2019 is the International Year of the Periodic Table (IYPT2019). Together with the journal Chemie in Unserer Zeit, we are celebrating the year, for example, with a video competition. We invite you to share a short video showing an element or an element in its compounds in a visually appealing way. The competition runs until October 1.
Sulfur and Carbon
The video with the highest rating by our readers so far is “Sulfur” by Florian Berger and Georg Berger. Florian Berger is a Ph.D. student in organic synthesis at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Mülheim an der Ruhr, and Georg Berger is a Master student in chemistry at the University of Heidelberg. “Our enthusiasm for chemistry combined with our hobby photography has led us to create the element video,” they told ChemViews Magazine.
“We chose sulfur because of its multifaceted chemistry. It features a broad range of oxidation states, forms compounds with many elements, and occurs in various coordination geometries.” Their intention was to share what fascinates them about sulfur: “The diversity of its different structures as an element, the melting process, as well as its obviously beautiful side: its yellow crystals and the intense blue flame.”
The two participated in International Chemistry Olympiads and have previously made a video of the research done at the group where Florian Berger is doing his Ph.D.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_KPersmNU8
Nina Volker shows in her video “Carbon” with pencil and paper—both made partly of carbon, of course—the most important properties of the element.
Water and Video Tips
The video “H2O” by Celine Henk, a former trainee at our publishing house, is not part of the competition. Celine presents the different phases and properties of water with very appealing pictures.
Celine filmed her video with a mobile phone and put the individual clips together on the computer with a free program. She recommends paying attention to the lighting to make video clips look good. Bright daylight is sufficient to show your content in the best quality. Using slow motion and time-lapse while filming will help to get a few special effects in your video. Celine says these simple effects look very impressive in a video. More tips can be found at: Tips for Video Shooting
We are looking forward to further video submissions and hope you enjoy watching the videos.
