over quite a few years actually. But all right, so now let's-- what you said is true. So Weinberg, Glashow, and Salam showed that electromagnetism and the weak force at high energies were the same.There was a problem, however, and the problem is that electromagnetism has an infinite range, And we know that because we can see stars that are millions of light-years
There's no obvious way to fit in Newton's gravity to relativity. Electromagnetism fit perfectly, but gravity was a stubborn resistor.So Einstein thought about that.
And that's the spooky action at a distance that he invented. For electromagnetism , the nuclear forces, particles that we know about, electrons and quarks and so forth, you start with a classical theory,
in holding us together. So it's a staggering advance in science to have a good behavior on that. And of course, being able to, to tame electromagnetism is why people can hear you when you do your podcast because through the miracles of the internet just-- or just electricity running the computers. I mean, this is a case if I can get on a small soapbox, where people back then said, "Well, why are you messing around with magnets and
And at, by that time, people had realized that there are four distinct forces that do not seem to be connected. One is gravity, two is electromagnetism , and those are things people are relatively familiar with. But there are two other forces that only have any real importance inside the nucleus of atoms, which is why most people
The way that could happen is if these forces were transmitted by a particle moving from one subatomic particle to the other. In the case of electromagnetism , it's the photon. In the case of the weak force, we call them now the W and Z particles. So the idea is that Higgs and his colleagues came up with is saying, "All right,
And if it can exist for an arbitrary long time, it can travel from here to Alpha Centauri before it's absorbed. So the fact that electromagnetism is a long-range force is uniquely related to the fact that the photon is massless, in this picture. OK? And this photon, because you can't see it, it's called a virtual photon because it doesn't really exist.
But in about the 1860s or so, James Clerk Maxwell took all of those ideas that had been percolating around for the previous 50 years and wrote his laws of electromagnetism , and they're really fascinating. If you look at the laws of electromagnetism , they are-- they're differential equations or inter- integral equations. But basically, what they say is on one side, you have a bunch of terms that have electricity in them,
work, and so that's why we study forces. So there are the various subatomic forces of which we're familiar and for instance, electricity and magnetism are components of electromagnetism , which then governs the behavior of things like-- This is amazing. Electromagnetism explains, of course, electricity, magnetism, but it explains how light works.
atoms are held together by electromagnetic forces. There's more to how atoms work. There is all the quantum mechanics stuff. But if you did not have electromagnetism , or if electromagnetism was very different, then atoms would be very different. So it plays a very big role in holding us together. So it's a staggering advance in science to have a good behavior on that. And of course, being able to,
that's where we were. There were the four forces. So we move ahead, and in the late '50s and early '60s, some people were thinking that maybe the weak nuclear force and electromagnetism actually were the same. So they were working on trying to bring together these two forces to show that they're connected.
It is not the kind of theory that's a quantum theory. And then he took quantum theory of electromagnetism . So that was a theory of light, and electrons, and positrons and so forth.
And they're doing it using something called meta-materials, which are materials that are constructed at microscopic levels. And somehow, I'm not a scientist so I can't explain it; this allows them to conduct electromagnetism in ways that are not naturally found. So actually, I have a short video here. Certainly the godfather of invisibility is a fellow named Sir John Pendry, British, and I visited him and he explained how invisibility works. So hopefully this will work. [shows video "How does an invisible cloak
And he's published a big catalog. Now we know the weak interaction is closely associated with electromagnetism , and also the strong interaction, which is a similar kind of theory, non abelian gague theory.
And what he won the Nobel Prize for-- with others-- was the recognition that, of course, at a fundamental level, the world is quantum mechanical. And if we want to have a theory of electromagnetism , we need to put it in accord with quantum mechanics. And the theory they developed called quantum electrodynamics is a theory that merges electromagnetism and quantum mechanics.
This a neutron and a proton, an electron, so it's a deuterium isotope of hydrogen. The electron is held together to the nucleus by electromagnetism . The individual protons and neutrons are made of quarks, up and down quarks, which are held together with the strong nuclear force.
explains, of course, electricity, magnetism, but it explains how light works. It explains how much of chemistry works. So electromagnetism , 1860 or '70 the wonderful thing about that is if you take Maxwell's equations and you apply a little bit of calculus, it's very easy to see that the laws of electricity and the laws of magnetism combined together
thought here is, well, we just proved that that whole idea is stupid, so throw it away. Ridiculous. And that is where these ideas from 1964 came in and saved the day. So how can it be true that the electroweak force is real and electromagnetism and the weak force act so differently? The way that could happen is if these forces were transmitted by a particle moving from one subatomic particle to the other.
But what Einstein really did about relativity was put the capstone on a set of ideas that had been percolating around for a long time. In the 1800s, we'd understood electromagnetism through the work of James Clerk Maxwell, and other people, and it seemed to have a special role for something called the speed of light.
