Physics majors study the universe, from electrons and protons to supergiant stars.



As a physics major you will take A LOT of math and apply complex formulas to the problems at hand. Physics majors don't just learn the...

In this video Paul Andersen explains how electric charge is quantized and how the smallest unit of charge is 1.6x10^-19 C, or the elementary charge. Robert Millikan discovered the elementary charge using the oil drop experiment. ...

Our fundamental picture of the universe seems pretty nearly complete these days, to the point that some people are suggesting that we’ve arrived at some version of “the end of physics.” And sure, physics is at a turning point, but it...

Big things are made of smaller things, and those smaller things are made of smaller things still. That’s reductionism in a nutshell, and digging our way to the smallest layer has been one of the primary goals of physics for ever. But...

NSF-funded Physics Frontiers Centers (PFCs) are pushing the frontiers of science across the disciplines of physics. The Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics (KICP) tackles the big questions in cosmology — dark matter, dark...

SUMMARY

In 1976, Stephen Hawing proposed that Black Holes, do something impossible according to the laws of quantum mechanics. They destroy information. This is a paradox because information should be conserved in the...

This video introduces the world of physics by explaining how it is involved in our everyday lives through examples such as sound, heat, friction, gravity, magnetism, force, electricity, light, and atoms. It defines physics as the study...

Elementary particles are the smallest known building blocks in the universe-and the neutrino is one of the smallest of the small. These tiny neutrinos can tell us about the furthest reaches and most extreme environments of the universe...

Physicist and surfer Garrett Lisi presents a controversial new model of the universe that -- just maybe -- answers all the big questions. If nothing else, it's the most beautiful 8-dimensional model of elementary particles and forces...

In 2012, scientists at CERN discovered evidence of the Higgs boson. The what? The Higgs boson is one of two types of fundamental particles and is a particular game-changer in the field of particle physics, proving how particles gain...

Katherine Mangum currently teaches 5th-grade physical science and works with the 6th-grade First Lego League robotics team, G.I.R.L.S., at St. Catherine’s School in Richmond, VA. She also serves as president-elect of the Virginia...

Life exists in our universe. There we go - one hopefully uncontroversial statement. Therefore our universe is capable of producing and supporting life. How am I going? Two for two? Let’s try for three: therefore there are countless...

Our universe seems pretty complicated. We have a weird zoo of elementary particles, which interact through very different fundamental forces. But some extremely subtle clues in nature have led us to believe that the forces of nature were...

If you've studied any physics you know that like charges repel and opposite charges attract. But why? It's as though this thing - electric charge - is as fundamental a property of an object as its mass. It just sort of ... is. Well it...

In standard use, the S-matrix can be calculated if you understand the forces in the interaction region - for example, in the nucleus of an atom. But what if you don’t know those internal interaction forces? Heisenberg sought a way to...

The universe is going to end. But of all the possible ends of the universe vacuum decay would have to be the most thorough - because it could totally rewrite the laws of physics. Today I hope to help you understand exactly how terrified...

SUMMARY

How is mass and energy the same thing? What is mass really? If you weigh 80kg and are in a car moving 100km/hr, your energy is equal to about 30000 joules. But did you know that the energy you have standing...

The Higgs boson and beyond exhibit at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2014. Bill Murray, University of Warwick. Sudarshan Paramesvaran, University of Bristol. Monica D'Onofrio, University of Liverpool. Sasha Nikitenko,...

In this video Paul Andersen explains how the charge is conserved in nuclear reactions. When elementary particles are created or destroyed in a reaction the net change in charge will remain constant. Alpha, beta -, and beta+ decay are...

In this video Paul Andersen explains how you can use Coulomb's Law to determine the electric force between two charges. In Physics 1 students should be able to calculate the force between two charges and in Physics 2 students should be...

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This video recounts a lecture by Richard Feynman giving an elementary demonstration of why planets orbit in ellipses. See the excellent book by Judith and David Goodstein,...

This video recounts a lecture by Richard Feynman giving an elementary demonstration of why planets orbit in ellipses. See the excellent book by Judith and David Goodstein, "Feynman's lost lecture”, for the full story behind this lecture,...

Katherine Mangum currently teaches 5th-grade physical science and works with the 6th-grade First Lego League robotics team, G.I.R.L.S., at St. Catherine’s School in Richmond, VA. She also serves as president-elect of the Virginia...

In this video Paul Andersen explains how a charge particle will experience a magnetic force when it is moving through a magnetic field. The right-hand rule is described as a method for determining the direction of the force. The...