Brian Greene Explains The Most Powerful Explosions In The Universe
Theoretical Physicist Brian Greene explains supernovas and demonstrates how a star like ours eventually dies. Oh, and he breaks a world record, too.
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Stephen Colbert took over as host of The Late Show on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2015. Colbert is best known for his work as a television host, writer, actor, and producer, and best known for his charity work teaching English as a second language on Tunisian date farms. Prior to joining the CBS family -- and being officially adopted by network president Les Moonves -- Colbert helmed “The Colbert Report,” which aired nearly 1,500 episodes and required Stephen to wear nearly 1,500 different neckties. The program received two Peabody Awards, two Grammy Awards, and several unwelcome shoulder massages. It won two Emmys for Outstanding Variety Series in 2013 and 2014, both of which appear to have been lost in the move. Colbert is pronounced koʊlˈbɛər, according to Wikipedia. His understudy is William Cavanaugh, who will be hosting The Late Show approximately one third of the time. Good luck, Bill!"
I love how Stephen invites people who actually matters.
Yeah I agree, it's what differentiates this show from many others, is that they actually target topics that everyone should be concerned about like science.
I kind of wish he wouldn't so Brian would actually update his MOOC site.
Meanwhile, Kimmel invited Trump (or just being paid to).
This guy matters?
lol
3:15 "This is called the Galilean cannon" "Did Galileo come up with it?" "Idk but he dropped a lot of stuff and we're gonna drop some stuff" One of the many reasons I love physics.
Gallaleo did not know about super Nova's ,
@@danielrodriguez248 super novae were just an example of a real-world phenomenon in which this kind of action takes place, it was not by any means an exhaustive list, and Galileo could well have come up with this experiment.
@@alansmithee419 The little ball is the lighter particles all over the outermost layer of a star, I think. Maybe some neutrinos or something, but I do get how the outer layers just cannon off the core, like striking a drum skin, in all directions. Without fusion pushing out energy against the mass pressure of the star, the core 's matter just collapses on itself under both the inward pressure of its entire stellar mass and, I guess, the final inbound push of the Gallileoan cannon effect. The original load comprising the star's entire mass including its ejected matter equally loading in the opposite, against a fractional mass reduced to just the stellar core. Pretty involved process.
Hahaha these lines had me.
@@danielrodriguez248 On the contrary, Galieo observed the 1604 super nova along with Kepler and other contemporary astronomers. The super nova convinced Galileo that the common belief dating all the way back to Aristotle that the stars were fixed and unchanging was wrong.
Notice how quiet the audience was when he was explaining everything? That’s because PEOPLE LOVE SCIENCE!! We’re all born curious, so this satisfies that thirst for knowledge of how things work.
What amazes me though, is that a room full of adults, they were intent on listening, because they DIDN'T know this simple stuff already! That is the remarkable thing. Either that or it just went above their heads.
.......I picked up that entertainment and stupid wisecracks are the rule. Education comes second
No those idiiots in the audience have no clue of what Dr Green is saying, collbert is an idiiot as well,
@@danielrodriguez248 Stupid has made his point.....
And, the important part is, he makes it sound interesting. Very few people make science sound interesting. That's why some classes with teachers or professors that lack the capacity to make the lesson "interesting" tends to have noising and talking students. They fail to catch the attention of the curiosity within people
at least a thousand of teens get eencouragement from this single interview to take Physics as college major.... world would get at least one scientist for sure.
I wish I had this show when I was in high school. I actually never took physics and only had introduction to chem 😭I thought I was lucky that I skipped it because all of my classmates complained how hard it was.. I feel like I lost a lot
Kv Denko its never too late! You could still give it a try You can start with a book called 'The six easy pieces' by Richard Feynman He won the nobel prize in physics and was the first man to introduce some of the technical sciences to the public and that book that I mentioned gives a reallly good introduction to physics If you like that you could continue reading more physics books ..good luck :)
and you will get 999 failures. At this success rate, scientists are not a good business proposition.
Ol
Ok
Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder ..and we're dead.
