These Pools Help Support Half The People On Earth

These Pools Help Support Half The People On Earth

What are these electric blue ponds in the middle of the Utah desert? And why do they keep changing color?

Join Derek Muller (Veritasium) as he looks into the weird, bizarre, and seemingly inexplicable images found on Google Earth to discover what on Earth they actually are. It’s a travel vlog, documentary, and science show wrapped into one. It’s Pindrop.

0:00 Intro
0:29 Electric Blue Ponds
2:13 Finding The Truth
5:47 Importance Of Potash
8:41 Potash From Rocks
14:04 Safer Ways To Mine
15:02 Droning
17:28 Potash The Savior

50 Comments

  1. Caden Luther on March 3, 2023 at 11:13 pm

    The bucket of water landed

  2. Lissy on March 3, 2023 at 11:16 pm

    When you mentioned that mining is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, it reminded me of another dangerous job. Saturation diving! I’d love to see an episode of that!

  3. IndiafanFromGermany on March 3, 2023 at 11:18 pm

    Thanks for the explanation. We saw these pools from a viewpoint in canyonlands national park back in 2014 and I always wondered about the meaning. Now i know, thanks to Derek!

  4. Ludicrous on March 3, 2023 at 11:19 pm

    NOW I know why if you cover a huge stump with sacks of fertilizer and ignite it the stump will be blown out of the ground!!🔥

  5. RoninMcKay on March 3, 2023 at 11:19 pm

    How did that NOT shatter the bucket?! Lol

  6. Britt K on March 3, 2023 at 11:23 pm

    This is so interesting

  7. Muhammad Hafizan on March 3, 2023 at 11:23 pm

    i learn alot’s from this video .. tq

  8. Walker Enterprise on March 3, 2023 at 11:24 pm

    I have a mysterious photo of something I took while on the flight to California from Atlanta. I was literally sleep and woke up facing my window and as I open my eyes, I saw what looks like a extremely large silver plate. I immediately grab my camera and took a photo. I wish I could get it to this guy.

  9. steve41557 on March 3, 2023 at 11:25 pm

    Very cool video!

  10. Šimon Macháček on March 3, 2023 at 11:25 pm

    I guessed it correctly.

  11. itsasecret on March 3, 2023 at 11:26 pm

    That thumping noise during the drone part of the video is incredibly annoying. Otherwise great video and interesting altogether.

  12. John Oldroyd on March 3, 2023 at 11:26 pm

    So when do we get to find out about the abandoned city off the coast of Japan?

  13. Exiled King on March 3, 2023 at 11:26 pm

    Now that marijuana is legal in many States….we should been well stocked up on pot ash.

  14. El Fappo on March 3, 2023 at 11:29 pm

    Most dangerous job from a simple physical standpoint is logging. but i guess you couldn’t make a cool science video about how a tree could fall on a person and break their neck. I’m out there every day dodging trees. love your stuff, you’re smart and it seems like we both read James Gleick books. keep it up!

  15. Thenoone's Fourth Alt on March 3, 2023 at 11:32 pm

    Where’s Pindrop Episode 2?

  16. Guy on March 3, 2023 at 11:32 pm

    And they put that stuff in bananas?!

  17. Captain Fordo on March 3, 2023 at 11:32 pm

    4:27 boom.

  18. MKM on March 3, 2023 at 11:33 pm

    Why today November 30, 2022 are farmers saying there’s a shortage of potash ?

  19. Dhenok Ayu Setianingsih on March 3, 2023 at 11:36 pm

    awesome

  20. Juan Diaz on March 3, 2023 at 11:38 pm

    I don’t like YouTube style.

  21. LeftHandPath Media on March 3, 2023 at 11:38 pm

    Once again ,another holy grail video. I mean, I always loved your channel forreal, but the consistency of your content is just unmatched to me.

  22. Ryan Ballantyne on March 3, 2023 at 11:40 pm

    Derek talking to people at Dead Horse Point overlook who hadn’t yet seen the placard that explains what the ponds are. 😆

  23. Rushi Kumthekar on March 3, 2023 at 11:40 pm

    Kid* – hey dad look i made the model that looks like real minining site
    Veritasium CEO* – If you don’t mind can i blow it for content

  24. Parth Patil S-4125 on March 3, 2023 at 11:40 pm

    Plz bring more of this

  25. Hodor Hodor on March 3, 2023 at 11:40 pm

    how is there only one episode of this series? what . where . who??

