Over 200 years ago, scientists were looking at sunlight through a prism when they noticed that part of the rainbow was missing. There were dark lines where there should have been colors. Since then, scientists have unlocked the secrets...

It's impossible to have something colder than absolute zero...right? That's why it's called "absolute zero". Well, it turns out you can get certain substances to negative absolute temperatures (e.g. -1 Kelvin)...but in order to do so,...

Quantum mechanics has a lot of weird stuff - but there’s thing that everyone agrees that no one understands. I’m talking about quantum spin. Let’s find out how chasing this elusive little behavior of the electron led us to some of the...

The weird rules of quantum mechanics lead to all sorts of bizarre phenomena on tiny scales— particles teleporting through walls or being in multiple places at once or simultaneously existing and not. Shame all this magical behavior...

The Fine Structure Constant is one the strangest numbers in all of physics. It’s the job of physicists to worry about numbers, but there’s one number that physicists have stressed about more than any other. That number is 0.00729735256 -...

If you used every particle in the observable universe to do a full quantum simulation, how big would that simulation be? At best a large molecule. That’s how insanely information dense the quantum wavefunction really is. And yet we...

Mildred Dresselhaus was a giant in the field of nanoscience. She didn't invent anything you have in your home right now, but she made it possible for us to have self-charging phones, smarter refrigerators, and more.

Atomic clocks are the best timekeepers humanity's got these days, but scientists are working toward something even better: a SUB-atomic (aka nuclear) clock.

If you're lucky enough to find a glowing rock, it likely doesn't mean you're the chosen one. In fact, it could have to do with one of these five phenomena! Learn about the quantum mechanics of glowing rocks in this new SciShow Episode...

It's really difficult for life to create blue pigments, but the color can appear in a handful of compounds that create just the right conditions to reflect blue photons.

To keep their solid gold Nobel Prizes away from the Nazis, James Franck and Max von Laue sent their medals to trusted colleague Niels Bohr. But when Germany invaded Denmark in 1940, the medals were no longer safe - so chemist George de...

If you find a glowing rock, it probably doesn't mean you're the chosen one. If it's one of these five phenomena, it's quantum mechanics, not narrative significance.

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Can we ever achieve absolute cold?

Hank brings us the story of the electron and describes how reality is a kind of music, discussing electron shells and orbitals, electron configurations, ionization and electron affinities, and how all these things can be...

In this video Paul Andersen explains how the photons emitted from or absorbed by an atom or nuclei is directly related to electrons moving between energy level. Absorption and emission are a direct result of the conservation of energy....

In this video Paul Andersen describes the major parts of an atom and explains how the Bohr Model more accurately represents the location of electrons around the nucleus. Niels Bohr refined the Rutherford model to account for spectra.

From Mendeleev’s original design to physicist-favorite “left-step” rendition, the periodic table of elements has gone through many iterations since it was first used to organize elements 150 years ago - each with its own useful insights...

if you took a notebook, a plastic bottle, a toaster, and a glass container and burned them in a fire hot enough, around 10^31 degrees Celsius, all the particles and forces, would become one entity. This is what...

When Ernest Rutherford realized that atoms have a heavy nucleus, he hypothesized that the way the moon orbits earth is the same as the way an electron orbits the nucleus of atoms. We now know an atom would...

SUMMARY

In this video, I show Why Some Reactions EXPLODE and Others COOL: Root Cause of Chemical EnergyI I show how the chemistry behind endothermic and exothermic reactions can be traced to the underlying quantum...

The simulation hypothesis is the idea that everything we experience, including our memories and consciousness could be an advanced digital simulation created by a technologically advanced civilization. It's so advanced...

Howcast - Learn how to support your partner while she's in labor from childbirth expert Elizabeth Mangum-Sarach in this Howcast video.

The principal quantum number (𝑛) is a fundamental parameter in quantum mechanics that determines the size and energy level of an electron's orbit within an atom. It is a positive integer that represents the main energy level or...

In a hydrogen atom, the electron is bound to the nucleus, so its energy is negative. This shows that it is in a bound state. When there is negative energy, it means that the electron is stable. It is inside the atom because its...