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. John Oldroyd on March 27, 2023 at 10:13 am

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

  2. Walker Enterprise on March 27, 2023 at 10:13 am

    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.

  3. Gavin G. Griffon on March 27, 2023 at 10:13 am

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

  4. Karicat Watts on March 27, 2023 at 10:15 am

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

  5. Chugwater Jack on March 27, 2023 at 10:15 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.

  6. Kevin Ufkes on March 27, 2023 at 10:21 am

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

  7. Guy on March 27, 2023 at 10:21 am

    And they put that stuff in bananas?!

  8. IndiafanFromGermany on March 27, 2023 at 10:21 am

    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!

  9. Kritigya Randhawa on March 27, 2023 at 10:22 am

    I’m glad your channel exists

  10. RoninMcKay on March 27, 2023 at 10:22 am

    How did that NOT shatter the bucket?! Lol

  11. Demi Frost on March 27, 2023 at 10:25 am

    14:17 That’s kind of like Fracking for natural gas.

  12. Exiled King on March 27, 2023 at 10:25 am

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

  13. Paul Hawkins on March 27, 2023 at 10:25 am

    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.

  14. Michael Gian on March 27, 2023 at 10:26 am

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

  15. Šimon Macháček on March 27, 2023 at 10:28 am

    I guessed it correctly.

  16. Hans Dunkelberg on March 27, 2023 at 10:29 am

    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.

  17. Divakar Hosamani on March 27, 2023 at 10:30 am

    Small crackers don’t pain if you burst them in hand

  18. Katie's_Old_Videos on March 27, 2023 at 10:31 am

    I love practical science experiments! I will use this information, for sure!

  19. moroccoball on March 27, 2023 at 10:31 am

    SINCE WHEN DID POTASSIUM IN WATER MAKE THE CONTAINER FLY?

  20. Muhammad Hafizan on March 27, 2023 at 10:34 am

    i learn alot’s from this video .. tq

  21. Robert Waid on March 27, 2023 at 10:35 am

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

  22. El Fappo on March 27, 2023 at 10:35 am

    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!

  23. C SH on March 27, 2023 at 10:35 am

    He looks weird dressed like Geo. Washington.

  24. mat games on March 27, 2023 at 10:37 am

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

  25. Name on March 27, 2023 at 10:38 am

    this is so cool

  26. Parth Patil S-4125 on March 27, 2023 at 10:39 am

    Plz bring more of this

  27. Ludicrous on March 27, 2023 at 10:41 am

    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!!🔥

  28. Yungskiz on March 27, 2023 at 10:44 am

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

  29. TheMaxTax on March 27, 2023 at 10:45 am

    This is oddly similar to the Guano Video…

  30. TheRhondaebayer on March 27, 2023 at 10:45 am

    so interesting….thanks

  31. Kate Hu on March 27, 2023 at 10:47 am

    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.

  32. Lissy on March 27, 2023 at 10:47 am

    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!

  33. Dhenok Ayu Setianingsih on March 27, 2023 at 10:51 am

    awesome

  34. DJ Ice on March 27, 2023 at 10:52 am

    amazing video also love the tv theme

  35. Patrick Conlon on March 27, 2023 at 10:53 am

    Sports people lol

  36. Hodor Hodor on March 27, 2023 at 10:54 am

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

  37. Divakar Hosamani on March 27, 2023 at 10:56 am

    Our well had same colour but water’s clean and tasty. More tasty than treated water

  38. Tino F on March 27, 2023 at 10:56 am

    Thank you so so much! You just made me a subscriber.

  39. Patricia Schuster on March 27, 2023 at 10:56 am

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

  40. Eric Herde on March 27, 2023 at 10:57 am

    4:24 My high school chemistry teacher was banned from purchasing group I metals.

  41. Captain Fordo on March 27, 2023 at 10:57 am

    4:27 boom.

  42. steve41557 on March 27, 2023 at 10:57 am

    Very cool video!

  43. Guy Stokes on March 27, 2023 at 11:01 am

    What’s the horse Derek, make the damn video

  44. Eva4 Adam on March 27, 2023 at 11:03 am

    Better no background music.

  45. Galveston on March 27, 2023 at 11:04 am

    Fascinating!

  46. Rushi Kumthekar on March 27, 2023 at 11:06 am

    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

  47. paco ramon on March 27, 2023 at 11:06 am

    What a cheap way of making an explosive.

  48. yashodhan barve on March 27, 2023 at 11:07 am

    Can someone tell me how to separate copper sulphate from the potash solution????

  49. Britt K on March 27, 2023 at 11:11 am

    This is so interesting

  50. Caden Luther on March 27, 2023 at 11:11 am

    The bucket of water landed

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