Thank you to the hundreds of people who've sent me ideas about the Bay of Fundy over the years. I decided to film all those ideas in one video. And thanks also to: ■ AD: 👨💻 NordVPN, whose best deal is here: nordvpn.com/tomscott
I love that Tom is now a massive TH-cam personality but we’ll still find him on the floor of his bathroom leaning over his tub for a $0 science demonstration that’s still, somehow, very entertaining 😅 A treasure
He's probably made more documentaries than anyone ever. About so many different topics, and is probably more interesting than most. He's a national treasure
This really encompasses the human condition. "Do you think it's possible?" "The project was a total failure; everything broke. So, maybe. We'll keep trying anyways."
I actually did my engineering bachelor's project on this. There was a station there, at Annapolis, for a long time, but after studies found it to be a major hazard to fish populations it was shut down just a couple years ago in 2019
Apparently it technically closed due to a hardware failure like the others did, but the fish deaths were the reason it wasn't repaired and reopened alongside other environmental issues. (eg bank erosion)
Im still baffled everytime Tom does an actual VPN sponsorship and his ad is sounding way more legit than the magical promises everybody else gives. Also im really happy for him that he gets big sponsors so we can enjoy a lot more Tom Scott Videos in the future.
Tom has built up a reputation for truth over many many years of work. He has such clout that he can stipulate writing his own script to only include the things he thinks are legit.
Also im kinda baffled on how random the Internet is. I started commenting on Videos as kinda a study on how much interaction you will get and this is the most amount of likes i ever got and its not even on. Also you needed to watch like three seperate videos, seperated by YEARS to understand what im talking about.
Annapolis Royal Generating Station used the tides of the Bay of Fundy for 35 years to generate power, but to say it had issues would be an understatement. It killed nearly a quarter of the fish that tried to pass through it, contributed to increases in erosion, and once even accidentally trapped a humpback whale on the upstream side for several days.
Wonder if that does more or less damage than using ocean water to cool the condensers of steam turbines. I work at a utility and we're decommissioning one of our generating stations because the damage it's doing to the wild life. Idk anything about the generating side, I just work on switching station yards
It didn't use the tides to generate power though, which is what Tom was talking about. That power generating station used the high tide to fill a reservoir, then essentially acted like a hydroelectric dam to generate power from the stored water being released. What Tom was talking about is using the tide coming in and out to generate power directly
Wind turbines kill endangered birds, and solar farms kill desert tortoises and fry birds. So I guess we just aren't going to be allowed to have electricity in the net zero future?
Did they at least make use of the fish? If your power station is that good at killing fish, maybe it's time to rebrand as an land based trawler that does power generation on the side.
That's because he pushed them into doing that, they probably asked to sponsor him many times then he made this video about why he doesn't like VPN sponsorship segments, and the video made an impact!
I really enjoyed the editing on this one! It definitely fit this dynamic scene and gave us an opportunity to experience several locations throughout a day in only 4min!
Idea for the future, if you are jumping between various locations maybe include a map for reference either on its own or overlaying Tom saying where he is now.
I never thought a potential source of renewable power could be too strong. I always assumed there was a "happy medium" where the power generation machines would be able to withstand the natural forces, while also still generating power at a reasonable pace. Nice to see we can't overcome everything yet.
Wind turbines need braking systems in them to avoid the wind spinning them too quickly and destroying them. You can find some videos of wind turbines that had braking failures get torn apart by the wind.
It can happen with wind turbines too, you'll find plenty videos on YT where the turbines rip themselves apart at high winds when their braking systems fail.
@@wiseSYW Unlikely, because to be strong enough to absorb a tornado almost certainly mean they are very inefficient in normal winds. Nothing in engineering is free, sure you can build strong but you sacrifice efficiency and have high initial costs.
I think this might be my favorite video yet, in terms of the way everything is neatly fit together -- shots, scripts, concepts, it's a very satisfying assemblage. Plus it's always fun to see cool stuff in my country getting shouted out!
I always have a rule about ads that if its any longer than a minute, I'll skip through it, but Tom gets his point across so well in such a short amount of time. If more people could get to the point the way that Tom does, watching videos on youtube would be a much more enjoyable experience
I make exception for protracted ad segments that are turned into entire skits that go completely off-script from the sales spiel. That's free entertainment and they aren't usually any longer than the 60 sec ad read. Skits bookending a regular read are less entertaining though and I'll usually skip the middle section. As for this ad, it was both short and relevant to the video's production. Model implementation.
@@BonaparteBardithion *OPINION ALERT! * I don't like the idea of turning ads into skits, it's weird, it's strange and it makes no sense. I would much prefer if youtubers did normal ads. Also props to tom here, he has made a vpn ad that isn't BS. However you are supposed to disclose at the beginning of a video that it is sponsored. I also didn't see the message from youtube that the video was sponsored, either I missed it or tom forgot to tick the box in youtube studio that says "This video contains paid promotion"!
@@MidnightThunderYT maybe only that segment of the video was sponsored and NordVPN had nothing at all to do with the rest. There is a clear displayed image on the ad bit.
@@thugpug4392 No you you have to tick that box if there is paid promotion at all. And yep it is good that he clearly displayed an ad message on the segment itself.
Someone who isn't from New Brunswick knows that it exists!? Wow. Check out the bay if you're going through the Maritimes, the tidal cliffs are incredible. What those tides can do to a turbine blade is a mere taste of the sheer power of the place.
I've heard of it because there's extreme tide differences in some bays in the UK and the Bay of Fundy is mentioned as the largest. I've seen a large river turn into white water with these tidal effects funneled by an estruary.
The writing to get the transitions right was a really nice touch, satisfying to watch and I'm amused by the low budget demonstration using the bathtub lmao
By the end of the video I was almost hoping that he'd say "I'm on a horse". Absolutely brilliant cuts and editing. Made a good topic even more entertaining
As someone who has lived on the Bay of Fundy my entire life, I'm quite shocked Tom didn't go tidal bore rafting... There are places where you can get on a boat and ride that tidal wave inland.
The Bay of Fundy is so cool. Being able to wander around on the seafloor and then watch the tide come in so quickly that just hanging out for a bit feels dramatic is one of those things that reinforces just how incredible tides actually are. The ocean is being dragged around *by the moon*! And we just take that for granted!
Actually, it's the earth being squeezed like a stress ball by the pull of the moon which causes the water to flow differently over the earth as it goes from being slightly more round to slightly more oblong. But that's kind of a complicated answer that doesn't jive to most people, so they just tell you it's being pulled by the moon.
@@freeofavia National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration disagrees with you. They have many pages of educational material on their dot gov site, all fully sourced. Closest things I could find to how you describe it (yet contradict you): "As gravitational force acts to draw the water closer to the moon, inertia attempts to keep the water in place. But the gravitational force exceeds it and the water is pulled toward the moon, causing a “bulge” of water on the near side toward the moon (Ross, D.A., 1995)." "If the Earth were a perfect sphere without large continents, all areas on the planet would experience two equally proportioned high and low tides every lunar day. The large continents on the planet, however, block the westward passage of the tidal bulges as the Earth rotates. Unable to move freely around the globe, these tides establish complex patterns within each ocean basin that often differ greatly from tidal patterns of adjacent ocean basins or other regions of the same ocean basin (Sumich, J.L., 1996)."
