The Biggest Ideas in the Universe | 1. Conservation

[Correction: at 17:51 I say kinetic energy is a vector, I meant to say "scalar." Kinetic energy has a size, but doesn't point in a direction.]
The Biggest Ideas in the Universe is a series of videos where I talk informally about some of the fundamental concepts that help us understand our natural world. Exceedingly casual, not overly polished, and meant for absolutely everybody.
In this installment - the very first idea we cover! - I talk about "Conservation." The idea that a certain property, like momentum or energy or electric charge, stays the same over time. In my view, realizing that this is true - and the corollary, that the world naturally moves, rather than needing something external to keep it moving - represents the real transition between pre-modern and modern physics.
My web page: www.preposterousuniverse.com/
My KZbin channel: / seancarroll
Mindscape podcast: www.preposterousuniverse.com/p...
The Biggest Ideas playlist: • The Biggest Ideas in t...
Blog posts for the series: www.preposterousuniverse.com/b...
Background image: www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/voy...
#science #physics #ideas #universe #learning #cosmology #philosophy #math #conservation #momentum #energy #classicalmechanics

[@ohmultiverse]

Some people's personalities just...shine. Or rather, they shine through. One only has to watch Sean Carroll for a little while to know, to a high degree of certainty, that he is not only highly intelligent, but also that he has a wonderful wit, is a kind human being, is fundamentally optimistic, and is thoroughly unpretentious. Thanks so much for creating this series Dr. Carroll.

[@HawthorneHillNaturePreserve]

I couldn’t have said it better.

[@doublechin35]

Exactly how I picture him. Thank you !

[@jbug1979]

Totally agree. Jennifer is a lucky woman!

[@jonathanwalther]

D'accord! Kind words. I feel glad, I discovered his chanel. I have a minor in Physics and appreciate very much, he does not shy away to use and explain formulas.

[@matthewphilip1977]

@@jonathanwalther I just watched this but missed how the conservation of energy led to... where did it lead to? And did he explain what the idea of a spherical cow was?

[@seancarroll]

Leave questions here, over the next couple of days I'll pick some favorites and try to answer them in a separate video. (Not "ask me anything," but "ask me about stuff discussed in the video.")

[@IITandBeyond]

If time is the currency of life, why should a person specialise and miss out on observation?

[@jeffwatson9868]

Is conservation of momentum also a local notion like conservation of energy, in General Relativity?

[@arpansircar8858]

First, is this an accurate statement ? - Dark energy causes the acceleration of the space-time fabric which leads to the expansion of the universe. Second - Does the motion induced by dark energy obey the conservation of momentum ?

[@emanuelebinetti6499]

@@jeffwatson9868 Yes, in special relativity the momentum 4-vector is conserved, meaning the local change in time of its spacial density is compensated by the flow of momentum current in every other direction. You may as well think of the change in time of the momentum spacial density, as the flow of the momentum current in the "time" direction. This conservation is applied, in a given frame of reference, to each component of the 4-vector independently. You may think of the "time" component of the momentum as energy. General relativity does not change this.

[@notablycurious6261]

Is there a point at which physicists might come to a consensus about, physics as a field being complete ,meaning there will be no more improvements required.what should such a theory ought to explain to consider the field complete in your opinion.

[@wasimshaikh1969]

Man u deserve a Nobel prize for your explainations👏👏 I wish my physics teacher was like him🤔

[@3dlabs99]

9:58 Love that you put an arrow below the arrow - - wonderfully redundant :)

[@integza]

I love this! Great idea! It's an honor to have you here on KZbin, Sir.

[@Jason-bg7jc]

Awesome video, Sean. Thanks for making these! Can't wait for more!

[@jimgraham6722]

Your time, expertise and effort in making this series is much appreciated.

[@felipemonteiro5877]

Excelent content as usual, Sean! Thank you! I learned a lot, and look forward to the next ones!

[@joshuaphillips4604]

Finally started watching after putting this on watch later list. I know what I'm binge watching this weekend.

[@72fishing]

Great work sean, thank you for taking time to make these podcasts. And for educating this generation and hopefully future generations to come, thanks from Ireland ☘

[@HarrisD214]

I’ve only watched the first episode but I loved it and can’t wait to watch the rest you’ve released. Thank you so much for taking the time to make these.

[@lukeworldwide]

Thanks Sean so much for this series. I didn't get to study much maths and physics at school, so this level of conceptual explanation of these important concepts is fantastic for me.

[@steliosp1770]

Dr. Caroll, thank you so much for your podcast, books and your KZbin channel. Love your work and thank you for being such an incredible communicator of science. All the very best to you and your family.

