hey Vsauce Michael here the eye is a
mirror when you look into an eye you can
see a small tiny version of yourself
that kind of looks like a doll version
of yourself the latin word for a little
doll is a few pilla that's where we get
the word pupil for a young student and
the word pupil for the dark hole in the
middle of your eye
it's a pupil because when you look into
it you see the pupil of yourself
the tiny doll version of you and you are
in for a treat today something a little
bit different than usual but I think
you'll like it I've been working with
Adam Savage on our tour brain candy live
and I decided to give him a tour of my
brain candy the little things I have on
my desk the desk I work at everyday that
are sweet to the noggin but before that
here is a sneak peek at brain candy live
but not really this is this is brain
candy right here we've been literally
yeah this is the show we we've been the
last couple of days here and all the
little colored pieces of paper right for
you it's blurred because we don't want
to give it away yeah well maybe give
that one away psych you've got to come
to the show oh yeah let's not mess this
up this is how I think through a
narrative it's either like this or on a
whiteboard yeah I can't actually type it
out linearly yeah and you can see how
dense parts are you can see by colors
where the audience is involved where
there's gonna be something dangerous and
how they'll maybe spread those out
properly okay but wait this is not why
we're here we're here because we're in
Michael's amazing Vsauce space in Los
Angeles and I happen to notice that your
desk is awesomely messy and yet covered
with stuff that I wanted to get my hands
on and
we realized we should just shoot that so
yeah let me know I wanted to clean it up
but I don't kind of convinced me
no the way it is is the way we're gonna
film it so this is just pure
unadulterated truth that's really what
I'm about
all right so why why do you feel like a
little bit reticent to show off this is
awesome by the way your deaths you
couldn't set design this with this much
chaos let you like a photo to go off of
but I'm nervous because I mean I don't
know there could be something here that
I'm like oh that's embarrassing like you
know okay here's a half drank energy
drink from yesterday I'm gonna finish
this today I like a flat I like a
room-temperature I don't really want to
show you this Stirling engine this is so
precisely made it is powered just by the
heat of your hand so put your palm out
and then we'll let that warm up for just
a second meanwhile yeah yeah keep all
that blood in your hand but the thing is
it doesn't need a lot of heat underneath
it it just needs a temperature
difference between the surface on top
here the disk on top and the disk that's
touching your hand so while you're
holding that because I'm able to get
that bottom warmed up a little bit it's
a funny phrase I hear
let's admire some India India India it
is the only element in the universe you
can chew like bubblegum what it's a soft
metal it gets softer when warm but it's
also non-toxic and it's it's quite rare
I heard it's on the endangered elements
list in a hundred years there might not
be really any found in the ground so is
this a particularly large chunk of
then in a hundred years it might be or
it might not be I mean this is there's
some guesswork involved in knowing what
the earth has and what it's gonna run
out of I'm dancing it with my fingernail
exactly and you can take a bite out of
it I wouldn't recommend it because it's
quite cold in here and it could be a
little firmer than your teeth once but I
took a piece off and I melted it in this
beaker because you can make awesome
mirrors with it this is like a wonderful
wish list for me of other things to play
with because I think if we went to if we
went through my desk and my space at my
shop there'd be a whole bunch of stuff
you'd be like oh I didn't know those
existed we gotta get those yeah I'm
gonna give it just a little turn all
right but as you'll notice even though I
didn't put that much energy in it won't
slow down it's just gonna keep going how
does this engine work well it's all
about temperature a kinetic approach to
defining temperature the air is made of
molecules movin and shakin around
they're collisions produce what we call
air pressure now we say that warm air
expands but really it just has more
energy when a gas warms up its kinetic
energy increases it's molecules
literally move faster translationally
rotationally and vibrationally as a
result the average force they all exert
when colliding increases if the
container they're in isn't perfectly
rigid these collisions stronger on
average than those coming from the other
side will push the containers walls out
expanding the space within now that's
what happens in our engine our engine
has two Pistons a power piston
responsible for moving the big wheel and
a displacer piston that shuttles around
the air inside your hand warms the air
inside giving it more kinetic energy
enough to push the power piston up
turning the wheel the wheels motion then
pushes the displacer down moving the air
away from the warmer bottom plate
causing it to rapidly cool and collide
with the containers walls and the power
piston less often and with less force so
the piston falls turning the wheel with
it
the wheels momentum now drags the disk
laser piston up pushing air down to the
warm plate where it gains energy
collides with the power piston more
powerfully again sending it back up
beginning the cycle again it's
surprising just how quickly air can cool
and warm enough to move the piston it's
fast a classic example of this is the
old egg-sucking trick put something
burning in a bottle and stick a peeled
boiled egg on top
then suddenly poop the egg plops into
the bottle this is often explained as
being caused by a vacuum forming in the
bottle because the oxygen inside got
used up leaving fewer molecules within
to combat the pressure coming from
without but that's not true the oxygen
used by the fire doesn't disappear from
the universe that would violate the laws
of physics instead the flame turns it
