PickVidsBest Materials science Videos
The 42 Materials science videos here were recommended by different people across different months. Choose by who it is for: 1 introductory, 8 intermediate, 33 for a general viewer, and 0 for someone who wants the harder derivation. Most of them are a demo. What they share is that you see the result first and only then decide whether to follow the detail. Channels you will keep seeing include Veritasium, Applied Science, SmarterEveryDay.
Finding the Missing Memristor - R. Stanley Williams
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Why It Was Almost Impossible to Make the Blue LED
Veritasium tells the story of how Shuji Nakamura and others made the blue LED, long thought nearly impossible.
Revolutionary Paint: How to Make Surfaces Stay Cool in the Sun
Tech Ingredients shows how to make a homemade radiative cooling paint, with a custom liquid panel that cools below ambient temperature outdoors.
The Infinite Pattern That Never Repeats
Veritasium explains how Penrose tilings and quasicrystals overturned the belief that 5-fold symmetry and non-periodic crystals were impossible, including an interview with Paul Steinhardt.
Making Infrared Cooling Paint From Grocery Store Items (w/Novel CaCO₃ Microsphere Synthesis)
NightHawkInLight shows how to make radiative sky cooling paint from grocery and hardware store materials, including a novel calcium carbonate microsphere synthesis.
How To Make Infrared Cooling Paint (Electricity Free Air Conditioning)
NightHawkInLight shows how to make ultra-white radiative paint that cools surfaces below ambient temperature without electricity.
Smelting Iron in Africa (A DEMONSTRATION)
A 105-minute film of a West African smith family in Burkina Faso smelting iron from ore, from making charcoal and building the kiln to forging tools.
Mystery of Prince Rupert's Drop at 130,000 fps - Smarter Every Day 86
Smarter Every Day films Prince Rupert's drops, tempered glass drops, in high-speed slow motion at 130,000 fps.
Nokia Morph Concept (long)
A concept video from Nokia Research Center and Cambridge Nanoscience Center showing Morph, a flexible, self-cleaning, shape-changing phone imagined through nanotechnology.
The Liquid Metal Battery: Innovation in stationary electricity storage
MIT's Donald Sadoway presents the liquid metal battery as a design for grid-scale stationary electricity storage, at an Imperial College London event in 2018.
Etching small patterns in Glass
Huygens Optics experiments with etching tiny patterns in glass, covering hydrofluoric acid risks, buffered oxide etch, photoresist and chromium masks, and laser-induced etching.
Was Roman Concrete Better?
Practical Engineering compares modern concrete with that of the Roman Empire, covering modern techniques like roller compacted concrete and water-reducing admixtures.
The Ridiculous Engineering Of Jet Engines
Veritasium explains how jet engines run hotter than their components' melting points, using cooling air and single-crystal superalloy turbine blades.
What is Concrete?
Practical Engineering gives a short introduction to concrete, covering the difference between concrete and cement, the ingredients, and reinforcement.
Glass engineering - designing and making photochromic glass
Ben Krasnow of Applied Science shows how to make small batches of specialty glass with minimal equipment, including designing and making photochromic glass.
A Day Made of Glass... Made possible by Corning. (2011)
Corning's 2011 concept video showing a future where specialty glass surfaces and touchscreens are woven into everyday life.
MOLTEN GLASS VS Prince Rupert's Drop - Smarter Every Day 285
Destin Sandlin of Smarter Every Day explores molten glass and Prince Rupert's drops with a glass artist, including a process that freezes the moment glass shatters and an artisan who makes the drops.
For the undying 9/11 MORONIC JET FUEL ARGUMENT
A short video from a blacksmith, who heats and bends steel to rebut the claim that jet fuel could not weaken the steel in the World Trade Center.
Demo and teardown of an X-ray fluorescence gun (measures chemical composition)
Ben Krasnow of Applied Science demonstrates an X-ray fluorescence gun that measures chemical composition, tears it down, analyzes its failure, and discusses a new XRF technology appearing on eBay.
The Material Science of Metal 3D Printing
Real Engineering explains the materials science behind metal 3D printing, including crystal structure, laser sintering, and why printed parts develop fatigue cracks.
Making uranium glass
NileRed makes radioactive uranium glass from scratch, showing the chemistry involved and the green fluorescence under a blacklight.
DIY Scanning Electron Microscope - Overview
Ben Krasnow shows the first image from his home-built scanning electron microscope, after months of work, and walks through how the parts operate together.
The Snowflake Myth
Veritasium visits snowflake expert Dr Ken Libbrecht, who grows designer snowflakes in the lab.
I Grew Real Spider Silk Using Yeast
The Thought Emporium shows how they engineered a yeast strain to produce real spider silk, after more than two years of lab work and many failures.