
What are electricity and light, really? – Dr. Daniel Whiteson (CERN, LHC), DemystifySci #394
In this second part of our conversation with CERN & LHC particle physicist and UC Irvine professor of physics and astronomy Daniel Whiteson, we move from abstract questions to concrete examples, asking what electricity, magnetism, and light might actually be doing in the physical world. Rather than treating forces as symbols in equations, we explore whether they can be understood as real interactions, actions, or material processes unfolding beneath the math. The discussion ranges from fields and particles to emergence, scale, and why so many explanations stop just short of physical clarity. We are trying to picture what’s happening when the universe acts, while refusing to let understanding end where calculation succeeds.
Part 1: https://youtu.be/om2k1BeASAs
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PARADIGM DRIFT
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00:00 Go! From Meaning to Mechanism
00:04:17 Understanding Materialism & Its History
00:08:54 Intuition, Math, & Material Reality
00:13:01 Determinism, Computation, and Time
00:19:44 Accuracy, Correctness, and Competing Models
00:25:43 Emergence, Scale, & Effective Laws
00:30:09 Physics, Meaning, & What Lies Outside Models
00:34:01 Objects, Surfaces, & Physical Interaction
00:38:13 Are Particles Actions Rather Than Things?
00:42:38 Intuition, Surprise, & Scientific Discovery
00:46:04 Philosophy, Wonder, & the Role of Explanation
00:51:09 History, Models, & Scientific Humility
00:56:15 Storytelling & How Science Makes Sense of Reality
01:03:01 How New Ideas Actually Gain Acceptance
01:06:02 Material Models, Black Bodies, & Light
01:09:05 Closing Reflections & Future Questions
#physics, #quantumphysics, #particlephysics , #meaning, #understanding, #questions, #thinking, #curiosity, #howthingswork, #ideas, #explanation, #universe, #light, #energy, #physicspodcast, #philosophypodcast
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