Space, Exoplanets, and Green Energy

Space, Smelly Exoplanets & Cleaner Energy: Artemis 2, James Webb, Sodium Batteries + Water-in-Diesel

In this Takaro Kids episode, the hosts share science and tech stories, starting with an update on NASA’s Artemis 2 mission, now expected to launch on April 1, sending four astronauts around the Moon. They then discuss the James Webb Space Telescope’s discovery of exoplanet L 98 59 D, described as a hot ocean of molten magma with sulfur that could smell like rotten eggs, highlighting how planets can be very different types. Back on Earth, they cover energy innovations including cheaper, potentially more eco-friendly sodium-ion batteries made using sodium found in salt, which may perform better in freezing temperatures. They also explain research showing that mixing small amounts of water into diesel could improve efficiency and cut pollution significantly, while warning viewers not to try it themselves. The episode ends with a quiz about the gas that smells like rotten eggs and announces last week’s winner, Aarav from Delhi.

00:00 Mic Check and Intro
00:29 Artemis 2 Moon Update
01:37 James Webb Magma Planet
03:21 Rotten Egg Chemistry Challenge
04:24 Back to Earth Energy Talk
04:51 Salt Powered Batteries
07:30 Water Mixed Diesel Breakthrough
09:47 Quiz Question Rotten Egg Gas
10:46 Last Week Winner and Goodbye

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Transcript

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Kiran 0:00

mics

Debkanya 0:00

camera.

Kiran 0:01

Action.

Debkanya 0:03

Welcome to another episode of Takaro Kids. Kiran and I are going to talk about a lot of fun stories Today. We are not gonna talk about the war that's happening around us. We are not gonna talk about any serious, boring things. We are gonna go to space.

Kiran 0:20

We're gonna go to space, we're gonna come back to Earth and then stay on earth maybe. Yeah.

Debkanya 0:25

Yeah.

Kiran 0:25

All science, tech, space, everything.

Debkanya 0:29

Cool. So let's start with space. Mm-hmm. We were talking about this mission. Remember we spoke about how we are sending astronauts back into space again? Well, our two

Kiran 0:39

not just back into space. We are sending them to the moon.

Debkanya 0:42

Mm. Yeah. Which has happened long, long ago. It hasn't happened in the recent past. This time we talk about Artemis 2 too, it was supposed to take off I think last month, but then it got

Kiran 0:52

stuck. Yeah, I think it was supposed to launch in Feb. It got moved to, uh, March and now they finally said it'll be in April. So we will

Debkanya 1:02

specifically April Fools Day actually.

Kiran 1:04

Ooh, on the 1st of April?

Debkanya 1:06

Yeah. Yeah.

Kiran 1:07

Okay. Then let's, let's, uh, hope it's not a prank

Debkanya 1:10

Yeah.

Kiran 1:11

Or an April Fools Day joke. But it is exciting and a lot of y'all have asked us what the update is with Artemis two. So that's the basic update. Let's wait for April to see if it launches and then, you know. See their entire journey around the moon.

Debkanya 1:26

Yeah. Four astronauts are going and, uh, do we know any of those astronauts, Kiran?

Kiran 1:32

I don't personally. Okay. Okay. So. Moving on from the moon further into space. We have a very, very important telescope called the James Webb Space Telescope. Right. It has been super useful for us because it's been giving us a lot of insight into the space, uh, around earth and the solar system, like really far out. And, um, they just found a, a new planet or an exoplanet, you know, planets, which are just outside the solar system. Um, they found a new planet and they called it L 98 59 D. What a cool name.

Debkanya 2:11

Yeah, I mean, it's so sad that they give numbers to planets. I'm sure they can come up with a better name. Yeah, I'm sure you can come up with a better name for this planet once we tell you a little bit more about it. Now, this exoplanet, like you said, not part of the solar system. Just outside of it, is basically one giant ocean of hot melted rock, which is magma. Now remember, the Earth also has magma in its core, right? Earth has many layers, and there's a layer of molten rock called magma, which usually comes out when we have a volcano erupting. The magma comes out. Once the magma comes out, it becomes lava. So this planet is made up, made up of that stuff, that liquid burning, orange red thing, and there's one very special feature.

Kiran 2:55

Yep.

Debkanya 2:56

What is that?

Kiran 2:57

It basically may smell like rotten eggs.

