This is the first Veritasium science video. It addresses one of the most fundamental concepts in science: the idea that all things are made of atoms, tiny particles that are in perpetual motion. They attract each other when a little distance apart and repel when squeezed together.
JJ Thomson proposed the first model of the atom with subatomic structure. He had performed a series of experiments and was credited with the discovery of the first sub-atomic particle, the electron. He therefore proposed a new model of the atom called the plum pudding model. In this model, the plums represent negatively charged electrons which can be plucked out of the atom, leaving behind some positively charged pudding. In this film, cherry tart is used as a delicious substitute for plum pudding.
In the mid 1800's scientists successfully passed an electric current through a vacuum in a glass tube. They saw a glow from the tube that seemed to emanate from the negatively charged plate called the cathode. Since scientists didn't know what the glow was they called it a cathode ray. There was debate over whether the cathode ray was a wave phenomenon like light or a stream of negatively charged particles. JJ Thomson effectively resolved the debate in 1897 by performing a clever experiment that determined the charge to mass ratio of the particles making up the cathode ray. He also showed that this same particle was in all different cathode materials so it must be a constituent common to all atoms. This changed our understanding of the atom from the previous billiard ball model to Thomson's plum pudding model of the atom.
Scientists have to work with some very large and some very small numbers. To represent these numbers more easily, they use scientific notation. Scientific notation relies on powers of 10. This video gives examples of how to represent a large and small number and explains powers of ten.
There is a common perception that weight and mass are basically the same thing. This video aims to tease out the difference between mass and weight by asking people what makes a car difficult to push. The standard answer is that it is difficult to push because it's heavy. But heaviness is a measure of weight, the gravitational pull of the Earth attracting the car to Earth's center. When the car is pushed on a flat road, the force of gravity does not oppose the motion. Instead the resistance felt is an indication of the car's mass which determines its inertia. Inertia is the property of matter that means it tends to resist acceleration - the greater the mass, the less the acceleration for a given amount of force.
If you spin a raw egg and then stop it, it will start spinning again without you having to touch it. A boiled egg, on the other hand, stops and stays stopped. Why is this? Well a raw egg contains a yolk that moves inside the egg independently of the shell. If you stop the shell, the yolk inside continues to move due to its inertia and it therefore gets the egg spinning again.
If the Earth were the size of a basketball and the moon a tennis ball, how far apart would they be? Diagrams that are not to scale make us think that they're closer than they really are.
Force is a central concept in physics. By analysing the forces on an object, its resulting motion can be determined. But what exactly is a force? The word force is used in everyday language in a variety of contexts, only some of which reflect the scientific definition of force. In this video, people at Victoria Park in Sydney are interviewed on their ideas of force and the forces that act on them.
What forces (i.e. pushes or pulls) are acting on you right now? Most people can identify the gravitational force down, but there must be something else otherwise you would accelerate down towards the center of the Earth. The other main force on you is called the normal force. It is a force perpendicular to the surface that supports you, like the ground or the seat of your chair. You compress this surface and it acts like a spring, pushing you up.
It takes the moon about 27 days to orbit the Earth. What makes it go round? It is the gravitational attraction of the Earth on the moon. Due to the moon's velocity, the Earth keeps pulling the moon towards it without the moon actually getting closer to the Earth. This is similar to how satellites orbit the Earth.
People have a lot of different ideas about what gravity is: a downward force that stops you from flying off into space, an attraction smaller objects experience towards larger objects, or a mutual attraction between all masses. It is the last of these ideas that best reflects a scientific conception of gravity.
There is a gravitational force of attraction between the Earth and the moon, but is it mutual? That is, are the forces on the Earth and the moon equal? Most people would say no, the Earth exerts a greater force of attraction because it is larger and has more mass. This is a situation in which Newton's Third Law is relevant. Newton's Third Law says that for every force, there is an equal and opposite reaction force. So the force the Earth exerts on the moon must be exactly equal and opposite the force the moon exerts on the Earth. But how can that be - that the same size force keeps the moon orbiting, but barely affects the Earth? The answer is inertia - the tendency for all objects with mass to maintain their state of motion. Since the Earth has much more mass than the moon, it has greater inertia and therefore experiences much less acceleration for the same amount of force.
Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation can be summarized as "all mass attracts all other mass." But if this is true, why don't we notice the gravitational force of attraction between everyday objects? The reason is because the gravitational force is quite weak.
A basketball and a 5kg medicine ball are dropped simultaneously. Which one hits the ground first? It seems obvious that the heavy one should accelerate at a greater rate and therefore land first because the force pulling it down is greater. But this is forgetting inertia - the tendency of mass to resist changes in motion. Therefore, although the force on the medicine ball is greater, it takes this larger force to accelerate the ball at the same rate as the basketball.
If you drop a heavy object and a light object simultaneously, which one will reach the ground first? A lot of people will say the heavy object, but what about those who know both will land at the same time? What do they think? Some believe both objects have the same gravitational pull on them and/or both fall to the ground with the same constant speed. Neither of these things is true, however. The force is greater on the heavy object and both objects accelerate at the same rate as they approach the earth, i.e. they both speed up but at the same rate.
If you've seen footage from the International Space Station or any of the space shuttle missions, you know that astronauts float around as they orbit the Earth. Why is that? Is it because the gravitational force on them is zero in space? (Or nearly zero?) The truth is that the strength of the gravitational attraction is only slightly less than it is on Earth's surface. So how are they able to float? Well, they aren't floating - they're falling, along with the space station. They don't crash into the Earth because they have a huge orbital velocity. So as they accelerate towards the Earth, the Earth curves away beneath them and they never get any closer. Since the astronauts have the same acceleration as the space station, they feel weightless. It's like being in a free-falling elevator (without the disastrous landing).
Newton's Three Laws of Motion are a landmark achievement in physics. They describe how all objects move. Unfortunately most people do not really understand Newton's Laws because they have pre-existing ideas about the way the world works. This film is about those pre-existing ideas. By recognizing what people are thinking, it becomes easier to describe the correct scientific concepts of Newton's Three Laws and how they differ from this 'intuitive physics'.
A short a cappella tribute to experimentalists. It is sung while performing three simple experiments with household items: Mentos dropped in diet Coke, a tea bag emptied and burned, and a ping pong ball floating in the air stream of a hair dryer.
Everyone is familiar with liquid water, ice and water vapour, but what are the differences between these three states of matter? Solids, liquids and vapours of the same substance differ in the motion of the molecules and the distance between them.
The answer to the question - what happens to a tennis ball tied to the bottom of a slinky after the top of the slinky is let go?
How long is the coastline of Australia? One estimate is that it's about 12,500 km long. However the CIA world factbook puts the figure at more than double this, at over 25,700 km. How can there exist such different estimates for the same length of coastline? Well this is called the coastline paradox. Your estimate of how long the coastline is depends on the length of your measuring stick - the shorter the measuring stick the more detail you can capture and therefore the longer the coastline will be.
I saw my first wild koalas while driving on the great ocean road. Generally their days are not very exciting. They spend most of their time sleeping and the rest of the time eating eucalyptus leaves. The eucalyptus leaves are tough to digest which explains their consumate napping. Plus they require bacteria in their gut to help them break down their food. This bacteria must be passed down from mother to child through the mother's poo. It's a tough start to life for koalas!
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle tells us that it is impossible to simultaneously measure the position and momentum of a particle with infinite precision. In our everyday lives we virtually never come up against this limit, hence why it seems peculiar. In this experiment a laser is shone through a narrow slit onto a screen. As the slit is made narrower, the spot on the screen also becomes narrower. But at a certain point, the spot starts becoming wider. This is because the photons of light have been so localised at the slit that their horizontal momentum must become less well defined in order to satisfy Heisenberg's uncertainty principle.
Scientists are being inspired by nature to design the next generation of security devices. Arrays of nanoscale holes create beautiful reflected colours that are almost impossible to forge.
As a Canadian-Australian, I have always wondered why it is that Australia has so many venomous animals that can kill you while Canada has virtually none. But it's not just Australia - it seems like all beautiful, warm places are cursed with venomous native species. So I set out to find the truth: why have all these venomous species evolved in the world's best holiday destinations?
Light is so common that we rarely think about what it really is. But just over two hundred years ago, a groundbreaking experiment answered the question that had occupied physicists for centuries. Is light made up of waves or particles?