Hah. I spit out my cheerios with this one.
Haha... I think I just pissed myself!
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, I don't wonder what you are, for by my spectroscopic ken, I know that you are hydrogen
+AndorianBlues Indeed. Hydrogen, and then some helium, and later on some carbon, and then oxygen, and silicon, and tiny amounts of other heavier elements.....and some lead..... Wait! Did you say lead? Back up, back up, get the hell out of here! Faster man! why are we moving so slow! You fool! The parking brea....and we're dead.
😳🔥😖💀😀😂😂😂😂
I love that he's bringing on scientists
Um....How is he not a very academic scientist? He is still highly involved in research and has been active for decades and he is also still a professor of math and physics. So we have your opinion on one side and on the other we have decades of working in his field while currently working as a math and physics professor and continually doing research on string theory and cosmology on the other side of the scale. Is it because you think he should be using $10 words all the time rather than addressing people in in context and who his target audience is when he is on a TV show or a PBS science show?
I see. Make a claim that gets countered with correct information and then come back with some other comment rather than defending your initial claim. Me thinks nothing you say stands up to any scrutiny.
We call that a theory.
+JR S. Well, google it. It's actually very interesting if you're into noobie physics
Peder Hansen it was a physical demonstration aka an experiment.
Brian Greene is awesome. Someone gave me one of his books, and it’s really good. He explains difficult ideas so well.
Wtf I wanted to see the transmission of energy from ball to ball. I was expecting a slow-mo at the end tbh.
You're right they should have used two cameras.
it's probably on the internet
They should've hired the slowmo guys.
@@mikmik4443 You should ALWAYS hire the Slowmo Guys!
There's a tiny bit at the very end of the video. The bottom, largest ball doesn't bounce all that much at all. The yellow one shoots right up. I'm wondering if it's a bit like those desk toys with the swinging balls where the middle ones don't move much but the end ones are the ones to absorb the energy?? That's what it looks like is happening. Kinda cool! (But yes, even better if they showed a clearer view! Lol!) 🙌😋💫
Well, that escalated quickly.
Haaaaaaaaah.
Supernovas are like that.
this. I like this. 15 points for Ravenclaw
N3D A belated bravo.
Well played
So much cheering for a star dying
*Read this with the voice of Neil DeGrasse Tyson in your head* ...but the death of that star spreads the stuff of life throughout the cosmos. Don't think of it as the end of a giant; think of it as the beginning of life facilitated by the passing of a giant. We are all made of star-stuff, and when we die, our atoms will eventually become the stuff of stars. Thus, we will some day become the stuff of other stars, or other life.
We are made from dead star stuff so it's only logical that we would celebrate star deaths.
What is dead may never die.
stars dying is why we're here...literally.
we are actually living on the star's memories.... like physically
I wish I had been introduced to Prof. Greene when I was in high school. I would be a Physicist today, bringing the excitement of science to South Africans 🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦 .
Well atleast south africa already had elon musk :)
It's not too late...
Bra yam khululeka ungabuyela eskolweni uyofunda iScience it's not too late. I was also talked out of studying sciences which is a decision I regret now.
@@elethumbalane480 akuyinto enhle ukuthi teachers and parents/elders to project their own fears and feelings towards such subjects. Thank you for your encouragement, but I feel like that ship has sailed.
@@manqobahlanze6258 Ngiyakuzwa mfowethu.
When this was filmed the world seemed normal
More so today, post insurrection
Seems like a pretty easy record to break.
It kinda is, as long as they allow the balls to be strung along with, I think, string. What is really difficult and impressive are stacks of balls that are simply dropped on top of one another without any kind of string guides. Even a 3-stack of basic solid rubber balls bounces higher than this string-tethered setup, it's just super-difficult to make sure they all hit right on top of one another so that they bounce straight upward.
I was also pretty unimpressed by the balls. But considering this was a world record, either no one bothered setting it before, or there is a hell of a lot more involved to getting it to work than we saw.
It looks easy, but think of the balls it took to do.
thus...the joke.
ouch.
I love science -- glad Colbert is featuring astronomy.
