How heavy is air? - Dan Quinn

View full lesson: ed.ted.com/lessons/how-heavy-i...
Too often we think of air as empty space - but compared to a vacuum, air is actually pretty heavy. So, just how heavy is it? And if it's so heavy, why doesn't it crush us? Dan Quinn describes the fundamentals of air pressure and explains how it affects our bodies, the weather and the universe at large.
Lesson by Dan Quinn, animation by Sandro Katamashvili.

[@xoran4863]

Plot twist: The elephant in the room is actually made of air.

[@Blurrlp]

Thats the point?? It represents the weight of the air in the room

[@universalbassist1429]

Xoran lol

[@miriga3927]

@@Blurrlp It’s a sarcastic remark, the elephant in the room or the important topic is air (and it’s *weight*)

[@Utkothand]

@@Blurrlp r/wooosh

[@ahmedalfatih7723]

U mean the elephant in the gym

[@BeeGeenie]

For all the people complaining about her use of the word "Fluid," I'd like to point out that Fluid =/= Liquid. Gases and Liquids are BOTH fluid phases of matter.

[@Danbquinn]

Well said BeeGeenie . Sometimes people use "fluid" informally to mean "liquid", as in, "don't forget to check your car's fluids" and "drink plenty of fluids", but in the physics community, "fluid" means any substance that deforms continuously under shear stress, including both liquids and gases. So air, water, blood, oils, carbon dioxide, etc. - these are all fluids at room temperature.

[@Danbquinn]

+Jeffry Maiato Yes you're right - solids deform under normal stress (stress and strain in same direction), and some solids deform under shear stress (stress and strain perpendicular). But eventually internal stresses will balance the imposed stresses, and the solid will stop deforming. Only fluids deform continuously under shear stress, that is, they continue to deform so long as the stress is imposed.

[@bernieorbust6104]

lol wut people are actually complaining about that? Did they go to school?

[@mr.j_krr_80]

what flows is fluid

[@Hv_havoc]

like cum

[@tallymark2417]

“From the moment you got out of bed to the moment you sat down to watch this video” Joke’s on you, I’m still in bed.

[@erasmusso]

And now my breathing is on manual, dammit!

[@derickjohnson5785]

erasmusso same

[@bwayagnesarchives]

same

[@therealmofryn]

when she said take a deep breath, i took a deep breath, but i didn’t breathe out because the illustration showed a swarm flying into my lungs and i guess my brain was like “you’re not going to breathe anymore”

[@ltuyettrinh2]

Same

[@guitarhill9003]

erasmusso aaaaaannd now im blinking manually. And so are you

[@therealmofryn]

“when you’ve gotten out of bed to watch this video” stop right there. i haven’t gotten out of bed yet.

[@kasekuchenglasur7464]

That means we're all airbenders! XD

[@stephensnell1379]

Käsekuchen Glasur no its just the air helps us to breath properly

[@tomergan]

You must be really fun in parties...

[@YandereKnows]

woosh

[@civilsecuritylite12054]

"The last airbender" is a LIE. A *LIE*.

[@lolman2305]

Proof of God's amazing creature :Air

[@EllahaeMehr]

"The vastness of the universe is right in front of you, and inside you." I love it.

[@ivandrofly]

deep

[@obattlefail]

"the vastness of the universe is right in front of you, and inside you." that's a pretty heavy quote, heavier than air

[@bmx98583]

That ending. 2deep

[@phocian]

Jordan Reeves that was awesome, thanks!

[@theknightofukraine6038]

That’s ending led me into the deepest and most mysterious places in my dreams.

[@DCBfanboy]

How do you have a photo of Kim Jong Un with make up on as a profile picture I've never seen that

[@UPlayNetwork]

Very interesting lesson, never thought of air that way, thanks

[@checcmac8693]

I still don’t know how tall air is

[@MrZaporojez]

By far one of the best clips by TED!

[@drakagget]

0:08 Joke's on them, I haven't gotten out of bed yet

[@FlyAVersatran]

Super great. Thanks for posting this.

[@ashtonhynes53]

I love all of Ted Ed's videos above all edu vids on KZbin, truly

[@jeanniekk]

Beautiful animation style.

[@naughtyat25]

Absolutely brilliant!

[@lagle8]

It's so deep, that the pressure is killing me.

[@ManuelTOrtega]

thank you… love Ted-Ed… look forward to each one, everyday… I repost each and almost every one… keep up your superb work!

[@sarahadel3632]

The animation is amazing .

