The world depends on a collection of strange items. They're not cheap

[@BunnLilah]

They need to get that "most average person in the country" and have them live there just to 100% the collection

[@tsurutom]

*freeze dried and made into a fine, light grey powder

[@conk444]

Then that wouldn’t be a very average place to live, would it?

[@haifaa6380]

@@conk444 ❤❤

[@blackcyklops]

Finally. My time has come

[@kiesernation1977]

Or for court cases they’ll need a collection of “reasonable persons”

[@CraftyMasterman]

this just might be the crappiest product ive ever seen

[@superjumpbros64]

Indeed, indeed

[@windowsxpmemesandstufflol]

Nice

[@MrUssy101]

This guy thinks he clever and has big brain and should eduecate us all??? He sounds so condescending!!!

[@Speedwars]

hey it’s mr red stone

[@Menaceblue3]

Andy Sixx agrees

[@jackharbor3347]

As a cybersecurity engineer, I cannot hype up NIST enough. They maintain this security database that contains all known software vulnerabilities in existence. Every major company, government and military is using this database to check for vulnerabilities in their infrastructure. Thank you NIST.

[@abrahamsanchez7455]

That’s actually pretty scary. They have more power than than the government itself

[@KCGeno]

@@areascoda2912 -- I buy my bath soap from the factory in Mysore. Great stuff!

[@jackstrubbe7608]

@@KCGeno I love that soap. The only thing I use along with Dr. Bronner's castile hemp soaps.

[@nevermindgamer4946]

@@KCGeno Mysore sandal soaps. It's pretty popular in India too. The smells lovely

[@benhook1013]

Dude, while thats all well and good, given your cybersecurity background I thought you would be cognisant of the fact that NIST is a huge risk in cybersecurity because its very likely that atleast some of the approved algorithms, are ones the US government knows how to crack. This is in particular with the ECC algorithm curves we are starting to adopt.

[@kevp6488]

The existence of "Powdered Domestic Sludge" makes me immediately think of someone using it for a prank and not realizing they're commiting bioterrorism.

[@themousery]

This is part of the reason they don’t just sell to anyone

[@v3es473]

​@@themouseryPart? I am inclined to think the mystery domestic sludge is the only reason

[@fredtaylor9792]

Funny, considering you can easily make your own. Nothing special about it except their knowledge of what it consists of.

[@artosbear]

This is literally the plot of Robin Hobb's Soldier's Son trilogy

[@kevp6488]

@@artosbear The who n the what now?

[@jakekaufmann2937]

As someone in the analytical chemistry field, these standards are vital. It is how analytical labs are able to charge such a price for what seems to be them just analysing a sample.

[@MrUssy101]

Sounds bunch of BS. Disagree This guy thinks he clever and has big brain and should eduecate us all??? He sounds so condescending!!!

[@1999NOZA]

@@MrUssy101 Sounds like you need to read a book. Perhaps work on your grammar too!

[@Em4gdn1m]

Lol that doesn't justify it's existence, only it's high cost.

[@iveharzing]

@@MrUssy101 What? No he doesn't sound condescending. Where did you get that from?

[@thewatchfuleye8401]

I am disgusted after watching this -- The only way a place like that get funding from the governent is that its not public knowledge of their bloated out of control budget/ spending. This place needs real oversight and would probably be shut down if omre stories like this aired. Nothing in that place or in the name of science, justifies the price tag of those materials or having what I imagine is equally overpriced staffers.

[@ryanqualley8143]

I love how passionate that guy is about his job. You can tell he loves so much about what he does, and he is so excited about it and it makes me really happy to see.

[@nefariousyawn]

I want his job so badly, but mostly because I desperately want to know what "typical diet" srm TASTES like.

[@defeatSpace]

@@nefariousyawn it tastes like matter

[@FlyveHest]

A man that truly has found his shelf, I loved his passion also, and he seemed like a great boss

[@kevinlandrini6799]

it's always great to see someone enjoying what they do isn't it? it's inspiring for sure

[@zer0bre]

It's the salary... Not the job he's excited about.

[@megabigblur]

As a scientist, I really appreciate this. These guys are the ubernerds working behind the scenes to make sure us ordinary nerds can have the tools to do our jobs.

[@phaedrussmith1949]

So how does this relate to what you do? There's a dozen kinds of peanut butter on the shelf in Walmart, what's the point off having some standard in a government warehouse somewhere?

[@Amaling]

​@@phaedrussmith1949did you not watch the video? To make sure the peanut butter doesn’t fall above the known standard level of carcinogens

[@phaedrussmith1949]

​@@Amaling Of course I did and that's not what he said. What he said is that they get some company - probably Jiff or Skippy - to make some kind of peanut butter and then this place says "This is peanut butter" and then that's what peanut butter is. But, as I said, there are at least a dozen different kinds of peanut butter on the shelf of the market, and many of them are different than the others. So what's the standard? Not having poison in it (or, conversely and more likely, how much poison will be allowed in it)? This sounds much more like the alliance between big corporations and the government.

[@Osama-Bon-Jovi-01]

​@@phaedrussmith1949the reference material isn't supposed to be _the_ definitive peanut butter, it's to calibrate equipment so they can accurately measure levels of aflatoxins in their peanut butter

[@phaedrussmith1949]

@@Osama-Bon-Jovi-01 So how do they know what they are calibrating against? Doesn't something have to have measured the aflatoxins first to know what the level of aflatoxins in the sample should test as? One can't calibrate equipment unless it is done against a known quantity.

[@prodlazyplug]

They prolly got the best weed

[@goondudefr]

factual

[@pugsnhogz]

it's actually a standardized amalgamation of all known weed. in other words, it's mids

[@ghakim9]

I'd digress and say they have the most average weed.

[@dunkie5863]

go to canada go to any indigenous reserve store that's the best weed

[@goondudefr]

@@dunkie5863 Michigan or Oklahoma has the best weed by far lmao, every other dispo has fuckin fire in the shelf

[@samiurkhan]

NIST also played a pivotal role in standardizing internet communication protocols. Without them, the Internet would be a much more chaotic and much slower

[@farrel_ra]

Ofc the one who knows it is Indian..

[@DefaultName]

@@farrel_ra and why is that

[@jordan9604]

Because the internet was such a chaotic place before national government overwatch?

[@brentfisher902]

@@jordan9604 Give me an internet run by big government over an internet run by big media, any day.

[@freshchoice5177]

@@farrel_ra dude stop being racist and dick riding me

[@rogermouton2273]

Just makes me think that, in general, there's so many people with really deep knowledge and skills that are working away constantly to keep our world safe and operational. It's very useful to remember how we're all so dependent on people like this.

[@caseyneistat345]

*🔝🔝🔝Congratulations you have been selected among our lucky winners 🏆🏆 kindly send a message to the telegram above name to claim prize now

[@TimmmTim]

And then there are conspirancy theorists, which know basically nothing, but think they know everything, making the world much worse and chaotic place.

[@HeyLeFay]

@@TimmmTim I see you've read the other comment threads on this video too, lol

[@8pija22]

@@TimmmTim Yeah, it seriously depresses me, the amount of people, especially older people who simply can’t fathom trusting others. I suppose it can be hard. Though as Roger said, it is comforting knowing that there are people who are out there who are extremely skilled, and do what they do for the common good.

[@GOREDO5]

​@8pija well I get most conspiracys are nuts... but you can't deny that many have become truth

[@fastandFourier]

Handling a 50 micron spherical ruby single crystal from NIST to calibrate X-ray diffraction equipment has been one of the scariest experiences I ever had as a researcher... I had nightmares about dropping it on the floor and losing it

[@falsemcnuggethope]

How about accidentally breathing it in, lol

[@nidhishshivashankar4885]

I don’t even get how you handle something that small, I assume you have special tools to hold it but what’s stopping you from accidentally inhaling it lol

[@Ze_Moose]

It's kind of like fumbling the at 1 yard line. Go Vikings! 😎

[@fredwerza3478]

Umm isn't 50 microns less than the width of a human hair ?!?

