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Title: Fun with physics - on 1500 free pages Post by: motionmountain on November 25, 2007, 01:47:29 AM The new, twenty-first edition of the freely
downloadable physics textbook, as usually without any commercial interest whatsoever, is available on http://www.motionmountain.eu Almost 1500 pages lead through the whole of physics, from mechanics to relativity, electrodynamics, thermodynamics, quantum theory, nuclear physics, astrophysics and unification. Over hundred new figures and tables, and numerous explanations have been added, with many examples from animals, plants and machines. The twenty-first edition now explains why the speed of light is too slow to speculate with success on the stock exchange, adds the second-level bear fur colour puzzle and the young mother puzzle, presents the nearest place with a pressure permanently lower than that of the atmosphere, adds the puzzle about the horse and the snail on a rubber, tells more about metamaterials, adds some simple chemical puzzles, presents what incredible things on atomic layers one can discover using a pencil and sticky tape, tells more on biological rhythms and clocks, explains how to observe the rotation of the Earth in any classroom after two seconds of observation, shows an electric effect observed on many playgrounds, shows the beauty of bursting soap bubbles and bouncing tennis balls, explains how it is possible to observe the motion of single, isolated electrons, gives more details on the shape of the proton, and tells how to build the simplest possible radio control system. The first 360 pages are available also in French, due to the great work of Benoit Clenet, and can be downloaded from the bienvenue page. A wiki open to everybody now keeps track of misprints and suggestions. Enjoy the reading! Christoph Schiller |