Astronomy???
Syed Haider the fucks your problem?
Syed Haider triggered dumbass, knowledge is knowledge, doesn't matter where it comes from.
Read his books. .
Can't get enough of astronomy.
so this video exploded 3 years ago and now it reach my recommendation,good thing it was not yesterday it would've wipe me out.
hahaha
This was great. PLEASE HAVE MORE SCIENTISTS AS GUESTS!!!
Amazing how this went from educational to reality show in the blink of an eye.
Sadly because reality tv is what general public is interested in.
Bobby Singh Yeah, it's so sad.
this really saddens me, instead of focusing on sparking science interest in people, the focus of the show went to the Guiness World Record gimmick... Its because of things like this that we never revisited the moon...
@@hassaneeen visiting moon became impractical after semiconductor technology gained momentum. Because of that, sending rovers and satellites is much cheaper and more useful than sending a human. Moonlanding was more of an effort to win at the space race than actually studying the space.
@@ritwikreddy5670 I like your comment, sums up a lot of history
Colbert is great on this show. He doesn't just have some dumb bubbly celebrities on, he also has scientists and what not, helping educate the public or at the very least get them interested in things, rather than always just have mind numbing guests and topics.
yess
He did that on the Report as well
and now it's a show filled with left-wing hate propaganda... sad how things change
He had Anita Sarkeesian on it. That's absolute failure.
@@templarrising6299 im sorry. Everyone give him room. He needs his safe space e
Bryan is cool and I appreciate Stephen's genuine curiosity and not making cheap jokes at the expense of understanding
I love Brian Green. That was incredible. Thank you Steven for sharing him with us.
I read one of Brian Greene's books for my physics class and THAT made my brain implode on itself.
And that made your balls fly into Steven Colbert's mouth
Love all of his books! :D
Which one??
Calvin Dang I like his books and he is undoubtedly a very intelligent man, but I don't like him in talks or videos at all. I do like NDT though, so what do I know.
Name of the book?
Thanks Stephen and CBS for featuring non-sensationalist or dumbed-down science on your show! I hope this becomes a trend for others.
Yes, of course. I meant in reference to some other shows that play to the absolute lowest-common denominator treating the audience like they're slow witted 2 year-olds. I've seen some of that even on the Science Channel, and it's annoying because they often fail in their attempt to simplify the complex, so that the science itself seems suspect, if not bunk, when it isn't. For the time allotted, Brian Greene's bit was sufficient for his goal. *****
I agree, it was simplified and not dumbed-down. That is a very important distinction.
Not dumbed down? He compared bouncing balls to a supernova... This is the epitome of dumbed down. This is a middle school science class demonstration.
I agree cloud... but good luck getting a scientist on Fallon. Jimmy'd probably fake-laugh at him and make him throw balls at a target of Pauly Shore.
Broken Wave There's a difference between something being "dumbed down" and something being explained in terms laypeople can easily visualize.
Stephen: ... hyernova ... Captions: ... *HYPERNOVEMBER* ...
He isn't interested in breaking records he is just more concerned about how he could comprehend this magic to the people. Just look at his eyes 4:25
It’s not magic but rather physics but I get what you mean.
I didn't expect that experiment to end in confetti lol
if there was a record brocen then of coarse
this dude was so excited by start that it made ME excited
Same, he has great energy
Stephen Colbert is goofy af. That face on the ceiling was hilarious. This is really lighthearted comedy we need right now. Thank you Stephen!!
Superb...awesome explanation and demonstration condensed in just few moments...brilliant
Now this is why I love Stephen Colbert's Late show rather than the other Late shows, he actually interviews people with intelligence, talks about current important issues as well as being funny, not just throwing pies at people's faces who are as thick as a brick #soznotsoz
Oh, come on. Queen Elizabeth I interviewed both Tycho Brahe and Wayne Newton, Isaac Newton's grandfather, in 1588 when she founded BBC 2. Then Johnny Carson had Carl Sagan on his show regularly during much of his run on TV. Jay Leno and Dave Letterman always brought scientists on their shows as well. Stephen Colbert is just carrying on a tradition here. Neil deGrasse Tyson has also been a frequent guess on late shows in the past. This obviously isn't an ideal venue for them, but they have even made it there. A much better venue is Ira Flato's radio show on NPR called Science Friday. Did you know that some of the best scientists in the world are women? Science Friday features outstanding scientists from all corners of the world, many of whom are women. Check it out on your radio dial on Friday's at 3:00 p.m., E.S.T., on NPR.
