I Rented A Helicopter To Settle A Physics Debate

Thanks to Craig Hosking for being our expert helicopter pilot.
Thanks to Professor Paul Stanley for the interview and for writing such an interesting question.

▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
References:

▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
Special thanks to Patreon supporters: S S, Andrew, Benedikt Heinen, Diffbot, Micah Mangione, MJP, Gnare, Dave Kircher, Edward Larsen, Burt Humburg, Blake Byers, Dumky, Evgeny Skvortsov, Meekay, Bill Linder, Paul Peijzel, Mac Malkawi, Michael Schneider, Big Badaboom, Ludovic Robillard, jim buckmaster, Juan Benet, Ruslan Khroma, Robert Blum, Richard Sundvall, Lee Redden, Vincent, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Alfred Wallace, Clayton Greenwell, Michael Krugman, Cy 'kkm' K'Nelson, Sam Lutfi, Ron Neal

▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
Written by Derek Muller, Emily Zhang, and Petr Lebedev
Filmed by Derek Muller, Trenton Oliver, and Emily Zhang
Edited by Trenton Oliver
Animation by Mike Radjabov
Music from Epidemic Sounds
Additional video supplied by Getty Images
Produced by Derek Muller, Petr Lebedev, and Emily Zhang

[CheapMessiah]

Pilot: "if it goes wrong it would mean total destruction of the aircraft"
Everyone: ok, lets try it

[MattiaConti]

"air friction is not negligible" is the worst statement somebody ever told me

[orionred]

When i was very young, I asked my dad why the kite string was curved downward instead of a straight line. he said "That's the weight of the string." I didn't quite understand him and thought he said "the way of the string." I spent YEARS with that kind of Zen like understanding of nature in my head.

[.]

I can imagine someone in the area taking the test and miraculously looking outside to see the answer.

[krovelMx]

Getting a "we need to talk." message from your girlfriend gives off the exact same vibes as an "air resistance is NOT negligible" statement on a physics test. You might be 100% sure you did nothing wrong and still you will feel insecure about it.

[CarthagoMike]

That Pilot seems like such a nice guy. He was really into the experiment as well, rather than just flying.

[overwerk]

Lots of trust in seatbelts for this video...

[markdstump]

Pilots are a very cautious bunch.
For me the most surprising part of the video is not the Physics, but...
That you found someone willing to do all this.

[iammattbarker]

So nice to see Derek back to his roots - polling random people on the street (so to speak). Just like "how far away is the moon" and "which object is colder".

[ViewtifulTj]

This is one of those physic questions where I would have the right answer on my first attempt, then second guess myself after reading the question for the 10th time to make sure I wasn't overthinking it

[kevinbee]

As a physics student, I love that you took a question and practised it in real to find the answer. I'm sure every physics/engineering student will appreciate this video

[simpsonmbm]

The pilot is a personal friend of mine...great guy! Funny to stumble onto him in this video. I've flown in his helicopter :)

[SchrodingsCat]

Classic physics teacher/professor; goes on hike in nature, comes back with difficult exam question.

[TinusOC]

I've seen this experiment numerous times while piloting helicopters in Arma 3. The game perfectly simulates the unweighted and weighted experiments. Quite incredible imo :)

[jacobdancey]

" that's neat, it could make a good multiple choice question" is something only a die hard teacher would say

[MindfulDisc]

Veritasium is the type of person that when he gets a question wrong on the test, he spends $10k to prove them wrong lmao

[agustinfranco]

i love how the teacher is like "this is hard AF to answer, i dont think even i could get it right, lets put it in an important exam, it will be FUN"

[AGlimpseInside]

Derek wakes up in the morning and says, “you know what I need a helicopter today“ and then makes it happen to make us smarter👊👍

[bubbafett]

I feel like my insanely low understanding of physics led me to the correct answer. Thank you brain for that one.

[odinburks]

The feeling of superiority you get from answering the theoretical questions in a veritasium video correctly is far higher than any other feeling in the world