This mechanism shrinks when pulled

How an unlikely physics paradox controls these counterintuitive structures.▀▀▀You'll find our full back catalogue of hundreds of videos on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ . For early access videos, bonus content, and to support the channel, join us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠▀▀▀0:00 What happens if you cut this rope? 1:41 The Spring Paradox4:59 New York’s Perplexing Discovery6:29 Road Networks and Traffic Flow8:40 Braess’s Paradox 14:29 Snapping17:16 This object shrinks when you stretch it

Veritasium

Ve - An element of truth. Veritasium is a channel of science and engineering videos featuring experiments, expert interviews, cool demos, and discussions with the public about everything science. The channel has over 18 million subscribers and 3 billion views on YouTube. You'll find our full back catalogue of hundreds of videos on ⁠YouTube⁠ - https://www.youtube.com/@veritasium. For early access videos, bonus content, and to support the channel, join us on ⁠Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/c/veritasium.

• No. of episodes: 78
• Latest episode: 2025-07-08

Where can you listen?