[@Hawk7886]

@@Ze_Moose Honestly it's not even remotely close to goofing around with a ball on a field. If you're determined to stick with the football frame of reference, it would be like shooting a football through a cannon a few miles away, detonating a flashbang grenade in your face, and then trying to find the football while in a hurricane.

[@gerbipospolity6987]

Didin't stop NileRed from making his cookie lmao

[@al-du6lb]

I got a couple minutes into Nile's video and then directly came back here to see if I was correct, and I was..

[@kiandayani4276]

😂😂😂😂

[@Salex684]

I'm a pharmacist and always ensured my students knew that the temperature monitoring devices (basically a thermometer) for the refrigerator/freezer that holds medications must have a certificate of calibration tracing its accuracy back to NIST, as well as ensuring they knew those devices do in fact "expire" and should be re-calibrated or, more practically, replaced. Great video to get to see the rest of NIST's world!

[@bibsp3556]

Even weights need to be checked if you're working within fine enough tolerances. It gets even wierder with timing stuff, as thats influenced by the speed its moving. A clock has to be perfectly accurate in a satellite for a gps to work, but they also lose 7 millionths of a second per day or something just because its moving faster.

[@charity9660]

Girl i am so glad i reread that you said PHARMACIST and THOSE students lmao i was about to say i definitely failed that class! 😂😂😂😂

[@goldenhate6649]

@@bibsp3556 Its more the fact its further out of earths gravitational field than the speed. The %difference of gravity is more significant than the %difference of the speed of light. But yes, they do lose time and that causes errors in the positioning of the satellite and slowly over time will cause the satellite to give wrong coordinates to a gps if not recalibrated.

[@randomname4726]

@Golden Hate Space-Time & Gravity are so mind blowing. Simulation theory is getting really interesting too.

[@bibsp3556]

@@randomname4726 eh, simulation theory to me is more a philosophical question. I've not really seen anything beyond hypothesising that the planc length and speed of light might be some.sort of processor limit, but it's not convinced me really. As the guy said above correctly said though, it's more the gravity, but yeah it's fascinating. Crazy out there

[@markproulx1472]

NIST is one of, if not the, most under appreciated of all US government agencies. I was lucky to be able to tour their metrology lab in Gathersburg, MD in 2007. It was just mind blowing.

[@N.Cognito]

That had to be cool to see. It's mind blowing how accurately we can measure things and their work ensures we can do it accurately.

[@chucktaylor6939]

I could not disagree more

[@Deathranger999]

@@chucktaylor6939 Why?

[@Dad_Lyon]

Do they just let people come look? I'd enjoy seeing that place.

[@marquizzo]

@@Deathranger999 Don't feed the trolls. They're just looking for unearned attention by saying the opposite of what you'd expect.

[@ManaMangon]

They're on a 100% item collecting run

[@Starpotion]

Earth completionists be like

[@yuzuhere]

I wonder what the steam achievements are

[@godlugner5327]

Fun fact: the Calories on the nutrition label is calculated by setting the food on fire! The Cal is a measure of energy released heating 1 g of water, the sample is placed in a sphere surrounded by water then ignited. The temperature difference of the surrounding water determines how much energy the food contains, as the stomach works just like a combustion engine or.... something like that

[@Starpotion]

Yesss, we did this in 5th grade using a dehydrator and bananas 😊

[@AjFrancisshomeboySteve]

​@@Starpotionsame. Did you eat the bannana???

[@flynnjacob9]

Exactly right! Except the term you're thinking of is "joule". 1 joule is equal to 0.24 calories. A joule is essentially the metric version of energy measurement and came around from (as you said) water! So, it takes 1 joule of energy, to heat 1 cubic centimetre of water, that weighss 1 gram, up by 1°c.

[@askgoverntale2298]

The bright blue flame indicates that this was a particularly sweet donut

[@plantalksofficial5040]

​@@flynnjacob9 1 calorie is defined as the amount of heat required to heat up 1 g of water by 1 °C. 4.184 joules is equal to one calorie because the heat capacity of water (under atmospheric conditions) is 4.184 J/g °C. A joule is defined as the amount of energy required to move a 1 kg object for 1 meter at an acceleration of 1 m/s²

[@invertedflow]

It's amazing how complex our world is and how we depend on systems that 99.9999% of us have no idea exist and can't possible be thankful for. Thanks for giving me this knowledge and sharing such important research with the world Derek. :)

[@anntakamaki1960]

Yeah, that is pretty interesting. Even something you are an expert in is based on a totally different thing you might have not much idea about. Eg- a software developer might not have great knowledge on how computers are working behind the scenes, meanwhile a computer engineer will. These computer engineers might not fully understand how the materials they use (semiconductors) work but the material scientist will. This is just one example. Even for something less ‘hi tech’ there is so much that is done by others we don’t understand fully how they work, we just know what it does and how to use it. This is good so different people can become experts in different areas via specialisation.

[@invertedflow]

@@anntakamaki1960 As a software dev myself, I can relate :)

[@robwoodring9437]

@@anntakamaki1960 reminds me of a stand up comedy bit about how dumb the avg person is. "We're not smart. We just use stuff made by smart people". The big punchline was "if I sent you into the woods with a hatchet and a lighter, how many years till you could send me an email?"

[@laupoke]

It's terryfying

[@jmiller6066]

Yep - my father is a soil chemist that runs quality control programs for soil testing labs. There's way more of these labs than you think, because they're used by farmers to determine what kind of fertilizer to put on their fields (among many other things). What's fascinating is that because the QC program is so large, the excess soil is highly desirable by labs to use as reference and calibration material for equipment. And that's how he ended up selling buckets of dirt internationally.

[@rcrnitto]

I work for a company that produces every type of analytical measurement instrument you could ever think of. We use NIST reference materials every day to qualify our instruments. We call them SARMs though, standard analytical reference materials. We use NIST steel spheres to calibrate our density measurement machines. They produce a great product, and are vital to industries like mine. Keep up the good work guys!

[@soy_red]

thanks for this. explains more than I got from the vid

[@sootuckchoong7077]

Millionaires and billionaires sure buy this peanut butter.

[@misterasterisco5217]

I feel like the lawyers are to thank for this xD

[@sam9239]

Gymbro: "Someone said SARMs"

[@Darasilverdragon]

Do you make flow injection analyzers? Because HACH is kinda leaving us out to dry over in the environmental chem field...

[@hoyounlee9193]

I have been worried for so long about how there wasn't a real chemical definition of what the kinds of food we eat are because I didn't know NIST existed, but now I can eat in peace knowing there is a standard jar of peanut butter out there that the peanut butter I'm eating should at least have been made in reference to.

[@NotThisShipSister1]

SURELY YOU JEST!

[@hoyounlee9193]

@@NotThisShipSister1 Am I missing something? I am beyond confused

[@zen8704]

@@hoyounlee9193 Translation: Surely you’re being sarcastic

[@hoyounlee9193]

@@zen8704 got that part, but in regards to what?

[@zen8704]

@@hoyounlee9193 in regards to the fact that most people wouldn’t ever genuinely worry about a standardized jar of pb?

[@bigsky1970]

This video confirms what I've recently learned that NIST touches every aspect of our lives, from the accuracy of your metric ruler to the accuracy of the compounds that go into a jar of peanut butter. I first learned about NIST in 1977 (known back then as the National Bureau of Standards) when I was about 7 years old, and at the time, I figured all they did all day was make sure clocks ran accurate right down to the nanosecond.

[@estefanello]

I work in an analytical lab here in Brazil and I use a lot of this peanut butter reference material as a quality control for mycotoxins, fatty acids and metal ions in food. It smells so good though! And thanks a lot for these people that work at NIST and make this reference materials. You guys rock!

[@autumnalburn]

Have you ever tried to taste it?

[@unifiedtheoryoflife9922]

Except for the 9/11 NIST report, which made such dramatic changes to the structural properties of concrete and steel that, were they true, large swaths of the frozen north would be unable to build structures taller than 3 stories. I wonder if this is the guy that approved the expansion rates of steel and concrete under heat for the 9/11 NIST report?