@@freeofavia the earth-moon centre of gravity is slightly offset from the earths core, the earths solid mass can't react as fast as water can. thus the moon does "pull" but not in the way people think.
There was a similar system in Norway, but based on waves instead. But one winter storm literally deleted everything... buildings (of concrete), powerplant, turbines, bridges, etc. all that is left out there, is 2 or three pillars some are left of the supporting bridge, and maybe a small superstructure, rest ended up on 90 meters depth
For anyone interested it is know as the tofestallen ocean wave plant, few parts remain of it just 3 years after it was open it was wiped out. Øygarden is near/where it is built I believe. It’s second plant was in operation until 1991, afterwards it was abandoned and only the remains of the original one destroyed by the storm remain.
I used to live near there. You should have included a shot of all the fishing boats sitting on the floor of the ocean at low tide, it's something you won't see anywhere else in the world. Their moorings are on sliding poles 20+ feet tall, so that the boats won't float away, yet remain moored to a single spot and aren't left dangling from their moorings at low tide.
You can also see it along the southern coast of the North Sea. Some boats actually have a special bottom shape so that they don't tip over when falling dry.
Tides from Ungava Bay to just about Davis Staight are very nearly as high as Fundy, some days higher. I don't know if boats use the same trick, but they certainly sit a long ways out on the flats at low tide. Even trucks get lost to the tide sometimes.
I remember doing the exact same thing as the bathtub example as a kid, and also spilling a little bit of water not expecting it to suddenly get enough force to jump out of the bathtub. A nice childhood memory.
As somebody who grew up by the Bay of Fundy, I always appreciate when someone draws light to my corner of the world. It even amazes me, that if you sit, and put your feet in the water during high tide, only couple hours later you have to walk several hundred feet from where you were sitting to touch the same water. ( edited bad grammar )
@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 Yes and no. On the one hand, watching the rising tide fill moats and flood your castles is great fun and happens with exciting speed. On the other hand, you've either got to keep moving down the receding beach every 30 minutes to get the "good wet sand" or else hike that good sand 50 feet or more each way to get back to your high tide castle.
I came here to say that, as always, the video and research great but the transitions in this one were particularly nicely done… and I see I’m not the only one! Seriously, they were so clean and non-distracting; fantastic!
I’ve watched Tom for more than 2 years now and live in Nova Scotia, this video is a perfect explanation of the extreme tides of the region and the tidal power situation. Never a dull video and amazing as always, love your work!!
I didn't really get what he was trying to say with the whole explanation, though. He said some stuff really quickly and there were no images, so other than "waves in a confined space" I don't get it.
@@thewiseturtle the bay's shape forms a resonator with a natural frequency closely matched to the frequency of Earth's tidal cycle. If that doesn't mean much to you have a look for an introduction to forced harmonic motion. Plus the funnel-like shhape of the bay means that the water flows faster as it gets narrower (to get the same volume flow rate of water through a smaller section).
I have vivid memories of almost getting caught in the incoming tide in the Minas Basin when I was 8 - we were in the flats and when we saw the water coming toward us what seemed a long way off, we started heading for the staircase to get up off the flat. Before we made it there, the water had passed us and my dad was carrying my little brother because the water was getting too deep for him to walk in it quickly. By the time we got to the staircase, it was almost to my waist.
That was definitely cutting it close. Any more delay and the plight of your family would have been on the News, but whether you got to see it or not would be the critical question.
@@markfryer9880 Flats are so dangerous for this, in Northern France the bay around Mont Saint Michel is said to have a tide as fast as a galloping horse and it has quicksand too for extra difficulty making it back in time (or at all)
I was wondering the same thing at some point of the video, but when you hear the strength of the tidal wave you understand that the amount of energy you need to collect is negligible vs the tidal energy.
No it will not. It cannot possibly. For the tidal amplification to work, the frequency MUST resonate with the revolution of the moon around the earth, which is about 12.5 hours, and doesnt change over millions of years. So if it's not the same as that, there will be no resonance. Sad but simple physics.
@@starpawsy Not true. The turbines work like dampers on the system, taking out energy. That has two effects: 1. it reduces the amplitude of the oscillation by removing energy. The reason, that the amplitude is so high is, because there is not much damping, which makes most of the energy oscillating back and forth. So small dampening alone can have a strong effect on the amplitude. 2. It lowers the resonant frequency of the system "Bay". That may tune the Bay more in or out of the MoonFrequency, depending where it is today. Tuning out, would make the amplitude even significantly smaller. But: In the long run, we could only harvest the energy, that is continuously brought into the system. Therefore it does not matter, how much energy is currently oscillating (which produces the amplitude). The amplitude could only be helpful in a way, that smaller system could work more efficient. But it is not in itself equivalent with the amount of energy to be harvested.
@@wildeast66 Dotn aasgree with you, but all you say is irrelevant. The main point stays - that the bay has to resonate with the moons path, which doesnt change.
The editing in this video is top tier, even for Tom Scott. Mad respect to all the editing and coordination it took to get all of those shots, for a 5 minute video
My grandfather owns one of the companies that worked on harnessing the power here. It was kind of cool seeing you talk about something I've been so close to.
Love, love, LOVE the fancy editing in this video. It feels like something you always wanted to do in your videos, and here it is! Also, it's always fun when you talk about something I already know a little about...
Sadly, the majority of the people in Canada who knows about the tidal waves and their height in the Maritime, are these people. The Maritimers. We have lost a lot of beauty in the last few storms including the "tea cup."
I did School project on the bay, from out in Alberta. Back then at least, natural landmarks or Canada was a part of the curriculum… no idea what’s happening to it now
With a thumbnail of “How hard can it be”, I expected 3 particular late middle aged British men behind Tom Scott setting up some harebrained contraption. But the actual story of “actual companies try this and find out that it breaks everything” is just as good.
There is a tidal power plant in Northern France called Rance tidal power, the tide there is fast but not as high and it's a sandy bay so there aren't many rocks and never any ice, making it a much easier plant to operate, it does cause the bay to fill with sediment though as the power that cleared it out is now used to turn the turbine :x
They looked in to doing a tidal barrage on the river Severn in the UK, and one of the reasons they didn't proceed was because although it could generate 7GW at peak operation, both of those peaks were during the time when the demand was low. They'd either have to reduce or shut down conventional generation (which increases the carbon emissions during periods when it has to start up) or find some massive storage. It's an issue with most renewables - supply can be erratic and/or doesn't match demand.
@@drtrustrum Or with this kind of thing you don't even need a pump. You just "catch" a bunch of the high tide water and then close a gate, and release it through turbines more slowly. I'm sure that's still some enormous engineering challenge though.
@@ninjafruitchilled one major problem with that (besides the raw engineering) is that theres gonna be a lot of wildlife in those tides... you probably want to avoid funneling those through turbines
Tides are *not* synced to Earth days. They are synched to lunar days, and they shift about *50 minutes from one day to the next.* The tides corresponding to *low electricity demand* does not really make sense.
I did a meta analysis of ratings for various VPN products and NordVPN consistently came out on top. I'm not surprised it's the one Tom Scott decided to endorse.
