The Mechanical Universe

IMDb TVDB Trailer
  • :
  • : 52
  • : 1
  • PBS
  • 22
  • Documentary

:

.

1
1x1
Introduction
Episode overview
This preview introduces revolutionary ideas and heroes from Copernicus to Newton, and links the physics of the heavens and the earth.
1x2
The Law of Falling Bodies
Episode overview
Galileo's imaginative experiments proved that all bodies fall with the same constant acceleration.
1x3
Derivatives
Episode overview
The function of mathematics in physical science and the derivative as a practical tool.
1x4
Inertia
Episode overview
Galileo risks his favored status to answer the questions of the universe with his law of inertia.
1x5
Vectors
Episode overview
Physics must explain not only why and how much, but also where and which way.
1x6
Newton's Laws
Episode overview
Newton lays down the laws of force, mass, and acceleration.
1x7
Integration
Episode overview
Newton and Leibniz arrive at the conclusion that differentiation and integration are inverse processes.
1x8
The Apple and the Moon
Episode overview
The first real steps toward space travel are made as Newton discovers that gravity describes the force between any two particles in the universe.
1x9
Moving in Circles
Episode overview
A look at the Platonic theory of uniform circular motion.
1x10
Fundamental Forces
Episode overview
All physical phenomena of nature are explained by four forces: two nuclear forces, gravity, and electricity.
1x11
Gravity, Electricity, Magnetism
Episode overview
Shedding light on the mathematical form of the gravitational, electric, and magnetic forces.
1x12
The Millikan Experiment
Episode overview
A dramatic recreation of Millikan's classic oil-drop experiment to determine the charge of a single electron.
1x13
Conservation of Energy
Episode overview
According to one of the major laws of physics, energy is neither created nor destroyed.
1x14
Potential Energy
Episode overview
Potential energy provides a powerful model for understanding why the world has worked the same way since the beginning of time.
1x15
Conservation of Momentum
Episode overview
What keeps the universe ticking away until the end of time?
1x16
Harmonic Motion
Episode overview
The music and mathematics of periodic motion.
1x17
Resonance
Episode overview
Why a swaying bridge collapses with a high wind, and why a wine glass shatters with a higher octave.
1x18
Waves
Episode overview
With an analysis of simple harmonic motion and a stroke of genius, Newton extended mechanics to the propagation of sound.
1x19
Angular Momentum
Episode overview
An old momentum with a new twist.
1x20
Torques and Gyroscopes
Episode overview
From spinning tops to the precession of the equinoxes.
1x21
Kepler's Three Laws
Episode overview
The discovery of elliptical orbits helps describe the motion of heavenly bodies with unprecedented accuracy.
1x22
The Kepler Problem
Episode overview
The deduction of Kepler's laws from Newton's universal law of gravitation is one of the crowning achievements of Western thought.
1x23
Energy and Eccentricity
Episode overview
The precise orbit of a heavenly body — a planet, asteroid, or comet — is fixed by the laws of conservation of energy and angular momentum.
1x24
Navigating in Space
Episode overview
Voyages to other planets use the same laws that guide planets around the solar system.
1x25
Kepler to Einstein
Episode overview
From Kepler's laws and the theory of tides, to Einstein's general theory of relativity, into black holes, and beyond.
1x26
Harmony of the Spheres
Episode overview
A last lingering look back at mechanics to see new connections between old discoveries.
1x27
Beyond the Mechanical Universe
Episode overview
The world of electricity and magnetism, and 20th-century discoveries of relativity and quantum mechanics.
1x28
Static Electricity
Episode overview
Eighteenth-century electricians knew how to spark the interest of an audience with the principles of static electricity.
1x29
The Electric Field
Episode overview
Faraday's vision of lines of constant force in space laid the foundation for the modern force field theory.
1x30
Potential and Capacitance
Episode overview
Franklin proposes a successful theory of the Leyden jar and invents the parallel plate capacitor.
1x31
Voltage, Energy, and Force
Episode overview
When is electricity dangerous or benign, spectacular or useful?
1x32
The Electric Battery
Episode overview
Volta invents the electric battery using the internal properties of different metals.
1x33
Electric Circuits
Episode overview
The work of Wheatstone, Ohm, and Kirchhoff leads to the design and analysis of how current flows.
1x34
Magnetism
Episode overview
Gilbert discovered that the earth behaves like a giant magnet. Modern scientists have learned even more.
1x35
The Magnetic Field
Episode overview
The law of Biot and Sarvart, the force between electric currents, and Ampère's law.
1x36
Vector Fields and Hydrodynamics
Episode overview
Force fields have definite properties of their own suitable for scientific study.
1x37
Electromagnetic Induction
Episode overview
The discovery of electromagnetic induction in 1831 creates an important technological breakthrough in the generation of electric power.
1x38
Alternating Current
Episode overview
Electromagnetic induction makes it easy to generate alternating current while transformers make it practical to distribute it over long distances.
1x39
Maxwell's Equations
Episode overview
Maxwell discovers that displacement current produces electromagnetic waves or light.
1x40
Optics
Episode overview
Many properties of light are properties of waves, including reflection, refraction, and diffraction.
1x41
The Michelson-Morley Experiment
Episode overview
In 1887, an exquisitely designed measurement of the earth's motion through the ether results in the most brilliant failure in scientific history.
1x42
The Lorentz Transformation
Episode overview
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.
1x43
Velocity and Time
Episode overview
Einstein is motivated to perfect the central ideas of physics, resulting in a new understanding of the meaning of space and time.
1x44
Mass, Momentum, Energy
Episode overview
The new meaning of space and time make it necessary to formulate a new mechanics.
1x45
Temperature and Gas Laws
Episode overview
Hot discoveries about the behavior of gases make the connection between temperature and heat.
1x46
Engine of Nature
Episode overview
The Carnot engine, part one, beginning with simple steam engines.
1x47
Entropy
Episode overview
The Carnot engine, part two, with profound implications for the behavior of matter and the flow of time through the universe.
1x48
Low Temperatures
Episode overview
With the quest for low temperatures came the discovery that all elements can exist in each of the basic states of matter.
1x49
The Atom
Episode overview
A history of the atom, from the ancient Greeks to the early 20th century, and a new challenge for the world of physics.
1x50
Particles and Waves
Episode overview
Evidence that light can sometimes act like a particle leads to quantum mechanics, the new physics.
1x51
From Atoms to Quarks
Episode overview
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.
1x52
The Quantum Mechanical Universe
Episode overview
A last look at where we've been and a peek into the future.