The Scariest Chart In Electrical Engineering

One thing I appreciate about amateur radio is that it teaches you the theory instead of asking you to rely on technology. Learn the fundamentals first, then use the technology to make the job easier, not to replace understanding.

My 128-foot end-fed half-wave antenna is a good example. A little math, a tape measure, an SWR meter built into my HF radio, and some patience were all it took. I cut the wire a little long, trimmed it a bit at a time, and tested as I went. With a 49:1 transformer, it ended up being such a good match that my automatic antenna tuner rarely had to do anything.

Sometimes understanding why something works is far more valuable than simply owning expensive equipment.

73!

25:26 !!! Where were y’all when I was beating my brains out on this stuff?!! Great technical communication works when one feels this way. This video will be treasured by EE students for generations.

My professor told us to not make photocopies of the Smith chart, because by buying an official Smith chart, Philip Smith’s widow would get royalties. Buying fresh charts might have cost me a few bucks, but it helped the old widow in some small way. Impedance matching never felt so honourable.

there’s always someone who checks the comments, but never writes. Greetings to you

I love how even a simplified veritasium explanation of transmission line concepts gets very complicated. And this is coming from someone with 12 years of electrical engineering experience.

I can confirm that several people in my EE class dropped out as soon as the Smith Chart showed up

Veritasium's target audience: general public. Actual audience: traumatized EE students and engineers

For future reference the first title was "you're too dumb to understand this, but you will watch it anyway"

I love how every other branch of science uses charts to show data, but Electrical Engineering just uses a chart that looks like a transmutation circle to summon a demon.

37:37 take the professor clothes and put it in washing machine. While spinning you can see the smith chart i bet !!

0:10 wiring diagram for Deathstar?

Physicist and high power RF/Microwave Design engineer here. Truly a brilliant attempt to simplify this subject in a 30 minute video. Kudos for trying. For the past 30+ years I have been using the Smith chart not only to match transmission line elements into systems but also to teach electrical engineers how to think about RF. At high power, to practice RF Design engineering requires an integration of a few engineering disciplines: Mechanics, Electrical, Thermal (same as RF just different frequency), Materials science and even fluid Mechanics into the physics of waves. Time varying and spatially varying voltages and currents all traveling down a transmission line.

A few nuggets to add to the video
1. Characteristic impedance of any transmission line whether it’s coaxial, microstrip, CPW, strip line waveguide etc. (Z= R+jX) is really geometry dependent, which drives everything in this discipline. Similarly physics is also all about geometry especially gravity.
2. Look up George Gamow’s island treasure puzzle. Alternate way to look at the complex plane.
3. A short circuit that is a quarterwave long actually looks like an open circuit. And vice versa. This RF magic can be used to desi

All roads lead to Bell Labs

Let’s go!! Hey was great talking with you guys! Thanks for having me on.

As an EE student this video explains a complex topic very clearly in 40 minutes what many professors fail to explain clearly in weeks. Thank you so much!

its stuff like this which makes me feel like the "electricity is real world magic" thing is true
so now I can put on my degree "Practitioner of Magic"

FINALLY... a topic even veritasium sucks at explaining.

37:17 the will smith chart 💀

I felt a great disturbance in the EM field, as if a million hams cried out together - "at last!"

All my Amateur Extra license holders represent! This video should be shown to all amateur radio operators studying for their Extra exam. This explains more about the toughest questions than any study material I've used. Great video!

will smith chart at 37:23 caught me off guard ngl

How wonderful to see Dr. Furse pop up in a Veritasium video! She was one of my very favorite professors in college 20 years ago.

As an electrical engineer, seeing the thumbnail gave me a mild panic attack.

Like a moth to light, the amateur radio operators are here.

As an RF engineer, this chart is my life.

That thumbnail is a jumpscare, giving me war flashbacks to my undergrad days

Ah yes! Another video I barely understand but still keep watching

Within the Electronics world, RF electronics engineers are widely considered to be magicians who may in fact be sacrificing goats to make sure their impedances match.

Every field of study has its 'scariest chart'. This could be an ongoing series.

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