Physics — Stronger than those that study it?
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Physics -- Stronger than those that study it?
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Download film (right-click)Award Nominees , Award Winners , Demonstration , Experiment , Explanation , Physics , Secondary
Can physicists operate their own textbooks?
Director's Notes:
We demonstrate that the friction between pages of a book is very strong because there is a large contact area.
The experiment takes its inspiration from the same place as this film — an Institute of Physics publication.
SciCast Notes:
Winner: Best Film, the Jurors’ Grand Prize 2008
It’s well worth comparing this film with this other one based on the same demonstration. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, and it’s hard to choose between them since they’re trying to do different things. An excellent example of the SciCast mantra: “start with a demonstration, then make it your own.”
I like the other version for its direct simplicity and sense of excitement. I like this version for its ambition. It’s a very complete production, with multiple sequences, a coherent script that’s pulled off well, and some lovely informal moments offering a peek inside the sorts of things physicists do on a daily basis. Which, clearly, is ‘muck around being foiled by daft tricks’. Obviously.
There was a lot that could have gone wrong with this film. It didn’t, and the result is excellent.
Let us know which version you prefer in the comments.
— Jonathan