Physics

Radioactive particle clean up mission | Bang Goes the Theory

Following a leak of thousands of radioactive particles in the 60's, a team at Dounreay are attempting to find an...

The properties of different types of radiation | Short Circuit

An explanation of how a radiation detector picks up different types of radiation.

Types of nuclear radiation | Short Circuit

An explanation of alpha, beta and gamma radiation.

2: What is the World Made Of? | The Story of Science: Power, Proof and Passion

Michael Mosley explores how history shaped science. Here, he looks at how atomic theories and ...

2: Marie Curie's Radium | The Six Experiments That Changed The World

From Galileo to Einstein, from Faraday to Mendel: modern scientists try to recreate the seminal experime...

Electricity and the Atomic scale | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Jim Al-Khalili explores how Ernest Rutherford's work on the atom revealed what electricity was on ...

Chemical weapons | Inside Porton Down: Britain's Secret Weapons Research Facility

Introducing the idea of chemical and biological weapons, leading onto pathogens.

Inside Porton Down: Britain's Secret Weapons Research Facility

Michael Mosley investigates Porton Down, Britain's most secretive and controversial military research base. He...

Alpha particles | Chemistry: A Volatile History

Rutherford stated the fact that most alpha particles go straight through foil is evidence for the atom being mostly empty spa...

Radium | Chemistry: A Volatile History

Radium was discovered in 1898 by Marie and Pierre Curie.

History of the Atom: From Rutherford to Bohr | Chemistry: A Volatile History

Spec references J248: C1.2a J250: C1.2a. Professor Jim Al-Khalili explains the history of the at...

The Key to the Cosmos | Atom

Jim Al-Khalili's documentary series about the building block of our universe, the atom. He shows how the mystery of the universe's creation was ...

The big bang and the creation of hydrogen and helium | Atom

George Gamow believed that helium existed in the universe before the sun and the stars were formed.

The furnaces in which everything was made | Atom

Fred Hoyle worked out how the heaviest elements were created through nuclear fusion.

The discovery of nuclear fission | Atom

Scientists in the 1930's toyed with neutrons colliding with nucleai and were excited at the thought that such experiments could creat...

Nuclear fusion | Atom

Sunlight is created by nuclear fusion in the Sun when two protons are fused together.

The strong nuclear force | Atom

Like a magnet, protons will repel each other, however, as soon as they are close enough they will stick together.

Discovery of the Neutron | Atom

Spec references J248: C1.2d, C1.2e J250: C1.2d, C1.2e. Professor Jim Al-Khalili explains how James Chadwick discovered the neutron. This solv...

Using radioactive tracers for bone scans (2) | Short Circuit

Spec references J249: P6.2c, P5.2i. Preparation and administration of a tracer for a bone scan of a rower.

Using radioactive tracers for bone scans (1) | Short Circuit

Spec references J249: P6.2c, P5.2i. Preparation and administration of a tracer for a bone scan of a rower.

Faraday cage | Dangerous Earth

Dr Helen Czerski explains how planes are protected from lightning.

3: Revelations and Revolutions | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Jim Al-Khalili concludes by looking at how, if we could understand the secret of electrical supercon...

2: The Age of Invention | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Jim Al-Khalili shows how harnessing the link between magnetism and electricity transformed the world, allow...

1: Spark | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Jim Al-Khalili tells how the first 'natural philosophers' began to unlock electricity's mysteries, studying its curious li...

How Nikola Tesla electrified his Victorian peers | Victorian Sensations

Hannah Fry describes the first moment Nikola Tesla demonstrated the power of electricity.

Superconductors | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Jim Al-Khalili looks at how, in 1986, IBM researchers discovered a breakthrough regarding superconductivity in cera...

Resistance | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Jim Al-Khalili explains how, as we made microchips smaller, the electrical feature of resistance was becoming more probl...

Crystal Junctions | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Jim Al-Khalili explores the race between scientists to create a reliable way to amplify electrical signals, and i...

Semiconductors and WWII | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Jim Al-Khalili explains the importance of semiconductors, particularly with regard to fighting WWII.

Electricity and the Atomic scale | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Jim Al-Khalili explores how Ernest Rutherford's work on the atom revealed what electricity was on ...

Valves | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Jim Al-Khalili explains how William Crooks experimented with sending electrical currents through a vacuum.

Semiconductors | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Jim Al-Khalili explores how JC Bose and his wave detector made use of crystals to conduct electricity.

Electromagnetic waves | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Jim Al-Khalili explains Michael Faraday's theory that any electrical charge can create a forcefield surroundi...

Alternating current | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Nikola Tesla invented alternating current (AC) which allowed no electrical power to be lost when passing throug...

The first light bulbs | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Jim Al-Khalili explores the history of Thomas Edison's first incandescent light bulb.

