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.

Huge thanks to LADWP for arranging this special tour for me. Next time let’s put the GoPro on the submersible!

The balls are made of high density polyethylene (HDPE) which is less dense than water so they float on the surface of the reservoir even if they break apart. They are 10cm (4 inches) in diameter and contain about 210ml of water. So the main reason they are on the reservoir is to block sunlight from entering the water and triggering a chemical reaction that turns harmless bromide into carcinogenic bromate. This effect occurs with prolonged exposure to bromate so regulators insist that levels be kept below 10 microgram per liter on average over a 12 month period.

Special thanks to our Patreon supporters! Join this community to help us keep our videos free, forever:
https://ve42.co/PatreonDEB

Thanks to:
Las Virgenes Reservoir for footage of initial shade ball dump
Euro-Matic for bird into jet-engine footage

Researched and Produced by Casey Rentz

Animations by Maria Raykova

Music from http://epidemicsound.com “Colorful Animation 4” “Seaweed”

And from Kevin MacLeod “Marty Gots a Plan”

This is an educational video about the science of water quality.

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. This video was sponsored by B&H Photo: https://www.bhphotovideo.com

Huge thanks to:

Richard Diehl, Video Labguy https://www.youtube.com/user/videolabguy
https://www.labguysworld.com

Branch Education for awesome animations
https://ve42.co/BranchEd

Minutephysics for mechanical TV animations
https://www.youtube.com/minutephysics

Mark Schubin
Engineer and explainer, SMPTE Life Fellow
https://www.smpte.org

This is a video I’ve long wanted to make, about what makes video look like video and, up until 10 years ago or so, not as appealing as film. I grew up with the two technologies (film and video) in parallel and to me they always seemed like two ways of achieving the same ends: recording and replaying moving images. But their histories are quite distinct. Film was always a way to capture moving images for later replaying. Video started out as a way to transfer images from one place to another instantaneously. This dates back to the first fax machine, mechanical TV, live broadcast tv and ultimately videotapes. This history focuses on the early decades of video and not the more recent switches to chip cameras and solid state storage. Maybe that’s a story for another day.

Additional resources and references:

The Dawn of Tape: Transmission Device as Preservation Medium
https://ve42.co/dawnoftape

What Sparked Video Research in 1877? The Overlooked Role of the Siemens Artificial Eye
https://ve42.co/sparkvideo

Video Preservation Website:
http://videopreservation.conservation-us.org

Image Orthicon Tube:
http://interiorcommunicationselectrician.tpub.com/14120/141200335.htm

Film vs Digital
https://stephenfollows.com/film-vs-digital/

Eyes of a Generation:
http://eyesofageneration.com

Television in the US:
http://www3.northern.edu/wild/th100/tv.htm

http://www.classictvinfo.com

Music from https://www.epidemicsound.com “Seaweed” “Capture a Picture 1” “Colorful Animation 4”

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. Check out SimpliSafe here: https://simplisafe.com/veritasium

I visited the Compliant Mechanisms Research group at Brigham Young University and spoke to Professor Larry Howell:
https://www.compliantmechanisms.byu.edu

At the above link, you can download 3D-print files to make some of the objects in the video, plus learn more about compliant mechanisms.

What I learned about compliant mechanisms I summarize in the 8 P’s of compliant mechanisms:

1. Part count (reduced by having flexible parts instead of springs, hinges)
2. Productions processes (many, new, different enabled by compliant designs)
3. Price (reduced by fewer parts and different production processes)
4. Precise Motion (no backlash, less wear, friction)
5. Performance (no outgassing, doesn’t require lubricant)
6. Proportions (reduced through different production processes)
7. Portability (lightweight due to simpler, reduced part count designs)
8. Predictability (devices are reliable over a long period of time)

Special thanks to Patreon supporters:
Donal Botkin, James M Nicholson, Michael Krugman, Nathan Hansen, Ron Neal, Stan Presolski, Terrance Shepherd

Animation by Alan Chamberlain

Droplets levitate on a bath of liquid nitrogen and are spontaneously self-propelled. Thanks Audible! Start a 30-day trial and your first audiobook is free. Go to https://audible.com/VERITASIUM or text VERITASIUM to 500500.

Special thanks to Dr. Anaïs Gauthier
Physics of Fluids: https://pof.tnw.utwente.nl/

Self-propulsion of inverse Leidenfrost drops on a cryogenic bath
Anaïs Gauthier, Christian Diddens, Rémi Proville, Detlef Lohse, and Devaraj van der Meer
PNAS January 22, 2019 116 (4) 1174-1179; published ahead of print January 22, 2019
https://www.pnas.org/content/116/4/1174

For a detailed description of the setup:
http://www.lps.ens.fr/~adda/papiers/Langmuir2016.pdf

And self-propulsion is also seen: http://www.lps.ens.fr/~adda/papiers/InvLeidenfrost.avi

Other recent (hot) Leidenfrost experiments that might be interesting:
* Leidenfrost wheels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glRGl-eYuXo
* Leidenfrost maze: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=174&v=vPZ7sx3EwUY
* Leidenfrost explosions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0sp3AjgUy4

Special thanks to Patreon supporters:
Donal Botkin, James M Nicholson, Michael Krugman, Nathan Hansen, Ron Neal, Stan Presolski, Terrance Shepherd

Thanks to Prof. Kevin McKeegan at UCLA for the liquid nitrogen

Filming by Raquel Nuno

Additional animations by Alan Chamberlain

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?

