Can You See the Fire? -- Extreme Science #2
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- Опубліковано 13 січ 2025
- Twitter: / vsaucethree
My Instagram: instagr.am/jake...
**Click "SHOW MORE" for links**
Previous Extreme Science video: • What Happens When a Me...
Companion article on PopSci: www.popsci.com/...
There will be one more coming out so stay tuned! Special thanks to PopSci for giving me permission to put these on my channel.
**CREDITS**
Written, directed, hosted and edited by Jake Roper
Cinematography and VFX by Eric Langlay
Produced by Tim Willison
Sound Design by Jay Pellizzi
Special thanks to Cliff Ransom, PopSci and Toyota.
I was not paid to put these on Vsauce3. I just was proud of them and wanted to share
**VSAUCE LINKS**
Facebook: / vsauce3
Vsauce1: / vsauce1
Vsauce2: / vsauce2
WEsauce: / wesauce
Fun fact: Centralia was the inspiration for the Silent Hill movie.
+Vsauce3 I love you!!
love you jake
you're loved in austria
+Vsauce3 Why does the intro say popular science but the title is extreme science?
+Jonathan Quarles popular science is the magazine and this series is extreme science.
+Joshua Neeley Thanks :)
There will be one more Extreme Science episode coming soon! Thanks for trying out this new style with me and thanks for watching!
+Vsauce3 I love yo!!!
+Vsauce3 I'm loving the new style.
10/10~IGN
EL CHAPO FOR PRESIDENT
EL CHAPO SACRIFICED HIMSELF FOR JESUS GOD N US ALL REPENT SO EL CHAPO CAN SAVE U
+Vsauce3 Great vid man, care to share the name of the song at the end? It's pretty awesome.
You should have brought a thermal camera with you.
Tokyo Warfare yee
It's really not enough difference that you'd see anything. I stopped by last winter and there were no areas that the snow was melted.
But it all changed when the firenation attacked.
Ants canada
Redstone To win no....
Redstone To win ants canada based it off of avatar. Thats where the reference is from
Wow way to copy popular comments from over a year prior to your own... 100% there are comments every month since saying the same thing like idiots...
@@trod146 Calm down lol
Jake is like the modern more hip Bill Nye.
Love your videos! This one was one of your best so far! So entertaining yet educational!
20 yrs ago when my curiosity about the natural world was beginning to unravel i watched a show with an eccentric host that would dissect these very concepts you have discussed with us. I remember feeling smarter and proud to belong to this club of nerds. I remember explaining to my parents what I have learned. Now 20 yrs older I'm a chemist working in a cancer lab because I looked up to that eccentric host that went by the name of Bill Nye. If I was back in kinder watching this now I would have looked up to you and said gosh I want to know what he knows. Keep up the good work. Bill Nye would be proud of this work cause as one of his "students" that watched him and said yup that's what I want to do, I can say you inspire just like he does.
Albert Arias that sounds so interesting, how was schooling? could you explain the process to me?
I've actually spent the night camping in Centralia before, it's so awesome. In the area we stayed in there was a long stretch of road that was clearly an older section of highway that's no longer used and is blocked off, and is completely covered with graffiti. Some of it stupid stuff you'd expect, but many of them were clever jokes and references, such as my favorite "There was a hole here, it's gone now," a reference to Silent Hill 2.
[edit] Yeah, posted this before I finished watching past intro. It's that stretch of road shown @1:19
Centralia was the inspiration for silent hill: admitedly ive never seen it, i just know that from reading.
2, in 2020 the grafitti highway was covered with dirt by the private owners of the road, its some company that owns it. No idea why its worth owning but yeah
Anthracite coal can't melt steel beams
Yeah but a burning underground mine of the stuff can weaken the foundation its on. :p
Just DO IT DONT LET YOUR DREAMS MELT STEEL BEAMS
+Derrek Beeck And fire grates and bars too. I did my apprenticeship at, and worked at a coal mine years ago, as a fitter. We mined great quality anthracite and we had a dedicated belt over to the powerstation. We used to have to mix back in a proportion of dirt/rock otherwise it would burn too hot and wreck the grates of the furnaces/boilers.
you're new here hey, rationalmartian
Damn, should of used some jet fuel instead
I just found out I live an hour from centralia. Huh
ok
i just realized that we have the same first name
+Liamj774 Go visit!! I would love to visit that place... I'm waaaay too far though :(
woah...