@@avsgriffy plus, this advert was very different from the typical VPN advertisements he criticized. He focused just on the ability to make it seem like you’re in a different country online, not any security benefits.
Your diction is amazing. The amount of precision it takes to get these audio transitions as smooth as they are doesn't come from the editing, it comes from your delivery. Stellar flex
I grew up far inland British Columbia having never seen the ocean. My Dad was from New Brunswick, and would regale me with stories about how when the tide would come in, it was like a rushing flood, and they would have to run as it chased them. He was always full of tall tales, so I integrated easily my disappointment when I later experienced the ocean, and the tide was never so eventful as he described. ALAS, this looks exactly like what he described! It wasn’t a tall tale after all?! Mind Blown, and Loving It! Thank you Tom Scott.
Never in a million years would I have thought Tom Scott would end up in my hometown... This is absolutely insane and I'm very glad we're getting some attention, considering New Brunswick is usually a drive-by province 😂 Appreciate you coming and I really hope you've had a great time here (:
@@WhatIsSanity Yes, it is quite cold… but we’re starting to see effects of climate change, considering it is way hotter than usual for this time of year. We’ve had -20°C weather last week, but we’re expecting 9°C Saturday 😂
I live in the Maritimes and hear about the latest attempts and subsequent failures to harness the Bay of Fundy for energy. As Tom says, it hasn't worked out...so far. But I would love to see it happen. It has MASSIVE potential for energy if we can just do it right.
Welcome to New Brunswick Tom! But there’s actually been one success over the last couple years, instead of putting it on the ocean floor they essentially developed like a little boat that lowers the turbines into the water, I think it was able to generate like 500 kW and there’s actually helping to power in Nova Scotia right now. Hopefully it keeps working
I'm sure plenty of people have already commented on it, but Tom flooding the bathroom was definitely the highlight of the video LUL The attempts at capturing the tides immense power kind of reminds me of every keyboard, mouse or controller I've ever used, try as I might to find one that can withstand my condition, I always end up breaking them prematurely in one way or another...
This video is amazing as always, but this time the editing/transitions are on top. The flow of the video combined with the background changes is amazing!! This video felt especially fun to watch!
As a private pilot I've had the privilege of flying around the shorelines of the Minas Basin several times, it's an incredible landscape, especially when the tide is out. Happy to see Tom cover this fascinating place.
I absolutely love the transitions, it was so smooth and it must took a lot of tries, I'm always happy when Tom Scott uploads a video every week. Thank you!
The transitions on this videos are top tier, it really grabs your attention. I wonder if they'd be able to harness power using carbon fiber turbines, since it's both a very light and a very strong material, it would be expensive but I hope there are future attempts at that.
Yes, he drove around a lot and waited for a long time to get the situations and tides correct. I wish I'd know he was in Saint John as I live very close by! :)
Thank you so much for this video. I visited recently on a cruise and it's really quite hard to understand this place when you only visit for 10 minutes at one point in the day. 😂
I went to those rocks you were standing near in the beginning of the video in 2015 on a road trip through eastern Canada. It's insane just how much the water rises and falls there!
Woow I loved these Transitions! The flow of speech in this video was immaculate! I have loved your videos for many years now but this one stuck out! Great job and very very pleasant to watch! Thank you a ton for the dedication, time and effort you invest into making these Videos as great as they are without ever stopping to improve/invent!
We have one in France called "Usine marémotrice de la Rance". It works (according to Wikipedia, it is the most competitive electricity facility in France), but it causes lots of ecological concerns, ruining the bay life, accelerating silting and changing the tidal profile on locality arounds (including sea side).
Hello from Saint John! ❤ Nice to see our tiny slice of life get some international love! It’s actually kind of funny, growing up around here with the Damn just north of Fredericton, and Lepreau Nuclear station and all the failed attempts to use the Bay we don’t even really consider it much of an option anymore. Even as an electrical engineer we just inherently know it would probably be a waits of time and money to try. It would be great if we could, because the pulp and paper mill on the Reversing Falls and it’s sister paper mill across town take more power to start up than all of New Brunswick uses in that same 1 hour time frame. There is some really cool projects going on to harness the power of the Bay on floating stations meant for open water where the current is still strong but not going to break the equipment.
When I was about 10 (1965 or so), my parents took the family on a road trip from Philadelphia up to see the Bay of Fundy, the tidal bore, and the Reversing Falls in St. John. At the time I had no idea what it all meant but it was extremely fascinating none the less! Great to see all three presented in just a few minutes. Even more fascinating now. ... next stop the Magnetic Hill where cars roll up hill (same road trip in New Brunswick).
Seems like the thing to do is not have water-driven turbines. Instead, have a gigantic (closed) pipe. Water rushes in, compressing the air in the pipe. Above a certain pressure, a relief valve opens and the air rushes into a holding tank at that high pressure. From there, air is bled off through a regulator into a pneumatic turbine. The holding tank would serve two purposes: 1: provide a buffer for the input air pressure to try to stabilize what's eventually available to the turbine, and 2: provide a spot for any water making its way through the relief valve in the intake cylinder to fall out of the air. A second relief valve in the holding tank helps ensure the pressure there doesn't get too bonkers.
This is one of the best videos I've ever seen, even down to the sponsorship - clean, after the video, experience-based, no false promises, and very clearly declared as sponsored advertising. How sponsored segments should be done!
The bathtub demonstration is perfect honestly. I've been doing the same thing with resonant frequencies since I was a kid, where I'd make a huge mess during bathtime lmao
What a nice surprise to see my home the Bay of Fundy in a Tom Scott video. As the video progresses and he made his way around the bay I was almost expecting him to end up the small fishing village of 200 people I grew up in on Brier Island. It's a small island at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy and is the site of the latest turbine experiments that have been running over the past couple years. They seem to be more promising than the attempts in the past but it's still a few years out from supplying energy to the grid
This is honestly one of my favourite of your videos in a while. Kind of small in scale and execution, but it's about a part of the country that I love and it's got some old school demonstrations and a classic Tom Scott "I don't know, maybe?"
I'm offended that Tom came to my neck of the woods and I didn't even know. And FYI to those wondering and wanting more info, the river is named St John just like the city he visited. Also, he should have come in the summer when you can go rafting on the tidal bore (look up Shubenacadie river runners)
I’ve never felt like such an expert on a Tom Scott video before. I live near the Bay of Fundy, and my Mechanics prof got us to work out its resonant frequency using the exact same bathtub analogy, to explain why tides are so high.
There is the UniWave prototype that uses waves in an enclosed space to compress air to turn a turbine. That would avoid direct contact with destructive salt water and debris.
Interestingly, the bay to the east of Thailand (if you ever go there) has a resonant freqency of around 24 hours matching the resonance of the effect of the sun. so the tides there are not timed in the classic 2 tides per day instead tides happen once a day.
Small thing, but connecting your VPN video with this AD, it just makes total sense to focus on the location change. That is how I mostly use my VPN either way, so... nice touch!
I live on the Bay of Fundy. If I'd known you were so close, I would've said hi. One of the things that's amazing is that there are places where you can see water as far as you can see. Come back 6 hours later, and you can't see any water, just mud. This repeats twice a day, every day.
