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101 Quantum Questions: What You Need to Know About the World You Can't See
Ken Ford’s mission is to help us understand the ";great ideas"; of quantum physics—ideas such as wave-particle duality, the uncertainty principle, superposition, and conservation. These fundamental concepts provide the structure for 101 Quantum Questions, an authoritative yet engaging book for the general reader in which every question and answer brings out one or more basic features of the mysterious world of the quantum—the physics of the very small. Nuclear researcher and master teacher, Ford covers everything from quarks, quantum jumps, and what causes stars to shine, to practical applications ranging from lasers and superconductors to light-emitting diodes. Ford’s lively answers are enriched by Paul Hewitt's drawings, numerous photos of physicists, and anecdotes, many from Ford’s own experience. Organized for cover-to-cover reading, 101 Quantum Questions also is great for browsing.Some books focus on a sin
304 pages, Hardcover
First published July 15, 2011
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441 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
September 30, 2022
Temel kavramları bazen çok basit bazen de karmaşık ve anlaşılamaz ifadelerle anlatmaya çalışan bir eser. Bu durum belki de kuantum dünyasının doğasından gelmektedir. Çeviri genel olarak başarılı olsa da dilbilgisi kurallarının pek çok yerde atlandığı görülüyor. Yine de konuya meraklılara tavsiye ediyorum...
July 27, 2024
Anlamadım ama ilginç bir şeye benziyor
September 2, 2018
This book was written in a way that helped explain complex concepts in a more digestible way. Even so, some of the ideas went right over my head and twisted my brain around. But I guess that's quantum physics for you in general. I enjoyed the little anecdotes about various people which appeared as footnotes. From these anecdotes, I gathered that physicists who specialize in quantum physics seem like quirky and colorful, fun people with unique personalities. Non-conformists. But again, maybe it comes with the territory.
Thinking about quantum physics and the subatomic world keeps amazing me with the fact that oxygen is made of these particles and that we are breathing them in all the time and expelling other particles. We can't see them but they are "things" that keep us alive. And just using oxygen as a reminder of the subatomic world around me keeps me in awe of the fact of our existence here and the components that create us and allow us this human experience.
"In all this discussion, I should not neglect to mention the practical value of what we might reasonably call 'our friend, the electron.' Whether on the surface of the Sun or within a compact fluorescent lamp, it is the motion of electrons that causes light to be emitted. In the retina of your eye, it is electrons within molecules that absorb light and let you see. In high-tension lines and motors and generators and computers and household gadgets, it is electrons that do the work of the industrial age. And within every living cell, it is the trading of electrons back and forth that powers life." pg. 17
"Fermi offered a theory in which electrons are created at the moment they are ejected from nuclei. This groundbreaking theory underlies everything that we have learned about particles since. All interactions of all particles involve creation and annihilation of particles. Our seemingly stable world is built on a near-infinitude of catastrophic events in the subatomic world." pg. 20
"If you could expand a proton to the size of a pea, the atom in which it resides would be about a mile across. There is indeed a lot of space within an atom." pg. 34
"According to quantum theory, if you don't measure it, there is no way of saying what the component might be--it is unpredictable and unknowable. This is a consequence of one of the most mind-stretching of all the ideas in quantum physics, the idea of superposition, that a system can exist in two or more states of motion at the same time. Applied to angular momentum, it's as if a satellite circling Earth could be following a number of different orbits at the same time, with various tilts relative to the Equator." pg. 58
"What Born proposed, and what we now accept, is that no matter how much you know about a quantum system, its behavior is still subject to laws of probability. It is a daunting idea that even if you know everything that can be known about a particular system, you cannot predict what it will do, and that if two systems are completely identical, they may behave in different ways. It's as if at a bridge tournament, identically prepared decks were provided to two tables and then the hands that were dealt were not the same." pg. 67
"How can it be that a nucleus can seem to be a liquid droplet and at the same time act like a gas of free nucleons? The answer lies in the nature of the nuclear force (which, ultimately, arises from the exchange of gluons among quarks). This force allows a proton or neutron to glide more or less unimpeded from one side of a nucleus to the other. But if a nucleon tends to stray away from its mass of fellow nucleons, it is pulled back sharply into the fold. The strong force at the edges of the nucleus produces something much like the surface tension of a liquid. So the nucleus as a whole can vibrate and oscillate like a liquid droplet even while the particles within it move more like the molecules in a gas. The theory of this dual nature of a nucleus goes by the name unified model or collective model." pg. 82
