Season 01
The discovery of electromagnetic induction in 1831 creates an important technological breakthrough in the generation of electric power.
All Episodes - S01
EPS01
This preview introduces revolutionary ideas and heroes from Copernicus to Newton, and links the physics of the heavens and the earth.
EPS02
Galileo's imaginative experiments proved that all bodies fall with the same constant acceleration.
EPS03
The function of mathematics in physical science and the derivative as a practical tool.
EPS04
Galileo risks his favored status to answer the questions of the universe with his law of inertia.
EPS05
Physics must explain not only why and how much, but also where and which way.
EPS06
Newton lays down the laws of force, mass, and acceleration.
EPS07
Newton and Leibniz arrive at the conclusion that differentiation and integration are inverse processes.
EPS08
The first real steps toward space travel are made as Newton discovers that gravity describes the force between any two particles in the universe.
EPS09
A look at the Platonic theory of uniform circular motion.
EPS10
All physical phenomena of nature are explained by four forces: two nuclear forces, gravity, and electricity.
EPS11
Shedding light on the mathematical form of the gravitational, electric, and magnetic forces.
EPS12
A dramatic recreation of Millikan's classic oil-drop experiment to determine the charge of a single electron.
EPS13
According to one of the major laws of physics, energy is neither created nor destroyed.
EPS14
Potential energy provides a powerful model for understanding why the world has worked the same way since the beginning of time.
EPS15
What keeps the universe ticking away until the end of time?
EPS16
The music and mathematics of periodic motion.
EPS17
Why a swaying bridge collapses with a high wind, and why a wine glass shatters with a higher octave.
EPS18
With an analysis of simple harmonic motion and a stroke of genius, Newton extended mechanics to the propagation of sound.
EPS19
EPS20
From spinning tops to the precession of the equinoxes.
EPS21
The discovery of elliptical orbits helps describe the motion of heavenly bodies with unprecedented accuracy.
EPS22
The deduction of Kepler's laws from Newton's universal law of gravitation is one of the crowning achievements of Western thought.
EPS23
The precise orbit of a heavenly body - a planet, asteroid, or comet - is fixed by the laws of conservation of energy and angular momentum.
EPS24
Voyages to other planets use the same laws that guide planets around the solar system.
EPS25
From Kepler's laws and the theory of tides, to Einstein's general theory of relativity, into black holes, and beyond.
EPS26
A last lingering look back at mechanics to see new connections between old discoveries.
EPS27
The world of electricity and magnetism, and 20th-century discoveries of relativity and quantum mechanics.
EPS28
Eighteenth-century electricians knew how to spark the interest of an audience with the principles of static electricity.
EPS29
Faraday's vision of lines of constant force in space laid the foundation for the modern force field theory.
EPS30
Franklin proposes a successful theory of the Leyden jar and invents the parallel plate capacitor.
EPS32
Volta invents the electric battery using the internal properties of different metals.
EPS33
The work of Wheatstone, Ohm, and Kirchhoff leads to the design and analysis of how current flows.
EPS34
Gilbert discovered that the earth behaves like a giant magnet. Modern scientists have learned even more.
EPS35
The law of Biot and Sarvart, the force between electric currents, and Ampère's law.
EPS36
Force fields have definite properties of their own suitable for scientific study.
EPS37
The discovery of electromagnetic induction in 1831 creates an important technological breakthrough in the generation of electric power.
EPS38
Electromagnetic induction makes it easy to generate alternating current while transformers make it practical to distribute it over long distances.
EPS39
Maxwell discovers that displacement current produces electromagnetic waves or light.
EPS40
Many properties of light are properties of waves, including reflection, refraction, and diffraction.
EPS41
In 1887, an exquisitely designed measurement of the earth's motion through the ether results in the most brilliant failure in scientific history.
EPS42
If the speed of light is to be the same for all observers, then the length of a meter stick, or the rate of a ticking clock, depends on who measures it.
EPS43
Einstein is motivated to perfect the central ideas of physics, resulting in a new understanding of the meaning of space and time.
EPS44
The new meaning of space and time make it necessary to formulate a new mechanics.
EPS45
Hot discoveries about the behavior of gases make the connection between temperature and heat.
EPS46
The Carnot engine, part one, beginning with simple steam engines.
EPS47
The Carnot engine, part two, with profound implications for the behavior of matter and the flow of time through the universe.
EPS48
With the quest for low temperatures came the discovery that all elements can exist in each of the basic states of matter.
EPS49
A history of the atom, from the ancient Greeks to the early 20th century, and a new challenge for the world of physics.
EPS50
Evidence that light can sometimes act like a particle leads to quantum mechanics, the new physics.
EPS51
Electron waves attracted to the nucleus of an atom help account for the periodic table of the elements and ultimately lead to the search for quarks.
EPS52
A last look at where we've been and a peek into the future.