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The first photon

Book Chapter

The first photon

In what now seems like physics folklore, the young patent clerk Albert Einstein proposed that light behaves like a particle—known as a photon—and ...

Pins and spin

Book Chapter

Pins and spin

Although Isaac Newton probably never bowled a perfect 300 game, his physics can be used to analyze the sport of bowling. The collision of the ball wit...

Split image

Book Chapter

Split image

A converging lens bends all rays of light parallel to the principal axis (the axis of symmetry of the lens) in such a way that they converge at a sin...

Gravitational redshift

Book Chapter

Gravitational redshift

Edwin Hubble showed that most stars (and galaxies) are receding from Earth. Because of the expansion, the frequencies of the spectral lines from the s...

Focusing fields

Book Chapter

Focusing fields

When we think of forces, we usually imagine a push or a pull. Such a push or pull is assumed to be in the direction of the line connecting the pusher...

Sea sounds

Book Chapter

Sea sounds

Nature has exhibited the effects of a variable index of refraction for a very long time. The index of refraction of air varies with its density. There...

Moving matter

Book Chapter

Moving matter

Hos fast can you throw a baseball? How fast is a speeding bullet? Restricted to simple tools in the laboratory, this chapter explains how both measure...

What goes up . . .

Book Chapter

What goes up . . .

Every school-age kid has heard the prediction “What goes up must come down.” Many kids challenge it with a question relating to helium balloons. ...

Boing, boing, boing

Book Chapter

Boing, boing, boing

Watching the Olympic Games is a reminder of the versatility of physics. The equations for projectile motion can be used to analyze many different trac...

The bombs bursting in air

Book Chapter

The bombs bursting in air

All of the scenarios presented in this chapter have similar solutions. The trajectory of any object can be analyzed (without air resistance) by recogn...

The nature of light

Book Chapter

The nature of light

Light plays such a crucial role in our lives that it’s very hard to imagine a universe without light. But what is light? How do we describe its be...

Do you promise not to tell?

Book Chapter

Do you promise not to tell?

Can you keep a secret? Is it possible to send a signal out so that one person will receive the signal but another will not? The scenario presented in ...

Mars or bust!

Book Chapter

Mars or bust!

Have you ever wanted to go to Mars? Sending humans to Mars will require a lot of preparation but the work has already begun. If you were too young to...

Color creation

Book Chapter

Color creation

Everyone loves colors—the colors of spring and summer, the colors of butterfly wings and rainbows, the colors of soap bubbles, and the colors from a...

A physics soufflé

Book Chapter

A physics soufflé

What distinguishes the world’s great chefs from the millions of adequate cooks is an understanding of the concepts of cooking. We strive for a simil...

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