Electromagnets and telegraphs | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Jim Al-Khalili explains how an electromagnet works and how it paved the way for the birth of the tele...

What is electricity | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

An electric current is essentially the flow of electrons (which are electrically charged) from one atom to anot...

Voltaic Pile | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Invented by Italian chemist Alessandro Volta in 1799, the voltaic pile was the first electrical battery that could con...

Positive and negative charges | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Benjamin Franklin discovered that electricity could be like money in a bank, it could be in credit (p...

Leyden Jar | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

A Leyden jar is a device for storing static electricity, discovered accidentally in Leiden, Netherlands.

Physical Processes 3: Temperature and Heat | Scientific Eye

The show delves into the nature of heat as a form of energy transfer,

Morecambe Bay gas field | Powering Britain

Investigating how gas is extracted at a Morecambe Bay offshore platform.

Reducing demand on the grid | Bang Goes the Theory

A company that aims to reduce the demand on the grid at key moments in the day,

Liquid Air Energy Storage | Bang Goes the Theory

A demonstration of how liquid air energy storage would function.

Gas turbine technology | Bang Goes the Theory

A demonstration of how gas turbine technology works.

Inside a nuclear reactor | Bang Goes the Theory

Jem climbs inside a nuclear reactor and explains how nuclear power is produced.

Energy transportation | Powering Britain

How energy made by the wind turbines is transported to our homes.

Inside a wind turbine | Powering Britain

What a wind turbine looks like inside.

Turbine | Powering Britain

How does a wind turbine produce energy?

Hornsea One | Powering Britain

An introduction to the offshore windfarm Hornsea One.

Spirit Energy Gas Terminal | Powering Britain

Once found at the offshore platform, the gas is sent to Spirit Energy Gas Terminal to be processed.

Electricity and the National Grid | Powering Britain

How the National Grid is able to regulate electricity throughout Britain.

Cooling towers | Powering Britain

How the cooling towers at Drax power station work.

Inside a boiler at Drax power station | Powering Britain

A look inside one of the six boilers at Drax power station.

Biomass power station | Powering Britain

The internal workings of a biomass power station, from delivery of biomass pellets to sending energy to the national grid.

Drax power station | Powering Britain

The history of Drax power station and an introduction to its use of biomass.

Britain's relationship with nuclear energy | Powering Britain

The history of Britain's relationship with nuclear energy.

Nuclear fuel production | Powering Britain

An exploration of how nuclear fuel is produced in Springfields nuclear fuel site.

Radiation risk | Powering Britain

Precautions put in place by Heysham nuclear power station to reduce the risk of radiation.

Storing renewable energy | Royal Institution Christmas Lectures

Dr Tara Shine and Dr Enass Abo-Hamed explain how we can store renewable energy.

15: Forces and Motion Special | Horrible Science

A weird and wonderful look at how gravity, magnetism and friction impact everything. With Fred Sirieix.

The force of friction | Bitesize Science

Any time one surface moves over another, there is a force of friction.

Newtons laws | Bitesize Science

Newton's laws of motion continue to underpin principles in modern day physics.

The feather and the hammer | Bitesize Science

Air resistance affects different objects and how they fall differently, just as Galileo suggested.

Why Do Cats Have Nine Lives? | James May's Things You Need to Know

James May explains about speed, using a fast-moving mix of animation and graphics. Here he explores why te...

Einstein and the beetle | Gravity and Me: The Force that Shapes our Lives

Professor Jim Al-Khalili explains Einstein's analogy of gravity that he told his son to explain his...

S2E4:...about Speed | James May's Things You Need to Know

James May explains all you need to know about speed with a fast-moving mix of animation and motion graphics, includ...

3: What Is Gravity? | Brian Cox's Adventures in Space and Time

Brian takes a fresh look at the concept of gravity, revealing it to be far more than just the force that makes...

4: The Pale Blue Dot | Forces of Nature with Brian Cox

Professor Brian Cox reveals how Earth's beauty is created by just a handful of forces. In this episode Brian explains ...

1: The Universe in a Snowflake | Forces of Nature with Brian Cox

In this episode Brian looks at the stunning diversity of shapes.

3: Wind | How Earth Made Us

Professor Iain Stewart sets sail on one of the fastest racing boats ever built to explore the story of our turbulent relationship with the wind.

1: Deep Earth | How Earth Made Us

Series telling the story of how the development of civilisation was influenced by planetary forces. Professor Iain Stewart explores the rol...

Momentum | Additional Science 1

Spec references J249: P2.2k J250: P2.2k. Animation, description and worked example, p = m v. Description of force = rate of change of momentu...

Work done | Additional Science 1

Spec references J249: P2.2m, P7.1c, P7.1d J250: P2.2l, P5.1c, P5.1d. Animation, description and worked example. Work done = force × distance.

