Why is it Harder to Drive Backwards?

Why is it harder to drive backwards than forward

 

World's Simplest Electric Train

A dry cell, two magnets and a coil: very simple and surpringly effective.

 

Newton Lecture 2014: Ultracold Gases by Professor Deborah Jin

The lecture at the IOP’s London centre on 14 October was given by Prof. Jin in her capacity as the 2014 winner of the Isaac Newton Medal and Prize – the Institute’s highest accolade.

 

Why Isn't "Zero G" the Same as "Zero Gravity"?

This Quick Question explains the difference between gravity and g-force, and how you can experience zero-g in space even when it’s not zero gravity!

 

How a Crookes radiometer works

A Crookes radiometer is driven by a thermal gas effect, and not "light pressure" as often thought. Ben Krasnow demonstrates the radiometer in a vacuum chamber and explain its optimal running pressure.

 

Brian Cox visits the world's biggest vacuum chamber

Human Universe: Episode 4 Preview - BBC Two

Programme website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0276q28

Brian Cox visits NASA’s Space Power Facility in Ohio to see what happens when a bowling ball and a feather are dropped together under the conditions of outer space.

Nima Arkani-Hamed Public Lecture: Quantum Mechanics and Spacetime in the 21st Century

Dr. Nima Arkani-Hamed (Perimeter Institute and Institute for Advanced Study) delivers the second lecture of the 2014/15 Perimeter Institute Public Lecture Series, in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

Held at Perimeter Institute and webcast live worldwide on Nov. 6, 2014, Arkani-Hamed's lecture explores the exciting concepts of quantum mechanics and spacetime, and how our evolving understanding of their importance in fundamental physics will shape the field in the 21st Century.

Perimeter Institute Public Lectures are held in the first week of each month.

More information on Perimeter Public Lectures: http://ow.ly/DCYPc

 

If matter falls down, does antimatter fall up? - Chloé Malbrunot

Like positive and negative, or debit and credit, matter and antimatter are equal and opposite. So if matter falls down, does antimatter fall up? Chloé Malbrunot investigates that question by placing two atoms — one made of matter, and the other antimatter — in the cockpit of a plane, ready to jump. What do you think will happen?

 

The Big Bang Theory

The Big Bang is the name of the most respected theory of the creation of the universe. Basically, the theory says that the universe was once smaller and denser and has been expending for eons. One common misconception is that the Big Bang theory says something about the instant that set the expansion into motion, however this isn’t true. In this video, Fermilab’s Dr. Don Lincoln tells about the Big Bang theory and sketches some speculative ideas about what caused the universe to come into existence.

 

Where did we come from?

Nuclear chemist Cole Pruitt explains what Nuclear Pasta is and how we were all born inside the core of giant stars.

 

Detecting Neutrinos with the NOvA Detector

NOvA neutrino detector.

Subir Sachdev Public Lecture: Quantum Entanglement & Superconductivity

Dr. Subir Sachdev (Perimeter Institute and Harvard University) delivers the kick-off lecture of the 2014/15 Perimeter Institute Public Lecture Series, in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Held at Perimeter Institute and webcast live worldwide on Oct. 1, 2014, Sachdev's lecture explores the fascinating and surprising connections between quantum mechanics, the phenomenon of superconductivity, and string theory.

Perimeter Institute Public Lectures are held in the first week of each month. More information on Perimeter Public Lectures: http://ow.ly/Cdd8y

 

How do we study the stars? - Yuan-Sen Ting

Our best technology can send men to the Moon and probes to the edge of our solar system, but these distances are vanishingly small compared to the size of the universe. How then can we learn about the galaxies beyond our own? Yuan-Sen Ting takes us into deep space to show how astronomers study the stars beyond our reach.

 Lesson by Yuan-Sen Ting, animation by Kozmonot Animation Studio.

 

The Physics of Space Battles

How scientifically accurate is your favorite sci-fi space battle?

 

How Do We Measure the Distance of Stars?

The Bad Astronomer Phil Plait teaches Hank how to measure the distance to the stars.

 

The Physics of Weightless Flight ft Emily Calandrelli

Ever wanted to know how those vomit comet planes simulate weightlessness?

