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:28,640 Speaker 2: at area fifty one. 660 00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:32,920 Speaker 1: Oh I knew you had an answer for this, Daniel. Okay, 661 00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:35,560 Speaker 1: So now the Daniel theory here is that you can 662 00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:39,560 Speaker 1: have like anti carbon in antioxygen, meaning like if you 663 00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:42,320 Speaker 1: take a bunch of antiprotons, put them in a nucleus 664 00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:46,320 Speaker 1: with some anti neutrons I guess too, and anti electrons, 665 00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:48,320 Speaker 1: you can make a stable anti atom. 666 00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:51,080 Speaker 2: Probably a lot of that is speculative because we haven't 667 00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:54,640 Speaker 2: made big anti atoms before. You know, there aren't that 668 00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:57,560 Speaker 2: many protons, and doing fusion with antiprotons is tricky. But 669 00:32:57,640 --> 00:32:59,840 Speaker 2: in principle we think that the rules are the same 670 00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:02,960 Speaker 2: anti matter and matter in terms of those bonds. So yeah, 671 00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:05,920 Speaker 2: principle you could put together anti lead and anti uranium 672 00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:06,600 Speaker 2: and anti. 673 00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:10,280 Speaker 1: Moscovium because we've made anti hydrogen, haven't we Yeah, we have. 674 00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:13,440 Speaker 1: And so the theory is that it wouldn't be element 675 00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:16,360 Speaker 1: one to fifteen that's anti gravity, but maybe anti element 676 00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:16,960 Speaker 1: one fifteen. 677 00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:20,200 Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe Boblezar just got the sign wrong, you. 678 00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:22,840 Speaker 1: Know, Yeah, there you go, because he's not a real 679 00:33:22,880 --> 00:33:23,720 Speaker 1: engineer apparently. 680 00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:28,240 Speaker 2: Ooh, that's tough, man, that's tough. 681 00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:32,040 Speaker 1: But somehow this anti element one fifteen it gives you 682 00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:36,280 Speaker 1: anti gravity but not anti carbon or would anti carbon 683 00:33:36,320 --> 00:33:39,600 Speaker 1: also be anti gravity? Issues that somehow element one fifteen 684 00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:42,000 Speaker 1: is what would you say special about it? 685 00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:44,959 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good question. And this theory anti carbon 686 00:33:44,960 --> 00:33:48,120 Speaker 2: will also give you anti gravity. Even anti hydrogen would 687 00:33:48,120 --> 00:33:50,360 Speaker 2: give you anti gravity because they would all have the 688 00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:53,760 Speaker 2: same relationship with gravity. Why would the aliens choose anti 689 00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:56,920 Speaker 2: matter versions of element one fifteen, I don't know. And 690 00:33:57,360 --> 00:34:01,040 Speaker 2: even in this speculation, element one fifteen thimeta version should 691 00:34:01,040 --> 00:34:04,400 Speaker 2: be just as unstable as the matter version of element 692 00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:07,640 Speaker 2: one fifteen. So if they did have five hundred pounds 693 00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:09,799 Speaker 2: of it, very quickly they wouldn't They would decay down 694 00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:11,560 Speaker 2: to lower atomic elements. 