If you don't see something truly beautiful there, there is something sadly missing in the core of your being. Thank you, Stephen and Brian! Great exposition!
Why are Guinness "officials" always dressed like flight attendants?
ya
that guy is always in Dude Perfect videos AHHA
I miss these kinds of interviews. I hope Stephen would bring these back. or maybe have a lotr segment where he explains it.
There is hope for the world when major talk shows like The Late Show has scientists on it and they get a good reception :D And as for the title? Well, OUR world will end when our sun goes red giant and either cooks us from a close distance, or envelops us. We'll be a wee little crisp. And it'll finish with a little bang and settle into a tiny white ball. faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/~infocom/The%20Website/end.html
I rather go out with a boom rather than a sizzle.
Ah man, bummer, you mean we all are going to one day die? And the buzz-kill of the year award goes to.........Shkotay D. For somebody interested in such scientific knowledge you'd think you would be able to come up with a better screen name, instead of some crap that's not even a word. Your email address is probably 1Tl1l1%@aol.com
chicken Oh its a real name, just not english. You could have asked what it meant: Ojibway word for "Fire". Thanks for the ignorant comment of the day :D WELL DONE!!
Shkotay D Oh good come back. That's like saying: 'I know you are but what am I?' I was going to end it on peaceful terms but then I just had to click the 'show more' button. God this world is going to blow itself up; people are so stupid.
chicken K :D
Isn't that the same guinness guy they just had on dude perferct?
That's what I was thinking
the same guy
lol I was so expecting this comment
that's what I thought!
It sure is! Pretty sure at this point, Guinness is just this one dude who prints out certificates and wears that outfit like it's the opening ceremony of the Olympics.
brian greene and brian cox and jim holt are my favorite scientists out there people should really check out their videos their explanation has made physics so much more fun for me
Brian Greene is awesome.
I've a feeling that he is NOT going to be able to hold this record for a very long time
Aaditya Pandya get some really good rubbers and probably not.
hell he is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you Stephen, for doing this type of segment and not just comic bits, thank you for inspiring people to not only be comedians or work in showbusiness, but to be scientists and engineers as well, someting that the world truly needs
Great substance in such simplicity,,,amazing ''thank you
Well spoken, very articulate, matter of fact and to the point. Well taught.
So much more interesting than some random celebrity plugging their latest movie or tv show.
2:14 Stephen was thinking about Sauron
great combination of education and entertainment. we need more of this.
I understood the concept a little bit but the demonstration helped me visualize and conceptualize this phenomenon much more! Thank you Stephen!! I love and appreciate these scientists you bring on the show ❤️🙏🏽
Brian Green dropping kowledge like Trump dropping nonsense
"take cover, small arms fire imbound!!!" (shots)
Dropping science like Galileo dropped the orange.
Christian Mora *knowledge
More like Trump dropping The Mother of all Bombs
Abraham Ntienjem That was a Russia gate obfuscating, penis compensating device, not a bomb.
This is what I love about The Late Show: Stephen will not only have celebrities on it but also physicists and other important people!
I love how Stephen invites scientists and makes it interesting with real examples, but I would love to see a psychologist on there or something with the same passion and enthusiasm
In love with brian greene , as a person, professional , his beautiful looks , decency,humour, enthusiasm everything!
Incredible! Really worth watching.
Ok now I'm going to demonstrate how a black hole works. Alright, so I got my calculator here, and then I'm gonna take one divided by zero--NO WAIT!!!!!!!!
I get what you are trying to say but zero divided by anything is zero.
