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In this video, we will tell you about an amazing experiment that scientists did in Antarctica. They dropped an ice block down a hole in the ice and recorded the sound it made when it reached the bottom. The sound was so surprising and unusual that it shocked the scientists. Watch this video to find out what the sound was and what it means. #brightside #brightsideglobal TIMESTAMPS: 0:01 Mysterious ice hole 08:49 Why we are not allowed to visit Antarctica 17:31 Why Antarctica is the hotspot for meteorites This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
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00:03There's not much to do in Antarctica except scientific work.
00:07You could check out the wildlife, like some cute penguins and seals.
00:11And you'd get to see the occasional whale swimming around.
00:14Antarctica is one of the biggest lands out there
00:17that's only inhabited by scientists and researchers from all over the world.
00:21These scientists dug a hole through some pretty thick ice
00:25to study the ancient air and how the atmosphere cleans itself.
00:28They used a special drill and dug a clean cylindrical hole 450 feet below the surface.
00:35Some of this ice can be up to 800,000 years old
00:38and is a good indicator of what the climate was like in the past.
00:42It's like checking out tree rings to determine how old a certain tree is,
00:46except it's more complicated than that.
00:49After the effortless digging,
00:51they decided to drop some ice to the bottom of the hole to see what would happen next.
00:55They heard some really unusual sounds.
01:03It felt like being on a spaceship traveling through a bunch of obstacles
01:07with many rocks smashing into each other.
01:09The pitches changed over the quick descent of the block of ice,
01:13ranging from high pitch and ending with a low heartbeat-like sound.
01:17The scientists were puzzled when they first heard this and dropped some more ice,
01:21only to find out that the same type of sounds were being produced, just in different variations.
01:29They couldn't tell what was down there and, more importantly, why these kinds of sounds were produced.
01:36Antarctica boasts quite a few volcanoes, many of which are under super thick sheets of ice.
01:41Scientists discovered 91 volcanoes and claimed there could be more,
01:46potentially making it the most extensive volcanic region in the world.
01:50While they were doing regular scientific research,
01:53they came across many unmistakable large cone-shaped figures underground.
01:57Some were as deep as two miles in the ice.
02:00Some of the peaks were over 3,000 feet tall and dozens of miles across.
02:05But on the surface, it's as plain as a sheet of paper.
02:09They may have dropped that block of ice inside an actual volcano that they were standing on, but it's unlikely.
02:16Even though the underground volcano presence was discovered by accident,
02:20there's a small chance they were actually standing on one where they had their workstation set up.
02:26It's more likely that they worked in an area where studying ancient climates is easier and less dangerous than other
02:32places.
02:33They collect ice samples and study them in a lab.
02:36It's like discovering a prehistoric insect embedded in amber millions of years ago when dinosaurs used to roam the land.
02:43But instead of little bugs, scientists study ancient dust, air bubbles, sea salts, volcanic ash, and anything else that may
02:52have come from the environment.
02:54They can practically tell how the climate was during that time.
02:58These ice samples might show that Antarctica's western ice sheet melted when the Earth's climate warmed up.
03:04If it did, then it's likely to happen again.
03:07That would mean sea levels rising, affecting coastal cities and small remote islands.
03:12But scientists aren't sure it's true, despite some evidence to back it up.
03:17The process of studying ice samples can take a week, or even a year, depending on what they find.
03:23They crush or melt the sample bit by bit.
03:26And like those tree rings, the deeper the layer, the further we go back in time.
03:31In order to study ancient bubbles trapped in ice, researchers have to crush the samples under a vacuum hood to
03:39keep the air out while extracting the air and putting it in vials.
03:42There are various instruments and devices to study the ice samples.
03:47But because it's so sensitive to damage, each measurement must be in a clean room setting so that nothing gets
03:53compromised.
03:53The scientists have to wear proper body suits and many layers of gloves and constantly get ventilated.
04:00Even something as tiny and insignificant as a fingerprint can ruin a sample.
04:04They look for certain patterns to see changes in the atmosphere's composition and temperature.
04:10But dropping a few blocks of ice down a hole wouldn't be so bad.
04:14The reason why it made such a peculiar sound is the same reason why a moving car sounds different when
04:20it's honking than when it's stationary.
04:23The scientific word for it is the Doppler effect.
04:27It's an obvious change in the frequency of a wave with respect to an observer who is moving relative to
04:32the wave source.
04:33The effect doesn't mean the frequency of the sound changes.
04:36It just shifts.
04:38And this can be said about other types of waves, like water and light.
04:42But sound waves are the most popular ones when it comes to the Doppler effect.
