What Actually Happened To Amelia Earhart?

The mistakes of Amelia Earhart’s final flight, and the physics that could have saved her. Use code VERITASIUM to get 50% off your 1st club crate when you join a club for kids aged 3+ or go to https://kiwico.com/veritasium

00:00 Amelia Earhart’s fatal flight
01:52 How Earhart prepared for her final mission
03:33 Who was Amelia Earhart?
05:36 The flight plan
07:13 How celestial navigation works
09:16 Invention of radio technology
12:02 Radio waves explained
22:44 Earhart makes her critical decision
24:55 Communication failures
28:30 “Gas is running low”
31:39 Her desperate final message
33:01 The small detail that could have saved her

Special thanks to Clifford Heath for his help putting together the radio demo, and the folks at the Victorian ARDF group for connecting us.

Thank you to Brian Harrison and Michael Murphy with the AWA Communication Technologies Museum for their assistance with early research.

Thank you to Peter Bevelacqua over at Antenna Theory for help filling in some missing details.

Sharp-eyed viewers might notice there doesn't seem to be a loop antenna in the flight simulation shots. It sadly wasn't included in the simulator's model of Earhart's Electra, but it features prominently in old photos.

The Secret Life of Radio video credits: Tim Hunkin - https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=4AyDKVi6brMqSIMD&v=LMxate9gegg&feature=youtu.be

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References: https://ve42.co/RefsEarhart

Directed by Sulli Yost and Derek Muller
Written by Sulli Yost and Derek Muller
Edited by Peter Nelson
Animated by David Szakaly, Fabio Albertelli, Ivy Tello, Mike Radjabov, Mohamed Alhaj, Emma Wright
Illustrations by Jakub Misiek, Emma Wright, Maria Gusakovich
Filmed by Derek Muller and Bernard Lau
Additional Research by Gabriel Bean, Geeta Thakur
Produced by Sulli Yost, Derek Muller, Rob Beasley Spence, Emily Lazard, Tori Brittain, Umar Ijaz
Thumbnail contributions by Peter Sheppard, Ren Hurley
Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images and Storyblocks
Music from Epidemic Sound and Jonny Hyman