What would you see if you were drifting through space, looking back at the sun? Well its light intensity would decrease as the inverse square of distance from the sun. And you would imagine the intensity would decrease smoothly, asymptotically approaching zero.
What happens when single photons of light pass through a double slit and are detected by a photomultiplier tube? In 1801 Thomas Young seemed to settle a long-running debate about the nature of light with his double slit experiment. He demonstrated that light passing through two slits creates patterns like water waves, with the implication that it must be a wave phenomenon.
The world's roundest object helps solve the longest running problem in measurement -- how to define the kilogram.
Physics of contraptions meant to go faster than light.
Original Title: Pyro Board: 2D Rubens Tube!
Many technologies have promised to revolutionize education, but so far none has. With that in mind, what could revolutionize education? I think it is instructive that each new technology has appeared to be so transformative. You can imagine, for example, that motion pictures must have seemed like a revolutionary learning technology. After all they did revolutionize entertainment, yet failed to make significant inroads into the classroom. TV and video seem like a cheaper, scaled back film, but they too failed to live up to expectations. Now there is a glut of information and video on the internet so should we expect it to revolutionize education? My view is that it won't, for two reasons: 1. Technology is not inherently superior, animations over static graphics, videoed presentations over live lectures etc. and 2. Learning is inherently a social activity, motivated and encouraged by interactions with others.
How much would it take for you to risk $10?
Does quantum entanglement make faster-than-light communication possible?
What it's like to see the Earth from orbit.
Students at UCF are designing an inexpensive 3D printed arm for kids.
New research shows chameleons actively tune nano-crystals to change their color.
Do we need more diversity in online video?
Original Title: Learned Helplessness
Original Title: A Walk Around Chernobyl
Original Title: Surprising Applications of the Magnus Effect
Why does time appear to speed up as we get older? Can we slow it down?
What is the specious present? And how do our brains perceive time?
Original Title: Why Do These Liquids Look Alive? Why do droplets of food coloring attract, repel, and chase each other?
A story is worth a thousand data points.
Original Title: The Northernmost Town on Earth (Svalbard in 4K) Longyearbyen on Svalbard is the northernmost settlement with over 1000 residents
A rare look inside the Svalbard Global Seed Vault which is closed ~350 days a year
Original Title: Celsius Didn't Invent Celsius Celsius never devised nor used the scale that now bears his name.
How can you Yo-Yo without the string attached?
If you repeat something enough times, it comes to feel good and true.
Mounting evidence suggests a lot of published research is false.
The best and worst predictions in science are both based on the same underlying physics
Original Title: Galaxies From Nothing All the large-scale structure in the universe may owe its existence to nothing.
Original Title: Welding in Space In space, metals can weld together without heat or melting.
Silicone oil droplets provide a physical realization of pilot wave theories.
The crazy story of the arbitrary temperature scale used in a tiny minority of countries.
Used in everything from bullet-proof vests to the walls of the Pentagon, polyurea's strength comes from its long-chain molecules.
Why we can't seem to agree on what's true when it's easier than ever to check.
A head-vaporizing laser with a perfect wavelength detecting sub-proton space-time ripples.
We talk about all the potentially challenging situations autonomous cars could get into but not about how human drivers are not very good. Tens of thousands die on the roads every year in collisions, most of which could be prevented by autonomous vehicles. Sponsored by BMW I wanted to make a video about autonomous cars for some time but I hadn't had the opportunity. The self-driving technology is already at a state where it can save lives if only it were more widely implemented.
Spinning magnets near copper sheets create levitation!
Original Title: Water on the Moon? For a long time we thought the Moon was completely dry, but it turns out there are actually three sources of lunar water.
How the brain works, how we learn, and why we sometimes make stupid mistakes.
The definitive answer about the direction water swirls in two hemispheres
I didn't say it explicitly in the video, but in my view the Bayesian trap is interpreting events that happen repeatedly as events that happen inevitably. They may be inevitable OR they may simply be the outcome of a series of steps, which likely depend on our behaviour. Yet our expectation of a certain outcome often leads us to behave just as we always have which only ensures that outcome. To escape the Bayesian trap, we must be willing to experiment.
