- Really rusty!
- What in the world?
The HOA, if anything, they're going to be ticked.
(sonar ping)
- [Unison] OH!
- Right through the windshield!
- Welcome back to What's Inside.
I'm Lincoln, and this is Dan.
And today, we are going to cut open a transformer.
- But it's not this type of transformer that you're
thinking about.
- This is a normal power pole and if you look way up there.
There's the transformer.
- So some of you might be wondering what the heck are these
transformers? Why do we need them?
Why are they on the power poles?
If you drive around, you're going to see it a lot.
The power poles that are here by our house,
they have 7200 volts running through them.
And then this, takes that energy and converts it down
to 120 volts, so it can go into a home.
Because if you put 7200 volts in your house,
you'd blow up some stuff.
- Boom goes the dynamite!
As you go down like this entire row.
Then they just get smaller and smaller and smaller.
And then look at that one.
- This is what we're picking up.
And it might look small, but this is your standard one
that's on the power poles.
Closest to our house, probably closest to your house.
Is 3 or 400 pounds heavy.
But before it gets to this.
See that guy?
Those are your giant ones that come from
the State, and those ones have 138,000 volts in them.
- That's a lot of volts.
- That is a lot of power.
There's also transformer that is associated with
this beast right here.
We're going to go see if we can find one of those
in our neighborhood.
- It's hollow? It's hollow?
- It's hollow.
- What?
- Nobody's home.
- Hello?
(upbeat techno jazz music)
- [Unison] This.
- Oh, go ahead.
- So these power lines are huge.
They have a ton of electricity in there.
These are the biggest power lines that we could find.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
- Listen to that. Do you hear that energy.
(light buzzing sound)
- This is really the biggest power lines.
- They're huge!
This video is in collaboration with Bill and Melinda Gates.
Bill and Melinda Gates are unmatched in their
optimism about the world.
And despite what we may hear in the headlines.
The world has made incredible progress.
- The number of children that die every year,
has been cut in half.
And more kids are going to school.
- Over the last 10 years, 1.9 billion people have
gained access to power that didn't have it before.
- That's a big number.
- I mean we're talking about smart grids, solar panels,
wind farms, now we're looking at places like
India and the Philippines, that have never had a power grid.
And they're able to install these brand new,
smart power grids that transform the community and make it
so it has sustainable energy for the future going forward.
When people have energy in developing nations,
that means that they're able to find jobs,
the kids are able to use computers to study
for their school.
Over the last 20 years, the number of people
that live in poverty has been cut in half.
The list goes on and on.
Like there are so many positive things that are
happening in the world.
And it's because of people like Scientists and Leaders.
Like Bill and Melinda Gates, that are doing certain things
to make the world better.
This is the third year that we've been part of
Bill and Melinda Gates annual letter.
And this year, they are focusing on that optimism.
And the positive things that have happened.
Make sure, after this video, you check out
the Bill and Melinda Gates, Annual Letter.
They'll be in the link in the description below.
Every year I read it and I just feel optimistic
about the world and the way that the future is going.
But we need to go see how this transformer works.
What's inside of it.
Learn about energy and of course,
we're going to destroy something.
So we wanted to spice it up a little bit.
- A little bit?
- Just a little bit.
So this shot is from the drone.
What you're going to see now is,
we have the transformer, up on a giant forklift,
right here in front of the house.
We bought a car that is right there and we're going
to drop it, on top of the car.
- Sometimes our ideas are so strange.
- What is going to happen?
Is the transformer going to go completely through the car?
Or is it going to damage it pretty bad?
- Oh, it's going to go all the way.
It's going all the way.
- It could be bad.
We drained the oil from the car, safety precautions are met.
We have a full team of people on site.
After we do this, we'll take apart the transformer,
see what's inside of it.
It does have some mineral oil in it.
We drained the mineral oil, we filled it back up with water,
so if liquid does spill, it's water,
it's not the mineral oil, so it'll be safe for our lawn.
So we'll try to do it once or twice and here we go.
Fire in the hole!
- Yeah!
- Here we go!
- [Unison] OH!
(sonar ping)
(mooing cows sound effect)
- [Unison] OH!
- Right through the windshield!
That was perfect!
- It went in the windshield.
There she is, sitting in the passenger,
in the driver's seat.
Look at this, we're losing liquid right now.
There is water in here.
It's supposed to be mineral oil, but we put water in.
Here we go. Take number two!
- It's going! it's going!
- [Unison] OH!
(sonar pings)
- Wooooo!
- The glass is everywhere on the yard.
- We got it. We got it good on that one.
Let's check it out.
- Oh! It landed! It landed!
- It is perfectly straight up.
There is a transformer, this thing is tough.
Look at the back, look at the glass.
- The sound was so cool.
When it like thudded right through that.
I was watching the drone, just like scared me.
- It hit there and rolled back down in it.
- I bet you could smash this one more time.
- Ah, it's spilling liquid everywhere.
Okay, we're finally losing all the mineral water.
There she blows right there.
Pretty strong car here.
- We've hit it three times and there's not really scratches,
there's no other punctures in it.
- That was pretty dang fun.
What would happen if this dropped off of the pole?
Well it wouldn't damage that.
It would damage, whatever it lands on.
We need to take apart this transformer
and see what's inside of it.
I'm going to see if I can like,
scoop in and pick up the car,
and move the car.
