The Mechanical Universe
The Mechanical Universe... And Beyond, is a 52-part telecourse filmed at the California Institute of Technology, and produced by Caltech and INTELECOM Intelligent Telecommunications. The series introduces university level physics, covering topics from Copernicus to quantum mechanics. Produced starting in 1985, the videos make heavy use of historical dramatizations and visual aids to explain physics concepts. The latter were state of the art at the time, incorporating almost 8 hours of computer animation created by computer graphics pioneer Jim Blinn. Each episode opens and closes with a "phantom" lecture by Caltech professor David Goodstein. After more than a quarter century, the series is still often used as a supplemental teaching aid, for its clear explanation of fundamental concepts such as special relativity. The Mechanical Universe lectures are actual freshman physics lectures from Physics 1a and 1b courses at the California Institute of Technology. The room seen in the videos is the Bridge lecture hall. The series can be purchased, or viewed by streaming from the Annenberg website, or can be viewed on other video streaming sites such as YouTube and Google Video.
Episodes
52 episodes. Playback and audio depend on the available source.
S1:E1 Introduction
This preview introduces revolutionary ideas and heroes from Copernicus to Newton, and links the physics of the heavens and the earth.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E2 The Law of Falling Bodies
Galileo's imaginative experiments proved that all bodies fall with the same constant acceleration.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E3 Derivatives
The function of mathematics in physical science and the derivative as a practical tool.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E4 Inertia
Galileo risks his favored status to answer the questions of the universe with his law of inertia.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E5 Vectors
Physics must explain not only why and how much, but also where and which way.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E6 Newton's Laws
Newton lays down the laws of force, mass, and acceleration.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E7 Integration
Newton and Leibniz arrive at the conclusion that differentiation and integration are inverse processes.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E8 The Apple and the Moon
The first real steps toward space travel are made as Newton discovers that gravity describes the force between any two particles in the universe.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E9 Moving in Circles
A look at the Platonic theory of uniform circular motion.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E10 Fundamental Forces
All physical phenomena of nature are explained by four forces: two nuclear forces, gravity, and electricity.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E11 Gravity, Electricity, Magnetism
Shedding light on the mathematical form of the gravitational, electric, and magnetic forces.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E12 The Millikan Experiment
A dramatic recreation of Millikan's classic oil-drop experiment to determine the charge of a single electron.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E13 Conservation of Energy
According to one of the major laws of physics, energy is neither created nor destroyed.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E14 Potential Energy
Potential energy provides a powerful model for understanding why the world has worked the same way since the beginning of time.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E15 Conservation of Momentum
What keeps the universe ticking away until the end of time?
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E16 Harmonic Motion
The music and mathematics of periodic motion.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E17 Resonance
Why a swaying bridge collapses with a high wind, and why a wine glass shatters with a higher octave.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E18 Waves
With an analysis of simple harmonic motion and a stroke of genius, Newton extended mechanics to the propagation of sound.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E19 Angular Momentum
An old momentum with a new twist.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E20 Torques and Gyroscopes
From spinning tops to the precession of the equinoxes.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E21 Kepler's Three Laws
The discovery of elliptical orbits helps describe the motion of heavenly bodies with unprecedented accuracy.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E22 The Kepler Problem
The deduction of Kepler's laws from Newton's universal law of gravitation is one of the crowning achievements of Western thought.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E23 Energy and Eccentricity
The precise orbit of a heavenly body — a planet, asteroid, or comet — is fixed by the laws of conservation of energy and angular momentum.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E24 Navigating in Space
Voyages to other planets use the same laws that guide planets around the solar system.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E25 Kepler to Einstein
From Kepler's laws and the theory of tides, to Einstein's general theory of relativity, into black holes, and beyond.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E26 Harmony of the Spheres
A last lingering look back at mechanics to see new connections between old discoveries.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E27 Beyond the Mechanical Universe
The world of electricity and magnetism, and 20th-century discoveries of relativity and quantum mechanics.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E28 Static Electricity
Eighteenth-century electricians knew how to spark the interest of an audience with the principles of static electricity.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E29 The Electric Field
Faraday's vision of lines of constant force in space laid the foundation for the modern force field theory.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E30 Potential and Capacitance
Franklin proposes a successful theory of the Leyden jar and invents the parallel plate capacitor.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E31 Voltage, Energy, and Force
When is electricity dangerous or benign, spectacular or useful?
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E32 The Electric Battery
Volta invents the electric battery using the internal properties of different metals.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E33 Electric Circuits
The work of Wheatstone, Ohm, and Kirchhoff leads to the design and analysis of how current flows.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E34 Magnetism
Gilbert discovered that the earth behaves like a giant magnet. Modern scientists have learned even more.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E35 The Magnetic Field
The law of Biot and Sarvart, the force between electric currents, and Ampère's law.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E36 Vector Fields and Hydrodynamics
Force fields have definite properties of their own suitable for scientific study.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E37 Electromagnetic Induction
The discovery of electromagnetic induction in 1831 creates an important technological breakthrough in the generation of electric power.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E38 Alternating Current
Electromagnetic induction makes it easy to generate alternating current while transformers make it practical to distribute it over long distances.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E39 Maxwell's Equations
Maxwell discovers that displacement current produces electromagnetic waves or light.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E40 Optics
Many properties of light are properties of waves, including reflection, refraction, and diffraction.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E41 The Michelson-Morley Experiment
In 1887, an exquisitely designed measurement of the earth's motion through the ether results in the most brilliant failure in scientific history.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E42 The Lorentz Transformation
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.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E43 Velocity and Time
Einstein is motivated to perfect the central ideas of physics, resulting in a new understanding of the meaning of space and time.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E44 Mass, Momentum, Energy
The new meaning of space and time make it necessary to formulate a new mechanics.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E45 Temperature and Gas Laws
Hot discoveries about the behavior of gases make the connection between temperature and heat.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E46 Engine of Nature
The Carnot engine, part one, beginning with simple steam engines.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E47 Entropy
The Carnot engine, part two, with profound implications for the behavior of matter and the flow of time through the universe.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E48 Low Temperatures
With the quest for low temperatures came the discovery that all elements can exist in each of the basic states of matter.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E49 The Atom
A history of the atom, from the ancient Greeks to the early 20th century, and a new challenge for the world of physics.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E50 Particles and Waves
Evidence that light can sometimes act like a particle leads to quantum mechanics, the new physics.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E51 From Atoms to Quarks
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.
Not verifiedAudio unverifiedS1:E52 The Quantum Mechanical Universe
A last look at where we've been and a peek into the future.
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