695 00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:14,239 Speaker 1: Well, the government has apparently five hundred pounds of element 696 00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:16,040 Speaker 1: one fifteen, and there must be a way to make 697 00:34:16,080 --> 00:34:17,880 Speaker 1: it stable in this fantasy world. 698 00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:19,880 Speaker 2: There mustn't. There probably is a way to make it stable. 699 00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:22,239 Speaker 2: You know. For example, neutrons are not stable. If you 700 00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:24,200 Speaker 2: just have a bunch of them floating around in space, 701 00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:27,160 Speaker 2: but squeeze them down together into a neutron star, they 702 00:34:27,200 --> 00:34:30,000 Speaker 2: become stable. It's like a new state of matter. So 703 00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:33,320 Speaker 2: if you have like pure element one fifteen as individual atoms, 704 00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:36,160 Speaker 2: they're not stable. The aliens are able to like squeeze 705 00:34:36,200 --> 00:34:39,280 Speaker 2: them down into some like crystal of element one fifteen. 706 00:34:39,360 --> 00:34:42,480 Speaker 2: It could have different properties and that could create stability. 707 00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:44,800 Speaker 2: That's possible, Yeah. 708 00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:46,319 Speaker 1: And maybe that would make sense because you know, if 709 00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:49,280 Speaker 1: you're trying to be anti gravity as much as possible, 710 00:34:49,280 --> 00:34:51,719 Speaker 1: do you want the heaviest element that you can right 711 00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:53,319 Speaker 1: It will make you float more. 712 00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:56,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, so maybe element one to fourteen would work as well, 713 00:34:56,040 --> 00:34:58,920 Speaker 2: but an element one fifteen is like one percent better, 714 00:34:59,239 --> 00:35:01,160 Speaker 2: So might as well go for it because those aliens 715 00:35:01,200 --> 00:35:02,200 Speaker 2: they're really efficient. 716 00:35:04,160 --> 00:35:06,080 Speaker 1: I guess maybe a question is how would you control 717 00:35:06,080 --> 00:35:08,920 Speaker 1: the anti gravity force? Right, Like, if you have anti 718 00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:10,839 Speaker 1: gravity and you're trying to land on the planet, that's 719 00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:14,280 Speaker 1: a problem because the anti gravity element wouldn't lead you land. 720 00:35:14,600 --> 00:35:16,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, if you have five hundred pounds of this stuff 721 00:35:16,680 --> 00:35:18,839 Speaker 2: on your ship, then it's not going to be easy 722 00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:20,920 Speaker 2: to turn on and off. But maybe if you could 723 00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:23,560 Speaker 2: control how it decays, you could like rapidly let it 724 00:35:23,560 --> 00:35:26,719 Speaker 2: decay down into something else and maybe even convert into 725 00:35:26,800 --> 00:35:30,200 Speaker 2: normal matter. You could flip its gravitational behavior, and then 726 00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:32,719 Speaker 2: if you could somehow make it again, you could imagine 727 00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:36,680 Speaker 2: developing some control mechanism. If you could fabricate and dematerialize 728 00:35:36,760 --> 00:35:38,120 Speaker 2: this stuff pretty rapidly, I. 729 00:35:38,040 --> 00:35:41,439 Speaker 1: Suppose you'd be like making it and breaking it down 730 00:35:41,640 --> 00:35:43,480 Speaker 1: to throttle how much you float. 731 00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:46,840 Speaker 2: We are so far out on a speculative limb here. Yeah, 732 00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:48,759 Speaker 2: I'll let the engineers develop that one. 733 00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:50,680 Speaker 1: We're already inside the rabbit holes, so. 734 00:35:51,440 --> 00:35:55,000 Speaker 2: So bibles are After this episode, he started a scientific 735 00:35:55,040 --> 00:35:59,960 Speaker 2: supply company, and in twenty seventeen the FBI rated his company. 