Science & Engineering | Summer School w/ Mr. Smith ep.3

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]So, to answer some of the comments about how we can air condition this garage, that's not true, but I needed a hook for this video. I'm sorry. I didn't I'm sorry for lying. Have to know how to distinguish between science and engineering. Scientific inquiry begins with a question about a phenomenon in the natural world, like why is the sky blue? The sky's blue because the atmosphere scatters more blue wavelengths than any other wavelengths.

[00:00:22]Engineering begins with the specific problem or a human need that requires a solution, like how make bridge stronger?

[00:00:31]You give it more muscles. Both require defining the scope and constraints of the task. So, I need to cool the garage.

[00:00:40]Do I fill a bucket with water and ice and put a fan in front of it?

[00:00:44]We could do that. We could totally try that, but that wouldn't make any sense because I already have a space in my house that stays cooler than the garage.

[00:00:50]So, why does the rest of my house stay cooler?

[00:00:53]Insulation in the walls, in the ceiling.

[00:00:56]It's called insulation. If I fill the walls and the ceiling with a bunch of little pockets of air, then the heat from the outside has a lot harder time coming into the cool of the inside. It's the opposite, too, if it's winter or you live up north. The cool from the outside has a hard time getting into the heat on the inside. So, if we can first operate off of that engineering principle, and then add one more, which is that later, once I get the place insulated, I can add an air conditioner, like an AC unit. I can use electricity to turn air cooler or hotter. That's a horrible way of saying that scientifically, but it's just that's that those are the words that we're going to use today. By the way, the sky on Earth is blue, but on Mercury, it's gray, and on Venus, it's some type of yellow, and on Mars, it's red because their atmospheres scatter different wavelengths. Magic again So, again, science engineering.

[00:01:51]As students of science, we run into misconceptions, like believing that any question is a scientific question. In reality, a scientific question must be testable through observation or experimentation. And it's really important also to distinguish between a why, a science question, and a how to fix, an engineering question. I had professional development today and all my teacher friends are making fun of me for riding a skateboard and I Stakes are important. Many of the greatest scientific discoveries began with a mistake that led to a better question, like Alexander Fleming. He was wondering why mold was killing all of his bacteria cultures, which led him to the discovery of penicillin. Or x-rays.

[00:02:29]While experimenting with cathode rays, Wilhelm Röntgen noticed a mysterious glow on a nearby screen and an apparent equipment failure or error led him to discover x-rays, which revolutioni- revolutioni- revolutionized medical engineering, engineering imaging, which >> [laughter] >> which revolutionized medical imaging.

[00:02:55]Listen as your day unfolds. Challenge what the future holds. Or the cosmic microwave background radiation. Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson tried to eliminate this annoying like radio noise from one of their antennas, only to realize it was ancient radiation from the Big Bang, providing key evidence for modern cosmology. That's known as the cosmic microwave background radiation. Try and keep your head up to the skies.

[00:03:22]When something goes wrong and you can replace dismissal with curiosity, most of the time a better question can turn everything around.

[00:03:36]That's science. POV, you're a water molecule and I'm about to drink you.