+Luke VSGaming kill? you mean him as the fire?
3:12
Carbon Monoxide squared?
2 carbons one oxygen. thats just how its written
Liam McLain That's just not correct.
Its a carbon and 2 oxygen.
Liam McLain Also, the 2 should be under the C, not above it.
+Digital Dirk lol i think u mean the O
dude its read as Carbon Dioxide Di means double
3:12 - Why is the 2 in superscript?
+Jenkz Thought the exact same thing.
+Namnam54 superscript and subscript have 2 different implications in Chemistry
+Jenkz Jake failed us...
+Jenkz We are nerds that know (at least) basic chemistry hahaha. I really had the same thought watching this lol
+Carlo James Escano Wow how incredibly nerdy of you /s
They could put in a geothermal plant in centralia
+killer13324 the fire moves too fast
+クリス They should put a moving geothermal plant there. No idea how that would work, but it would be cool.
+Leo Wattenberg (LEOXD) How are you verified? xD
Edis I'm one of these: g.co/topcontributor
+Leo Wattenberg (LEOXD) Aah, okey :)
As it's almost impossible to put the fire out, why don't some one turn it into an electric generator?
exactly what i was thinking. Since it's already started and will continue burning for another 100 years, it could be harnessed for electrical output rather than letting all that energy go to waste
How exactly would you do that?
We capture coal energy through heat, and while there is heat involved, it's not consistent, the ground is unstable so no foundations can be established that we can say will stay there, more so if one intentionally tried to take advantage of the underground heat, further the whole place occasionally lets off vast amounts of toxic gasses.
It would be a expensive and complex process. With very little return.
You use penetrating radar and find solid bedrock survey the area, drill into mine seal all other found entrances/ fill in new vent that are discovered or collapse control the oxygen intake by forcing air in at your input, take heat from your output and boil water with it to turn turbine. Off would be to limit air forced in on would be to force air in.
Probably construct something better then this simple concept scratch using water or something, but as long as you could pipe the heat that could melt lead on the surface that was coming out of vents like the one he stuck his hand in and control the application of that heat to a boiler and turbine running a generator i don't see why you couldn't make use of the heat. We make use of hot rocks in geothermal areas for power. It's all about heat.
If you had no expense on purchasing and shipping in the coal and maintaining the trucks and trains that moved it then why would a power plant once operational that would have a heat source for 200 years not have a return?
That's 200 years of FREE fuel....
NoSuspect Got it in 1!
People on UA-cam thinking they know more about the place the many professional scientists landscapers and engineers that tried and looked into it
Wow i just realized I live in my house
lol
I have no words
Same lol
This is so damn random I don't know why I'm laughing ='D
dude same
Jake sounds so enthusiastic when he speaks, it gets me excited to learn! and I never usually want to learn
Can I see the fire? Yes, it's right here in my mixtape
How hot is it?
Douglas Aranda It's actually a sword
P/
ental /\dvisory™ OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAND!!!!!! degrees Celsius.
NavyBurger Hahaha, I need to go buy new glasses XD
Only on Dashie's mixtape
***** I don't have a sound cloud
Silent hill?...
+Kratos It was definitely influenced by this event.
Vsauce commented this
I knew this place, but I didn't know of the movie...
+Jordan Evans I commented before Jake mentioned it :)
***** I haven't actually played the game, although i respect it and do wish the a film made more of an effort to stick to the original story.
Fun fact as a vermonter in the burlington metro area, i can attest to the renewable energy resource.
You see, burlington is filled with giant gaping assholes for human beings and we can use the methane from them to power the entire champlain valley.