"Think of the marvels of the world that follow from a few simple principles and facts. Without the neutron there would be no element other than hydrogen. Without the exclusion principle and the rules for combining angular momenta, there would be a drab, largely inert set of atoms, no periodic table, and a world without life and color. Without the proton's charge, there would be no assembling of electrons into atoms, and nuclei would exist in endless number with nothing useful to do." pg. 87
"Without the stabilization of the neutron, it would be a dull universe indeed, consisting only of hydrogen--and cold hydrogen at that, as there would be no nuclear fusion to release energy and light the stars. It's a sobering thought that if the neutron were a little more massive than it actually is or the nuclear force a little weaker, there would be no stabilization of the neutron and no us." pg. 94
"It's a good thing, in a way, that the weak interaction is a participant in the Sun's fusion reactions. That helps explain why the Sun has been shining already for about 5 billion years and will shine for 5 billion more. Each second, the Sun converts 4.6 million tons of mass into energy." pg. 99
"The idea that a positron moving forward in time and an electron moving backward in time are really the same was first advanced by John Wheeler, Feynman's advisor at Princeton. Here is how Wheeler describes this epiphany in his autobiography: 'Sitting at home in Princeton one evening [in 1940 or 1941] it occurred to me that a positron could be interpreted as an electron moving backward in time. I was excited enough about that idea to phone my graduate student Richard Feynman at the Graduate College, the on-campus residence where he lived. "Dick," I said, "I know why all electrons and all positrons have the same mass and the same charge. They are the same particle!"'" pg. 143-144
"Val Fitch likes to say that the failure of PC (and T) invariance is the reason that we are here. Physicists now reckon that because of the lack of perfect symmetry between matter and antimatter, the early universe, shortly after the Big Bang, contained a not quite equal number of quarks and antiquarks. For every 1 billion quarks, according to calculations, there were 999 million antiquarks. When the dust cleared, one quark out of each billion survived, to make protons, neutrons, galaxies, stars, planets, and us." pg. 167
"But when you shrink the mass enough to enter the particle world, wavelength becomes very significant indeed. Because of its wave nature, an electron within an atom spreads out to encompass the whole atom. Similarly, neutrons and protons within the nucleus spread themselves over the nuclear volume. Only when a particle is accelerated to great energy does its wavelength shrink to less than the size of a nucleus or even the size of a single neutron or proton. Then the high-energy particle, with its shrunken wavelength, becomes a good probe of the smallest distances." pg. 177
"When a wave passes through an opening or by an edge, it bends. That is called diffraction. It can be seen in water waves that pass a ship at anchor, or it can be experienced indirectly by the fact that your wireless phone usually works even if there is a building between you and the cellular antenna. The diffraction effect is more pronounced for larger wavelength, which explains why longer-wavelength AM radio signals bend around obstacles more readily than shorter-wavelength FM signals do. Driving in the canyons of a big city, you are likely to find AM stations to be a bit more reliable than FM stations." pg. 182
"What the two-slit experiment teaches us--and what myriad other experiments confirm--is that a particle acts as a particle when it is created and annihilated (emitted and absorbed) and acts as a wave in between. To get our heads around it, we just have to give up the idea that a photon is a particle at any moment other than the moments of its birth and death." pg. 186
"The wave-particle duality is too often assigned a fairy-book character, as if a particle can magically morph into a wave and back again, or be both things at once. What is that streaking by? Is it a particle? Is it a wave? Is it both? What quantum physics actually tells us is that a particle behaves as a particle when it is created or annihilated (emitted or absorbed) and as a wave in between. Measurements reveal particles. Predictions of what the results of a measurement might be use waves. The wave therefore represents a kind of possibility, or potentiality. The particle represents reality." pg. 205
"Tunneling, an odd little feature of quantum physics, has turned out to be the reason stars shine." pg. 233
"It seems likely that superconductors will also find use in magnetically levitated vehicles of the future." pg. 235
"This is where Einstein's 'spooky action at a distance' comes in. You could measure the spin of that left-going photon a meter or a mile or a light-year from where it was created. At the moment you make the measurement, you can conclude what the spin direction of the other photon must be--two meters or two miles or two light-years away. Establishing with certainty the spin direction of one photon determines the spin direction of the other photon at that instant, even though, up until the measurement is made, the spin directions of both photons are uncertain and unknown. All of this because the two photons, until the moment of measurement, constitute a single quantum system, not two separate quantum systems." pg. 248
"A dozen years later [after quantum jumps] quantum theorists offered the concept of the 'collapse of the wave function.' Their idea was that an electron (or any quantum system) spreads through space as a wave, and when a measurement is performed, revealing a specific location or other property for the particle, the wave function 'collapses.' This is a way to think about the transition from probability to actuality." pg. 260
Book: borrowed from SSF Main Library.
