How Long Is a Piece of String?

Description

In the spirit of a famous rhetorical question, this program explores the world of scientific measurement at the molecular and atomic level. Host Alan Davies tries to establish the length of a piece of household string-but what appears to be a simple task soon turns into a mind-bending voyage of discovery. After discussing the matter with leading mathematician Marcus du Sautoy, Davies learns that his segment of string may in fact be infinitely long. And when MIT professor of quantum physics Seth Lloyd gets involved, events take an even stranger turn. Not only do objects appear in many places at once, but reality itself becomes a nebulous distortion-in which the humble act of measuring string could, in theory, pull the world into a black hole.

Runtime

52 min

Subjects

Genre

Date of Publication

[2010], c2009

Database

Films on Demand

Direct Link

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