736 00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:02,440 Speaker 1: Wait wait, wait, dides this actually happen or are you 737 00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:03,279 Speaker 1: just making stuff up? 738 00:36:03,320 --> 00:36:03,480 Speaker 6: Now? 739 00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:04,560 Speaker 2: No, this actually happened. 740 00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:06,240 Speaker 1: So after what do you mean after this episode? 741 00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:08,719 Speaker 2: After he became famous in nineteen eighty nine for all 742 00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:12,200 Speaker 2: of these claims. Then later on he founded this scientific 743 00:36:12,239 --> 00:36:15,600 Speaker 2: supply company, and at some point he got in trouble 744 00:36:15,680 --> 00:36:18,239 Speaker 2: with the FEDS, and the FBI raided his company in 745 00:36:18,239 --> 00:36:21,640 Speaker 2: twenty seventeen. I won't say what they were looking for, 746 00:36:21,680 --> 00:36:24,960 Speaker 2: but there's a lot of speculation online that they were 747 00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:27,960 Speaker 2: looking for stolen bits of element one fifteen. 748 00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:33,040 Speaker 1: Whoa or something he stole from the lab. Then maybe yeah, 749 00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:34,200 Speaker 1: maybe it was a janitor in. 750 00:36:34,440 --> 00:36:36,680 Speaker 2: And so somebody actually got to ask Bob Blazaar. This 751 00:36:36,880 --> 00:36:40,560 Speaker 2: reporter Tim McMillan asked Bob blazar in directly whether he 752 00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:43,360 Speaker 2: actually had a piece of element one fifteen, and Lazar's 753 00:36:43,360 --> 00:36:46,040 Speaker 2: response is, and I quote, if I had some, would 754 00:36:46,080 --> 00:36:49,080 Speaker 2: I reveal it to confirm my accounts absolutely not. 755 00:36:51,320 --> 00:36:51,799 Speaker 1: Why not. 756 00:36:53,840 --> 00:36:56,360 Speaker 2: Because it's more valuable than his credibility apparently. 757 00:36:56,680 --> 00:36:58,640 Speaker 1: Hmmm, I thought you were going to say that. He 758 00:36:58,680 --> 00:37:00,560 Speaker 1: said that if I had it, I'll be flowing around, 759 00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:03,359 Speaker 1: not stuck down here on Earth talking to you. 760 00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:06,279 Speaker 2: I'll float that suggestion to Bobo's arm. 761 00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:09,239 Speaker 1: Well, I think there's an even bigger problem, which is 762 00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:12,760 Speaker 1: that if you have five hundred pounds of an antimatter element, 763 00:37:13,480 --> 00:37:16,759 Speaker 1: that is incredibly dangerous, right, because if it touches five 764 00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:19,600 Speaker 1: hundred pounds of real matter, you would have an explosion, 765 00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:21,880 Speaker 1: probably bigger than a supernova. 766 00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:25,560 Speaker 2: Maybe, Oh yeah, that would be catastrophic. Even one gram 767 00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:28,719 Speaker 2: of antimatter like a raisin's worth, when colliding with a 768 00:37:28,719 --> 00:37:31,800 Speaker 2: gram of matter, would release as much energy as a 769 00:37:31,880 --> 00:37:35,319 Speaker 2: nuclear weapon. So five hundred pounds of the stuff would 770 00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:36,239 Speaker 2: be devastating. 771 00:37:36,360 --> 00:37:38,239 Speaker 1: Would be how much listen to the math? Like a 772 00:37:38,280 --> 00:37:42,080 Speaker 1: million nuclear bombs or right, a billion nuclear bombs? 773 00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:46,719 Speaker 2: A quarter million nuclear weapons? WHOA, So yeah, that would 774 00:37:46,760 --> 00:37:49,520 Speaker 2: be pretty dramatic. Let's just hope nobody like trips and 775 00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:50,360 Speaker 2: drops the stuff. 