Thinking about quantum physics and the subatomic world keeps amazing me with the fact that oxygen is made of these particles and that we are breathing them in all the time and expelling other particles. We can't see them but they are "things" that keep us alive. And just using oxygen as a reminder of the subatomic world around me keeps me in awe of the fact of our existence here and the components that create us and allow us this human experience.
"In all this discussion, I should not neglect to mention the practical value of what we might reasonably call 'our friend, the electron.' Whether on the surface of the Sun or within a compact fluorescent lamp, it is the motion of electrons that causes light to be emitted. In the retina of your eye, it is electrons within molecules that absorb light and let you see. In high-tension lines and motors and generators and computers and household gadgets, it is electrons that do the work of the industrial age. And within every living cell, it is the trading of electrons back and forth that powers life." pg. 17
"Fermi offered a theory in which electrons are created at the moment they are ejected from nuclei. This groundbreaking theory underlies everything that we have learned about particles since. All interactions of all particles involve creation and annihilation of particles. Our seemingly stable world is built on a near-infinitude of catastrophic events in the subatomic world." pg. 20
"If you could expand a proton to the size of a pea, the atom in which it resides would be about a mile across. There is indeed a lot of space within an atom." pg. 34
"According to quantum theory, if you don't measure it, there is no way of saying what the component might be--it is unpredictable and unknowable. This is a consequence of one of the most mind-stretching of all the ideas in quantum physics, the idea of superposition, that a system can exist in two or more states of motion at the same time. Applied to angular momentum, it's as if a satellite circling Earth could be following a number of different orbits at the same time, with various tilts relative to the Equator." pg. 58
"What Born proposed, and what we now accept, is that no matter how much you know about a quantum system, its behavior is still subject to laws of probability. It is a daunting idea that even if you know everything that can be known about a particular system, you cannot predict what it will do, and that if two systems are completely identical, they may behave in different ways. It's as if at a bridge tournament, identically prepared decks were provided to two tables and then the hands that were dealt were not the same." pg. 67
"How can it be that a nucleus can seem to be a liquid droplet and at the same time act like a gas of free nucleons? The answer lies in the nature of the nuclear force (which, ultimately, arises from the exchange of gluons among quarks). This force allows a proton or neutron to glide more or less unimpeded from one side of a nucleus to the other. But if a nucleon tends to stray away from its mass of fellow nucleons, it is pulled back sharply into the fold. The strong force at the edges of the nucleus produces something much like the surface tension of a liquid. So the nucleus as a whole can vibrate and oscillate like a liquid droplet even while the particles within it move more like the molecules in a gas. The theory of this dual nature of a nucleus goes by the name unified model or collective model." pg. 82
"Think of the marvels of the world that follow from a few simple principles and facts. Without the neutron there would be no element other than hydrogen. Without the exclusion principle and the rules for combining angular momenta, there would be a drab, largely inert set of atoms, no periodic table, and a world without life and color. Without the proton's charge, there would be no assembling of electrons into atoms, and nuclei would exist in endless number with nothing useful to do." pg. 87
"Without the stabilization of the neutron, it would be a dull universe indeed, consisting only of hydrogen--and cold hydrogen at that, as there would be no nuclear fusion to release energy and light the stars. It's a sobering thought that if the neutron were a little more massive than it actually is or the nuclear force a little weaker, there would be no stabilization of the neutron and no us." pg. 94
"It's a good thing, in a way, that the weak interaction is a participant in the Sun's fusion reactions. That helps explain why the Sun has been shining already for about 5 billion years and will shine for 5 billion more. Each second, the Sun converts 4.6 million tons of mass into energy." pg. 99
