Quicksilver, alchemy & Faraday's motor – Part 1 with Andrew Szydlo
Andrew Szydlo's lecture on mercury was so extraordinary that we couldn't bear to cut a single moment — so instead of one video, you're getting two full hours of Andrew in full flow in Part 1 and Part 2. The second half of the lecture will be made available to the public on the 22nd April 2026. If you're a Science Supporter, it's already up on the channel.This talk was filmed at the Ri on Saturday 21st March 2026.
Mercury has fascinated us for thousands of years — found even in Egyptian tombs from 1500 BC. Known as 'quicksilver', its unusual appearance as a beautiful, dense, shiny silver liquid led to the belief that it possessed magical properties, and it was used in both medicine and alchemy. Groundbreaking discoveries have been made using mercury: from the first ever vacuum in the 17th century, to the first electric motor built by Faraday right here at the Ri.
Andrew Szydlo brings mercury to life with a host of extraordinary experiments, illustrating its remarkable properties. Mercury's compounds produce spectacular and colourful chemical reactions, and it can even be frozen with liquid nitrogen and turned into a hammerhead — with dramatic results. These experiments, and other surprises throughout the lecture, will amaze and delight curious minds of all ages.
---
Join this channel as a member to get access to perks:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYeF244yNGuFefuFKqxIAXw/join
Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe
---
Andrew Szydlo is a chemist and secondary school teacher at Highgate School, well-loved by pupils and Ri attendees alike. He has given public lectures around the country, appeared on TV shows, and has become a popular part of the Ri's YouTube channel — with his videos amassing over 16 million views in total.
When Andrew started giving chemistry lessons to friends some 50 years ago, he would bring a pocket-full of chemicals to illustrate the principles of chemistry. Today, those lessons have evolved into full demonstration lectures given to audiences in a wide variety of locations. Over the past 40 years he has given over 800 talks, in addition to teaching chemistry full-time at Highgate School in London. He is now an outreach teacher, still based at Highgate School, visiting around 50 schools in London every year. The Royal Society of Chemistry included Andrew as one of their 175 Faces of Chemistry.
---
The Ri is on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ri_science
and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution
and TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ri_science
Listen to the Ri podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ri-science-podcast
Donate to the RI and help us bring you more lectures: https://www.rigb.org/support-us/donate-ri
Our editorial policy: https://www.rigb.org/editing-ri-talks-and-moderating-comments
Subscribe for the latest science videos: http://bit.ly/RiNewsletter
---
Product links on this page may be affiliate links which means it won't cost you any extra but we may earn a small commission if you decide to purchase through the link.
---
#Chemistry #Mercury #RoyalInstitution #AndrewSzydlo #ScienceLecture #ChemistryExperiments #Quicksilver #ScienceForAll #PublicLecture #Alchemy #Faraday #ChemicalReactions #LiquidNitrogen #ScienceEducation #TheMagicOfMercury Receive SMS online on sms24.me
TubeReader video aggregator is a website that collects and organizes online videos from the YouTube source. Video aggregation is done for different purposes, and TubeReader take different approaches to achieve their purpose.
Our try to collect videos of high quality or interest for visitors to view; the collection may be made by editors or may be based on community votes.
Another method is to base the collection on those videos most viewed, either at the aggregator site or at various popular video hosting sites.
TubeReader site exists to allow users to collect their own sets of videos, for personal use as well as for browsing and viewing by others; TubeReader can develop online communities around video sharing.
Our site allow users to create a personalized video playlist, for personal use as well as for browsing and viewing by others.
@YouTubeReaderBot allows you to subscribe to Youtube channels.
By using @YouTubeReaderBot Bot you agree with YouTube Terms of Service.
Use the @YouTubeReaderBot telegram bot to be the first to be notified when new videos are released on your favorite channels.
Look for new videos or channels and share them with your friends.
You can start using our bot from this video, subscribe now to Quicksilver, alchemy & Faraday's motor – Part 1 with Andrew Szydlo
What is YouTube?
YouTube is a free video sharing website that makes it easy to watch online videos. You can even create and upload your own videos to share with others. Originally created in 2005, YouTube is now one of the most popular sites on the Web, with visitors watching around 6 billion hours of video every month.
