Everyday Physics

Physics professor, bestselling author, and dynamic storyteller James Kakalios reveals the mind-bending science behind the seemingly basic things that keep our daily lives running, from our smart phones and digital “clouds” to x-ray machines and hybrid vehicles. Most of us are clueless when it comes to the physics that makes our modern world so convenient. What’s the simple science behind motion sensors, touch screens, and toasters? How do we glide through tolls using an E-Z Pass, or find our way to new places using GPS? In The Physics of Everyday Things, James Kakalios takes us on an amazing journey into the subatomic marvels that underlie so much of what we use and take for granted. Breaking down the world of things into a single day, Kakalios engages our curiosity about how our refrigerators keep food cool, how a plane manages to remain airborne, and how our wrist fitness monitors keep track of our steps. Each explanation is coupled with a story revealing the interplay of the astonishing invisible forces that surround us. Through this “narrative physics,” The Physics of Everyday Things demonstrates that—far from the abstractions conjured by terms like the Higgs Boson, black holes, and gravity waves—sophisticated science is also quite practical. With his signature clarity and inventiveness, Kakalios ignites our imaginations and enthralls us with the principles that make up our lives.

Fascinating, fun and friendly, this physics book is perfect for anyone with a healthy dose of curiosity. How can you tell where a sound is coming from? What is the human energy equivalent of a vacuum cleaner? How does GPS work? Why do eggs explode in the microwave? Is there a vacuum inside double-glazed windows? Can you get less wet by cycling faster? With clear explanations and hundreds of colourful photos and diagrams, Everyday Physics is an engaging physics book accessible for all ages. You can read this brilliant book in whatever order you want, dipping in and out of the different sections. Based on Hermans' Everyday physics lecture series, it combines deep physical insights with back-of-the-envelope calculations, relating abstract physics concepts to the real world, often in a surprising way. Everyday Physics also features lots of intriguing home experiments to further demonstrate the explanations. Most of these can be done using simple items from the kitchen, such as using a glass of water, a torch, and a few drops of milk to understand why the sky is blue and the setting sun red. If you want to dig a bit deeper, there are extra resources in the shaded boxes throughout. Whether you're a parent, grandparent, college student or just have a healthy interest in the world around you, this book will bring the magic of physics to your everyday life. Once you discover the beauty of science, ordinary things will become extraordinary.

How Things Work provides an accessible introduction to physics for the non-science student. Like the previous editions it employs everyday objects, with which students are familiar, in case studies to explain the most essential physics concepts of day-to-day life. Lou Bloomfield takes seemingly highly complex devices and strips away the complexity to show how at their heart are simple physics ideas. Once these concepts are understood, they can be used to understand the behavior of many devices encountered in everyday life. The sixth edition uses the power of WileyPLUS Learning Space with Orion to give students the opportunity to actively practice the physics concepts presented in this edition. This text is an unbound, three hole punched version. Access to WileyPLUS sold separately.

Can you really lose weight by consuming nothing but ice cream and beer? How does the latest blockbuster movie get squeezed onto a disk, and how do they make the pictures seem 3D? How much does a selfie weigh? What's the science behind forensic investigations, body scans, and the dating of ancient artefacts? The Physics Behind... takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the scientific principles that that make the modern world work. Could there be life on Mars? Why is north really south? How do self-driving cars find their way around? These and many more topics are explored by starting with the basic science that makes them tick - examining the physics behind them. Packed with detailed original artwork and infographics, The Physics Behind... is perfect for anyone who has ever been curious about the science of life. Including: - The physics behind modern life: Wi-Fi, Facial recognition, touchscreens, microwave ovens, the ice cream and beer diet, taking a selfie, Flash memory, a bag of sugar, catching the train, calendars and clocks - The physics behind entertainment: optical discs, lasers, white water, executive toys, the electric guitar, music, 3D movies - The physics behind analysis: medical imaging, looking at little things, spectroscopy, crime scene investigation, tricorder, microfluidics, radiocarbon dating, proving the Earth is round - The physics behind space: rocket science, space weather, Planet Nine, space telescopes, is there anybody out there? life on Earth, life on Mars - The physics behind big science: what's the matter?, time travel, bomb or meltdown?, the Large Hadron Collider, the Human Genome Project, the Standard Model, gravity, everything - The physics behind the weird universe: strings, rings and other things, N-dimensional space, the hypercube, antimatter, the dark universe, quantum weirdness, quantum biology, time crystals and Majorana - The physics behind the environment: weather forecasts, climate change, renewable energy, migration, peacock feathers, sunburn, rainbows, spider silk - The physics behind transportation: autonomous autos, Hyperloop, Maglev, satellite navigation, motor sport, going rreeaallllyy fast, stealth - The physics behind everything else: curve balls, the Mpemba Effect, why north is really south, perpetual motion and the heat death of the universe, and the physics behind this book.

“[Czerski’s] quest to enhance humanity’s everyday scientific literacy is timely and imperative.”—Science Storm in a Teacup is Helen Czerski’s lively, entertaining, and richly informed introduction to the world of physics. Czerski provides the tools to alter the way we see everything around us by linking ordinary objects and occurrences, like popcorn popping, coffee stains, and fridge magnets, to big ideas like climate change, the energy crisis, or innovative medical testing. She provides answers to vexing questions: How do ducks keep their feet warm when walking on ice? Why does it take so long for ketchup to come out of a bottle? Why does milk, when added to tea, look like billowing storm clouds? In an engaging voice at once warm and witty, Czerski shares her stunning breadth of knowledge to lift the veil of familiarity from the ordinary.

This book aims to popularize physics by emphasizing conceptual ideas of physics and their interconnections, while avoiding mathematics entirely. The approach is to explore intriguing topics by asking and discussing questions, thereby the reader can participate in developing answers, which enables a deeper understanding than is achievable with memorization.The topic of this volume, 'Colors, light and Optical Illusions', is chosen because we face colors and light every waking minute of our lives, and we experience optical illusions much more often than we realize.This book will attract all those with a curious mind about nature and with a desire to understand how nature works, especially the younger generation of secondary-school children and their teachers.

Humans receive the vast majority of sensory perception through the eyes and ears. This non-technical book examines the everyday physics behind hearing and vision to help readers understand more about themselves and their physical environment. It begins wit