There's a whole conspiracy theory about Centralia. Here it is in a nutshell. The coal belongs to the residents of Centralia. Once the government gets the last person to leave Centralia, the government now owns the coal. I think there are about ten residents left in the town. I'm not saying I believe the conspiracy. It's just interesting to think about.
The government owns the people too. They can just take whatever they want.
daemonCaptrix Taxes. You pay the government to own you ;)
Residents were served with eviction notices in 2009 and the homes were demolished in 2010
People own the government, government is a system people fund it has no rights, only granted powers given to it by the people with specific restrictions on the authority to apply those powers to the people rights as defined in the bill of rights and made law by the consent of the people with the signing of the US Constitution.
Government doesn't give rights, it is legally bound to protect them and restricted from infringing on many such as speech and the right to bear arms, privacy, and legal representation, etc, while also stating in the bill of rights all rights not listed are default to the states and the people. The constitution is a declaration by the people to the establishment of a system they consent to that is limited, as in it's shackles on the government, not the government giving the people anything.
Too many people don't understand this today and that is the only reason the government is able to unconstitutionally act and get away with it by those who work in the system that are abusing their positions and a lack of response for these violations will just make things worse.
It's ironic how this video is sponsored by a Toyota pickup truck.
Someone how is it ironic?
How,
Do they at least harvest that energy from underground?
+pcfreak1992 It's hard and inefficient to harness energy from that little coal mine.
How would you 'harvest' energy from coal that's on fire in an uncontrolled, unsafe environment? Do you know how people usually use coal to generate power/electricity?
+Derek Leung It's not a little coal mine, it's the main vein of coal that runs trough at least three states.
+pcfreak1992 How would you do that ? Do you know how energy plant work ?
build a steam plant and keep venting runoff water into openings
Great video buddy! Super interesting.
Matt Koval Why does this only have 1 like?
Eh I'll be the second
I will be the 4th one.
has anyone tried to put a "Geothermal" plant in Centralia or is it to dangerous or just not possible of has nobody thought about it?
I thought that too
Way to small
You need a certain type of rock for geothermal to work I think, also it would be very dangerous and expensive. Probably not worth it.
I dont think the ground is stable enough for it
I really wish there was more than three of these Extreme Science videos, they're awesome
*Camera pans out on windmills*
Do I need to say more, YTP community?
Please do say more, I don't get it ;--;
yes you do
+Da Random Wait, the YTP community still exists? Or was that just my wishful thinking?
Either way I have no idea what that is supposed to mean...
+Da Random yes you need to say more i dont get it
Blow those toxic chemicals around the world!!!!
where does it get the oxygen to burn? wouldn't it be bound in minerals and oxides?
In the coal itself. And since it is slow combustion, it needs little oxygen.
@@MythCraft00 no it still needs oxygen to burn. Pouring dirt on something is one of the best ways to put out a fire.
How have I seen this before?
+billzb93 yeah i was thinking the same
+billzb93 I think it was on his website before? but then i don't know i saw his website
Think another website a few months back maybe
There was another video he did that was about this I'm pretty sure.
+billzb93 yeah I watched on the pop sci website
Please keeping making these Extreme Science videos. Yet another great segment in the Vsauce legacy.
These videos keep getting better and better... Thank you!
fire to burn need air . why not just close any hole in the ground so fire would not have any oxygen ?
+Matija Tkalec Cause it is pretty much impossible to stop all sources of oxygen from getting into the ground. Plus, I think that while the oxygen that is there burns, there will be a buildup of the gases being released from the fire, which would create immense pressure (I do not know, I am assuming)
I think it would explode
+Matija Tkalec Because the fire opens holes in the ground. Theres hundreds of holes and everytime you close one, three more open.
MrHaphru99 The buildup of gases will actually kill the fire. Oxygen can still diffuse through the ground albeit slowly but it still happens. Also the ground is already collapsing so that would just facilitate the burning fire.
+MrHaphru99 If you're suggesting the immense pressure would cause explosions, then no, but it would certainly weaken the ground, thus creating more holes.
if only we could use the fire for geothermal power. imagine how much power that one fire could produce, but i know the EPA would shut the project down.
