Next up is Powers of 10, a useful shorthand for referring to a very wide range of distance scales in the Universe. Some pictures from the powers0f10 web site are included, showing an artist’s impression of what we would see at distance scales ranging from the very edges of the known universe (10⁺²⁵m) all the way down to attometre scales (10^-18m), i.e. a billionth of a billionth of a metre.

We segue into a discussion of the structure of matter, talking about atoms, nuclei and electrons. Going beyond what is normally mentioned in science courses in school, we discuss what is inside protons and neutrons: quarks and gluons. I finish up with an introduction to the strong nuclear force, which is responsible for binding atomic nuclei together stably.

Here is a PDF file with all the slides from Episode 1.

(Note: the recording sounds like it might have ended prematurely, and it did -  but only by a couple of seconds. You didn’t miss anything.)