Forces when falling and terminal velocity | Additional Science 2

Spec references J249: P2.2f, P2.2h J250: P2.2f, P2.2h. Falling, air resistance, balanced forces and terminal...

Forces and moving objects | Additional Science 2

Spec references J249: P2.2a, P2.2b, P2.3h J250: P2.2a, P2.2b, P2.3h. Clear description and explanation of types of force aff...

Force, mass and acceleration | Additional Science 2

Spec references J249: P2.2i, P2.2l J250: P2.2i. Effect of force and mass on acceleration. F = m a. Worked example. Animat...

Force arrows and balanced forces | Additional Science 2

Spec references J249: P2.2c, P2.2d, P2.2f J250: P2.2c, P2.2d, P2.2f. Force arrows and balanced forces - animation and...

Forces on a sky diver and terminal velocity | Curriculum Bites

Spec references J249: P2.2f J250: P2.2f. Speed time graph for a parachutist and terminal velocity (no parachu...

Unbalanced forces | Curriculum Bites

Spec references J249: P2.2d J250: P2.2d. Unbalanced forces cause acceleration.

4: Faraday's Doughnut | The Six Experiments That Changed The World

From Galileo to Einstein, from Faraday to Mendel: modern scientists try to recreate the seminal experiment...

The race to prove Maxwell's theory | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Jim Al-Khalili explains how physics professor Oliver Lodge proved Maxwell's theory that electrom...

Electricity, Magnetism, Motion | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Hans Christian Ørsted discovered that an electric current creates a magnetic field.

Attraction and repulsion | Additional Science 2

Spec references J249: P3.1b J250: P3.1b. Attraction and repulsion between objects ( charging by induction not addressed) - an...

Why do some materials become charged? | Additional Science 2

Spec references J249: P3.1a, P3.1b J250: P3.1a, P3.1b. Why insulating materials can be charged but conducting ma...

Electromagnetism | Short Circuit

Bringing chemistry, physics and biology to life using real-life examples, 3D graphics and practical experiments.

Physical Processes 3: Temperature and Heat | Scientific Eye

The show delves into the nature of heat as a form of energy transfer,

Pressure on ice | The Secret Life of Ice

Dr Gabrielle Walker and Dr Andrea Sella investigate what happens when pressure is applied to ice and how this allows us to ice skate.

Ice crystal properties | The Secret Life of Ice

Dr Gabrielle Walker and Dr Andrea Sella investigate the properties of ice crystals, to explain why ice floats.

The Clash of the Titans | Atom

Nuclear physicist Jim Al-Khalili tells the story of the discovery that everything is made of atoms, and of the minds behind the scientific bre...

Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle | Atom

Jim Al-Khalili explains Heisenberg's famous Uncertainty Principle that explains why an atom can't be visualised.

Introduction to Electronic Structure and Chemical Properties | Atom

Spec references J248: C2.2h J250: C2.2h. Professor Jim Al-Khalili explains how chemical properties are de...

The quantum jump | Atom

Jim Al-Khalili attempts to explain one of the most difficult scientific concepts, but one that underpins everything.

What is the bends? | Short Circuit

. How bubbles in the blood cause the bends.

Height and pressure | Short Circuit

Effect of height above the surface of the Earth on pressure - diving patient on a helicopter flight.

The decompression chamber | Short Circuit

Spec references J249: P1.3c, P1.3d, P1.3f. How a decompression chamber works - animation and analogy with diving context .

The effect of pressure on gases | Short Circuit

Spec references J249: P1.3c, P1.3d, P1.3f. The effect of pressure on bubble size - animation.

How Rutherford Discovered the Nucleus | Atom

Spec references J248: C1.2a J250: C1.2a. Detailed desciption of how Rutherford's alpha particle scattering experiment was develo...

Atmospheric pressure | Short Circuit

. Atmospheric pressure is related to the weight of the air above you.

Dissolved gases under pressure | Short Circuit

. Spec references: J249: P1.3c, P1.3d, P1.3f Analogy between dissolved gases in the blood and fizzy drinks.

Pressure and water depth | Short Circuit

Spec references J249: P1.3c, P1.3d, P1.3f. Effect of water depth on an enclosed volume of air - scuba diver.

Pressure | Short Circuit

Bringing chemistry, physics and biology to life using real-life examples, 3D graphics and practical experiments.

The influence of Jupiter | Wonders of the Solar System

Jupiter's gravitational influence extends across the Solar System, by not only collecting up objects but also pushing ...

A chaotic beginning | Wonders of the Solar System

The chaotic birth of the solar system is incomparable to the relatively stable system that we see today.

The retrograde motion of Mars | Wonders of the Solar System

This explanation of the retrograde motion of Mars through the Earth's skies proves beyond doubt the sun's positio...

The suns empire | Wonders of the Solar System

Professor Brian Cox explains the immense power of the Sun, and the extent of its gravitational influence.