776 00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:54,880 Speaker 1: Yeah, let's not give it to a random dude, because 777 00:37:54,880 --> 00:37:58,000 Speaker 1: even if he has a little bit of this antimatter element, 778 00:37:58,040 --> 00:38:00,680 Speaker 1: one fifteen. It would be extremely dangers It. 779 00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:03,640 Speaker 2: Would be very dangerous. If the government actually has this stuff. 780 00:38:03,680 --> 00:38:07,480 Speaker 2: I hope to have more responsible people dealing with it 781 00:38:07,960 --> 00:38:08,880 Speaker 2: than bah Blazar. 782 00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:11,400 Speaker 1: All Right, so maybe it's not made out of antimatter. 783 00:38:11,440 --> 00:38:13,359 Speaker 1: That seems too dangerous. What other ideas do you have? 784 00:38:13,680 --> 00:38:16,200 Speaker 2: So in a sort of related way, there's a concept 785 00:38:16,280 --> 00:38:19,480 Speaker 2: of exotic matter. This is not antimatter. This is some 786 00:38:19,640 --> 00:38:23,040 Speaker 2: new kind of matter we've never seen before. But it 787 00:38:23,080 --> 00:38:26,680 Speaker 2: would also have negative mass. And this comes out of 788 00:38:26,680 --> 00:38:30,759 Speaker 2: the idea actually for wormholes. Wormholes are a theoretical way 789 00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:33,760 Speaker 2: to get across the galaxy. Like maybe aliens have developed 790 00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:37,799 Speaker 2: technology to avoid the light speed limit that's so frustrating 791 00:38:37,880 --> 00:38:40,440 Speaker 2: that keeps us from getting from here to Alpha Centauri 792 00:38:40,560 --> 00:38:44,080 Speaker 2: or across the galaxy. By shortening those paths, by creating 793 00:38:44,160 --> 00:38:47,600 Speaker 2: connections between points in our space and in their space, 794 00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:50,200 Speaker 2: so you can go from here to there very quickly, 795 00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:52,440 Speaker 2: you don't actually have to travel all the way through 796 00:38:52,440 --> 00:38:55,080 Speaker 2: that space. That's what a wormhole is, just a connection 797 00:38:55,200 --> 00:38:58,120 Speaker 2: between two points in space. But if you do the 798 00:38:58,120 --> 00:39:01,800 Speaker 2: math in general relativity for wormhole, it says, yeah, no problem, 799 00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:05,040 Speaker 2: they can actually exist. It's not against the rules of 800 00:39:05,040 --> 00:39:07,359 Speaker 2: physics as we know them. But if they do exist, 801 00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:10,480 Speaker 2: they collapse very very quickly, like they're not stable. The 802 00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:13,080 Speaker 2: only way to keep them around is to have some 803 00:39:13,120 --> 00:39:16,560 Speaker 2: sort of exotic matter with negative mass and a constant 804 00:39:16,600 --> 00:39:19,600 Speaker 2: beam of that stuff traveling through the wormhole. That would 805 00:39:19,600 --> 00:39:22,920 Speaker 2: provide some sort of like pressure to keep the wormhole open. 806 00:39:23,600 --> 00:39:26,360 Speaker 2: So that's not evidence that negative mass exists, but it 807 00:39:26,440 --> 00:39:28,600 Speaker 2: is an idea in physics generated by the need to 808 00:39:28,680 --> 00:39:29,720 Speaker 2: keep wormholes open. 809 00:39:30,239 --> 00:39:32,400 Speaker 1: Wait, so to keep an wormhole open, you would have 810 00:39:32,440 --> 00:39:35,839 Speaker 1: to keep shooting exotic matter with negative mass through it 811 00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:37,840 Speaker 1: that would somehow keep it open, and then somebody you 812 00:39:37,840 --> 00:39:40,000 Speaker 1: would sneak into that stream and to get to the 813 00:39:40,040 --> 00:39:41,879 Speaker 1: other side. Or what's the idea. 814 00:39:41,560 --> 00:39:44,279 Speaker 2: Here, Yeah, or maybe you could have stable exotic matter 815 00:39:44,360 --> 00:39:46,800 Speaker 2: that lives inside the wormhole, or you have a stream 816 00:39:46,840 --> 00:39:49,080 Speaker 2: of it and then you can jump into that stream. 