"The idea that a positron moving forward in time and an electron moving backward in time are really the same was first advanced by John Wheeler, Feynman's advisor at Princeton. Here is how Wheeler describes this epiphany in his autobiography: 'Sitting at home in Princeton one evening [in 1940 or 1941] it occurred to me that a positron could be interpreted as an electron moving backward in time. I was excited enough about that idea to phone my graduate student Richard Feynman at the Graduate College, the on-campus residence where he lived. "Dick," I said, "I know why all electrons and all positrons have the same mass and the same charge. They are the same particle!"'" pg. 143-144
"Val Fitch likes to say that the failure of PC (and T) invariance is the reason that we are here. Physicists now reckon that because of the lack of perfect symmetry between matter and antimatter, the early universe, shortly after the Big Bang, contained a not quite equal number of quarks and antiquarks. For every 1 billion quarks, according to calculations, there were 999 million antiquarks. When the dust cleared, one quark out of each billion survived, to make protons, neutrons, galaxies, stars, planets, and us." pg. 167
"But when you shrink the mass enough to enter the particle world, wavelength becomes very significant indeed. Because of its wave nature, an electron within an atom spreads out to encompass the whole atom. Similarly, neutrons and protons within the nucleus spread themselves over the nuclear volume. Only when a particle is accelerated to great energy does its wavelength shrink to less than the size of a nucleus or even the size of a single neutron or proton. Then the high-energy particle, with its shrunken wavelength, becomes a good probe of the smallest distances." pg. 177
"When a wave passes through an opening or by an edge, it bends. That is called diffraction. It can be seen in water waves that pass a ship at anchor, or it can be experienced indirectly by the fact that your wireless phone usually works even if there is a building between you and the cellular antenna. The diffraction effect is more pronounced for larger wavelength, which explains why longer-wavelength AM radio signals bend around obstacles more readily than shorter-wavelength FM signals do. Driving in the canyons of a big city, you are likely to find AM stations to be a bit more reliable than FM stations." pg. 182
"What the two-slit experiment teaches us--and what myriad other experiments confirm--is that a particle acts as a particle when it is created and annihilated (emitted and absorbed) and acts as a wave in between. To get our heads around it, we just have to give up the idea that a photon is a particle at any moment other than the moments of its birth and death." pg. 186
"The wave-particle duality is too often assigned a fairy-book character, as if a particle can magically morph into a wave and back again, or be both things at once. What is that streaking by? Is it a particle? Is it a wave? Is it both? What quantum physics actually tells us is that a particle behaves as a particle when it is created or annihilated (emitted or absorbed) and as a wave in between. Measurements reveal particles. Predictions of what the results of a measurement might be use waves. The wave therefore represents a kind of possibility, or potentiality. The particle represents reality." pg. 205
"Tunneling, an odd little feature of quantum physics, has turned out to be the reason stars shine." pg. 233
"It seems likely that superconductors will also find use in magnetically levitated vehicles of the future." pg. 235
"This is where Einstein's 'spooky action at a distance' comes in. You could measure the spin of that left-going photon a meter or a mile or a light-year from where it was created. At the moment you make the measurement, you can conclude what the spin direction of the other photon must be--two meters or two miles or two light-years away. Establishing with certainty the spin direction of one photon determines the spin direction of the other photon at that instant, even though, up until the measurement is made, the spin directions of both photons are uncertain and unknown. All of this because the two photons, until the moment of measurement, constitute a single quantum system, not two separate quantum systems." pg. 248
"A dozen years later [after quantum jumps] quantum theorists offered the concept of the 'collapse of the wave function.' Their idea was that an electron (or any quantum system) spreads through space as a wave, and when a measurement is performed, revealing a specific location or other property for the particle, the wave function 'collapses.' This is a way to think about the transition from probability to actuality." pg. 260
Book: borrowed from SSF Main Library.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 12, 2018
Dikkat! Bu kitap kuantum hakkında başlangıç seviyesinde bilgi sahibi olmak isteyenlere kesinlikle uygun değil. Bir fizikçiyseniz ya da daha önce temel bilgilere sahipseniz bir referans kitap, bir çeşit kuantum sözlüğü olarak kullanabilirsiniz.