into things like water vapor and carbon
dioxide
there are however fewer molecules in the
bottle when the egg is placed on top but
not because they were destroyed by a
fire instead it's because the heat of
the flame gave them enough energy to
push their way out air pushing against
the egg can get out because the egg is
shaped in such a way that lifting it
opens this seal but once the flame burns
out the air inside starts to cool right
away and well there's less of it inside
now external atmospheric pressure is
stronger but the shape of the egg is
such that pushing this way only tightens
the seal the air inside continues
cooling pushing less and less until the
pressure difference is enough that the
entire egg gets pushed in and that's a
piece of brain candy if you ask me the
egg isn't sucked into the bottle so much
as it's just pushed in by the atmosphere
because the pressure inside which would
normally be pushing back equally has
become weaker likewise you don't really
suck liquid up through a straw you just
cause the air in your mouth to push
against it through the straw less than
usual so the air outside can win against
you and push the liquid into your mouth
so make sure the haters know
scientifically nothing sucks anyway back
to how messy my desk is I think this
does give a good sense of
what's in my mind and how facades look -
it's like kind of an S this is what an
episode looks like in your head before
it comes yeah and my tolerance for mess
is really high okay so if I need her to
work
I wouldn't even move anything I'd be
like look the trackpad and a keyboard
are accessible yeah yeah yeah but it's
also inspiring to have little things
around to fidget with for instance these
cast puzzles but that one is called
spiral oh wow the craftsmanship one on
some of these puzzles is just I didn't
realize it was a puzzle I just don't
think in that not all those pieces come
apart they do yeah
that doesn't seem possible exactly and
that what they do is they I think
exercise the part of my brain that deals
with three-dimensional realization
because I don't think I'm very good at
that it takes me weeks to see something
in my head so I'm trying to like you
know what these are really good for is
finger strength because they're heavy
and if you tore out of one for a whole
day yeah you're like oh my gosh I'm
getting some some nice tone when you sit
up at the seeing something in your head
I mean that's the same way I build stuff
I can't start building unless I can see
the structure in my head do you think
you look really good at visualizing
things in your mind yeah no actually
there's a there's a turn that happens
and as a maker where you start being
able to just build stuff in your head
Wow and turning it over to drive with
the turtles did practice make it a
better skill totally practice makes it a
better skill and every time I attack a
new material it's the same thing this is
another that's another one and that one
is really fascinating because as you
pull it apart you don't see what's
catching right how come it's not
oh right no matter which way you hold it
and they're going to lock itself these
are like really modern Appalachians like
wire puzzles now watch watch this I
don't know if we can get a close-up of
this but if you've got pins that are
falling because of gravity this way and
this way
there's no way to unlock it unless you
get some little centrifugal force
happening or more precisely there
inertia will cause them to move out and
if I give that a little spin it just
falls apart Wow force it it just wants
to fall apart once you've spun that
beautiful so yeah I've got a lot of
stuff here what I'm picking up all the
puzzles okay this is a play with those
well yeah these later boil the solutions
for those out there watching who should
really get into my love topology stuff
at the moment these are Spears that
dissect into a bunch of pieces I bought
at the dollar store three for a dollar
but yet the the mechanism or the or the
design behind it is so clever and so
easy to put back together right I
actually instagrammed it I was so like
excited about the simplicity yeah how it
comes apart and goes together this is um
we when we finished Mythbusters we
packed up my desk and it was exactly
like this like a couple of hundred
pounds of this stuff yes this desk is
super heavy for a few reasons one is the
tungsten cube oh there it is
isn't that surprising ah this is larger
but not as heavy and that's solid steel
that's a
it's a plumb bob and I used that in the
what if the earth stopped spinning video
it was so heavy I could it like actually
tape a camera to it and then have the
camera on a pendulum so I'm noticing
you've got a lot of a lot of materials
different materials and I saw you open
this one earlier
oh I think they opened down yeah so this
is a density cube set each cube is one
inch by one inch by one inch and it
gives you a really good idea of density
and how different things feel one of my
favorite things to do is because
different metals have different thermal
conductivity I will like pull some at
what once copper ones that have a let's
let's do I are anything copper and I'll
mix them up so I don't know which one is
which and I'll just put them on my
forehead and I'll try to guess which is
which by which one feels cooler and the
one that feels cooler should be copper
it has a hopper on that can feel cooler
the question is which one is covered I
feel like the cooler one is it's Michael
Michael school that's for all the
coolest but between these two the cooler
is
I can't get this wrong I think you
actually can't get it wrong yeah I
actually can but I'm thinking that this
one's copper you got it hey hey I can
tell you've got a little anxiety about
that work
I knew I could do it if I didn't get it
right on camera I'd look like a fool my
desk by the way happens to be littered
with pens that you can't really see in
the video they are pins that are
erasable because the ink inside of them
becomes invisible when heated you can
erase the ink in this pin by just
rubbing the other end of the pen over
the ink heating it up to the invisible
point a really fun way to erase a lot of