04:46So, when the scientists dropped the ice block down the bottom of the hole, the sound waves traveled back up
04:52and bounced around the narrow tube where they drilled.
04:55That's why they got the pew pew sound.
04:59Let's not forget that this ice block traveled 450 feet beneath us.
05:04Oil ships dig holes in the oceanic crust that go thousands of feet beneath the Earth.
05:09The Kola Superdeep Borehole in Russia is the deepest hole ever made by humans.
05:15It goes more than 40,000 feet below the surface and took almost 20 years to reach 7.5 miles.
05:22Below it is only half the distance to the mantle.
05:26In terms of the whole Earth, this very deep hole is literally scratching the surface.
05:31This wasn't a hole to dig for oil and wasn't in the ocean either.
05:35The drilling was stopped in 1992 when the engineers found out that the temperatures were 100 degrees Fahrenheit higher than
05:44they predicted.
05:44And then it was abandoned.
05:47And it's just been a barren hole now.
05:49But that's the closest we've dug to the center of the planet.
05:53The scary thing is that some of the workers on the site could hear voices coming from within.
05:59All the way in Yemen, an ancient hole exists in Barhut in the east of the country in the middle
06:05of the desert.
06:06It's actually closer to Oman than to the capital Sana'a.
06:10This hole has puzzled experts and locals.
06:13Unlike the holes in Russia and Antarctica, this wasn't man-made.
06:18Or was it?
06:19It's been around for many years and the locals try to steer away from it.
06:23They don't even like talking about it since they claim it brings bad luck to those around it or to
06:29whoever utters its name.
06:30They claim it was created as a prison for spirits, but many rule that out.
06:36The hole is 98 feet wide and somewhere between 330 to 650 feet deep.
06:42You can also hear strange sounds coming from the inside.
06:45But according to some scientists, the well has little to no ventilation and barely has any oxygen down there.
06:52So it's unlikely that anyone, or anything, lives down there.
06:57The Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench caught some low-pitched grumble sounds in March of 2016.
07:04Some of these grumbles were followed by screeches.
07:07They caught these sounds in a span of weeks using a titanium-encased microphone
07:12so that the immense pressure of the lowest point on Earth wouldn't crush it.
07:16They had to lower it slowly as well since it's 1,000 times the atmospheric pressure at sea level.
07:21For 23 whole days, the microphone recorded typical sounds of whales passing by and boats sailing across from above,
07:29and even rumbles of nearby earthquakes.
07:32But they still couldn't determine what caused those initial sounds.
07:36The researchers couldn't understand if the noise from the bottom of the Mariana Trench was caused by humans or was
07:42natural.
07:43They also wanted to know if these sounds affected marine life, like dolphins and whales that rely on echolocation.
07:50They still can't figure it out.
07:52But scientists estimate that the ocean is about 10 times noisier than it was 50 years ago.
07:58With technological developments in shipping, submarines, and underwater construction, the ocean will only get louder with time.
08:07Northern lights come with sounds, which nobody talks about.
08:10They're usually audible when the auroras are at their most powerful presence.
08:15Scientists were always puzzled as to what caused the faint popping and crackling, even though they were very far above
08:21us.
08:22They used some special microphones and found out that the sounds came just 230 feet above us, which is pretty
08:29low.
08:30They're caused by electrical charges gaining power in a specific region of the auroras.
08:34The electrical charges are disturbed by magnetic storms that fire up the northern lights.
08:40As a result, some tiny sparks are released into the atmosphere, causing the faint crackling and popping noise.
08:47We've all dreamed of visiting the Arctic and witnessing the natural wonders of polar bears frolicking on ice floes or
08:55the aurora borealis dancing across the sky.
08:57Why?
08:58Well, sorry to break it to you, but you won't find any tourists flocking to Antarctica anytime soon.
09:04Why, you may ask?
09:06Let's dive into it.
09:07First off, where is Antarctica?
09:10It's located in the southern hemisphere, specifically at the South Pole.
09:14The southern ocean surrounds it, and most of the continent is covered by ice, making it one of the most
09:20remote and frigid places on Earth.
09:22Now, have you ever met someone who's visited Antarctica?
09:26Probably not.
09:27It's one of the least visited places on the planet, and only a handful of lucky explorers have seen its
09:33interior, which is mostly made up of glaciers and ice fields.
09:37But trust me when I say the wildlife and scenery are out of this world.
09:43Why shouldn't you travel to Antarctica?
09:46Well, for starters, the environment is incredibly fragile and can be easily damaged.
09:52Plus, there are no native human populations on the continent, so your travels would essentially be like visiting an uninhabited
09:59island.
