Catalog Search Results
81) Energy
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English
Description
Talking about energy is tricky because everyday words can also have specialized scientific meanings. Through the process of defining key terms like "power," "work," and even "energy" itself, this program uses a roller coaster, a harmless train wreck, ice-skaters, a boulder, a human cannonball, night-vision goggles, and a supernova to introduce students to kinetic and potential energy, electrical energy, chemical energy, nuclear energy, and conduction,...
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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 high-speed journey to the realm of quantum teleportation,...
83) The amazing story of quantum mechanics: a math-free exploration of the science that made our world
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English
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Description
Most of us are unaware of how much we depend on quantum mechanics on a day-to-day basis. Using illustrations and examples from science fiction pulp magazines and comic books, this book explains the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics that underlie the world we live in.--From publisher description.
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English
Description
Earth, air, fire, and water: according to some ancient theories, these four elements made up the cosmos. Beginning with the work of the Greek philosopher Democritus, this Science Screen Report describes how an accurate atomic theory developed and led to awareness of a wide variety of elements. Specific examples showing different configurations of these basic units of matter-including graphite and diamond, both made of carbon-combine with animated...
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One billionth of a meter, a distance the width of four silicon atoms: that's nanoscale, where a speck of dust would seem as large, relatively speaking, as a planet. This program travels around the world to immerse viewers in the concept of nanotechnology. By spotlighting nanotech luminaries-Harold Kroto, Gerd Binnig, James Heath, Sumio Iijima, James M. Tour-and innovations such as fullerenes, nano-cars, carbon nanotubes, and carbon nanohorns, From...
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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 electron-spin transistors and flexible-screen OLED devices,...
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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 Netterfield of the University of Toronto, and their support...
88) Man in Space
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English
Description
This program from the series Rockets! is the story of the Space Race. This episode focuses on the quest to build gigantic rockets that would power men to the moon. The Russian aerospace engineer Sergei Korolev took the early lead, building the first rockets that took satellites into space and men into orbit. President Kennedy found it unthinkable that America would fall behind and committed the nation to reaching the moon first.
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English
Description
Beginning with the history of astronomy (Ptolemy, Copernicus, Giordano Bruno, Galileo), this program considers the mathematics of motion (velocity, acceleration); gravity (Kepler's discoveries, Newton's laws, center of gravity, astronomical units); the properties of stars (parallax, flux, luminosity, color, Hertzsprung-Russell diagram); relativity (Einstein's theories, speed of light, space-time); and the large-scale structure of the universe (Big...
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English
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Using numerous examples to show how a very important phenomenon occurs and serves various purposes, this fascinating program takes students on a lively journey through the mechanisms and practicalities of heat transfer. Viewers are introduced to conduction, convection, and radiation and encounter the concepts of specific heat and thermal capacity. Topics include the use of heat in power stations to generate electricity; how various states of matter...
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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 satellite. National security and national prestige coalesce...
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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 propagation, reflection, and refraction-and guides students through...
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English
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This Science Screen Report looks at a clean and renewable energy source that is steadily gaining scientific acceptance: hot dry rocks, otherwise known as enhanced geothermal systems. The program shows how masses of heated granite approximately 3 miles underground can be accessed with advanced drilling and computer imaging techniques, and how water forced through fissures in the granite can generate steam to produce electricity. A solid foundation...
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English
Description
An elephant and a racing car don't have much in common-except for the remarkable fact that they're made of similar fundamental building blocks. This program takes a simulated subatomic look at a glass of water to better understand the nature of matter, a minuscule world of molecules, atoms, and elementary particles. The behavior of matter under the effects of gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces; the process of scientific...
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In 1905, Albert Einstein released a series of groundbreaking papers on relativity, quantum theory, and Brownian motion. This program hosted by David Suzuki identifies technologies that have evolved from or were influenced by Einstein's revolutionary ideas-TVs, nuclear power plants, digital cameras, medical imaging devices, CD players, GPS devices, and more-while showing just how profoundly Einstein's thinking continues to shape modern life more than...
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As fossil fuels near depletion, nuclear fusion promises unlimited power supplies. This program looks at recent developments in the quest to turn the mechanism of the sun into a viable energy source. The program chronicles the efforts of Alan Sykes and his team working on START, the first spherical Tokamak, at the Culham Research Facility in England. Dr. Martin Peng, who first conceived of a compact, spherical plasma reactor, is also interviewed and...
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Once scientists succeeded in identifying and organizing the 92 naturally occurring chemical elements, the challenge then became how to manipulate them into amazing new configurations - and how to tap their essentially limitless energy. A tale of struggle meeting serendipity and of accident meeting design, this program focuses on element-related flashpoints in modern science history: the discovery of molecular isomers, the discovery of carbon bonding,...
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English
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From the ancient Greek concept of "atomos" to today's fission and fusion technologies, this program guides viewers through the landscape of atomic theory and the hidden world of subatomic particles. Topics include the makeup of atomic nuclei and the factors that make them stable or unstable; the discovery and use of radioisotopes; and the difference between fission and fusion. Providing historical perspective, the video illustrates major discoveries...
100) Nobel Minds 2009
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English
Description
In this program, scientists from various disciplines sit down together in one room-specifically, the king's library in the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Sweden. Hosted by the BBC's Zeinab Badawi, ten 2009 Nobel Laureates take part in an inspiring roundtable discussion of 21st-century physics, chemistry, medicine, and other subjects. Viewers meet molecular biologists Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, and Jack W. Szostak; biochemists Ada E. Yonath,...