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Throughout the history of science, many major discoveries came accidentally. Sometimes they came from recognizing potential in an unexpected product or waste. Other times, discovery came out of pure desperation from a seemingly dead-end…

Chemistry research usually involves precise measurements and careful testing in order to get significant results. Sometimes, however, notable discoveries happen by accident. In this video on accidental discoveries, you will get to know the…

This animation explains how the control surfaces on an airplane's wing direct its flight and shows how movements of the ailerons, elevator, and rudder change the plane's flight path.

Have you ever wished you could hide under an invisibility cloak, like Harry Potter did? This video explores the science behind light, sight, and invisibility. Though we can’t make ourselves invisible yet, some promising research may light the…

Are you breathing air molecules that were once exhaled by Caesar, Joan of Arc, or Madame Curie? Why did Albert Einstein try to break into the refrigerator business? In this video, writer Sam Kean, author of science books "Caesar’s Last…

Vanilla is a flavor so common that some people use it as an adjective to describe something plain or ordinary. But watch out! This beloved, flavorful bean may soon become a rarity. Credit: Reactions/American Chemical Society

This video explores a vocation that involves the blending of art and chemistry. Blacksmiths forge (heat and shape) metals or alloys to make objects—such as sculptures and cutlery—and then temper (cool) the heated metals to optimize their…

Neuroengineer Nima Mesgarani is using a form of artificial intelligence called neural network modeling to develop improved hearing aids. If successful, hearing-impaired individuals will be better able to identify and focus on a speaker of…

When it’s time to vote on Election Day, how do you decide on a candidate? In this video, neuroscientist Michael Shadlen explains how our brains secretly do math in order to make decisions. Credit: Columbia University’s Zuckerman Institute

This animation explains the function of cam mechanisms and shows how cams produce desired physical movements in engines and other machines.

Thanks to the demands of eco-conscious consumers, biodegradable and compostable plastics are cropping up everywhere. Are these green plastics the solution to our throwaway lifestyle? Well, it’s complicated, as this video explains. Credit:…

Some clothing makers try to harness the antibacterial power of silver to combat the smell of sweat from people's workouts. Now, some manufacturers are adding nanotechnology to the mix. This video asks: does it work? Credit:…

This animation shows how a cathode ray tube works and describes some of the basic science behind the control of electron beams.

What do chameleons have to do with nanotechnology? You'll find out when you watch this video. These color-changing lizards are some of nature’s most interesting animals, all because they are masters of pigment and light. Explore the chemistry…

This animation shows how chaotic systems are unpredictable because of their extreme sensitivity to their initial conditions.

This video explores the extraordinary efforts by some individuals to make gunpowder during the American Revolutionary War. It also reviews the chemistry involved in synthesizing and combusting this explosive mixture. Credit:…

Researchers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, popularly known as Virginia Tech, helped prove that lead levels were dangerously high in Flint, Michigan tap water, even when government officials denied the problem. This…

This video explores well-known antics in three cartoons and asks the question: Does the chemistry check out? Find out whether slipping on a banana peel, gaining superhuman strength from eating spinach, and dissolving a Toon in solvent, are…

From the sizzle of the fuse to the boom and burst of colors, this video brings you all of the exciting sights and sounds of fireworks. The video features John A. Conkling, Ph.D., author of "The Chemistry of Pyrotechnics, Basic Principles and…

If you have ever tapped a phone screen to send a tweet, opted for bottled soda because it tastes better than plastic, or drooled over art glass in a gallery, then your life has been changed for the better by the transparent yet durable…

To fire up the grill or a gas stove, we often reach for a match. It turns out there’s a lot of chemistry going on to make those little wooden wonders work. The best way to find out about the chemistry of a burning match is to watch this…

This video explores how experts use fertilizer and other materials—including water—to fight forest fires. Credit: Reactions/American Chemical Society

This video takes science to the skies and checks out the chemistry behind chemtrails, or—more accurately—contrails. It’s easy to look at the white trail behind a jet aircraft and imagine all manner of chemicals raining down from above.…

This animation explains how a compact disk stores recorded information.

Joe DeSimone cofounded a company called Carbon (formerly Carbon3D) to bring chemistry to bear on 3D printing. This video shows how Joe enabled the company to print at unprecedented speeds, and churn out materials that have never been printed…

Some science-fiction fans have already caught a glimpse of a world with super-powered humans secretly living among us, capable of physical feats far beyond the norm. Now, with the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing system, are we looking at a future…

This animation explains what a cylcoid is and shows how the size of a cycloid relates to the size of the rolling circle that generates it.