[@fulviopiacenza8069]

This is absolutely amazing as every TED-Ed lesson. This is how teaching should be! :) However, I believe the elephant-gym example can confuse students, as the air pressure in an actual room is atmospheric pressure, so it is like having 10 tons (two elephants) each single square meter. Although it might be a difficult concept for educational videos, I think we should try to explain students that pressure is not about weight, but about molecular density and velocity... Anyway, awesome video :)

[@johnbollenbacher6715]

Excellent video. Thanks.

[@appoNo1]

Haaha who gets out of bed these days?

[@vivianingram2990]

appoNo1 ikr, especially NOW lmao

[@uhhuh1291]

Vivian Ingram That was 5 years ago...

[@keeshabadani]

THIS COMMENT WAS WAYYY AHEAD OF ITS TIME U GUYS.

[@uhhuh1291]

keesha badani ok. not like it didn’t happen before

[@xoaq5394]

Its 2020..

[@theredkey3288]

10 billion insects, Geez I bet 90% of them are mosquitoes.

[@kkknotcool]

they said Quintilian. So we have thousand then million then billion then trillion then quadrillion then Quintilian so if everyone on earth split up the bugs on earth evenly we would each have about as many bugs as people who live on the earth.(or something like that)

[@isabellev9576]

There are about 7 billion people on Earth. That means that there are more insects than every human alive.

[@gavart4509]

Jebron Lames You're wrong

[@andrewkeosleumsack6331]

Though this is a joke, mosquitoes make up a small portion of the bug population the Smithsonian Institute states, "The largest numbers of described species in the U.S. fall into four insect Orders: Coleoptera (beetles) at 23,700, Diptera (flies) at 19,600, Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps) at 17,500, and Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) at 11,500," meaning that beetles and flies make up a much larger chunk of the population. It also isnt 10 billion, it's 10 quintillion (10,000,000,000,000,000,000)

[@randompesron8363]

@@kkknotcool You misspelled quintillion. Just to notify you.

[@danielward9376]

Because the question wasn't actually answered in the video, I'll do it now (Scroll to the bottom if you don't want to see the calculation). Relative molecular mass (Mr) of nitrogen is 28. Mr of oxygen is 32 (double the relative atomic mass as they go round in pairs). Assuming the atmosphere is made of 79% nitrogen and 21% oxygen, we can say that the average Mr of molecules in air is: (0.79 x 28) + (0.21 x 32) = 28.84 Moles = volume (in dm^3)/24 Using this equation if the volume is 1 m^3 then the moles would be 1000/24 which is 41.667 moles of air. Mass = moles x Mr Using this formula we can say in one metre cubed of air there is 41.667 x 28.84 = 1202g So every cubic metre of air has a mass of 1.2kg (at room temperature and pressure - RTP) ... I think

[@612Tiberius]

In non-metric (American) layman's terms, I think I recall that it's approximately 15 lbs. per square inch, at sea level. I don't know if that jibes with your metric calculations.

[@pythor2]

1 atm (1 atmosphere of pressure) is about 101 kPa (kilopascals) and a Pascal is an SI unit so therefore can easily be converted to kilograms. One Pascal is equal to one Newton per square meter. If there's 101325 Newtons per square meter then per square meter there is 101325 kg * m/s^2 or under our own gravity would be divided by 9.81 m/s^2 which is roughly 10329 kgf (kilogram force) per square meter. Per square decimeter would just be that divided by 10 twice (or 10^2) which would be about 103 kgf per square decimeter. Divide by 10 twice again and you can get 1.03 kgf per square centimeter. In other words you feel about 1 kg pushed on every square centimeter of your body.

[@Lostpanda123]

Wonderful video!

[@NathenMixon]

That just made me feel stronger:)

[@leoriottot8666]

Amazing video, again

[@sfwgmail]

So, air = The Force? It surrounds us, penetrates us, it binds the universe together.

[@garbanzobeans6228]

IT PENETRATES ME SO HARD

[@cactusgamingyt9960]

shu-fang wang Luke use the force is a sentence from star wars

[@gavart4509]

shu-fang wang Huh

[@bungercolumbus]

My dad taught me this when I was little, about Bora, the wind from croatia's mountains

[@jennymk01]

Cool! Great video!

[@mtmufasa]

A very short video that is densely (pun) packed with knowledge.

[@johnaugsburger6192]

Thanks

[@jakkritpongphadung6857]

ขอบคุณมากๆครับ สำหรับการบรรยาย ไทย

[@dinamitamol]

brilliant!