Bro props to NordVPN for real. Knowing how much Tom hates how most VPN's advertise these days, it's cool that they still sponsored him knowing he was going to give a much more realistic view of what VPN's are good for rather than what most people say about them.
You've taught me more about the Bay of Fundy in 5 minutes than what I've learned in my 13 years of education, and I live just a few hours away from all of these sites. Thanks, Tom
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I’ve been to all these places a decade ago and this video made me increadibly nostalgic for Canada ❤ So happy Tom got to visit the places and took me for the ride 🥰
I hope you enjoyed your time on the east coast Tom! I’m from Nova Scotia and worked for several years for many of the tidal developers in the Bay of Fundy, trying to harness its power. It was a pleasant surprise to see your video on something so close to home!
I clicked the thumbnail thinking huh, that looks like Saint John. and then proceeded to be blown away. I cant believe I didn't see this when it was released
Hi Tom! I hope you do a follow up of smaller generators near Briar Island, also in the Bay of Fundy. These have shown limited, and possibly scalable success. Thanks for showcasing a bit more of our great country!
This might be the best video you've ever made. Such an incredible display of the skills learned over many years of making TH-cam videos. Well done, Tom!
I suggest one of the other reasons the Bay of Fundy isn't used to produce electricity is that is just isn't needed. Currently 60% of Canada's electricity is hydroelectric... Canadians refer to their electricity bill as the "hydro bill". With over 100,000 lakes and a correspondingly large number of rivers, there are still plenty of conventional hydroelectric options available. (Which, as you mentioned, can run 24/7)
We did have a tidal power plant, the Annapolis Royal Generating Station (1984). It was a dam built across a river mouth where the high tide would be allowed to enter, then the gates shut and power generated when the tide was low and the water flowed out through the turbines. It only generated power twice a day (5 hours each time) and caused erosion and ecological problems and was shut down in 2019.
I have a question I had for 20 years Why not a dam? The tide brings the water in, you close the dam while it's high, release it when it's low. You have a safer production of energy, lower spike and produces energy for longer
you could have spoken about the existing tidal power plants like the 240MW plant in the Rance's estuary in Bittany, France. I't's been running since 1966. But this kind of plant has more impact on the site than a few turbines since it's a actual dam laid across the esturay and functioning both ways as the tide comes and goes
Hi! To the person that does the captions, you are amazing. Just one thing on this video, at 0:25 it says ocena instead of ocean. Thanks for all the work you do!
Thank you to the hundreds of people who've sent me ideas about the Bay of Fundy over the years. I decided to film all those ideas in one video. And thanks also to: ■ AD: 👨💻 NordVPN, whose best deal is here: nordvpn.com/tomscott
@@LukeWaters1 B.
I love your videos! They are like a highly explained documentary for free!
@@dafyddbayliss9662 D.
Because electricity doesn’t like water
Check out the “Sea Organ” in Croatia. It’s built on to the shoreline, and plays music as water flows in.
Tom has developed the ability to both teleport and time travel merely by using wipe transitions. Soon he will become unstoppable.
Littlefinger: finally, a worthy opponent
I'm actually ok with that.
Wipe transitions... and Nord VPN are helping with the teleportation now as well it seems.
Now, considering that he only won second place in the battle for who the best Tom is, that shows the true terror that Thomas Ridgewell is.
_After overcoming his fear of rollercoasters and dislike of coffee, Tom Scott escaped into the waves. The waves._
It's amazing that Tom was able to do all this in one take. His patience is immaculate.
Even his earlier videos work the same way. Great talent
When next taskman video Mr TH-camr
A lot of Tom Scott videos are improved a lot if you imagine he says "One take!" at the end.
10/10 editing on this one! Nice work!
Two of my favorite channels at the same place. Woah
Si
Not really, it didn't have the greatest transitions
Agree!!!
You know you got respect when JerryRigEverything is commenting on your video. Noice.
I love that Tom is now a massive TH-cam personality but we’ll still find him on the floor of his bathroom leaning over his tub for a $0 science demonstration that’s still, somehow, very entertaining 😅 A treasure
$0 science demonstration? Haven't you seen the bubble bath?
The bathroom of his obviously cheap hotel room no less.
The $0 experiment has a certain charm to it. Not everything has to be super high budget to be good.
He's probably made more documentaries than anyone ever. About so many different topics, and is probably more interesting than most. He's a national treasure
Well it's a hotel room so maybe not £0.
It's not the editing I'm most impressed by, it's how well matched the pitch, volume, and speed of your speech is. Nicely done.
And the acoustics match. Great mic.
Tom Scott is awesome. :-)
I'm sure the editor deserves at least some credit for that, making everything line up perfectly.
This really encompasses the human condition.
"Do you think it's possible?"
"The project was a total failure; everything broke. So, maybe. We'll keep trying anyways."
the indifferent cruelty of the universe meets the indomitable human spirit
Are you saying that it's silly to keep trying to make it work? as if they're literally doing the same thing every time?
@@Siberius- I do not like the taste of those words that you're trying to put into my mouth.
@@Siberius- no one is saying that. All they said was what they said.
@@sorrymabbad QUOTE. Wow what a line! 🤯
I actually did my engineering bachelor's project on this. There was a station there, at Annapolis, for a long time, but after studies found it to be a major hazard to fish populations it was shut down just a couple years ago in 2019
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Apparently it technically closed due to a hardware failure like the others did, but the fish deaths were the reason it wasn't repaired and reopened alongside other environmental issues. (eg bank erosion)
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Were those the underwater turbines?
The video editing in this one is amazing, mad respect, Tom !
He hasn't done the editing in a long timr
@@tomvp8512 He still pays the person that does though.
Agreed!
This edit is really on another level!
The transitions reminds me a lot of Connections,, and that's a good thing. ♥
Im still baffled everytime Tom does an actual VPN sponsorship and his ad is sounding way more legit than the magical promises everybody else gives. Also im really happy for him that he gets big sponsors so we can enjoy a lot more Tom Scott Videos in the future.
Make me willing to see the ads
He stayed true to his previous video about fakeness of VPN ads
@@b_n_account indeed, he only advertises the avoiding geoblocking aspect which is exactly the one legitimate use case he was talking about back then
Tom has built up a reputation for truth over many many years of work. He has such clout that he can stipulate writing his own script to only include the things he thinks are legit.
Also im kinda baffled on how random the Internet is. I started commenting on Videos as kinda a study on how much interaction you will get and this is the most amount of likes i ever got and its not even on. Also you needed to watch like three seperate videos, seperated by YEARS to understand what im talking about.
Annapolis Royal Generating Station used the tides of the Bay of Fundy for 35 years to generate power, but to say it had issues would be an understatement. It killed nearly a quarter of the fish that tried to pass through it, contributed to increases in erosion, and once even accidentally trapped a humpback whale on the upstream side for several days.
Wonder if that does more or less damage than using ocean water to cool the condensers of steam turbines. I work at a utility and we're decommissioning one of our generating stations because the damage it's doing to the wild life. Idk anything about the generating side, I just work on switching station yards
It didn't use the tides to generate power though, which is what Tom was talking about.
That power generating station used the high tide to fill a reservoir, then essentially acted like a hydroelectric dam to generate power from the stored water being released.