10:00And let's not forget that it's also one of the most expensive destinations to travel to.
10:05Despite all that, Antarctica is not exactly guarded like a fortress, but there is an international agreement called the Antarctic
10:14Treaty.
10:14This treaty was negotiated to prevent any unwanted activity on the continent and banned some forms of testing done there
10:21by member states.
10:23But the primary reason we can't just waltz into Antarctica is that it has a delicate ecosystem that needs protection.
10:31The treaty states that Antarctica should be used for peaceful purposes only and should be free from any human activity
10:38that could harm the environment.
10:40Scientists are still learning about the continent's unique ecosystem, and our activity and machines could disrupt the delicate balance that
10:48exists there.
10:50If you're still itching to go to Antarctica, getting permission isn't exactly a walk in the park.
10:56U.S. citizens, for example, need to complete a special form and send it to the Office of Ocean and
11:02Polar Affairs.
11:03And once you're there, you'll need to follow some strict guidelines to protect the environment,
11:08like not disturbing any wildlife or taking souvenirs like rocks, plants or animals.
11:14Now, technically, can you live in Antarctica?
11:17While there are no laws banning people from living there permanently, it's a very inhospitable environment and unsuitable for human
11:25habitation.
11:26Temperatures can reach negative 76 degrees Fahrenheit and below, making it nearly impossible for anyone to survive without the proper
11:34equipment and experience.
11:36Plus, the nearest piece of land is over 1,000 miles away, making any inhabitants completely cut off from the
11:44rest of the world.
11:44Who knows? Maybe one day we'll get the chance to visit this unique and fascinating continent.
11:50But until then, let's admire it from afar.
11:56Let's now talk a bit about the discovery of Antarctica.
11:59Unlike other places that were already inhabited, Antarctica never had a native human population.
12:05Ancient Greek philosophers had an idea about the continent and called it Antarctos, meaning opposite the bear.
12:13The bears it refers to are not the polar ones, though, but rather the great and little bear constellations, which
12:20are only observable in the northern hemisphere.
12:22As a result, the term signifies the opposite of the land of the bear.
12:30Whaling and sealing voyages in the late 1700s and early 1800s would venture further south when rounding Cape Horn at
12:38the tip of South America.
12:39It was known that going further south often meant stronger winds, but also the risk of hitting floating ice of
12:47all sizes and of winds and seas that could prove dangerous to the ship and crew.
12:53Captain James Cook was the first to cross the Antarctic Circle on January 17, 1773 in the Ross Sea region.
13:01He reached a point further north a year later, and though he didn't site land, he came to within 50
13:07miles and saw deposits of rock held in icebergs indicating that a more southerly land existed.
13:15The first sighting of Antarctica is widely acknowledged to have taken place in January 1820 during the voyage of two
13:22ships under the command of Captain Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen as part of a two-year exploratory expedition around the
13:30world to discover new lands.
13:32The captain's ships were the first to have crossed the Antarctic Circle since Cook.
13:38The first undisputed landing on Antarctica didn't happen until much later on January 24, 1895 at Cape Adare during the
13:48whaling voyage of the ship Antarctic led by Henrik Bull.
13:52A small boat with six or possibly seven men on board rode ashore during calm conditions.
14:00You might not believe it, but Antarctica is actually a desert.
14:04With all that ice, you'd think it'd be like a winter wonderland with snowball fights and hot cocoa all day
14:11long.
14:11When we think of deserts, we picture camels and cacti and people struggling to find water.
14:17But in Antarctica, it's a whole different story.
14:21The struggle isn't to find water, it's to find anything that's not covered in ice.
14:26And the average rainfall has been just over 0.4 inches in the past 30 years.
14:31That's like a few drops of rain compared to what we're used to.
14:36So technically, it's not the dunes or sizzling heat that makes a desert, well, a desert.
14:42It's the lack of precipitation.
14:44But don't worry.
14:45If you ever find yourself lost in Antarctica, you won't have to worry about getting thirsty.
14:50Just make sure you bring a jacket and some mittens, because it's cold enough to make you into a popsicle.
14:57Not only is Antarctica one of the driest places on Earth, but it's also the coldest, the windiest, and the
15:04highest.
15:05Talk about overachieving.
15:06The penguins and scientists down in Antarctica have at times found themselves in a bit of a pickle when it
15:13comes to time.
15:14You see, unlike the rest of us on this big blue planet, there is no Antarctica time zone.
15:20All the lines of longitude meet at a single point at the South Pole, making it a bit of a
15:26head-scratcher when trying to figure out what time it is.
15:30Now, you might be thinking, but how do the scientists and researchers keep track of time down there?
15:36Good question.
