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Let’s Get Physic-cal (or 4 Films About Physics)

Let’s Get Physic-cal (or 4 Films About Physics)

Let’s Get Physic-cal (or 4 Films About Physics)

As famous physicist and McGill alumni Sir Ernest Rutherford once quipped, “all science is either physics or stamp collecting.”

Technically speaking, physics can be described as the the branch of science concerned with the properties of matter and energy. In short, physics is the story of how everything in our universe works. Indeed, the laws of physics are what binds our reality, and what makes our existence possible. Also, we had to learn about it in high school.

So, like an apocryphal apple bonking Isaac Newton on the head, we had an idea to concoct our own mathematical formula in the form of four films. So, let’s get physical with four films that all, relatively speaking, have something to do with the wonderful world of physics.

Science Please! Part 1

The Science Please! series is an amalgam of different small shorts and archival footage, many of which are available individually in the NFB archives. These shorts are combined together and, with some fun, amusing narration, educate the viewer about different scientific principles. In this first collection, the viewer is introduced to the nature of the atom, the state of matter, the mechanics of gravity, the force of water, the science of friction and much, much more.

Science Please! Part 2

In the second film in our wonderful Science Please! edutainment series, we again are introduced to a smorgasbord of scientific concepts, made palatable in the form of endearing animation mixed with archival footage. In this particular compilation, we get to learn all about the electromagnetic spectrum, the science of colour, why the sky is blue, magnets, why we have lightning and beyond.

Discover Science: Episode 15 – Let’s See the Speed of Sound

This short film is part of the Discover Science series, which we also recommend to watch in full for any aspiring science aficionados. This specific episode is all about the subject of sound. So watch a sonic experiment that displays the mechanics of sound on a visual level, and breaks down to the viewer exactly how the speed of sound really works.

Meta Pre Ptolemy

A whimsical animation that combines science and art. Here, we picture a world without the laws of physics, as explored through the adventures of a man and his two pet goldfish. A great short that, quite literally, illustrates why the laws of physics are so important to our universe.

Meta Pre Ptolemy, Rachel Peters, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

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