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Feynman: FUN TO IMAGINE 4: F*****' magnets, how do they work?

Christopher Sykes Christopher Sykes·63 videos
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Uploaded on Dec 28, 2008

New! See also Feynman MAGNETS EXTRA on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdA-l_... Here, physicist and Nobel laureate Richard Feynman explains to a non-scientist just how difficult it is to answer certain questions in lay terms! A classic example of Feynman's clarity of thought, powers of explanation and intellectual honesty - and his refusal to 'cheat' with misleading analogies... Water, fire, air and dirt Fucking magnets, how do they work? And I don't wanna talk to a scientist Y'all motherfuckers lying, and getting me pissed. - Insane Clown Posse, Miracles (2009)

From the BBC TV series 'Fun to Imagine'(1983). You can now watch higher quality versions of some of these episodes at www.bbc.co.uk/archive/feynman/

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Uploader Comments (Christopher Sykes)

  • AZZippy

    Feynman avoided nothing. He made a judgment that he would have to get too technical to properly answer Christopher's question. Was he correct? I have no idea. If this was posted by the same Christopher Sykes, perhaps he can answer that.

    · 15

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  • Christopher Sykes

    Yes, he was correct! And I agree that he avoided nothing - I think he explained very clearly why he was unwilling to give the kind of answer that I, a non-scientist, thought I wanted because I didn't understand the nature of question I was asking. But for what it's worth, I'm really glad I asked him because I think what he does say is so beautiful and profound.

    · 42

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    in reply to AZZippy (Show the comment)

Top Comments

  • Zoe TheCat

    You don't know him very well. He knew the mathematics that describe the "how," as well as any competent physicist. He's not going to attempt that answer because he knows it will be lost on the interviewer.

    He received the Nobel Prize for QED in '65, He came up with the correct mathematical theory that describes HOW light and matter interact. But he always maintained he "doesn't understand WHY nature behaves this way." No one understands the 'why' for most physical theories - only the 'how'

    · 27

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    in reply to Jon Curtiss (Show the comment)

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  • brogs60

    A brilliant man,sorely missed.

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  • WhatR2D2Saw

    I love 0:45-0:55. You can clearly see the gears turning in Feynman's mind as he gauges what sort of answer to give, and he still has clarity of focus to praise Christopher for his question.

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    in playlist Richard Feynman: Fun to Imagine (BBC Series, 1983)
  • Matthew Armstrong

    That reporter will never ask why again

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  • beeble2003

    Feynman won the Nobel Prize essentially for making the most profound contribution to our understanding of electomagnetism in a hundred years. To suggest that he doesn't understand magnetism is laughable.

    · 2

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    in reply to kourosh89 (Show the comment)
  • CentraCross

    And that is what certain Scientificists will never understand ...

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    in reply to Zoe TheCat (Show the comment)
  • mikedelhoo

    Maxwell's equations do summarize the whole thing. But in English: an electric current (your moving charges) is associated with a magnetic field. (On a macroscopic scale, you can have a steady current and a steady magnetic field. If the current is fluctuating it gets more complicated...)

    · 2

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    in reply to cocacola443 (Show the comment)
  • Putu Dharma Maha Yusa

    Oh God, He is a prodigy

    -Ask correctly the asnwer follows-

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  • gsvick

    Yo dawg, I heard you liked electrical force, so I put electrical force into the explanation of electrical force.

    · 3

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  • Randy Atwat

    I'm glad you asked this question. This is the first time, I truly understood magnetism at it's most basic level. It's unbelievable how simple and basic his way of thinking is. It is so, so sad, that the rest of us can't think like him. Thank you so much for this video

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    in reply to Christopher Sykes (Show the comment)
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