50 Physics Ideas You Really Need to Know

by Joanne Baker

Book Overview

As well as outlining and explaining such historic breakthroughs in human understanding of the physical world as Kepler's law of planetary motion and Newton's law of gravitation, Joanne Baker unravels... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1847241484
• ISBN13: 9781847241481
• Release Date: June 2007
• Publisher: Quercus Books
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.8" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A Nice Refresher Course

I'm out of practice on physics, to this was a really handy review, covering everything from Newtonian motion to relativity to quantum mechanics to cosmology and string theory. Baker does a great job of explaining the history behind the theories and provides some fascinating anecdotes and facts about the scientists who developed these important ideas. She also presents the material in a format that is understandable and digestible, with four pages given to each topic, and the ideas arranged in a naturally-flowing sequence. I would have liked to see a little bit more of the mathematics covered, but I also realize that not everyone in the target audience for a book like this is going to have a lot of tolerance for pages of equations. Baker's "condensed idea" catchphrases that end the chapters are a bit hit-or-miss, and a few of the segments wander off the topic a bit. But some of the topics are really well-presented. I may use Baker's description of photoelectric effect in my chemistry class next year. Her explanation is superior to either my textbook or any version that I've managed to come up with for my students. I also really enjoyed the chapter on Feynman diagrams, a topic that I really had no previous exposure to and which I came away feeling like I had a decent grasp and a curiosity to learn more. And she did a good job with some topics that I'm very comfortable with already such as the Ideal Gas Law. This is worth reading if you're taking physics, teaching it, trying to refresh your knowledge of it, or if you missed out on it in high school or college and are curious as to what it's all about.

All You Need to Start Aprecciating Physics

A Series on Fifty Basic Ideas: I was not sure exactly what readership this book is intended for, until I browsed through its penta-sections and read some of its entries. Since the fifty ideas cannot be quite included in a coffee table book nor is it a physics reference book, indeed it could be labeled a refresher review of modern physics. If you approach this book as a physics vocabulary, with elaborate definitions you could get more out of it. This second volume of an innovative series representing the core of critical areas of modern human knowledge, on Management, Mathematics, Philosophy, and Physics, the Cantab author Joanne Baker wraps up the top complex ideas of twentieth century physical sciences theory for a scientific enquiry reader. She explores the state of science on physical concepts at the end of the last century, for third millennia lay persons helping them upgrading their outdated space related science. Advancing Fifty Physics Ideas: The book title which caught my attention is a good description of the book's 50 concise essays Dr. Baker describes within two to three pages each. Some of those 50 basic concepts in physics which appealed to me, as an outdated applied scientist counted more than thirty from Kepler's laws, Maxwell demon, Fractals, Chaos theory, the butterfly effect, Fermat principle (proved recently), DNA double helix, extrasolar planets, Schrodinger's cat, teleportation etc. Dr. Baker makes a good job of describing the relevant physics theorems behind each concept, advocating a compelling plea for appreciation of modern physics that is happening daily around us. Anyway, the range of physical concepts explored is admirable even if only half appealed to you, those ideas that you would not expect to find in such a non specialized book are amazingly present, and more. The timeline along the bottom, with each idea covered, shows the time ideas took to develop, while the occasional boxes contain interesting snippets about those discovering pioneers and their involvement in each idea. Accompanying simple black and white diagrams help clarifying them.

Shipment review

Well satisified with order results. Arrived on time, and in good condition. Highly recommend seller

Concise overviews

This book contains 50 concise overviews of important ideas that form the basis of classical and modern physics. They are grouped into five sections, namely: · Matter in Motion (mostly classical physics, such as Newton's laws of motions and Kepler's laws, but with some more modern ideas such as Chaos theory). · Beneath the Waves (wave behavior of light, electromagnetic waves and Maxwell's equations). · Quantum Conundrums (quantum mechanics, including Planck's law of black body radiation, photoelectric effect, Schrodinger's wave equation, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle and superconductivity). · Splitting Atoms (structure of the atom, atomic fission and fusion, the standard model of particle physics and string theory) · Space and Time (special and general relativity, the big bang theory, black holes, dark matter and dark energy). The specific topics listed above represent only 20 of the 50 ideas covered in the book, each of which is presented in exactly four pages. Each idea is supplemented with boxes containing some extended discussion of a particular point, some quotations concerning the idea and biographical information about some scientists. Given that only four pages are allotted to each idea, the presentation is necessarily only superficial, but the author did a very good job of compressing the most salient points into a very limited space. This is a good book for those who only want an general overview of some very important ideas, presented without any math, for a general audience. It is also a useful review book for those who know are better versed in physics. Some very complex ideas (such as Newton's bucket, the difference between Fraunhoffer and Fresnel diffraction, Feynman diagrams and the Anthropic principle) that are often not discussed in basic physics texts are covered. This is thus more than just an elementary overview of physics. Given that the author has been limited to only 50 ideas (this book is part of a series of 50 idea books) there are those who will quibble about the choices that were made. I for one think that they were reasonably comprehensive (although I would have liked to see more thermodynamics) and I highly recommend this book.