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

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/

• Category

  Science & Technology

[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.

[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.

[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'

[brogs60]

A brilliant man,sorely missed.

[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.

[Matthew Armstrong]

That reporter will never ask why again

[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.

[CentraCross]

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

[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...)

[kourosh89]

Translation: I don't know the answer your question, but I don't want to admit it.

[Putu Dharma Maha Yusa]

Oh God, He is a prodigy

-Ask correctly the asnwer follows-

[gsvick]

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

[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