How Do Night Vision Goggles Work? (There's 3 types)

We visited the US Navy to test the best night vision goggles in the world. Head to https://brilliant.org/veritasium to start your free 30-day trial, and the first 200 people get 20% off an annual premium subscription.

If you’re looking for a molecular modeling kit, head to https://ve42.co/SnatomsV to try Snatoms – a kit I invented where the atoms snap together magnetically.

Huge thanks to Dr. Ben Conley and the entire team at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division. You can check out more of their work here: https://www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/Warfare-Centers/NSWC-Crane/
Or their YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/NSWCCraneDivision

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Video References:
Tyson, J. (2001). How Night Vision Works. How Stuff Works. – https://ve42.co/HSWNightVision
Montoro, H. P. Image Intensification: The Technology of Night Vision. Photonics. – https://ve42.co/PhotonicsTech
Brain Stuff - HowStuffWorks via YouTube – https://ve42.co/HSWVideo
Photonis via YouTube – https://ve42.co/Photonis
Operator Drewski via YouTube – https://ve42.co/NVGaming
Night-vision device via Wikipedia – https://ve42.co/NVWiki
Image intensifier via Wikipedia – https://ve42.co/Intensifier
Lodriguss, J. How Digital Cameras Work. AstroPix. –https://ve42.co/AstroPix
Kinka-Byo. (2019). What is the physical cause of increasing noise at high ISO? StackExchange. – https://ve42.co/PhotoISO
Macias, A. (2015). The secret NVGs SEAL Team Six wore on the Bin Laden raid. Business Insider. – https://ve42.co/BINightVision
Van Dommelen, L. Thermionic Emis­sion. Quan­tum Me­chan­ics for En­gi­neers. – https://ve42.co/Thermoionic
Nave, R. (2016). Blackbody Radiation. HyperPhysics. – https://ve42.co/BlackBody
Night Vision Terminology - Generations. ModArmory. – https://ve42.co/ModArmory
NASA (2018). X-ray Detectors - Electrical Current Detections. – https://ve42.co/NASAXRay

Images & Video:
Osama Bin Laden report, via CNN on YouTube - https://ve42.co/CNNOBL
Sicario Night Raid Scene, via Movieclips on YouTube - https://ve42.co/Sicario
Splinter Cell footage, via Ubisoft on YouTube - https://ve42.co/SplinterCell
Step Brothers Night Vision Scene, via masusockvevo on YouTube - https://ve42.co/StepBrothers
Ukraine report, via CNN on YouTube - https://ve42.co/CNNUkraine
FLIR K2 Thermal Imaging Camera footage, via Teledyne FLIR on YouTube - https://ve42.co/FLIRK2
Chandra X-ray Observatory imagery, via NASA - https://ve42.co/NASAChandra

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Special thanks to our Patreon supporters:
Adam Foreman, Anton Ragin, Balkrishna Heroor, Bernard McGee, Bill Linder, Burt Humburg, Chris Harper, Dave Kircher, Diffbot, Evgeny Skvortsov, Gnare, John H. Austin, Jr., john kiehl, Josh Hibschman, Juan Benet, KeyWestr, Lee Redden, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Mario Bottion, Max Maladino, Meekay, meg noah, Michael Krugman, Paul Peijzel, Richard Sundvall, Sam Lutfi, Stephen Wilcox, Tj Steyn, TTST, Ubiquity Ventures

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Directed by Emily Zhang
Written by Emily Zhang and Derek Muller
Edited by Trenton Oliver
Animated by Mike Radjabov, Fabio Albertelli, and Ivy Tello
Filmed by Trenton Oliver, Emily Zhang, Derek Muller, and Raquel Nuno
Produced by Emily Zhang, Han Evans, and Derek Muller

Thumbnail by Ren Hurley
Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images and Pond5
Music from Epidemic Sound