‎Quantum Mechanics: The Physics of the Microscopic World - Apple TV

Available on Prime Video

Quantum mechanics gives a picture of the world so radically counterintuitive that it changes one's perspective on reality itself; Professor Benjamin Schumacher gives the logical tools to grasp the paradoxes and astonishing insights of this field.

Educational · 2009 · 31 min

Starring Benjamin Schumacher

EPISODE 1

The Quantum Enigma

Quantum mechanics is one of the most successful physical theories ever devised; learning what distinguishes it from classical mechanics; Professor Schumacher explains ground rules for the course, which teaches ideas and methods of quantum mechanics.

31 min · Jun 1, 2020
EPISODE 2

The View From 1900

Debating whether the physical world is discrete or continuous; by the 19th century, physicists see a clear demarcation; matter is made of discrete atoms, while light is a continuous wave of electromagnetic energy; a few phenomena are hard to explain.

31 min · Jun 1, 2020
EPISODE 3

Two Revolutionaries - Planck and Einstein

Max Planck and Albert Einstein propose ideas to resolve puzzles about light and matter; Planck's discovery that light energy can only be emitted or absorbed in discrete amounts called quanta; Einstein's application of this concept to matter.

28 min · Jun 1, 2020
EPISODE 4

Particles of Light, Waves of Matter

Light propagates through space as a wave, but it exchanges its energy in the form of particles; Louis de Broglie shows that this wave-particle duality also applies to matter; this relationship makes quantum mechanics inherently probabilistic.

28 min · Jun 1, 2020
EPISODE 5

Standing Waves and Stable Atoms

The mystery of why atoms are stable; Niels Bohr suggests that quantum theory explains atomic stability by allowing only certain distinct orbits for electrons; Erwin Schrodinger's powerful equation reproduces the energy levels of Bohr's model.

30 min · Jun 1, 2020
EPISODE 6

Uncertainty

One of the most misunderstood concepts in quantum mechanics is the Heisenberg uncertainty principle; Werner Heisenberg's route to this view, which establishes a trade-off between how precisely a particle's position and momentum can be defined.

30 min · Jun 1, 2020

Benjamin Schumacher

Host