Can you solve these four rotation-related riddles?
The solution to 4 rotation-related riddles, including the mystery cylinder, bike pedal pulling puzzle, track problem, and train part going backwards. Thank you to everyone who responded, liked, shared, or made a video response.
I have the photic sneeze reflex so I sneeze when I look at bright light.
In a zero-g plane I experimented with flames and slinkies with surprising results.
Original Title: The American Kilogram The US signed the metre convention and bases all customary units on SI standards. As an aside, the Utah constitution from 1895 required the metric system to be taught in schools. This requirement was repealed in 1987. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Original Title: The Next Mission to Mars: Mars 2020 In 2020, NASA will send a new rover to the Martian surface with one of its objectives to search for evidence of ancient life on the planet. I made this clip as a correspondent for Bill Nye Saves the World on Netflix.
How do you measure big forces accurately? By calibrating your force transducer on the world's biggest weight - 1,000,000 pounds of force. This machine ensures planes don't break apart, jets provide required thrust, and rockets make it to their destination.
Scientists have JUST published this new observation. On January 4th, 2017 they detected the merger of two black holes 3 billion light-years away. This marks the furthest detection they've been able to make and increases confidence that these events will be seen with increasing frequency as the LIGO interferometers become more sensitive to low amplitude gravitational waves (as sources of noise are eliminated).
The intensity of sunlight on Earth is about 1300 Watts per square meter. When you focus the sun's rays using a magnifying glass (or in this case sphere of water) you can increase the intensity roughly ten thousand fold. This increases the temperature of wood to its autoignition point starting the reaction with oxygen in the atmosphere. By protecting the hot embers and adding more energy and fuel, you can get these hot coals to start a roaring fire.
Original Title: Seeing the Invisible This is what the world would look like if you could see invisible air currents, temperature gradients, and differences in pressure or composition of the air.
On a stream of water you can levitate light balls of all sizes and even disks and cylinders. The mechanism is not the Bernoulli effect...
In 2018 the kg will be defined by Planck's constant, not a hunk of metal.
Original Title: ECLIPSE 2017 The total solar eclipse from Madras, Oregon on August 21, 2017. As the moon passed in front of the sun turning day to night and revealing the sun's corona, apparently all I could think to say was 'Oh my goodness!'
How Schlieren imaging works in color, black and white and slow-mo.
Original Title: First Ever Light & Gravitational Wave Cosmic Event! The merging of two neutron stars was detected by gravitational waves and then by telescopes in all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. This is a historic detection as it demonstrates: - the first gravitational waves detected from inspiraling neutron stars - the first joint observation by gravitational wave and electromagnetic wave astronomy - identification of a gamma ray burst in conjunction with merging neutron stars - how gravitational waves and gamma rays can be used together to locate their source All evidence so far indicates that the data support General Relativity.
Original Title: Your Amazing Molecular Machines These are the molecular machines inside your body that make cell division possible.
I got to drive the world's first car (replica), patented by Benz in 1886
Increasing entropy is NOT the only process that's asymmetric in time.
Mosquitoes are attracted to me and it's likely due to my genes.
Will artificial intelligence weapons cause World War III?
How Neutrons Changed Everything Without neutrons, harnessing nuclear energy would be impossible.
Original Title: The Truth About Veritasium The truth, with photons. I hope I've articulated everything clearly in this video. If not, I'll clarify in comments. Thanks to everyone who appears in this video and thanks to everyone who watches this video! Veritasium is of course a combination of the latin 'veritas' meaning truth, and the common element ending 'ium'. I guess this is my version of the 'draw my life' craze that rolled through YouTube many years ago. Except I wanted to tell my story with the actual moments, the photons, the stored magnetic states. There's something about that which is so important to me (because I think the alternative involves fooling yourself) which is why I'm so fascinated by film and video.
An experiment on how turbulent convection in Earth's core makes a magnetic field.
UV cameras expose a hidden world and reveal the incompleteness of our perception
Vitamins are 13 molecules essential for life that our bodies can't make themselves.
The nutrient content of food is declining. Is it because of soil depletion, selective breeding, or... something else?