 

Hewitt-Drew-it! 102. Electromagnetic Induction

History, explanations, and implications of E&M inductions.

 

Hewitt-Drew-it! 101. Magnetism

From bar magnets to electric motors.

 

Air Pressure Can Crush with Physics Girl and Walter Lewin

Can crushed by atmospheric pressure.

ScienceCasts: Evidence for Supernovas Near Earth

A NASA sounding rocket has confirmed that the solar system is inside an ancient supernova remnant. Life on Earth survived despite the nearby blasts.

 

Why are Stars Star-Shaped?

Stars are spherical...so why do we draw them with points?

Because of diffraction...

 

Demise of the Kilogram - Sixty Symbols

The days of a "fixed" kilogram seem to be numbered, with moves afoot to set our SI unites based on fundamental constants.

 

NASA | Late Summer M5 Solar Flare

On Aug. 24, 2014, the sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 8:16 a.m. EDT. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and STEREO captured images of the flare, which erupted on the left side of the sun. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however -- when intense enough -- they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel.

To see how this event may affect Earth, please visit NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center at http://spaceweather.gov, the U.S. government's official source for space weather forecasts, alerts, watches and warnings. This flare is classified as an M5 flare. M-class flares are ten times less powerful than the most intense flares, called X-class flares.

 

What do plastic bags have in common with metal?

In less than 100 seconds, Adrian Sutton explains why metals and plastic bags deform in different but related ways. Visit physicsworld.com for more videos, webinars and podcasts.

 

Tiny objects levitated by sound

Philip Bassindale, a researcher at the University of Bristol, demonstrates acoustic levitation by creating a “pearl necklace” of polystyrene balls in a standing wave of ultrasound. This video was recorded in connection with a Physics World podcast about the nature and applications of ultrasound, which you can listen to here.

 

How Far Can Legolas See?

Vision is limited by diffraction.

 

How to Find an Exoplanet

These planets are too far away for direct observation.

 

What can Schrödinger's cat teach us about quantum mechanics? - Josh Samani

The classical physics that we encounter in our everyday, macroscopic world is very different from the quantum physics that governs systems on a much smaller scale (like atoms). One great example of quantum physics’ weirdness can be shown in the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment. Josh Samani walks us through this experiment in quantum entanglement.

 Lesson by Josh Samani, animation by Dan Pinto.

 

How Long Can You Balance a Pencil?

Equilibrium.

 

Why do ice cubes crack in drinks?

Dropping ice cubes in water (and liquid nitrogen) produce interesting results. Differential expansion.

 

Magnetic Hair

MIT engineers have fabricated a new elastic material coated with microscopic, hairlike structures that tilt in response to a magnetic field. (Learn more about these structures: http://bit.ly/1y2E8SX) Depending on the field's orientation, the microhairs can tilt to form a path through which fluid can flow; the material can even direct water upward, against gravity.

 

ScienceCasts: Sizing up an Exoplanet

Astronomers are not only discovering planets around distant suns, they are also starting to measure those worlds with astonishing precision. The diameter of a super-Earth named Kepler 93B is now known to within an accuracy of 148 miles.

 

How do tornadoes form? - James Spann

Tornadoes are the most violent storms on Earth, with wind velocities that can exceed 200 miles per hour. How do these terrifying cyclones form? Meteorologist James Spann sheds light on the lifespan of tornadoes as they go from supercell thunderstorms to terrible twisters before eventually dissolving back into thin air.

 Lesson by James Spann, animation by Província Studio.

 

What Is The Speed of Dark?

Shadows moving faster than light?

 

How Magnets Produce Electricity 1954 US Navy Electromagnetism Prime

How a magnetic field effects a single atom, a group of atoms and a wire in a closed circuit with a meter.

 US Navy training film MN-8016b

 

The Origins of Mass

The Higgs boson was discovered in July of 2012 and is generally understood to be the origin of mass. While those statements are true, they are incomplete. It turns out that the Higgs boson is responsible for only about 2% of the mass of ordinary matter. In this dramatic new video, Fermilab’s Dr. Don Lincoln tells us the rest of the story.

