Magical metals, how shape memory alloys work - Ainissa Ramirez

From robots to braces to the Mars Rover, see how a special kind of metal called shape memory alloys advance technology in everyday ways that we don't always realize.

[fanthomans]

I'm a materials science student and I can tell you, in a 4 minute video you can't tell more than this. Shape memory is amazing, but just like magnets, it's quite difficult to understand and teach. If you really want to understand these things, you have to go to a university.
This is a great educational video.
Actually you have to heat the material to a very high temperature to teach that shape to the sample. The underlying physics is quite difficult.

[doublet]

you should say that there are two types of shape memory allow the one that only remembers one state and one that remembers bot high temperature and low the first only remembers its high heat lets say when you cool it you can shape it and when you heat it it will go to original shape and the second remembers both low and high-temperature shape meaning when you heat it it will become a circle and when u cool it it will become a triangle

[michaelmcneil]

Commenting here as there was no place on the TED site to do so.

Listening to this was like listening to a children's audio book. I learned nothing from it that I couldn't have done from a dictionary. I want too know how such materials are made not that they have special atoms capable of realigning. That was something I would have had to understand to consider the subject interesting.

[GetMeThere]

I'll put it another way (that agrees with your characterization): The title of the video is: "Magical Metals, how shape memory alloys work." The title should be "Magical Metals, metal alloys that remember their shape."

At least that title wouldn't incite people to waste their time believing they would learn how memory alloys work (other than being given two jargon words to use so you can make believe you understand how they work).

[apollo]

I remember having to make a robot using nitinol (the nickel and titanium alloy) wire. It was no bigger than the palm of your hand and it was SO FRUSTRATING to make. At least I got it to work.... barely.

[biman]

after watching this video, m eager to search the web for more info abt memory alloy. And I guess, this is the primary objective of the video - to create interest in this subject. What else can u expect from an under 5 min lesson? :)

[fanthomans]

(Note: I didn't read the comment history, I've just seen your comment.)
"Education" under a certain age should be much more about "interest generation". In a way, education hardly exists, only learning does. :) And for real learning you must be interested.

[packiamghsthuvarimanpandia]

I love to understand this concept by watching this ❤️

[Lerkero]

"Dumbing down" things so that laymen may understand is usually a way to get them more interested

It sounds like you are looking for an entire lesson in one video. There are probably places for that, but TEDed does not advertise itself that way. This video has inspired me to look up more information on the topics covered in materials science, if you do not feel the same then TEDed may not be for you.

[fanthomans]

I see your point now. True, I think I also could make this video a bit better, but the way how SM works is very close to the cinema-airplane analogy. The problem with these phenomena, that if you want to get into them just a tiny-tiny bit further, you have to understand mechanical stress, for example. And it is still just describing what happens, not how it happens. Actually I'm extremely happy with this video, because from now on I can use this analogy when I talk about SM to a young audience.

[Lerkero]

I never implied that you could not do that. I just mentioned that TEDEd videos do not take that approach.

[Lerkero]

No. Just someone that likes learning about things on the internet. The MIT channel is nice too. Thank you for mentioning it because I didn't know it existed. Now I'm happily subscribed to that channel as well.

[fanthomans]

I truly think this video is quite as close as one can get in a few minutes, starting from atoms.

[ChibiCreeper]

Really, I feel like I learned a lot from this itty bitty video :)

[DontTouchMyCroissant]

I think these videos are very good for getting you interested in a complicated subject like this, and then when you wanna know more, you get more information elsewhere. We are on the internet after all.

[fanthomans]

Good to find a thinking man around YouTube.
I know children shouldn't be underestimated, but those things you talk about and which I fully understand, even agree with, should come from a complete perspective change in education. I don't think this video represents the problem really well. A much better example IMO is when children and people think maths is about counting and calculating and they don't even think of the beuty of logic behind.
Also, the How in the title is indeed inappropriate.

[Dgswets]

I agree. I think it is amazing that educators (audio) and animators (visuals) are nominated from all over the world. Similar approach in structure, but makes each lesson unique. Hey Getmethere1, why don't you just nominate an educator that would subdue the irrational rage you have at a video that you opted into?

[Dgswets]

Thought it served as a great intro+ to a cool phenomenon. I think the idea of these TED-Ed vidoes is to challenge the brain, not to spoon feed. If you're interested, go read more, or go play with real metal alloys<--that's where real learning happens. And this ^ is where the learning path starts for a bunch of people every day. If you're not interested, don't waste anyone's kid's time with you're own puerile chatter. You could have spent the same energy sharing this with a teacher.

[ataraxic]

That is the whole point... Besides, I watch both.

[fanthomans]

True, I know that. But I studied for years to get to the point where we studied how magnets and shape memory alloys work. And I can't see how one can get this knowledge without the fantastic and really smart teachers/professors I had. These are tough stuffs. Sure, you can understand these things by yourself, at least some of them, but it is quite unlikely that you can get to the same level as a physicist or materials scientist. Though, not impossible. True.