Fair enough. I forgot to say except zero. Sorry.
+dahalofreeek 0/x = 0, but x/0 = undefined
+Falcø only when x>0
+Zachary Santos *FIXED*
I wish they showed that part again in slowmo
Let go my purse! I dont kneewwyouuu! 😁
@@frankguy9772 Lol bobby in the ymca
love it when Brian green is on the show. he is awesome and always demonstrates an amazing experiment
I wish they allocated more time for this segment. The supernova explanation was very rushed and anyone who didn't already understand how it worked wouldn't have followed.
+supremebeing87 I think you're overestimating. The average American thinks Europe is a country. Cmon now. We're talking severe ignorance here. You probably frequen educated communities, but if you really meet an average American then it is quite sad. Almost appalling how slow and ignorant they are.
James Smith I don't get it.
Yea, I don't understand why American talk shows only invite guests to talk for like 5-10 minutes only. I can literally talk about breakfast I had for longer than that.
I didn't already understand and I feel this made me understand perfectly. How can it get any simpler when you're bringing out the colorful plastic candy balls?
Finally something interesting @LSSC , which did not have trump in it.
More of these on a regular basis,please.
Cool video featuring Brian Greene. Thanks! I found it entertaining. The talk about the anniversary of the discovery of the powerful supernova/hypernova was cool. It's instructive to learn about how a (massive) star can collapse, producing a shockwave and explosion. The core rebounds into the outer layers/shells. (I believe such a Hypernova explosion can sometimes be associated with a Gamma-ray burst as well). The tallest Galilean Cannon demonstration was nice too. The Guinness world record was cool, (though I believe it was surpassed in 2018). Likes/replies/comments welcome! Thanks.
I love that Stephen takes genuine interest in this stuff! Why did he stop having Brian on the show?
Cuz DeGrasse Tyson became the new science popstar 😂
Was pretty hard to spot that ball in all the confetti and the bitrate
Maybe you should learn what confetti actually does to cameras. Tom Scott just did a video on it actually. Also, why would you need to see the ball falling back down? You clearly see it go passed the Stephen cutout.
He literally mentioned the bitrate, which implies that he knows the effects of a large amount of changing data, and its relation to video compression.
ENTERUSERNAMEHERE555 Just because he mentioned the bitrate, it doesn't mean he know's why it is that way. You're inferring information. There was literally no reason for his comment to exist at all anyway. The bitrate obviously wasn't an issue for the demonstration...
It is a comment section there is no reason to write anything especially pedantic bs like you
Nokty So you're saying that even though he correctly used a term in the right context... he doesn't understand what it means or its implications?
Nice to see a Late Show interested in explaining science in a fun way to audiences... much more interesting than gossiping about "celebrities" 👍
2:45 who could have predicted the scientist describing nuclear-astrophysics would fumble a sports analogy
" a very stiff surface"
Thank you for always giving prime time space to science Colbert, you are and the show is the best!
Agreed 👍
agree 2 👏👍
So glad to someone on a talk show i am really a fan of.....i have read three of his books and watched so many of his videos....he is so intelligent,explains everything so well and so cool also
I love Brian Greene, he's so excited and passionate about science you can't help but get excited yourself.
Finally found something I can do to get me onto the Guinness book of records.
it's good that supernovas and hypernovas use the same naming system as potions in pokemon
don't forget the masternova that only appears once per universe
+zantomun haha nice.
Good that Colbert invites IMPORTANT people
This kind of stuff is why colbert is better than anyone else in the air right now
Este Senhor é um grande comunicador ...a ciência divertida e bem explicada! ...
I love how Stephen always invites scientists onto the show
Fantastic analogy!!!
Now that was cool! He explained it very well and Colbert asked all the questions! Larry
Scientists always have the coolest demonstrations.
Who are these 1.5 thousand people who thought this wasn't good?! Have you no sense of wonder left?
