The Scariest Chart in Electrical Engineering

About this video

Why is the Smith Chart one of the scariest charts in electrical engineering? Sponsored by Incogni - use code veritasium at https://incogni.com/veritasium to get an exclusive 60% off your annual subscription. Last year, we launched the Elements of Truth game on Kickstarter and were thrilled by the response. We’re now in the final stages of production, with Kickstarter rewards shipping soon. Pre-order the retail edition here: https://elementsoftruth.game/ If you’re looking for a molecular modelling kit, try Snatoms, a kit I invented where the atoms snap together magnetically - https://ve42.co/SnatomsV For weekly science news, and an exclusive Q&A where Writer/Director Henry discusses the making of this video, sign up to the Veritasium newsletter - https://ve42.co/Newsletter For early access to work in progress videos join our Patreon https://ve42.co/VePatreon ▀▀▀ 0:00 The Scariest Chart In Engineering 3:24 Standing Waves And Reflections 7:24 Why does a wave bounce back? 10:15 How to stop a wave from bouncing back 17:06 The Smith Chart 25:53 How To Read The Smith Chart 30:42 This Circuit Gets Better When You Break It 35:22 Why were we slow to use it? 37:06 Is it still useful? ▀▀▀ A big shout out to Imperial College London for letting us use their screened RF anechoic chamber. In particular, a massive thanks to Prof. Stepan Lucyszyn and Ian Rossuck for helping us set up the demos seen in this video. Also special thanks to Zach Star, Dr. Cynthia Furse, Dr James Nagel, and Ralph Gable for their invaluable expertise! Check out @zachstar 's video on the Smith Chart here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXWbdxOAuDs Check out @3blue1brown 's video to learn more about transformations and conformal maps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldxFjLJ3rVY ▀▀▀ References: https://ve42.co/SmithChartsRefs ▀▀▀ Special thanks to our Patreon supporters: Adam Foreman, Albert Wenger, Alex Porter, Alexander Tamas, André Powell, Anton Ragin, Balkrishna Heroor, Bertrand Serlet, Blake Byers, Bruce, Bryan Ackermann, Chris Brewer, Data Don, Dave Kircher, David Johnston, David Tseng, EJ Alexandra, Evgeny Skvortsov, Garrett Mueller, Gnare, gpoly, Hayden Christensen, Hong Thai Le, Ibby Hadeed, Jeromy Johnson, Jesse Brandsoy, Juan Benet, Kelcey Steele, KeyWestr, Kyi, Lee Redden, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Mark Heising, Martin Paull, Meekay, meg noah, Michael Krugman, Moebiusol - Cristian, Orlando Bassotto, Parsee Health, Paul Peijzel, Richard Sundvall, Robson, Sam Lutfi, Shalva Bukia, Sinan Taifour, Tj Steyn, Ubiquity Ventures, Vahe Andonians, wolfee ▀▀▀ Writer, Producer & Director: Henry van Dyck Presenter: Henry van Dyck Editors: Trenton Oliver, Axel Oliver & Peter Nelson Animators: Emma Wright, Alex Drakoulis, Andrew Neet & Fabio Albertelli Illustrator: Jakub Misiek Researchers: Darius Garewal & Gabe Strong Asst. Editors: James Stuart & Jonny Leonard Simulations: Darius Garewal & Henry van Dyck Camera/Drone Operators: Robert Newman & Xavier Bussière Additional Writing: Darius Garewal Thumbnail Designers: Abdallah Rabah & Daniel Ellacott Production Team: Jess Bishop-Laggett, Glen Griffiths, Matthew Cavanagh, Luke Lewis & Anna Milkovic Executive Producers: Casper Mebius Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images and Storyblocks Music from Epidemic Sound