This program covers the important topic of refrigerators in Physics. We begin by discussing how refrigerators are just “heat engines” operated in reverse because they require energy to pump heat away from an object. The entire lesson is taught by working example problems beginning with the easier ones and gradually progressing to the harder problems. Emphasis is placed on giving students confidence in their skills by gradual repetition so that...

Quantum mechanics gives us a picture of the world so radically counterintuitive that it has changed our perspective on reality itself. In Quantum Mechanics: The Physics of the Microscopic World, award-winning Professor Benjamin Schumacher gives you the logical tools to grasp the paradoxes and astonishing insights of this field.

Continue your investigation of social reality by looking at the concept of progress. Social optimists and pessimists alike believe that society is progressing, but they see different causes. Evaluate their theories, and explore the idea that Western culture is doomed to collapse under its own weight..

This program covers the important topic of the kinetic theory of gases in Physics. We begin by discussing the theory, which involves how energy is transferred to a gas and what results from the motion of gas molecules. The entire lesson is taught by working example problems beginning with the easier ones and gradually progressing to the harder problems. Emphasis is placed on giving students confidence in their skills by gradual repetition so that...

This program covers the important topic of standing waves and resonance (part 2) in Physics. We begin by discussing how waves can be made to reflect off of an object and interfere in the opposite direction to the original wave leading to a standing wave. The entire lesson is taught by working example problems beginning with the easier ones and gradually progressing to the harder problems. Emphasis is placed on giving students confidence in their skills...

Discover the origin of Earth’s great variability in air temperature, and learn how it also explains the seasons. Search for the highest and lowest temperatures on the planet, and the locations with the greatest difference between highs and lows. Along the way, encounter the deadliest weather on Earth.

Begin a series of lectures on thunderstorms, which are the key to understanding many types of extreme weather. Learn how thunderstorms are forecast, and explore their formation by following a weather balloon on its data-gathering mission through the atmosphere.

Study one of the most complete transformations of reality in history: the new picture of life that emerged from the evolutionary theory of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. Close by tracing their influence on William Golding’s Lord of the Flies and on television reality shows..

This program covers the important topic of heat engines and the second law of thermodynamics in Physics. We begin by discussing the theory, which involves how useful work can be done by engines which use expansion or hot gases to move a piston. The entire lesson is taught by working example problems beginning with the easier ones and gradually progressing to the harder problems. Emphasis is placed on giving students confidence in their skills by gradual...

From the American dust bowl of the 1930s to the relentless expansion of the Sahara in Africa, drought represents severe weather that can stretch out for years. Explore what’s going on in the atmosphere to create extreme drought, which is associated with heat waves and dust storms.