TL;DR

Derek Muller’s latest Veritasium video unpacks everything from how jet engines actually work and why they’re so massive to the ultra-fancy manufacturing of single-crystal nickel superalloy turbine blades at Rolls-Royce. You’ll get crystal-structure animations, a tour of precision-casting facilities, a deep dive into edge dislocations and gamma-prime phases, and finally the big reveal: what happens if you throw sand into a running jet engine.

Along the way you’ll find fun timestamps, shout-outs to the Cambridge and Bochum materials labs, and a host of experts. It’s sponsored by KiwiCo (use code VERITASIUM for 50% off), and Science Alert is running a “Spark into Space” sweepstakes to win a five-day astronaut-training trip—US residents only. Plus, there’s a brand-new tabletop game kickstarter to check out!

Watch on YouTube