The One Question About LIGHT That Feynman Couldn't Answer

Описание: Why does glass reflect exactly 4% of light? Why not 5%? Why not 3%?
This seems like a simple question. But when you dig deeper, you find something unsettling. When you fire a single photon at glass, it either reflects or passes through. Every time. No splitting, no half-measures.
So how does it "decide"? How does one photon "know" that exactly 4 out of every 100 photons should bounce back?
This mystery haunted Isaac Newton. It confused physicists for centuries. And when Richard Feynman developed his Nobel Prize-winning theory of quantum electrodynamics, even he admitted he couldn't fully explain what was really happening.
In this video, we explore the question Feynman couldn't answer: the mystery behind 1/137, the "magic number" that governs how light and matter interact. This isn't just a physics curiosity. It's one of the deepest unsolved problems in all of science.
In this video, we explore Feynman's famous QED lectures to understand what the fine structure constant is, why every theoretical physicist has it "written on their wall," and why Feynman called it "one of the greatest damn mysteries of physics." Drawing primarily from his 1985 book "QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter" and his Messenger Lectures at Cornell, we walk through the partial reflection paradox, the double-slit experiment, and why even our most accurate theory cannot tell us where these numbers come from.

📚 SOURCES
Richard P. Feynman, "QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter" (Princeton University Press, 1985), based on the Alix G. Mautner Memorial Lectures at UCLA, 1983
Richard P. Feynman, "The Character of Physical Law" (MIT Press, 1965), Messenger Lectures at Cornell University, 1964
Richard P. Feynman, Robert Leighton, Matthew Sands, "The Feynman Lectures on Physics," Volume III: Quantum Mechanics (Addison-Wesley, 1965), Chapter 1: "Quantum Behavior"
Richard P. Feynman, "The Feynman Lectures on Physics," Volume II (Addison-Wesley, 1964), Chapter 19: "The Principle of Least Action"
Sir Douglas Robb Lectures, University of Auckland, New Zealand, 1979 (videotaped lectures available through the Vega Science Trust)

CREDITS
Script: AI-Generated Educational Content Voice: AI-Generated (Synthetic) Visuals: AI-Generated

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS
00:00 The Magic Number That Haunts Physics 02:45 A Brief History of Light 07:30 The Strange Behavior of Glass 12:15 Newton's Unsolved Puzzle 16:40 Feynman's Little Arrows Explained 23:20 The Wave-Particle Misconception Destroyed 29:50 The Double-Slit Mystery 38:30 How Mirrors Really Work (It's Not What You Think) 44:15 Why 137? The Deepest Mystery in Physics 51:40 The Limits of "Why" Questions in Science 55:20 What This All Means For Our Understanding
If you could change the fine structure constant to any value, what would you choose and why? Share your thoughts below.

⚠️ WARNING
[This video is AI-generated (synthetic voice and visuals). It is an original, fictional lecture inspired by Richard Feynman's teaching style and public ideas, and is not an authentic recording, endorsement, or statement by Richard Feynman or his estate. Any resemblance is for educational/creative purposes]