Which Hits The Ground First, Something Light or Heavy?

A basketball and a 5kg medicine ball are dropped simultaneously. Which one hits the ground first? It seems obvious that the heavy one should accelerate at a greater rate and therefore land first because the force pulling it down is greater. But this is forgetting inertia - the tendency of mass to resist changes in motion. Therefore, although the force on the medicine ball is greater, it takes this larger force to accelerate the ball at the same rate as the basketball.

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Spencer Klein: Neutrino Astronomy in Antarctica

Spencer Klein presents a public talk at UC Berkeley on August 21, 2010, as part of the Science@Cal Lecture Series .

For the past 50 years, scientists have been studying cosmic-ray air showers consisting of billions of particles, produced when an ultra-high energy particle strikes the earth.  Despite enormous effort, we still have not found the cosmic accelerators that create these particles.

One way to find these accelerators is to search for the neutrinos that they produce. Neutrinos travel cosmic distances in a straight line, interact weakly, and can reach us even through dust clouds or other obstructions. Because of their weak interactions, huge detectors are required to observe these neutrinos. Antarctic ice is an attractive material, and several neutrino detectors are being built there. The 1-cubic-kilometer IceCube neutrino observatory is already in partial operation at the South Pole. The proposed 100 cubic-kilometer ARIANNA detector will be located on the Ross Ice Shelf, about 20 miles offshore.

Other Science@Cal lectures

Michio Kaku on the space elevator

Now that the shuttle has been retired, the hunt is on for revolutionary technologies to economically lift cargo and humans into space. And a space elevator just may be the answer. According to renowned physicist Michio Kaku, recent developments in nanotechnology may make this technological marvel a reality by the end of this century.

Working as a Physicist

Physicist Paul Burton, talks about his career.

A Magic Number - Sixty Symbols

It's a tricky concept linked to chaos, but the Feigenbaum Constant is a special number which appears everywhere in nature.

Other Sixty Symbols videos

Liquid Nitrogen Experiments: The Rubber Stopper

What happens when a rubber test tube stopper is placed in a pool of liquid nitrogen? Sometimes, materials behave in unexpected ways!

Other Frostbite Theater videos

Sound Wave Interference (MIT Demo)

Two speakers, mounted on the table and facing each other, are driven by a function generator. A microphone is introduced between the speakers and the sound waves are displayed on an oscilloscope. This demonstrates the effect of interference and the resulting phase shift on sound waves over a fixed distance. Three different frequencies are demonstrated; 880Hz (A5), 440Hz (A4) and 523.3Hz (C4).

Other demonstrations from MIT

MIT 8.01 Classical Mechanics Lecture 27

MIT Physics Course

Professor Walter Lewin

8.01 Physics  I: Classical Mechanics, Fall 1999


Fluid Mechanics - Pascal's Principle - Hydrostatics - Atmospheric Pressure - Over Pressure in Lungs and Tires

See other videos in this series.

Schrödinger's Cat - Sixty Symbols

Schrödinger's cat is an icon of modern physics - but what is it exactly?

Other Sixty Symbols videos

Newton's Laws of Motion

Newton's three laws of motion.

Calculating Gravitational Attraction (Veritasium)

Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation can be summarized as "all mass attracts all other mass." But if this is true, why don't we notice the gravitational force of attraction between everyday objects? The reason is because the gravitational force is quite weak.

Other Veritasium videos

Quantum levitation

Suspending a superconducting disc above or below a set of permanent magnets. The magnetic field is locked inside the superconductor ; a phenomenon called 'Quantum Trapping'.

Superconductivity Group, Tel-Aviv University, Israel

Inductor - Sixty Symbols

Professor Roger Bowley on inductors, electromagnets and electromagnetic induction.

Other Sixty Symbols videos

Energy of sound

Does sound carry energy?

Octopus Laser - Backstage Science

Octopus is a laser system at the Central Laser Facility.

Other Backstage Science videos

MIT 8.02 Electricity and Magnetism Lecture 8

MIT 8.02 Electricity and Magnetism, Spring 2002

Professor Walter Lewin

Capacitors, dielectrics, Van de Graaff generator.

Other lectures from the same course

Liquid Nitrogen Experiments: The Balloon

What happens when a balloon full of air is plunged into a container full of liquid nitrogen?

