How Richard Feynman’s classic analogy of building blocks explains the conservation of energy. Professor Andrea Sella recalls Feynman’s illustration of the first law of thermodynamics with a child’s building blocks and wily mother. This animation is day 6 of our thermodynamics advent calendar: http://www.rigb.org/christmas-lectures/supercharged-fuelling-the-future/thermodynamics-2016-advent-calendar?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=201612_channel_advent Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe Chemist Andrea Sella recalls Richard Feynman’s analogy explaining the conservation of energy. A evolving negotiation over toy blocks between a mother and son comes together to illustrate the first law of thermodynamics. There are many ways to describe the first law of thermodynamics, and many ways to explain it. In this unique animation, chemist Andrea Sella recalls one of Richard Feynman’s descriptions of the law. In a classic analogy, Feynman imagines a child with a set of building blocks, and a mother struggling to ensure he doesn’t lose any. Each day, the total number of blocks remains the same, although some do stray from their original location. This consistent fact – that the blocks cannot be created or destroyed – allows the mother to calculate how many blocks are in a box without even looking. And this consistent fact, that energy itself is also always conserved, lays the foundation for one of physics’ greatest rules. The 2016 advent calendar explores the four laws of thermodynamics with a new short film each day, with explosive demonstrations, unique animations, and even a musical number. Open the calendar at http://rigb.org/advent?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=201612_channel_advent Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe The Ri is on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tu