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Back-of-the-Envelope Physics

Clifford Swartz (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

176 Seiten

2003
Johns Hopkins University Press (Verlag)
978-0-8018-7263-1 (ISBN)

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Physicists use "back-of-the-envelope" estimates to check whether or not an idea could possibly be right. In many cases, the approximate solution is all that is needed. This compilation of 101 examples of back-of-the-envelope calculations celebrates a quantitative approach to solving physics problems. Drawing on a lifetime of physics research and nearly three decades as the editor of The Physics Teacher, Clifford Swartz provides simple, approximate solutions to physics problems that span a broad range of topics. What note do you get when you blow across the top of a Coke bottle? Could you lose weight on a diet of ice cubes? How can a fakir lie on a bed of nails without getting hurt? Does draining water in the northern hemisphere really swirl in a different direction than its counterpart below the equator? In each case, only a few lines of arithmetic and a few natural constants solve a problem to within a few percent. Covering such subjects as astronomy, magnetism, optics, sound, heat, mechanics, waves, and electricity, the book provides a rich source of material for teachers and anyone interested in the physics of everyday life.

Clifford Swartz is a professor emeritus of physics at State University of New York, Stony Brook. He was the editor of The Physics Teacher for twenty-nine years and has written numerous physics texts for students from kindergarten to graduate level. He was the recipient in 2007 of the Melba Newell Phillips Award and in 1987 of the Oersted Medal, the most prestigious award of the American Association of Physics Teachers.

Contents:Preface Note to the Reader: Units and ApproximationsCHAPTER 1 Force and Pressure Bed of Nails Simple Thumbtack Horsepower Buoyancy in Air How Dense Is the Ocean? Washbowls and Coriolis Force Points of Contact Atmospheric Force Weighing Your Car Well and Water Tower Pressure of Sunlight Squashed Tennis Ball Recoil Fatal Impulse Relative Gravitational Weakness Strong Fields Airplane LiftCHAPTER 2 Mechanics and Rotation Terminal Velocity The Unlikely Game of Baseball Human Levers Angular Momenta The Twirling Skater Rotating Water Pail Grandfather Clock Arm and Leg Pendulums Precession of a Bicycle Wheel Car Springs Carousels and Rotors Banked Road Conical PendulumCHAPTER 3 Sound and Waves Speed of Sound Tsunamis and Ripples Cold Flat Music Thunder and Lightning Wavelengths of Familiar Sounds Scales and Chords The Sound of Coke The Sensitive Ear of Visible Sight v=c; hv= E Trains and Doppler ShiftCHAPTER 4 Heat Human Heaters Negative Calorie Diet The Moral of the Tail Ice Skating Thermal Expansion Power Plant EfficiencyCHAPTER 5 Optics Microscope Constraints Binocular Size and Power Seeing under Water Candle PowerCHAPTER 6 Electricity Electrostatic Charge on a Balloon Capacitors Capacitance of Spheres Electric Field in a Wire Electron Drift Speed Unfamiliar Currents High Cost of Battery Electricity Magnet Strength Matching Earth's B Field Hanging Wire Energy Storage in L and C Jump-Rope Generator Q of a Crystal Radio E and B from a Lightbulb Toaster Power Magnetic Resonance ImagingCHAPTER 7 Earth Radius of Earth Geography and Weight Height of Atmosphere Depth of Earth's Gravity Field Mountain Height Earth Orbits Escape Energy from Earth Precession of the Equinoxes Hole through the Earth Slowing of the Earth's Rotation Mass of Earth's Gravitational FieldCHAPTER 8 Astronomy Diameter of Sun and Moon Minimum Distance to Nearest Star Pressure of Sunlight How Many Photons to See a Faint Star? Fueling the Sun Age of the Elements The 21 cm Line The Prodigal SunCHAPTER 9 Atoms and Molecules All atoms Are (About) the Same Size Density if Air Molecular Spacing in a Gas Molar Energy Latent Heat of Fusion and Vaporization Surface Tension Binding Force between Atoms Atomic Spring ConstantCHAPTER 10 Particles and Quanta Uncertainties of Photons and Mesons Valence Electrons Can Electrons Reside in the Nucleus? Lucky Millikan Nuclear Repulsion Cyclotron Synchrotron-Loss and Gain Quantized Molecular Levels Molecular Rotation Energy

Erscheint lt. Verlag	25.7.2003
Zusatzinfo	25 Line drawings, black and white
Verlagsort	Baltimore, MD
Sprache	englisch
Maße	140 x 216 mm
Gewicht	227 g
Themenwelt	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik
	Mathematik / Informatik ► Mathematik
	Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie
ISBN-10	0-8018-7263-4 / 0801872634
ISBN-13	978-0-8018-7263-1 / 9780801872631
Zustand	Neuware