Center of Mass Trajectory

Odd-shaped objects with their centers of mass marked by orange paint are thrown. While the objects appear to follow very wobbly trajectories when viewed under bright lights, under black lights you can see that their centers of mass travel in smooth parabolas.

Source:  MIT TechTV

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Quantum Electrodynamics (QED)

How light and matter interact.

Source:  Cassiopeia Project

Other Cassiopeia Project videos

Murray Gell-Mann talks about beauty and truth in physics

Are elegant equations more likely to be right than inelegant ones?

Source:  TED talks

Other TED Talks

MIT 8.01 Classical Mechanics Lecture 11

MIT Physics Course

Professor Walter Lewin

8.01 Physics  I: Classical Mechanics, Fall 1999

Work in 3-D, work-energy theorem, conservation of energy, roller coaster (loop the loop) demonstration, universal law of gravity and potential gravitational energy. demonstration with a giant pendulum.

See other videos in this series.

Rotational Speed (Brightstorm)

Distinction between rotational speed and linear (tangential) speed.

Source:  Brigthstorm

See other Brighstorm videos

Doppler effect

Four short animations illustrating Doppler effect:

1) Listener in motion

First, the listener is at rest, then he moves toward the source; finally, he moves away from the source.



2) Source in motion

The source (in red) move away from green listener and toward cyan listener.



3) Source in motion at the speed of sound, formation of a shock wave (sound barrier)



4) Source in motion at twice the speed of sound (Mach cone)



Other animations by Yves Pelletier

The Physics of Stock Car Racing from a NASCAR Champion's Perspective

Physics applied to tires (friction laws), mechanical suspension (Newton's Laws), aerodynamics, and engines.
By Scott Winters - Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
March 9, 2004.

(By the way, Coulomb's first name was Charles Augustin, not Henry!).

Other lectures from Jefferson Lab Science Series

Time Dilation - Sixty Symbols

Special relativity: time dilation, Lorentz factor (gamma), muons, twins paradox

Source:  Sixty Symbols

Introductory NMR & MRI: Video 03: How the Terranova-MRI works

Paul Callaghan gives an introduction to NMR and MRI. This third video provides an overview of how the Terranova-MRI instrument works. This instrument is used in the video series to demonstrate the key principles. It uses the earths magnetic field as the primary static field.

Source:  Magritek

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Eureka! Episode 9: Kinetic Energy

Animated billiard balls help demonstrate kinetic energy - the energy of motion.

Other Eureka episodes

Milliseverts and Radiation - Sixty Symbols

With the term "millisieverts" being used in relation to the Japanese nuclear crisis, Paul Glover (University of Nottingham) explains how radiation is measured and shows you some radiation in action.


Source:  Sixty Symbols

Confessions of a Converted Lecturer: Eric Mazur

Eric Mazur is the Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Harvard University. In this video, he talks about his teaching method, peer instruction, and why it is better than the conventional way of teaching physics.

Cliff Will: Black holes - The (w)hole story

Professor Clifford M. Will from Washington University talks about black holes.

Source:  Scienceface

Part 1:



Part 2:

Temperature Effect on Resistance

A light bulb is connected in series with a coil of very fine copper wire and a DC power supply. The voltage is adjusted so that the bulb glows dimly. When the coil is immersed in liquid nitrogen the resistance of the wire decreases causing the current to increase and the bulb to glow brightly.

Source: MIT TechTV

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Loop the Loop

A ball rolls down an inclined track and around a vertical circle. All of the ball's initial potential energy is converted into three forms of energy when it reaches the top of the loop: potential energy corresponding to the height of the loop, kinetic energy corresponding to the ball's velocity, and kinetic energy corresponding to the ball's rotation as it rolls. Knowing that the ball must achieve a certain velocity to make it around the loop and taking all forms of energy into account, one can determine the initial potential energy that the ball must have. This corresponds to an initial height of release; is this height 2R,  2.5R or 2.7R?

Source:  MIT TechTV

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Yale: Frontiers and Controversies in Astrophysics, Lecture 9

ASTR 160 - Frontiers and Controversies in Astrophysics

Professor Charles Bailyn

Spring 2007

Source: Yale University, Open Yale Courses

This lecture is titled "Special and General Relativity", but this subject is introduced in the last 10 minutes.  Before that, professor Bailyn talks about the event horizon and answers several random questions about black holes.

See other lectures in this series.

Introductory NMR & MRI: Video 02: Introduction to Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

Video 02: Introduction to Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

Paul Callaghan discusses the behavior of nuclear spin states in a magnetic field. The three key concepts covered are sample magnetization, Larmor precession frequency, and the RF coil.

Source:  Magritek

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Japan nuclear crisis

Source: Aljazeera


How would a meltdown hapen?





