3000 ball bearings show crystal defects with Matt Parker

Matt demonstrated the 4 stages of grief quite well when he realized that he couldn't complete the lattice.

Even though I'm a gardener, I didn't know all this about lettuce.

Finally a use for all of my extra ball bearings!! Thanks for the class guys.

Matt's smug smile after "nope, not 1, that's a different number" completely made my day.

As a former metallurgy technician who had to inspect forged metal parts ("spider" gears and other various vehicle gears) on a daily basis, I found this very interesting. It certainly matches the sort of structures I would see under a microscope after polishing and etching the metals. Neat!

"So occasionally Matt might say some numbers or something like that." "Six." "THAT'S NUMBERWANG!"

2 atoms bump into each other: atom 1: Oh no, I dropped an electron atom 2: are you sure? atom 1: yea, I'm positive

"I stole your electrons, I do apologize" Love it!

I like how Steve's video says "with Matt Parker," while Matt's video title says "with oranges." Says it all, doesn't it?

if there's a defect in a crystal, is it a parker crystal?

That phase transition demo was mind blowing.

I came to this video in my first year of dental school, we were learning about dental materials and there was a BCQ in my test paper regarding "defects" and "vacancies" and I realized I needed to work on my concept there. You guys helped me understand the concept in such an easy visual way, it increased my interest in material science. And now, here I am again, just finished with my final year of dental school, rewatching this video with the same enthusiasm as I did the very first time. These science/educational videos and the people involved in their making have played such an important role in my life, and I'm sure many people feel the same way. So thank you! Thank you for redirecting our thought process, increasing our interest, helping us through our studies, and revolutionising the means of seeking of knowledge. :)

Ah... A perfect display of the human condition. Two intelligent men (and a reasonably intelligent comment section) discussing maths and physical laws and trying to understand the beauty in the order of the universe... Whilst constantly defaulting to telling jokes about their balls.

Thing I wanted to see: Annealing (shaking the toy progressively softer) to try to make a perfect crystal.

You can also get Steve's "stacking defect" (a boundary between face-centered cubic, and hexagonal close packing) if you play around with a batch of magnetized balls. It can happen with or without a polarity difference, and in a single layer or across multiple layers.

That defect motion is the definition of plastic deformation. The defect that formed on the line between the two "crystals" is a line defect called a twin boundry. To expound upon the FCC and HCP debate the main difference is the close packing direction which limits the slip directions of HCP, means stiffer and more brittle crystals. Glad to see materials engineering getting some recognition

I am amused that you seem to have blown your special effects budget making the super fancy replica of that Atomix toy, and then just used a(n opaque) cardboard box for the 3D example. :-)

Hahaha, smart move from Matt Parker xD Matt: "6" Steve: "That's a good one" Matt: "No one is a different number"

I love how Matt's face goes "oh no he didn't..." at 11:34 xD

Two guys talking excitedly about their balls is exactly what I needed today.