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Feynman: Magnets (and Why?) FUN TO IMAGINE 4/ higher quality version!

Christopher Sykes · 359.8K views · 2018-09-04 · 7:35

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Overview

A 1983 BBC interview in which Richard Feynman is asked how magnets work and explains why 'why' questions are hard to answer in everyday terms. He reflects on what counts as an explanation and the limits of analogy.

On Hacker News

HN returns to it as a model of intellectual honesty and good explanation, often linking it in discussions of why-questions and science communication.

Recommended by 5 HN people across 5 months · HN mentions 2021–2026

Topics

Scientific method & science communicationFundamental physics
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feynmanmagnetsphysicspedagogyepistemology

What people said

rimunroe · 2026-02 · Strong recommendation

I linked the "why do magnets do that?" interview elsewhere in the comments, but if anyone else missed it I highly recommend it: [VIDEO]

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itishappy · 2024-09 · Strong recommendation

I disagree! I think fields are very intuitive and it's everything else that's nonsensical! Magnetism isn't made of anything. It is a field, and it's one your can interact with directly. Compare that with, say, table salt. "What's table salt made of?" Uh. It's made of atoms entirely unrelated to salt, like sodium and chlorine. "What are atoms made of?" Uh. They're made of tiny electric particles zipping around at relativistic speeds but bound together by forces like magnetism. Richard Feynman does a better job than me of describing this exact problem in one of my favorite physics videos of all time: [VIDEO]

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dimator · 2023-10 · Strong recommendation

i can't help but tack on my favorite Feynman video, on magnets: [VIDEO] i'm just mesmerized by his answer, that without an understood context, it's not at all easy to explain how magnets work. his riff for 8 minutes on this is just a joy to watch.

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Sources

Video by Christopher Sykes, played through YouTube.

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