[@Tmktrsf]

@@unifiedtheoryoflife9922 there are no high rises in the “frozen north” that you speak of that even closely reaches the height that the trade centres did lmfao

[@unifiedtheoryoflife9922]

​@@Tmktrsf The number is 3 floors - and the north is anything that freezes in the winter. NIST 9/11 report changed the known expansion rate of steel and concrete by so much that you could not buld a 4 story building in Chicago, because the 4th floor would need to be steel, and the steel and concrete apparantly separate under office fire heat, so imagine what 100 degrees the other direction (0F) does. It makes Chicago a one stop light town

[@bobson_dugnutt]

​@@unifiedtheoryoflife9922 reality: a building collapses due to a +500F delta you: hOW CAn BuilDInGs EvEn WiThSTanD a -100F DeLTa TheN? Genius. Besides, contraction vs expansion are different. Materials have different strength in tension vs compression. And when looking at a structure as a whole, crushing the structure vs tearing it apart is pretty different.

[@edwinglenn]

I used to work as a chemist in a materials testing lab, and we used NIST metallic standards constantly. Our machine shop even machined a lot of those charpy standards for NIST!

[@RevCode]

I didn't quite understand the Charpy test: What use is it? Don't they just measure the force required to break that Charpy? How does that measure anything from the manufactured steel? Or is the Charpy made from the steelmill's steel?

[@thugpug4392]

@@RevCode you have some made from your steel and their steel has all the information known so it lets you test your machine .

[@Furiends]

@@RevCode It's made from BOTH. You run the test twice as to test your own test. That's what the word calibration means.

[@sapandream]

@@RevCodein simple word, that Charpy sample is so homogeneous and properly made (according to ISO 148 part-1) that all the Charpy samples prepared in a lot are having almost same results. So if u test one sample and have the result, say 40 joules, and the actual value of the Charpy sample (which is known to these NIST guys, coz they tested it before) is 39 joules, then by statistical analysis it can be found out how perfect your machine is calculating the impact value. Basically comparing apple with another known apple 😂

[@RevCode]

@@thugpug4392 Oh I see, so they calculate the baseline from the standardized one and then know their steel's strength. If I wasn't so dumb I guess I could have guessed that by the name "reference material" alone - thank you for enlightening me, that was not my brightest moment :)

[@waynenocton]

Working in the lab of a sewage treatment plant, was interesting for a while, but then became insanely boring, but one neat thing was the fact that the more accurate our scales were, and also our ability to dispense the necessary items for testing, the smaller the test sample could be, and therefore the less of those necessary items would be used as well. Our scale was so accurate that we could weight our fingerprints. We would have elementary school kids tour the plant from time to time, and we would pick one to pickup a beaker while we turned our back, then we could correctly tell them how many fingers they used to pick it up with. We did have to instruct them to use the pads of their fingers not the tips to make it fair, but as long as they played fair, we had a 100% correct “guess”, and the kids absolutely loved it. We also typically picked a kid that was somewhat socially awkward, which made them the big shot hoping to help them socially.

[@ricebeansrockroll882]

This is so cool!

[@ozdoits]

❤️

[@lindboknifeandtool]

This guy gets it ^

[@Pudji.Toucan]

@@lindboknifeandtool Hey, how's Brian doing now?

[@lindboknifeandtool]

@@Pudji.Toucan Brian’s great other than idk who that is

[@sethwalker7386]

I work in a polymer manufacturing laboratory and I cannot stress the importance of standards enough! Such an interesting clip!

[@LopsidedKitten]

This man loves his job and I am so happy he's around to do it.

[@-Sean_]

I'm happy that you're happy that he's happy!

[@thicc_astley]

happy loop 😁

[@barry5]

@@-Sean_ im happy that you're happy that he's happy that he's happy!

[@transsexual_computer_faery]

if a job is fun, the worker will be happy. most jobs are not fun =/

[@digitaldoc1976]

The director of NIST seems to me to be one of the most approachable and likeable civil servants of whom I've ever had any exposure. You're a cool dude, sir! Your general state of apparent happiness is enviable.

[@CS-zb7hx]

@billted3323 Or.... or. He's a nerd who likes his job.

[@stylo8845]

7:43

[@haloslayer33]

@@stylo8845 i noticed that too

[@charliec.3518]

@bill ted its probably the expired peanut butter

[@Mardikuz]

probably because he is RICH AF

[@pravinlnrk]

As someone working in the steel industry, I can vouch for the importance of the steel standard reference material.

[@y_fam_goeglyd]

My dad was a steelworker for about 40 years. They sent him to get qualified as a metallurgist before taking up his head foreman role. It's a fascinating subject! As a one-time geology student, I found the identification of the ores to be really interesting. Maybe his own real interest in the subject is where my son got his inbuilt fascination for chemistry (he's now a PhD medical biochemist! He's way, _way_ smarter than me lol!).

[@tracyfollowell6747]

@@y_fam_goeglyd If your child is better and smarter than you you did a fantastic job!

[@wernerbkerner9690]

@@tracyfollowell6747 I disagree. Raising smarter chlidren won't change a thing in the world. Raising kinder children MIGHT improve the world.

[@clothes5049]

@@wernerbkerner9690 Why not both?

[@mikewurlitzer5217]

Then the steel industry should fund it not the taxpayer who must fund a government which has run us $30+ Trillion in debt.

[@franzpattison]

"so, what do you collect?" "everything." "..."

[@goodboi6540]

I love how literal the names are. No companies no nicknames just "peanut butter", "blueberry", "meat hamogenate"

[@googlelocoelgoog]

There is a brand that sells named literally as the article itself. Like Water would be named "Water". I think you would like this company and its products lol. It's called No Name and is located in Canada.

[@AnonNopleb]

@@googlelocoelgoog So, SRMs are kind of the premium products of No Name?

[@joeshmoe6566]

fucked up in the crib eating "meat hamogenate" 😩

[@electrogestapo]

It's like walking into a grocery store in a world that has marketing outlawed.

[@darksunrise957]

@@electrogestapo I could see that as a good thing, sometimes.

[@pseudotasuki]

One of my favorite things about NIST is that the roads of their main campus are aligned to be parallel with lines of latitude and longitude. It's particularly noticeable on maps, as it doesn't mesh with the surrounding roads.

[@WarPigstheHun]

I want to work there now

[@StevenSkoczen]

Have any kind of citation/reference/location? A quick look on google earth didn't find anything like that. Would love to see it!

[@pseudotasuki]

@@StevenSkoczen Try the full name: National Institute of Standards and Technology It's located in Gaithersburg, MD.

[@scottfw7169]

Looking at map and seeing NIST Sound Building, which I guess deals in standard sounds. Satellite view shows intersection of Sound Road and West Drive is torn up, so does that mean NIST offers a Standard Traffic Obstruction? Hmm, there is a NIST Child Care Center, do they have Standard Children?

[@LouiseFranksArt]

I wish all places were aligned like that LOL

[@notyet3819]

I learned two things today. 1. These people's work is definitely underrated. Now I understand how some foods and products can exist for years and taste the same. Consistency is key and these people are definitely helping with that. 2. I'm never eating peanut butter anymore. 😅 Never again.

[@lastyhopper2792]

would you still eat peanut though?

[@voguyrus]

Why aren't you eating peanut butter anymore?

[@Bildad1976]

Everything you buy to eat is allowed to have a tiny, yet measurable, proportion of various disgusting contaminants such as cockroach heads (and other insect parts), rat poop, rat hairs, mold, mites... even maggots (ugh), and "other foreign matter".

[@ncalisnotenough]

@@voguyrus probably the calorie content

[@emmacornejo6392]

Pb2!!

[@弘睿甫]

This is probably the closest real life equivalent we can find to Plato's world of beings. A world of fundamental forms. And every object in reality is just a slight variation of these base forms.

[@84gssteve]

One of those things we take for granted...... but if you stop and think about how big, wide and "standardized" the world is, it's amazing. It makes it possible to eat some manufactured food and then wait 10 years, travel to another part of the world and eat the same food and have the exact same experience. I remember a local craft brewer saying he had a lot of respect for Budweiser for making millions of gallons of beer, over the course of decades and having it always be consistent and predictable.

