HARRIS - A SIMPLE GUIDE TO POPULAR PHYSICS (COLOUR EDITION): AN INTRODUCTION TO PARTICLES, QUANTUM PHYSICS AND COSMOLOGY FOR ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS

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A Simple Guide
to Popular Physics

An introduction to particles, quantum physics and cosmology for absolute beginners.

Tony Harris

First published 2020 by RAH publishing

ISBN 978-1-9163897-1-7 All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electrical, mechanical, photo copying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it will not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, hired out or otherwise Circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form or binding other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

For my young grandchildren, Jake and Ewan, who will learn much more than Ill ever know.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Joy for her help and encouragement.

Thanks to Alison Jack my amazing editor. ().

About the Author.

Tony was born in North East England during the second world war. Due to the circumstances of his early years he received only a basic education. He left school two months after his fifteenth birthday. After training he became a skilled craftsman in engineering. After he was made redundant in the early 1980s he decided to educate himself and gained two University degrees. He is now a retired teacher with a passion for Popular Science. He lives with his wife and family in North East England.

There comes a point in your life when you need to stop reading other peoples books and write your own.

Albert Einstein

If you cant explain it simply, you dont understand it well enough.

Albert Einstein

Contents

Introduction

This book offers the casual reader an insight into the physics of nature. It is by no means a comprehensive study; rather, it assumes that the reader has little or no previous knowledge of the subject. Anyone from teens to centenarians can derive a basic grounding in particle physics, quantum physics and cosmology from this book. And the really good news is that there are no mathematics or mathematical equations involved, apart from one that Im sure youve all heard before:

E me

On a minute scale, we have particle physics and quantum mechanics, and on a huge scale, we have the cosmos. None of these subjects can be considered easy, but my aim is to offer you as simple an understanding as possible. That is why I will explain every theory and concept I cover in this book concisely to give you a starting point. A basic understanding of these concepts and theories will lead you to a better understanding of the more detailed popular science books. After all, it is good advice to learn to walk before you run.

Chapter 1 - The Professors Diamond

Figure 1 - The Professors Diamond

In 2011, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) broadcast a lecture called A Night with the Stars, presented by Professor Brian Cox. The studio audience was made up of well-known British celebrities and there were millions of viewers.

The subject was quantum mechanics.

The entertaining and informative broadcast was on the whole well received, but there were some viewers who took exception to an assertion by Professor Cox towards the end of his lecture. A few of these were physicists themselves.

Professor Cox had a prop to help with his explanation of Paulis exclusion principle, which says:

No two electrons can be in the same quantum state in atoms.

We will explore Paulis Principle in more detail later in the book. Suffice to say now that Professor Cox gave a good summary of the exclusion principle, and then produced a large diamond. He rubbed the diamond between his hands and informed the audience that this action had altered the energy levels of not only the three million, million, billion electrons in the diamond, but all the electrons in the universe.

I admit that I was rather surprised and more than a little sceptical at this statement. As a result, I spent a considerable amount of time researching the professors statement and revising my previous reading. By the end of my research, I realised I had increased my knowledge substantially by questioning Professor Coxs simple assertion.

In making this statement in his popular lecture, broadcast on prime-time television, Professor Cox had shown that in quantum physics, everything is connected. His critics had missed the point; the professor knew his audience. If he had gone into detail about the exclusion principle and the complicated concepts and mathematics involved, he would have lost their attention.

He was also limited by the airtime of the programme. To explain that no two electrons can be in the same quantum state in a few minutes is impossible. Instead, he used just one parameter of the four required to describe an electrons quantum state: energy levels. Energy levels in Paulis exclusion principle are relatively easy to explain. In doing so, Professor Cox simplified the concept and put his point across to people without a PhD in Physics.

Brian Cox is not only a reputable physicist; as far as laypeople who take an interest in popular science are concerned, he is a brilliant communicator. Those of us who are not reputable physicists can still enjoy popular science as informative and entertaining if we accept our limitations.

The value of questioning

You may consider that I have left some concepts or theories open ended in this book. If so, please follow them up. There are many books and resources available that will take you into more detail; my aim is simply to whet your appetite. Some of the experiments I mention will have their outcomes explained, but I wont detail how they were performed. This too is an opportunity for you to get involved for yourself. Quite simply, this book is not an academic enterprise. I have written it to encourage you to delve further into the thought-provoking and enjoyable genre of Popular Science.

Chapter 2 - Some Basics of Classical Physics

Before we have a look at particle physics, quantum theory and the cosmos, we need a brief introduction to the concepts of classical physics:

• Energy
• Weight and mass
• Matter - solids and liquids
• Measures and units

Energy

Energy must be transferred to an object in order to perform work on or heat it.

Newtons law of the conservation of energy states that it may be transformed from one form to another. It cannot be created or destroyed. The SI unit for energy is the joule (SI units are explained briefly later in this chapter). Mass and energy are closely related, as we will discover in Chapter 4, when we discuss Einsteins theory of Special Relativity.

FORMS OF ENERGY

Figure 2

Types of energy include:

• Kinetic energy (movement)
• Chemical energy (e.g. coal, natural gas, etc.)
• Thermal energy
• Magnetic energy
• Light energy
• Electric energy
• Gravitational potential energy
• Nuclear energy

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