Eric M Rogers puts real radioactivity to use, demonstrating how a tomato plant drinks up radioactive water. Watch the full fourth lecture of the series: https://www.rigb.org/christmas-lectures/watch/1979/atoms-for-enquiring-minds/atoms-that-explode?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_term=description Eric M Rogers gave the 1979 Christmas Lectures "Atoms for Enquiring Minds" about atoms, these particles that are too small to be seen with a naked eye, but can be indirectly visualised and explored. The fourth lecture "Atoms That Explode", where this clip is from, explores how some radioactive atoms explode and hurl out a small 'chip' thus becoming quite a different atom — an atom of a different chemical element. Watch the full series: https://www.rigb.org/christmas-lectures/watch/1979/atoms-for-enquiring-minds?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_term=description The Ri is on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.com/ Our editorial policy: http://www.rigb.org/home/editorial-policy Subscribe for the latest science videos: http://bit.ly/RiNewsletter