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Currently Playing: Sound so loud you can SEE it

Today we're talking about shockwaves! Shockwaves and sound waves, and machines that create an arc that dumps enough energy into a bit of gas it can create shockwaves that travel tens of kilometers per second, make the air molecules split apart, react with each other, and glow! It's pretty amazing! All of the physics involved is cool by itself, but it's also extremely necessary from an engineering perspective when NASA tries to send spacecraft into other atmospheres where we can't just test a bunch of heatshields. We can't be 100% sure how bow shock in front of a spacecraft will behave… until we try it! This video is part garage demo, part physics simulation, and part laboratory tour, because last summer I got to visit NASA Ames and saw their EAST (Electric Arc Shock Tube) facility - the fastest shock tube in the world! Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to Ramon, Andrea, and Brett from Ames, and Ashley, Damian, and Tony for a final physics review! Also massive thanks to my top Patreon supporters! birdiesnbritts John Sosa Trustham Vladimir Shklovsky Aloysius Sparglepartz Glenn Willen R520 Chris Connett Tyler Filla Benjamin Manns MPG Seth Reuter Danny Thomas Lucy Fur tiaz David Antoš Chris Duvarney John T Jack Serrino Ethan Sifferman Dit55 Scott Schlesier James K Allan Adams Usama Cody and Sara Doug Strain Azurethi Gregory M Nathan Andrew C Ellis Driscoll AhmedTBD b1gg33k Noratrieb Loz Lees Tobias Erbsland Rob MacKenzie ARNAV RAMKRISHNAN Music in this video: I Dunno by grapes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) http://ccmixter.org/files/grapes/16626 azing!