50 Ideas You Really Need to Know
5 total works
We encounter physics before we've even left the house in the morning; an alarm clock tracks time, a mirror reflects light waves and our mobile phones rely on satellites held in their orbit by gravity.
Where would we be without the Bernoulli equation to explain how planes fly, electromagnetic waves enabling us to communicate around the world or the discovery of X-rays? In 50 Physics Ideas You Really Need to Know Joanne Baker will uncover the physics all around us, from basic concepts like gravity, light and energy through to the complexities of quantum theory, chaos and dark energy.
Featuring short biographies of iconic physicists, explanatory diagrams and timelines showing discoveries within their historical context, this book is the perfect guide to the fundamental concepts of physics, making even the most challenging theories easy to understand.
Contents include: Newton's law of gravitation, Brownian motion, Chaos theory, Fleming's right hand rule, Planck's law, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, Schrodinger's cat, Superconductivity, Rutherford's atom, Nuclear fission and fusion, The God particle, String theory, Special and general relativity, The big bang and the Anthropic principle.
A guide to everything you need and want to know about quantum physics, how our universe works and our existence in it.
Quantum physics is the most cutting-edge, important and fascinating area of modern science. We have all heard of Einstein's theory of relativity and Schrodinger's Cat - but do we really understand the mind-bending theories of our universe?
In 50 concise chapters, Joanne Baker covers the foundation concepts of quantum physics and moves on to present clear explanations of complex theories and their advanced applications - from string theory to black holes, and quarks to quantum computing. With informative two-colour illustrations alongside key ideas in straightforward, bite-sized chunks, this book will teach you everything you need to know about quantum physics - and challenge the way you understand the world.
The ideas explored include: Theory of relativity; Schroedinger's cat; Nuclear forces: fission and fusion; Antimatter; Superconductivity.
For millennia humanity has gazed in wonder at the night sky, tracked the motions of the planets and attempted to explain our place in the Universe. But only in our own time has the true scale, the astonishing variety and the remarkable strangeness of the cosmos come clearly into focus.
The pace and sophistication of recent scientific discovery has been breathtaking, but breakthroughs are often difficult to understand and their impact is hard to fully appreciate. In 50 Ideas You Really Need to Know: Universe, Joanne Baker clearly and concisely explains all of the essential concepts, major discoveries and the very latest thinking in astrophysics, including: the basic principles of astronomy - from heliocentrism to Newton's theory of optics; the constituent parts of the Universe, its creation and evolution; the key concepts of cosmology including the theory of relativity, supermassive black holes and 'multiverses'; the very latest developments in our understanding of quasars, exoplanets and astrobiology.
From dwarf planets to dark energy; and from the Big Bang to the death of stars, this book is the perfect introduction to the cutting-edge science that is shaping our understanding of our place in the Universe and that could lead to the next great discovery - the detection of life beyond Earth.
In a series of 50 accessible essays, Jo Baker introduces and explains all of the essential concepts, major discoveries and the very latest thinking in astrophysics.
From heliocentrism to Newton's theory of optics, the theory of relativity to supermassive black holes, 50 Ideas You Really Need to Know: Universe is a complete introduction to the most important concepts about our universe.