How do oysters make pearls? - Rob Ulrich
Vložit
- čas přidán 14. 11. 2022
- Explore how oysters use calcium carbonate to create pearls, and how this chemical compound creates a vast array of other materials.
--
Despite their iridescent colors and smooth shapes, pearls are actually made of the exact same material as the craggy shell that surrounds them. Pearls, urchin spines, the shells of mussels, snails and clams, even coral- all these structures are made out of the same chemical compound: calcium carbonate. So how does this single ingredient form such a vast array of materials? Rob Ulrich investigates.
Lesson by Rob Ulrich, directed by Ivana Bošnjak.
Support Our Non-Profit Mission
----------------------------------------------
Support us on Patreon: bit.ly/TEDEdPatreon
Check out our merch: bit.ly/TEDEDShop
----------------------------------------------
Connect With Us
----------------------------------------------
Sign up for our newsletter: bit.ly/TEDEdNewsletter
Follow us on Facebook: bit.ly/TEDEdFacebook
Find us on Twitter: bit.ly/TEDEdTwitter
Peep us on Instagram: bit.ly/TEDEdInstagram
----------------------------------------------
Keep Learning
----------------------------------------------
View full lesson: ed.ted.com/lessons/how-do-oys...
Dig deeper with additional resources: ed.ted.com/lessons/how-do-oys...
Music: www.campstudio.co
----------------------------------------------
Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Khalifa Alhulail, Martin Stephen, Jose Henrique Leopoldo e Silva, Mandeep Singh, Abhijit Kiran Valluri, Morgan Williams, Devin Harris, Pavel Zalevskiy, Karen Goepen-Wee, Filip Dabrowski, Barbara Smalley, Megan Douglas, Tim Leistikow, Ka-Hei Law, Hiroshi Uchiyama, Mark Morris, Misaki Sato, EdoKun, SookKwan Loong, Bev Millar, Lex Azevedo, Michael Aquilina, Jason A Saslow, Yansong Li, Cristóbal Moenne, Dawn Jordan, Prasanth Mathialagan, Samuel Doerle, David Rosario, Dominik Kugelmann - they-them, Siamak Hajizadeh, Ryohky Araya, Mayank Kaul, Christophe Dessalles, Heather Slater, Sandra Tersluisen, Zhexi Shan, Bárbara Nazaré, Andrea Feliz, Victor E Karhel, Sydney Evans, Latora, Noel Situ, emily lam, Sid, Niccolò Frassetto, Mana, I'm here because of Knowledge Fight Facebook group., Linda Freedman and Edgardo Cuellar.
So in essence, pearls are the body reacting to an invasive material by coating with a thick substance that solidifies around it. In other words, pearls are pretty balls of hard snot. Good to know!
I’d argue that they might be zits ;)
A perfect layman's terms
Didn't you hear this is just the leading theory? So there's nothing to know, but to believe.
I do think there was too much talk over something that can be greatly simplified and shorter
God this is going to blow up soon
One day someone will make a horror movie based on giant oysters turning humans into pearls. And I'll watch every second of it.
At least they die pretty 😂
I wouldn't be surprised at all if Japan did that, since they already have a movie where people turn into snails
🥶😮
Men you are dark....
This sounds like something out of Junji Ito's mind!
this is easily one of my favorite animation styles and I love how the content is so precise yet understandable
it was actually irritating for the eye. :/
It's dizzying :(
it matches my bedroom, full of man stuffs. & Electronic hobby everyday until night.
@@kirukiru5421 😂
It's worth noting that the vast majority of pearls that form naturally are not round, and most are not gemstone quality, either. Prior to the development cultured pearls, gemstone quality pearls were extremely rare and valuable, so much so that Seneca, writing of the excesses of 1st century Rome, griped about women who wore three-pearl earrings: "This womanish folly is not exaggerated enough for the men of our time, unless they hang two or three estates upon each ear."
The womanish folly hasn't changed much. Modern women just hang different pretty things from their bodies.
@@bigsmall246 It's womanish folly for me lol
@@bigsmall246 And men and others. Piercings are gender neutral. Seneca might have had a heart attack, if he saw gauges XD
@@mimsydreamsstill womanish
@@GameFuMaster Really? I guess that just means women are braver than men, since we can handle the pain of a piercing and men cower because it's "womanish".
1. Calcium carbonate is common in the ocean.
2. Oysters build layers by filtering calcium and carbonate in the sea water.
3. With special proteins, there are 2 variants of crystal structure produced from this - calcite (external shell) and aragonite (internal layer), which have different qualities. Calcite is more stable as compared to aragonite, and is less prone to dissolving.
4. Nacre (the pearl) is formed as a crystalline structure eventually. This stronger and more versatile form of aragonite is formed when hexagonal bricks of proteins and aragonite are stacked so uniformly that light bounces in a cascade of rainbows.