Debkanya 3:01

Mm. yummy

Kiran 3:02

Brilliant. Right? Imagine living in a planet which smells like rotten eggs.

Debkanya 3:06

You

Kiran 3:07

can't live there. You can't live, can't live there because it's fundamentally full of sulfur, which is the gas that the magma is kind of. Emitting. And so, um, yeah, L 98 59 D is rotten eggs.

Debkanya 3:20

Yeah. But,

Kiran 3:21

uh,

Debkanya 3:21

did you ever do this experiment

Kiran 3:22

in

Debkanya 3:23

school?

Kiran 3:23

Oh yes. Many years. Yeah. Yeah.

Debkanya 3:24

So

Kiran 3:24

in fact, the chemistry lab very often smelt of rotten eggs.

Debkanya 3:27

Mm-hmm. Because it was one of my favorite experiments as well. Find out, you should find out what you need to mix in order to get that rotten egg sulfur smell. Okay? Mm-hmm. Do that homework and let us know. Uh, meanwhile, yes. Come up with some names for this planet because clearly it needs a better one than L 98 59 D.

Kiran 3:46

Yep.

Debkanya 3:46

Something that is not mean, but you know, well suited to all its different characteristics

Kiran 3:52

and, and to round it off. The reason this is important is because now we are starting to find out that planets can be of different types. It need not be just rock. It need not be just gas. Um, this one is full of hot molten magma, so it's liquid, but it's not solid. It has gases. So I think it was a very important discovery that, you know, planets can be of different types. Obviously it doesn't have life or at least that we know of.

Debkanya 4:19

Not, not the kind of life that we know of. Yes.

Kiran 4:21

Yeah. But, uh, it's interesting.

Debkanya 4:24

Now we are going to come back from space back to earth. As promised. One of the things that we are gonna be talking about is energy. Now remember, we need energy for everything. The whole world needs energy to work. Uh, one of the things unfortunately that's happening right now, if you listen to our previous episode, we spoke about fuel and how there's a problem because Iran has blocked a lot of fuel supplies around the world.

Kiran 4:47

Mm-hmm.

Debkanya 4:48

But there are other ways of getting energy. And one of them is batteries.

Kiran 4:53

Correct. EVs electric cars. But it's also been a big bone of contention because, um, EVs and electric cars, you know, there are many,

Debkanya 5:04

many EVs are electric vehicles. Okay. That's all it is.

Kiran 5:06

Yeah. And, and there are many components to making it, and the battery is the main sort of component, but you know, you need rare earth, which is basically dug from Earth. You need, ions, which will basically power and charge up the batteries. And one of the important discoveries over the last couple of weeks is that, um, there may be a better way to make batteries less expensive and potentially more ecologically friendly.

Debkanya 5:35

Yeah, and believe it or not, it is actually this, this ingredient that is going to go into making these cool new batteries. Is available in every single home.

Kiran 5:45

Yeah.

Debkanya 5:45

I mean, not that you can start making these batteries, uh, not as yet anyway, but it's basically made out of sodium, and sodium is found in,

Kiran 5:53

Ooh, what do you put on eggs

Debkanya 5:56

or in all your food?

Kiran 5:58

Yeah, I mean, little, little salt. So sodium is salt. Yeah.

Debkanya 6:02

Sodium is found in salt. So therefore, can you imagine it's so much easier to find this ingredient and therefore you can make affordable batteries and it can become a. Proper source of alternative energy, which is, like you said, better for the planet.

Kiran 6:17

Yep.

Debkanya 6:17

And better for people in general.

Kiran 6:19

And in fact, uh, lithium ion batteries have basically had a problem that when it becomes freezing cold, it starts reducing its, um, sort of output. Oh,

Debkanya 6:27

okay.

Kiran 6:28

Um, but what's interesting is salt is used in all countries where there is snowfall and where there is freezing up of water.

Debkanya 6:39

Yeah.

Kiran 6:39

Why.

Debkanya 6:41

Why find out and tell us what is sodium chloride, which is salt used in cold countries where it's snowing.

Kiran 6:48

Maybe that should be the quiz question.

Debkanya 6:51

I think we already asked quite a few questions. Yeah. Or feel free to send them in and you know, we might just pick officially, you know, somebody who sent in all the correct answers from this episode. Or

Kiran 7:00

one

Debkanya 7:01

or one.

Kiran 7:02

We'll see.