 

Why aren't we only using solar power? - Alexandros George Charalambides

Solar power is cheaper and more sustainable than our current coal-fueled power plants, so why haven't we made the switch? The real culprits here are the clouds, which make solar power difficult to control. Alexandros George Charalambides explains how solar towers and panels create electricity and how scientists are trying to create a system that can function even under cloud cover.

 Lesson by Alexandros George Charalambides, animation by Ace & Son Moving Picture Co., LLC.

How to make something invisible | Do Try This At Home | At-Bristol Science Centre

Invisibility cloaks might sound like science fiction, but Ross of the Live Science Team shows you how a trick of light can make things disappear in this great experiment to try at home!

This video was presented by: Ross Exton, Live Science Video Producer
Produced by: Ross Exton & Seamus Foley, Big Screen Produce

 

Big Mysteries: Extra Dimensions

The weakness of gravity compared to the other subatomic forces is a real mystery. While nobody knows the answer, one credible solution is that gravity has access to more spatial dimensions than the other three known forces. In this video, Fermilab's Dr. Don Lincoln describes this idea, with the help of some very urbane characters.

 

Visualizing Dubstep with a Tube of Fire

Watch Anthony and Tara get down with dancing flames after they make their own Rubens' Tube.

Why is ketchup so hard to pour? - George Zaidan

Ever go to pour ketchup on your fries...and nothing comes out? Or the opposite happens, and your plate is suddenly swimming in a sea of red? George Zaidan describes the physics behind this frustrating phenomenon, explaining how ketchup and other non-Newtonian fluids can suddenly transition from solid to liquid and back again.

Lesson by George Zaidan, animation by TOGETHER.

 

"D is for Diode" - Circuit Playground Episode 4

"D is for Diode" - Circuit Playground Episode 4! Learn all about electronics and how diodes work with W0z and ADABOT!

 

Pulley Logic Gates

The essence of digital computing is the use of continuous physical states to represent a discrete number of symbols and the ability to perform logic based on those symbols. Although electronic circuits are exceptionally well-suited for this, any system that can handle symbols as both input and output is a digital computer.

Here, I've demonstrated the construction of simple digital computers (specifically, binary logic gates) using pulleys and weights.

Want to build your own? See the stuff you'll need here: bit.ly/pulleylogicgatesstuff
See pics here: bit.ly/pulleylogicgatespics
And feel free to reach out to me with questions: alex.gorischek@outlook.com

 
Pulley Logic Gates from Alex Gorischek on Vimeo.

Rube Goldberg Machine Winners

A Rube Goldberg machine is a machine that accomplishes a simple task in as complicated a way as possible. Every year Purdue University holds a Rube Goldberg Machine Contest. Teams of college students from all over the country design and build these machines and enter them in the competition. We invited this year's winners from Purdue University to show off their creation on the show.

 

NASA | Neutron Stars Rip Each Other Apart to Form Black Hole

This supercomputer simulation shows one of the most violent events in the universe: a pair of neutron stars colliding, merging and forming a black hole. A neutron star is the compressed core left behind when a star born with between eight and 30 times the sun's mass explodes as a supernova. Neutron stars pack about 1.5 times the mass of the sun — equivalent to about half a million Earths — into a ball just 12 miles (20 km) across.

As the simulation begins, we view an unequally matched pair of neutron stars weighing 1.4 and 1.7 solar masses. They are separated by only about 11 miles, slightly less distance than their own diameters. Redder colors show regions of progressively lower density.

As the stars spiral toward each other, intense tides begin to deform them, possibly cracking their crusts. Neutron stars possess incredible density, but their surfaces are comparatively thin, with densities about a million times greater than gold. Their interiors crush matter to a much greater degree densities rise by 100 million times in their centers. To begin to imagine such mind-boggling densities, consider that a cubic centimeter of neutron star matter outweighs Mount Everest.

By 7 milliseconds, tidal forces overwhelm and shatter the lesser star. Its superdense contents erupt into the system and curl a spiral arm of incredibly hot material. At 13 milliseconds, the more massive star has accumulated too much mass to support it against gravity and collapses, and a new black hole is born. The black hole's event horizon — its point of no return — is shown by the gray sphere. While most of the matter from both neutron stars will fall into the black hole, some of the less dense, faster moving matter manages to orbit around it, quickly forming a large and rapidly rotating torus. This torus extends for about 124 miles (200 km) and contains the equivalent of 1/5th the mass of our sun. The entire simulation covers only 20 milliseconds.