[@robertgoss4842]

Dr. Carroll: I just started your Biggest Ideas series, and I felt I must thank you for your hard work in producing these videos. The combination of your acumen and your relaxed, accessible presentation style, makes you a terrific educator. I look forward to many hours of learning pleasure in days ahead. Again, thanks a million!

[@NoLuv4Hoz]

This is gold! Thank you very much for doing this series. I learned a lot.

[@ddeibler1826]

This is beautiful. Im but a lowly wannabe scientist. My hero was Thomas Edison. I checked out books from my school library about him and others. Thats all I wanted to be. Now I watch this and follow your podcast and i am amazed. You became the scientist I always wanted to be, Thank you so much for sharing this with we mere mortals!!!!

[@MoreChazImages]

Great start, you kept it interesting - just like your books - and a spherical cow bonus, wow!

[@Bill_Garthright]

Yes, this was fascinating! The last time I had a physics class, I was in high school,... and that was more than 50 years ago. So what I don't know about physics would fill a whole library - a very _large_ library. But this was absolutely fascinating. As you say, it's a great start to the series!

[@martinds4895]

Loving this new series, thanks a lot Sean. This kind of content really helps to get through our current global situation.

[@seffundoos]

Thank you Sean. You are really leaving some wonderful things for today's generations and future ones alike. I especially like your take on the purpose of physicists and the way you have not been scared to delve into the world of the implications of quantum mechanics. There is no doubt that you will be the inspiration for countless physicists to come! Thanks again for the exceptional content.

[@clausmarcuslund]

I think your channel is going to become just great - keep pushing, keep it moving!

[@djbabbotstown]

Just a great pleasure Seán. Wonderful style. Like listening to a friend who has found out something, a conversation.

[@Quazi-moto]

Love what you're doing. Keep 'em coming, Sean !

[@SatanDynastyKiller]

This was a great start, thank you very much Sean. Can’t wait for the rest.

[@luizgrocco]

Great video professor, I'm proud we are popularizing science through KZbin and other medias nowadays, keep up the good work!

[@ratedAD]

Sean, please keep doing this! You truly have a gift. Love your work and your passion for educating the uninitiated. I'm 36 and deeply regret not taking physics more seriously growing up. Your lectures and videos are such a source of intellectual nourishment for me. I am a regular listener of your Mindscape podcast and a Patreon supporter. Please keep producing more work that benefits people like me who are not trained in the math but are curious about the big questions nonetheless. Cheers! Please stay safe!

[@SapientEudaimonia]

Hi! How has your voyage into physics been these last four years? Hopefully you are still on your self-directed path of learning!

[@CountBojim]

Awesome video! Very entertaining and educational. Loving hearing the stories of the history and philosophy behind the ideas, also love the enthusiasm for the subject!

[@bensthoughts2]

You have no idea what a relief hearing about the spherical cow metaphor was to me just now. I have always fought with myself over the tendency to get hung up on the surrounding "whys, what if's, and buts" and the subsequent push past them to get work done. Always looking over my shoulder in some kind of dreadful way that leads to imposters syndrome. The spherical cow turns that dread and feeling of imposters syndrome into reasonable healthy caution. Thank you so much!!!

[@smjain11]

Sean this is really so good. Don't have enough words for your selfless contribution in tough times. Kudos

[@kibavlood5826]

Sean i came from the Joe Rogan episode where you literally blew my mind when you said that even though you make a simulation that predicts everything the choices a human make inside is totally random and still is unpredictable. It went something along those lines. That and also Laplace's Demon. I was always interested in Science but my teachers and professors made a nightmare out of it. I gave up the interest and curiosity i once had but thanks to you i rekindled that curiosity. Also i love the way you explain stiff so easily and simple. Take care of yourself in this hard times. Love to learn something new from your videos.

[@lycakito1814]

This is great, while at home, physics lessons from the greatest! Thank you !

[@johngoodwin9606]

Such a great presentation. I'm reading the book chapter after the video and it is helping "make it stick". Have been listening to the MindScape videos too.

[@constpegasus]

Thank you Sean. I’m happy and excited about these upcoming videos. Thank you very much sir.

[@nicholspe]

I enjoyed this episode very much, looking forward to the next one!

[@s4pjans]

I can listen to you for hours! great talks, sensible and understandable

[@kevn420]

Thanks so much for these “lessons”. I love watching them

[@DavidleViseur]

Absolutely brilliant, deeply thoughtful and lucid in so many ways!

[@fakepivot]

love this new format!!