817 00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:51,759 Speaker 2: Whether you could keep it open large enough to like 818 00:39:51,800 --> 00:39:54,880 Speaker 2: pass that ship through, or whether these would always be microscopic, 819 00:39:55,080 --> 00:39:58,160 Speaker 2: there's a whole other question. We did an episode about 820 00:39:58,160 --> 00:40:01,640 Speaker 2: whether macroscopic wormholes could even be kept open long enough 821 00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:04,000 Speaker 2: for a ship to pass through them, and whether the 822 00:40:04,040 --> 00:40:06,920 Speaker 2: tidal effects of the wormhole would anyway shred your ship 823 00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:09,239 Speaker 2: as you went near it. That these things are like 824 00:40:09,400 --> 00:40:13,200 Speaker 2: far from being even theoretically practical, but it does involve 825 00:40:13,239 --> 00:40:17,319 Speaker 2: this concept of negative mass exotic matter that has this 826 00:40:17,560 --> 00:40:21,240 Speaker 2: like negative gravitational effect relative to real matter. 827 00:40:22,040 --> 00:40:24,800 Speaker 1: Okay, so then what's the connection to element one fifteen 828 00:40:25,680 --> 00:40:28,520 Speaker 1: is the ideot element one fifteen would somehow turn into 829 00:40:28,600 --> 00:40:31,200 Speaker 1: exotic matter and have negative mass, or that you would 830 00:40:31,200 --> 00:40:34,959 Speaker 1: have to build element one fifteen out of exotic matter. 831 00:40:35,239 --> 00:40:38,319 Speaker 2: There is no real connection with element one fifteen, though, 832 00:40:38,400 --> 00:40:40,680 Speaker 2: I mean, we could be creative and come up with one, 833 00:40:40,719 --> 00:40:43,320 Speaker 2: Like you just tried to scaffold between these two ideas, 834 00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:46,319 Speaker 2: but there is no real connection between the two. But 835 00:40:46,480 --> 00:40:50,280 Speaker 2: you know, for example, potentially element one fifteen isn't element 836 00:40:50,360 --> 00:40:53,520 Speaker 2: one fifteen. And what babbo'sar thought was element one fifteen 837 00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:56,160 Speaker 2: is actually something else, and it's exotic matter that has 838 00:40:56,239 --> 00:41:00,719 Speaker 2: properties similar to element one fifteen in some ways, and 839 00:41:00,760 --> 00:41:03,560 Speaker 2: so he was confused by it, or some other scientists 840 00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:05,360 Speaker 2: mistook it for it to interesting. 841 00:41:06,080 --> 00:41:09,120 Speaker 1: What he thought was element with fifteen was really made 842 00:41:09,160 --> 00:41:11,680 Speaker 1: of particles that we don't even know about, Like it's 843 00:41:11,680 --> 00:41:13,839 Speaker 1: not made out of protons and neutrons and microns. Maybe 844 00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:16,120 Speaker 1: it's made out of you know, urvanium. 845 00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:19,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, or something else, right, lazarium. You know, our tendency 846 00:41:19,120 --> 00:41:21,480 Speaker 2: in physics is to explain everything we don't understand in 847 00:41:21,560 --> 00:41:24,040 Speaker 2: terms of what we do understand. So you're presented with 848 00:41:24,120 --> 00:41:26,080 Speaker 2: some new kind of stuff, you want to say, well, 849 00:41:26,120 --> 00:41:28,520 Speaker 2: what element is it? What is it made out of? 850 00:41:28,600 --> 00:41:30,960 Speaker 2: And everything we've experienced is made out of some kind 851 00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:34,279 Speaker 2: of element, and so that's the first natural question. So 852 00:41:34,320 --> 00:41:37,360 Speaker 2: you might interpret it incorrectly as element one fifteen. You know, 853 00:41:37,400 --> 00:41:40,399 Speaker 2: those government scientists sometimes make mistakes, all. 854 00:41:40,360 --> 00:41:42,799 Speaker 1: Right, So it seems like we don't really have an 855 00:41:42,800 --> 00:41:44,920 Speaker 1: answer here to the main question. Can element one fifteen 856 00:41:44,920 --> 00:41:48,480 Speaker 1: bes for anti gravity propulsion? It sounds like no physicist 857 00:41:48,480 --> 00:41:51,080 Speaker 1: maybe has a way to link those two concepts. 