A Little Light Relief
Light, particularly sunlight, is believed to be good for our health. Many ancient civilisations even attributed it with mystical healing powers.Renowned for his entertaining lectures, Professor David Phillips, President of the RSC, uses his expertise....
More details | Watch nowThe Nuclear Debate
New carbon targets requires reducing emissions of greenhouse gases by 50% for 2030. This house believes that it will be impossible to meet the emissions reductions required to fulfil these obligations without the use of nuclear power. Taking the pr....
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Force or (potential) energy
Classical dynamics uses the concept of force for its solution. On the other hand force in quantum dynamics has no meaning and the concept of potential energy is used instead. The question is, "which one of the concepts is more fundamental?".
More details | Watch nowModern Physics
A series of nine lectures from Leonard Susskind who is the Felix Bloch Professor of Theoretical Physics atStanford University, and Director of the Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics.
More details | Watch nowMusic, architecture and acoustics in Renaissance Venice: Recreating lost soundscapes
During the Renaissance in Venice, composers such as the Gabrieli and Moneverdi created some of their greatest masterpieces for performance in the great churches on festive occasions. But what would the music have sounded like, given its complexity an....
More details | Watch nowThe Centenary of the Discovery of Cosmic Rays: the End of the Beginning
Sir Arnold Wolfendale FRS is Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Durham, and former Astronomer Royal. In 1912, Victor Hess embarked on a perilous balloon ascent and discovered the 'Cosmic Radiation', actually a beam of atomic particles....
More details | Watch nowThe search for a deeper understanding of our universe at the Large Hadron Collider
With the start of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, particle physics entered a new era. The LHC will provide a deeper understanding of the universe and the insights gained could change our view of the world, and the lecture will present some o....
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An unusual look at the effects that things rotating have on our everyday life.
More details | Watch nowThe eye and colour vision
The physics of the eye, its performance and colour vision: refraction and accommodation; photoreceptors and resolution; compromises in visual performance.
More details | Watch nowGeometrical optics
On scales much bigger than the wavelength, rays explain the behaviour of interfaces, mirrors, lenses, optical instruments, including telescopes and microscopes.
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White light comprises colours in the visible spectrum. The electromagnetic spectrum. Speed of light. Young's experiment and waves. Quanta and photons.
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Sound is produced in the larynx; filtering it in the vocal tract produces formants and phonemes. The acoustics, mechanics and some neurobiology of hearing. Pitch perception.
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Reflecting waves gives standing waves, which can be resonances. Standing waves on strings and in pipes and plates.
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Superposing waves with different frequencies gives beats and Tartini tones. Removing beats gives consonance. Tuning consonances gives temperament.
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Frequency, amplitude, envelope and spectrum affect pitch, loudness and timbre. All are discussed and quantified here.
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The Doppler effect
Moving either source or receiver produces a frequency shift called the Doppler effect, which we measure and analyse.
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Sound is a longitudinal wave of variations in pressure and density. We derive and measure its speed.
More details | Watch nowTravelling waves II
The wave equation and its physical origin. Power in a wave and its relation to intensity in radiation.
More details | Watch nowColor Theory
For my project I am giving a brief history of color theory with emphasis on how science and color theory have interacted. I focus on aspects like primary colors, how color is perceived, and the artists who were at the forefront of color and design. I....
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This presentation reviews how magnets work and their uses in the world today. It also explains how magnets and electricity are related and what future inventions could come from using magnets.
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