15:37They typically stick to the time zone of the country they departed from.
15:41However, with stations from all over the world on the Antarctic Peninsula, things can get a little wacky.
15:48Imagine trying to coordinate with your neighboring countries without accidentally waking them up in the middle of the night.
15:55You might think that not much could survive in a place where the temperature is extremely cold, the sun barely
16:01shows up, and the wind could blow you away faster than a tumbleweed.
16:06Well, as in many places on Earth, life found a way in Antarctica, too.
16:11Believe it or not, this frozen continent is buzzing with activity.
16:15It's home to billions of krill, which in turn attract lots of seals and more penguins than you can shake
16:22a fish at.
16:24But don't let their cute and cuddly appearance fool you.
16:27Penguins are the ultimate swimmers, with streamlined bodies that would make Olympic medal winners jealous.
16:34They come ashore to breed and chill, but their real talent is stealing pebbles from each other and forming mathematically
16:41precise huddles to stay warm.
16:43Antarctica is also home to the largest species of penguin on Earth.
16:48It's called the emperor penguin.
16:50Sure, these creatures are flightless birds, but that doesn't mean they can't jump.
16:55In fact, some of them can leap up to 120 inches.
16:59And let's not forget about the seals, with their furry bodies and special songs.
17:04These marine mammals are protected by the Antarctic Treaty, and they're thriving in the cool waters of the Southern Ocean,
17:11too.
17:11But the real stars of the show are the whales.
17:14During the Antarctic summer, these huge creatures show up in droves to chow down on the abundant krill.
17:21It's indeed like a whale buffet down there.
17:24Meteorites rain down on Earth every single year.
17:28Almost 63% of the 69,268 meteorites scientists have officially recorded in the meteoritical bulletin database have been picked
17:38up from a polar desert.
17:40From where?
17:41Antarctica.
17:42It's technically a desert because it gets little precipitation.
17:45The continent receives an average equivalent of about 6 inches of water annually, mostly from snow.
17:52The interior parts are even drier.
17:55Not much action happens to meteorites there.
17:57Deserts are like safe storage closets for them, and it's easier to spot meteorites there.
18:03In total, there are around 42,000 meteorites in Antarctica.
18:08Most of them have been spotted since 1976.
18:11The Sahara Desert in Africa isn't far behind.
18:15Nomads and treasure hunters have discovered over 14,000 meteorites there, especially since 1995.
18:22Then there's the Arabian Peninsula, mainly Oman, where they've unearthed about 4,200 meteorites.
18:29So why does Antarctica take the crown for its meteorite collection compared to other areas?
18:35It's not because more meteorites land there.
18:38Statistically, they can land anywhere.
18:41Antarctica wins because it's great at showing off these space rocks.
18:45The icy environment keeps them in mint condition.
18:48The contrast between the ice and space rocks makes spotting meteorites easy.
18:53Plus, there are spots called meteorite stranding zones, where the geology, ice flow, and climate team up to gather meteorites.
19:02Here's the sci-fi part.
19:04Satellites help researchers find meteorites.
19:07They use these space gadgets to spot the best places to search.
19:11Some of these meteorites are ancient, like a million years old.
19:15Now, when you think about how many meteorites there are, it's a bit like a pie chart.
19:20If you measure their weight, instead of just counting them, things get interesting.
19:26Antarctica's slice of the pie gets smaller.
19:28On average, an Antarctic meteorite weighs about 2 ounces, like a small bar of chocolate.
19:34Oh, chocolate.
19:35But in the Sahara, they've got all sizes, so the average is about a pound.
19:43Now, let's talk about meteorites in action.
19:46Only a tiny bit, maybe just 1.8% of all meteorites found, have been seen falling.
19:52These are called falls.
19:55Clever name.
19:56Meteorite detectives, or meteoriticists, get all excited when they see that.
20:01The other 98% are finds.
20:04Someone stumbled upon them without seeing the meteorite take its cosmic leap.
20:08So, when we only look at the ones that fell from the sky, most are called stony meteorites.
20:14These are like regular fellas of the meteorite world.
20:17But there's also a special kind called iron meteorites, or just irons.
20:22There are also super rare meteorites, called mesocidorites and pelocidines, that are like a mix of metal and regular rock
20:32stuff.
20:32In places where humans live, like North America, people tend to find more iron meteorites than those that fell.
20:39That's because iron ones are usually bigger and more eye-catching.
20:44Farmers found some of these while they were working in their fields.
20:47Oh, surprise!
20:48A bunch of gigantic iron meteorites from places like China, Namibia, and the US make the chart slices huge.
20:56Now, check out this adventure.