Wow perfect revision. Thanks❤
❤
I come to learn about pearls but am more amazed about how an oyster came to be. I’m so fascinated to learn that it started out as a larvae, forming a shell around itself (the idea of a tiny bare oyster flesh just floating around never occurred to me before). It makes so much sense. That’s why the flesh is always joined with the shell when we eat any shellfish! Thank you TedEd for reawakening my wonders to life.
Same with a turtle! It's part of the turtle's body, not independent from it
These animations look like they are created by people who love what they're doing. The narrations too
They control it on a molecular level wow
Woah I actually always wondered how but always forgot to ask thanks Ted ed for always giving us interesting facts and pieces of knowledge
it used to be so confusing to me that people prized pearls higher than the shells when i learned that they were the same material. I still find it slightly weird, but I understand people prefer certain shapes now.
The same material in different shapes or forms can have very different values.
An example off the top of my head is wood. You can have a plank of wood, which sure is nice. But you can also have a figure of that same material, which will be worth a lot more even though it's the same material.
@@fredriknumse8991 coal and diamond is another set to fit into "same element, different value"
@@adwita224 no?
@@adwita224 The carbon structure in diamonds and coal are different, but i guess its still carbon
I pretty sure diamonds are pretty cheap when they’re not cut and polished to perfection
I am 37 this year and am just starting to be curious of the lifecycle of an oyster and how it produces magnificent pearls. 😂 thanks a bunch Ted-ed for always being a great lecturer ❤
this is so interesting, I grew up in the persian gulf, i dived for pearls as part of my tribal heritage using traditional boats and tools
How cool!!! Very interesting! 😃
May I ask what tribe you belong to?
I always thought that it was the build up of sand inside the clam that made the pearl. It's good to learn something new! 🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋
Well, I don't consider it a wild guess if you assume that it sometimes starts with a grain of sand, 'cause maybe they can't differentiate that from something else. Just a thought...🤷♂
Sand is silicone
Yes
@@max3eey Silica (SiO2)*
@@hyperchlorite8808 💀 ok professor
Why is no one talking about how pretty this video looks? It’s like a neat little stop motion art/science project.
I agree
So basically pearls are deep sea kidney stones
Literally investigating nacre and shells for my masters so this ted video was a pleasant coincidence
Our minds are like oysters, we earn pearls as knowledge
Oysters : "Who dare trespass my property. Thou shall be slowly petrified and incarcerated inside me for eternity ."
Humans : "BEAUTIFUL"
Oh no you didnt lololololol
$ех $3х $!х likes? Sorry mate not gonna click!
Humans seem to ignore all signs of defense from living organisms.
@@mimsydreams Like mint. Or chili peppers. Or opium.
Pearls are the oyster's version of a booger that's encased a pathogen in mucus
hats off to the illustrator /animator of this video 💯🙌
this channel is absolutely perfect
OK but why is the thumbnail a picture of a pearl in a scallop
Ted-Ed is the best teacher.
So true
This was one of the most impressive animation styles TED-ED has ever deployed. Hats off to the animator 👏
The production value in his video is just 😮❤
So many oysters, so few pearls ❤
As a marine biologist this took me back today undergrad days of invertebrate zoology
Hi! Just curious what do you as a marine biologist usually do?
You know the video is good when prof. urchin teaches you about pearls.
amazing how perfectly spherical they make it.
Nature is cool af
The sound of the oyster closing like a giant door. Awesome
My name - Shamuka, means oyster and this vid made me so happy
The animation on this one is impeccable.
I just recently thought about this. Thanks for sharing this
YOOOO! Art direction of ted-ed vids are always on point!!!!!!!!
Thank you for this wonderful video Ted-ed.
What a pearl this video was!
The CO3 in the water which helps build the shell, also degrades the shells when in abundance (carbonic acid).
One of the beautiful arts of nature ❤️.
Thanks for solving one if my childhood mystery !!
The presentation is excellent on this one!
Great Great Great & Lovely effort for explanation, thanks a lot
I love this stop motion animation!
Great knowledge delivered to public. Very nice experience while searching for the formation of a pearl. I heared a myth in my childhood that when first rain drop enters a sea shell it converted to a pearl. But those all are myths anyway
I was always curious about this!
been waiting for this one!
The visuals kept remembering me of my childhood. ♥️
"Ooh, cool rock! Let me get a closer look..."
*Proceeds to get turned into a pearl*
why can't our tumors be this pretty
woww very impressive animation style and cool chemical explanations!
Thanks :)
How would they react to the irritation caused by intrusive sand if they have no central nervous system?
There are pearl farms in different parts of the world, so it seems to be a very solid theory if the results can be reproduced so consistently.