[@9ZERO6]

I made a snarky comment about Budweiser beer to a well skilled craft brewmaster during a tour a few years ago. He immediatly informed me that Budweiser is actually a fantastically brewed beer for this exact reason. Humbling moment.

[@vwr32jeep]

@@9ZERO6 Budweiser is fantastically brewed piss water if anything. Utter trash. The fact that they can reproduce garbage to such an exact standard doesn’t impress me. It caters to a brand loyalty crowd and little more.

[@thisrandomdude_]

@@9ZERO6 What exactly did you say? I hope you remember :)

[@RS-xq6je]

I can't stand budweiser it's too weak tastes like sparkling water

[@9ZERO6]

@@vwr32jeep sounds like you could use a beer man.

[@OfficiallySnek]

As someone who poops, I can vouch for the importance of a standard poop sample

[@brianarbenz1329]

I poop too! We're part of the brotherhood.

[@CalmBeforeTheStorm76]

Here here. I also poop, and have many times contributed my part to the great, strained effort to achieve new levels of poop standardization.

[@anmolagrawal5358]

Woah, such coincidences, I happen to poop as well!

[@hi-mj5oi]

@@anmolagrawal5358 bro everyone does

[@hi-mj5oi]

@@CalmBeforeTheStorm76 dude everyone poops

[@jamescerven4400]

I love how that guy has a whole list of jokes he's hoping he gets to tell at any given moment 😂

[@pearlwhite7157]

😄😄😄

[@JakeInvest]

a list of standard jokes for the standard items

[@laughingbeast4481]

@@JakeInvest So he can accuratelly measure response. This is also where they order canned laughter from. Only thanks to them they can add just the right dose on laugh track or be certain they read test audiences' reaction accurately. (Test audiences of course consist of standard moviegoers. Those are stored frozen coz being exposed to outside influences they change their taste incredibly quickly.)

[@trentp151]

When government wastes trillions of dollars every year, it MUST be made into a joke, so that people don't cry.

[@jamescerven4400]

@@trentp151 nist is useful, but I agree government has lots of waste lol

[@HeyLeFay]

I like how the comment section is comprised of: 1. Fellow chemists, scientists, nerds, and industry professionals talking about how much they respect the amount of effort that goes into the NIST. 2. Laypersons who just think the video is cool. 3. Conspiracy theorists that think this is a sign of the end times(?) or "big government bad". 4. Just 3 again, but even more incoherent. Edit: 5. Praising soap from some random place in India??? Edit 2: 6. ???? 9/11 ???????

[@normanlacy3390]

Then there's myself a union operator of heavy equipment. 😊

[@undergroundalienstudios56]

As someone who worked at NIST for a while doing metrology and spectroscopy, I can tell you. That place is freaking awesome. The impact it has on the world is really quite incredible.

[@ストマクランブル]

NDA notwithstanding

[@TooRiskyHD]

Not to be rude but how does collecting human turds then breaking it down to dust help the planet?

[@mynt4033]

In an ideal future, they'd be shielded from budget cuts. But republicans are likely to retake and cut funding to them without any care for the appreciation of the sciences.

[@tokin420nchokin]

@@TooRiskyHD standards for measurements are critical. When the industrial revolution kicked off standardization became critical between industries. Gauge blocks were born as a means for checking measurements against one another quickly. I dont know if that was the first "standard" but it is necessary for there to be standards out there otherwise we would be doing a lot of guessing. That rotor you bought to replace your breaks might be too big or too small, the holes maybe got drilled incorrectly. Hope you understand the necessity for standards based on those couple examples.

[@TooRiskyHD]

@@tokin420nchokin yeh it makes sense to have matrix of something infact it’s smart I just never understood the poop part but you’ve went into detail about and it actually explains a lot I appreciate that thank you!

[@ryebud258]

Analytical chemist here. From academic research to drug development to drug safety testing, every position I've ever worked makes heavy use of NIST standards (though usually all with their own internal acronyms). These are absolutely vital for almost any calibration or measurement which requires high degrees of certainty.

[@skgough4386]

Who's here because of the NileBlue cookie video?

[@dma736]

Thank you for highlighting the important work the team at NIST performs. A fine example of functional government and a team dedicated to their work.

[@adamscrivener9574]

This system ends up making everything they control more expensive for the consumer, and gives the consumer less choice. Among many other glaring issues. We can have transparency and certificates etc without total government control. Functional force is still force.

[@dma736]

@@adamscrivener9574 I think you may be confusing the NIST with a regulatory body. NIST is a science laboratory setup by Congress to bring US standards up to world standard at the time. Trusted standards allow for improved safety, quality, and a plethora of other things. How the standards are to be applied and who enforces them is another ball of wax.

[@MC-yt1uv]

@@adamscrivener9574 I don't think you understand what NIST is. Without them, businesses would have to spend more money when trying to calibrate their equipment. Also, just from a broader perspective outside of what NIST does, regulation is necessary. We tried giving businesses free rein during the early 20th century and a bunch of kids lost arms in factory equipment. Businesses have no concern other than money they will hurt or exploit people for profit if left to their own devices.

[@CRneu]

@@adamscrivener9574 You clearly fall into the weird "GOVERNMENT BAD, NO EXCEPTIONS" camp. Free market capitalism is a race to the bottom. Capitalism needs standards and regulation. These standards save a ton of money and save a lot of lives. I'm not sure how you came to the conclusion that it makes things more expensive or gives less choice. That makes zero sense. Even with regulations and standards, companies are constantly caught cutting corners which often times result in a loss of life. NIST is a service that is invaluable to the global economy.

[@fredwerza3478]

@@adamscrivener9574 it's amazing how much propaganda and disinformation that Trumpers like you are spreading

[@NiksCro96]

Veritasium a day keeps ignorance away. Thanks for making amazing stuff for so long now.

[@Bonu5epic]

- 🤓

[@nezukochan471]

@@Bonu5epic -🤓

[@MrUssy101]

Disagree This guy thinks he clever and has big brain and should eduecate us all??? He sounds so condescending!!!

[@bbbaoyiii8653]

yesss!!!

[@CamcorderHomeVideos]

@@nezukochan471 - 🤓🤓

[@bartandkate5162]

There’s a great story you’re (usually) told during NIST orientation for new employees about the Great Baltimore fire of 1904. Lots of FDs from surrounding municipalities and states came to try to help, but at the time, there was no industrial standard for hoses/couplings, so it turned into quite a mess, and more injuries and damage arguably resulted. Those items are now standardized across the country. The HR folks are better storytellers, but still demonstrates the importance of the work of standardization

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

Standards are something that you don't realize you need unless you don't have them.

[@Luchoedge]

@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 Things you can say about your work and also about your ex!

[@ylstorage7085]

Then proceeds with "let's use Imperial units". Didn't you people dumped tea and fought a war to get rid of the "imperial" stuff?!

[@JoseRodriguez-ey7ju]

@@ylstorage7085this is the dumbest comment i've read in a while, also we use metric in the united states alongside imperial units

[@jiaan100]

They should tell the story about how people quit nist and joined architects and engineers for 9/II truth because of the fake garbage they made them produce.

[@androidphone1901]

6:50 Sugar. That man is holding a jar of sugar.

[@elijanzen4015]

I interned at NIST in 2018 and saw the standard jar of peanut butter among lots of other things. It’s really cool to see the organization being covered here since they’re so important to so many businesses!

[@KJ4EZJ]

Please tell me you made a PB&J with one, lol.

[@elijanzen4015]

@@KJ4EZJ Unfortunately not. Like the guy said in the video, none of the standards are for human consumption, but I was and still am very curious about how it would taste

[@fredwerza3478]

Just imagine the first day on the job and some intern is cracking open a $1000 jar of peanut butter to make a PB&J sandwich 🤣

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

@@fredwerza3478 "No, not the good peanut butter! Use the jar in the break room!"

[@DKranze]

NIST are the hero's behind the scenes. I've done work in reliability engineering. Theses people deserve all the praise

[@napadave58]

It was a year ago, but: heroes. No apostrophe for plurals. Live and learn.