20:58A group of scientists braving the crazy cold of Antarctica's icy desert to uncover some fresh meteorites found what they
21:06had been looking for.
21:07In fact, one of the meteorites weighed almost 17 pounds.
21:11The ones like that are pretty huge.
21:14Do they have an impact on Earth?
21:16Science says yes, they do.
21:18Meteorite impacts are more common than you think.
21:21About 17 meteorites smack Earth's surface every single day.
21:25Since most of the planet is covered with water, there are loads of places without people around.
21:31That's why these hits often go unnoticed.
21:34Most meteorites are just small bits zipping through our atmosphere anyway.
21:38By the time they touch down, they get tiny thanks to all the friction against the air.
21:43Not all meteorite impacts are wimpy.
21:46Some supersized ones have rocked our world.
21:48Remember when dinosaurs said bye-bye?
21:51Yeah, that might have been the fault of a huge asteroid.
21:55These meteorite hits are random, and they happen all the time.
21:59Scientists have uncovered evidence of a massive meteor impact even before the famous dinosaur wipeout.
22:06This impact is thought to have triggered the biggest extinction event in Earth's history.
22:11The 300-mile-wide impact crater is chilling over a mile beneath the East Antarctic ice sheet.
22:18This mega-event occurred about 250 million years ago.
22:23The epicenter of the crater is in the Wilkesland area of East Antarctica.
22:27It might have started the breakup of the Gondwana supercontinent.
22:31It was a big landmass that included parts of what are now South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia, and more.
22:40So, the Gondwana supercontinent started to chip off by creating a tectonic rift that pushed Australia northward.
22:48This Wilkesland impact surpasses the one that led to the dinosaurs' extinction in terms of scale
22:54and could have caused catastrophic consequences at the time.
22:59The HOBA meteorite is a huge junk of space stuff chilling on Earth.
23:05It crash-landed about 80,000 years ago in Namibia.
23:08The thing is a heavyweight, like twice the size of the next biggest meteorite ever found.
23:14Interestingly, it also has a weird flat shape.
23:18Nobody's moved it since it fell, so we really don't know how deep it's hidden.
23:22But experts think it skidded along ground like a stone skipping on a lake because it landed at an angle.
23:30That's why it didn't leave a big crater when it hit the ground.
23:33And it was discovered by chance.
23:35A farmer found the world's biggest single meteorite.
23:39He was plowing his field with an ox and a regular plow.
23:43Suddenly, he heard a scraping noise.
23:45It was the metal plow meeting the iron meteorite.
23:48The MOSI meteorite from Tanzania has been staying underground for centuries before scientists gave it a proper look.
23:56The locals loved this space gem, calling it commando.
24:00It was known in town for generations.
24:03MOSI is made of the same stuff as its other meteorite friends on Earth.
24:07About 90% iron and 8% nickel.
24:10It weighs 25 tons.
24:13Let's talk about the El Chaco meteorite, part of the Campo del Cielo meteorite crew in Argentina.
24:20Imagine an almost 24-square-mile playground for space rocks.
24:25El Chaco, weighing 37 tons, decided to show up fashionably late in 1969.
24:32So, what if you found a meteorite?
24:34How can you tell for sure that it's not just some random rock?
24:38These space visitors have a few features that make them stand out from regular rocks.
24:44Firstly, meteorites are often heavier than they look, because they're packed with heavy metals and dense materials.
24:50Secondly, most meteorites have some metallic iron, so magnets usually stick to them.
24:56If you've got a rock that's not magnetic, try suspending the magnet from a string.
25:02The third clue lies in their unusual shapes.
25:05Iron-nickel meteorites aren't smooth and round.
25:08Stony meteorites usually have a thin, crispy crust on the outside.
25:12It looks as if their surface melted a bit while moving through the atmosphere.
25:16Sounds like pizza to me.
25:18Suppose these tips won't help on your quest.
25:21Then, consider this.
25:23Light-colored crystals are not meteorites.
25:26Those pretty things, like quartz, are common on Earth.
25:29But they don't hang out on other planets or moons in our solar system.
25:33Do you know those bubbly holes in volcanic rocks?
25:36Or melted metal slag on Earth?
25:39Meteorites don't have those, either.
25:41Plus, scratching a meteorite shouldn't leave a mark.
25:44But if you scratch a dense rock and get a dark or red mark, the rock contains minerals like magnetite
25:51or hematite, which meteorites don't usually have.
25:54If you suspect finding a meteor in your backyard or something, try these tips.
26:00Just remember, to be sure, you've got to give rocks and minerals a real-life look from experts.
26:06And if you see one falling towards you, always remember to duck.
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