# Derek Muller on Reddit (u/veritasium)

Part of Scientists on Reddit, researched with Autumn (https://www.autumn.ai) from public sources. Updated 2026-11-07. Interactive version: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/scientists-on-reddit/derek-muller

Derek Muller: Science educator behind Veritasium.

- Reddit account: [u/veritasium](https://www.reddit.com/user/veritasium/) (AMA only)
- How we know it's theirs: [The 2015 r/IAmA AMA, posted from this account](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3u3z79/)
- Where they post, in the records we retrieved: r/IAmA (454), r/askscience (45), r/Veritasium (41), r/science (20), r/videos (3), r/CGPGrey (2)
- Known activity in the posts we found: 2011 to 2021
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Muller

## Moments

### u/veritasium in r/IAmA, Jun 4, 2015 · Personal story

Replying to a redditor:

> By whom did derek got star struck the most?

> I think of all my inspirations, the one I enjoyed meeting most was Bill Nye because he's a very down-to-Earth, unpretentious guy. And he taught me how to tie a bowtie, very patiently. He was an excellent teacher (as you might guess) and made me tie the bowtie again and again until I had it down. Repetition is the most important thing in learning how to tie a bowtie.

(Excerpt.)
Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/38gekk/comment/cruua3q/ · 114 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/veritasium in r/IAmA, Jun 4, 2015 · Explains things

Replying to a redditor:

> A simple scale analysis of the Rossby Number for such an experiment indicates that this is not possible. Rossby Number is Ro = U/(L*f), U is horizontal velocity, L is scale length, f is coriolis parameter. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rossby_number Low Rossby Numbers (<1) mean…

> He notes that the 6 foot pool he used provided a 30,000 amplification of the rotation of the Earth at Boston. This is through conservation of angular momentum as the water drains from the outside towards the middle. As the radius gets smaller the velocity must increase to keep angular momentum constant.

(Excerpt.)
Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/38gekk/comment/cruvqze/ · 101 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/veritasium in r/IAmA, Jun 4, 2015 · Behind the scenes

Replying to a redditor:

> Thanks for doing this AMA guys. Derek, how often do people really get the questions on your videos wrong? Do you have to hunt for footage of wrong answers, or is the sample you show in your videos similar to the real distribution?

> This is a very important question. For most questions the vast majority of people get it wrong, I'm talking 90-95%, sometimes all of them. My goal when I edit the videos is to show people's perceptions as they are, not to embellish them, but to accurately represent what people think. Yes I generally don't show the one or two right answers I may come across because they don't fit with the flow of the video.
>
> So it is a little troubling how little most people know about science, and that's one of the major things that motivates me to keep making videos. It should also encourage you to talk to everyone you meet about science!

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/38gekk/comment/cruuhk9/ · 285 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/veritasium in r/askscience, Nov 2, 2016 · Explains things

Replying to a redditor:

> Could someone explain what is meant by "local?" And I assume by "realism" you mean that there are particles not just wave functions.

> Local means no interactions faster than the speed of light. And realism means if when you look at it you find a particle, then it's a particle when you're not looking at it too.

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/5aqdso/comment/d9iqmh1/ · 103 points as of Nov 7, 2026