+Draconian Hunter Well how 'bout we'd shut PETA down?
+3irikur You mean EPA.
+Draconian Hunter Well, it wouldn't really be 'geothermal' energy. Most power plants work on roughly the same premise - heat! It's just a matter of where the heat comes from. So it would still be a coal plant, albeit a very unusual one.
However, it's not really feasible! You'd need to have to build the plant on the ground and the ground (as mentioned) is very prone to collapsing with no warning whatsoever. It's also impossible for anyone or anything to move any apparatus into the underground channels to harness all that heat.
It might be technically possible with unlimited funding and a small village of engineers, but I'd imagine getting that together would be a rough job.
girrafe84 Ah, yeah sure.
3irikur i agree peta needs to be shut down.
Yo. I just realized that I was born on the same day as my birthday...Life is crazy
yo
yo
Jaden pls...
+
Kendra Eze yo
Wow! This was a beautiful shot and edited video...Keep up this series.. You're doing fricken amazing
Props for putting metric units as subtitles. Very considerate and respectful of you to do that.
My girlfriend said i spoiled the movie by telling her that the ship was gonna sink, when we watched Titanic.
"I see fire"- Ed Sheeran
Domenico Rafael he knows
BEWARE OF THE MIGHTY NITROGEN!
I live about 90 minutes south of there in Baltimore. I always visit there every winter to see how much it has changed. You've done such a wonderful job explaining this peculiar town's situation, Jake!
Love the level of production! I've been there since there creation of this channel, as Vsauce with the other guy made a video about This auxillary channel. You guys have improved so much, it's unbelievable.
but how does the fire get a constant suply of oxygen?
+madinatore Holes. The ground is not one compact and hermetic thing.
+SaitoGray Yes, and the fire released so much gas that it popped open holes in the ground, and there are always holes to dig for normal life, especially in the early-mid 1900's, so there was a very steady supply of oxygen
Look around you, see somethin? Yea oxygen
+Ghost 39 His question was valid. He/She just wasn't sure how it got oxygen while being underground. (Also you can't see oxygen)
+ItchyToocan Technically, you can see oxygen. Not the gas form, but the the liquid and solid forms. Although Ghost 39 was obviously not talking about the non-gas forms XD
dont waste it,make some hot spring pool
Lol
+The Jokster extreme hot spring pool ?
The water would boil people lol
Did you miss the whole part about toxic gases?
Or the part about lead melting temperatures?
1:28 what's that music?
+Everfalling Leaving a comment to know too
+Everfalling Good question.
+Everfalling I remember it having something to do with high winds and small rock particles but could not remember the actual name.
+Everfalling I remember it having something to do with high winds and small rock particles but could not remember the actual name.
+05r13539 I expected this to be an answer. Please let this joke die - regards, the internet
Awesome video Jake!! I have been watching for years and this extreme science series is incredible. I admire the progression of your videos and always look forward to whats next. Keep on being inspiring!! Cheers!
I've been to Burlington VT, and it was lovely. The biggest "city" in Vermont, and it is still a relatively small town. I love that. I didn't know it was completely renewable energy. Good on them!
even if the world switches to 100% renewable energy I HIGHLY doubt that this coal in the mine will be the last coal to burn. In the future there will probably be people who experiment with coal, burning it for fun or something.
However, it may be the last big quantity of coal burned.
that's the point....
Large scale power plants will be a rare sight/extinct, but for BBQ and hobby related activities there will of course be some demand as it's more or less irreplaceable for certain things
Probably not, as these types of underground coal fires are burning all over the world.
Atomic energy is more clean than solar panels. Production of those is not so cheap like it seems.
+papreplepen I personnaly consider Nuclear is a clean energy. The waste are not that bad and don't damage anything.
+SaitoGray except they are dengerous to anything living for good number of years (100s) even then exposure to the lower tier stuff can be harmful. half lifes SUCK
Dutch Oven
How ? the wastes are underground and seal. Beside, almost 90% of the waste are cloth worn by the worker and they are barely irradiated.