April 5, 2016
Tanrı'nın belası parçacığı anlamak için “101 Soruda Kuantum”
Sonunda medyatik parçacık keşfedildi. 4 Temmuz 2012 tarihinde CERN'in genel müdürü Rolf Hauer Higgs parçacığının kütlesinin 125 GeV' da (proton kütlesinin 125 katı) gözlemlendiğini açıkladı. Birçok yayın organında “Tanrı parçacığı”, “evrenin oluşumunu açıklayan parçacık” vb gbi sıfatlar alan Higgs bozonu gerçekte nedir?
Söylentiye göre kendisi de ünlü bir parçacık fizikçisi olan Lederman, Peter Higgs'in adını taşıyan parçacığın bulunması için gösterilen tüm çabalara rağmen bir türlü saptanamayışı dolayısıyla “kahrolası (goddamned) parçacık” demek istemiş, ancak yayıncısı kamu beğenisini gözeterek bunu “Tanrı (God) parçacığı” olarak değiştirmiştir. Uğrunda bunca para harcanan ve 50 yıldır keşfedilmeye çalışılan Higgs bozonu gerçenten bu kadar önemli mi?
Higgs parçacığı bir atom-altı parçacık, hatta temel parçacık olduğu için her şeyden önce kuantum yasalarına tabidir ve Higgs'i anlamak için biraz kuantumdan anlamak gerekir. İkinci olarak da Standart Modelin son eksik parçası olan Higgs parçacığını ancak Standart Model içinde kavrayabiliriz. Bu iki derin konuyu en iyi anlatan kitaplardan birisi 101 Soruda Kuantum.
Konusunda uzman bir fizikçi olan K.W.Ford, dikkatlice seçilmiş 101 kuantum sorusunun cevabını herkesin anlayabileceği bir şekilde vererek, kuantum kuramının üzerindeki gizemi kaldırmayı amaçlıyor. Son yıllarda çok sık rastladığımız 'yanlış kuantum önyargılarını' bu 101 soru-cevap ile çürütüyor. Kuantumun en temel özelliklerinin birer özetinin yer aldığı kitap, kuantum konusunda bilmeniz gereken her şeyi özetliyor. Amerikan Fizik Derneğinin eski başkanı olan ve ünlü fizikçi John Wheeler'in hem öğrencisi hem dostu olan Ford 101 Soruda Kuantum kitabının 98. sorusu olarak Higgs'i ele alıyor. 2010 yılında yazılan kitabın Higgs'le ilgili bölümünde okunabileceği gibi, fizikçiler uzun yıllar süren araştırmalarının sonunda Higgs parçacığının kütlesinin 115 GeV ile 141 GeV arasında olması gerektiğini saptamışlardı. Nitekim CERN'de yapılan ölçümler sonunda Higgs parçacığının 125 GeV kütlesine sahip olduğu buldu. Burada GeV bir enerji birimidir (bir milyar elektron volt) ki Einstein'ın ünlü enerji eşittir kütle formülünü hatırlarsak parçacığın kütlesini neden enerji cinsinden aldığımızı kavrarız. Ancak Higgs bozonu maddesine gelene kadar, daha önceki maddelerde yer alan SM'i okumak gerekiyor. Örneğin neden Higgs parçacığına “bozon” deniyor? Bir kuvvet taşıyıcı parçacık olan bozonlar, diğer temel parçacıklar olan fermiyonlar arasındaki etkileşimi nasıl sağlıyorlar? Bütün bu soruların cevabı 101 Soruda Kuantum kitabında yer alıyor.
İnsanlık, tarih boyunca “madde nelerden oluşur?” ve “bunları bir arada tutan şey nedir?” soruları etrafında doğayı anlamaya çalışmıştır. Sayısız deneyler ve deneylere öneri, öngörü ve yorum getiren kuramsal çalışmalar göstermiştir ki madde çok az sayıda ve oldukça küçük yapı taşlarından oluşmaktadır. Diğer bir deyimle, hava, su, ateş ve toprak bir metrenin on milyarda biri büyüklüğündeki atomlardan; atomlar kendilerinden on bin kat küçük çekirdek ile bir milyar kat küçük elektronlardan; çekirdek ise kendinden on kat daha küçük nötron ve protonlardan oluşmaktadır. Atom çekirdeğindeki proton ve nötronlar ise temel parçacık olan kuarklardan meydana gelmektedir. Böylesi küçük varlıkların davranışları günlük hayatta gözlemlediğimiz cisimlerden farklıdır: konumları ne kadar yüksek hassasiyetle ölçülürse hızları o kadar az hassasiyetle bilinebilir (Heisenberg belirsizlik ilkesi); hem dalga hem parçacık özellikleri gösterirler; devinim esnasında belli bir yörünge izlemezler; verilen bir durumdan diğerine geçerken gözlenemeyen ara durumlar yaşarlar. Bu prensipler bütünü kuantum mekaniği olarak adlandırılır. Günümüzde içinde yaşadığımız evrenin ve onu oluşturan maddenin temel yapısını çok iyi biliyoruz. Bu konuda şimdiye kadar gelişmiş ve deneysel olarak ispatlanmış en iyi teori Standart Model (SM) adı verilen bir modeldir. Evrende, bilinen dört temel kuvvetten ikisini, Elektromanyetik ve Zayıf kuvveti, aynı kuram içinde birleştiren Standart Model, fizik biliminin 20. yy' daki en büyük başarılarından biri olmuştur.
