Walter Lewin, MIT professor emeritus of physics, has been viewed millions of times on sites like OpenCourseWare, YouTube, and beyond. His introductory physics courses explain the fundamentals, with Lewin often as the test subject. Over the years, Lewin has given more than 800 lectures in Room 26-100.
Topics covered: The conservation of mechanical energy can be used to derive the equation of motion for simple harmonic oscillators (SHO). Instructor/speaker: Prof. Walter Lewin Date recorded: October 8, 1999
Topics covered: Bound and unbound orbits; escape velocity. Various sources of energy, energy storage, energy conversion, and the world's energy consumption are discussed. Instructor/speaker: Prof. Walter Lewin Date recorded: October 13, 1999
Topics covered: Momentum and its conservation during collisions is introduced. Kinetic energy can decrease or increase during collisions. When kinetic energy is conserved, we call it an elastic collision. Instructor/speaker: Prof. Walter Lewin Date recorded: October 15, 1999
Topics covered: Elastic and Inelastic Collisions Instructor/speaker: Prof. Walter Lewin Date recorded: October 18, 1999
Topics covered: The momentum of individual objects can change in a variety of ways. Demonstration of impulse and impact time courtesy of Dr. Peter Dourmashkin, MIT. Instructor/speaker: Prof. Walter Lewin Date recorded: October 20, 1999
Topics covered: This lecture reviews selected concepts previously covered in lectures 6 through 15. Instructor/speaker: Prof. Walter Lewin Date recorded: October 22, 1999
Topics covered: Rotating Rigid Bodies, Moments of Inertia, Parallel Axis and Perpendicular Axis Theorem. The moment of inertia for a rigid body around an axis of rotation is introduced, and related to its rotational kinetic energy. Flywheels can be used to store ...
Topics covered: Angular momentum (a vector) is introduced. The rate of change of angular momentum is related to the torque (also a vector). In the absence of an external torque, angular momentum is conserved. Spin angular momentum (of planets, stars, neutron stars) is also discussed. ...
Topics covered: In the absence of a net external torque on an object, angular momentum is conserved. When an object oscillates about an axis of rotation, there is a variable restoring torque acting on the object. Instructor/speaker: Prof. Walter Lewin Date recorded: November 1, 1999
Topics covered: Kepler's Laws, Elliptical Orbits, Change of Orbits, and the famous passing of a Ham Sandwich. Kepler's three Laws summarize the motion of the planets in our solar system. Following Newton's law of universal gravitation, the conservation of angular ...
Topics covered: Doppler Effect, Binary Stars, Neutron Stars and Black Holes. Doppler shift is introduced with sound waves, then extended to electromagnetic waves (radiation). The Doppler shift of stellar spectral lines and/or pulsar frequencies provides a measure of ...
Topics covered: Rolling Motion, Gyroscopes, Very Non-intuitive. Instructor/speaker: Prof. Walter Lewin Date recorded: November 8, 1999
Topics covered: Static Equilibrium, Stability, Rope Walker. Static equilibrium is only achieved when the net external force AND net external torque on an object are both zero. Instructor/speaker: Prof. Walter Lewin Date recorded: November 10, 1999
Topics covered: Elasticity and Young's Modulus. The fractional length deformation of a material (the strain) depends on the force per unit area (the stress). The stress vs. strain dependence is described conceptually, then explored empirically. Instructor/speaker: Prof. Walter Lewin Date ...
Topics covered: Concepts covered in this lecture include gases and incompressible liquids, Pascal's Principle, hydrostatic and barometric pressure. Instructor/speaker: Prof. Walter Lewin Date recorded: November 15, 1999
Topics covered: Concepts covered in this lecture include Hydrostatics, Archimedes' Principle, Fluid Dynamics, What makes your Boat Float?, and Bernoulli's Equation. Instructor/speaker: Prof. Walter Lewin Date recorded: November 17, 1999
Topics covered: This lecture reviews selected concepts previously covered in lectures 16 through 24. Instructor/speaker: Prof. Walter Lewin Date recorded: November 19, 1999
Topics covered: The simple harmonic oscillations (SHO) of suspended solid bodies are related to their geometry. The torsional pendulum oscillates in the horizontal plane; the SHO does NOT depend on the small angle approximation. Instructor/speaker: Prof. Walter Lewin ...
Topics covered: Systems consisting of pendulums and springs can freely oscillate at their natural frequencies (also called normal modes). When we expose a system to a wide spectrum of frequencies, the response will be very large at the normal mode frequencies (resonances) of that system. ...
Topics covered: Heat raises the temperature, and usually the volume of the material that absorbs the heat. The linear and cubical thermal expansion coefficients of metals (including mercury) are described and demonstrated. Ice is discussed as a special case. Instructor/speaker: Prof. Walter ...
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