Other Frostbite Theater videos

Medical Imaging: Getting Under Your Skin

This is a very good lecture!

Sound, motion, and a bit of fury pulse through this dynamic investigation into several imaging techniques used to examine the human body. Physicist Paul Lyman immediately captures the attention of his audience with his entrance, bumping down the long flight of lecture-room stairs to the front of the room on his bicycle. He hops off, removes his helmet and plunges into the world of X rays, computer tomography (CT scan), nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and ultrasound.

Source:  UW-Milwaukee Science Bag

Other UWM Science Bag videos

Newton's Third Law (Veritasium)

There is a gravitational force of attraction between the Earth and the moon, but is it mutual? That is, are the forces on the Earth and the moon equal? Most people would say no, the Earth exerts a greater force of attraction because it is larger and has more mass. This is a situation in which Newton's Third Law is relevant. Newton's Third Law says that for every force, there is an equal and opposite reaction force. So the force the Earth exerts on the moon must be exactly equal and opposite the force the moon exerts on the Earth. But how can that be - that the same size force keeps the moon orbiting, but barely affects the Earth? The answer is inertia - the tendency for all objects with mass to maintain their state of motion. Since the Earth has much more mass than the moon, it has greater inertia and therefore experiences much less acceleration for the same amount of force.

Other Veritasium videos

String Theory for the Scientifically Curious with Dr. Amanda Peet

Toronto, February 26 2010. Physicist Amanda Peet, Professor at the University of Toronto explains string theory.  ( Centre for Inquiry )

String theory, a part of modern theoretical physics, has wiggled its way into the popular consciousness during the past decade. While the details are technically complicated, the basic idea is stunningly simple - that the fundamental Lego blocks making up matter and force are tiny vibrating strings (rather than infinitely small particles). Some people presenting string theory to the public, like Brian Greene, emphasize its mathematical beauty. By contrast, this presentation will focus on the powerful physics motivations for the invention and development of string theory.

Ideas on the menu include: explaining the epic clash between quantum mechanics and general relativity, string theory basics, extra dimensions of space, D-branes and duality, the LHC, the origin and ultimate fate of the universe, and the black hole information paradox. This presentation is largely self-contained; no physics or math background is assumed, other than a layperson's curiosity about physical science.

Producing X-rays at the APS

An introduction and overview of the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory, the technology that produces the brightest X-ray beams in the Western Hemisphere, and the research carried out by scientists using those X-rays.

I found the video on this blog:  Physics and physicists

Atom Bombs and Dimensional Analysis - Sixty Symbols

How did a magazine photograph help a physicist crack one of the secrets of the atom bomb?

Other Sixty Symbols videos

Laminar flow demonstration

This apparatus allows for the visual examination of a fluid undergoing laminar flow. Initially, within the apparatus, various colored droplets are suspended in a fluid (corn syrup) and all are in a state of equilibrium where the different fluids are distinctly separated. When the apparatus is rotated the fluids revolve in a controlled manner and the droplets seem to become completely intermixed yet still divided from the outer fluid. After several rotations the apparatus is then operated in the reverse direction. Since the Reynolds number within this apparatus is less then one, an almost complete reversal of the previous laminar flow is undertaken. The result is that after the same amount of rotations in the opposite direction, the droplets return to their initial, distinctly separated, forms.

Filmed at the University of New Mexico - Physics Department. This apparatus was developed by John DeMoss and Kevin Cahill of the Department of Physics & Astronomy

Liquid Nitrogen Experiments: The Carnation

What happens when a nice, fresh carnation is plunged into a container full of liquid nitrogen?

Other Frostbite Theater videos

Falling Faster Than g

A hinged board rotates under the force of gravity and the free end accelerates at a rate faster than g. This board is 1 meter long and starts at an initial angle of just under 35 degrees. A steel ball bearing sits on a golf tee about 2 cm above the end of the board.

Other Harvard demonstrations

Fourier Analysis (and guitar jammin') - Sixty Symbols

A physics professor uses an electric guitar (and wah pedal!) to explain the workings of waves.

Other Sixty Symbols videos

What Is Gravity?