[@bobconnor1210]

The study of air/gas movement and pressure is in the realm of Fluid Dynamics.

[@procrastination-central5267]

Wow, how did ted ed know that I’ve been swimming today, I’m literally watching this with my hair in a towel

[@jyak27]

carl sagan quote at the end there? i like it.

[@babotond]

The video starts with "from the moment you got out of bed today to the point you set down to watch this video". Who said it happened in that order?

[@JwilliamsAssociates]

Very Nice.

[@TEDEd]

Thanks, Jeffery Williams! We hope you'll stop by again. :)

[@JwilliamsAssociates]

Are you kidding? TED-Ed is a daily (or however often you publish) stop. I watch nearly NO tv any longer. Your channel, SciShow, SourceFed... things along those lines

[@brianb9969]

Jeffery Williams i like defranco, and soucefed, but they are losing touch, and starting to be as opinionated as 24 hour news....

[@JwilliamsAssociates]

SourceFED is beginning to loose something your right. I was not sure what that something is but your right something is off. SciShow also now that Hank is to busy to do every episode has lost a little something but is still very good. TED Channels are always great and hope they don't go the way of some other channels.

[@JwilliamsAssociates]

Brian b I watch both of those and agreed. Checkout buzz60, scishow, I'll give some others as well.

[@TRIMISIS]

Mind Blown

[@gundam4509116]

Really interesting! nicely presented,nice animation!

[@TheReaverOfDarkness]

The pressure of air is equal to the weight of a column of air extending upwards to space, but widening towards the top such that the sides of the column are exactly vertical.

[@thejurassicwarewolf3300]

at the last part my mind has been blown

[@32_gurjotsingh82]

plot twist: there was always a monster under your bed

[@greenapplerock101]

I keep seeing comments like "air is a gas, so it can't be a fluid." *Face palm* *Face palm* *Face palm* Even I learned all about this back in middle school physics -.- These are the basics.

[@bsuryanarayana1961]

Good!

[@scubasteveandunderwaterroc3547]

My experience with scuba diving is that a filled cylinder is always heavier than one that is low on air

[@guilhermemendonca1929]

the vastness of the universe is right in front of us, and inside us. very deep frase

[@sesaed4269]

that last sentence tho

[@evanwatling3897]

I felt like I couldn’t breath this whole video

[@lsrandovids9322]

who else has been set to watch this from school cause your in self isolattion

[@ThatShyGuyMatt]

Is the woman that narrates this nasally or is it just me? :P

[@malcolmbryant]

The title question was : how heavy is air? Did the video actually answer its own question?

[@J.5.M.]

They gave the weight of air in a gymnasium. Which is 1 elephant

[@silferbuu86]

For everyone who would say that would like to have super speed for a power, depending on that speed. Air can practically become the density of water or sand.

[@joriemickens5107]

This video is rad

[@joriemickens5107]

2:15 - 2:18 boi

[@tooljst8]

Standard atmospheric pressure is 14.696 psi at sea level. That is the mean average, at a standard temperature, so in other areas of sea level it can differ. Interestingly 14.7:1 is also the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio that gasoline combustion engines use at sea level.

[@plartoo]

Did the video answer the question of how heavy the air (say in a finite container) is? Did I miss it somewhere? And where does this conclusion about the air molecules surrounding us is greater than the total number of grains of sands + the stars in the visible universe? These sounds like at worst hyperbole or at best a crude guess without much support in the video.

[@Danbquinn]

Thanks for the healthy skepticism plartoo :) Every cubic meter of air weighs about 12N at sea level, so for the school gym estimate, we used 25m*15m*10m*12N/m^3 to get 45kN, a typical weight for an adult elephant. Estimating the grains of sand vs. stars in the universe is far more challenging, and has become a classic estimation challenge for amateur and professional scientists. I've seen estimates for the sand ranging from 10^19 to 10^24, and estimates for stars in the 10^23-10^24 range. The fact that the magnitudes are similar has led to all the debates - Google "sand grains or stars" to see what I mean. But the number of air molecules in, say, a school gym is closer to 10^29, which exceeds the other two by several orders of magnitude. Of course, these are all estimates, but we made the comparison confidently because the numbers aren't even in the same ballpark.

[@plartoo]

Thanks for taking time to write a response, ***** :) Now I understand the context you measured the weight of the air: it is the weight of the air in a typical school gym. Also, I understand now that you estimated the air molecules that are enclosed in the gym to compare against the observable stars + grains of sands. That makes everything more concrete and clearer. Thanks again.