[@astrorad2000]

Thank you for posting. This helps keep sanity in this era we are living through.

[@sandboxlarry9490]

Yay stereo! This is great, always love hearing you speak.

[@apollion888]

I'm watching these out of order and I must say that my already high opinion of you has gone up considerably. You were made for this. Well done, sir.

[@furthercuriosity4330]

I got pretty late to watch this stuffs, but I don't want my appreciation to get late for you. Thank you so much for all of this.

[@xaviergamer5907]

I love this new series. Thank you.

[@DaZugZug]

In looking forward to watching all these videos. Thanks a lot for these.

[@zoeystone8780]

It'a absolutely a joy to listen to you Dr. Carroll! You are a delightful teacher of a vastly amazing subject: Physics. Once I grasp the basic concepts, I hope to study your personal theoretical work in physics too. Thank you for making this freely available!!!🙏 💕

[@pspicer777]

Outstanding!! Keep 'em coming. Thanks.

[@simos11]

Another great video. I started watching the The Biggest Ideas in the Universe and I can't stop!!!

[@leointhecity]

I really appreciate the way you make these videos. You focus on explanation and not silly graphics or transitions. I am so very tired of the media-polished turds that pass for physics videos on youtube. Thank you for doing this Sean. And thank you for doing such a fantastic job!

[@tripp8833]

This is a fantastic video and series, Sean. Thank you!

[@irenehernandez7034]

I want to thank you for the positive information about not giving up. I am a student of Dr Jatila van der Veen. I love her and had a great time in Astro 101. I like how I said "survive and move forward," "know learn and understand." It was helpful top hear you amd will watch some of your other pod casts. Thank you

[@KieranGarland]

Great idea for a series. Thanks for sharing.

[@greyskelton9117]

Great video! Thanks for taking the time to make and share

[@coecovideo]

like this new format thanks Sean

[@superluminal54]

Thank you, Sean! Please keep them coming!

[@indream6318]

Im so happy!!! Thank you for all you do and for starting here with Conservation of momentum. When Neil deGrasse was asked about the most counterintuitive, peculiar law of physics and I was wondering what will he say, that would feel more stranger to me than that. Whatever he said was not as impressive for me as to why things just keep moving unless any of its energy is exchanged and why moving through a vacuum is free. It just seems like a key to something. Well, just a minute into the video, excited to learn something! Thank you again!

[@Lightning_Lance]

Loved it. The spherical cow philosophy is now my favorite explanation as to why math/physics is so unexpectedly succesful in describing the world around us.

[@mrlithium69]

Thank you for doing your part explaining complex topics and making your mark on the internet. In the information age, this will live on forever and in the future you may even be regarded as a modern Aristotle-type thinker from the 21st century. Cogito, ergo sum.

[@suddhasattasaha4793]

I believe 'momentum' is a measure of the effect of motion that we observe around us. This is a more intuitive way of understanding the physical meaning of momentum. Great work Sean ! 😊😊

[@gilbertengler9064]

Looking forward to see them all! 👍

[@WR7000]

Sean - I have just started reading your book on this topic, which led me to your channel. I'm a lifelong student of science and your presentation and writing style are as good as it gets in my view. I've always wondered what causes motion in the universe beyone the big bang with "force" being the answer. Even so, I'm still amazed how a sphere of pure matter with the mass of the sun but only 20 miles in diameter, can spin at 700 times per second or 44,000 RPM and where that came from. I now realize it came from a spinning super nova. I look forward to your other work and will be a grateful student.

[@dem8568]

Woop woop! I'm reading the book along with the videos. Very well done!

[@michaeltoulch4187]

Your explanations and attitude remind me of Feynmans videos- such as when he discusses why ice is slippery and why grandma (I think it was grandma) fell on it. Like him you could explain these great concepts to a high school dropout or an advanced scholar. Incredible stuff Dr Carroll - looking forward to the next round.

[@tcbbct509]

After I get home from working at the hospital your videos really help me get my mind off of what's going on. Thank you Sean. Not that it's really relevant to this particular video but Im sort of starting to understand the concept of a superposition and that's all you bud!

[@Grinsekatze113]

Pro tip: I don't know what you are using for video editing but somewhere you should be able to adjust the colours. Lower the green values, maybe cyan. That's an easy way to clean up the edges and even the light scatter. Greetings from Germany, keep it up!

[@gaznawiali]

Thank you Sean. This was absolutely magnificent.

[@thenorseman8964]

You, Dr. Carroll, are a worthy candidate to be this newest generations' "Great Explainer." Please accept this humble gift of an imaginary Spherical Feynman to sit proudly next to your Cow.