The life cycle of the sun | Wonders of the Solar System

An exploration of each stage of our sun's lifecycle, from clumps of hydrogen and dust to being the most powerful forc...

The centre of our solar system | Wonders of the Solar System

Professor Brian Cox describes each planet's perspective of the star at the centre of our solar system.

Ice in space | The Secret Life of Ice

Dr Gabrielle Walker talks to Professor Michele Dougherty about the discovery of ice in space and how this could be a sign of extra-terr...

The formation of the moon | The Planets

The moon was born from a large mass colliding with the early formation of Earth.

Proof of the accretion theory | The Planets

Accretion is the accumulation of particles into a massive object by gravitationally attracting more matter.

The formation of planets | The Planets

An explanation of astronomer Viktor Safronov's low-mass-nebula model of planet formation.

An introduction to the planets in the Solar System | The Planets

A short explanation of the planets and their order away from the Sun.

The chances of alien life within the Solar System | Short Circuit

An explanation of what variables are needed for life on other planets and why looking at life under the oce...

The formation of our Solar System | James May's Things You Need to Know

James May explains how our solar system began as a solar nebula, a formation of clouds and dust.

The death of a star | James May's Things You Need to Know

James May explains how as a star dies, it gets brighter, hotter and smaller.

How the sun creates energy | James May's Things You Need to Know

James May explains how stars work and the difference between fission and fusion.

An introduction to Dark Energy and Dark Matter | James May's Things You Need to Know

James May explains what elements our universe is made up of.

Evidence of the Big Bang | James May's Things You Need to Know

James May explores the clues left in outer space that are proof of the Big Bang's occurrence.

Evidence of the Big Bang | Wonders of the Universe

Brian Cox simply explains how light and colour are crucial evidence for the Big Bang.

Billions of Galaxies Out There | The Planets

Exploring the fate of our solar system and the new planetary systems that are being found around nearby stars.

S1E2:...about the Universe | James May's Things You Need to Know

James May takes a journey of discovery across the universe, asking where it all began, how stars work, and w...

The power of invisibility | Bitesize Science

Light moves at different speeds through different objects, this can make objects appear in a different place to where they actua...

Internal reflection | Bitesize Science

An examination of how light can be internally reflected, and how this is used for carrying information in fibre optic cables.

How science influences mitigation against earthquakes | Short Circuit

An explanation of how buildings are designed to withstand earthquakes.

The importance of diffraction | Short Circuit

An explanation of diffraction and the factors that affect it.

The science of Earthquakes | Short Circuit

Earthquakes are caused by shifts in tectonic plates. The example in this video features San Francisco which sits on the San Andrea...

Refraction & Total internal reflection | Short Circuit

An explanation of refraction and reflection.

The electromagnetic spectrum | Short Circuit

Spec references J249: P5.2a, P5.2c, P5.2d, P5.2f, P5.2g J250: P4.2a, P4.2c, P4.2d, P4.2f, P4.2g. All electromagnetic waves are t...

Chladni experiment | Sound Waves: The Symphony of Physics

Dr Helen Czerski investigates the science behind the sounds and how Chladni used sand to see the shape of sound vib...

Using an understanding of seismic waves to reduce damage to structures | Short Circuit

Spec references J249: P8.3i. Reducing the damage caused to structures during earthquakes.

Using seismic waves to locate the source of an earthquake | Short Circuit

Spec references J249: P8.3i. Finding the location of an earthquake.

Seismic waves (2) | Short Circuit

Spec references J249: P8.3i, P5.1e. Different types of seismic wave - primary (P) and secondary (S) waves.

Seismic waves (1) | Short Circuit

Spec references J249: P8.3i, P5.1e. Different types of seismic wave - primary (P) and secondary (S) waves.

Seismometer | Short Circuit

Spec references J249: P8.3i, P4.2e. How a seismometer works and use of dynamo effect.

Earthquakes | Short Circuit

Spec references J249: P8.3i. Why earthquakes happen.

Transverse and longitudinal waves | Additional Science 2

Spec references J249: P5.1e J250: P4.1e. The differences between transverse and longitudinal waves demonstrated with...

Properties of waves - refraction | Curriculum Bites

Spec references J249: P5.3a, P5.3d J250: P4.2j. Demonstration with description and animation of ray diagram for refraction.

Properties of waves - reflection | Curriculum Bites

Spec references J249: P5.1g. Demonstration and description with animation of ray diagram for reflection.

Refraction | Additional Science 2

Spec references J249: P5.1g. Simple description of refraction.

Reflection | Additional Science 2

Spec references J249: P5.1g. Demonstration and description with animation of ray diagram for reflection.

Einsteins explanation of photoelectricity | The Secrets of Quantum Physics

Einstein argued that science needed to forget of light as a waveform and think of it more as a str...