Trusting Physics channels on YouTube

[Abphysics]

Should I trust what people say like Vsauce or MinutePhysics about content or should I double check the information always?

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Those are two of the more well known physics channels on youtube. I'd say generally you can trust them, but certainly I wouldn't use them as a source or for citation.

 

[Flatland]

Fraser Cain and PBS Space Time is pretty good. Youtube videos are almost never a good source for citations unless it's a University lecture.

 

Fraser Cain and PBS Space Time is pretty good. Youtube videos are almost never a good source for citations unless it's a University lecture.

PBS Space Time is Phenomenal

 

[Choppy]

There's a saying in my industry: trust but verify.

Both of those channels tend to put out high quality, thought-provoking and generally interesting material, from what I've seen. But I wouldn't assume they're infallible.

One immediate issue that comes to mind is the problem of condensing a broad topic into a one-to-five minute video. It doesn't matter how good you are, in order to do this, you need to skip over some details somewhere.

So as with learning just about anything, it's reasonable to use these channels as a springboard. If you're really interested in something that they cover, seek out other sources. In an academic sense you want to seek out sources that are peer reviewed, although, such sources are often less accessible as they are written for other researchers. But that's the gold standard.