[@rzezzy1]

Is he in a vacuum? That might be a problem

[@trefod]

@@TheDavidlloydjones Hahahaha! That was awesome.

[@robertgoss4842]

Wow. Very well said!

[@thomaslarsen2759]

Dude, I am 62 years old... wish back in the day I had you (if I could go back in time and you stayed the same young age your are now) as a professor. You rock! Make things understandable to most. Love the Quantum info too!! Please do more. - Tom from Skokie, IL

[@fizikus2512]

To take lessons from Sean Carroll!!! I cannot belive. Fascinating.. Thanks very much..

[@Broken_robot1986]

Great video, explaining concepts with as much history as possible, using history to explain them is just the best. Thank you! You should consider guest host to take over in case you run out of time with too many projects.

[@williambaker7181]

That was so worthwhile. Lovely. Thanks Sean.

[@luda_c]

Brilliant speaker and communicator. Thank you very much!

[@FeelAlrightMovies]

Thank you for this awesome series!!

[@gaznawiali]

I liked your careful attitude to the history of science. I think it was very respectful and modest.

[@bernieflanders8822]

You have a truly magnificent mind Dr Carroll, not to mention a new subscriber 🙏👍

[@billlyons7024]

Your videos are a bright spot in this crisis. Thanks for making them.

[@seanmortazyt]

Fantastic. Love these informal series!!!

[@saadz4456]

Thanks Sean..great content as usual!

[@zenSutherland]

I was introduced to you via Wondrium and now am telling everyone about spherical cows! Seriously, your explanations, while i mostly grasp the coattails of, give me the greatest hope for understanding at least a tiny part of the quantum world. And with a touch of humor. I THANK YOU!

[@spencerallbritton9459]

Thanks Sean! I love your content and have been listening to you for a while now. I’d love to listen to two videos on Entropy and Noether’s Theorem.

[@masih1003]

Thank you so much Sean for your great Idea.

[@kensharp3059]

I liked the video...especially the spherical cow discussion. I'm going to keep listening to the series.

[@dtce]

It’s some 20 years ago I learned Newtonian mechanics and conservative of momentum. Physics still fascinates me despite I have left the field for more than 10 years by now. Thanks for the series. I wish this existed when I started out in my physics training. Maybe I will show this to my children one day. My eldest is 7.

[@mementomori8991]

Sean, you the best, forever. Another one.

[@DoggoWillink]

Very happy to have found Sean’s channel. Usually I need to watch channels that have less information (colloquial sense) and have about 1037490174x more ads so see him.

[@Slarti]

I reckon you could write a book from these talks. You are so good at explaining these concepts that I think if it was in book form you could reach a wider audience.

[@davevallee7945]

Thank you Dr. Carroll.

[@jbchina9202]

Bravo, sean. Estoy leyendo tu libro y esto lo complementa, thank you y saludos

[@mrman5517]

thank you for making these videos! you have inspired me to dust of the old physics text books for a little refresher! thank you :)

[@ErnestGWilsonII]

First let me say thank you very much for taking the time to make these videos and share them with all of us. I couldn't help but notice you went from Galileo to Isaac Newton and skipped over Johannes Kepler. Thank you very much for the explanation on BCE and CE as this is much preferred over BC and AD. I am of course subscribed with notifications turned on and thumbs up.

[@christinley5213]

Such a great break down of this..you've bin teaching me for years now...I actually know things!!! Lol. Thank you..keep em coming:)

[@gr500music6]

This was excellent (up to the point near the end where it was implied that there is more than one electron).

[@yerva01]

Very interesting and educative. Thank you!

[@jackrousian]

Thanks Sean, this was great!

[@afederdk]

Always so to the point. Love it.

[@adrian.tabirca]

Amazing. I wish I had you as a physics teacher in my middle and high school.

[@skipbellon2755]

The Spherical Listener. Being late to the show and coming to the realization that there are more than 20 more of these episodes, allows me to strip my mind down to the basics. When I'm done watching them all, I will add the stripped pieces back.

[@fminc]

Sean is a true G. Thanks a lot.

[@TheMemesofDestruction]

And I’ve come full circle back here. The Universe is balance. Thank you again Professor!

[@user-kb1pj7iu6j]

I love you. Please do lots of these!

[@icourant]

Love the video's! When are you doing a new course on TTC? I did follow the " older" counrces but it would be so cool to have the new insights that are there now!

[@michaelryanmccoy]

thank you thank you thank you for making physics easy to understand