Standart modeldeki soruların bir kısmını çözmek için ortaya atılan en basit teori, bütün parçacıkların kütlesiz oluşudur! Evreni alanlar doldurmuştur, parçacıklar Higgs alanı denilen bu alanla etkileşime girerken kütle kazanmaktadır. İşte bu nedenle Higgs parçacığı önemlidir.
SM'deki parçacıkların nasıl kütle kazandırıdıklarını açıklığa kavuşturan Higgs mekanizması, ilk defa 1962 yılında Philip Warren Anderson tarafından ortaya atılmıştı. Daha sonra 1964'de birbirinden bağımsız 3 gurup, bu mekanizmayı görelilik kuramına uygun hale getirdiler: Robert Brout ve Francois Englert; Peter Higgs; ve Gerald Guralnik, C. R. Hagen, ve Tom Kibble.
Daha sonra Steven Weinberg ve Abdus Salam Higgs mekanizmasını kullanarak SM'i temellerini kurdular. SM'e göre, çok yüksek sıcaklıklarda Elektro-zayıf simetri kırılmadan dururken, bütün parçacıklar kütlesizdir. Düşük sıcaklıklarda, belli bir kritik sıcaklıkta EW simetri kırılır ve W ile Z bozonları kütle kazanır.
Yazar kitabında SM'i detaylıca tarif etmeden önce temel kuantum kavramlarını ele alıyor. Ford'un sözüyle devam edersek: “Kuantum fiziğindeki “büyük fikirlerin” kesin bir listesi yok. Ancak kuantum fiziğinin doğa kavrayışımıza kazandırdıklarının özünü yansıtan on iki fikir var. Bunların tümünün ortak noktası fiziksel dünyanın nasıl işlemesi gerektiğine dair gündelik deneyimimize dayanarak kazandığımız beklentilerle, bir diğer deyişle “sağduyuyla” çelişiyor olmaları...’’
Kuantum öbeklilik, olasılık, dalga-parçacık ikiliği, spin, üst üste binme, korunum, doğadaki hız sınırı ve kütle ve enerjiyi tek bir kavramda birleştiren, böylelikle kütleyi enerjiye, enerji kütleye çevrilebilir kılan ünlü E = mc2 … vb gibi tüm kuantum “tuhaflıklarını” tek tek ve sistemli bir biçimde, elbette soru-cevap sınırları içerisinde ele alan yazarın iddiası hiç fizik eğitimi almamış okura kuantumu ve SM'i anlatmak.
“Fizik eğitimi almadık, konu hakkında bilgimiz sınırlı” diye endişelenmeye gerek yok; kitapta her bir kavrama sırasıyla açıklamalar getiriliyor.
November 4, 2023
The one problem with quantum mechanics is no one understands it. Even the people who study it claim ignorance. That is where the book 101 Quantum Questions comes in. Author Kenneth W. Ford does a superb job of explaining the quantum realm. Although Ford wrote the book for a general audience, it never feels like he talks down to us.
Ford answers questions such as "why is matter solid if atoms are mostly empty space?" What is a photon? What are some practical applications of Quantum Theory? Why does the Periodic Table end?
Some of the answers turn out to be profound and far-reaching. For example, why does the Periodic Table end is a fantastic example. The protons in the atomic nucleus repel each other. The neutrons act as a cement to hold the protons at arm's length so nuclei may form. The result is 118 elements, with 82 being stable. The other 36 are radioactive, and that leads to the next question Ford answers.