stuff at once is to just use a flame
these are is also a density set but in
this case every cylinder is 100 grams
that's 100 grams of aluminum and this is
LED and that's LED and then we got brass
copper
I think zinc and and steel it's that a
standard tarnish on lead I don't know
because it's tarnished the part that's
it
that's the edge in the wood the reason
I'm asking is moisture or something one
of the original Maltese Falcons two of
the original multi sockets were made out
of lead and they now have this very dark
brown patina on them and I have wondered
never wondered aloud but I have wondered
if Brown patina is something that
happens - it must but why did it not
happen on the court that was exposed to
the air I'm actually noticing a
interesting pagina on the brass and the
copper as well from the contact with the
woods yeah could be oils in the wood the
multi soften could be Brown from many
people handling yeah it could be alright
so what do you think is the worst thing
someone could conclude looking at your
desk I wouldn't be sad if it concluded
that I was disorganized because that's
true right well there's disorganization
and there's disorganization you're not
inhibited from getting your work done
well yeah exactly that is a piece of
calcite that has that birefringence
property right where if you what's it
good out here that's double vision
except it does double vision yeah see
I'm not disorganized I can find a legal
pad in a second
absolutely so let's just draw like a
circle yeah that's not a great circle
that's right and then rotate it
oh no way yeah okay so what is the most
recent object - yeah thanks for parking
my loose tooth what's the most recent
thing you've you've brought into the
space the most recent I guess with oh
that's really cool isn't it cool that's
a call the TV rock it's a piece of black
site with fiber optic properties cool I
found out that the famous fact about
polar bear first supposed to be fiber
optic it's not true oh is it not true
apparently it's not so I didn't even
know that fact but if you were to tell
me and I would believe it
ya know it's a total it's one of those
silly oh yeah totally I buy a newest
object newest object it's the speaker oh
I saw this yesterday yes that came in
the in the curiosity box this third one
and it's it looks like a laboratory
beaker but it's a you know double wall
thing with the handle you can drink
coffee out of and it has milliliter
measurements on it but I was like
milliliters we've heard about those
let's use some crazy uses right so what
do you value my blood in your brain is
the amount of saliva produced every
three hours during the day if you fill
it all the way up to 300 milliliters it
also tells you that filled too here the
beaker contains approximately 10 septal
Ian water molecules I should of course
point out the spit error I misspelled
saliva on the Beger on every beaker in
fact it's completely my fault I take
full blame and spit if you are out there
watching please know that I respect you
even though I'm not perfect I'm gonna
move past this because I just did a rack
focus on the globe and am i right that
that is one of those bespoke globes made
by that company in England
yeah Ballard b globes yeah oh okay yeah
well you can go get it
it's not really a surprise that I love
globes I've done a lot of videos about
what does the earth look like how our
map projections made and this was a gift
from my wife on our wedding day what I
am flattered if you look up at the top
of the globe it has written the company
that made it a minute he says our names
right and then it's got the place of our
wedding in the date
and in the base which is over there and
it has a plaque that says to my husband
on our wedding day
so these globes are the most accurate I
know I'm very familiar with these Globes
as I go to their website every few weeks
and think that they make them really
large they make what's called the
Churchill yeah and you couldn't even hug
it IIIi think this is a reasonable place
to stop the the desk store I'm just
gonna go off into a corner and look at
this for a couple yeah sure of course
I'll get some work done
hey you saw Michael here so there you go
brain candy live hits the road on
February 21st traveling to 40 cities
around the United States check brain
candy live.com to see which cities were
coming to for probably coming to one
near you the rest of our global viewers
please don't worry we are considering
and looking at tours and the rest of
this beautiful glow but for right now
it's just the United States see you out
there on the road and as always thanks
for watching
but wait there's more let's talk about
the eye specifically
blinking we all do it it's good for our
eyes to blink but is there a chance that
at some point in the future there will
come a moment during which every single
pair of eyes on earth every single human
is blinking at the exact same time a
moment we will all miss do tube linkage
you blink your eyes anywhere from 30
times a minute all the way down to well
just three or four times a minute if
you're fixated on something like when
reading that can actually explain
partially why your eyes might become dry
or fatigued while reading also a typical
blink lasts about 100 to 300
milliseconds which means if you are
awake for 16 hours a day and you blink
say 10 times a minute on average and
your blinks are just to be conservative
here only a hundred milliseconds long in
a waking day
you spend about 16 minutes of your life
in blink mode with your eyes closed
that's a lot of minutes to miss everyday
but what about all of us blinking
together well the math has been done on
Reddit and the chances aren't good there
is a zero point zero zero zero zero zero
four billion more zeros 1% chance that
today every single human will blink
their eyes at the same time or have them
closed because they're asleep that is a
very small chance even given the number
of days in the universe's life so far
you just wouldn't expect to have ever
seen it happen or to ever see it happen
so remember earth we are always watching
and as always thanks for watching
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