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/Warf...

Or their YouTube channel here:

/ 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