What happens if you throw sand into a jet engine?

Derek Muller takes us on a whirlwind tour of jet engines—from the basics of how they generate thrust and why they’re so massive to the intricate metallurgy and crystal‐growing tricks that let nickel superalloy turbine blades withstand scorching temperatures. Along the way you’ll peek inside a Rolls-Royce casting facility, learn about edge dislocations and single‐crystal blades, and discover how clever engineering keeps engines humming instead of melting down.

In the grand finale, he literally tosses sand into a running jet engine to show what happens when all that microscopic grit meets those precision blades. Packed with insights from Rolls-Royce pros and top university researchers, this video is equal parts sci-fi spectacle and materials‐science masterclass.

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