What Tom was talking about is using the tide coming in and out to generate power directly
Wind turbines kill endangered birds, and solar farms kill desert tortoises and fry birds. So I guess we just aren't going to be allowed to have electricity in the net zero future?
Did they at least make use of the fish? If your power station is that good at killing fish, maybe it's time to rebrand as an land based trawler that does power generation on the side.
@@RAFMnBgaming They should build one of those power stations on the Chicago River, to stop the invasive species. Surely it's a foolproof plan.
I can never stop loving your NordVPN sponsorship segment. No BS, no promise of safety, just "I can pretend to be in Britain while abroad".
That's because he pushed them into doing that, they probably asked to sponsor him many times then he made this video about why he doesn't like VPN sponsorship segments, and the video made an impact!
Pretending to be in Britain while abroad is an apt summary for most British history.
@@johnbeauvais3159 and with NordVPN, you can do so in the most politically-correct way possible in 2022!
he made a video about vpn sponsorships 3 years ago now he is doing a sponsorship wow
@@mike_tw3876 that video was going to be a sponsored video, he wasn't actually against vpns
I really enjoyed the editing on this one! It definitely fit this dynamic scene and gave us an opportunity to experience several locations throughout a day in only 4min!
Idea for the future, if you are jumping between various locations maybe include a map for reference either on its own or overlaying Tom saying where he is now.
I never thought a potential source of renewable power could be too strong. I always assumed there was a "happy medium" where the power generation machines would be able to withstand the natural forces, while also still generating power at a reasonable pace. Nice to see we can't overcome everything yet.
Wind turbines need braking systems in them to avoid the wind spinning them too quickly and destroying them.
You can find some videos of wind turbines that had braking failures get torn apart by the wind.
this is just material science problem. eventually we will have strong wind turbines that can absorb the power of a tornado.
It can happen with wind turbines too, you'll find plenty videos on YT where the turbines rip themselves apart at high winds when their braking systems fail.
It shouldn't surprise you. The Grand Canyon is a monument to the power of water in motion.
@@wiseSYW Unlikely, because to be strong enough to absorb a tornado almost certainly mean they are very inefficient in normal winds. Nothing in engineering is free, sure you can build strong but you sacrifice efficiency and have high initial costs.
I think this might be my favorite video yet, in terms of the way everything is neatly fit together -- shots, scripts, concepts, it's a very satisfying assemblage. Plus it's always fun to see cool stuff in my country getting shouted out!
matched action is always satisfying!
Fascinating! And love the transitions…
I always have a rule about ads that if its any longer than a minute, I'll skip through it, but Tom gets his point across so well in such a short amount of time. If more people could get to the point the way that Tom does, watching videos on youtube would be a much more enjoyable experience
I make exception for protracted ad segments that are turned into entire skits that go completely off-script from the sales spiel. That's free entertainment and they aren't usually any longer than the 60 sec ad read.
Skits bookending a regular read are less entertaining though and I'll usually skip the middle section.
As for this ad, it was both short and relevant to the video's production. Model implementation.
@@BonaparteBardithion *OPINION ALERT! *
I don't like the idea of turning ads into skits, it's weird, it's strange and it makes no sense. I would much prefer if youtubers did normal ads. Also props to tom here, he has made a vpn ad that isn't BS. However you are supposed to disclose at the beginning of a video that it is sponsored. I also didn't see the message from youtube that the video was sponsored, either I missed it or tom forgot to tick the box in youtube studio that says "This video contains paid promotion"!
@@MidnightThunderYT maybe only that segment of the video was sponsored and NordVPN had nothing at all to do with the rest. There is a clear displayed image on the ad bit.
@@thugpug4392 No you you have to tick that box if there is paid promotion at all. And yep it is good that he clearly displayed an ad message on the segment itself.
@@MidnightThunderYT are you reffering to ollie from Jolly? :D
The biggest change in the tides is actually Tom Scott doing a VPN provider promo, and a factually accurate, non-hyperbolic one to boot.
I was half asleep when I heard that I actually shot out of bed in disbelief
sell out
@@artful1967he addresses it in the video with his robot double. i don’t remember what it’s called, but it’s something with “robot” & “selling out”
@@esobelisk3110 It's called My robot is selling out so I don't have to. I think that was the title
The promo actually sounded very convincing compared to the dozens I've heard from other channels.
Someone who isn't from New Brunswick knows that it exists!? Wow.
Check out the bay if you're going through the Maritimes, the tidal cliffs are incredible. What those tides can do to a turbine blade is a mere taste of the sheer power of the place.
Word up this caught me off guard im from sussex
I only clicked the vid because I recognized the Irving pulp and paper mill.
I've heard of it because there's extreme tide differences in some bays in the UK and the Bay of Fundy is mentioned as the largest.
I've seen a large river turn into white water with these tidal effects funneled by an estruary.
@@SPDFRKliterally same 😂
@@thelizardkinganon6968 i live like 5 minutes from where he was standing so it caught me more off guard
The writing to get the transitions right was a really nice touch, satisfying to watch and I'm amused by the low budget demonstration using the bathtub lmao
What do you mean, low budget? That must be almost $100 a night! Free breakfast though. 😁
Plot twist, he was still at home, he just used NordVPN.
;)
@@TheOtherBill hahaha
Very much reminds me of the sort of thing I'd expect in a 1990s BBC documentary on the subject :D
Also "Tom Scott surprises himself with his own demo" is a genre that never gets old 😂
Hope you had a good time in eastern canada! So cool to see you cover something on my home province 😁
As a person from that area as well, I agree wholeheartedly :)
What's over there?
Same!!! It's super cool!!! Never thought Tom would come around this lil ol part of the world. :)
@@ストマクランブル Nothing. That's why I moved out.
I was just visiting there last week!
By the end of the video I was almost hoping that he'd say "I'm on a horse". Absolutely brilliant cuts and editing. Made a good topic even more entertaining
As someone who has lived on the Bay of Fundy my entire life, I'm quite shocked Tom didn't go tidal bore rafting... There are places where you can get on a boat and ride that tidal wave inland.
Tom wouldn't want to bring attention to what they do in Bristol like that.
maybe in summer?
For Tom Scott Plus I bet. That's where he has fun.
who says he didnt?
@@dumbleking5172 hope so!
The Bay of Fundy is so cool. Being able to wander around on the seafloor and then watch the tide come in so quickly that just hanging out for a bit feels dramatic is one of those things that reinforces just how incredible tides actually are. The ocean is being dragged around *by the moon*! And we just take that for granted!
Actually, it's the earth being squeezed like a stress ball by the pull of the moon which causes the water to flow differently over the earth as it goes from being slightly more round to slightly more oblong. But that's kind of a complicated answer that doesn't jive to most people, so they just tell you it's being pulled by the moon.
Good tidings to the Bay of Fundy.
Allegedly by the moon
@@freeofavia National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration disagrees with you. They have many pages of educational material on their dot gov site, all fully sourced.
Closest things I could find to how you describe it (yet contradict you):
"As gravitational force acts to draw the water closer to the moon, inertia attempts to keep the water in place. But the gravitational force exceeds it and the water is pulled toward the moon, causing a “bulge” of water on the near side toward the moon (Ross, D.A., 1995)."
