What happens if you throw sand into a jet engine?

This Veritasium video dives into how jet engines actually work, why they’re massive, and what goes on inside a Rolls-Royce turbine casting facility. You’ll get a crash course on nickel-based superalloys (hello, gamma prime!), single-crystal blade casting, cooling channels, edge dislocations and all the crystal-structure geekery that keeps these bad boys from melting at 1,400 °C.

After covering the history and hidden science, Derek Muller & co. crank up a real engine and hurl sand straight at the turbine blades—watch the high-speed destruction unfold and learn why even the fanciest alloys and cooling tricks can only do so much once you start sandblasting at 3,000 °C and 500 mph.

Watch on YouTube