Summary: Revolted by quantum theory, Einstein spent his final decades trying to create an all-encompassing mathematical model of the universe in which God indeed does not play dice. In this program, theoretical physicist Michio Kaku and experts from Cambridge, MIT, and elsewhere discuss Einstein's revolutionary time/space theories of 1905, the ascendancy of quantum mechanics and string theory, and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: This program provides a substantive overview of the theoretical dispute between Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr, a controversy that still resonates today. Bohr's Copenhagen Interpretation-that measurement of phenomena creates a set of possible outcomes and that unobserved phenomena are meaningless-is thoroughly explained in conjunction with Einstein's cause-and-effect approach. Using clever...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: This episode of Rockets! looks at post-WW II rocketry and the creation of the first Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. The U.S. military developed the science and technology that would explore the outer reaches of the earth's atmosphere. This effort was redirected during the Cold War, fueled by a desperate race with the U.S.S.R. to deploy nuclear-tipped ICBMs, and later to orbit the first...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 1997
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Summary: Designers of seatbelts and airbags want to know. So do particle physicists. What makes things heavy? This program suggests an answer as it examines the fundamental law that links all collisions, big and small. One of the world's largest atom-smashing experiments-projected to involve more than 2,000 scientists from around the world, cost over
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Alongside the glittery promise of nanotechnology sits a Pandora’s box of potential concerns that range from worrisome applications like nano-enhanced surveillance devices and weapon systems to unintended consequences such as nanopollution and nanotoxicity. This program takes a balanced look at the debate over potential nanotech risks as it presents viewers with the informed opinions of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: Materials with properties copied directly from nature, manufacturing processes that rely on self-assembly, hyper-efficient energy production: these are some of the promises of nanotechnology. In this program, Nobel Laureate Alan J. Heeger and other leading researchers open their labs to viewers, displaying nanotech applications ranging from intelligent textiles and self-cleaning glass, to...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: What exactly is nanotechnology? How does it work? And how might it benefit-or endanger-humankind? This program considers those and other questions as it addresses a range of topics such as nanoscale units of measurement, the special properties of nanoparticles, the gecko and lotus effects, carbon nanotubes, surface energy, and hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces. Special sections on the use of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: This program looks inside a modern nuclear reactor and explores its functions in detail. It also addresses nuclear safety-the various measures intended to diminish the risk of accidents and radioactive emissions. Finally, the program looks at the steps involved in the production and storage of radioactive waste, as well as the dangers of its by-products.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Black holes are by definition invisible, and there is no scientific theory that can adequately explain them. Nevertheless, researchers are determined to unravel the mysteries of black holes in the hope of answering some of the universe’s most pressing questions. This program spotlights the work of MIT’s Max Tegmark and Shep Doeleman as well as of string field theorist Michio Kaku as it...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: In this concise and logically formatted program, students discover the fundamental building blocks of the universe: the elements. Lively computer animation makes the atom and its constituent parts-the proton, neutron, and electron-easy to understand. The Bohr Model and the Quantum Mechanical Model of the atom are clearly differentiated. Working from these concepts, students can then make sense...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: What happens when astronomers send a fragile telescopic mirror to the edge of space-not aboard a rocket or satellite, but dangling from a huge balloon? This documentary provides the answers in a riveting story of cutting-edge physics, subfreezing launch sites, disastrous balloon trajectories, and scientists who refuse to give up. Dr. Mark Devlin of the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Barth...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: Is it possible that there are more than 10,000 advanced civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy alone? The formula known as the Drake Equation posits just that. In this program astrophysicist and SETI founder Dr. Frank Drake himself explains the science behind his seemingly outrageous claim, and offers theories about why ET hasn't been found yet. In the video's second half, researchers assess the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
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Summary: Often envisioned as tiny packets of energy, light must also be studied in terms of its kinetic properties. This program explores aspects of light using both wave and particle models, emphasizing that neither one fully explains all known electromagnetic phenomena. With helpful diagrams and real-world examples, the film illustrates three principal kinds of optical behavior-straight line...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: This program introduces string theory and shows how modern physics—composed of two theories that are ferociously incompatible—reached its schizophrenic impasse. One theory, general relativity, successfully describes the stars and galaxies, while another, quantum mechanics, is equally successful at explaining small things like atoms and subatomic particles. Albert Einstein, the inventor of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2003
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Summary: This program opens with a whimsical scene in a movie theater in which the history of the universe trails backwards to the big bang, the moment at which general relativity and quantum mechanics both come into play, and therefore the point at which our conventional model of reality breaks down. Then it’s string theory to the rescue as physicist Bryan Greene describes the serendipitous steps that...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2003
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Summary: Although gravity is the weakest of the fundamental forces, it is nevertheless the most universal-and the easiest to demonstrate! This program demystifies the properties and behavior of gravity with the help of real-world illustrations and animated graphics. Topics include the four fundamental forces or interactions; Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation; the physics involved in microgravity...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: To study and understand the motion of objects in space, students need to build a foundation of knowledge in a wide variety of physical science phenomena. This program demonstrates typical mechanics situations common to many physics courses, such as circular motion, projectile motion, straight line motion, and inclined plane motion. Describing these motions in terms of forces and energy...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: Exploring the antithesis of the wave model, this album of eight computer-animated video segments looks at the particle approach to studying light. Black-body radiation, Planck's constant, the Photoelectric Effect, and the work of James Clerk Maxwell are presented as forerunners to Einstein's concept of photon frequency. Examples of a slope intercept graph and a revised double-slit experiment...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: Trying to create a device that can measure the flow of heat at a quantum level, postdoctoral student Keith Schwab confronts the uncertainty principle not only in physics but in life as well. This program follows the arduous quest of a charismatic young physicist and the personal price of his dedication to a long-term goal. Working at Caltech with his mentor, Professor Michael Roukes, Keith sees...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Beginning with a condensed history of classical and quantum physics to contextualize the current state of quantum science, this highly visual program takes viewers to the frontiers of quantum computation. Wave-particle duality, entanglement and superposition, the EPR Paradox, Schrödinger’s Cat, the famous double-slit experiment, and the “noisy observer effect” flash by like road markers on this...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: This program focuses on efforts to complete Einstein's quest for a grand unifying theory that will explain all of the forces of nature in the same terms. Will string theory provide the key? Mathematical physicist Nathan Seiberg explains his research on string theory in various dimensions and on particle physics; Edward Witten, named one of the 25 most influential Americans by Time magazine,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: String field theory pioneer Michio Kaku hosts this fascinating look at the cosmic landscape and its relationship to time. The program examines time's curious behavior on a wide range of scales-from atomic nuclei, in which particles can appear to be in two places at once, to black holes, which warp the fabric of space and squeeze time until it stands still. Demonstrating that time travel is...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: This clever animated biography of Albert Einstein incorporates photos and quotes into a lively overview of the physicist's life and ideas. Careful attention is given to how Einstein reconciled conventional velocity addition with the constant speed of light and how he arrived at his special and general theories of relativity. His most famous equation, E=mc2, is derived in four simple steps. The...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: When Albert Einstein discovered that E=mc2, he saw in the equation the answer to why the Sun shines. But others read into it a darker meaning. This program-part documentary with compelling graphics, part dramatization-explains how Einstein's great achievement was also, in his own words, his "biggest blunder." A close look at the scientific relationship between energy, mass, and the speed of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006