The Most Misunderstood Concept in Physics
13,259,998
Published 2023-07-01
If you're looking for a molecular modeling kit, try Snatoms - a kit I invented where the atoms snap together magnetically: snatoms.com
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A huge thank you to those who helped us understand different aspects of this complicated topic - Dr. Ashmeet Singh, Supriya Krishnamurthy, Dr. Jos Thijssen, Dr. Bijoy Bera, Dr. Timon Idema, Álvaro Bermejillo Seco and Dr. Misha Titov.
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References:
Carnot, S. (1824). Reflections on the motive power of heat: and on machines fitted to develop that power. - ve42.co/Carnot1890
Harnessing The True Power Of Atoms | Order And Disorder Documentaries, Spark via YouTube - ve42.co/OrderDisorder
A better description of entropy, Steve Mould via YouTube - ve42.co/Mould2016
Dugdale, J. S. (1996). Entropy and its physical meaning. CRC Press. - ve42.co/Dugdale1996
Schroeder, D. V. (1999). An introduction to thermal physics. - ve42.co/Schroeder2021
Fowler, M. Heat Engines: the Carnot Cycle, University of Virginia. - ve42.co/Fowler2023
Chandler, D.L. (2010). Explained: The Carnot Limit, MIT News - ve42.co/Chandler2010
Entropy, Wikipedia - ve42.co/EntropyWiki
Clausius, R. (1867). The mechanical theory of heat. Van Voorst. - ve42.co/Clausius1867
What is entropy? TED-Ed via YouTube - ve42.co/Phillips2017
Thijssen, J. (2018) Lecture Notes Statistical Physics, TU Delft.
Schneider, E. D., & Kay, J. J. (1994). Life as a manifestation of the second law of thermodynamics. Mathematical and computer modelling, 19(6-8), 25-48. - ve42.co/Schneider1994
Lineweaver, C. H., & Egan, C. A. (2008). Life, gravity and the second law of thermodynamics. Physics of Life Reviews, 5(4), 225-242. - ve42.co/Lineweaver2008
Michaelian, K. (2012). HESS Opinions" Biological catalysis of the hydrological cycle: life's thermodynamic function". Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 16(8), 2629-2645. - ve42.co/Michaelian2012
England, J. L. (2013). Statistical physics of self-replication. The Journal of chemical physics, 139(12), 09B623_1. - ve42.co/England2013
England, J. L. (2015). Dissipative adaptation in driven self-assembly. Nature nanotechnology, 10(11), 919-923. - ve42.co/England2015
Wolchover, N. (2014). A New Physics Theory of Life, Quantamagazine - ve42.co/Wolchover2014
Lineweaver, C. H. (2013). The entropy of the universe and the maximum entropy production principle. In Beyond the Second Law: Entropy Production and Non-equilibrium Systems (pp. 415-427). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. - ve42.co/LineweaverEntropy
Bekenstein, J.D. (1972). Black holes and the second law. Lett. Nuovo Cimento 4, 737–740. - ve42.co/Bekenstein1972
Carroll, S.M. (2022). The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time, and Motion. Penguin Publishing Group. - ve42.co/Carroll2022
Black hole thermodynamics, Wikipedia - ve42.co/BlackHoleTD
Cosmology and the arrow of time: Sean Carroll at TEDxCaltech, TEDx Talks via YouTube - ve42.co/CarrollTEDx
Carroll, S. M. (2008). The cosmic origins of time’s arrow. Scientific American, 298(6), 48-57. - ve42.co/Carroll2008
The Passage of Time and the Meaning of Life | Sean Carroll (Talk + Q&A), Long Now Foundation via YouTube - ve42.co/CarrollLNF
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Special thanks to our Patreon supporters:
Emil Abu Milad, Tj Steyn, meg noah, Bernard McGee, KeyWestr, Amadeo Bee, TTST, Balkrishna Heroor, John H. Austin, Jr., john kiehl, Anton Ragin, Diffbot, Gnare, Dave Kircher, Burt Humburg, Blake Byers, Evgeny Skvortsov, Meekay, Bill Linder, Paul Peijzel, Josh Hibschman, Mac Malkawi, Juan Benet, Ubiquity Ventures, Richard Sundvall, Lee Redden, Stephen Wilcox, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Michael Krugman, Sam Lutfi.