Scientists think neutron star mergers like this produce short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Short GRBs last less than two seconds yet unleash as much energy as all the stars in our galaxy produce over one year.

The rapidly fading afterglow of these explosions presents a challenge to astronomers. A key element in understanding GRBs is getting instruments on large ground-based telescopes to capture afterglows as soon as possible after the burst. The rapid notification and accurate positions provided by NASA's Swift mission creates a vibrant synergy with ground-based observatories that has led to dramatically improved understanding of GRBs, especially for short bursts.

 

How Do Rainbows Form?

SciShow explains how three important ingredients -- sunlight, water, and you -- interact to create the illusion of a rainbow. The colorful details are inside!

 

A virtual Universe

Scientists at MIT have traced 13 billion years of galaxy evolution, from shortly after the Big Bang to the present day. Their simulation, named Illustris, captures both the massive scale of the Universe and the intriguing variety of galaxies -- something previous modelers have struggled to do. It produces a Universe that looks remarkably similar to what we see through our telescopes, giving us greater confidence in our understanding of the Universe, from the laws of physics to our theories about galaxy formation.

 

What is Color?

Light and color, by Physics Girl.

 

Straight Rod Passing Through Curved Hole

Exhibition from the Science Museum in Valencia, Spain.

The experiment:

 

...and simulation:

What is a pulsar?

In less than 100 seconds, Tim O'Brien of the University of Manchester in the UK provides a fly-by tour of pulsar science. When the first pulsar signal was detected in the 1960s, for a short time it was referred to as "little green man 1" because the regular pulsing appeared to be a message from aliens. However, it did not take long for astronomers to figure out that these signals come from rapidly rotating neutron stars, which beam radiation from their magnetic poles.

 

Mystery of Prince Rupert's Drop at 130,000 fps - Smarter Every Day 86

From Wikipedia:

 "Prince Rupert's Drops are glass objects created by dripping molten glass into cold water. The glass cools into a tadpole-shaped droplet with a long, thin tail. The water rapidly cools the molten glass on the outside of the drop, while the inner portion of the drop remains significantly hotter. When the glass on the inside eventually cools, it contracts inside the already-solid outer part. This contraction sets up very large compressive stresses on the surface, while the core of the drop is in a state of tensile stress. It is a kind of toughened glass.

 The very high residual stress within the drop gives rise to unusual qualities, such as the ability to withstand a blow from a hammer on the bulbous end without breaking, while the drop will disintegrate explosively if the tail end is even slightly damaged."

A Baffling Balloon Behavior - Smarter Every Day 113

Helium balloon in an accelerating car.

 

Big Mysteries: Dark Energy

Scientists were shocked in 1998 when the expansion of the universe wasn't slowing down as expected by our best understanding of gravity at the time; the expansion was speeding up! That observation is just mind blowing, and yet it is true. In order to explain the data, physicists had to resurrect an abandoned idea of Einstein's now called dark energy. In this video, Fermilab's Dr. Don Lincoln tells us a little about the observations that led to the hypothesis of dark energy and what is the status of current research on the subject.

 

The case of the missing fractals - Alex Rosenthal and George Zaidan

A bump on the head, a mysterious femme fatale and a strange encounter on a windswept peak all add up to a heck of a night for Manny Brot, Private Eye. Watch as he tries his hand at saving the dame and getting the cash! Shudder at the mind-bending geometric riddles!  Thrill to the stunning solution of The Case of the Missing Fractals.

Lesson by Alex Rosenthal and George Zaidan, animation by TED-Ed.

View full lesson

 

Hewitt-Drew-it! 100. Circuit Medley

A summary of electric circuits.

How to See Without Glasses

A pinhole can replace a lense.

 

What Does Sound Look Like?

You can actually see sound waves as they travel through the air thanks to a clever photographic trick: Schlieren flow visualization

A Polarizing Discovery About the Big Bang!