Nuclear is the best way to make efficient energy. It's cheap and produce a lot.
+Dutch Oven (OhWonder) There are ways to refine the used-up rods, but there are lobbyists in Washington that stop it from happening, unfortunately.
i just had a ridiculous idea that probably wont work. sewage power. if we install turbines in sewers we could generate power.
Nice thinking but it will only work at certain locations that can generate a current that and rotate a turbine.
BBP Games yeah, and in London it tends to get blocked so
+Charlie Hinkley Ive seen that as a concept, only works in very specific circumstances. Also works for places where the water pressure is too great and is going to waste. Got no links sorry, its been a while since I saw it
Key Burz yeah... I think I've seen the concept your talking about...
Why not burn the methane to produce power?
So cool, Jake! This is a few hours from me. Neat to see you making a video over here in PA!
And this was extremely interesting to watch. You had me glued throughout the whole video.
This remind anyone of exploring with josh?
exactly what i was thinking lol
YES
where was the: "and as always, thanks for watching" ? :(
not a vsauce video
+Joey Mallat: I like your profile pick.
+Steve Cheetah thanks hahah
why did you uploaded the same video twice, i only watched to the 0:27 seconds and already know that there is some super powerful coal underground burning, i watched this video months ago, if you didn't posted it before, pls answer me
Caiba Craft ooooooooo mandela effect
LOVE LOVE LOOOOVE the #ExtremeScience videos! A bit sad there will only be 3 :( I hope there will be the possibility of more in the future!
The production value is so High! Very good job Jake. You're hastily becoming one of The Best in The business (in my opinion, anyways).
I came so early I became a father.
Your picture is either a man with a bat mask tearing of his head, or just Batman.
MrScabula Oh god shamefur dispree
+Denny Sala *off
+Joshua Rafanan You didn't come that early then.
You have to last long enough to get inside to become a father. ;D
forgot nuclear power, the cleanest energy we have.
+BrazBlue Mmmm, not quite. Leaves behind radioactive substances that have to buried underground for a long, long time before they decay into an nonradioactive state; otherwise it's fairly efficient, and it is good and provides a lot of power.
Better would be if cold fusion ever gets invented. :)
actually most power plants just park their radioactive material behind it in a small parking lot that will last an enternity of creating waste, and as such newer reactors can recycle it to make it even less radioactive and generate more power from it. all the radioactive waste in the whole world will fit inside a walmart parking lot, only a couple of feet tall. maybe 3 shipping containers amount that is highly radioactive that sticks around for a real long time.
plus fusions would have no waste....which should be the end goal instead of wasting money and time on other power like wind and solar.Shiizumi Valé
Ah, well I knew they buried the waste, especially out in places like Nevada in the desert where no one lives, because, you know, radiation.
Most radiation except gamma can be blocked by 6 feet of concrete though, so it might be alright. Maybe.
Cold Fusion is extremely difficult because the initial energy to cause atoms to fuse is more than we can make in one go, and keep stable enough, and actually extract the resultant energy. There's work on it though; lasers are a favorite.
pew pew. :D
Nuclear is great, but unlike nuclear, sloar, wind and geothermal don't produce waste products.
+Shiizumi Valé They've got a few things like muon-catalyzed fusion and Farnsworth fusors, but nothing that breaks even in terms of energy production. I'm not sure the researchers even know what the best route to go is, because I'm pretty sure they're still using Tokamaks for research, and they know that isn't going to be enough. And of course Pons-Fleischmann cold fusion was a straight-up delusion from the beginning.
WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF SAITAMA PUNCHED YOU OR THREW A PUNCH??!?!
ded
See what happens if superman punch u
Multiply that by 100
Now take that number and billionfold it
I would like to point out the music alone made me very happy. This series is going great :3, love it!
I like this. The Vsauce series are the best channels on UA-cam for sure. 👍🏼
Did this remind anyone else of the Fire Nation from Avatar 😂
+Mikayla Snow yes i love your channel
But it is silent hill.
