an educator is delivering a mind-altering lesson to their class.

I want to engage your brains in this.

Chris Anderson: I tried to get my head around how vast our Earth is.

Logan Smalley: The lesson only reaches the students in that room.

What would happen if we captured it?

It's a toothed wheel.

LS: What if pro animators and visualization artists

could bring that lesson to life?

CA: It's a common object that literally fits one million Earths.

It's got a bunch of notches and a bunch of teeth.

This was Fizeau's solution...

LS: When that lesson lands, curiosity is ignited.

CA: It seems impossibly big.

AS: Something interesting happens.

CA: In the great scheme of things, it's a pinprick.

AS: A door closes on the light beam that's coming back to his eye.

LS: Then that group of students is one thought closer

to being what every teacher hopes their students will become:

a lifelong learner.

AS: Based on the distance between the two stations...

CA: The quest for knowledge and understanding never gets dull.

AS: He calculates the speed of light to within two percent of its actual value.

CA: The more you know, the more amazing the world seems.

That's the central mission of TED-Ed:

to capture and to amplify

the voice of the world's greatest teachers.

He does this in 1849.

CA: It's the crazy possibilities, the unanswered questions,

that pull us forward.

So stay curious.

[TED-Ed: Lessons Worth Sharing]