I turned off captions to watch every inch of screen of this beautiful video.
Is there a video you have on oysters life cycle? If no it could be a nice idea^^'. Alo love this video>3
Great information and and animation
Astounding information😃
Can you please tell more about gemstones and it's raw form?
That’s is really really cool good job
Another curiosity being solved by TED🙌
Informative 🙂
The same way we make ulcers, time and dedication
I Always Wanted To Know This Thank You TED
Although it looks easy but it takes sometimes years for them to make one pearl . As said 'everything can cause irritation' and hence not every pearl is round and beautiful . Hence, pearls are rare, south sea pearls are one of the most expensive ones.
In paradise there are homes made out of a single hollow pearl
Wow,Beauty really is on the inside.❤
love this stopmotion animation..
Oysters have to be one of my favorite animals now that is so metal they turn their enemies / predators into jewelry
Well praises for the artwork of mother nature
This video is a good education for me...
A little confused at 1:15, I thought that adding CO2 to the atmosphere and that being dissolved into the ocean actually created carbonic acid which attacks CaCO3 in the ocean and makes it harder to build shells
There are a few steps to the chemical reactions that occur. Carbonic acid then dissolves to make a proton and bicarbonate. That bicarbonate then further dissolves to make another proton and carbonate. These different chemical components all co-exist and the proportions of each depend on the pH.
"Ocean acidification" as a term isn't really accurate to describe what is occurring. Instead, what is technically happening is that the ocean is becoming less alkaline, which means that the increasing amount of CO2 going into it now, is removing the bicarbonate and carbonate that are needed for shell-forming. Does that make sense?
*There is a myth in Pakistan among the old folks that the oyster takes the 1st drop of rain and turns it into a pearl*
Very well-researched and fine-made video this is. Keep it up Ted-ed
More Demon of Reason, please!
Me and my sister opened a clam today, it was still producing its pearl so we just got a bunch of liquid
The human body does this. It calcifies foreign things in the body. A "stone baby" is a incredibly rare pregnancy that dies inside and never expelled, the body covers it in calcium and it becomes a stone. Usually found years and years later. Look up pictures, its pretty amazing, sad but amazing...
Same with boogers. That's just a foreign invader that's been encased in mucus and later solidified. Pearls are essentially an oyster's boogers.
@@Random-sk6hm
I can see what your saying lol
ON Any Level!
This animation style is so so beautiful♥️
This is a question that my 4th grader asked me last week 🥺
One of the best science animatory channel in the world 😃👏
So when you get right down to it, a pearl is a shiny spherical scar.
3:25 eyyy bestagons!!!
"The pearls beauty is made as a result of insult"
Thats what God does with us, to make us humble
So you see, when a Mommy Clam and a Daddy Clam love eachother very much...
…they make a smaller clam.
Damn that's so cool
Weeeeeeeeell damnnnn I was NOT expecting pearls to be leftovers
Hey, I was wondering if I could use your images and animations for a school project, I will give credit. If not, I understand. Thank you for the high quality videos!
human: look at this beautiful beads
oyster: that's a coffin for a worm parasite trying to attack me
So the obvious question is...why dont they just make the outter layer of their shell out of Nacre( or whatever its called) if it is the strongest material they produce?
Probably takes too long or uses too much energy im assuming.
thanks for your time up loading vdo
i don’t trading anything with yOU i don’t trading who have scambag mind set on hidden agendas and treating other badly
I wonder if the Kings and Queens that wore pearls ever thought of them as results of intrusions. As defense mechanisms…it reminds me of Elizabeth I who as some historians say wore such poisonous make up that irritated and ate her skin (and might have killed her)…beauty always find some correlation with pain and irritation.
pearl and nacre is a relatively recent discovery. The last 100 years type of deal, so likely old heirs didn't know or didn't think of this possibility.
Also, to my understanding, it was not uncommon for members of a royal court, bourgeois, or high house, to experiment with chemical substances to produce make-up. It was the norm for many parts of europe.
@@ghostderazgriz Wait, but people have been making artificial pearls for a long time now, no?
Cute animation
so interesting
Pearl. Broca's area, or the Broca area is a region in the frontal lobe of the dominant hemisphere, usually the left, of the brain with functions linked to speech production.
Should I tell my friend that she's wearing sand/fishbone/seaweed covered in oyster stuff for earrings?
Aaaaaand... That's me becoming an oyster to wrap my irritating neighbours up and turn them into pearls.
You are truly speaking 🔊
Imagine you're wearing a rock hard oyster's bugger.
and that is amazing …
Congratulations to myself for see this channel on CZcams ❤
wonder how this art style was made
Super.👍👍👍👍👍
Honestly, I thought they were formed like rock hard plaques do in the teeth