How Everything Works
How Everything Works How Everything Works
 

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How Things Work: The Physics of Everyday Life
Louis A. Bloomfield
ISBN 978-0-470-22399-4, 614 pages, full-color, paperback, © 2010
The 4th edition of "How Things Work: The Physics of Everyday Life" is now available from John Wiley & Sons. This textbook examines 42 objects or activities in our everyday world and serves both as a comprehensive introduction to physics and as a guide to how many of the objects around us work. It is intended as a text for liberal arts students in a one or two semester survey course. What makes this essentially non-mathematical text unusual is that it begins with the objects and looks within them for the concepts of physics. It is first and foremost a book about those objects.

— Lou Bloomfield, Professor of Physics, University of Virginia

"Whether a curious layperson, a trained physicist, or a beginning physics student, most everyone will find this book an interesting and enlightening read and will go away comforted in that the world is not so strange and inexplicable after all."

— Carl Wieman, Nobel Laureate in Physics 2001, and Case/Carnegie US University Professor of the Year 2004


How Things Work: The Physics of Ordinary Life is appropriate for:
  • College or high school introductory physics courses that aim to teach more than factoids and formulas
  • Continuing education courses for adults who want to understand the physical and technological world around them
  • College or K-12 teachers who need supplementary materials for their classes
  • Children who are being homeschooled and who will benefit from studying physics they can understand and find relevant
  • Libraries that need educational resource materials
  • Science museums that are teaching real physics as outreach activities
and is available through most local or online bookstores, including: universities offering cna training classes    



Table of Contents

Chapter 1      
The Laws of Motion, Part 1
 
Chapter 9
 
Resonance and Mechanical Waves
Section 1.1
  Skating  
Section 9.1
  Clocks
Section 1.2
  Falling Balls  
Section 9.2
  Musical Instruments
Section 1.3
  Ramps  
Section 9.3
  The Sea
Chapter 2  
The Laws of Motion, Part 2
  Chapter 10  
Electricity
Section 2.1
  Wind Turbines  
Section 10.1
  Static Electricity
Section 2.2
  Wheels  
Section 10.2
  Xerographic Copiers
Section 2.3
  Bumper Cars  
Section 10.3
  Flashlights
Chapter 3  
Mechanical Objects, Part 1
  Chapter 11  
Magnetism and Electrodynamics
Section 3.1
  Spring Scales  
Section 11.1
  Household Magnets
Section 3.2
  Bouncing Balls  
Section 11.2
  Electric Power Distribution
Section 3.3
  Carousels and Roller Coasters  
Section 11.3
  Hybrid Automobiles
Chapter 4  
Mechanical Objects, Part 2
  Chapter 12  
Electronics
Section 4.1
  Bicycles  
Section 12.1
  Power Adapters
Section 4.2
  Rockets and Space Travel  
Section 12.2
  Audio Players
Chapter 5  
Fluids
  Chapter 13  
Electromagnetic Waves
Section 5.1
  Balloons  
Section 13.1
  Radio
Section 5.2
  Water Distribution  
Section 13.2
  Microwave Ovens
Chapter 6  
Fluids and Motion
  Chapter 14  
Light
Section 6.1
  Garden Watering  
Section 14.1
  Sunlight
Section 6.2
  Balls and Air  
Section 14.2
  Discharge Lamps
Section 6.3
  Airplanes  
Section 14.3
  Lasers and LEDs
Chapter 7  
Heat and Phase Transitions
  Chapter 15  
Optics
Section 7.1
  Woodstoves  
Section 15.1
  Cameras
Section 7.2
  Water, Steam, and Ice  
Section 15.2
  Optical Recording and Communications
Section 7.3
  Clothing, Insulation, and Climate   Chapter 16  
Modern Physics
Chapter 8  
Thermodynamics
 
Section 16.1
  Nuclear Weapons
Section 8.1
  Air Conditioners  
Section 16.2
  Nuclear Reactors
Section 8.2
  Automobiles  
Section 16.3
  Medical Imaging and Radiation

How Things Work: The Physics of Everyday Life
is available through most local or online bookstores.


Instructors interested in using this book in a course should request one directly from John Wiley & Sons by CLICKING HERE (look for the “Instructor Review Copy” button on the linked page).
Last Updated July 23, 2010
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