I enjoyed the book, even if I did learn a lot of it before. There is one additional caveat. Ford wrote the book in 2010, so it predates finding the Higgs Boson and the other things the LHC found. Thanks for reading my review, and see you next time.
Ford answers questions such as "why is matter solid if atoms are mostly empty space?" What is a photon? What are some practical applications of Quantum Theory? Why does the Periodic Table end?
Some of the answers turn out to be profound and far-reaching. For example, why does the Periodic Table end is a fantastic example. The protons in the atomic nucleus repel each other. The neutrons act as a cement to hold the protons at arm's length so nuclei may form. The result is 118 elements, with 82 being stable. The other 36 are radioactive, and that leads to the next question Ford answers.
I enjoyed the book, even if I did learn a lot of it before. There is one additional caveat. Ford wrote the book in 2010, so it predates finding the Higgs Boson and the other things the LHC found. Thanks for reading my review, and see you next time.
June 6, 2023
This book is practically a college level textbook on quantum physics, with the history added. The author met and worked with a large number of the giants of quantum physics, and was able to add some flavor to the dry subject, showing the people behind the discoveries. I can't say I understood everything in the book, I almost felt like I had to reread sections to memorize the difference between leptons and fermions, but in the end my understanding of the universe grew. Reading Cosmos (about the largest possible dimensions) and this book (about the smallest possible dimensions) it's surprising how much is similar, but yet other items almost from different universes, which there probably are.
August 7, 2019
Gerçekten çoğu detayıyla kuantumu anlatan ancak hiç bilgisi olmayanlara biraz ağır gelebilecek bir kitap. Ayrıca yazarın başından geçen anılardan güzel hikayeler de dinliyorsunuz.
Bence bu kitabın diğerlerinden farkı, kuantum'u sadece higgs bozonu kısmında bırakmayıp, ilerisine gidebilen detaylı bir kitap olması.
Uzun zamandır fizik okumama rağmen, içerisinde bilmediğim, duymadığım hikayeler barındırıyordu.
Bence bu kitabın diğerlerinden farkı, kuantum'u sadece higgs bozonu kısmında bırakmayıp, ilerisine gidebilen detaylı bir kitap olması.
Uzun zamandır fizik okumama rağmen, içerisinde bilmediğim, duymadığım hikayeler barındırıyordu.
Read
September 10, 2020Sadly a lot of this was over my head. I would read the beginning of a question and get it until a certain point and then I just couldn't understand most of the rest. I tried! Will probably open this up with my physics-minded kid at some point, and see what he thinks.
August 25, 2023
Kitap gerçekten iyi. Tabi çevirmenin hakkını da teslim etmek lazım. İçeriğin soru cevap olarak düzenlenmesi büyük bir yaratıcılık. Sorular kolaydan zora doğru dizilmiş. Bu bakımdan okuma kolaylığı sağlıyor. Popüler bilim okurlarının beğeneceği bir eser. Tavsiye ederim.
October 2, 2023
if i could understand the quantum theory written in this book anyone can
February 26, 2017
Really quite good. Starts a bit slow but picks up steam by question #20 or so. I still have a lot to learn on quantum topics, and this helped a lot. The author would often first explore an aspect of quantum behavior for its own sake, and only afterward tie it back to large scale, classical physics. This approach actually worked well, I thought, since the Q&A format kept each section brief enough that the quantum/classical roundtrip was managably brief.
January 26, 2012
"All interactions in the universe involve the creation and annihilation of particles."
That's not just a handy excuse when you drop a glass on the hard kitchen floor, but the fundamental nature of everything at the quantum level. If we could see everything that small, the world would be a crazy chaos of movement, destruction and rebirth, even in something as staid as a table or a boulder.
Like any expert who has spent their life immersed in a subject or field, Ford, at times, assumes knowledge the reader may or may not have even as he is attempting to write a basic introduction. So, even if you aren't a beginner at physics you will likely encounter a few challenges along the way. For the most part this is well-explained and to the point, though one tires of reading asides like "I'll explain this in Question 47" or "that's the simplified version, in reality that isn't entirely true."
Reading physics books has shown me that the math and associated parts of my mind are atrophied and it is a struggle to decide whether I should continue to exercise or let them waste away. Geology ("not the dirt people!" as Sheldon would bemoan) comes easy to me, this does not.