And if we want to have a theory of electromagnetism , we need to put it in accord with quantum mechanics. And the theory they developed called quantum electrodynamics is a theory that merges electromagnetism and quantum mechanics. And he presented a way of thinking about this to understand the electric force between two charges which had been understood by Faraday and Maxwell
The neutron was discovered in 1932. Suddenly, a new force had-- because electromagnetism can't cause this decay. And gravity can't cause this decay.
But it wasn't until 1967, so three years later, that Steven Weinberg and some others actually unified electromagnetism and the weak force. - Sheldon Glashow, Abdus Salam, and Steven Weinberg successfully unified electromagnetism and the weak nuclear force that showing that at high energies- - Right - ... these two forces were merged into a single electroweak force.
electroweak force is real. The way we make it so that there is now an electromagnetic force and a weak force is the force-carrying particle of electromagnetism has no mass. The force-carrying particle of the weak force has a mass." And so what was done is a field was
Even though we were using magnets, we didn't understand the science behind it for thousands of years. And I would say it's only really in the 19th century when we discovered electricity and understood a little bit about electromagnetism that we started to understand magnetism a bit better. But really, it took until the 1930s when physicists were really studying quantum physics,
That's the Poincare recurrence. And in doing so, he developed the theory of electromagnetism that we now know holds true.
And I talk about those things at great length in the book. So up to that point, we had we developed the theory of electromagnetism and a theory of gravity. And all seemed well until we got to a later stage.
Now the key point is the photon has zero mass. It's massless. And that's essential to make electromagnetism a long-range force. The electron here repels an electron in Alpha Centauri.-- OK-- or anywhere in another galaxy.
OK, again, what's this got to do with anything? So if you have a quantum theory-- if you develop quantum mechanics in that superconductor-- you'll describe electromagnetism as a short-range force.
Not just a party for dancing and dining, but for sharing ideas. The guests were scientists like Michael Faraday, who studied electromagnetism , and Charles Wheatstone who invented a device to display three-dimensional images. But for Ada, the one who mattered most was Charles Babbage.
Mike, you expressed concern. Faraday, when he was famously doing his experiments on electromagnetism , some minister came to see him and asked exactly your question, what is this good for.
And they only show up in what is known as the weak force. The laws of physics are broken down into sort of four fundamental forces-- gravity, electromagnetism , and the strong and weak nuclear force. And every one of them, except for the weak force, seems to not give any concern whatsoever about the
And that is a staggering concept, the fact that these two things, a lightning bolt and the magnet that holds your kids' art to the refrigerator, are one and the same. And this was another case where electricity and magnetism became unified into electromagnetism . So now we have two examples: one, gravity being unified, terrestrial and celestial gravity, and then electricity and magnetism.
at which these waves move is the speed of light. And so people said, "Wow, the speed of light comes out of those equations." And that had to be, I think, very persuasive. And of course, electromagnetism also plays a really significant role in chemistry because after all, atoms are held together by electromagnetic forces. There's more to how atoms work. There is all the quantum mechanics stuff.
what's called the Higgs field. And I'll get back, get to what that is in a minute, but the Higgs field is important. But it wasn't until 1967, so three years later, that Steven Weinberg and some others actually unified electromagnetism and the weak force. - Sheldon Glashow, Abdus Salam, and Steven Weinberg successfully unified electromagnetism and the weak nuclear force that showing that at high energies-
electromagnetism and the weak force at high energies were the same.There was a problem, however, and the problem is that electromagnetism has an infinite range, And we know that because we can see stars that are millions of light-years away. I mean, that shows you that the range of that force is essentially infinite.
variety of means, physical means, those particles. You push them together. The most common is called laser inertial fusion. expanding, the ideal gas law expanding and contracting inside a balloon. But they also have a magnetic pressure. The electromagnetism is pushing
That's the Poincare recurrence. Even going back, for example, to Maxwell, when he developed his laws of electromagnetism .
So that's what makes a supercomputer. Why does the universe know to respect relativity, to respect Newtonian mechanics, to respect electromagnetism ?
If you look for it, it's not there. OK? And great. And so this picture-- this is a complete picture of the quantum theory of electromagnetism . You absorb and emit these virtual photons that can do anything they want as long as you can't see them.
OK, again, what's this got to do with anything? Well, for you, if you live in that superconductor, electromagnetism is a short-range force, because electric fields and magnetic fields, when they enter the superconductor, die off--
He spends a lot of time arguing, for instance, about electromagnetism , Faraday and Maxwell.
I'm not going to go through all the details, but basically you see how all of the different pieces of modern physics get involved. There's quantum mechanics, space time, gravity, this is Einstein's general relativity right there, all the other forces, electromagnetism and the nuclear forces, the matter particles of which we are made, and the Higgs in the background.
equations." And that had to be, I think, very persuasive. And of course, electromagnetism also plays a really significant role in chemistry because after all, atoms are held together by electromagnetic forces. There's more to how atoms work. There is all the quantum mechanics stuff. But if you did not have electromagnetism , or if electromagnetism was very different, then atoms would be very different. So it plays a very big role