How do the "sailing stones" of Death Valley travel across the desert?

This was 99 years in making.
Derya Ozdemir

If you were to ever visit the Racetrack Playa, a gorgeous dry lake ringed by mountains and located above the northwestern part of California's Death Valley, you would notice hundreds of rocks littering the lakebed's surface. Some weigh as much as 700 pounds, yet they seem to have been dragged through the ground, leaving synchronized trails that can run for hundreds of miles.

Naturally, this baffled scientists as nobody could answer what powerful force could be moving them. Researchers have been investigating the reason why since the 1940s, and in this video by the YouTube channel Physics Girl, you can learn more about the interesting backstory, setting, and the answer to this very question itself. There has been some discussion over whether the cause is ice or wind, and this video appears to clarify the matter. If you're curious to know more, watch the video above, and as always, enjoy.

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