MinutePhysics

Season 2016

In MinutePhysics Henry Reich provides concise, easy to understand explanations of physics principles in every day language in about a minute. And to make the physics easier to understand he hand sketches diagrams so you can also see what he's talking about. Topics tend to previews or introductions to more in depth programs available through various online services.

Where to Watch Season 2016

23 Episodes

  • How To Discover Weird New Particles - Emergent Quantum Quasiparticles
    E1
    How To Discover Weird New Particles - Emergent Quantum QuasiparticlesThis video is about weird condensed matter systems, aka materials that have bizarre emergent particles in them that are unlike most other particles in the universe.
  • Concrete Does Not Dry Out
    E2
    Concrete Does Not Dry OutConcrete doesn’t dry - it sets!
  • How Do We Know What Air is Like on Other Planets?
    E3
    How Do We Know What Air is Like on Other Planets?
  • The Limb of the Sun
    E4
    The Limb of the SunAlso, why do some flames look hollow?
  • Transporters and Quantum Teleportation
    E5
    Transporters and Quantum Teleportation
  • Aliens - Are We Looking in the Wrong Place?
    E6
    Aliens - Are We Looking in the Wrong Place?
  • Why You Should Care About Nukes
    E7
    Why You Should Care About Nukes
  • Why Are Airplane Engines So Big?
    E8
    Why Are Airplane Engines So Big?The physics behind the perfect size of a jet engine.
  • Solution to the Grandfather Paradox
    E9
    Solution to the Grandfather ParadoxWhat if you went back in time and killed your own grandfather? Would you still be born? Or would you have thus killed yourself?
  • How Long To Fall Through The Earth?
    E10
    How Long To Fall Through The Earth?
  • Where Do Galaxies Come From?
    E11
    Where Do Galaxies Come From?
  • Gravitational Waves Explained Using Stick Figures
    E12
    Gravitational Waves Explained Using Stick FiguresThis video is about gravitational waves in the weak field limit as discovered by the LIGO collaboration, explained by parallels to electromagnetic radiation, sound waves, water waves, etc. I want to see Cat LIGO ASAP!
  • Hitting the Sun is HARD
    E13
    Hitting the Sun is HARDThis video is about the orbital mechanics of why it’s so hard to crash into the sun – the energy it takes to get there is astoundingly high, compared with leaving the solar system.
  • How Long Is A Day On The Sun?
    E14
    How Long Is A Day On The Sun?This video is about the definition of a day, and how it applies (or not) on the sun. Solar day, sidereal day, universal coordinated time (UTC) day, etc. Length of a day.
  • The Twins Paradox Primer (Rotating TIME!)
    E15
    The Twins Paradox Primer (Rotating TIME!)This video is about the famous “Twin paradox” of special relativity, and how time can appear to be faster for two different observers at the same time.
  • Complete Solution To The Twins Paradox
    E16
    Complete Solution To The Twins ParadoxOne of the most famous paradoxes of all of physics – who's older? Who's younger? and WHY?
  • Why Doesn't Time Flow Backwards?
    E17
    Why Doesn't Time Flow Backwards?This video is about why entropy gives rise to the arrow of time, and also how the initial low-entropy condition of the universe is responsible for the fact that we experience time right now, and how ultimately it will lead to the high-entropy heat death of the universe.
  • Do Cause and Effect Really Exist?
    E18
    Do Cause and Effect Really Exist?This video is about why there's no such thing as cause and effect at the level of fundamental particle physics, and how our everyday experience of cause and effect arises due to entropy, the large-scale arrow of time, and the leverage certain events have over others. This can explain not only the existence of causes and effects, but also memories, records and so on.
  • Where Does Complexity Come From?
    E19
    Where Does Complexity Come From?This video is about the difference between complexity and entropy, and how we can see complex things like life, planets, galaxies, humans, intelligence, consciousness, etc arising in our universe when the overall tendency of the second law of thermodynamics is towards increasing entropy and disorder. It turns out that gravitational collapse & other complex structures (such as tendrils that form when coffee and milk mix) arise naturally as part of the path towards increasing entropy.
  • How Entropy Powers The Earth (Big Picture Ep. 4)
    E20
    How Entropy Powers The Earth (Big Picture Ep. 4)This video is about how we don't just need energy to power our lives, we need *low entropy* energy!
  • What is the Purpose of Life?
    E21
    What is the Purpose of Life?This video is about how life arose and what its main function or purpose in the universe seems to be.
  • Is The Moon Held Up By A Spring? How Perspective Shapes Reality
    E22
    Is The Moon Held Up By A Spring? How Perspective Shapes Reality
  • No Cloning
    E23
    No CloningWhy you can’t clone Schrödinger’s cat: this video presents the full proof of the “No Cloning” Theorem in Quantum Mechanics – without any fancy math! (stereotypical qubit has been replaced with Schrödinger’s cat). The full proof relies on the linearity of quantum (aka unitary) transformations, and the tensor product of multiple systems, to show that perfect cloning is impossible (though teleportation is allowed)

 

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