Why Physics? This unique program goes on a fast-paced road trip to answer the “Why Physics” question. Journeying across the American Southeast, a host investigates the role of physics in our daily lives, as viewers gain an appreciation for the fundamental concepts and principles revealed by the people and places along the way. Everything from roller coasters to roadside attractions is used to explore physics concepts, while emphasizing the subject’s fun side. Viewers begin to understand that physics, far from being abstract and remote, is best observed in the immediate world surrounding us.
Physics Review This is a physics review of the concepts of friction, static friction, kinetic friction, the coefficient of friction, work, power, and the work-kinetic energy principle.
Introducing EinSteinchen, an animated techno-Einstein who has a genius for explaining physics. In section one of this DVD, this likable know-it-all elucidates 12 essential topics in 90-second segments that are perfect for launching lectures or illustrating concepts. Section two departs from EinSteinchen’s virtual world to show 12 cutting-edge applications or studies of Einsteinian physics in high-level mini-documentaries of two to five minutes in length.
Section one’s animated segments include…
• Absolute and Relative: How size can appear to be relative through perspective
• E=mc2: What exactly this famous formula means
• The Discovery of Slowness: Relativity of time when traveling through space
• As Fast as Light: Why light’s velocity is constant, and why nothing can outpace it
• Glowing Atoms—Stimulated Emissions: The role that excited atoms play in laser emissions
• The Super-molecule—Bose-Einstein Condensation: Wave-like behavior of atoms at temperatures approaching absolute zero
• The Spooky Long Distance Effect: Entanglement of spatially separated particles
• Bent Space: How massive objects exerting enormous gravity bend space
• Dancing Particles: How the forces that play a role in molecular interactions can be defined by formulas
• Electricity from Light: How light energy can be converted into electrical energy
• The Invisible Force: How gravity exerted by stars and planets keeps the universe in motion
• Wormholes: Theoretically speaking, how travel through a wormhole could provide a shortcut across space
Section two’s mini-documentaries include…
• Nuclear Medicine—A Formula and Its Results: E=mc2 as it relates to PET scans
• Satellite Navigation—Einstein’s Contribution to GALILEO: Compensating for time relativity in navigational satellites
• The Speed of Light, Part 1—Light Researchers: A satellite experiment to test whether light really does propagate at the same speed in all directions
• The Speed of Light, Part 2—Radar Satellite: TerraSAR-X, an X-band radar mapping satellite that relies on measurements based on the speed of light
• The World’s Fastest Flash: Stimulated emissions and history’s first attosecond laser pulse
• Juggling Ultra-cold Atoms: Implications of Bose-Einstein condensation waves on the possibility of making a quantum computer
• Cloned Atoms through Teleportation: Implications of “spooky action at a distance” on the possibility of making a quantum computer
• Cosmic Telescopes: Using gravitational lenses to search for undiscovered galaxies and dark matter
• Racing Down Einstein’s Paths: detecting gravity waves with laser interferometers
• Organic Solar Cells: Applying the photoelectric effect to hydrocarbon polymers
• Time Travel through Wormholes—Nothing More Than a Dream?: Speculations on wormholes and how, theoretically, to make use of them
• The Search for a Theory of Everything: Hunting for evidence of the Higgs boson as a part of the search for Einstein’s elusive Theory of Everything