How Everything Works: Making Physics Out of the Ordinary - Softcover

Bloomfield, Louis A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0470170662 ISBN 13: 9780470170663

Publisher: Wiley, 2007

Synopsis

By explaining the physics behind ordinary objects, this book unravels the mysteries of how things work. Using familiar examples from everyday life and modern technology, this book explains the seemingly inexplicable phenomena we encounter all around us. As it examines everything from roller coasters to radio, musical instruments to makeup, and knuckleballs to nuclear weapons, How Everything Works 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. With fascinating and fun real-life examples that provide the answers to scores of questions, How Everything Works is nothing short of a user's manual to our everyday world.

About this title

About the Author

No one is better at making physics come to life than Louis Bloomfield. Widely recognized for his teaching of physics and science to non-science students at the University of Virginia, Professor Bloomfield is the co-host of the Discovery Channel television show “Some Assembly Required,” premiering in the fall of 2007.

From the Back Cover

Why do golf balls have dimples?
How does an iPod turn binary digits into Bon Jovi?
How do microwave ovens cook?
How does a pitcher make a curveball curve and a knuckleball jitter?
Why don’t you fall off an upside-down roller coaster?

If one didn’t know better, one might think the world was filled with magic––from the household appliances that make our lives easier to the devices that fill our world with sounds and images. Even a simple light bulb can seem mysterious when you’re clueless about the science behind it.

Now in How Everything Works, Louis Bloomfield takes you inside the amazing gizmos and gadgets that are part of the fabric of our everyday life, explaining the physics that makes them work. Examining everything from roller coasters to radio, knuckleballs to nuclear weapons, How Everything Works reveals the answers to such questions as why the sky is blue, why metal is a problem in microwave ovens, how MRIs see inside you, and why some clothes require dry cleaning.

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. Remarkably clear and always fascinating, How Everything Works is nothing short of a user’s manual for our everyday world.

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, Bloomfield uses fascinating and fun examples, along with a unique ability to explain challenging concepts, to bring the subject of physics to 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.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0470170662
• ISBN 13: 9780470170663
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 736