[@tknier88]

You had to edit your post. Lol

[@someone_sad]

This place reminds me the "Developers Room" that's (secretly) present in most of Bethesda games. It's a room that has every material used in the game. NIST is the IRL version of this xD

[@mr.bobcyndaquil4214]

So this warehouse is just QASmoke, got it

[@thecrone7964]

I am not a science nerd or in any profession that depends on this kind of information and I was fascinated and amazed by this information. Thanks for making this available to your average little old lady. We are never too old to learn.

[@randomname4726]

I love your name! Lol

[@karadan100]

Yeah me too. My mind was blown. Really well put together video too. Veritasium is great.

[@madhououinkyoma]

I wonder if they have an average old lady sample

[@thecrone7964]

@@madhououinkyoma - well if they do not - as it happens - I have made arrangements to donate my entire body to science when I die - so - they can have their bit for the good of the world - if it is needed. I do hope they do not come to think of it - because that would mean there is a human component to any number of products - like hot dogs.

[@williamdowling7718]

Absolutely fascinating. I had never even really considered the need for any of these things, and now it seems so obvious... Incredible video yet again, Derek.

[@memory-card]

As someone who basically did the same thing for several years, just across the pond (Germany), I'm so glad this important field of research finally get some coverage. The federal institution I used to work for provides the reference alloys for Euro coins, alcohol in water (calibrate breathalyzer's), also a lot of food and environmental samples with toxins or heavy metals and much more. I worked in the food team and alongside homogenization, stability is one of the major concerns. Grinding it into a nice powder is great for homogenization, but simultaneously creates so much surface area for chemical reactions. And even though they are not used as a food, you don't wanna an Oil to become rancid and so on. So many products are stored in a freezer, but what to do if e.g. the cold chain is broken during transport? The devil is in the detail^^ And that's even before you come to the most difficult question: How to make sure NIST and all the other CRM providers are able to measure correctly themselves? :D

[@AxMi-24]

That's where intercomparisons come into play. Also a reason why it's important that every reference is implemented by several national labs. When you are alone with a reference (as is the case with some of what PTB is doing) it's very difficult to be confident that you have not messed something up ;)

[@stefankuttenreich8668]

how is this institution called in germany?

[@AxMi-24]

@@stefankuttenreich8668 PTB, Short for Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt

[@jordan9604]

These are some of the problems that we in the bio fisheries face. You have to take into account the influx and outflow of water and what that water holds. We take our shipping containers almost too seriously. Wipe out all life inside the bag, measure what the water does to the bag and vice versa. Then place the fish into the bag, measure and record. For everything, and I mean like a full 2 days worth of testing for a single fish. Meanwhile that 1 single fish has required about 150 hours of work just to maintain a stable environment. Then when you ask for $3500 for a fish that someone could throw a net out in the river and catch thousands in an hour... Cheezus.. Some people just don't care to realize the effort that was put forth and call just to complain about the price for a perfect lab fish. They don't want one, just call to criticize us for the price of a river minnow. They want a dozen for $10. Sorry, we are not that kind of business.

[@TheRealStructurer]

Thanks, answered my question if there are other countries doing the same 👍🏻

[@aarontheepic]

Anyone smoke them NISTies?

[@aaronversiontwo4995]

There are also groups trying NOT to standardize things. The most troubling being the vitamin industry. Vitamins in the USA and Canada have no standards so vitamins can have whatever in them. Some even don't contain the vitamin on the label at all. It just goes to show why standards are important.

[@bleeka325]

They need to be regulated before they can be standardized

[@HappyDragneels_page]

thats ridiculously insane lmao, how on earth doesnt this fall under some other legislation? false advertising etc

[@systrex]

"Suppliments"

[@bleeka325]

@@HappyDragneels_page it’s not false advertising when the company indicates that the claims have not been evaluated by the FDA

[@happyfase]

Vitamins can't be standardised because vitamins aren't vitamins.

[@kedo]

A legitimate government function. It's wonderful to see how serious they take their role. And a great story too!

[@kevincarlos973]

For some reason my mind assigned Ron Swanson's voice to your comment.

[@cuddlingwolf2762]

I agree it's an essential government function which is why I'm so upset that they function as a private for profit company which literally just increases the cost of, well, everything, so that some owners can earn money doing nothing

[@tomh2914]

@@cuddlingwolf2762 A peanut butter company paying $1000 for the reference is negligible. Could you imagine how many fans would try to buy samples if they were affordable for average people? Your mental model of this is a bit off - consider the US Post office, which loses roughly 10B per year, while FedEX and UPS are profitable. There are many many times the profit motive is a GOOD thing.

[@filmorejohnson]

@@tomh2914 USPS helps keep costs down for consumers though by offering cheap options to ship and mail letters that Fed Ex and Amazon have to compete with rather than setting their own higher rates. I don't mind my taxes going to mail carriers and keeping mail affordable. Imagine a world in which you couldn't afford to send a letter because FedEx or Amazon bought up all their competition and controlled the country wide shipping networks.

[@MrMontanaNights]

@@cuddlingwolf2762 Something as important as NIST shouldn't be held back or held ransom by the budgetary concerns of whatever administration is in charge. Charging for the products ensures a sustainable enterprise that can work with industry to produce the reference materials they need. It also keeps people from the whole "but mah taxes!" argument. MANY (most?) government agencies charge for their services and products. Try ordering a government publication (printing). It's going to cost you money. Try renewing your driver's license or getting a Designated Pilot Examiner (FAA employee) to do a pilot check ride. It all costs money.

[@mikeb9314]

I’m an analytical chemist, and anyone who works in any lab or in most manufacturing operations definitely knows and appreciates the vital importance of reference standards to calibrate our instruments and ‘test our tests.’ Now NIST isn’t the only game in town that provides SRMs, but you might consider them the ‘standard of standards.’

[@theoldpea1]

Now they just have to get a sample of everything in there and blend it up to make the most average sample NIST has

[@melvinmartins5658]

As a NIST Guest Researcher, it is so cool to see you visit our institution that too few know about!

[@theabuzerbharuchi]

U r doing a great job. Dont ever feel worthless that many people dont know about these things . Becoz of people like u , our society is functioning well.

[@JoesWebPresence]

@@theabuzerbharuchi . . . except when it comes to steel framed building collapse

[@ahetzel9054]

I was so confused at first but it makes total sense. Reminds me of that video you made on that perfect spherical ball that's our reference standard for weight. I calibrate lasers at my job and we have to check customers laser trackers against our reference tracker and if the results are outside of 0.0003mm we have to re-tune them. It's pretty neat. (Edit: I had originally said 0.00003 microns but it's .0003mm or .3 microns)

[@caiocc12]

0.00003 microns would be 30 picometers (0.03 nanometers). That's less than an atom. Are you working on LISA?

[@ahetzel9054]

@@caiocc12 I think I added an extra zero lol. But there are different specs for different companies & trackers since everyone uses the trackers differently so some allow for larger margins of error. It's pretty neat but honestly I'm not quite that knowledgeable yet, only been here 4 months and I'm just an art school drop out who got lucky(my brother works here as an engineer tech)

[@longnamedude3947]

@@ahetzel9054 Stick at that job and you will go places, such opportunities are incredibly rare and I will admit that I am a little jealous of what you get to do as a job, but, I am equally glad that you are doing a job that you seem to genuinely enjoy doing which is always a positive. Work hard and you'll be set for life.

[@pyropulseIXXI]

That ball is not used as a reference. They don't use artifacts to define weight, and that ball was a candidate for defining the kilogram, but they went with a procedural definition using a watt balance and defining physical constants

[@ahetzel9054]

@@pyropulseIXXI I think that went over my head lol. I thought that ball was the standard for 1 kilogram but it wasn't based on it's weight and instead the amount of atoms or molecules that it was made of? Or something like that? That video was a while ago so I don't entirely remember

[@lefthandpathmedia5958]

I've been following your channel for like 10 years and this right here is a holy grail video. I have had this EXACT question (the one this video answers) in my mind probably since the age of 5. My fascination with Nutrition Facts on boxes has been life-long and I have always wondered _how_ they get that data, and _how_ they _prove that it is exactly accurate to what I am eating_ . And now this video shows me that it's because of a thing called an *SRM* or, *Standard Reference Material* ! Genius.

