Symphony of Physics

Sound Waves – The Symphony of Physics – Using Sound episode 2: Dr Helen Czerski examines the extraordinary messages sound waves carry and how they help us understand the world around us.     Visiting a hidden location buried beneath the hills of Scotland, Helen experiences some of the most extreme acoustics in the world. Here she learns just how much information can be carried by sound. She discovers how sound has driven the evolution of truly incredible biological systems and complex relationships between creatures that exploit sound for hunting – and escaping from predators. Helen demonstrates how sound waves […]

Sound Waves – The Symphony of Physics – Making Sound episode 1: Dr Helen Czerski investigates the extraordinary science behind the sounds we’re familiar with and the sounds that we normally can’t hear.     She begins by exploring the simplest of ideas: what is a sound? At the Palace of Westminster, Helen teams up with scientists from the University of Leicester to carry out state-of-the-art measurements using lasers to reveal how the most famous bell in the world – Big Ben – vibrates to create pressure waves in the air at particular frequencies. This is how Big Ben produces