AnyBook4Less.com	Find the Best Price on the Web Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Home  |  Store List  |  FAQ  |  Contact Us  |
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money Keyword AuthorISBN

Title: Relativity and Quantum Mechanics: Principles of Modern Physics (Secrets of the Universe) by Paul Fleisher ISBN: 0-8225-2989-0 Publisher: Lerner Publications Pub. Date: 01 May, 2001 Format: Library Binding Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.26

Your Country USA Canada United Kingdom Australia Austria Belgium France Germany Italy Netherlands Switzerland Currency AutoUSD CAD GBP EUR AUD CHF Delivery Only cheapest delivery All delivery options Include Used Books Are you a club member of: Barnes and Noble Books A Million Chapters.Indigo.ca

Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)

Rating: 5
Summary: Real science, real simple
Comment: This book by Paul Fleisher is an interesting introduction to a difficult subject. Written ostensibly for sixth to ninth grade levels, in fact many people beyond these levels have gaps in their knowledge about science. For all of its fame, the Theory of Relativity is one of the misunderstood ideas in science. Not as well known as Relativity, Quantum Physics is also largely misunderstood. Fleisher's book by no means presents all the depth of these ideas, but it does provide a very basic framework for understanding.

There are four chapters -- the first chapter looks at relativity, discussing the speed of light, frames of reference, and the idea of warped space-time around massive objects. The second chapter, quantum mechanics, presents the idea of the photoelectric effect, the idea the energy behaves in wavelike and particle manner, and that there are few 'real life' experiments that can adequately explain quantum effects. The third chapter looks the conservation of mass and energy, the famous Einstein equation of E = mc(squared). The fourth chapter presents one more misunderstood physics idea, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, one of the important concepts in quantum physics, that basically sets the stage for much of the 'bizarre' aspects of modern physics, including the concept of limits to our knowledge and measurement ability.

Fleisher presents several short appendices -- a two-page timeline starting in 1675 with Olaus Romer's discovery that the speed of light is finite to the late 1900s with nuclear events. There are eight pages of one-paragraph biographies of major physicists of the past few hundred years. There are selected readings and bibliography, as well as a useful glossary.

Not just for kids, the book and the others in the series of 'Secrets of the Universe' present science ideas in small, easily comprehended pieces for any non-scientifically-literate reader.