Feynman 'Fun to Imagine' 4: Magnets (and 'Why?' questions...)

Ducky1138 Says:

May 14, 2012 - Such a great way of explaining it without essentially "cheating" as he put it... "Why do they repel?" is analogous to asking "Why do things fall?"

piemonkey321 Says:

May 18, 2012 - Seven and a half minutes of more Feynman is seven and a half more minutes of true genius and expansion of the brain.

Vrooten Says:

May 19, 2012 - He's obviously very accomplished and interesting, but still- does anyone else here have a deeper understanding of how magnets actually work thanks to this video? "It's complicated" is not really a great answer. General relativity, wave-particle duality, quantum entanglement etc etc are complicated, but that never stopped anyone providing good visualisations of the theories.

smokeeeeeeeee Says:

May 19, 2012 - He's wrong; God is the force behind the repulsion in magnets.

chrisofnottingham Says:

May 21, 2012 - You misunderstand him. He knew exactly how to explain magnetic forces in terms of quantum mechanics and the exchange of particles. However, that explanation is of no use to a layman because they don't understand anything about quantum mechanics in the first place. He is basically saying, the things already know are not sufficient to provide an explanation.

SciTechExplained Says:

May 22, 2012 - He kinda' said : "Magnets repel each other because I can sit on my couch!"

Emancus09 Says:

May 23, 2012 - he actually said tht this woman ended up in a hospital because he can sit on his couch ;)

TheGeneraljuljon Says:

May 23, 2012 - :magnets: the only place God exists

smokeeeeeeeee Says:

May 24, 2012 - If you wish to try a black olive, you must first invent the universe.

SciTechExplained Says:

May 24, 2012 - thanks for the enlightenment , 'champ' !wow... lol...

xxAnaconta Says:

May 25, 2012 - 0_o

stuartforbes Says:

May 25, 2012 - How patronizing. The guy asked you a question. At least try answering it without assuming everyone else can't understand.

SciTechExplained Says:

May 26, 2012 - Lol! He was a little harsh on the interviewer, yes. The questions about magnets was clear enough and he understood it from the begining ... He just wanted to make a show !

Shindai Says:

May 26, 2012 - Mind, meet Blown

306Bloodline Says:

May 27, 2012 - What i learned from this, never ask a scientist of any field, "why" anything works the way it works, im a simple man, i expect simplified answers for efficiency, probably why im not a scientist

eliranrdt Says:

May 28, 2012 - What I learn from your comment, is that your learning abilities equivalent to Dora The Explorer videos, simple and full of education.

306Bloodline Says:

May 28, 2012 - in a situation like this, if i ask a question i expect an educational answer, not a million of questions to a question, because i learn nothing of something i want to learn. he can constantly question a question but what is the purpose, or the purpose of questioning the question "why?" "why?" on its own was not the question, "why do magnets repel on one side and attach on the other, what is between the magnets similar poles that makes them repel?" that is the question.

eliranrdt Says:

May 28, 2012 - try answering a 3 year old kid why the sun is in the sky, and time yourself to know how much time its take you to get frustrated and saying "BECAUSE..."

eliranrdt Says:

May 28, 2012 - You just do not get the answer so many levelsFirst,he responded to the interviewer because he was rude,he comes from a point of ignorance and he treat him inappropriate. What irritated Fyenman the interviewer tried to patronize him, and claimed his question Technically he was right, good question But to answer it well, he should have come with a basic knowledge of physics,in order to get a proper answer Fyenman realized he was wasting his time explaining advanced physics to an ignorant person

T1Brit Says:

May 29, 2012 - Shorter answer: "For the same reason you cannot put your hand through a solid object. The exact same electrical forces that make solids solid are expanded in a magnet to push other magnets from a distance, because of the way the atoms in a magnet are aligned in one direction"