That's not just a handy excuse when you drop a glass on the hard kitchen floor, but the fundamental nature of everything at the quantum level. If we could see everything that small, the world would be a crazy chaos of movement, destruction and rebirth, even in something as staid as a table or a boulder.
Like any expert who has spent their life immersed in a subject or field, Ford, at times, assumes knowledge the reader may or may not have even as he is attempting to write a basic introduction. So, even if you aren't a beginner at physics you will likely encounter a few challenges along the way. For the most part this is well-explained and to the point, though one tires of reading asides like "I'll explain this in Question 47" or "that's the simplified version, in reality that isn't entirely true."
Reading physics books has shown me that the math and associated parts of my mind are atrophied and it is a struggle to decide whether I should continue to exercise or let them waste away. Geology ("not the dirt people!" as Sheldon would bemoan) comes easy to me, this does not.
February 14, 2017
I didn't actually finish this book but from what I read, I received an easily understandable (for me at least) explanation of the basics of quantum physics.
April 11, 2013
I've had a hard time lately finding non-specialist books on physics that don't just recycle the same old soundbites (an electron is both a wave and a particle, etc.), so this book was refreshing. He goes into questions that I had but had never found the answer to in my prior reading (why speed of light squared exactly? Why not speed of light cubed? And what does the speed of light have to do with energy/mass conversion anyway?), and therefore assumed were too complex to answer without formal training that I'll eventually get around to. A bit technical at times, but he presents the complicated aspects of quantum mechanics more clearly than any other author I've read (Brian Greene is the one exception).
May 15, 2013
I enjoyed 101 Quantum Questions. I'd say it's a little deeper than some of the other mass-market quantum books I've read. For example, in other books, the Weak Nuclear Force is kind of skipped over. This is the first book where I've felt I gained some understanding of it. It also goes into a lot of topics, like the importance of tunneling, the differences between leptons, baryons, fermions, bosons, and so on.
Ford, the author, personally knew many of the leading figures of 20th century quantum physics, and this personal connections adds to the book.
I'd recommend it, but not necessarily to beginners.
Ford, the author, personally knew many of the leading figures of 20th century quantum physics, and this personal connections adds to the book.
I'd recommend it, but not necessarily to beginners.
January 18, 2016
This book is for readers with at least introductionary level knowledge about quantum physics. The book is so hard in some chapters and there are many detailed information which are not important for someone who just want to get general information about quantum physics. It was my first book about quantum physics, I thought it'd be a good start. But definitely NO, it wasn't. I couldn't even wrap my mind around some of the topics written in the book which are highly technical. If you want a book to enter quantum physics, pick "Quantum Theory cannot hurt you". It's much easier and interesting with its Sci-fi like concept. I think that's why it's called a "pop-sci" book.
September 15, 2014
Handy little tool for those new and old to quantum theory. Can help refresh your mind and give you a new perspective on well-known concepts, or introduce them to you in a few short lines. Less a sit-down book and more something you'd want to have on your shelf or in your bag to pull out and flip through every now and again.
October 7, 2013
I am certainly not an expert, but it seems to me that 101 Quantum Questions provides an accessible overview of quantum physics for the layperson. The question by question explanation format is slightly odd, but once you get used to it, the book flows well and is a pleasure to read.
October 10, 2019
Great group of questions.
I did not actually 'finish' this book. I have found it to be a good reference book for my high school teaching. I teach some quantum, and these explanations are clear and very readable.
I did not actually 'finish' this book. I have found it to be a good reference book for my high school teaching. I teach some quantum, and these explanations are clear and very readable.
August 17, 2015
Wonderful book. The great thing about this book is that you don't have to read it front to back. The author does a good job of cross-referencing topics so you can jump around and read the topics that interest you the most. Each question is only 2-4 pages so it keeps your attention.
May 25, 2011
Very helpful , even better than his previous Quantum book
July 10, 2012
A very good book that makes one go -- wow! About 50% of the books was over my head - but the other 50% was worth the read.
April 7, 2013
So, that was interesting.
April 18, 2013
Loved this book - it really got me thinking again!
December 1, 2015
Pretty good overview of many things, I particular found the explenation of fermions and bosons useful, and Bose-Einstein condensate useful.
May 24, 2016
Really enjoyed.
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