"If the Earth were a perfect sphere without large continents, all areas on the planet would experience two equally proportioned high and low tides every lunar day. The large continents on the planet, however, block the westward passage of the tidal bulges as the Earth rotates. Unable to move freely around the globe, these tides establish complex patterns within each ocean basin that often differ greatly from tidal patterns of adjacent ocean basins or other regions of the same ocean basin (Sumich, J.L., 1996)."
@@freeofavia the earth-moon centre of gravity is slightly offset from the earths core, the earths solid mass can't react as fast as water can. thus the moon does "pull" but not in the way people think.
I absolutely love how he made a concise presentation. Brilliant!
There was a similar system in Norway, but based on waves instead. But one winter storm literally deleted everything... buildings (of concrete), powerplant, turbines, bridges, etc. all that is left out there, is 2 or three pillars some are left of the supporting bridge, and maybe a small superstructure, rest ended up on 90 meters depth
wow!
For anyone interested it is know as the tofestallen ocean wave plant, few parts remain of it just 3 years after it was open it was wiped out. Øygarden is near/where it is built I believe. It’s second plant was in operation until 1991, afterwards it was abandoned and only the remains of the original one destroyed by the storm remain.
I used to live near there. You should have included a shot of all the fishing boats sitting on the floor of the ocean at low tide, it's something you won't see anywhere else in the world. Their moorings are on sliding poles 20+ feet tall, so that the boats won't float away, yet remain moored to a single spot and aren't left dangling from their moorings at low tide.
+
+!
You can see the same in Britain (up to 49 feet). Maybe that's why they didn't include it - they know it from home.
You can also see it along the southern coast of the North Sea. Some boats actually have a special bottom shape so that they don't tip over when falling dry.
Tides from Ungava Bay to just about Davis Staight are very nearly as high as Fundy, some days higher. I don't know if boats use the same trick, but they certainly sit a long ways out on the flats at low tide. Even trucks get lost to the tide sometimes.
I remember doing the exact same thing as the bathtub example as a kid, and also spilling a little bit of water not expecting it to suddenly get enough force to jump out of the bathtub. A nice childhood memory.
"This scientifically rigorous demonstration, The Bay of Fundy, is represented by: *The bathtub."*
Never change Tom.
Just like Brian Cox documentaries with a modest budget
As somebody who grew up by the Bay of Fundy, I always appreciate when someone draws light to my corner of the world.
It even amazes me, that if you sit, and put your feet in the water during high tide, only couple hours later you have to walk several hundred feet from where you were sitting to touch the same water.
( edited bad grammar )
Must be a great place to build a sandcastle.
@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 Yes and no. On the one hand, watching the rising tide fill moats and flood your castles is great fun and happens with exciting speed. On the other hand, you've either got to keep moving down the receding beach every 30 minutes to get the "good wet sand" or else hike that good sand 50 feet or more each way to get back to your high tide castle.
@Bad Script
aha! good choice of building material there.
Your feet are about all you want to put in that water. The Bay is damned cold. Only around 4 C year round.
I came here to say that, as always, the video and research great but the transitions in this one were particularly nicely done… and I see I’m not the only one! Seriously, they were so clean and non-distracting; fantastic!
I’ve watched Tom for more than 2 years now and live in Nova Scotia, this video is a perfect explanation of the extreme tides of the region and the tidal power situation. Never a dull video and amazing as always, love your work!!
I didn't really get what he was trying to say with the whole explanation, though. He said some stuff really quickly and there were no images, so other than "waves in a confined space" I don't get it.
@@thewiseturtle the bay's shape forms a resonator with a natural frequency closely matched to the frequency of Earth's tidal cycle. If that doesn't mean much to you have a look for an introduction to forced harmonic motion.
Plus the funnel-like shhape of the bay means that the water flows faster as it gets narrower (to get the same volume flow rate of water through a smaller section).
I have vivid memories of almost getting caught in the incoming tide in the Minas Basin when I was 8 - we were in the flats and when we saw the water coming toward us what seemed a long way off, we started heading for the staircase to get up off the flat. Before we made it there, the water had passed us and my dad was carrying my little brother because the water was getting too deep for him to walk in it quickly. By the time we got to the staircase, it was almost to my waist.
That was definitely cutting it close. Any more delay and the plight of your family would have been on the News, but whether you got to see it or not would be the critical question.
@@markfryer9880 Flats are so dangerous for this, in Northern France the bay around Mont Saint Michel is said to have a tide as fast as a galloping horse and it has quicksand too for extra difficulty making it back in time (or at all)
Blimey. Stuff of nightmares, that.
I’d be curious if adding hydraulic turbines would change the resonant frequency of the bay slowly reducing the tide height over time.
I was wondering the same thing at some point of the video, but when you hear the strength of the tidal wave you understand that the amount of energy you need to collect is negligible vs the tidal energy.
Apparently it will slow down the the earth rotation, could be serious in Xxxxxxxxxxm years
No it will not. It cannot possibly. For the tidal amplification to work, the frequency MUST resonate with the revolution of the moon around the earth, which is about 12.5 hours, and doesnt change over millions of years. So if it's not the same as that, there will be no resonance. Sad but simple physics.
@@starpawsy Not true. The turbines work like dampers on the system, taking out energy.
That has two effects:
1. it reduces the amplitude of the oscillation by removing energy. The reason, that the amplitude is so high is, because there is not much damping, which makes most of the energy oscillating back and forth. So small dampening alone can have a strong effect on the amplitude.
2. It lowers the resonant frequency of the system "Bay". That may tune the Bay more in or out of the MoonFrequency, depending where it is today. Tuning out, would make the amplitude even significantly smaller.
But:
In the long run, we could only harvest the energy, that is continuously brought into the system. Therefore it does not matter, how much energy is currently oscillating (which produces the amplitude).
The amplitude could only be helpful in a way, that smaller system could work more efficient.
But it is not in itself equivalent with the amount of energy to be harvested.
@@wildeast66 Dotn aasgree with you, but all you say is irrelevant. The main point stays - that the bay has to resonate with the moons path, which doesnt change.
The editing in this video is top tier, even for Tom Scott. Mad respect to all the editing and coordination it took to get all of those shots, for a 5 minute video
My grandfather owns one of the companies that worked on harnessing the power here. It was kind of cool seeing you talk about something I've been so close to.
Love, love, LOVE the fancy editing in this video. It feels like something you always wanted to do in your videos, and here it is! Also, it's always fun when you talk about something I already know a little about...
Cheers Tom ! you've shown Canadians a part of Canada that an overall majority of the population will never see with their own eyes great job ! 👍🇨🇦
Sadly, the majority of the people in Canada who knows about the tidal waves and their height in the Maritime, are these people. The Maritimers. We have lost a lot of beauty in the last few storms including the "tea cup."
I did School project on the bay, from out in Alberta. Back then at least, natural landmarks or Canada was a part of the curriculum… no idea what’s happening to it now
With a thumbnail of “How hard can it be”, I expected 3 particular late middle aged British men behind Tom Scott setting up some harebrained contraption.
But the actual story of “actual companies try this and find out that it breaks everything” is just as good.
