Richard Feynman: Fun to Imagine

Richard Feynman, one of America's most renowned physicists, sits down in an armchair at his Californian home to explain the physics that underpins the world around us. In this first episode, he explores the beauty of the way atoms interact with each other and reveals why fires feel hot.

Why do rubber bands stretch and contract? And why do two magnets feel as though there's something in between them when they repel each other? These are simple enough questions but, as Professor Feynman explains, the answers are surprisingly complicated.

A trip to the dentist prompts Richard Feynman to ponder on the wonder of electrical and magnetic forces. Using examples from everyday life, the eminent scientist explains how these concepts work and reveals just how important the discovery of electromagnetism was. Combing one's hair isn't such a mundane task after all.

Why do mirrors invert a reflection from right to left but not up to down? This is just one of the questions that Professor Richard Feynman answers in the fourth of his series of chats about the way the world really functions. He also dissects the eye (painlessly) to describe how sight works.

In this brain-boggling session from Professor Feynman, the scientist reveals how imagination leads the way when trying to understand such cosmic phenomena as black holes, quasars and pulsars. He also provides a fascinating explanation as to why Earth's mountains are no higher than Everest.

Richard Feynman gives us a glimpse inside his head in this exploration of how we think about complicated ideas.