Book
Brainteaser physics : challenging physics puzzlers / Göran Grimvall.
Does a glass of ice water filled to the brim overflow when the ice melts? Does the energy inside a sauna increase when you heat it up? What's the best way to cool your coffee - should you add the creamer first or last? These and other challenging puzzlers provide a fresh - and fun - approach to learning real physics. Presenting both classic and new physics problems, Brainteaser Physics challenges readers to use imagination and basic physics principles to find the answers. Göran Grimvall provides detailed and accessible explanations of the solutions, sometimes correcting the standard explanations, sometimes putting a new twist on them. He provides diagrams and equations where appropriate and ends each problem by discussing a specific concept or offering an extra challenge. With Brainteaser Physics, students and veteran physicists alike can sharpen their critical and creative thinking - and have fun at the same time. - Back cover.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780801885112 (acid-free paper)
- ISBN: 9780801885129 (pbk. : acid-free paper)
- ISBN: 0801885116 (acid-free paper)
- ISBN: 0801885124 (pbk. : acid-free paper)
- Physical Description: viii, 162 p. : ill ; 22 cm.
- Publisher: Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007.
Content descriptions
| Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references (p. [149]-155) and index. |
| Formatted Contents Note: | 1. Ten hits. Dinghy in pool -- Ice in water -- Accident in aqueduct -- Floating candle -- Running in the rain -- Reaching out -- Resistor cube -- One, two, three, infinity -- Lost energy -- Simple timetable -- 2. No math required. Moving backward? -- Heating water -- Bright lamps? -- Low pressure -- Site for harbor -- More gas? -- High tension -- Ocean surface -- Mariotte's bottle -- 3. Are you sure? Bicycle on a rope -- Boats in a lock -- Humming transformer -- What is the charge? -- Two wooden blocks -- Shot in a pot -- filling a barrel -- Tube with sand -- Sauna energy -- Slapstick -- 4. Forces and currents. Separated boxes -- Dropped books -- The egg of Columbus -- Helium or hydrogen in the balloon? -- Lightbulb found in a drugstore? -- Bright or dark? -- Yin and Yang -- Rise and fall of a ball -- Elevator accident -- 5. Not exact but still relevant. What is your volume? -- On the move -- Shot put and pole vault -- Record stadium -- Grains of sand -- Cooling coffee -- Time for contact -- Socrates' blood -- 6. Challenges for your creativity. Iron bars -- Faulty balance -- Greek geometry -- The sugar box -- The catenary -- False impressions -- Testing the hammer -- Which way? -- Three switches -- Pulse beats -- Fake energy statistics. |
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Physics > Miscellanea. |
Available copies
- 2 of 2 copies available at BC Interlibrary Connect. (Show)
- 1 of 1 copy available at Prince Rupert Library.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 2 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prince Rupert Library | 530 GRIM (Text) | 33294001555572 | Adult Non-Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
More information
- Choice Reviews : Choice Reviews 2007 September
Although there are a great number of books in recreational mathematics, there are not that many books for readers in recreational physics. Grimvall (Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm) provides 57 fun-to-solve problems. Many of these have been published in a Swedish engineering journal, but they have not been widely disseminated in the US. Some questions have a Eurocentric focus. Most are suited to undergraduate students with an understanding of basic electronics and Newtonian mechanics. There is a good mix of problem types that should keep the interest of the average science student. They involve sports (many track and field events), electronics, hydraulics, optics, and heat. This reviewer disagrees with chapter 2's title, "No Math Required." A reader without any mathematics background might be able to guess some correct answers for the nine given problems, but one should have some basic knowledge of mathematics and physics to understand the solutions to those nine problems. At the end of many solutions, the author provides a section called "How physicists think," which is useful for readers without a physics background. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers; lower- and upper-division undergraduates. Copyright 2007 American Library Association.