Huge thanks to Prof. Geraint Lewis and study author Dr. Dheeraj Pasham.

A loud quasi-periodic oscillation after a star is disrupted
by a massive black hole
https://ve42.co/pasham

Special thanks to Patreon supporters:
Donal Botkin, James M Nicholson, Michael Krugman, Nathan Hansen, Ron Neal, Stan Presolski, Terrance Shepherd

Music from http://epidemicsound.com “Colorful animation 4” “serene story 2” “To the stars 01” “Black Vortex

Animations by Alan Chamberlain and courtesy of NASA

A launch mishap led to the best experimental confirmation of gravitational redshift. Get a free audiobook with a 30-day trial of Audible: http://audible.com/VERITASIUM or text VERITASIUM to 500500

Huge thanks to
Dr. Pacome Delva: https://ve42.co/pacome
Dr. Sven Herrmann: https://ve42.co/sven
Gravitational Redshift Test Using Eccentric Galileo Satellites: https://ve42.co/GRtest

Disclaimer: It is arguable what is THE best test of general relativity because there are different ways to test the theory. This is the best confirmation of gravitational redshift, which is one of the three original tests proposed by Einstein.

Special thanks to Patreon supporters:
Donal Botkin, James M Nicholson, Michael Krugman, Nathan Hansen, Ron Neal, Stan Presolski, Terrance Shepherd

Animations and editing by Alan Chamberlain

Music from http://epidemicsound.com “Subtle Substitutes 2” “A sound Foundation 1” “Cell Research 1” “Particle Attraction 1”

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…)

If you want to watch the InSight landing “live” (with 4-minute speed of light time delay), go to: https://ve42.co/insight

Special thanks to Patreon supporters:
Donal Botkin, James M Nicholson, Michael Krugman, Nathan Hansen, Ron Neal, Stan Presolski, Terrance Shepherd

Animations courtesy of NASA

Script and Filming with Raquel Nuno

Editing and graphics by Ignat Berbeci

The kilogram, mole, kelvin, and ampere will be redefined by physical constants. For a limited time, get 3 months of Audible for just $6.95 a month: http://audible.com/VERITASIUM or text VERITASIUM to 500500

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.

Special thanks to Patreon supporters:
Donal Botkin, Michael Krugman, Ron Neal, Nathan Hansen, James M Nicholson, Terrance Shepherd, Stan Presolski

Special thanks to NIST: http://nist.gov

Additional graphics by Ignat Berbeci

Music from http://epidemicsound.com “Experimental1”

A trip to #Mars involves radiation, muscle and bone loss, intermediate axis theorem and liquids.
Check out Mars on National Geographic, Monday Nov 12 at 9/8c
#sponsored

When I got offered the chance to fly in another #zeroG plane, I jumped at the chance. Do you know how hard it is when you are thrust into low-gravity, like the 37% of Earth’s gravity of Mars, and you have to remember what you were going to say in a 30 second window as blood floods your head? It’s pretty hard. It would be even harder to actually travel to Mars. It would take about 8 months in microgravity during which time your muscles and bones would weaken substantially, even if you exercise for hours a day like the astronauts on the space station. And your heart is a muscle too so it weakens as well. Before I contemplated these rates of muscle and bone loss, I thought the major challenge with a round trip journey to Mars would be the logistics of spacecraft and having enough fuel to get back. But with the weakening of the human body, it’s an open question whether anyone would really want to come back.

Filmed by Steve Boxall

Music from Epidemic Sound: http://epidemicsound.com

This fungus lives on your scalp and may affect the genes you express.
Check out Head & Shoulders research on getting rid of dandruff: https://ve42.co/HS

Animation by Pindex: https://ve42.co/pindex

When I started this project, I wasn’t sure what caused dandruff and I also didn’t think much science would go into making a shampoo like Head & Shoulders. So what I learned really surprised me:

There are hundreds of scientists working on this shampoo. They run crazy-sounding experiments like hanging hair near Tokyo highways to understand how real-world environments deposit dirt on hair. They use sophisticated scientific techniques like electron microscopes, nuclear magnetic resonance and gene sequencing to study dandruff on the molecular level.

In fact they sequenced the entire genome of Malassezia globosa in 2002, one year after the human genome project. Their findings are published in international refereed journals. What they have found is that the Malassezia fungi create free fatty acids as byproducts of their digestion, which for some people create irritation and lead to hyper-proliferation of skin cells, flaking, histamines, inflammatory cytokines, and blood proteins reaching the surface of the skin. These findings indicate the unhealthiness of dandruff scalp and suggest a possible remedy – controlling the metabolism of the Malassezia fungi. This is achieved using different active ingredients in different products and different parts of the world, including zinc pyrithione, selenium sulfide, and piroctone olamine. With the reduction of irritants, the scalp actually expresses different genes, producing a signature more similar to a non-dandruff baseline scalp.

Music from Epidemic Sound: http://epidemicsound.com
Music also by Kevin MacLeod: http://incompetech.com