Physics Over Easy: Breakfasts with Beth and Physics

by Azaroff, Leonid V.

• ISBN13: 9789814295451
• ISBN10: 9814295450
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-07-31
• Publisher: Textstream

Summary

During a sequence of meals, the author relates the principal features of physics in easy-to-understand conversations with his wife Beth. Beginning with the studies of motion by Galileo and Newton through to the revolutionary theories of relativity and quantum mechanics in the 20th century, all important aspects of electricity, energy, magnetism, gravity and the structure of matter and atoms are explained and illustrated. The second edition similarly recounts the more recent application of these theories to nanoparticles, BoseEinstein condensates, quantum entanglement and quantum computers. By including accurate measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background and supernovae in near and distant galaxies, an understanding of how the universe was formed in an Inflationary Big Bang is now possible. We've also gained a much better picture of the life of stars and how they may turn into red giants, white dwarfs, black holes, neutron stars or pulsars.

Author Biography

Leonid V Azroff has taught physics and materials science for over forty years. He is the author of seven books and numerous papers, including three introductory texts. His wife, Beth, hitherto minimally informed about physics, is a well-known psychologist and an inquisitive and probing listener.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Introduction: What Keeps Us Going?	p. 1
Physicists, and Other People	p. 1
Breakfast of Hard-Boiled Eggs with Inertia	p. 5
How It All Began-with Rolling Balls	p. 5
Breakfast of Eggs Bene-Bricked	p. 15
What Keeps the Ball Rolling?	p. 15
Breakfast of Apple-Gravity Pancakes	p. 21
Why Does an Apple Fall From a Tree?	p. 21
Breakfast of Cereal and Calories	p. 30
But It Takes Energy to Keep Moving	p. 30
Breakfast of Hot Cakes with Energy	p. 35
How Hot is It?	p. 35
Putting Heat to Work	p. 37
Breakfast of French Toast	p. 44
First Law: You Can't Win	p. 44
Second Law: Nor Can You Break Even	p. 46
Breakfast of Cold Cuts	p. 52
Go Fly a Kite!	p. 52
Storing Electricity	p. 57
Breakfast of Blueberry Muffins	p. 64
Electricity in Matter	p. 64
a.c./d.c.	p. 71
Breakfast of Apple Fritters and Love	p. 77
Magnetic Forces	p. 77
Magnetic Fields	p. 81
What Maxwell Wrought	p. 87
Breakfast of Eggs and Crisp Bacon	p. 93
Making Waves	p. 93
What Waves Can Do	p. 97
Breakfast of Oat Meal with Light Cream	p. 106
What is Light?	p. 106
How and What We See	p. 109
It's a Colorful World!	p. 116
Breakfast of Lox and Bagels	p. 121
What's the Speed of Light?	p. 121
Is it Really Relative?	p. 123
The Paradoxes of Relativity and Black Holes	p. 126
Breakfast of Farina	p. 132
Does Anyone Believe in Quanta?	p. 132
What About Atoms?	p. 136
Breakfast of Danish Pastry	p. 145
What's a Wave Function?	p. 145
Born and Heisenberg Have the Answer	p. 150
Breakfast of Waffles	p. 155
Atoms Can Be Fun	p. 155
What Attracts Atoms to Each Other?	p. 164
Breakfast of O. J., Donuts, and Coffee	p. 170
Surrounded by Fluids	p. 170
We Depend on Solids	p. 173
Breakfast of Rice Krispies	p. 178
Who's Afraid of Radioactivity?	p. 178
What's Inside the Nucleus?	p. 182
For Better or For Worse - Nuclear Energy	p. 185
Our Nuclear Legacy	p. 196
Breakfast of Corn Fritters	p. 200
A Mess of Particles	p. 200
What, More Conservation Laws?	p. 205
Quarks and More Quarks	p. 210
The GUTS of Physics	p. 216
Dinner at Home	p. 220
Einstein Centennial	p. 220
A Promising Nanotechnology	p. 223
Quantum Entanglement	p. 226
Quantum Computers	p. 229
Lunch at the Beach	p. 232
Bose-Einstein Condensates	p. 232
Lunch at Venetian Bay	p. 238
Our Energy Problems	p. 238
Energy Wastes	p. 239
The Good News about Nukes	p. 241
Breakfast at the Beach	p. 244
How It All Began	p. 244
Cosmic Microwave Background	p. 245
Big Bang	p. 246
Inflationary Universe	p. 249
Probing the Cosmic Microwave Background	p. 251
Dinner Under the Stars	p. 254
The Stars in Heaven	p. 254
Red Giants and White Dwarfs	p. 256
After Dinner at Home	p. 260
Supernovae and Neutron Stars	p. 260
Black Holes	p. 263
Supernovae as Standard Candles	p. 265
Glossary of Physics Terms	p. 268
Acknowledgments	p. 279
Index	p. 281
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