Lint from fleece and other synthetic fibers is getting washed down the drain and entering aquatic ecosystems. Washing your fleece and other favorite synthetic fabrics releases lint, which is no surprise to anyone who’s ever cleaned their…

April 22, 2015 was the 100th anniversary of the first large-scale use of chemical weapons in modern warfare. Some of the best minds in chemistry at that time, including a Nobel Prize winner, used their knowledge of science to build humanity’s…

Best-selling author Sam Kean debunks the myth of the Megalodon, the 50-foot super shark that, despite what you may have read, is long extinct. In this video, Kean unravels the myth by explaining how the element manganese holds the key.…

Dockage is any foreign material, such as weed seeds, stems, chaff, or straw, mixed in with a grain. Dockage testing provides a measure of grain quality. This video shows how the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Federal Grain Inspection…

It’s a legendary piece of playground lore: If you swallow a piece of gum, it stays stuck in your stomach for years and years. So was your elementary-school buddy right? This video looks at the mechanics and chemistry of digestion in order to…

This video features five African-American chemists who changed the world. The video highlights the work of icons such as astronaut and chemical engineer Mae Jemison, the first woman of color to go into space, as well as Percy Julian, a…

With all the hard hits and tough tackles in the sport of football come concerns about safety. In the U.S., every professional player is required to wear a helmet, but the helmets of today are a far cry from the leather creations from decades…

This video presents four chemistry-rich facts about paper money. [Credit: Reactions/American Chemical Society (www.youtube.com/acsreactions)]

This animation explains that fractals are self-similar geometrical objects at different scales and magnifications and shows how fractals can be generated by applying simple mathematical rules repetitively.

This animation demonstrates how gears work and shows four different types.

In agriculture, grain grading is a mechanical process that sorts grain products, such as wheat or soybeans, by size and shape. This video demonstrates the use of sieving, or screening, techniques in grain grading. Credit: U.S. Department…

This video explains how graphene's remarkable properties come from the unique arrangement of its atoms. (Correction: The video's narration incorrectly states that Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov are chemists. Both Geim and Novoselov are…

Nerve agents have a surprising history, and it’s just as morbid as you might expect. Although they were not invented as chemical weapons, nerve agents such as sarin have been in use since World War I, and unfortunately are still in use…

This animation shows what happens when air molecules inside a balloon are heated.

To beat the heat, many people turn to air conditioning. That sweet, cool relief isn’t magic, it’s the science of heat transfer and the chemistry of refrigerants. This video explains the science and chemistry of air conditioning. Credit:…

If you’re in an automobile accident, you want to be sure the vehicle's airbags protect you. Airbags work because of chemistry, with some physics thrown in. This video explores the science of airbags. And remember, airbags are meant to work in…

Blue jeans are among the most popular clothing items in the entire world. But how did Levi Strauss get his “workwear,” as he called it, so blue? Through chemistry, of course. This video looks at the chemistry of everyone’s favorite pair of…

Featuring Doane College Postdoctoral Fellow Raychelle Burks, Ph.D., this video looks at solid and liquid propellants and the “ride-able explosion” that is a rocket launch. [Credit: Reactions/American Chemical Society…

Across the globe, people celebrate certain holidays with fireworks. In the U.S., the Fourth of July is an especially sparkly holiday. This video takes an up-close, slow-motion look at the chemistry of how sparklers work. Credit:…

Winter weather often brings treacherous driving conditions. Road crews may spread rock salt all over the highways and byways, but why? This video breaks down the chemistry that keeps the roads safe when severe winter weather hits. [Credit:…

How does animal hide become leather? The chemistry of tanning is still not fully understood, but the basic steps are thousands of years old. Watch this video to learn how leather is made. Credit: Reactions/American Chemical Society

What happens to plastic bottles when you recycle them? Do they get made into fresh bottles, or do they become something else? This video explains why it's easier to turn plastic bottles into T-shirts than it is to fully recycle the…

You may not realize it, but there's a lot of science in sports. In fact, sports balls owe their reliability to an unusual polymer found in rubber. This video explains the chemistry behind the football all-star’s best friend. Credit:…

Thomas Edison is undoubtedly one of the greatest inventors in history. This video goes behind the scenes at Thomas Edison National Historical Park to see how Edison's love of chemistry fueled his world-changing inventions. [Credit:…

Cast-iron cookware is a favorite tool for many professional chefs, having certain advantages over everyday aluminum pans. This video looks at why cast iron is so effective in the kitchen. Play a game of fact-or-fiction while watching this…

Chocolate-chip cookies are nearly universally adored. People enjoy them in all sorts of textures, sizes, and tastes. So, how can you make a perfect cookie? By using science, of course. This video features Science News magazine's Bethany…

New smartphones are slimmer and faster than ever. But like most new generations of smartphones, their battery has pretty much stayed the same over the years. Short of carrying an external battery all the time, is there any way to extend the…

Stanford University’s Zhenan Bao and her research team are developing electronics that could revolutionize wearable devices and prosthetics. In this video, Matt Davenport and Noel Waghorn get a glimpse behind the scenes at Stanford, and learn…

This animation shows how an aircraft jet engine produces propulsive thrust.