Inervew with Imad Khadduri
Nuclear scientist

MIT 8.01 Classical Mechanics Lecture 10

Force exerted by a spring (Hooke's Law), period of a frictionless mass-spring system, simple harmonic motion, simple pendulum (small angle approximation).  Includes several experimental demonstrations.

See other videos in this series.

Eureka! Episode 8: Work

A circus strongman and a clown help present the physics definition of work.

Other Eureka episodes

Parabolas and Zero G Flight

Janet Ivey of Janet's Planet aboard the Zero G plane (in parabolic flight) finds out what Microgravity is really like!

Centrifugal or centripetal?

A passenger in a frictionless (!) turning cart slides outward. If an observer is looking from the moving cart, he thinks that a centrigual force pushes the passenger outward. But according to an observer at rest, the passenger moves in a straigth line at constant speed (while the cart is turning beneath him). An inward force of friction accelerates the cart toward center of the circle (centripetal acceleration); without this centripetal force, the passenger can't turn and continue in straight line because of its inertia.

Other animations by Yves Pelletier

Introductory NMR & MRI: Video 01: Precession and Resonance

Paul Callaghan gives an introduction to NMR and MRI. Paul uses a mechanical wheel to illustrate the key concepts of precession, relaxation, and resonance. First in a 10 episode series produced by Magritek Ltd.

Source:  Magritek

Thanks to Stan Sykora (owner of  Stan's Physics Links) for this great suggestion.

View other videos of this series.

Understanding Flight: a physical description of how airplanes fly

Understanding Flight:  a physical description of how airplanes fly
Tuesday, March 23, 2004

Dr. Scott Eberhhardt, University of Washington
Jefferson Lab Science Series

Physical description of flight using Newton's Laws instead of Bernouilli's theorem.  Downwash speed, angle of attack, power required for lift.

Other lectures from Jefferson Lab Science Series

Plasma Globe makes a compact fluorescent light glow

A nice demonstration by Science Bob

Yale: Frontiers and Controversies in Astrophysics, Lecture 8 (Introduction to Black Holes)

ASTR 160 - Frontiers and Controversies in Astrophysics

Professor Charles Bailyn

Spring 2007

Source: Yale University, Open Yale Courses

Black holes, escape velocity, Schwarzchild radius.  Birth of a black hole:  star in hydrostatic equilibrium, white dwarf, Chandrasekhar limit, neutron star.

See other lectures in this series.

Flaming Tornado

A flame rises much higher when it rotates.  From IOP's Ever Wondered Why&  Roadshow.

Taking the X Out of X-Rays

In this very old movie, Dr. William D. Coolidge from General Electric explains what X-Rays are and how they are produced.

Source:  Internet Archive

Heat transfer by conduction - Julius Sumner Miller

Various demonstrations about heat conduction.

Other physics demonstrations by Julius Sumner Miller

Part 1:



Part 2:

Leonard Susskind talks about Richard Feynman

Source:  TEDxCaltech - Feynman's Vision, The Next 50 Years

Other TED Talks

Foucault's Pendulum (Sixty Symbols)

Foucault's Pendulum is a clever way of demonstrating the Earth's rotation - but it won't work at the equator!

Source:  Sixty Symbols

Conceptual physics : Bed of Nails demo

Paul Hewitt demos pressure by having his assistant lie on a bed of nails; then he hits a block of stone on assistant's chest with a sledge hammer.

Buoyancy and Density

What floats?  What sinks? It depends on density. Archimede's Principle

Source:  Hila science videos

Eureka! Episode 7 - Weight vs. Mass

Difference between weight and mass.

Other Eureka episodes

MIT 8.01 Classical Mechanics Lecture 9

MIT Physics Course

Professor Walter Lewin

8.01 Physics  I: Classical Mechanics, Fall 1999

This lecture is just a review of lectures 1 to 5 (for a forthcoming exam).  Some examples about scaling, 1-D and 2-D kinematics and uniform circular motion.

See other videos in this series.

MIT Physics Demo -- Resonant RLC Circuit

A variable capacitor (C), large inductor or solenoid (L), and 200W light bulb (R) are connected in series to 120 VAC. The inductance of the inductor can be varied by inserting an iron core, and the capacitance can be varied by a row of switches. By varying the inductance and capacitance, we can achieve the resonance of the circuit, where maximum current flows through the resistor (light bulb)

Source:  MIT TechTV

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TEDxCaltech - Zvi Bern - Feynman Diagrams: Past, Present and Future

This is a talk by Zvi Bern from UCLA, 14 January 2011 at TEDxCaltech.

Some problems too complicated to be solved using Feynman diagrams can be solved by modern unitary method.  Application to gravity.

Source:  TEDxCaltech

Other TED Talks

Interview with Kip Thorne: The warped side of the universe

An interview with the american theoretical physicist Kip Thorne: Black holes, cosmic strings, gravitational waves, the big bang...
The interview was conducted in Sydney, Australia.

Source: Scienceface