+Mikayla Snow More Fire Kingdom from Adventure Time for me.
Mikayla Snow what no
Mikayla Snow you forgot the question mark
I'm going to miss his videos. Let's hope he can fight it, I'm willing to do what I can.
You're the best, Jake.
What happened
+Bvoji RE he has cancer
He is so cute 😍😍
I've actually been on a field trip to the mine Jake is standing in the video. And the person showing us around told us the story about Centralia. He pointed in the mountains off saying it was only 12 miles away. When I saw this video, I instantly thought of this town. (I freaked out when the camera pointed at the windmills because THE GUY POINTED TOWARDS THEM! AAA *i love this*)
I visited centralia with my folks. We were walking around and exploring it all when I happened upon a large mining tailings pile. I dug around a bit and finally found a piece of anthricite. I still have it today. I mean that's no surprise since the visit was about two years ago.
thanks for this cool video, gayer looking vsauce.
I like this Extreme Science series, good work!
I love this series, keep it up
I live very close to this area and a close friend of mine actually lived here at a time. Last year me and a few friends contacted a few of the people living there and one actually replied, we get updates on how it is going another person actually started living here a few months ago.
This is extremely interesting! I also really fancy the video title. I have read/heard about the great underground fire somewhere before and found it both fascinating and scary. I enjoyed watching this video. :)
This was actually a really awesome video to watch! Loved it!
Love this new format
This was awesome Jake :) Thank you!
Great episode, I'd heard of this town because of SH, but didn't know it was quite that bad so thank you @Vsauce3
I love extreme science!
Im a volunteer firefighter and there is this story about a fire that a colegue of mine fought. It was a huge fire in this mans farm, they were able to put it out, only for it to pop out a couple of weeks later. Turns out the "fire" was still active underground, the roots of the trees were still hot and spreading heat underground. The man lost most of his farm, not only from the first fire, but from the second that popped out (seemingly from nowhere) after some weeks.
Pretty insane
MAKE MORE OF THIS! THIS IS SO INTERESTING!!!
Really loving these videos
loveing this series
more of these please! i love this!
I am loving this series!
dude this is awesome its to bad its only three parts you do have an amazing voice for this stuff you should try and do more of this
Can't wait for the next one. These are so good!
I live like 2 and a half hours from centralia so i love seeing stuff about it
I've been to centralia, specifically the abandoned highway. When I was up in that area we also went to that mine shaft thing that you were standing in.
It's a super cool area/place and I would totally suggest anyone go there if they have the opportunity.
I live about 45 minutes from there. I’ve visited it before and it’s a beautiful yet surreal experience being there and knowing what’s happening and what has happened there.
I can smell this video.
loved these videos pls make more videos of extreme science
I'm from Philadelphia and my mom had friends who were some of the last to live up there and she used to tell me that there were places that were completely blocked off because of the fumes
My heart is so happy that you are working with Popular Science.
I really like these extreme science videos
At 3:27 ..... is that Iron Mountain in Upper Michigan?? Cause i went there last year haha
This was so boss! I loved this episode please make more!
Did you shoot that aerial footage yourself with a drone or something?
This is very similar to the landfill in Bridgeton, Missouri. There are underground fires, but instead of coal, the fires are very close to radioactive waste. Several cities in the area have prepared evacuation procedures in the event of radioactive fallout.
lovin the new series
Love your videos Jake!!!!!
I live ten minutes near Centralia and go their regularly, and I still never know why people are so awestruck about this town.
Haha, welcome to beautiful PA, where we have historic cites, rolling countrysides, and a huge perpetual fire burning under us. I pass that area quite often, and it never ceases to amaze me.
Fun Fact: One of the few remaining, operational structures in the area is a fire department/Municipal Building. At least when I visited Centralia back in 2010. It didn't seem like anyone was home though.
I go to school only a few minutes from Centralia, at Bloomsburg university. When I first was told about the town on fire I expected some raging inferno, I was a little disappointed driving through it :P