Video Image

Video URL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0ovYBwcq6E&list=UU0OrDvGwVQA1ZvTCGS3Un6Q

Video Description

To celebrate the 25th season of The Wonders of Physics, Prof. Sprott and his assistants procure a time machine and attempt to bring back Prof. Sprott from his first show in 1984, but the time machine keeps malfunctioning and producing various scientists from the past including The Mad Scientist from the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Prof. Sprott as a teenager and as a very old man.

Video Creator Bio

Julien Clinton Sprott, born September 16, 1942 in Memphis, Tennessee, received his B.S. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1964 and his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Wisconsin in 1969. He worked at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for several years before returning to the University of Wisconsin to join the physics faculty in 1973. In 2008, he became an Emeritus Professor of Physics.

8 days later

Clint,

As I pointed out in my comment on your "Wisconsin Idea" video, your Wonder of Physics shows are the very embodiment of "show me the physics"!

If I had some criticism to make, it would be that sometimes, the demonstrations go too fast and there is not enough "explaining" of what is going on, so that the uninitiated spectator is left mostly with the "magic trick" aspect of the demonstration. For example, the moving spool that can go either way depending on the angle of the string pulling it (at the 6 minute mark) comes out almost like a magic trick instead of as a wonderful application of the concept of torque (as you nicely explain in your own book "Physics Demonstrations: A Sourcebook for Teachers of Physics" when you present this demonstration). Of course, your target audience is quite young and a detailed explanation would go over their heads, but some brief mention of the physics might convey the message that physics is much more than neat tricks! Similarly, a little bit more exposition about the concept of pressure might have made the spectacular bed of nails demonstration (around the 25 minute mark) even more instructive.

Overall, though, congratulations for a dazzling one-hour journey through some of the best demonstrations that physics can offer. I hope your videos do well in this contest. Good luck!

Marc

P.S. If you have a chance to view, comment and vote on my trilogy of videos entitled "This Is Physics" --- where I try to convey the "fun of physics" by focusing on some of the greatest moments of its history --- it would be quite appreciated!

12 days later

Hi,

the demonstrations you showed were all very nice (which is clear from the live audience feedback)!

I must say that the feature length of the video threw me off a bit, but this was an hour long live demonstration being filmed after all.

Keep up the good work!

In case you didn't yet, feel free to look up our video, in which we discuss what is quantum gravity, present an existing solution and give examples of applications and future directions:

http://fqxi.org/community/forum/topic/2221

Best,

-- Pedro

8 years later
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