*Don't say that!!!!*
Which particular middle aged men?
if you listen closely you can hear them in the wind…….”Hammond you idiot”
_So we've come to the bay with the most powerful tides... in the world_
V8 powered turbine
There is a tidal power plant in Northern France called Rance tidal power, the tide there is fast but not as high and it's a sandy bay so there aren't many rocks and never any ice, making it a much easier plant to operate, it does cause the bay to fill with sediment though as the power that cleared it out is now used to turn the turbine :x
They looked in to doing a tidal barrage on the river Severn in the UK, and one of the reasons they didn't proceed was because although it could generate 7GW at peak operation, both of those peaks were during the time when the demand was low. They'd either have to reduce or shut down conventional generation (which increases the carbon emissions during periods when it has to start up) or find some massive storage. It's an issue with most renewables - supply can be erratic and/or doesn't match demand.
That is why I am always puzzled that we don't make more use of pumped storage.
@@drtrustrum Or with this kind of thing you don't even need a pump. You just "catch" a bunch of the high tide water and then close a gate, and release it through turbines more slowly. I'm sure that's still some enormous engineering challenge though.
@@ninjafruitchilled one major problem with that (besides the raw engineering) is that theres gonna be a lot of wildlife in those tides... you probably want to avoid funneling those through turbines
@@drtrustrum That is because we maxed it out,there is nowhere left to do that.
Tides are *not* synced to Earth days. They are synched to lunar days, and they shift about *50 minutes from one day to the next.* The tides corresponding to *low electricity demand* does not really make sense.
Seeing Tom Scott do a video in a location you take walks in 2-3x a week in the summer/fall is a weirdly jarring yet magical experience. :)
I love how easily you explain things. The demonstration was spot on
Tom's the type of creator who i find so trust worthy, that his sponsor adds actually make me consider trying the product
Especially since he actually made a video about the issues with these sponsors and actually stayed true to what he said there.
I did a meta analysis of ratings for various VPN products and NordVPN consistently came out on top. I'm not surprised it's the one Tom Scott decided to endorse.
@@avsgriffy plus, this advert was very different from the typical VPN advertisements he criticized. He focused just on the ability to make it seem like you’re in a different country online, not any security benefits.
I fully agree!
A VPN that is not open-source should not be trusted. Whatever they say you just have to believe them, we can't verify it.
Your diction is amazing. The amount of precision it takes to get these audio transitions as smooth as they are doesn't come from the editing, it comes from your delivery. Stellar flex
I grew up far inland British Columbia having never seen the ocean. My Dad was from New Brunswick, and would regale me with stories about how when the tide would come in, it was like a rushing flood, and they would have to run as it chased them. He was always full of tall tales, so I integrated easily my disappointment when I later experienced the ocean, and the tide was never so eventful as he described. ALAS, this looks exactly like what he described! It wasn’t a tall tale after all?! Mind Blown, and Loving It! Thank you Tom Scott.
Never in a million years would I have thought Tom Scott would end up in my hometown... This is absolutely insane and I'm very glad we're getting some attention, considering New Brunswick is usually a drive-by province 😂 Appreciate you coming and I really hope you've had a great time here (:
That is how I felt when he showed up in my town. Then jealous that I missed him.
@@cggc9510 same
Lovely natural geography you have around your home. Getting really cold for you now the year is coming to an end?
@@WhatIsSanity Yes, it is quite cold… but we’re starting to see effects of climate change, considering it is way hotter than usual for this time of year. We’ve had -20°C weather last week, but we’re expecting 9°C Saturday 😂
NB isn't a driveby province haha, Saskatchewan is
Imagine you're in a hotel room and you distinctly hear Tom Scott doing a demonstration through the thin walls of your bathroom.
Imagine you're in the room beneath his watching water coming through the ceiling during his demonstration.
I live in the Maritimes and hear about the latest attempts and subsequent failures to harness the Bay of Fundy for energy. As Tom says, it hasn't worked out...so far. But I would love to see it happen. It has MASSIVE potential for energy if we can just do it right.
0:46 that transition was a work of art. Edit: Omg there are so many of them!
Welcome to New Brunswick Tom! But there’s actually been one success over the last couple years, instead of putting it on the ocean floor they essentially developed like a little boat that lowers the turbines into the water, I think it was able to generate like 500 kW and there’s actually helping to power in Nova Scotia right now. Hopefully it keeps working
1000 homes per set of 6 turbines, if I remember correctly!
do you mean that the boat adjusts turbine depth to avoid debris, shoals of fish and curious whales?
I think the solution is indeed going top down in the water. It makes more sense and less rumble in the water jungle.
"Nova Scotia?"
-Will Seaward
@@ianweniger6620 It jist floats and is moored to the floor. the turbines can raise up like on board motors for repairs
I'm sure plenty of people have already commented on it, but Tom flooding the bathroom was definitely the highlight of the video LUL
The attempts at capturing the tides immense power kind of reminds me of every keyboard, mouse or controller I've ever used, try as I might to find one that can withstand my condition, I always end up breaking them prematurely in one way or another...
Me and my goddamn shoes
What condition?
@@blakksheep736 If that mattered, you would already know
@@TS_Mind_Swept okay...
@@blakksheep736 looking back at this that was kind of unwarranted.. you just get so used to people trying to crap on you for everything.. I sowwy
This video is amazing as always, but this time the editing/transitions are on top. The flow of the video combined with the background changes is amazing!! This video felt especially fun to watch!
Even after all this time, Tom still does wonderfully innovative editing and writing. Excellent as always!!
As a private pilot I've had the privilege of flying around the shorelines of the Minas Basin several times, it's an incredible landscape, especially when the tide is out. Happy to see Tom cover this fascinating place.
I absolutely love the transitions, it was so smooth and it must took a lot of tries, I'm always happy when Tom Scott uploads a video every week. Thank you!
Those audio cuts were flawless. Enjoyed them probably more than I should.
That they were, quite a different, but great style and job.
Except one
@@TheOneThreeFour Yes. But even that one was close.
The effort on this video is insane. Love Tom Scott!
The transitions on this videos are top tier, it really grabs your attention. I wonder if they'd be able to harness power using carbon fiber turbines, since it's both a very light and a very strong material, it would be expensive but I hope there are future attempts at that.
wow. the time and effort that went into this is amazing. so much respect
Yes, he drove around a lot and waited for a long time to get the situations and tides correct. I wish I'd know he was in Saint John as I live very close by! :)
Thank you so much for this video. I visited recently on a cruise and it's really quite hard to understand this place when you only visit for 10 minutes at one point in the day. 😂
These transitions are incredibly satisfying. Great work as always Tom & Team
I went to those rocks you were standing near in the beginning of the video in 2015 on a road trip through eastern Canada. It's insane just how much the water rises and falls there!
Hopewell Rocks.
I did the same in 1997 and they were amazing then too. Different rocks looked like faces and stuff.
Woow I loved these Transitions!
The flow of speech in this video was immaculate!
I have loved your videos for many years now but this one stuck out! Great job and very very pleasant to watch!
Thank you a ton for the dedication, time and effort you invest into making these Videos as great as they are without ever stopping to improve/invent!
Those transitions are super smooth, great job guys
We have one in France called "Usine marémotrice de la Rance". It works (according to Wikipedia, it is the most competitive electricity facility in France), but it causes lots of ecological concerns, ruining the bay life, accelerating silting and changing the tidal profile on locality arounds (including sea side).