UV at ground level is non-ionizing but it damages DNA and causes photoaging - how? Also, it turns out glass doesn't block all UV (specifically UVA passes through). This is something I learned filming with the UV camera inside.
Or almost any garage - it's particularly good with fixed code gates and garages. Samy proposes other weaknesses with rolling codes.
Original Title: The Scientific Benefits of Boredom Boredom makes you more creative, altruistic, introspective, and helps with autobiographical planning.
Original Title: The Fungus on Your Head This fungus lives on your scalp and may affect the genes you express.
Original Title: ZERO-G Challenges of a Trip to Mars!
Will this be the last video I make about SI units? Quite possibly. There's something about being so precise and defining the systems within which science works. When we can more accurately and routinely measure a kilogram, a mole, a kelvin and an ampere, then we can make better observations, we can better detect anomalies and improve our theories. That is why this is so important to me.
Mars InSight will be the first to detect seismic activity on Mars’ surface, first to measure rate of heat transmitted from interior, first to dig nearly 5m down, first to measure magnetic fields on Mars’ surface, and first to use a robotic arm to place instruments on the surface of Mars (assuming it lands of course…)
Original Title: Non-Invasive Brain Surgery Scientists have combined ultrasound, viruses and synthetic drugs to control regions of the brain.
A launch mishap led to the best experimental confirmation of gravitational redshift.
A pulsing black hole in the centre of a distant galaxy sheds light on black hole and galaxy formation. How fast are black holes rotating and how does that rotation change over its life-span?
Droplets levitate on a bath of liquid nitrogen and are spontaneously self-propelled.
Do negative air ions improve mood, anxiety, depression, alertness?
A bisected grape in the microwave makes plasma. But how does it work? A grape is the right size and refractive index to trap microwaves inside it. When you place two (or two halves) close together the fields interact with each other creating a maximum of electromagnetic energy where they touch. This creates heating, sparks, and plasma, which is further fed with energy directly by the microwaves.
Is it possible to reconstruct sound from high-speed video images?
Compliant mechanisms have lots of advantages over traditional devices. SimpliSafe is awesome security. It's really effective, easy to use, and the price is great.
Research has found human brains can pick up on rotations of geomagnetic-strength fields as evidenced by drops in alpha wave power following stimulus.
I always wanted to know why film looked better than video. Moving electronic images have as long a history but were invented for a different purpose.
We are about to see the first image of a black hole, the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. But what is that image really showing us?
The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration observed the supermassive black holes at the center of M87 and our Milky Way galaxy (SgrA*) finding the dark central shadow in accordance with General Relativity, further demonstrating the power of this 100 year-old theory.
The story of three impressive high school science projects. Can you guess which student won $250,000 in the #RegeneronSTS?
Tiny robots activated by magnetic fields may be used in future biomedical procedures.
I took a boat through 96 million black plastic balls on the Los Angeles reservoir to find out why they're there. The first time I heard about shade balls the claim was they reduce evaporation. But it turns out this isn't the reason they were introduced.
My hypothesis is that the algorithm, rather than viewer preference, drives views on the site. As the algorithm shifts, various YouTubers experience burnout (as what used to work no longer works) and right now click-through rate is the key metric. So clickable titles and thumbnails are the only way to get a lot of impressions and hence views - they are the only way to go viral. This leads me to wonder which audiences will become most prevalent on the site and if there will even be a place for educational content. In the long-term, hopefully YouTube is able to measure satisfaction through surveys and other metrics to ensure an optimal experience for everyone on the site.
Aerogels are the world's lightest (least dense) solids. They are also excellent thermal insulators and have been used in numerous Mars missions and the Stardust comet particle-return mission. The focus of this video is silica aerogels, though graphene aerogels are now technically the lightest.
I bought 10,000 shade balls and tried to swim in them. They appear to act like a non-Newtonian fluid: rigid under high shear stress, but they flow like a liquid under low shear.
Aerogel has extraordinary properties but it can be tough to work with. This video looks at modifying aerogels to take advantage of their unique characteristics.
The Vikings suffered many hardships living in the north of Europe: long, cold winters and importantly a lack of sunlight. Luckily, they had cod.
Apollo astronauts trained in nuclear bomb craters at the Nevada National Security Site. But why?
