The Science Behind How a Quartz Watch Works Simplified – The Engineer Guy

Bill Hammack, AKA “The Engineer Guy” creates some pretty amazing videos that explain things two steps further than most of the fluff on the internet. The thing that sets him aside is that he chooses topics that are a bit more challenging, and are often overlooked in our day to day lives. His video on how a quartz watch works for example, is truly phenomenal. We’ve all owned quartz watches I’m sure at many times in our lives, but what exactly does that mean? It’s something I’ve often wondered. The answer is the piezoelectric effect. I won’t even bother to try an explain it. Instead, you should watch the video for yourself. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. Ever wonder how a smoke detector works? He tackles that as well. It turns out there aren’t gnomes who live inside a box that press a switch when they smell smoke.

Edit: So today (2/16/12) at O’Reilly’s: Tools of Change conference in NYC, I got to meet The Engineer Guy in the flesh. Like usual when I meet someone whom I’m enamored by, I acted with total coolness as I not only interrupted his lunch, but his mid sentence while speaking to other conference attendees. Sorry Bill, but I was super stoked to have met you! I did show my 14 year old son your video however, and he was impressed. That’s pretty hard to do.

Link: The Engineer Guy