  26. Patrick Conlon on March 3, 2023 at 11:41 pm

    Sports people lol

  27. _MALOO_ on March 3, 2023 at 11:41 pm

    i know how to make gunpowder now 🙂

  28. Yungskiz on March 3, 2023 at 11:42 pm

    I’ve seen the word before, no idea what it meant, thought it was pronounced poe-tash 😆

  29. Paul Hawkins on March 3, 2023 at 11:42 pm

    The Potassium Recipe goes back So Far in history,
    I wish I could go back in time and find out just what it was that inspired that First guy to even want to try to discover Potassium.
    I always wonder about mundane things like that.
    What made that very first guy even want to try to find something No One Else even knew Anything about.
    I’m certain the vast majority of them were purely Accidental discoveries.

  30. Kate Hu on March 3, 2023 at 11:44 pm

    I learned about potash because of our food crisis. Russia is a major supplier of potash and you can bet Putin is using global dependency on potash to his advantage during the war.

  31. Hans Dunkelberg on March 3, 2023 at 11:44 pm

    The map shown to denote Germany for the year 1861 makes little sense. There did not exist an official state of Germany then, just Prussia, Bavaria, Austria, and other smaller entities within the German Confederation of 1815-1866. The area of the German Confederation reached much farther to the east and south than what’s shown at 8:58.

  32. Glen Anderson on March 3, 2023 at 11:49 pm

    18:27 "Sports People" are called Athletes my friend. 😄

  33. C SH on March 3, 2023 at 11:49 pm

    He looks weird dressed like Geo. Washington.

  34. TheRhondaebayer on March 3, 2023 at 11:55 pm

    so interesting….thanks

  35. Kevin Ufkes on March 3, 2023 at 11:56 pm

    So blue Gatorade is blue because it’s full of copper sulfate. I never knew that! COOL!

  36. Snake Eater 022 on March 3, 2023 at 11:56 pm

    It is not a good thing that we are over populating.

  37. DJ Ice on March 3, 2023 at 11:56 pm

    amazing video also love the tv theme

  38. Galveston on March 3, 2023 at 11:59 pm

    Fascinating!

  39. paco ramon on March 3, 2023 at 11:59 pm

    What a cheap way of making an explosive.

  40. Gavin G. Griffon on March 4, 2023 at 12:01 am

    Wouldn’t the copper sulfate need to be removed from the potash somehow?

  41. Chugwater Jack on March 4, 2023 at 12:02 am

    There are other colored materials in Utah and Northern Nevada – the tailings from various mining operations, some of which I believe have heavy metals or arsenic, and can be seen from I-80.

  42. Karicat Watts on March 4, 2023 at 12:02 am

    This was very interesting, informative, and fun. Thank you!❤

  43. Name on March 4, 2023 at 12:03 am

    this is so cool

  44. mat games on March 4, 2023 at 12:03 am

    what did you think was going to hapin like francim is the same thing but stronger its also a non-metal also potasim

  45. ProteinShake on March 4, 2023 at 12:05 am

    I have seen those in person

  46. Brenda Martinez on March 4, 2023 at 12:08 am

    thats great to know that hundreds of thousands of gallons of the dying colorado river are deliberately being evaporated away on purpose… Can we drink Potash?? Whatever company is profitting off of this waste I hope that they also live in an area that depends on the Colorado River for survival. If they dont, then they need to be forced to live out here as well since they helped this water crisis along as they get rich and care about nothing but lining their own pockets..

  47. Patricia Schuster on March 4, 2023 at 12:10 am

    So fortunate to have Vetitas! And that’s the truth!

  48. Robert Waid on March 4, 2023 at 12:10 am

    Great video. It shows the interconnectivity and importance of another, largely unknown, industry to the rest of society.

  49. Mr Foxydoodles on March 4, 2023 at 12:10 am

    We native Americans demand a cut of all revenue made in the USA

  50. Michael Gian on March 4, 2023 at 12:11 am

    8:52 "Lumber"? Sawn wood? Perhaps "timber" was used?

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