Why Toast Lands Jelly-Side Down (eBook)

Zen and the Art of Physics Demonstrations

Robert Ehrlich (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2020
208 Seiten
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-0-691-22165-6 (ISBN)

Infos

Physics has the reputation of being difficult to understand and remote from everyday life. Robert Ehrlich, however, has spent much of his career disproving these stereotypes. In the long-awaited sequel to Turning the World Inside Out and 175 Other Simple Physics Demonstrations, he provides a new collection of physics demonstrations and experiments that prove that physics can, in fact, be "e;made simple."e; Intentionally using "e;low tech"e; and inexpensive materials from everyday life, Why Toast Lands Jelly-Side Down makes key principles of physics surprisingly easy to understand. After laying out the basic principles of what constitutes a successful demonstration, Ehrlich provides more than 100 examples. Some of the more intriguing include: Terminal Velocity of Falling Coffee Filters; Spinning a Penny; Dropping Two Rolls of Toilet Paper; Avalanches in a Sand Pile; When to Add the Cream to Your Coffee; Deep Knee Bends on a Bathroom Scale; Recoil Force on a Bent Straw; Swinging Your Arms While Walking; Estimating the Net Force on a Moving Book; and, of course, Why Toast Lands Jelly-Side Down. The book begins with a practical introduction on how to design physics demonstrations. The benefits of designing one's own "e;demos"e; are numerous, but primary among them is an increased understanding of basic physics. For many people who teach the principles of physics, demonstrations seem dauntingly complex, filled with hard-to-find equipment and too many possibilities for failure. The demonstrations described in this book are exactly the opposite. Ehrlich describes them with characteristic candor: "e;You can fit many of them in your pocket, bring them to your class without any set-up required, and best of all, you need not fear that your demo will more likely illustrate Murphy's laws rather than Newton's."e; For anyone with even the slightest interest in physics, Why Toast Lands Jelly-Side Down is filled with learning opportunities. For everyone who is studying physics or teaching the subject at any level, from amateur scientists to professional teachers, it is an essential resource.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 10.11.2020
• Zusatzinfo: 2 halftones 111 line illus.
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Angewandte Physik
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Plasmaphysik
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Thermodynamik
• Schlagworte: Absorber • acceleration • Accelerometer • Aluminium foil • Amplitude • Archimedes' principle • asymmetry • Atwood's machine • Bell Jar • Boiling • boulder in a boat • candle oscillator • capillary action • Cavitation • Center of mass (relativistic) • centrifugal force • Centrifuge • chain reaction • Coefficient of Restitution • Coffee filter • Collision • Conceptual physics • Coulomb barrier • Coulomb's Law • Depth of Field • diffraction • diffraction grating • Dimmer • dowel • Drag force • elastic collision • Electrostatics • exchange processes • expansion of universe • Fleming's left-hand rule for motors • floaters • Foam rubber • General relativity • Granular material • Greenhouse Effect • Greenhouse Gas • Ground glass • hourglass, weight of • Hubble's law • Incandescent light bulb • Inelastic collision • Inertial forces • inverse lawn sprinkler • Inverse-square law • Inverted Pendulum • invisibility • Kipnis, Nahun • ladder against a wall • length contraction • Lens (optics) • magnetic dipole • magnetic marbles • Magnetic stirrer • mass distribution • Mass ratio • Maxima and minima • Measurement Uncertainty • Melting • methane • Michelson–Morley experiment • missing circular arc • Mixture • Modern Physics • Moiré pattern • Moment of Inertia • negative pinhole image • Negative Pressure • Newton's cradle • Newton's first law • Newton's law of cooling • Newton's laws of motion • nuclear fission • nuclear fusion • nucleation • Orbit • Oscillation • oscilloscope • overhead projector uses • Parallel axis theorem • pendulum • Photon • Pinhole imaging • Plastic • plastic cup • precession • Prediction • Psychic Powers • Quantity • quantum mechanics • quantum tunnelling • Radiometer • refraction • Refractive index • refrigerator • Relativity of simultaneity • resonance • rolling resistance • rotating waves • Roundness (geology) • Ruler • sand piles • scattering • second law of thermodynamics • Shock waves • Sign convention • Simple Harmonic Motion • Simultaneity • Siphon • slinky • Small-angle approximation • Snell's law • Soap bubble • soap bubbles • Soap film • Soda straw • Special relativity • spinning a penny • spiral density wave • statics • stopwatch • styrofoam • Tachyons • Temperature • tensile strength of water • Terminal velocity • Thermometer • Thin-film interference • Time dilation • tippy tops • toilet paper • Total internal reflection • Tuning fork • Tygon tubing • unstable equilibrium • Vacuum • Vibration • Washer (hardware) • water lens • weight of air • worldlines • World Wide Web
• ISBN-10: 0-691-22165-0 / 0691221650
• ISBN-13: 978-0-691-22165-6 / 9780691221656