How do oysters make pearls? - Rob Ulrich

430,099 views

How do oysters make pearls? - Rob Ulrich with tags pearls, oysters, mollusks, calcium carbonate, nacre, calcite, aragonite, chemical compound, pearl formation, urchin spines, snails, clams, mussels, coral, calcium, earths crust, hydrothermal vents, basalts, carbon dioxide, mantle, carbonate molecules, caco3, chemical composition, biomaterials, pearl sac, defense mechanism, gems, jewels, education, animation, science, oceans, ted, ted-ed, ted ed, teded, ted education, rob ulrich, ivana bošnjak

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

----------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------

Connect With Us

----------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------

Keep Learning

----------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------

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.