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It's Okay to Be Smart: How Well Do Masks Work? (Schlieren Imaging In Slow Motion!)

7 minutes 25 seconds

Now Playing As: Captioned (English) (change)

Wearing a mask is a cheap and easy way to help stop the spread of airborne infections like COVID-19. Here's some slow-motion Schlieren imaging experiments to demonstrate why masks work. Part of the "It's Okay to Be Smart" series. Please note this title contains mature themes and references.

Media Details

Runtime: 7 minutes 25 seconds

ASL
Seven different butterflies, where four are placed at the corners facing the butterfly at the center and two at either side of the central butterfly.
It's Okay to Be Smart
Season 7 / Ep 11
11 minutes 12 seconds
Grade Level: 10 - 12
ASL
Different math equations and graphs are drawn, with a butterfly as the backdrop.
It's Okay to Be Smart
Season 7 / Ep 7
9 minutes 17 seconds
Grade Level: 10 - 12
ASL
An animal with the body of a lion, an extra goat head on its back, and a snake instead of a tail. Caption: Chimera.
It's Okay to Be Smart
Season 7 / Ep 14
9 minutes 43 seconds
Grade Level: 10 - 12
ASL
A star filled night sky. Caption: P B S.
It's Okay to Be Smart
Season 7 / Ep 16
10 minutes 26 seconds
Grade Level: 10 - 12
ASL
Sunlight is shining through in a forest with large number of trees.
It's Okay to Be Smart
Season 7 / Ep 17
5 minutes 27 seconds
Grade Level: 10 - 12
ASL
Eggs of Screech owl, Turkey vulture, Audubon's Caracara, Kingfisher, Common Murree, Yellow Billed. Caption: Stoddard Et Al. Science 20 17.
It's Okay to Be Smart
Season 7 / Ep 19
7 minutes 23 seconds
Grade Level: 10 - 12
ASL
A view of Moon in the dark sky. Caption: Maria, Latin for seas, and Sea of Tranquility, Mare Tranquillitatis.
It's Okay to Be Smart
Season 7 / Ep 15
10 minutes 31 seconds
Grade Level: 10 - 12
ASL
Two different types of bacteria are seen all over a human outline. Caption: 37.2 trillion and 39 trillion.
It's Okay to Be Smart
Season 7 / Ep 20
11 minutes 24 seconds
Grade Level: 10 - 12
ASL
Collage with black and white illustration of a twelfth century Chinese man holding out a scrap of paper.  A red lantern on a pole overhead. Red prohibited symbol covers image of 2 gold bars.
It's Okay to Be Smart
Season 7 / Ep 21
9 minutes 36 seconds
Grade Level: 10 - 12
ASL
The sample particles enter the mass spectrometer, which is accelerated, and then separated according to their individual mass of the particles by a magnet.
It's Okay to Be Smart
Season 7 / Ep 22
11 minutes 20 seconds
Grade Level: 10 - 12

Viewer Comments

  • Tiny default profile photo
    Lindsey S. (Bellevue, NE)
    December 2nd, 2020 at 02:47 PM

    Parts of this video are definitely geared towards older students, but I showed the beginning to a 4th grader and she was astounded by the Schlieren Imaging. It gave her a much better understanding of why masks are important (especially keeping it over your nose).

  • Tiny default profile photo
    Carrie W. (Algonquin, IL)
    October 7th, 2020 at 08:29 AM

    Extremely informative. Wonderful visualization!