This animation shows how mechanical linkages work in machines.

If there’s one man in Hollywood who knows the value of chemistry, it’s Michael Bay. He’s taught society that, in the face of a half-baked plot and thin script, big-budget explosions can cause box office success. This video explains the…

This animation explains how motors convert electrical energy into mechanical energy.

This animation explains how a piston engine works and what a complete combustion cycle is.

This animation shows how radar (radio detection and ranging) works.

This animation shows how light moving into a denser medium is both reflected and refracted.

This animation explains how a rotary engine works,

This video explores the chemistry and physics behind the disastrous explosion of the former Soviet Union’s Chernobyl Power Complex nuclear reactor 4 on April 26, 1986. The Chernobyl disaster was the only accident in the history of commercial…

This video explains how artificial snow is made to sustain the Winter Olympics. [Credit: Reactions/American Chemical Society (www.youtube.com/acsreactions)]

The ocean is a gigantic reservoir of water, but that water is not drinkable. As this video demonstrates, attaining freshwater from salty ocean water is more difficult than it might seem at first. The video also reviews potential negative…

This video looks at nanomachines such as nano-sized motors, rockets, and even cars. Though many orders of magnitude smaller than a human cell, nanomachines have huge promise. In the future, they could deliver drugs anywhere in the body, clean…

Art and cultural heritage conservators are getting an assist from chemistry. Some of our most valuable heritage objects—such as old books, early film, and vintage plastic jewelry—have their own unique odors, but there’s more to their scent…

Getting to Mars is on some people's minds here on Earth. When it comes to space travel, recycling is a space traveler's best friend, urine included. This video looks at a brilliant new potential use for urine in space. It flows a bit farther…

This animation explains how stereophonic sound results from recording and playing back multiple microphone tracks simultaneously.

Andy Klesh of NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab welcomes you to the cleanroom to talk about how satellites smaller than a briefcase could one day explore the chemistry of alien moons and planets. But first, Andy and his team have to show that…

Did you know that thousands of precious paintings around the world are generating soap beneath their surfaces? Art conservators struggle with microscopic pockmarks in masterpieces. Find out more about delamination and other problematic…

There’s a new trend in agriculture called vertical farming. When humans first learned to farm, we arranged plants outside in horizontal fields, and then invented irrigation and fertilizers to grow crops. But with modern technology and…

Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as "forever chemicals," are very stable compounds. As a result, thousands of PFAS have been invented for applications such as fire-fighting foams and nonstick coatings for pans. This…

We place a lot of trust in modern thermometers, but do you know how those instruments actually work? The answer involves thermodynamic principles. Physical chemists and engineers have taken temperature-measuring tools from the simple—but…

Go to any paint store, and you’ll see a dozen or so variations of the color black. But what is the darkest one available? This video looks for—and finds—the blackest black material. Credit: Reactions/American Chemical Society

This video is all about battery chemistry. It covers the science on why cell-phone batteries explode, and gives you a look at the lithium ion battery of the future. Credit: Reactions/American Chemical Society

This video explores all the chemical elements lurking inside a smartphone. [Credit: Reactions/American Chemical Society (www.youtube.com/acsreactions)]

If you don’t have a tattoo, you probably at least know someone who does. This video explores what tattoo ink is made of, why this body art is permanent, and other chemical facts about tattoos. Credit: Reactions/American Chemical Society

Watch this quick lesson in textile chemistry to learn about the different fabrics that make up your clothes. Find out whether it’s safe to wash those fabrics at home or if you really need to take your clothing to the dry cleaner’s. Credit:…

Did you know that metal objects actually prefer to be rusty? Why does metal corrode so easily? This short video has the answer. Credit: Reactions/American Chemical Society

In 1962, an underground fire started in the coal-mining town of Centralia, Pennsylvania. Fifty-three years later, that fire still burns. This video explains the history and science behind the Centralia mine fire. Does anyone still live there?…

One saved the U.S. space program, another invented a better treatment for leprosy, and a third spawned an agricultural industry in the American Midwest. Mary Sherman Morgan, Alice Ball, and Rachel Lloyd all had amazing accomplishments in…