PickVidsBest Everyday physics & science demos Videos
The 166 Everyday physics & science demos videos here were recommended by different people across different months. Choose by who it is for: 6 introductory, 20 intermediate, 139 for a general viewer, and 1 for someone who wants the harder derivation. Most of them are an explainer. What they share is that one picture or analogy is used to supply a missing concept. Channels you will keep seeing include Veritasium, SmarterEveryDay, Technology Connections.
AT&T Archives: Similiarities of Wave Behavior (Bonus Edition)
A Bell Labs film in which Dr.
Heat Pumps: the Future of Home Heating
Technology Connections explains how heat pumps work as reversed air conditioners and why they can deliver several times the heat of resistive heating per unit of energy.
Richard Feynman Fire
A short clip from a Richard Feynman interview in which he explains fire, describing how burning wood releases sunlight stored by the tree, which built itself mostly from air.
Building a realistic artificial sun (for dark winter days)
DIY Perks builds a realistic artificial sun for dark winters, using a powerful water-cooled LED, a satellite dish reflector for near-parallel rays, and a scattering layer to mimic the blue sky.
Brown; color is weird
Technology Connections explains why brown is not a spectral color but a context-dependent perception, essentially dark orange seen against brighter surroundings.
The Biggest Misconception About Electricity
Veritasium argues that electric energy is carried by fields around the wires rather than by electrons moving through them, using a thought experiment with a large circuit.
Watch electricity hit a fork in the road at half a billion frames per second
AlphaPhoenix uses a custom high-speed measurement setup to watch voltage waves travel down wires and split at a fork.
Old-fashioned rice cookers are extremely clever
Technology Connections explains how old-fashioned non-electronic rice cookers work, using a magnet and spring switch tripped by the Curie point.
Fourier Optics used for Optical Pattern Recognition
Huygens Optics explains the Fourier transform and shows how a lens performs one optically.
How Trees Bend the Laws of Physics
Veritasium explains how trees lift water from roots to the top of tall trunks, using transpiration pull and the negative pressure that liquid water can sustain.
But why would light "slow down"? | Visualizing Feynman's lecture on the refractive index
3Blue1Brown visualizes Feynman's lecture on the refractive index, explaining why light appears to slow down in glass and why the effect depends on color.
Traffic Waves
A short video from the trafficwaves.org site showing how traffic jams and standing waves form, including the fight between cheaters and blockers at an exit-lane backup.
Why You Should Put YOUR MASK On First (My Brain Without Oxygen) - Smarter Every Day 157
Destin Sandlin of Smarter Every Day undergoes hypoxia training and experiences his own impaired thinking as oxygen is withdrawn.
Richard Feynman talks about light
A PBS clip in which Richard Feynman explains the strange nature of light and electromagnetic radiation.
Introduction: The Chemical History of a Candle by Michael Faraday (1/6)
Bill Hammack of engineerguy introduces his series on Michael Faraday's lectures on The Chemical History of a Candle.
How an Atomic Clock Really Works: Inside the HP 5061A Cesium Clock
CuriousMarc powers up a vintage HP 5061A cesium beam clock and explains both the quantum principle and the HP implementation in detail.
How Do Nuclear Submarines Make Oxygen?- Smarter Every Day 251
A Smarter Every Day episode from aboard a nuclear submarine on how the crew makes breathable air.
Best fan placement to move air through the house
Matthias Wandel uses anemometer measurements to find where to place a fan to move the most air through a house at night.
Most People Don't Know How Bikes Work
Veritasium explains why bicycles are stable, arguing that gyroscopic effects are not the answer.
Mars Helicopter (before it went to Mars)
Veritasium's Derek Muller visits NASA JPL to see the Mars helicopter Ingenuity before it was mounted on the rover.
Datacenters Behaving Like Acoustic Weapons
Benn Jordan investigates infrasound and low-frequency noise from data centers, including xAI's Colossus and a crypto mine, and reports his own experiments on the effects.
Mystery of Prince Rupert's Drop at 130,000 fps - Smarter Every Day 86
Smarter Every Day films Prince Rupert's drops, tempered glass drops, in high-speed slow motion at 130,000 fps.
The Moon's Orbit is WEIRD
A minutephysics explainer showing that the Moon's path around the Sun is not a spiral but closer to a 12-sided polygon with curved corners.
OK Go - Upside Down & Inside Out
OK Go's music video for Upside Down & Inside Out, filmed during parabolic flights so the band and performers are weightless in the plane.