Religious people, that's who.
ya
People who think this is scripted and didnt watch it
Not really, while I didn't hit the unlike button, I got a little disappointed in the end. The show is about exploding stars, and science, and suddenly it became a Guinness world record reality TV gimmick... I would have loved it, and respected it much more if the focus was purely on the science aspect of it... (Neil DeGrasse Tyson never reverted to gimmicks to explain science...) Also, at the end we only saw the ball pass through the colbert poster, no explanation, and no conclusion...
Never thought a talk show would do something like this. I love it!
It seems like every modern late night talk show has some sort of science segment, but what I really appreciate about Colbert's show is that he has the thought to bring on people (like Brian Greene) who can stimulate curiosity in cutting edge physics. There's no party tricks, only really interesting cut down versions of extremely important physics ideas. Although some of these explanations can be challenging to grasp for some, I hope at least a portion of viewers feel intrigued and potentially do their own research on the subjects. These types of guests really inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers who will take the human race further into the future. Thank you Stephen and Brian!
Wait...THAT's all I needed to do to win a lifetime supply of beer?
Record holders get lifetime supply of beer??
Well, if it's *Guiness* world records, i'd certainly hope so.
You also need to be a renowned professor of physics and a popular character in TV
huh
I just love Brian Greene
Guz Man Thank you!
One of the best shows i ever saw.. new interesting stuff every show !
Brian Green is amazing. Giving him such a large platform to help spark curiosity in science is far more important then a celebrity plugging there latest project. Good job Colbert
i love astrophysics, but man does Guinnes make a Fool out of themselves
@Ganiscol Meanwhile, the crazy australians at How Ridiculous launched a two stage galillean cannon some 40 meters. I get that Guiness is a business and all, but just watch the bit on Last Week Tonight about the Turkish royal to get a sense of how ... shady ... things are.
Ganiscol exactly that is the problem.
My most powerful explosions come after I eat del taco
Your stomach gases implode on itself and it rebounds to a hyperfart
I never realized that the transfer of energy on this scale could produce that much confetti.🤯
Loved his book "An elegant universe" great book!
I feel like I could double that height in my backyard with $100.
It's great Stephen is incorporating people with actual intelligence into his shows
If late night shows invites people like Brian all the time, i might watch all of the episodes.
You guys are so awesome!
That's the same Guinness guy from the Dude Perfect video
Hard times at Guinness.
Gay
ya i love dude perfect
oi, I want to see all the balls drop and rebound, not just the yellow one. And in slow motion, this is Internet after all .
Honestly the scientists are my favorite segments. Always so interesting and a cool thing to put on a comedy show
Fr this is the best guest on this show
This isn't how the world will end. The sun isn't massive enough to go nova. It will swell up to the orbit of Earth and fry everything. /nerdsoapbox
Yeah, although everything in the video is accurate, the title is not :(
Still cool though...
No. He was explaining how a supernova starts, not our sun
The Sun will undergo a regular nova, which is basically the sun expanding to a red giant, and eventually expelling its outer layers, leaving a white dwarf. Even the white dwarf will eventually die, but not for billions of years after that.
+Mel hooprah Title is mostly right. . Description not so much. .
Dudes in the band be like: “dafuq??”
😅😅😅
What an odd record 😂 love it!!!
Please, more mathematicians!! I know they tend to be weird, but they can be fun. This is pure awesome sauce.
Lol!!! That's the same World Record guy from the Dude Perfect video!!!
i love dude perfect
You know what's the most powerful explosion in the universe? My life. Because it is now in pieces.
Think of the guy that was just underneath the bomb when it went off in Hiroshima and realize the enormity of what you just said. The dude was literally disintegrated and his atoms spreaded a few thousands miles across. Atoms travel far in the winds...
+Ramon Zarat uhhh... Sorry....?
+TheRedRaccoonDog It's not a bad life really. Sometimes I wonder if people take jokes a bit too seriously. But then this is the Internet, anything goes.
+TheRedRaccoonDog True that
So fascinating.
Always good to see scientists being invited on TV shows.
0:54 - 1:07 He meant to say "Half a Trillion"...Even incredible minds experience a brain fart every 3.8 billion years or so.
Glad someone else also uses the long ladder ^^