99 Years Later... We Solved It

It's so impressive how the pioneers managed to ride these for miles

I had a book growing up called 'why does a ball bounce and 100 other questions' that was full of physics questions and these stones were in it! It was the only question that didn't have an answer and that always bothered me 😂 now, about 20 years after first reading about them, you have provided the answer. That book was one of the reasons I got into physics and I'm so glad the mystery has been solved. Makes my heart happy in so many ways 😊

I only discovered this channel when the update about your health, done by your friend, came up in my recommended feed. I'm so sorry you're going through such a terrible time and just wanted to thank you for all these wonderful videos. I'm sorry I didn't find them before now! I can't subscribe to your patreon right now so I'm letting all the ads play, watching your videos, in the hopes that every little bit of revenue helps. All the best, Diana, I hope you get better soon xxx

Those are the children/nephews of my geology professor (Dr. Robert Norris). He studied those rocks for decades. I'm surprised he wasn't mentioned. His hypothesis was wind-blown ice sheets, also.

I did a report on this over 12 years ago in college. The ice sheets with wind was the theory I believed the most. So it's cool they finally got evidence

Id like to imagine the rocks just Tokyo drifting across the race track and suddenly stopping when people observe them lol

The pioneers used to ride these babies for miles

I recognized that ice as soon as it showed it on screen it made sense to me. I live in Michigan and ice like that covers the shore some years

As a young boy back in the 50s my Grandparents had a cabin on the Saltin sea one year the lake was very low and I found a rock that left a trail in the mud. The rock was so large I couldn't move it. I showed my Grandad and he couldn't explain it. I wished he was alive so I could share this with him thank you for sharing ❤

I saw them in 1976. I assumed either the wind was pushing them on very slick sediment that got wet. Or, they were frozen in shallow water ice floes and floated, pushed by wind. I worked at the Nevada Test Site and the dry lake sediment I had to deal with was slick as snot when wet. And I had seen ice move on the frozen dry lake beds. Never put together the gooey silt PLUS the ice. WAY COOL.

I discovered "Physics Girl" just today and watch several videos when I came upon this one. When I was a child (in the sixties) my parents took us on a trip to Death Valley. I remember a wooden sign at the "Race Track" stating it was believed the rocks moved due to water and wind. Having seen many accounts through the years by people amazing at the rocks I would always think to myself "Of course these were pushed by those forces". Not that I had any brilliant thoughts about them, but having been there, I contemplated and observed thinking this now proven theory makes perfect sense. I love it when science proves what attention and "common sense" tells us. I look forward to many more of your vids. Thank you Physics Girl <3

Sending all my love to you guys. Can't wait to see you back sharing learning and knowledge!

That video of the rocks moving is pretty spectacular. I wouldn't have believed it could be ice till they filmed it. Crazy dedication.

I remember traveling through Death Valley on vacation with my family and being really fascinated by the phenomenon! Really cool to see a conclusion to a scientific mystery that I've seen in person!

Aristotle: "These stones want to move elsewhere but they are old and slow".

What most puzzling to me is the weight of the rocks and how it only takes very little to actually move them. You’d think they’d stay put because of their weight!

I remember learning about this years ago. I love this experiment because it’s a great example of humans trying to make sense of evidence found. As much as we think outside the box, sometimes we just need to sit and wait and let nature teach us a few things.

I remember reading about this in the early 80's with a friend I hung with. We thought it was ice and over the years I had thought had been confirmed a long time ago. We grew up on the shore of Lake Champlain and watched the ice do lots of powerful things.

over 50 years ago my Grampa told me it was the wind that moved them when the ground was wet. when the desert ground gets wet it slick as snot

Great job on the creation of a well-told story. It is so easy to drift off into the land of dry and dense on STEM topics. This effort is great example for others to follow. Nicely done!