Available online
Description
The programme explores the whole question of distinguishing between the mirror world and reality with special emphasis on the way different types of forces behave when viewed in a mirror.
The programme explores the whole question of distinguishing between the mirror world and reality with special emphasis on the way different types of forces behave when viewed in a mirror.
| Module code and title: | S354, Understanding space and time |
|---|---|
| Item code: | S354; 08 |
| First transmission date: | 13-06-1979 |
| Published: | 1979 |
| Rights Statement: | |
| Restrictions on use: | |
| Duration: | 00:24:32 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | Andrew Millington |
| Contributors: | David Broadhurst; Paul Clark |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Keyword(s): | Electromagnetism; Gravity; Keppler's Third Law; Mirror image; Nuclear force; Symmetry |
| Footage description: | Shots of Paul Clark playing billiards in reality and through a mirror. He introduces the programme. Shots of David Broadhurst in his lounge. He explains that although it appears to be fairly simple to distinguish left from right in ordinary surroundings, this is not really so in a more fundamental way. Film shots of an American motorway projected in reverse. The cars appear to be driving on the left hand side. It is not until a roadsign comes into view that the observer can tell he is not looking at reality. Broadhurst, in his lounge, demonstrates two more examples of objects and their mirror images - a telephone and a left handed corkscrew. Broadhurst next discusses phenomena and their mirror images found in the natural world. He shows satellite photographs of cyclones from the northern and southern hemispheres and demonstrates that these do not help to distinguish left from right. Broadhurst goes on to look at an animated model of the solar system and its mirror image. Again he concludes that according to the known laws of physics, a mirror image of the solar system could certainly exist in reality. Broadhurst introduces a series of experiments by Paul Clark. Paul Clark performs a series of experiments with electromagnetic forces to see if a situation can be found in which a mirror image cannot be matched exactly in the real world. Clark begins with a simple experiment using two parallel wires each carrying a current. Clark next experiments with a current carrying wire and a compass needle. Finally Clark experiments with a current carrying coil and a compass needle. He concludes that for all the above electromagnetic phenomena, can be reproduced in the real world. Clark carries out an experiment using polarised light and two sugar solutions made up of sugar molecules which are mirror images of one another, effects on light. David Broadhurst looks at some examples of preferences for left and right handedness in nature. Shots of honeysuckle plant, a bindweed and a model of the DNA helix. In each case, he explains, the mirror image could, in theory, be reproduced in the real world. Paul Clark sums up. |
| Master spool number: | 6HT/72975 |
| Production number: | 00525_1284 |
| Videofinder number: | 2039 |
| Available to public: | no |