People have a lot of different ideas about what gravity is: a downward force that stops you from flying off into space, an attraction smaller objects experience towards larger objects, or a mutual attraction between all masses. It is the last of these ideas that best reflects a scientific conception of gravity.

Other Veritasium videos

The Stern-Gerlach experiment

A beam of particles moves through a magnetic field.   Quantized angular momentum.

MIT 8.01 Classical Mechanics Lecture 26

MIT Physics Course

Professor Walter Lewin

8.01 Physics  I: Classical Mechanics, Fall 1999

Elasticity - Young's Modulus.  There is an interesting demonstration where he slowly increases the mass suspended to a string and measures the elongation until the string breaks.

See other videos in this series.

How to make fire from ice

Convergeing lense made from ice...

Neutrinos faster than light - Sixty Symbols

Discussing recent results suggesting neutrinos may be traveling "faster than light".

Other videos about neutrinos faster than light.

Other Sixty Symbols videos

Prof Alan Watson - IOP Award winner: on cosmic rays

Faraday Medal of the Institute of Physics
Professor Alan Andrew Watson, University of Leeds

For his outstanding leadership within the Pierre Auger Observatory, and the insights he has provided to the origin and nature of ultra high energy cosmic rays.

Ring Falling in a Magnetic Field (MIT Tech TV)

Three aluminium objects are dropped through a magnetic field. The objects move slower entering and leaving the field due to changes in the flux through the object. The change in the flux through a conductor results in a force which opposes additional flux change. As a result the force opposes the motion and slows the object's fall. This demonstration illustrates Faraday's and Lenz's law.

See other MIT physics demos

Field of a Sphere and an Infinite Plane

A Mylar balloon is held near a charged Van de Graaff generator. The balloon is moved radially away from the sphere and its deflection from the vertical is observed to decrease with distance. The same procedure is done with a conducting "infinite" plane. When the balloon is moved outwards from the plane, its deflection from the vertical remains constant. When the balloon is very far from the plane, edge effects conspire to decrease its deflection.

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The Nobel Prize in Physics 2011

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2011 was awarded "for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae" with one half to Saul Perlmutter and the other half jointly to Brian P. Schmidt and Adam G. Riess.

MIT 8.02 Electricity and Magnetism Lecture 7

MIT 8.02 Electricity and Magnetism, Spring 2002

Professor Walter Lewin

Capacitance and field energy.

Other lectures from the same course

TED Talks: Adam Sadowsky and his Rube Goldberg machine

The band "OK Go" dreamed up the idea of a massive Rube Goldberg machine for their next music video -- and Adam Sadowsky was charged with building it. He tells the story of the effort and engineering behind the labyrinthine creation that quickly became a YouTube sensation.

Other TED Talks

What's new @CERN ? Higgs boson, standard model, SUSY and neutrinos

What's new @CERN ? a new video programme launched on webcast.cern.ch , every first Monday of the Month. For the first one, the themes are the results of the LHC experiments about Higgs boson, standard model and supersymmetry, and also neutrinos of OPERA experiment faster than the speed of light.

Other "What's new @ CERN" videos

Hidden Worlds - Hunting for Quarks in Ordinary Matter

Dr. Timothy Paul Smith - Dartmouth College
February 26, 2003

How can scientists know anything about quarks, particles which are 100,000 times smaller than atoms? How do quarks arrange themselves to make ordinary matter? Learn about the hidden world of quarks, the particles which are inside of everything, everywhere!

Other lectures from Jefferson Lab Science Series

Liquid Nitrogen vs. Liquid Oxygen: Magnetism

What happens when liquid nitrogen and liquid oxygen are exposed to a strong magnetic field?

Other Frostbite Theater demonstrations

How a Capacitor Works - by Dr. Oliver Winn

Diagrams, graphics with explanation by Dr. Oliver Winn - pioneer in GE's capacitor and battery technologies. Electrolytic and Dielectric Capacitors explained, how its made using polypropylene. electrons enter the top plate creating a negative charge, this repels electrons in the bottom plate, energy is stored in the dielectric via the field. Dr. Winn worked in Fort Edward/Hudson Falls and Columbia, South Carolina GE plants. His work improved the efficiency of capacitors by 3x while reducing production cost. They made their own aluminum foil and plastics.