How the first transistor worked

Bill uses a replica of the point contact transistor built by Walter Brattain and John Bardeen at Bell Labs. On December 23, 1947 they used this device to amplify the output of a microphone and thus started the microelectronics revolution that changed the world. He describes in detail why a transistor works by highlighting the uniqueness of semiconductors in being able to transfer charge by positive and negative carriers.

 

Relativity Isn't Relative

Several important quantities are not relative.

 

Light Speed: From Minecraft to Reality

Using Minecraft to explain speed of light.

 

Why Blowing in Bottles Makes Sound and Helmholtz Resonance

An explanation of why blowing in a bottle makes a sound, basically explaining how Helmholtz resonance works and how to bottles are Helmholtz resonators. The same explanation works for what role the speaker plays in moving objects/bottles using sound, the acoustic propulsion in one of my other videos below. This also explains a bit about resonant frequency and compares the sound wave compression and decompression to an oscillating spring, a simple harmonic oscillator.

 

Electrostatic Precipitator/Smoke Precipitator - How it Works/How to Make

This electrostatic precipitator, or smoke precipitator, gets rid of most smoke by using high voltage to collect smoke particles. This shows how the electrostatic precipitator works and how to make your own electrostatic precipitator.

What Color Is A Mirror?

Mirrors, reflection, colors...

 

ScienceCasts: A Sudden Multiplication of Planets

This week, NASA announced a breakthrough addition to the catalog of new planets. Researchers using Kepler have confirmed 715 new worlds, almost quadrupling the number of planets previously confirmed by the planet-hunting spacecraft. Some of the new worlds are similar in size to Earth and orbit in the habitable zone of their parent stars.

 

What we can learn from galaxies far, far away - Henry Lin

In a fun, excited talk, teenager Henry Lin looks at something unexpected in the sky: galaxy clusters. By studying the properties of the universe's largest pieces, says the Intel Science Fair winner, we can learn quite a lot about our own world and galaxy.

 

Hewitt-Drew-it! PHYSICS 99. Car Battery Power

A summary of current, voltage, resistance and power.

 

Hewitt-Drew-it! PHYSICS 98. Battery Demo

Circuit features featuring a car battery and bulbs.

 

How Modern Light Bulbs Work

Incadescent lamps, halogen lamps, fluorescent lamps, vapor lamps, LED.

Hewitt-Drew-it! PHYSICS 97. Circuit Resistances

Finding equivalent resistances for complex circuits.

 

How do figure skaters exploit Newtonian physics when they spin?

Legendary MIT physics professor Walter Lewin describes some of the science that was in action during the Winter Olympics in Sochi. He explains how ice-skaters use their arms to moderate their moment of inertia, which in turn affects the angular velocity of their spins. The biomechanics is fairly straightforward, but Walter Lewin always manages to make his lessons engaging thanks to his trademark charisma.

 

Hewitt-Drew-it! PHYSICS 96. Equivalent Resistance

Rules for equivalent resistance for series and parallel circuits explained.

 

Hewitt-Drew-it! PHYSICS 95. Electric Power

Battery and brightness of bulbs explained.

 

Hewitt-Drew-it! PHYSICS 94. Bulbs in Parallel

The rules of parallel circuits illustrated.

 

Hewitt-Drew-it! PHYSICS 93. Water and Electron Circuits

The similarities and differences between electric and hydraulic circuits.

 

Hewitt-Drew-it! PHYSICS 92. Voltage Drop

Why the sum of the voltages across bulbs in series adds to battery voltage.

 

Collin's Lab: Multimeters

Adafruit's new series of videos with Collin Cunningham is here! Collin's Lab: Multimeters! The multimeter is your greatest ally when working with electronics. Learn how to measure voltage, resistance, current, & continuity - as well as which meter works best for specific tasks.

 

Licking a 9 Volt Battery

SparkFun engineer Shawn breaks down the science behind the tingling sensation you get when licking a 9 volt battery.

 

Hewitt-Drew-it! PHYSICS 91. Ohm's Law

Battery and bulb to explain, with numerical examples.

 

Hewitt-Drew-it! PHYSICS 90. Electric Potential

Compared with electric potential energy, with novel situations.

