How Everything Works : Making Physics out of the Ordinary
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
A user's manual for our everyday world!
"Whether a curious layperson, a trained physicist, or a beginning physics student, most everyone will find this book an interesting and enlightening read and will go away comforted in that the world is not so strange and inexplicable after all."
--From the Foreword by Carl Wieman, Nobel Laureate in Physics 2001, and CASE/Carnegie US University Professor of the Year 2004
If you didn't know better, you might think the world was filled with magic--from the household appliances that make our lives easier to the CDs and DVDs that fill our world with sounds and images. Even a simple light bulb can seem mysterious when you stop to think about it.
Now in How Everything Works, Louis Bloomfield explains the physics behind the ordinary objects and natural phenomena all around us, and unravels the mysteries of how things work. Inside, you'll find easy-to-understand answers to scores of fascinating questions, including:
* How do microwave ovens cook food, and why does metal sometimes cause sparks in a microwave?
* How does an iPod use numbers to represent music?
* How do CDs and DVDs use light to convey information, and why are they so colorful?
* How can a CT or MRI image show a cross-sectional view of a person without actually entering the body?
* Why do golf balls have dimples?
* How does a pitcher make a curveball curve and knuckleball jitter about in an erratic manner?
* Why is the sun red at sunrise and sunset?
* How does a fluorescent lamp produce visible light?
You don't need a science or engineering background to understand How Everything Works, all you need is an active curiosity about the extraordinary world all around you.
From the Inside Flap
Key in two minutes on your microwave, and your popcorn mysteriously cooks. Press a button on your iPod, and you suddenly hear music. Turn a dial on your air conditioner and your sweltering bedroom becomes habitable.
When you stop to think, the ordinary technologies and natural phenomena all around us can seem quite extraordinary. Today’s cars, computers, copy machines and other technologies may appear to operate according to some dark, unseen magic. But the truth is, fundamental physics principles can explain how every technology works––no matter how jaw dropping or complex.
Now with Louis Bloomfield’s How Everything Works, you can get inside the seemingly inexplicable gizmos and gadgets that are part of the fabric of your everyday life, and understand the physics that makes them work. An acknowledged expert on physics as it applies to everyday life,
As How Everything Works examines everything from roller coasters to radio, and knuckleballs to nuclear weapons, it provides the answers to such questions as why the sky is blue, why metal is a problem in microwave ovens, and why some clothes require dry cleaning.
Filled with intriguing insights, How Everything Works is nothing short of a user’s manual for our everyday world. Even if you’re not the kind of person who typically likes to take things apart to see what makes them work, you soon will be.
How Everything Works : Making Physics out of the Ordinary
How Everything Works: Making Physics Out of the Ordinary,Louis A. Bloomfield,Wiley,047174817X,Physics,Science,Science/Mathematics,Popular science,Science / Physics
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