41 results found for physics

Dr. Tonomura is a world renowned pioneer and authority in the field of electron holography, for which he has received many national and international recognitions. He is recognized for his contributions in the development of electron holography, the ....

Light is reflected off a flexible shiny surface fixed to the end of a plastic tube. When one speaks into the tubes sound vibrations pass down the tube and make the surface vibrate. The reflected light is therefore sent off from the surface in a con....

When two different types of conductors are pushed into a potato chemical reactions take place charging them up - we have a simple electrochemical cell. A potato, zinc screw and carbon rod produce about 1V. We experiment joining a few of these cells u....

This is a simple yet effective demonstration of electricity generation. 500 turns of wire are wound onto a 35mm film can and the two ends are attached to an LED light. A strong magnet is placed in the can and the lid fixed back in place. The generato....

When two different metals are placed in a salt solution (an electrolyte) the chemistry produces a voltage. This is called a cell. By wiring up a number of these cells we can make a battery and use it to power electrical circuits.

Converting wind power into electricity seems like an ideal way of helping to solve our energy problems. However, the power generated by a windmill is dependent on the wind speed. If the wind drops to half its speed there is as little as an 1/8th of t....

Parabolic surfaces can be used to concentrate energy for example to focus sunlight to heat things. Using an old World War II spot light mirror we demonstrate how easy it it is to concentrate enough energy to cause combustion. Finally, we show how to ....

A short video explaining how to measure temperature.

John Murrell explains scales and colour changes with temperature, boiling and melting,

Some minerals such as quartz can produce electricity simply by squeezing or bending them - these are called piezoelectric crystals. Here is a simple and cheap demonstration you can do.

Although essentially a very simple device the Gieger Counter is an exquisitely sensitive detector of ionising radiation. It can detect a single particle. Here we demonstrate its use in detecting radiation from minerals and describe in simple terms ho....

A Breathtaking Journey into the Innermost Structure of our Universe.  Runner up: Best use of Animation and Best Short Documentary for the 2002 International Festival of Cinema and Technology.

This short documentary explains why the Large Hadron Collider was built and what scientists are using the collider to look for.

Dr Tara Shears explains why scientists are convinced that Dark Matter exists and how a new experiment called the Large Hadron Collider might finally tell us exactly what this mysterious missing mass is made of.

If equal amounts of matter and anitmatter were created at the birth of the universe then why does our universe seem to be made almost entirely from matter? Dr Tara Shears tells us how this mystery could be explained by the Large Hadron Collider exper....

Dr Brian Cox takes us on a tour of the Large Hadron Collider where the conditions moments after the Big Bang are to be recreated.

Dr Tara Shears explains that one of Science's greatest achievements is to have accurately measured everything from the width of the universe to the diameter of a quark. This film features an animated zoom in from the universe to the heart of a hydrog....

The Large Hadron Collider at CERN is the biggest science experiment ever built. Scientists from all over the world are heading to CERN with the aim of recreating particles from the beginning of the universe. Dr Brian Cox takes us on a scientific jour....

Can everything that happens in the universe be explained in terms of just three forces? Particle Physicist Brian Cox talks us through the history of our scientific understanding, revealing why scientists have come to believe this. Brian explores the ....

Particle physicist Brian Cox explains how quantum mechanics has changed the way that we think the world works and why it predicts the existence of a particle that has never been seen. The Higgs boson is a mysterious particle that explains why things ....

Since the time of Faraday lines of force in space have been 'observed' by sprinkling iron filings around magnet. The lecturer explains how, with modern techniques we can 'see' lines of force inside a solid magnet. The studies reveal a fascinating dyn....

A significant proportion of our electricity is generated by thermonuclear reactions. The dangers attached to these processes and the radioactive products are well known and publicised. Much less well known are the measures taken to ensure that the hi....

An elegantly simple optical diffraction demonstration with an inexpensive laser pointer is used to show the way in which x-rays can reveal the structure of crystals, and in particular, the double helix structure of DNA.

Professor Sir Richard Friend is Cavendish Professor of Physics and part of the Optoelectronics Group at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge.His research interests cover: 1) Conjugated Polymers, in particular the development of new semic....

A gentle lead-in to the subject, Feynman starts by discussing photons and their properties.

What are reflection and transmission, and how do they work?

Feynman diagrams and the intricacies of particle interaction.

What does it mean, and where is it all leading?

Searching for the mysterious magnetic monopole.

The idea of time travel makes great science fiction, but can it really be achieved? Paul Davies, Visiting Professor of Physics at Imperial College, describes wormholes in space and other ways that might allow travel into the past or future.