What happens if you throw sand into a jet engine?

Derek Muller’s Veritasium dives into how jet engines actually work—from airflow, compressors and turbines to the very first jet engines—and why they’re so massive. Along the way he unpacks the materials science behind turbine blades (edge dislocations, nickel superalloys like gamma-prime, crystal structures) and takes you inside Rolls-Royce’s precision casting facility to show how single-crystal blades are grown.

After explaining how these blades survive 1,500 °C hot gas, the video wraps up with a live demo: sand hurled into a running engine to reveal how microscopic pitting forms, why modern engines can still soldier on, and what really happens when you try to gum up the works. Credits roll with shout-outs to a host of researchers, Rolls-Royce experts and the Veritasium production team.

Watch on YouTube