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THE VIDEO SHELF · wave behavior and transmission lines

AT&T Archives: Similiarities of Wave Behavior (Bonus Edition)

A Bell Labs film in which Dr. J.N. Shive uses a mechanical wave machine to demonstrate reflection, standing waves, resonance and impedance matching. He includes some equations but relies mostly on real-world examples a layperson can follow.

Why HN readers recommended it

HN repeatedly calls it the clearest introduction to waves and transmission-line behavior, better than modern explainers.

This is a summary from the source dataset, not an endorsement by Hacker News or the video creator.

Video & recommendation details

Creator / channel
AT&T Tech Channel
Topic
wave behavior and transmission lines
Format
lecture
Level
intro
HN recommenders in dataset
12
HN mentions in dataset
20
Recommendation years in dataset
2014–2026

These counts and years describe the included Hacker News records; they are not YouTube views or the video’s publication date.

From the original HN conversations

Excerpts from the recorded comments. Follow each source for the full comment and surrounding discussion.

  • I'm even jealous of the engineering students that came before me! :P Visualization is such a powerful tool. I didn't really understand waves until I saw "Similarities of Wave Behaviour" [VIDEO]

    kaoD on Hacker News · 2014-11
    In Show HN: Explained Visually
  • I've never understood why these old instructional films so often seem much better at getting things across and making them stick in my mind than more modern material. A couple other examples. 1. A 1959 film from Bell Labs on wave behavior that made standing …

    tzs on Hacker News · 2015-08
    In How a Watch Works (1949) [video]
  • Bell Labs' 1959 video "Similarities of Wave Behavior." By far the best introduction to the subject of waves of any sort. [VIDEO]

    Causality1 on Hacker News · 2019-08
    In Ask HN: Your favourite tutorial for total beginners?

Summaries, classifications and recommendation records are from the HackerTube source dataset. Read about this library and its limitations.