Table Of ContentSCIENCE O DUE 9/18
“Everyone has a scientist inside them. This book will inspire you to let your inner
W hen it comes to science, many of us fi nd ourselves feeling intimidated, whether R
scientist free.” —Sean Carroll, author of The Particle at the End of the Universe
by the math or the long years of school necessary to become a scientist. And Z
some of us are put off b y the fact that it doesn’t seem to have much to do E
with what we do every day. Well, physicist Chad Orzel has some happy news for all L
of us who feel science just isn’t our thing: it is! 9/17
In his new book Eureka, Orzel makes the case that all of us are already doing
science just about every time we do anything. Science, he shows, is less about facts than
9/17
process: Looking, Thinking, Testing, and Telling—all things people do daily. Would that
popcorn taste better with cayenne? Would it be faster to drive two blocks east of Main
Street? Just by asking, we’re doing science. Drawing on both everyday experience and
the extraordinary history of science, Orzel makes the case that we can all learn to do
science better, whether at home, work, or the lab. Eureka is essential reading for all
EE
people, young or old, who fi nd themselves asking, “I wonder…” and just need a little
help fi guring out where to go next. UU
“I know, I know, you think you’re just not smart enough to be a scientist. RR
Chad Orzel might convince you otherwise with Eureka. ”
—JENNIFER OUELLETTE, author of The Calculus Diaries and Me, Myself, and Why EE
“A wonderful tour of how scientists think.” KK
—DAVID KAISER, author of How the Hippies Saved Physics
AA E U R E K A !
E U R E K A !
“Chad Orzel’s previous two books were just fi ne and dandy. However, this one is
5.5” x 8.25”
awesome. If anyone wants an insight into nature and the process of science, this is !!
S: 15/16”
the book to get.”—RHETT ALLAIN, Professor of Physics at Southeastern Louisiana
B: 3/4”
University and author of WIRED Magazine’s Dot Physics
D I S C O V E R I N G Y O U R
4/C
C H A D O R Z E L D
received his BA in physics from Williams College, his S YO IS
PhD in chemical physics from the University of Maryland, and held a postdoctoral C U C I N N E R S C I E N T I S T PB
I
E R O
fellowship at Yale University. He is a professor at Union College in Schenectady, New N V
I
T N E
York and lives in Niskayuna, New York. I N R
S E I C H A D O R Z E L
$17.99 / $21.00 CAN T N
Cover design by Jason Gabbert ISBN 978-0-465-07496-9 51799 R G FgrIiNttIySH:
Cover image © Bryan Solomon / Shutterstock.com
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
9 780465 074969
www.basicbooks.com
EUREKA
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ALSO BY CHAD ORZEL
HOW TO TEACH RELATIVITY TO YOUR DOG
HOW TO TEACH PHYSICS TO YOUR DOG
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E U R E K A
DISCOVERING YOUR
INNER SCIENTIST
D
CHAD ORZEL
A MEMBER OF THE PERSEUS BOOKS GROUP
NEW YORK
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Copyright © 2014 by Chad Orzel
Published by Basic Books,
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this
book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written per-
mission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles
and reviews. For information, address Basic Books, 250 West 57th Street,
New York, NY 10107.
Books published by Basic Books are available at special discounts for bulk
purchases in the United States by corporations, institutions, and other
organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets
Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200,
Philadelphia, PA 19103, or call (800) 810-4145, ext. 5000, or e-mail special.
[email protected].
Designed by Jack Lenzo
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of
Congress.
ISBN: 978-0-465-07496-9 (paperback)
ISBN: 978-0-465-04491-7 (e-book)
LCCN: 2014034615
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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For my parents,
whose unfailing support
made all of this possible.
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CONTENTS
Introduction Discovering Your Inner Scientist ix
STEP ONE: LOOKING 1
Chapter 1 Collecting the Origin of Species 3
Chapter 2 Scientific Cuisine Reigns Supreme 25
Chapter 3 Needles in Haystacks 45
Chapter 4 Waldo at the Galaxy Zoo 65
STEP TWO: THINKING 87
Chapter 5 Setting the (Periodic) Table 89
Chapter 6 Asking the Allowed Questions:
Bridge and Scientific Thinking 109
Chapter 7 Dinosaurs and Mysteries 131
STEP THREE: TESTING 147
Chapter 8 Quantum Crosswords 149
Chapter 9 Precision Baking 165
Chapter 10 Like Chess Without the Dice:
Sports and Scientific Thinking 187
vii
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viii P CONTENTS
STEP FOUR: TELLING 211
Chapter 11 Scientific Storytelling 213
Chapter 12 What’s Going to Work? Teamwork!
Science as Collaboration 241
Chapter 13 Talking Sports 261
Chapter 14 Damned Lies and Statistics 285
Conclusion Science Is Never Over 303
Acknowledgments 327
Index 329
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Introduction
DISCOVERING YOUR INNER SCIENTIST
D
When I brought home my iPad for the first time,
before I’d finished getting it out of the box, my
then three-year-old daughter spotted it and an-
nounced, “I want to play Angry Birds!” I was a little bemused
by the idea that the game’s marketing reached even the pre-
school set, but I was not particularly unhappy. After all, Angry
Birds is a great way to learn about science.
I’m not talking about using the game to investigate the
physics of birds flung from slingshots, but I mean the process
of the game: To succeed at Angry Birds, you need to think like
a scientist.* When confronted with a new level, you need to
look closely at the arrangement of pigs and blocks and other
elements, to determine exactly what you need to accomplish.
Then you develop a mental model of what will happen when
you start launching birds: “If I hit this block with the yellow
bird, it will topple that block onto the pigs, and collapse this
tower. . . .” Then you test your model directly and see how
* A fellow physics professor and blogger does study bird-flinging physics and
has even written a book about the physics of Angry Birds: Rhett Allain,
Angry Birds: Furious Forces (Washington, DC: National Geographic, 2013).
ix
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