[@paulsimons769]

Because this information didn't exist prior to the making of this video; during that period since you were 5, you could have at anytime. Looked it up yourself

[@raisschultz420]

@@paulsimons769 most dumbasses these days need to be told exactly how to think and what to think about and what to do when they want to do something. common sense and independence no longer exist

[@spimbles]

5 year old me instantly connected those dots and knew in a child-ized way that the scientists just knew best because they did their homework. none of this information is surprising in any way shape or form

[@BoyProdigyX]

His dad jokes were priceless. And Derek, you did a fantastic job answering every question I had. You kept me on the edge of my seat for the human sludge one, but it made the answer that much more satisfying haha edit: They've been working on the pipes under the street recently and my drain has been gurgling. Now all I can think of is "Human Sludge" exploding out of the drain haha 🤢🤮😐

[@Dextronaut1]

"a crap load" ngl that one made me laugh 😂

[@SamBrickell]

*"a standard jar of peanut butter"* sounds like something the 'Millionaire Who Lost Everything But Is Slowly Learning To Appreciate The Simple Things In Life' character in a movie would try to buy the first time they go grocery shopping by themselves.

[@Metanis]

A legitimate government function. It's wonderful to see how serious they take their role. And a great story too!

[@fredricksfishkeeping3007]

NIST is probably the coolest agency people don’t know about. Not only do they do this, but they have hardcore experimental physicists building the most accurate atomic clocks in the world to standardize timekeeping.

[@lysanderhoppe765]

These products seem to be in high demand. Why would you need the government for this?

[@miguelangelmartinezcasado8935]

@@lysanderhoppe765 you want 1 standard. Not 2, not 3 not 5. Just one where everyone has the same error margins so there's no confusion. And if it were a company, then they would increase the price. And a lot of products would cost more because of that bloated price in calibration. So... Why would you want a company? Without competition companies aren't better than goverment

[@reeman2.0]

"legitimate" they're selling your poo.

[@JonMartinYXD]

@@miguelangelmartinezcasado8935 Exactly. Why don't we have colour fax machines? Well, we do, except every manufacturer made their own "standard" for it and insisted that anyone else who wanted to use the same "standard", pay for it. So Acme colour fax machines can only send colour faxes to other Acme colour fax machines. Compare this to Wi-Fi, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards: one standard that any company can develop a product to use and know that it will be able to interoperate with billions of other devices out there. Having one free to use standard lowers the cost of entry into a market, enabling competition and innovation.

[@L-udo]

funny that google domains shutdown not even a couple months later

[@didikohen455]

Came here to say this.

[@daxliniere]

As always, Derek has found a super interesting place and covered it in an episode brilliantly. Great going, Derek, thank you. :)

[@mystic_guardian]

More like he watched Tom Scott lol

[@farrel_ra]

@@mystic_guardian LMAO

[@dane1382]

This entire concept is amazing. Rather than speculating about the invisible laws of the universe or what lies far away in space, being able to understand the things we interact with on a day-to-day basis seems strangely way cooler to me.

[@KalebPeters99]

Yeah, it brings all the science right back to every day reality. Such an awesome window into our world

[@rubiks6]

So much more meaningful to human existence than measuring galaxies billions of lightyears away.

[@rubiks6]

@Nad Senoj - The things NIST is doing are quite obviously beneficial to humanity. I'm going to need some real convincing why looking at barely discernable images of galaxies 13 billion lightyears away really helps mankind. The things NIST is doing are important and helpful right here and right now.

[@0777coco]

i wouldn't agree that it sounds way cooler lol, but it's a field of research i didn't expect to be so interesting for sure

[@Crazytesseract]

"What's is the ultimate origin of everything that exists?" Is this not a question worth pondering on?

[@geese5170]

Met a guy on a game I was playing the other day who was an airbag engineer. One of the most down to earth people I’ve ever had the joy of interacting with, although our interaction was brief. It’s always the most important things you forget has to be thought of, designed, created, tested, redesigned again and again until it was just okay enough.

[@samthunders3611]

OK enough.. Sounds great

[@LabGecko]

@@samthunders3611 For scientists perfect does not exist. That's what standards are for - _"Does this system or object meet the standards to do the job?"_ Stuff like NIST is why you can buy a bag of concrete, follow the directions, and actually get the same results as the factory did. Or brownie mix, or any number of most of the things we buy today.

[@samthunders3611]

@@LabGecko I'm a chef bakerbwho was also involved with the manufacturing industry There's nothing you can tell me And you dint want to hear a quarter of the things I know It's all bussness no matter what's being sold

[@flexinclouds]

Hopefully he works for "Takata".. so they dont have to keep recalling, already recalled & "fixed" airbags. Like the one in my Subaru WRX

[@mathewgosney7607]

seems like a standard video to me 🤔

[@FrogsOfTheSea]

You have managed to make interesting what 3 years of undergraduate study in materials engineering could not

[@elss6950]

I’ve worked at NIST and many other research labs ( university, industry, etc). Scientists at NIST are the most meticulous by far.

[@slothymango]

Interesting

[@Spartan2155]

Have you seen the arguments that A&E911 has made against NIST and there statements about building 7? In my opinion NIST and our government still have alot of explaining to do about the demolition of the three towers that day. Your statement about scientists being most meticulous made me comment.. If you didn't catch it I think nist is dogwash

[@AmhedMissaelVargasVelazquez]

How do people at NIST account for things that change their composition with the time? e.g. metals that rust by oxidation or wine/cheeses that "ages"?

[@jessehackett7886]

I’m a chemist in a consumer goods testing lab, how in the world do you get that job? It’s so fascinating to me

[@rallymaniac92]

Even as an analytical chemist, where being meticulous about everything is essential to everything I do at work, I could never match the level of NIST scientists. The methods they use are absolutely top notch and I'm grateful for their work. I don't believe my lab buys NIST standards as we're not in the US, but I rely the NIST mass spectral libraries every single day.

[@oliverhaw7798]

You have made such a fantastic and captivating video on a bizarre concept that actually ends up making a whole lot of sense. We are blissfully oblivious of the behind-the-scenes effects of standardization in our lives. That's so interesting!

[@WyattUTFT]

I just saw this right after Nile Red’s pure cookie video

[@reighaillness]

lol same

[@Jeffball610]

I didn't think this video would be that interesting, but I found it facinating. We don't typically think about how things are measured, just that they are. We always have to compare things to a known quantity (or quality) to measure it properly. We have standard units of measure for weights, time, etc. Why not peanut butter? 🙂

[@bessieish2077]

How often are these things updated? Because dust in our houses now is probably very different from 90s dust based on different microplastics, products we use on our bodies and furniture etc.

[@mattg706]

I was really surprised to hear him say "i dont know if i can tell you how old this is". For such an extensive process it seems like such a small yet important detail to leave out when dealing with a lot of these things.

[@valkonar808]

Its updated occasionally. I'm not sure how they decide the expiration schedule but the website shows House Dust as revised in 2018 and expiring in 2025.

[@robertrouthier2603]

@@mattg706 That was specifically for the peanut butter reference which would not need to be updated as peanuts are still peanuts.

[@gowayfromme]

@@mattg706 He may be talking about the particular jar. He also didn't specify that he wouldn't be able to find out how old it is. I did find it odd too and still do.

[@OffGridFantasy]

@@robertrouthier2603 nah bro she’s a leftist. The world was supposed to end 10 years ago because of climate change. Liberals gonna say “peanuts are drastically different because of human intervention” living in fantasy land they don’t like to hear it if it doesn’t fit there pre formed opinions

[@Magnivore519]

That fat-carb-protein chart was actually fascinating to me, I'd love to see a more detailed and filled out one.

