Flanders & Swann - 'First And Second Law'

notsyort · 257.5K views · 2013-02-14 · 4:21

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Overview

Flanders and Swann perform 'First and Second Law', a comic song about the laws of thermodynamics, from their 1964 stage show At the Drop of Another Hat. It sets the first and second laws to a deadpan call-and-response routine.

On Hacker News

HN brings it up whenever thermodynamics or entropy comes up, as the classic comic explanation of the laws.

Recommended by 2 HN people across 2 months · HN mentions 2020–2024

Topics

Music performance & songs Fundamental physics Stand-up & sketch comedy

What people said

robaato · 2024-07 · Recommendation
The classic Flanders and Swann explanation: [VIDEO] Excerpts: No one can consider themsleves educated who doesn't understand the basic language of science - Boyle's law: the greater the external pressure the greater the volume of hot air. I was someone shocked to learn my partner not only doesn't understand the 2nd law of thermodynamics, he doesn't even understand the first! : Heat won't pass from the cooler to hotter! You can try it if you like but you'd far better notta! M: Heat is work and work's a curse M: And all the heat in the universe M: Is gonna cool down, M: 'Cos it can't increase M: Then there'll be no more work M: And there'll be perfect peace D: Really? M: Yeah, that's entropy, Man.
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ska · 2024-05 · Recommendation
> While they don't have the science/maths background that makes Lehrer an obvious win for the HN crowd, True, but they did one on thermodynamics [VIDEO]
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chrisatthestudy · 2023-05 · Joke / meme
"Heat cannot of itself pass from one body to a hotter body." Thank you, Flanders and Swann! [VIDEO]
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Sources

Video by notsyort, played through YouTube.

HN Library · Source license

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