858 00:41:50,719 --> 00:41:52,960 Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. I think the takeaway is that at the 859 00:41:53,040 --> 00:41:56,880 Speaker 2: time Lazar was telling his story, element one fifteen was exotic, 860 00:41:56,920 --> 00:41:59,520 Speaker 2: if something we hadn't made before, and so nobody could 861 00:41:59,560 --> 00:42:02,320 Speaker 2: really verify his claims, much like most of his claims 862 00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:04,560 Speaker 2: about what went on in secret that nobody can verify 863 00:42:04,640 --> 00:42:07,640 Speaker 2: because it was all in secret. Nobody could counter his 864 00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:09,960 Speaker 2: claims about one fifteen because we didn't know if it 865 00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:11,680 Speaker 2: could be created, We didn't know what it would be 866 00:42:11,800 --> 00:42:14,520 Speaker 2: like it, so it seems sort of exotic and unreachable. 867 00:42:14,880 --> 00:42:17,200 Speaker 2: Now that we have made element one fifteen, it doesn't 868 00:42:17,239 --> 00:42:20,319 Speaker 2: really line up with any elements of lazarre story at all. 869 00:42:20,880 --> 00:42:23,920 Speaker 2: And so while it's still potentially possible that aliens have 870 00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:28,040 Speaker 2: like weird crystals of anti matter element one fifteen or something, 871 00:42:28,600 --> 00:42:32,000 Speaker 2: that his story is all true, that's certainly possible, there's 872 00:42:32,080 --> 00:42:35,280 Speaker 2: nothing about our actual element one fifteen that we've created 873 00:42:35,560 --> 00:42:37,920 Speaker 2: that lines up with his story or lends any credence 874 00:42:37,920 --> 00:42:38,239 Speaker 2: to it. 875 00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:41,680 Speaker 1: So you're saying, basically science killed his buzz. 876 00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:47,120 Speaker 2: I'm saying, we want to believe, but we need some proof. 877 00:42:47,160 --> 00:42:49,879 Speaker 1: Man, you actually win and discovered this element and there's 878 00:42:49,920 --> 00:42:51,200 Speaker 1: nothing special about it. 879 00:42:51,320 --> 00:42:55,160 Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, science ruining everything since fifteen forty two. 880 00:42:55,360 --> 00:42:57,040 Speaker 1: And maybe he's gonna come out and say, oh, actually 881 00:42:57,040 --> 00:43:01,600 Speaker 1: I made element negative one to fifteen. I forgot about 882 00:43:01,640 --> 00:43:02,560 Speaker 1: the negative sign. 883 00:43:02,360 --> 00:43:04,319 Speaker 2: Yeah, or two fifteen, like try to make that. 884 00:43:04,360 --> 00:43:10,399 Speaker 1: Guys just keep going up. All right, Well, I guess 885 00:43:10,400 --> 00:43:14,680 Speaker 1: another interesting example of how there are still big unknowns, 886 00:43:14,680 --> 00:43:18,279 Speaker 1: but as we make progress in science, we get to 887 00:43:18,320 --> 00:43:21,080 Speaker 1: figure out what's real and what's not, What deserves an 888 00:43:21,080 --> 00:43:24,440 Speaker 1: episode of The X Files, and what maybe deserves an 889 00:43:24,480 --> 00:43:26,400 Speaker 1: episode of the ABC Files. 890 00:43:28,080 --> 00:43:29,359 Speaker 2: Exactly we should rename this. 891 00:43:29,320 --> 00:43:31,040 Speaker 1: Podcast, We should call it the WI Files. 892 00:43:33,160 --> 00:43:34,440 Speaker 2: Why are we even talking about this. 893 00:43:35,320 --> 00:43:37,759 Speaker 1: Because we're always wondering why that's right? 894 00:43:38,239 --> 00:43:41,040 Speaker 2: Because our listeners wrote in and sincerely wanted to know 895 00:43:41,480 --> 00:43:44,320 Speaker 2: what element had to do with anti gravity. 896 00:43:44,560 --> 00:43:46,719 Speaker 1: All right, Well, we hope you enjoyed that. Thanks for 897 00:43:46,800 --> 00:43:48,839 Speaker 1: joining us, See you next time. 898 00:43:53,560 --> 00:43:56,719 Speaker 2: For more science and curiosity, come find us on social media, 899 00:43:56,840 --> 00:44:01,360 Speaker 2: where we answer questions and post videos. We're on Twitter, Discorg, Insta, 900 00:44:01,480 --> 00:44:05,200 Speaker 2: and now TikTok. Thanks for listening, and remember that Daniel 901 00:44:05,200 --> 00:44:08,680 Speaker 2: and Jorge Explain the Universe is a production of iHeartRadio. 902 00:44:08,920 --> 00:44:14,120 Speaker 2: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 903 00:44:14,200 --> 00:44:16,560 Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.