 

Schlieren Optics

Demonstration of an optical technique that allows us to see small changes in the index of refraction in air. A point source of light is reflected from a concave mirror and focused onto the edge of a razor blade, which is mounted in front of the camera. Light refracted near the mirror and intercepted by the blade gives the illusion of a shadow.

Seen here are the heated gases from a candle flame and a hair dryer, helium gas, and sulfur hexafluoride gas. 

More information on our setup.

 Note that this version of the setup uses a white LED flashlight instead of an automotive light bulb.

 

Rays in the universe: radon

The earth contains a great many natural radioactive elements (such as uranium, thorium and potassium). Uranium, for example, is present in all rocks, and in particular granite rocks. When it decomposes, it gives rise to a radioactive family, ultimately forming lead, which is stable. Radon is one of the radioactive decay products of uranium. Its distinguishing sign is that it is a gas.

 And as it is a gas, it escapes and accumulates in caves or galleries, which are enclosed spaces. During the first few years when French uranium deposits were mined, the miners breathed air in which the radon content could be as high as 20,000 Becquerels per cubic meter. Epidemiological studies on uranium miners have shown that radon is a carcinogenic agent that can cause lung cancer. More recently, studies on the general population have confirmed this risk for exposure to radon in the home.

 

Hewitt-Drew-it! PHYSICS 89. Electric Fields

Paul explains Electric Fields.

 

The Dynamics of an Elevator Ride

We go for a short ride in the elevator and record the acceleration for display.

 

How fast are you moving right now? - Tucker Hiatt

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-fast-are-you-moving-right-now-tucker-hiatt

"How fast are you moving?" seems like an easy question, but it's actually quite complicated -- and perhaps best answered by another question: "Relative to what?" Even when you think you're standing still, the Earth is moving relative to the Sun, which is moving relative to the Milky Way, which is...you get the idea. Tucker Hiatt unravels the concepts of absolute and relative speed.

 Lesson by Tucker Hiatt, animation by Zedem Media.

 

Hewitt-Drew-it! PHYSICS 88 Coulomb's Law

Compared to the law of gravity, with examples.

 

Hewitt-Drew-it! PHYSICS 87. Electricity

A simple introduction to electricity.

 

Free falling in outer space - Matt J. Carlson

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/free-falling-in-outer-space-matt-j-carlson 

If you were to orbit the Earth, you'd experience the feeling of free fall, not unlike what your stomach feels before a big dive on a roller coaster. With a little help from Sir Isaac Newton, Matt J. Carlson explains the basic forces acting on an astronaut and why you probably shouldn't try this one at home.

 Lesson by Matt J. Carlson, animation by Josh Harris.

 

Hewitt-Drew-it! PHYSICS 86. Wave Interference

Interference for waves in general, with emphasis on sound, beats, and anti-noise technology.

 

NASA | Jewel Box Sun

This video of the sun based on data from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, shows the wide range of wavelengths -- invisible to the naked eye -- that the telescope can view. SDO converts the wavelengths into an image humans can see, and the light is colorized into a rainbow of colors.

As the colors sweep around the sun in the movie, viewers should note how different the same area of the sun appears. This happens because each wavelength of light represents solar material at specific temperatures. Different wavelengths convey information about different components of the sun's surface and atmosphere, so scientists use them to paint a full picture of our constantly changing and varying star.

Yellow light of 5800 Angstroms, for example, generally emanates from material of about 10,000 degrees F (5700 degrees C), which represents the surface of the sun. Extreme ultraviolet light of 94 Angstroms, which is typically colorized in green in SDO images, comes from atoms that are about 11 million degrees F (6,300,000 degrees C) and is a good wavelength for looking at solar flares, which can reach such high temperatures. By examining pictures of the sun in a variety of wavelengths -- as is done not only by SDO, but also by NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory and the European Space Agency/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory -- scientists can track how particles and heat move through the sun's atmosphere.

 The 2.9 minute movie was created by NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio or SVS at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and is available at the SVS website: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?11385

 

Hewitt-Drew-it! PHYSICS 85. Resonance of Sound

Explores the nature of natural frequency and resonance, with applications.

