Neil deGrasse Tyson Explains Nothing

In this StarTalk video, we’re talking about nothing. Not in the Seinfeldian sense, but in the science sense. What is nothing? Neil explains how our usual definition of something being “nothing” is dictated by our senses.

What if you wanted to get all the way down to true nothing? Well, even when there’s nothing, there’s air molecules, and a lot of them. So, what happens when you take out the air molecules? Find out just how much air molecules permeate in our environment, in our solar system, in interstellar space, and intergalactic space.

Then, just when you think you truly have nothing, you’ll hear how quantum physics comes into play. Discover more about virtual particles and why the best “nothing” you could have is filled with virtual particles. All that, plus, we debate if being able to describe something that is nothing makes it something.

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About StarTalk:
Science meets pop culture on StarTalk! Astrophysicist & Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson, his comic co-hosts, guest celebrities & scientists discuss astronomy, physics, and everything else about life in the universe. Keep Looking Up!

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0:00 - Introduction
0:30 - How Our Senses Dictate 'Nothing'
4:38 - The Best Vacuum On Earth
5:50 - The Emptiest Regions Of Space
7:30 - The Closest You Can Get To Nothing
8:36 - The Greatest Nothing
10:32 - Is Nothing Still Something?
12:30 - Closing Notes

[crazystuff]

Now I understand the quote - *"Nothing is Impossible"* 👍

[hrod]

Neil: "What you doing?"
Me: "Nothing"
Neil: " Let's talk about that, son."

[globalvoice...]

No slides, no animations, no special effects... and yet he explains complex concepts so effortlessly! Hat's off to you Neil!!! I wish I had such teachers during my school and college days. Each episode you do is an eye-opener. And Chuck is great too, representing us with our thoughts, queries and amazement! Keep it up guys!

[rmlmrnda]

Whitney Houston: “ 🎶 ...I have nothing, nothing, nothing... 🎶”

Neil: Now hold on for a second there...

[DJGk]

Neil is the only guy that can talk for 13+ minutes about LITERALLY NOTHING

[TITOFROG]

When I was in High School, I wasn't interested in science at all. And now that I am older and retired, I'd like to know more and more about science. I think it is mainly because of Neil who is an excellent teacher and makes the subject very interesting and fascinating. Thanks and kudos. Keep on educating us for it is significant that we understand what goes on around us, the earth, the seasons, the gravity pull, atoms, protons, molecules, et al. Wish you all the best.

[TomKaren]

In 1967 when I was 10 my grandfather, a small town electrician with no high school diploma in southeast Ohio, spoke philosophically to us kids... "I can understand the concept of everything but I can't understand the concept of nothing." He also said about the universe "I can understand 'will always exist' but I can't understand 'has always existed.'

[mixedboi]

Guy to girl: Hey babe what's wrong?
Girl: Nothing.

Run.

[gabrielfm]

Mom: "What is this guy talking about?"
Me: "Nothing."
Mom: "???"

[Spacetimet²]

Niel is the most entertaining, enthusiastic and intelligent science communicator today. He Never ceases to blow my mind.

[jeffreychandler]

It is always fun to listen to Dr. Tyson, discussions, regarding science and nothing. Chuck said it best. Nothing is something!

[thealmighty]

Imagine if he had to talk about 'something'. Would take forever.

[livgertz]

Chuck has my dream job: getting educated in a plethora of interesting fields by actual experts, in a causal setting where you can ask questions, and there’s not even an expectation of being smart: they just ask you to make jokes to appeal to the other average joes. What could be better?

[ardababacan]

Neil: Nothing means there is no time
Engineering students: I must be nothing

[FaunsNW]

For those that like this kind of topic, there’s an amazing graphic novel called Logicomix. Even if you don’t like graphic novels, you won’t be able to put this down. The last part of what Neil was talking about is the philosophy of language, which is what Wittgenstein basically said all philosophy boils down to.

And if you read this far, let me digress (not to be confused with deGrasse) a little further. Doesn’t Neil sort of make Wittgenstein’s argument here? In school we used to argue about which science was the science to rule them all. Biologists, chemists, and physicists all had a go to say they were on top, but I always felt it was Philosophy. “Philosophy, that’s not even a science. Are you crazy?” they said. True, Philosophy gets has the rep that it was supplanted by science in the search for truth and supplanted by religion in the search for wisdom. But when you really get down to it, Philosophy has the most grounded appreciation of the boundaries of reality. Every day, physicists discover amazing things about the material universe; yet, when an astrophysicist tries to explain the concept of ’nothing, ’ as he strips away everything he can describe he realizes the concept itself starts to make less sense. This is because we do not interface with reality directly, we do so through the senses and, importantly, through language.

[himalpandey]

Title: "Tyson explains nothing"
Video : *13 minutes long*
Me: hmm, seems legit.

[Changon]

One time I was very high and I thought about this. What if we can go beyond the universe? Beyond everything? What would be there? I kept repeating to myself “even that nothingness is still within a paradigm of something” it’s just wild to think about. There can never be nothing because it will always be within something. There’s so much we don’t understand and I don’t think we ever will.

[AkSamurai]

I love these two. Neil can blow Chuck's mind, but then Chuck cracks him up

[deborahbarry]

I wish Neil was my seventh grade science teacher! I might have learned something and been interested in it... at 69 years old I'm glad I finally found a teacher of science I can listen to and I will learn all I have missed. Thanks

[iberianeko]

Chuck's delivery of that 'oh god...' after Neil mentioned quantum physics is just so perfect 🤣🤣🤣