The Nature of Matter: Understanding the Physical World

Exploring the key concepts of matter, energy and entropy; they are the building blocks of the physical universe; examples of these phenomena; how they are demonstrated by the behavior of the airborne cards.

Tracing a scientific revolution that has started with a curious observation about light and a nonsensical explanation; learning about Max Planck's proposal that energy is related to frequency; Albert Einstein's application of this principle.

The idea that light comes in discrete packets called quanta leads to a new theory of matter; quantum mechanics; matter, like light, behaves as both a particle and a wave; a property of subatomic particles such as electrons.

Understanding atomic and molecular structure with the help of a simple analogy; how the electrons of an atom occupy shells, subshells, and orbitals, which give atoms and molecules their distinctive properties.

The origins of atoms; the story of nucleosynthesis; the formation of complex nuclei and atoms; this process fills the universe with hydrogen and helium; the events inside stars that are producing practically all the heavier elements.

Investigating a scientific tool; the periodic table of the elements; the insights that lead Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev to construct the first modern version of the table; the information it contains.

The differences between vitamins and minerals; other things in the chemical realm; the electron shell structure; understanding why atoms form ionic and covalent bonds.

The properties of the carbon atom; how it can attach itself to other carbon atoms to form the hardest known mineral; the geometry of the bonds; other types of pure carbon; fullerenes, nanotubes and graphene.

Analyzing water as a substance; its boiling, freezing, dissolving, and heat-storing properties in relation with other molecules; what water's attributes have to do with the existence of life.

Exploring the nature of chemical solutions, which can be liquid, solid, or gaseous in daily life; dental fillings, air, blood and soft drinks; the components of a solution; the solvent and solute; the principles of what dissolves what.

Probing the forces that allow lizards to walk up walls; adhesion and cohesion; the ways in which materials interact with themselves and with other materials; examining these forces in depth; how adhesives work; why cotton makes the best towels.

A surface is a discontinuity, or interface, between one phase of matter and another; this boundary affects everything from a spacecraft reentering the atmosphere to the efficient washing of clothes; exploring surface phenomena such as catalysts.

Delving into organic chemistry; the study of carbon compounds that have links to living things; surveying common organic compounds such as alkanes, alcohols, ethers, aldehydes, ketones, organic acids, and esters.

Medicine can replace many parts of the human body thanks to an improved understanding of materials and their biochemistry; the progress in body implants from dental fillings and tooth implants to artificial hips, knees, hearts and arteries.

The chemistry of food and drink from the point of view of the cook and the consumer; the chemicals in an egg, a piece of toast, a slice of bacon and other typical foods; how cooking transforms them; how chemicals are utilized by humans.

Studying the different ways that stored chemical energy is released in substances such as gasoline, coal, natural gas, nitroglycerine and TNT; the difference between detonation and deflagration.

Analyzing the mix of gases in the air, from the most abundant to minor constituents such as argon and carbon dioxide; exploring the phenomenon of air pressure and how it affects human life; the worrisome increase in the amount of carbon dioxide.

The rise of civilization goes hand in hand with advances in the understanding of materials; the Stone Age gives way to the Bronze Age and then the Iron Age; people learn to smelt ore and manipulate the properties of metals and alloys.

The mystery of a bouncing rubber ball leads to the study of polymers; polymers are long molecules with many repeating subunits; its variety; exploring synthetics like polyethylene and polyester to organic molecules such as proteins.

Investigating the ease of recycling some materials, such as aluminium and asphalt; the impracticality of reusing other materials like plastics; the different types of plastic, metal, paper and glass; things that can be recycled.

Under special conditions, some materials lose all resistance to electron flow, becoming superconductors that transmit electricity; probing this phenomenon at the atomic level; how scientists are discovering new superconducting materials.

How a piece of impure silicon launches an electronic revolution; the development of semiconductors from the invention of the transistor to smaller circuits; how today's complex microchips are made.

Different materials combine to create something unlike its individual components; composites and their properties; exploring concrete, carbon fibre, fibreglass, Kevlar, automobile tires, carbon nanotubes and aerogel.

Studying the nature of matter; future materials; science fiction as a fact; achievements like the Moon landings; nanoscale technologies may one day become reality.