The Most Misunderstood Concept in Physics

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A huge thank you to those who helped us understand different aspects of this complicated topic - Dr. Ashmeet Singh, Supriya Krishnamurthy, Dr. Jos Thijssen, Dr. Bijoy Bera, Dr. Timon Idema, Álvaro Bermejillo Seco and Dr. Misha Titov.

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References:

Thijssen, J. (2018) Lecture Notes Statistical Physics, TU Delft.

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Special thanks to our Patreon supporters:
Emil Abu Milad, Tj Steyn, meg noah, Bernard McGee, KeyWestr, Amadeo Bee, TTST, Balkrishna Heroor, John H. Austin, Jr., john kiehl, Anton Ragin, Diffbot, Gnare, Dave Kircher, Burt Humburg, Blake Byers, Evgeny Skvortsov, Meekay, Bill Linder, Paul Peijzel, Josh Hibschman, Mac Malkawi, Juan Benet, Ubiquity Ventures, Richard Sundvall, Lee Redden, Stephen Wilcox, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Michael Krugman, Sam Lutfi.

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Written by Casper Mebius, Derek Muller & Petr Lebedev
Edited by Trenton Oliver & Jamie MacLeod
Animated by Mike Radjabov, Ivy Tello, Fabio Albertelli and Jakub Misiek
Filmed by Derek Muller, Albert Leung & Raquel Nuno
Molecular collisions video by CSIRO's Data61 via YouTube: Simulation of air
Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images, Pond5 and by courtesy of NASA, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Goddard Flight Lab/ CI Lab, NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, HMI, and WMAP science teams. As well as the Advanced Visualization Laboratory at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, B. Robertson, L. Hernquist
Music from Epidemic Sound & Jonny Hyman
Produced by Derek Muller, Petr Lebedev, Emily Zhang, & Casper Mebius

[ketchup]

For those of you that haven’t taken a thermodynamics course yet, I don’t think you realize how incredibly helpful this video is lol

[biwan]

the three laws of thermodynamics:
1. you can't win
2. you can't break even
3. you can't stop playing the game

[kpsiegel]

I remember in my college statistical thermodynamics course the professor said we don't die, we just reach equilibrium.

[kaptainkobb]

I am not being hyperbolic here... I am 10 minutes into this video and it is already more useful than my entire undergraduate thermodynamics class. Thank you for making this all make sense 5 years later.

[TimeBucks]

This has to be one of the best Veritasium episodes.

[SteveMould]

The thing about one photon from the sun turning into several spreading out in all directions answered a long standing question for me - how to explain the way the sun “powers” life on earth in terms of entropy. Thanks!

[timallen]

My brain hurts . But in an expansive way

[briankaras]

I am a PhD physicist. When I took my oral exam this was one of the questions I had to address. Fortunately I made it through, but my expertise has improved since the early 1980s. This was an outstanding presentation! After thinking about this over the years, I consider it to be the single most important principle in all of physics.

[SupratimBhowmick]

I was a student of physics. Today at the age of 57 I understood what entropy actually means. Thank you.

[sharmavts]

"What the sun gives us, is a steady stream of low entropy", is the best example for entropy. Thank you for making science more approachable, Derek!

[ajayaramachandran]

the tea and milk demonstration to show that complexity comes between low and high entropy was beautiful and made so much sense. the hot pool of matter at the beginning of the universe was not complex, neither will be the heat death, but in between we have the formation of beautiful stars and galaxies, just like the clouds of mixing tea and milk. amazing!

[the_david_w]

I studied aerospace engineering in college and went on to get my masters degree in biomedical engineering before going to medical school. I’ve been practicing Internal Medicine for 24 years. My last course in thermodynamics was approximately 30-35 years ago, and I haven’t even THOUGHT about thermodynamics and entropy since that time. But I can honestly say this was the single best explanation I’ve ever heard or seen in my lifetime. This was a truly EXCELLENT Veritassium video, Derek — probably one of your BEST! Thank you so much for your illuminating videos and all the work you do. I believe if everyone on earth would take a few minutes each day to watch your videos and to try to understand the nature of the universe, we would all be better off. The ignorance and shear stupidity that exists in our world is probably our biggest problem as a civilization.

[twofishes]

About 5 years ago discoved this show. At 69 years old your show now sends me daily down that wonderful rabbit hole... the world wide web gushing with information. I feel like I finally rediscovered the wonder and excitement of a being alive! And ready and armed to discover the unknown with childlike wonder... Thank you all for making life an incredible adventure... again!

[samwilson]

I love the casual flex. "I'm a PHD physicist." 😂 Very justified.

Thanks Derek!

[vincentvanhoven]

The way that this video builds out concepts and then extrapolates them into more complex contexts is so excellent.

[InspiredStrangers]

Nice introduction to the topic.

There's an interesting question that was mentioned but not answered: WHY did the universe start in a state of low entropy, because a universe starting with low entropy is very much less likely than a universe with high entropy?

[jacobcannon]

The effort to put this presentation together and for millions to view has used energy very effectively. Please spread out more heat like this over time.

[amartyakejora]

I really appreciate how the street segment of this isn't just shots of people who've been asked a complicated question and looking confused. It's been such a disease in mainly digital platform interviews for a long time. Pointless humiliation to make you feel like you've somehow legitimized what your video has to say by way of making people look stupid for not having intricate understanding of fields they don't study/work in. You're actually having an engaging discussion with them and matching their energy. It's stimulating and the insight is friendly. It's such a small part of the video yet is a powerful opening, pushing collective thinking and proper lighthearted discussion that stokes curiosity. Good on you.

[oswaldconsultancyltd]

I design thermal machines, mostly turbines. Understanding entropy is essential to optimising engine efficiency. This video is tremendously useful as it’s quite a tricky subject.

[chinoleemil]

The parallel you drew there with the arrow of time was quite surprising and truly fascinating! Great videos, as always!