Debkanya 7:02

It's always a lucky winner, but yeah, this is, this is again a fun fact. So just. Look it up. Why do countries where it snows use salt? And why do they sprinkle it on the streets, for example? There's a hint there. Think about it and let us,

Kiran 7:17

and so therefore, these sodium ion batteries now will actually be much better in freezing cold weather. So lots of advantages if this actually works out and is scalable so that it can become a part of more batteries.

Debkanya 7:30

Yeah, and the other thing, the other cool, cool discovery, which is also going to be better for the planet, is what scientists have found now is that when they mix a little bit of water into diesel, now diesel is a fossil fuel. Mm-hmm. Diesel is used to run a lot of cars, a lot of cars around the world. Still run on two types of gas, which is one is diesel, one, the second is petrol. So when, what scientists have found is that when they mixed a little bit of water into diesel

Kiran 7:58

mm-hmm.

Debkanya 7:58

It actually became more efficient. Yeah. The fuel burnt better and it cut down on a lot of pollution.

Kiran 8:06

Yeah.

Debkanya 8:07

Yeah.

Kiran 8:07

So, so what's interesting is between diesel and petrol is that, um, diesel actually is worse for the air around you, than petrol. I mean, both are terrible. But, uh, diesel actually emits something called nitrogen oxide, less carbon dioxide, but more nitrogen oxide. And the problem is nitrogen oxide actually is detrimental to the environment around you to

Debkanya 8:34

human health as well.

Kiran 8:35

Yeah. So it's way worse. And while diesel gives better mileage, you need less diesel to go longer and further, um, that diesel is worse from the pollution perspective. And so this particular discovery, I mean you just add a few drops of water and it can reduce that pollution by 60%. That is huge. Yeah. That means we can get cheaper cars and cheaper fuel go further and reduce the amount of, pollution as well.

Debkanya 9:06

But again, this doesn't mean that you can go in and open a, open up your tank and start adding water. Please don't do that. Please don't do that. Never do that. This is still something that scientists are working on. This is, you know, what they found right now, but it's not something that can be used at this stage, right? Yeah. We can't just go in and do things like this, but it's good to know. What is good to know is that a lot of people, researchers and scientists around the world are working on solutions to make sure that we all have access to energy and make sure that it's better for the, uh, world in general as well, right? Mm-hmm. So I think this is all good stuff happening around us. Should we. Wrap up this episode.

Kiran 9:47

Mm-hmm.

Debkanya 9:47

But we won't go without giving you the actual quiz question. I mean, we have, we've asked you a couple of questions already and we'd love to hear from you.

Kiran 9:55

Yeah.

Debkanya 9:55

Uh, once you found the answers. But the actual quiz question for this episode of Takaro Kids is Why don't you be quiz master. What?

Kiran 10:04

Yes. I finally get it. What gas smells like rotten eggs? We gave you the answer if you were listening. The options are nitrogen, sulfur, Eggilium, or carbon monoxide. And, uh, it's, it's something that you should go and figure out,

Debkanya 10:24

yeah, so you have

Kiran 10:25

your, send us your answers on takarokids.com or on Instagram as a direct message. Ask your parents to send it to us. And it doesn't need to be the first, it doesn't need to be the last entry. It doesn't need to be your hundredth entry. One lucky winner will be chosen to get a gift certificate and other goodies.

Debkanya 10:45

That's right. And on that note, we will also reveal the winner of last week's quiz question. Mm-hmm. Um, we asked, and it was a very, very, very straightforward one. We asked what type of leader holds the highest authority in Iran, and the options that we gave you were king, prime Minister, Supreme leader, and Sheikh. The correct answer is

Kiran 11:12

King. No, it's not.

Debkanya 11:14

No

Kiran 11:15

Prime Minister. No, it's not. Okay. Sheikh no.

Debkanya 11:21

He just gave you all the wrong answers, which means the right answer is Supreme Leader and the winner, the person who got the right answer is

Kiran 11:32

and the lucky winner is Aarav from Delhi.

Debkanya 11:36

Congratulations.

Kiran 11:37

Congratulations are woohoo.

Debkanya 11:39

Well done, well

Kiran 11:40

done. Yo gift certificate and other goodies are gonna reach you soon. And in the meantime, make sure you tell us what gas smells like Rotten eggs. And send us the answers, and until next week it is. Bye-bye.

Debkanya 11:55

Goodbye.