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IrelandTom Scott's breaking machine has a gentler purpose, too
His Kirkaldy Testing Works tour passes 1.5 million views, with volunteers explaining the ingenuity behind the destruction.
Tom Scott
Story of Why this story? The channel's weekly summary: what went up this week, what is drawing views now, and where the channel stands among similar channels.
This machine breaks things.
Things we can learn from the video
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- 1:05Room-temperature mild steel bends under the Charpy machine's impact rather than breaking.
- 3:10A steel sample chilled in dry ice shatters under impact, demonstrating cold brittleness.
- 9:22Jane explains how a hydraulic intensifier increased water pressure to power the Universal Testing Machine.
- 20:00The machine locks its weight when a sample breaks, preserving the final load measurement.
- 20:32Tom explains that testing also proved materials could withstand specified loads without being destroyed.
- 21:49The steel specimen stretches and snaps; the team calculates the breaking force afterward.
The steel stretches like taffy before it snaps, but Tom Scott offers an important correction to the spectacle: Kirkaldy's enormous testing machine wasn't only built to destroy things. It could also prove that a material would withstand a specified load without failing. Sometimes, not breaking anything was the point.
"This machine breaks things." was his only new upload this week, and it has passed 1.5 million views. The London museum visit puts volunteers at the center of the explanation: Bill demonstrates impact testing, Julian introduces hardness testers, and Jane walks Tom through the giant hydraulic machine. The video includes a sponsored segment.
One particularly satisfying detail comes just before the final demonstration. When a sample breaks, the machine locks the weight in place, preserving the measurement of the force it took. Tom's response is immediate: "That's so clever!" Jane answers, "So simple."
That human side carries into the comments. Viewers ask for more of Julian explaining the equipment, single out Jane's measured teaching style, and share experiences of using modern versions of these tests at work. The Universal Testing Machine's grand name also prompts a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comparison.
The new tour is comfortably the channel's busiest video right now, followed by the Cumbria Clock Company visit and the strawberry-picking robots episode. Across the catalog, Tom added roughly 2.7 million views over seven days, the largest weekly gain among the nearby education channels here, including Johnny Harris and 3Blue1Brown. Subscribers grew modestly, although daily viewing is currently below its usual pace.
For anyone drawn to the loud snap, the tour leaves something quieter to appreciate: a mechanical balance that remembers exactly when the steel gave way.
Published on Trari
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What viewers say
The "Universal Testing Machine" sounds like something straight out of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
@EnderWahlquistSee it on YouTubeLove the woman explaining the main machine, she's clearly knowledgeable and excited to explain the old technology to someone whos happy to listen!
@shanespencer3848See it on YouTubeI'm a machinist a QA inspector. We use versions of all of these machines to this day. I have done Charpy tests of 3-d printed titanium samples, used Brinell hardness testers on incoming materials, and our testing engineers do pull tests on "dogbone" samples to test welds as well as compression tests on concrete.
@jessejohnson9871See it on YouTube
5 more comments
The "Universal" in that testing machine is really remarkable. The fact that they could test a very, very small sample to the same accuracy as a very, very big sample is really what makes it incredible.
@spokehedzSee it on YouTubePlease give us a full video of Julian explaining the machines he shows. Visually appealing or not I want to see it, and more importantly, hear it.
@Dan-The-OrangeSee it on YouTubeI think I would like for Jane to teach me anything/everything. What a calm, positive, and measured manner of explaining things.
@Echax2000See it on YouTubeTom Scott once again reminds us that some of the greatest advances humans ever made were systems of measurement so that we could test, record, verify, and study the world.
@RicTakadenSee it on YouTubeBig lumps of engineering.
* grunts happily *@richbuilds_comSee it on YouTube
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The videos drawing views on Tom Scott right now
- Channel
- Tom Scott
- Subscribers
- 6,750,000 ▲ 10,000 this week
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 2,723,751
- Videos published this week
- 1
- Video published
- October 26, 2026
- Video views so far
- 1,525,242
- Views on its first day
- 980,408
The numbers
Here is how Tom Scott's new tour and wider catalog performed this week.
💡 Test your knowledge
What powers Kirkaldy's Universal Testing Machine?
Jane shows how pressurized water drives the machine's hydraulic system.