The Mechanical Universe... and Beyond - Season 1
Season 1
Network
Episodes52
DatesMay 13, 1985 - May 13, 1985
Episodes
Season 1Episode 130 min
Introduction
This preview introduces revolutionary ideas and heroes from Copernicus to Newton, and links the physics of the heavens and the earth.
May 13, 1985
Season 1Episode 230 min
The Law of Falling Bodies
Galileo's imaginative experiments proved that all bodies fall with the same constant acceleration.
Season 1Episode 330 min
Derivatives
The function of mathematics in physical science and the derivative as a practical tool.
Season 1Episode 430 min
Inertia
Galileo risks his favored status to answer the questions of the universe with his law of inertia.
Season 1Episode 530 min
Vectors
Physics must explain not only why and how much, but also where and which way.
Season 1Episode 630 min
Newton's Laws
Newton lays down the laws of force, mass, and acceleration.
Season 1Episode 730 min
Integration
Newton and Leibniz arrive at the conclusion that differentiation and integration are inverse processes.
Season 1Episode 830 min
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.
Season 1Episode 930 min
Moving in Circles
A look at the Platonic theory of uniform circular motion.
Season 1Episode 1030 min
Fundamental Forces
All physical phenomena of nature are explained by four forces: two nuclear forces, gravity, and electricity.
Season 1Episode 1130 min
Gravity, Electricity, Magnetism
Shedding light on the mathematical form of the gravitational, electric, and magnetic forces.
Season 1Episode 1230 min
The Millikan Experiment
A dramatic recreation of Millikan's classic oil-drop experiment to determine the charge of a single electron.
Season 1Episode 1330 min
Conservation of Energy
According to one of the major laws of physics, energy is neither created nor destroyed.
Season 1Episode 1430 min
Potential Energy
Potential energy provides a powerful model for understanding why the world has worked the same way since the beginning of time.
Season 1Episode 1530 min
Conservation of Momentum
What keeps the universe ticking away until the end of time?
Season 1Episode 1630 min
Harmonic Motion
The music and mathematics of periodic motion.
Season 1Episode 1730 min
Resonance
Why a swaying bridge collapses with a high wind, and why a wine glass shatters with a higher octave.
Season 1Episode 1830 min
Waves
With an analysis of simple harmonic motion and a stroke of genius, Newton extended mechanics to the propagation of sound.
Season 1Episode 1930 min
Angular Momentum
An old momentum with a new twist.
Season 1Episode 2030 min
Torques and Gyroscopes
From spinning tops to the precession of the equinoxes.
Season 1Episode 2130 min
Kepler's Three Laws
The discovery of elliptical orbits helps describe the motion of heavenly bodies with unprecedented accuracy.
Season 1Episode 2230 min
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.
Season 1Episode 2330 min
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.
Season 1Episode 2430 min
Navigating in Space
Voyages to other planets use the same laws that guide planets around the solar system.
Season 1Episode 2530 min
Kepler to Einstein
From Kepler's laws and the theory of tides, to Einstein's general theory of relativity, into black holes, and beyond.
Season 1Episode 2630 min
Harmony of the Spheres
A last lingering look back at mechanics to see new connections between old discoveries.
Season 1Episode 2730 min
Beyond the Mechanical Universe
The world of electricity and magnetism, and 20th-century discoveries of relativity and quantum mechanics.
Season 1Episode 2830 min
Static Electricity
Eighteenth-century electricians knew how to spark the interest of an audience with the principles of static electricity.
Season 1Episode 2930 min
The Electric Field
Faraday's vision of lines of constant force in space laid the foundation for the modern force field theory.
Season 1Episode 3030 min
Capacitance and Potential
Season 1Episode 3130 min
Voltage, Energy, and Force
When is electricity dangerous or benign, spectacular or useful?
Season 1Episode 3230 min
The Electric Battery
Volta invents the electric battery using the internal properties of different metals.
Season 1Episode 3330 min
Electric Circuits
The work of Wheatstone, Ohm, and Kirchhoff leads to the design and analysis of how current flows.
Season 1Episode 3430 min
Magnetism
Gilbert discovered that the earth behaves like a giant magnet. Modern scientists have learned even more.
Season 1Episode 3530 min
The Magnetic Field
The law of Biot and Sarvart, the force between electric currents, and Ampère's law.
Season 1Episode 3630 min
Vector Fields and Hydrodynamics
Force fields have definite properties of their own suitable for scientific study.
Season 1Episode 3730 min
Electromagnetic Induction
The discovery of electromagnetic induction in 1831 creates an important technological breakthrough in the generation of electric power.
Season 1Episode 3830 min
Alternating Currents
Season 1Episode 3930 min
Maxwell's Equations
Maxwell discovers that displacement current produces electromagnetic waves or light.
Season 1Episode 4030 min
Optics
Many properties of light are properties of waves, including reflection, refraction, and diffraction.
Season 1Episode 4130 min
The Michelson–Morley Experiment
Season 1Episode 4230 min
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.
Season 1Episode 4330 min
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.
Season 1Episode 4430 min
Energy, Momentum, and Mass
Season 1Episode 4530 min
Temperature and the Gas Law
Season 1Episode 4630 min
The Engine of Nature
Season 1Episode 4730 min
Entropy
The Carnot engine, part two, with profound implications for the behavior of matter and the flow of time through the universe.
Season 1Episode 4830 min
Low Temperatures
With the quest for low temperatures came the discovery that all elements can exist in each of the basic states of matter.
Season 1Episode 4930 min
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.
Season 1Episode 5030 min
Particles and Waves
Evidence that light can sometimes act like a particle leads to quantum mechanics, the new physics.
Season 1Episode 5130 min
Atoms to Quarks
Season 1Episode 5230 min
The Quantum Mechanical Universe
A last look at where we've been and a peek into the future.
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