[@malcolmbryant]

***** Thank you for your answer in the comments section. Now I know. Excellent video.

[@MusicalInquisit]

0:34

[@sajidansari7123]

2:33, I took a deep breath

[@cutiebunnyamber3447]

I dony need to study if i can watch all of this videos!

[@hellohypo2009]

Thanks for making me aware of my breathing..... again....

[@glorysky1998]

Who else is watching this in bed and is like 'ill go swimming later in the air'

[@5weating_8ullets]

Ou should have talked more about vacuum and pressure, that would gave been a lot more shocking and mesmerising

[@jerze94]

That is some deep shit bro.

[@mrbarricadesgf2857]

Damn our bodies are awesome

[@netnet_in_a_sweater9351]

Does this mean that we're all airbenders

[@Capp0bvious]

How did you know i had a pool in my bedroom?

[@trustjesusoursavior4179]

how the air pressure can be calculated in a vortex ring of vortex cannon generated by explosive?

[@jiayuzhang9681]

awsome

[@LiterallyMark1]

Did anyone else think that the title was how heavy is hair?

[@lionwolf7424]

if Air is a fluid, is plasma a fluid? and if there is plasma, then is there an opposite to it? like something so cold that it changes its form of solid, into something else? I would like to know.

[@hotdogminh4434]

some videos say the force of 'dark energy' total in the universe is 1 x 10^9 than all molecules in it

[@JacobBradley00136]

thats one big fish @ 2:22

[@Jivvi]

What makes you think I got out of bed before I watched this video?

[@notthecrabmafia1555]

Tell me i'm not the only one who woke up and then watched the video on laptop while still in bed

[@ab1017]

SOO DEEP

[@swat67ify]

Anyone else take a nice deep breath?

[@dontask7842]

I haven’t left my bed yet

[@internetcafenexus7138]

This video somehow clears out that Fluid are no all Liquid. It may be confusing at first since we seldom use fluid to name a liquid like "Brake Fluid" or "Lighter Fluid". Fluid means free flow, can't believe I forgot what I leaned in Science Class.

[@BoomShard17]

If this is the first time hearing anything like this, the last 30 seconds will hit you like a brick.

[@adamnarkiewicz]

I watched this video to learn "how heavy is air". How come video does not answer the question in the title?

[@pondererofpointlessdreams5029]

Depends on the book

[@jeremiahjones8912]

10:39 Why 'Bohemian Rhapsody' Is The Best Song Ever Written INSIDER Recommended for you

[@oldcowbb]

i thought it is a video about how to weight gases

[@grindupBaker]

It's pretty damn heavy. I was trying to get up off the sofa after my supper snack last night and the air kept pushing me back down.

[@ernstmadsen5526]

Did I miss the part, where you actually answered the question in the title?

[@SS-xl9th]

1:10

[@LiterallyMark1]

Darth Vader: *breath in*.......*breath out*.......you don’t know the power, of the air

[@colinjohnson4799]

3:01 What are you doing step universe

[@strange_and_magnificent]

Wow 😯!

[@oobiedoobs]

I guess what we really should ask is, if the air is packed with so many molecules, why can't we see them?

[@gamingfiredrago]

It's not that much packed, that's the reason it is air. Plus they are so small, smaller than anything you can imagine

[@BlaiseIgirubuntu]

I wouldn't call walking in the bottom of a pool "swimming"

[@XD2021]

So basically we are not different than the fish

[@Ndo01]

So technically I'm an airbender.

[@Shadowz9023]

My teacher told us that if you cant personally feel it, it has no weight. I wanted to question her badly...

[@Shadowz9023]

Exactly what i told my friend

[@jackhanson1852]

Tell her to breath in, after allowing her chest to open up to increase the volume of her lungs, forcing outside air to equalize the lower pressure in her lungs, you may inform her that she has just felt the the weight of air.

[@ladylililala]

2:37 did anyone else start breathing heaps, waving your hands around the air and saying things like "I command you to move!!!" ? Anyone? No?

[@viengsamphet]

*a gazillion years later* _WE’LL ALL TURN INTO MINI-SUNS_

[@playerguy2]

that's also one of the reasons wether is harder to predict than orbits

[@mrsbear-lv2ko]

cool

[@pleasestopcocomelon1798]

I demand the air to get my remote control

[@wesjales5578]

The title of the video is "how heavy is air?". After watching the video, I still dont how heavy air is.

[@joelmay5980]

It's not specific but 1:10 has an answer.

[@kaidenlastr5130]

What is the atomic weight of O2