 

AT&T Archives: Genesis of the Transistor

In the late 1940s, Bell Laboratories scientists John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley invented the transistor, the first solid-state amplifier or switch, and in doing so laid the foundation for all modern electronics and circuitry. The three shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956 for the achievement. It may be the most important invention of the 20th century.

 This 1965 film shows footage of them reunited/recreating their 1940s lab time to show how it was done, but in real life they had parted. Bardeen had left the labs in 1951 for the U. of IL; Shockley in 1956 to run a semiconductor company in California (laying the groundwork for Silicon Valley), and Brattain retired in 1967 to Whitman College.

 Footage courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center, Warren, NJ

 

X-rays : Man becomes transparent

On December 28, 1895, the German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen announced he had discovered rays which he called X. With these rays, we can see inside objects, and when the hand is interposed, it is the bones that appear!

For the public, these rays are a source of entertainment. For doctors, they offer a revolutionary technique for exploring the human body. Many of these pioneers who use X-rays are victims of radiation dermatitis, or burns to the hands that, in the most severe cases, lead to amputations and even death.

Regulation of the use of X-rays and implementation of radiation protection measures would not come before the late 1920s.

The epic story of radium

Picking up the work of the French physicist Henri Becquerel, Pierre and Marie Curie give the name "radioactivity" to the property possessed by certain elements of spontaneously emitting radiation. In 1898, Marie isolates polonium and radium, both of then unknown and highly radioactive elements.

 Medicine grabs radium and makes it the tool in the fight against cancer. Praised for its benefits, radium becomes a source of rejuvenation for the public and a source of profit for manufacturers. It will take time and evidence to admit the danger of its radiation...

 

Hewitt-Drew-it! PHYSICS 84. Reflection and Refraction of Sound

Acoustics of reflection, and explanation and applications of refraction.

 

The death of the universe - Renée Hlozek

The shape, contents and future of the universe are all intricately related. We know that it's mostly flat; we know that it's made up of baryonic matter (like stars and planets), but mostly dark matter and dark energy; and we know that it's expanding constantly, so that all stars will eventually burn out into a cold nothingness. Renée Hlozek expands on the beauty of this dark ending.

 Lesson by Renée Hlozek, animation by Giant Animation Studios.

 

Hewitt-Drew-it! 83. Types of Waves

Transverse, longitudinal, bow, and shock waves are discussed.

 

Big Questions: Dark Matter

Carl Sagan's oft-quoted statement that there are "billions and billions" of stars in the cosmos gives an idea of just how much "stuff" is in the universe. However scientists now think that in addition to the type of matter with which we are familiar, there is another kind of matter out there. This new kind of matter is called "dark matter" and there seems to be five times as much as ordinary matter. Dark matter interacts only with gravity, thus light simply zips right by it. Scientists are searching through their data, trying to prove that the dark matter idea is real. Fermilab's Dr. Don Lincoln tells us why we think this seemingly-crazy idea might not be so crazy after all.

 

How to float a ping pong ball on air - The Coandă Effect

Widely explained using the Bernoulli principle, this phenomenon is actually dominated by the Coanda effect.

 

Why Do I Study Physics?

A film by Shixie (Xiangjun Shi)
Graduation Project at Rhode Island School of Design 2013
A Science Communication Project at Brown University Department of Physics
NYC ACM SIGGRAPH MetroCAF 2013 Jury Award
10th NYC Downtown Short Film Festival



Why Do I Study Physics? (2013) from Xiangjun Shi on Vimeo.

Hewitt-Drew-it! 82. Good Vibrations and Waves

Vibrations, the waves they produce, and wave speed, are described and explained.

 

SparkFun According to Pete #37: Transistor Biasing Configurations Part 2

According to Pete is a video segment starring SparkFun Director of Engineering Pete Dokter. In this video series, Pete addresses common engineering questions, discusses current projects, and explores the wide world of embedded electronics!

(part 1 is here)


 

ScienceCasts: Starting Fire in Water

Astronauts on the ISS are experimenting with a form of water that has a strange property: it can help start fire. This fundamental physics investigation could have down-to-Earth benefits such as clean-burning municipal waste disposal and improved saltwater purification.