What happens if you throw sand into a jet engine?
Veritasium takes you on a whirlwind tour of jet engine design—from the basics of airflow and combustion to the massive Rolls-Royce facility where single-crystal nickel superalloy turbine blades are precision-cast, coated, and cooled so they don’t melt at thousands of degrees. Along the way you’ll learn about edge dislocations, crystal structures, and why modern engines are as much materials science marvels as they are feats of aerodynamics.
In the grand finale, Derek and Henry fling sand straight into a roaring engine to see what happens—spoiler: those grains get pulverized, but the blades keep spinning, thanks to decades of research, clever cooling schemes, and a dash of high-temperature metallurgy wizardry. Plus, enjoy timestamps for each segment and shout-outs to sponsors KiwiCo and Science Alert (enter their space-themed sweepstakes!), as well as the many experts and animators who helped bring the story to life.
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