Electric cars are now ready to take over thanks to advances in battery technology and their inherent benefits: torque, handling, maintenance.
The Mars Helicopter aims to make the first powered flight on another planet when it takes off on Mars as part of the Mars 2020 mission. I learned a lot getting to visit the drone right before it was mounted on the rover.
I used a nitrogen membrane and Stirling cryocooler to liquefy nitrogen out of the air.
We put aerogel to the test vs 'not-a-flamethrower', a huge 2000°C flame to a large fiberglass blanket infused with silica aerogel - formerly the lightest solid (that title is now held by graphene aerogel).
A planet has been predicted to orbit the sun with a period of 10,000 years, a mass 5x that of Earth on a highly elliptical and inclined orbit. What evidence supports the existence of such a strange object at the edge of our solar system?
Spinning objects have strange instabilities known as The Dzhanibekov Effect or Tennis Racket Theorem - this video offers an intuitive explanation.
On first glance it's surprising that origami -- a centuries old art of folding paper to achieve particular aesthetics -- is applicable to engineering. But upon closer consideration there are a lot of reasons methods developed for paper folding are also applicable to engineering: origami allows you to take a flat sheet of material and convert it to almost any shape only by folding. Plus for large flat structures, origami provides a way of shrinking dimensions while ensuring simply deployment - this is particularly useful for solar arrays in space applications. Furthermore, motions designed to take advantage of the flexibility of paper can also be used to form compliant mechanisms for engineering like the kaleidocycle. Since the principles of origami are scalable, mechanisms can also be dramatically miniaturized.
Huge thanks to all the YouTubers who organized this. My apologies for the repost. These videos are from 2012 so my interest in trees goes back a long ways. I think these videos discuss two of the most interesting and amazing facts about our leafy friends: they are made mostly of CO2 (which comes from us breathing out amongst other sources) and they can transport water up a tube higher than any we can currently manufacture. So trees are out to get you. But we do much worse to them so we owe it to them to plant some more. 20 mil is a good start.
Why does shaken soda explode? Does ice melt first in fresh or salt water?
Chaos theory means deterministic systems can be unpredictable.
Scientists like Prof Sinclair have evidence of speeding up, slowing, and even reversing aging.
Common pitfalls of New Year's resolutions and how I plan to avoid them.
The logistic map connects fluid convection, neuron firing, the Mandelbrot set and so much more.
The most elegant interpretation of quantum mechanics is the universe is constantly splitting
Everyone loves laminar flow but turbulent flow is the real MVP.
This was a pretty extraordinary experience - thanks to NASA for inviting me! The Atlas V 541 rocket took off carrying the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity the Mars helicopter at 7:50 am July 30, 2020. They should arrive in about seven months on February 18, 2021
Half of the ordinary baryonic matter has been tough to find but Fast Radio Bursts made it possible to detect the WHIM.
Kodak detected the first atomic bomb before anyone else figured it out. Then they made a deal not to tell anyone. Thanks to HBO Max, and their new show raised by Wolves for sponsoring this video! https://rb.gy/alghwn
Simples rules of geometry meant that 5-fold symmetry was impossible as were crystals without a periodic structure. This turns out to be wrong.
The General Theory of Relativity tells us gravity is not a force, gravitational fields don't exist. Objects tend to move on straight paths through curved spacetime. Thanks to Caséta by Lutron for sponsoring this video. Find out more at: https://www.lutron.com/veritasium
In 2015 astronomers successfully predicted the appearance of a supernova within a couple weeks. How did they do it?
As the universe expands, #expanding #space is said to "stretch" photons. But if it stretches photons, does it also stretch molecules, galaxies and you?
Physics students learn the speed of light, c, is the same for all inertial observers but no one has ever actually measured it in one direction.
Steven Hawking thought an asteroid impact posed the greatest threat to life on Earth. Thanks to Kiwico for sponsoring this video.
Ames window illusion illustrates how we don't directly perceive external reality.
What are these electric blue ponds in the middle of the Utah desert? And why do they keep changing color?
got the chance to interview Bill Gates so I asked him: Will Covid-19 be the last pandemic? How does he deal with misinformation and conspiracy theories? And what is the next disaster?
