Absolutely Small: How Quantum Theory Explains Our Everyday World

Physics is a complex, even daunting topic, but it is also deeply satisfying--even thrilling. And liberated from its mathematical underpinnings, physics suddenly becomes accessible to anyone with the curiosity and imagination to explore its beauty. Science without math? It's not that unusual. For example, we can understand the concept of gravity without solving a single equation. So for all those who may have pondered what makes blueberries blue and strawberries red; for those who have wondered if sound really travels in waves; and why light behaves so differently from any other phenomenon in the universe, it's all a matter of quantum physics. Absolutely Small presents (and demystifies) the world of quantum science like no book before. It explores scientific concepts--from particles of light, to probability, to states of matter, to what makes greenhouse gases bad--in considerable depth, but using examples from the everyday world. Challenging without being intimidating, accessible but not condescending, Absolutely Small develops the reader's intuition for the very nature of things at their most basic and intriguing levels.

Author: Michael D. Fayer
Publisher: Amacom
Published: 06/16/2010
Pages: 400
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 9.02h x 5.98w x 0.98d
ISBN13: 9780814438114
ISBN10: 0814438113
BISAC Categories:
- Science | Physics | Quantum Theory
- Science | Physics | Atomic & Molecular
- Science | Physics | Relativity

About the Author
MICHAEL D. FAYER, PH.D., (Stanford, CA) is the David Mulvane Ehrsam and Edward Curtis Franklin Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He has won major prizes and honors in the fields of physics, chemistry, and molecular spectroscopy. He is the author of "Elements of Quantum Mechanics."

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