Physics Resources Guide

This list of streaming videos, which includes popular theatrical release titles such as Disney films, can be requested through Prospector. Instructions below.

Streaming videos in the Films on Demand database.

This Science Screen Report explains the forces that come into play when a cyclist puts on the breaks, a pitcher throws a curve, and an airplane takes to the sky. Focusing on such concepts as acceleration, terminal velocity, friction, and balanced and unbalanced forces, the program also delineates Newton’s laws of motion and Bernoulli’s principle of pressurized air and fluid behavior. For discussions in applied or theoretical science, this is a skillful balance of basic and advanced concepts.

What is light? How does it function? Why is it so important to the foundations of the physical world? This program examines the nature of light and applications of its properties. The basic principles of light waves—propagation, reflection, and refraction—are explained, and information about lenses, the electromagnetic spectrum, and total internal reflection is illustrated using the human eye, rainbows, and raindrops as examples. Common applications, such as light’s use in optical instruments and fiber-optic communication, are demonstrated.