On Thursday February 18th, 2021 the NASA Perseverance Rover will land on Mars. It is a wonderful robot, made out of steel and wire — but will future robots look like Perseverance? There is an emerging field of research on "soft robots", where the machines are flexible. These soft robots have many advantages over traditional robots — they're safer, lighter, more flexible and can change their shape and size.
For thousands of years, mathematicians were calculating Pi the obvious but numerically inefficient way. Then Newton came along and changed the game.
This video is about stuff: light bulbs, printers, phones and why they aren't better.
How does order spontaneously arise out of chaos?
This robot has applications to archaeology, space exploration, and search and rescue — with a simple elegant design inspired by a plant.
If there's a hotel with infinite rooms, could it ever be completely full? Could you run out of space to put everyone? The surprising answer is yes -- this is important to know if you're the manager of the Hilbert Hotel.
Not everything that is true can be proven. This discovery transformed infinity, changed the course of a world war and led to the modern computer
Everyone will say this craft breaks the laws of physics.
If you ran evolution all over again, would you get humans? How repeatable is #evolution?
A UCLA Physics Professor bet me $10,000 that my video about going downwind faster than the wind was wrong.
You are not a visual learner — learning styles are a stubborn myth.
How close are we to having fully autonomous vehicles on the roads? Are they safe? In Chandler, Arizona a fleet of Waymo vehicles are already in operation.
The Collatz Conjecture is the simplest math problem no one can solve — it is easy enough for almost anyone to understand but notoriously difficult to solve.
3D printed rockets save on up front tooling, enable rapid iteration, decrease part count, and facilitate radically new designs.
Original Title: We Need To Talk About Clickbait The title and thumbnail play a huge role in a video's success or failure.
Original Title: How Distant Stars ACTUALLY Affect Our Lives Tiny particles from distant galaxies have caused plane accidents, election interference and game glitches.
Under UV light, almost all species of scorpions glow a bright green color, but why?
Bowling has been reinvented many times over the past seven thousand years but especially in the last 30. This is the fascinating physics of balls, oil, lane and pins.
Your genetic code is probably already in a database, without you ever giving a sample or permission.
This is a #robot that walks, flies, #skateboards, #slacklines, and might do much more one day.
The story of a controversial physics question on the qualifying exam for the 2014 US Physics Olympiad team. How does a uniform cable beneath a helicopter hang?
A general solution to the cubic equation was long considered impossible, until we gave up the requirement that math reflect reality.
The misconception is that electrons carry potential energy around a complete conducting loop, transferring their energy to the load.
Why are bicycles stable? The most common answer is gyroscopic effects, but this is not right.
Dr Ken Libbrecht is the world expert on snowflakes, designer of custom snowflakes, snowflake consultant for the movie Frozen - his photos appear on postage stamps all over the world.
Analog computers were the most powerful computers for thousands of years, relegated to obscurity by the digital revolution.
Original Title: We're Building Computers Wrong (for artificial intelligence) Digital computers have served us well for decades, but the rise of artificial intelligence demands a totally new kind of computer: analog.
Alternate Title: "Milking The World's Most Venomous Snake" To make antivenom, you first need to collect venom from the world’s most deadly snakes.
One scientist caused two environmental disasters and the deaths of millions.
Original Title: A Picture of the Milky Way's Supermassive Black Hole This is an image of the supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*, at the center of our Milky Way galaxy.
Astronomers think there should be 5 times as much dark matter as ordinary matter – a shadow universe that makes up most of the mass in the universe. But after decades of trying, no experiments have found any trace of dark matter – except one.
The 100 Prisoners Riddle feels completely impossible even once you know the answer.
Fritz Haber is the scientist who arguably most transformed the world.
Which experts have real expertise?
This tiny robot can jump higher than anything else in the world.
The Fast Fourier Transform is used everywhere but it has a fascinating origin story that could have ended the nuclear arms race.
People have witnessed supernovae for millennia, but what threat do they pose to life on Earth?
The US Government Sells Human Poop This government warehouse keeps our entire society up to standard.
The US Navy has an indoor ocean that can simulate any wave in the world.
This lab measures the tiniest forces in the universe.
An engineer came up with a plan to drop tungsten telephone poles from space - the idea has been seriously considered on multiple occasions, so we tested it.