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Written by Casper Mebius, Derek Muller & Petr Lebedev
Edited by Trenton Oliver & Jamie MacLeod
Animated by Mike Radjabov, Ivy Tello, Fabio Albertelli and Jakub Misiek
Filmed by Derek Muller, Albert Leung & Raquel Nuno
Molecular collisions video by CSIRO's Data61 via YouTube: Simulation of air
Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images, Pond5 and by courtesy of NASA, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Goddard Flight Lab/ CI Lab, NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, HMI, and WMAP science teams. As well as the Advanced Visualization Laboratory at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, B. Robertson, L. Hernquist
Music from Epidemic Sound & Jonny Hyman
Produced by Derek Muller, Petr Lebedev, Emily Zhang, & Casper Mebius
All Comments (21)
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For those of you that haven’t taken a thermodynamics course yet, I don’t think you realize how incredibly helpful this video is lol
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the three laws of thermodynamics: 1. you can't win 2. you can't break even 3. you can't stop playing the game
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My brain hurts . But in an expansive way
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What a fantastic, informative and interesting video. My PhD in theoretical physics dates to 1976 and this video has to be one of the most thought-provoking discussions on entropy that I have ever seen or read. Thank you for sharing.
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The thing about one photon from the sun turning into several spreading out in all directions answered a long standing question for me - how to explain the way the sun “powers” life on earth in terms of entropy. Thanks!
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I was a student of physics. Today at the age of 57 I understood what entropy actually means. Thank you.
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The feeling of realizing the idea before its actually clarified, only to be validated a few moments later is irreplaceable. It amazes me that this kind of information doesn't give everyone the goosebumps.
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When I was like 9 or 10, I had this little series of books that basically explained different science concepts in a kid-friendly way and after reading the physics one, I kept telling my mom my room was always messy because of entropy 😭😭 edit: for anyone interested in the books, they’re from the Basher Science series!
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"What the sun gives us, is a steady stream of low entropy", is the best example for entropy. Thank you for making science more approachable, Derek!
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One thing is to know things, the other is to be able to talk about them with passion, spreading out to listeners. You really make great use of the energy you are given :)
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I don’t usually comment on YouTube videos, actually I don’t leave comments at all, but this series is probably the best thing out right now. Thank you for empowering and inspiring me with this fantastic channel.
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I love the casual flex. "I'm a PHD physicist." 😂 Very justified. Thanks Derek!
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The effort to put this presentation together and for millions to view has used energy very effectively. Please spread out more heat like this over time.
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I am not being hyperbolic here... I am 10 minutes into this video and it is already more useful than my entire undergraduate thermodynamics class. Thank you for making this all make sense 5 years later.
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As a current Chemical Engineering student, it helps me a lot in understand this concept about entropy, because currently I'm taking Thermodynamics and Carnot Cycle is one of the foundations of understanding the relationships between them.
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This has to be one of the best Veritasium episodes. I got goose bumps because of the beauty of the explanation. Science is so awe inspiring.
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I did my PhD in biophysics and I love that you mentioned life when talking about entropy. This always confuses people until they realize you’re not a closed system
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These kinds of videos prove to me how beautiful physics is and that is what gets me going on the most difficult days (in my studies). Its so weird that a great physicist like you exists around the same time that I do, and I get to enjoy all your mind blowing videos.. It is incredible indeed how beautiful and flawlessly yet so mysteriously the universe works.. Inspires me to learn more and more about these things.
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This is quite possibly THE most BEAUTIFUL video I've ever seen. I always felt like I hadn't understood entropy, and this video explained it in such a way that I could understand and visualize. Thank you so much.