Hello from Saint John! ❤ Nice to see our tiny slice of life get some international love!
It’s actually kind of funny, growing up around here with the Damn just north of Fredericton, and Lepreau Nuclear station and all the failed attempts to use the Bay we don’t even really consider it much of an option anymore. Even as an electrical engineer we just inherently know it would probably be a waits of time and money to try.
It would be great if we could, because the pulp and paper mill on the Reversing Falls and it’s sister paper mill across town take more power to start up than all of New Brunswick uses in that same 1 hour time frame.
There is some really cool projects going on to harness the power of the Bay on floating stations meant for open water where the current is still strong but not going to break the equipment.
When I was about 10 (1965 or so), my parents took the family on a road trip from Philadelphia up to see the Bay of Fundy, the tidal bore, and the Reversing Falls in St. John. At the time I had no idea what it all meant but it was extremely fascinating none the less!
Great to see all three presented in just a few minutes. Even more fascinating now.
... next stop the Magnetic Hill where cars roll up hill (same road trip in New Brunswick).
You are very old Charles. Is there growing moss on you yet?
Seems like the thing to do is not have water-driven turbines. Instead, have a gigantic (closed) pipe. Water rushes in, compressing the air in the pipe. Above a certain pressure, a relief valve opens and the air rushes into a holding tank at that high pressure. From there, air is bled off through a regulator into a pneumatic turbine. The holding tank would serve two purposes: 1: provide a buffer for the input air pressure to try to stabilize what's eventually available to the turbine, and 2: provide a spot for any water making its way through the relief valve in the intake cylinder to fall out of the air. A second relief valve in the holding tank helps ensure the pressure there doesn't get too bonkers.
This is one of the best videos I've ever seen, even down to the sponsorship - clean, after the video, experience-based, no false promises, and very clearly declared as sponsored advertising. How sponsored segments should be done!
The bathtub demonstration is perfect honestly. I've been doing the same thing with resonant frequencies since I was a kid, where I'd make a huge mess during bathtime lmao
What a nice surprise to see my home the Bay of Fundy in a Tom Scott video. As the video progresses and he made his way around the bay I was almost expecting him to end up the small fishing village of 200 people I grew up in on Brier Island. It's a small island at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy and is the site of the latest turbine experiments that have been running over the past couple years. They seem to be more promising than the attempts in the past but it's still a few years out from supplying energy to the grid
This is honestly one of my favourite of your videos in a while. Kind of small in scale and execution, but it's about a part of the country that I love and it's got some old school demonstrations and a classic Tom Scott "I don't know, maybe?"
It's small in scale, but it does a lot with what it's got. The cinematography is unparalleled, at least among Tom Scott videos.
I'm offended that Tom came to my neck of the woods and I didn't even know.
And FYI to those wondering and wanting more info, the river is named St John just like the city he visited.
Also, he should have come in the summer when you can go rafting on the tidal bore (look up Shubenacadie river runners)
I grew up in Saint John and I cannot describe the shocked noise I made when I saw Tom suddenly standing in front of the refinery
1:05 can we just take a moment to appreciate how seamless that transition was
easy to cut at the spike of the ‘t’
This was one of the most unusually-shot Tom Scott videos I've seen in a long time. Loved it! Keep 'em coming!
I’ve never felt like such an expert on a Tom Scott video before. I live near the Bay of Fundy, and my Mechanics prof got us to work out its resonant frequency using the exact same bathtub analogy, to explain why tides are so high.
There is the UniWave prototype that uses waves in an enclosed space to compress air to turn a turbine. That would avoid direct contact with destructive salt water and debris.
Interestingly, the bay to the east of Thailand (if you ever go there) has a resonant freqency of around 24 hours matching the resonance of the effect of the sun. so the tides there are not timed in the classic 2 tides per day instead tides happen once a day.
I absolutely love how he made a concise presentation. Brilliant!. 10/10 editing on this one! Nice work!.
Small thing, but connecting your VPN video with this AD, it just makes total sense to focus on the location change. That is how I mostly use my VPN either way, so... nice touch!
I live on the Bay of Fundy. If I'd known you were so close, I would've said hi. One of the things that's amazing is that there are places where you can see water as far as you can see. Come back 6 hours later, and you can't see any water, just mud. This repeats twice a day, every day.
Bro props to NordVPN for real. Knowing how much Tom hates how most VPN's advertise these days, it's cool that they still sponsored him knowing he was going to give a much more realistic view of what VPN's are good for rather than what most people say about them.
You've taught me more about the Bay of Fundy in 5 minutes than what I've learned in my 13 years of education, and I live just a few hours away from all of these sites. Thanks, Tom
I’ve been to all these places a decade ago and this video made me increadibly nostalgic for Canada ❤ So happy Tom got to visit the places and took me for the ride 🥰
I hope you enjoyed your time on the east coast Tom! I’m from Nova Scotia and worked for several years for many of the tidal developers in the Bay of Fundy, trying to harness its power. It was a pleasant surprise to see your video on something so close to home!
Love Tom's personality coming through loud and clear. He's in his element.
As someone who can see the bay of Fundy from their house, I'm vary happy you finally did a video on it.
I clicked the thumbnail thinking huh, that looks like Saint John. and then proceeded to be blown away. I cant believe I didn't see this when it was released
Hi Tom! I hope you do a follow up of smaller generators near Briar Island, also in the Bay of Fundy. These have shown limited, and possibly scalable success. Thanks for showcasing a bit more of our great country!
This might be the best video you've ever made. Such an incredible display of the skills learned over many years of making TH-cam videos. Well done, Tom!
I suggest one of the other reasons the Bay of Fundy isn't used to produce electricity is that is just isn't needed.
Currently 60% of Canada's electricity is hydroelectric... Canadians refer to their electricity bill as the "hydro bill".
With over 100,000 lakes and a correspondingly large number of rivers, there are still plenty of conventional hydroelectric options available. (Which, as you mentioned, can run 24/7)
I lived there for about 2 years Nd never learned the reasons for the high differences between tides. Thank you for explaining this so simply
I'm mind blown by the effort put into those transitions. Wow.
One of the best ad reads I’ve seen in a while - real life example, not super long, and linked it back to the video at hand. Well done sir
I'm loving the transitions on this one, great job!
We did have a tidal power plant, the Annapolis Royal Generating Station (1984). It was a dam built across a river mouth where the high tide would be allowed to enter, then the gates shut and power generated when the tide was low and the water flowed out through the turbines. It only generated power twice a day (5 hours each time) and caused erosion and ecological problems and was shut down in 2019.
and is now just an weird looking bridge over the river ;-)
I have a question I had for 20 years
Why not a dam?
The tide brings the water in, you close the dam while it's high, release it when it's low. You have a safer production of energy, lower spike and produces energy for longer
you could have spoken about the existing tidal power plants like the 240MW plant in the Rance's estuary in Bittany, France. I't's been running since 1966. But this kind of plant has more impact on the site than a few turbines since it's a actual dam laid across the esturay and functioning both ways as the tide comes and goes
Hi! To the person that does the captions, you are amazing. Just one thing on this video, at 0:25 it says ocena instead of ocean. Thanks for all the work you do!