[@robwoodring9437]

At a glance it looked like actual useful data, unlike the old BS "food pyramid"

[@21cabbvge]

Wasn’t that a standard lesson in elementary school? It’s called the food pyramid. Not trying to be mean just wondering if it was in your curriculum because i feel like that’s an important thing for schools to be teaching kids

[@wurstflower123456789]

@@21cabbvge the food pyramid is different! just google it, my english isn't good enough to explain it here haha but i get your confusion :)

[@hfso372]

@@21cabbvge i food pyramid is the worse version

[@21cabbvge]

@@hfso372 oh right, i forgot the food pyramid is the more basic one with the different food groups going vertically. My bad

[@raydgreenwald7788]

You know I’ve always wondered how these standard controls are made

[@Steve_-ob2ne]

The Charpy test is indeed an important standard test for steels. It measures the toughness, or resistance to brittle fracture, using a standard notched specimen. Materials prone to brittle fracture are to be avoided (or mitigated). Ductile fracture does not sound so good either, but if something is going to fail, ductile failure is safer and preferable as it requires exceeding design loads to achieve this. Brittle failure is of concern because it can occur at less than design load conditions. The typical units of measure are energy (absorbed) in Ft-Lbs for imperial unit system, Joules for SI units. Metals and most solid materials become more brittle as temperature is decreased. Higher values measure in this test are better than low values. Brittle high strength steel may yield single digit values, whereas low strength austentic stainless steel may yield 300+ Ft-Lbs, meaning it takes a lot more energy to break it in a notched impact specimen, even though it is not nearly as strong. Different metal alloys and heat treat conditions will have different temperatures at which they become brittle (Ductile to Brittle Transition Temperature, or DBTT). The temperature at which the test is performed is based on design standards and factors such as the end product's minimum design temperature, and the material's expected DBTT. If the material is produced correctly, it will meet or exceed certain impact energy values at a given temperature. If not, it may produce low values and indicate sub-standard material. The notch of the specimen, which is the designed point of failure is machined to precise dimensions for the purpose of consistency. I am a Metallurgical Engineer and thought I should delve into sharing my personal understanding of that part of the video.

[@caseyneistat345]

Congratulations you have been selected among our shortlisted winners for our Giveaway prize🏆🏆, kindly send a message to the telegram above name to claim prize 🎉🔝🔝

[@scottrackley4457]

Charpy is just one way to measure one variable in a steel. Many times in tool steel you don't really care too much about that value, and are looking for wear resistance, such as drawing forms.

[@davestier6247]

Tl;dr I'm naming my next pet Charpy tho

[@Steve_-ob2ne]

@@scottrackley4457 Good point. Toughness is not a required or necessary property in some materials and some applications. It is in structural and pressure containing products, but typically not in tooling. In fact in tool steels, low toughness often times is very acceptable in order to get the high strength or wear resistance that is required. Hence tool steels when they fail, tend to fail in a brittle manner.

[@scottrackley4457]

@@Steve_-ob2ne Yes, they turn to gravel and projectiles. Very sharp projectiles.

[@powderedwater67]

This video explained how so many things work. People would say they found trace amounts of a certain chemical in a city's water supply, and you'd think "How?" well this is very enlightening. Also always wondered how in shows like CSI they could tell if a bullet was fired from a specific firearm. This is what i subscribed for.

[@OffGridFantasy]

Nah, you’re just stupid dude. A majority of people know that already….

[@HeyLeFay]

Also, in relation to your specific example about the water supply, a lot of places periodically take samples of their water and store it for later for purposes like that!

[@cascastenmiller9152]

A friend of mine once said: “Better than perfect is standardised”. This video shows that that’s true. Great video! Keep up the good work :)

[@teslacoil5378]

@gridsleep Standards are perfect because they are standard (thus why SRMs are used as references to determine product integrity), and they are standard because we have deemed them to be adequate enough for a certain product. They are a PERFECT template to ensure the quality of a certain product. So I say that perfection is quite definable.

[@shoam2103]

I remember that quote from a technology connections video!

[@craigmays3098]

Z89om

[@m.i.andersen8167]

Yes. Standards are great. Let's have a lot more of them! 😊

[@m.i.andersen8167]

@@teslacoil5378 Absolutely right! And one can say that standard dust collected in an American standard city is only standard in the US. Global dust must be collected globally, but that probably wouldn't make much sense, except for aliens collecting dust to make "standard inhabited planet dust"

[@veroxid]

I deal with having to juggle multiple different steel standards, and let me tell you it's definitely a *_VERY_* detail-oriented job with a lot of spreadsheets. It's astounding how the tiniest changes in composition and forging methods can lead to *_vastly_* different physical characteristics. Buy coils from two different heat lots of steel from the same mill for the same grade, and those two coils can pass and fail two completely independent lists of other standards. It's the whole reason why "grades" exist: to pigeon-hole a gradient of differences. Also yes: Charpy Testing is common.........and loud; though not as loud as testing tensile strength, lol. _(testing the tensile strength you literally just take a bowtie-shape piece of the material and stretch it until it breaks - which is usually accompanied by sounds as loud or louder than a gunshot when it's steel - or at least it's sudden enough that it feels like it's that loud, lol)_

[@F1083]

Sounds like my old job. As someone who understands this video do some of the comments scare you? As for loud, in addition to dogbones we also tested 4.500 OD pipe. It was made from HSLA steel with a yield of 83,000 psi. That was loud and fun

[@veroxid]

@@F1083 You made my ears ache just reading "HSLA" 😔 lol Also the comments (that I've seen) don't really scare me.

[@SvenEnterlein]

For several years, I worked right across the street from NIST in Gaithersburg, but I never knew that they had a warehouse in there! I certainly am aware of what they're doing in general, but was completely oblivious of this. Neat!

[@mybreathyourlung]

I thought they were only weights and measurements but this deep dive into NIST is absolutely fascinating! I love the wide variety of extreme detail they get into.

[@Hail_Jesus]

JESUS CHRIST IS COMING BACK SOON, REPENT AND BELIEVE IN THE GOSPEL TO BE SAVED. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

[@noahbohl2127]

I’m in my undergrad, and I worked on a project that was examining mercury deposition. One of the things that was done for the project was measuring certain samples we collected for mercury. Reference standards were used for that, we used soil standards. It was very interesting to learn about how important these standards are.

[@billmullins6833]

Great work, Derek, as always. True story: Back in the early 70s I worked in a radio maintenance shop at McConnell AFB, Ks and some of the radios we maintained were in the HF band (3 - 30 MHz). The NIST runs a radio station call sign WWV which operates on 2.5, 5, 10, 15, and 20 MHz and continuously broadcasts the current time. We used to tune the radios to WWV to confirm that they were tuning properly. We also would set our watches to WWV so we always had very accurate time on our watches. One evening the wife and I were in a mall window shopping (as a junior enlisted we didn't have the money to actually BUY anything) when some guy asked me for the time. I told him the time to the second. He said "That isn't right!" To which I replied, "Yes it is. I set my watch by WWV just this morning." "What's WWV?", he asked. " It's the national time standard. You know? The same folks who establish the standards for everything in the U.S." I told him. He then asked, "What makes THAT right?" Honestly, I didn't have a comeback. How would you answer someone who questions the National Institute of Standards and Technology? (I'm really hoping you answer my question. I was at a loss.)

[@keithklassen5320]

Lol. Nothing, in a sense. It's just a reliable institution that everyone can go to to help them synchronize their devices that need to be synchronized. You could make your own competing timekeeping service, but good luck making it as reliable, so nobody would bother with it if they really *needed* it.

[@shinyshinyyshinyyy2197]

It’s funny, because there really isn’t anything that makes it right. It’s like how the standard weight of a gram is just a little hunk of metal in a lab and everyone agrees “yeah that’s a gram” because who else is defining a gram? Or how most world currencies only have value due to the people agreeing that they do. It’s a little arbitrary, but it negates arbitration. Which is weird lmao

[@billkurek5576]

Thus,the phrase “does anybody really know what time it is. Does anybody really care ?”

[@Furiends]

In some cases a standard is just an authority meaning we simply have to agree to not disagree. But in fact most standards have agreeable metrics. Ones that would cost more to derive in our own sample than it would to buy a NIST sample and test that. These standards also should be designed so they give you some useful information. Note how NIST only makes these samples at the request of companies.

[@herculesrockefeller8969]

A little Googling would have revealed that NIST uses THE time standard, a Cesium Atomic clock.