We have a forklift.
This things supposed to lift 6,000 pounds.
So let's just pick the whole thing up,
take it over and put it on the driveway.
(sound of forklift moving and back up beepers)
Yes! Just going to leave this car here.
And shut the door, so our neighbors don't see it,
then they won't know anything happened here.
Yes! Oh, oop!
We did not make one dent in this thing.
One of the funnest things that we have done.
Definitely the craziest thing we've done at our house.
Probably next to the fire extinguisher balls.
(explosion)
What is really inside of the transformer?
We can actually take off the lid and look down inside of it.
There's just one bolt right here holding it on.
(harp magic music)
- That was fast.
- That was super easy, one little bolt.
It's much easier than using a screw driver.
Okay, so there's that, this is the seal that holds it on.
- Whoa!
- This is the moment of truth Lincoln,
what is inside of a transformer.
Are guys ready to see this?
- You all ready for this?
- Somehow.
Whoa!
- Just that little.
- Whoa. What in the world?
- It's really rusty!
It's wet in there too.
- Look at this.
These have these wires on them.
That's what's connected.
Let's see if I can unscrew these nuts, right here,
and then we can take the top off and
actually see what's inside of it.
- There's metal in them, that makes more sense then.
- Hah! Yes! Look at that!
Here's the oil level, you can actually see the line
where they're supposed to fill the oil up to.
- What is down there? Look down in there
there's all kinds of stuff in there.
This is where your power comes out.
Two 120 volts, going into your house.
That's why, when we charge our Tesla, we have the 240 volt,
because it's both of those combined,
and that's the max energy that we can get within our house.
- Wow. That's interesting.
- Yeah.
I'm going to go find some proper tools.
That's not an angle grinder.
Or maybe an angle grinder could just cut that.
(harp magic music)
So we got this off, these off, we just have one more.
But I couldn't quite get it.
One more try.
(harp magic music)
Can I take this out with my giant muscles.
That's the question.
- We need Zach.
- We could use a strong person.
- Yeah.
- What the heck?
Oh, hey, yeah!
I'm so strong.
These are the two different transformers right here.
Crowbar is a great tool.
But can you do this?
- [Unison] Ahhh! Whooo!
- Oh, I thought, did you?
- I heard a plop. I've heard lots of plops before
that was a big plop.
I know a plop when I hear it.
- Whoa!
- Whoa. What is that?
I broke one of these.
Oh, it's one of the ceramic parts.
These are the part with the transformer,
this is where the power actually goes into your house.
And it is ceramic apparently.
They should break pretty easily, with a crow bar.
- You got all three!
- The grand unveiling.
(symphony music)
- Empty bucket!
- Science!
- This bucket is empty.
Bah! It's so heavy!
What we are looking at here is electromagnetism in action.
Have you ever heard of Tesla?
He had the Tesla coils.
Well there's another scientist named Michael Faraday.
He basically found or invented electromagnetism.
And that's essentially what this is.
All this wiring, it's super thick, full of metal,
this entire thing, both sides, this is where the 7200 volts
of electricity comes in, and it's generated
and it goes through.
Now this paper looking stuff that goes around,
this also has the copper coils inside of it,
covered with insulation.
But it's a smaller amount.
It's a small enough amount that when this comes out
and is going out of the transformer,
it's only sending out 120 volts,
which is the goal of getting electricity into your house.
So based off of the amount of energy that you want to
transform, you have the really big size,
that holds the 7200 and then they made this specifically,
the perfect size, a much smaller amount
of copper wires around it so that 120 volts can get out.
- Wow. That's really awesome.
- Science.
(harp magic music)
I just love cutting stuff with angle grinders.
It's really fun.
So what are we looking at right now?
- It looks like metal.
- This is aluminum, or if you were in Europe, aluminum.
- Aluminum?
- I think they say aluminum. Who's right?
That's what that metal is.
- Cardboard?
- A little epoxy glue.
You see all these different layers, that's all it is.
It's wrapped around and around and around and around.
And the nice thing about aluminum is that it's able
to conduct electricity in a really good way
that doesn't explode.
- That's nice. That's always a plus.
- People are really smart.
- Not us, we're just good at breaking things.
- You learn a lot just by taking stuff apart.
(harp magic music)
- This is aluminum also, but it's much, much thicker.
So you can get much more electricity going through it.
Notice that you don't see any of that paper
that's in between it, stopping it.
You can see how much metal and how much is involved
in just the transformer.
When you can get power, into a community, that's never
had it before.
It literally transforms their community from one place of
poverty and that's why we're super proud to support
Bill and Melinda Gates and they're annual letter.
Look at the past and be proud of all the positive
accomplishments that have happened.
And then try to think of things that you could do
to make a positive impact in the world.
Look at the link in the description and go read their
annual letter and then come back and let us know.
Like what things inspired you,
what do you want to see changed in the next 10, 20 years.
And what positive stories have you seen.
We'd love to hear about it.
- Thank you, Bill and Melinda Gates,
for sponsoring this video and making this entire
amazing, awesome, thing, happen today.
- This was definitely the craziest one that we did.
And we all survived.
And so now, we need to figure out how to get rid of this.
Whoa! Okay!
(techno chord echo)
(claps)
- But can you do this?
Can you do this? Ah, ah, oh.
Can you do this?
Can you do this? No, I can't do that.