In this lab, they use different flow visualization techniques to help detect contraband, residues, and develop trace particle detection methods. Alternative Title: This fake dog nose makes chemical sensors 18x better
I always thought Florida seemed like a terrible place to launch anything from.
In a candle flame there are electrically charged particles, which you can pull apart using an electric field.
The coating is a polymer sold under the brand name Line-X.
Adhesives based on gecko skin can hold huge weights – without sticking to anything.
For decades, the Sleeping Beauty Problem has divided people between two answers.
The world's strongest magnet is a million times stronger than Earth's magnetic field.
A quantum computer in the next decade could crack the encryption our society relies on using Shor's Algorithm.
Concrete = cement + sand + gravel. Cement is the most important man-made material on Earth.
NASA have made a wheel capable of withstanding tough Martian terrain, but just how indestructible is it?
Lightbulbs might be the best idea ever – just not for light.
Welcome to Micromouse, the fastest maze-solving competition on Earth.
There's a strange number system, featured in the work of a dozen Fields Medalists, that helps solve problems that are intractable with real numbers.
One of the most important, yet least understood, concepts in all of physics.
This is the biggest, brightest, hottest video there is about the science of fireworks.
J. Robert Oppenheimer forever changed the course of history. He may be the most important physicist to have ever lived. Part of this video is sponsored by Wren.
IQ is supposed to measure intelligence, but does it?
This is a video about some of the many times we have nearly blown up the world.
This is how people can hold their breath for tens of minutes.
Original Title: What Actually Makes People Happy, According to Science
Sewing machines are mechanical marvels – here’s how they work.
This is the world’s largest earthquake simulator, here’s how it works.
People don’t understand the scale of the Universe.
The blue LED was supposed to be impossible—until a young engineer proposed a moonshot idea.
The most famous equation in finance, the Black-Scholes/Merton equation, came from physics. It launched an industry worth trillions of dollars and led to the world’s best investments.
Do odd perfect numbers exist?
This is a video about how Japanese swords are made – from the gathering of the iron sand, to the smelting of the steel, to the forging of the blade.
Einstein was wrong about black holes, what else?
Avalanches are beautiful, majestic, and completely terrifying – this is a video all about the science of avalanches.
How jumping spiders reveal an entire secret world of colors.
We experimented to see how much pain our volunteers could handle.
The robots of our future may look nothing like humans at all. Huge thanks to Dr. Elliot Hawkes for showing us his robots over the years, and for the update on what they’re doing now!
Audio illusions show us that hearing is about more than just sensing frequency.
Democracy might be mathematically impossible – here’s why.
Why are plane doors not locked?
Can you trust your phone?
How do QR codes work? The checkerboard patterns taking over the world, demystified.
The world’s first look inside a thermite reaction.
Europa Clipper is looking for signs of alien life in a very deadly place.
A massive thank you to Prof. Steven Strogatz for his expertise and enthusiasm. A huge thank you to Prof. Haithem Taha, Prof. Anthony Bloch, Dr. Carl-Fredrik Nyberg Brodda, Dr. Sarah Millholland, and Dr. Andrew Mitchell for all their help with finding the story and getting it right. A special thanks to Dr. Aurèle Adam, Ron Haaksman, Marc Serra Peralta, and everyone at the Delft Makerspace for their help with preparing and performing experiments.
Being better at math can make you worse at math problems, and it’s completely rational.
Glass is one of the most important materials humans have ever made.
Thank you so much for an amazing 10 years! The giveaway is now closed. Spanish channel: https://ve42.co/VeEs Arabic channel: https://ve42.co/VeAr
This is the Ames window illusion
Experiencing the extraordinary properties of aerogel first hand
The world's strongest magnet is a million times stronger than Earth's magnetic field.
Concrete = cement + sand + gravel. Cement is the most important man-made material on Earth.
Lenz's Law states that the direction of the induced current will oppose the change in flux that created it. Here's how that looks in practice.
Why are bicycles stable? The most common answer is gyroscopic effects, but this is not right.
It all depends on the way you flip it.
Hearing is about way more than sound
What would happen if you fell into a black hole?
Which is better - granny knot or square knot? Most of us are tying our laces wrong.