[@toooes]

lol RIP Google Domains

[@Syntania]

I'm a medical lab tech, and I find NIST to be fascinating. We use standards (we call it QC) to make sure that our analyzers and methods are working properly and giving accurate results so that you get the care you need next time you're in a hospital. Our stuff's not cheap either.

[@thedoctorbowtie]

Im a tech in a lab who makes QC materials for hematology chemistry and bodyfluid analyzers! Wonder if you use any of the controls we make!

[@PartyhatRS]

Can you sell me some "analytical" flurazepam or midazolam Lol

[@1000percent1000]

my entire family does water treatment and this provided such a massive insight as to why they're always spending thousands on books that contain these standards. i love this video. edit: i do realize the books they're buying are actually standard procedures (specifically analytical testing), but it's the same idea

[@costakeith9048]

The ASTM standards are all put together by volunteer committees and most the time the members actually have to pay ASTM to go to the seminars at which the committee meetings are held, they only costs involved for ASTM are the publishing costs. They're overpriced because ASTM has a monopoly and can get away with charging those ridiculous prices, not because those prices accurately reflect their costs. I've sat on many ASTM committees over the years, it's all a racket. NIST isn't quite so bad, they're inefficient like all government agencies, but at least their prices reflect their costs.

[@arosan]

I wonder how many students are watching this channel? Let's see how many of us

[@РодионЧухрий]

I SAW YOU BEFORE AND YOU MAKE REALLY COOL VIDEOS

[@kyhkeh3252]

MEE

[@ГалинаКоваль-у3б]

I know you

[@КУНКЕН-к2н]

Not me

[@_kyhkeh_tiktok5646]

Wiw

[@BierBart12]

I think these guys just beat the entire German system in being obsessed with norms Also, this kinda feels like they're the old school "scientist", dealing with absolutely every industry and scientific concept, gaining general knowledge about everything. Generalists instead of specialists

[@rajaindian]

I really appreciate that you have made this video I head and operate multiple laboratories across India where we are involved in doing exactly what you have shown and I often feel rather under appreciated on behalf of my team that people don't know what important work we are all doing in the lab. I am sure your video will create a lot of awareness about this critical work being done by scientist behind the scene.

[@KalebPeters99]

Thank you for your hard work! You and your colleagues keep this world turning 🙏❤️

[@claywilson6149]

Yes . "The Science" thanks you for your service . You get the Fauci Award . Well done !!

[@dielaughing73]

@@claywilson6149 weak bait

[@alihuss.3545]

@@claywilson6149 cringe bait, cope and cry

[@claywilson6149]

@@alihuss.3545 sorry . Get a knee jerk reaction whenever i hear the word "scientist" . In fact ..if you want to lose me as an audience then call yourself an "expert" . We got millions of them . Each one's opinion more important and valid than the other . Looking for a real doctor . Not a pharmaceutical salesman . Like NIST being an institution of standards and technology yet they validate the "conspiracy theory" that two planes can drop three skyscrapers . But most of us have forgotten about that one and I suppose we should "move on" ....like this Covid vax snarfu.

[@00kidney]

I am always happy to see that a branch of the government is efficiently doing it's work. I don't know how to feel about the fact that this is a... poop-related work, though.

[@shrekeyes2410]

Very rare for the government to be efficient

[@TheTyme99]

@@shrekeyes2410 I wouldn't trust any company to do this however

[@CertifiedSkank]

I’m pretty confident that a private company could still execute this function better than government.

[@anonymousinfinido2540]

@@CertifiedSkank just like they did the FICO scored before Market Crash in 2008.

[@Jinxpowza]

Wow, I'm just learning about this today. I always assumed we must've had something like this but never knew for sure. This makes me feel so much safer!!! Thank you so much NIST people!!!

[@Frosty_tha_Snowman]

How pretentious... lol. None of this means a damn thing, or does anyone any good.

[@pjz7088]

I'm so glad domestic sludge was only a small part of the video, important as it is. I had no idea how interesting standards could be! It's super cool to see every constituent ingredient in all these substances. It's like a library of everything.

[@messi8459]

very well put

[@TitusRex]

The actual title and thumbnail of this video almost made me not watch it. Only did because it's Veritasium. If the title was something about standards or something I would click it immediately. I guess sometimes clickbait does not work the same for everyone and it can even have the opposite effect.

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

@@TitusRex Yeah, I understand that "legitbait" like this can draw people in, but surely a different title would have been more appealing.

[@titanrahlgaming]

I don't know about other countries, excluding the states, but here in Kuwait both private and international restaurants that don't meet the standards here get shutdown very quickly. They probably get investigated too.

[@billbauer9795]

@@TitusRex The title of the video convinced me Not to watch it, despite it being Veritasium. Eventually I decided to give it a try, and I am glad I did, but I thought the title should make one Want to watch the video...

[@nixtunes1]

I work in a geochemical analysis lab, and standards really are a critical part of our work, letting us find, diagnose and correct any errors and deviations and confirm when data is on point. Thanks, NIST, for your tireless diligent work!

[@elliottthompson5455]

@@PersonalStash420 just because someone may be paid to do a job doesn’t mean you can’t be appreciative and thankful of their work.

[@fourdoorsmorehoes]

​@@PersonalStash420 Soldiers, doctors, and firemen are also paid for their work.

[@tmo2798]

@@PersonalStash420 "Fighting for a country" is silly. It's also impossible. it's a super silly idea to oversimplify a violent scheme.

[@geddon436]

@@PersonalStash420 Why do you believe fireman and cops get paid enough?

[@samo4866]

As a metrologist, I use standards from these guys to calibrate equipment. I love videos like these. Thanks! 👍

[@devindaniels1634]

Damn, I was aware of the important work NIST does, but apparently had no idea how many standards they maintain. That's amazing.

[@NegativFlaw84]

As a calibration tech I Love actually seeing some calibration type stuff being put into the mainstream! So much calibrations are done on everything that most don’t know about!

[@matttaylor2009]

Seriously. If these standards did not exist, our modern technologies would not have been invented in the first place

[@solarpunk92]

This is like a Human Archive. Archeologists are going to find this place in the future and have a mindfuck trying to figure out what the area was used for.

[@Jem_Apple]

Nah whatever societies exist in the future would still have to have their own versions of Nist just like basically every country on earth does lol they’d take 1 look & recognise it as a standardisation facility

[@megabigblur]

Nah they won't have a mindfuck, these people have every single little piece of thing labelled and cross-referenced with exhaustive docmentation as to what it's for, that's the whole point of this institute.

[@zach3096]

@@megabigblur paper doesn’t survive. Steel and other metallic substances do…

[@jesusramirezromo2037]

i doubt they'd be confused, they'd probably pretty quickly figure out this was some sort of collection of almost every processed good, so they'd probably assume it was a vault for knowledge on how to make those items

[@RyanBancroft]

Oh my, I love this video so much. I have long been fascinated and humbled by the standardization efforts in the world. ISO, ANSI, and innumerable technical standards, all of which probably at some point in their development interact with the tangible products NIST produces to actually substantiate their standards. These are the mechanisms that make modern society function. They are foundational to the quality, reliability, and consistency of almost every single moment of our lives. It would be a dream to contribute to that.

[@makeritualnoise]

This is so interesting! I worked at an environmental testing lab and we did get standards from NIST but it was for our yearly test to maintain our certifications. Always super stressful to do those tests and hope you get the right answer because we don't have the certification he showed early on in the video. It's so neat to have a face and fuller understanding of a government body that put fear and terror in my heart lol.

[@mr.e.kelleher4659]

As a QC Chemist, I have used NIST standards and this is a a fantastic explanation of why they are so expensive - with great visuals!🥜🥜🥜🥜🥜🥜🥜

[@EvilTim1911]

I love how in the shot at 7:30 you can see a reflection of Derek being pushed in an office chair in the shiny shelves, a great improvised dolly.

[@deletdis6173]

Lol

[@kedo]

As a NIST Guest Researcher, it is so cool to see you visit our institution that too few know about!

[@charmedprince]

You guys rock! Science rocks!