The atom and the apple : twelve tales from contemporary physics

203 Pages·2008·1.1 MB·English

by  Balibar

37116_ch00.i-xii.pdf WBG Soft Proof 4/21/08 2:50:46 PM Pg i
The Atom and the Apple
___–1
___ 0
___+1
37116_ch00.i-xii.pdf WBG Soft Proof 4/21/08 2:50:46 PM Pg ii
–1___
0___
+1___
37116_ch00.i-xii.pdf WBG Soft Proof 4/21/08 2:50:46 PM Pg iii
The Atom and the Apple
Twelve Tales from Contemporary Physics
Sébastien Balibar
___–1
princeton university press • princeton and oxford ___ 0
___+1
37116_ch00.i-xii.pdf WBG Soft Proof 4/21/08 2:50:46 PM Pg iv
Copyright © 2008 by Princeton University Press
Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to Per-
missions, Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey
08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street, Woodstock,
Oxfordshire OX20 1TW
All Rights Reserved
[CIP To Come]
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
Publication of this book has been aided by
This book has been composed in
Printed on acid-free paper. ∞
press.princeton.edu
Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
–1___
0___
+1___
37116_ch00.i-xii.pdf WBG Soft Proof 4/21/08 2:50:46 PM Pg v
Contents
A Few Apples to Sink Your Teeth Into
1
Black Night 1
2
My Cousin the Leek 16
3
I Am Radioactive 26
4
Einstein, the Flute, and Quantum Dew 40
5
Is My Table Quantum? 54
6
The Power of Words 71
7
Crystals and Glasses 91
8
God, Helium, and Universality 105
9
Cyclists and Butterflies 117
10
Other Apples 132
11
From Pianos to the Sun 146
12
I Speak English 160
What Don’t I Know? 172
Index 184
___–1
___ 0
___+1
37116_ch00.i-xii.pdf WBG Soft Proof 4/21/08 2:50:46 PM Pg vi
–1___
0___
+1___
37116_ch00.i-xii.pdf WBG Soft Proof 4/21/08 2:50:46 PM Pg vii
“I am among those who think that science is a thing of great
beauty. A scientist in his laboratory is not just a technician: he is
also a child confronted with natural phenomena which dazzle
him like a fairy tale.
“We should not let others believe that all scientific progress can
be reduced to mechanisms, machines, and gears, though they
have their own beauty as well . . .
“I do not think either that in our world, the spirit of adventure is
likely to disappear. If I see anything vital around me, it is pre-
cisely that spirit of adventure, which seems impossible to uproot,
and resembles curiosity . . .”
—Marie Curie
___–1
___ 0
___+1
37116_ch00.i-xii.pdf WBG Soft Proof 4/21/08 2:50:46 PM Pg viii
A Few Apples to Sink Your Teeth Into
```````````````````````````````
Stars, apples, flowers, left and right hands, cyclists and butterflies,
droplets, bubbles, glasses and crystals, pianos, suns, cats, tables, spin-
ning tops, waves...
What do all these seemingly ordinary things have to do with the
limits of the Universe, the insides of atoms, the genesis of forms,
chaos theory—in other words, the ever-advancing frontiers of con-
temporary science?
In this short book, it is my hope to persuade you that one of the
best ways of coming to understand some of the deepest and suppos-
edly most inaccessible mysteries of the world around us, and the
universe at large, is to simply look a little more deeply at the seem-
ingly mundane.
You might think that I’m just another scientist, obsessed with his
own profession, that I find it impossible to enjoy anything without
peppering it with reason or, better yet, physics...But, I’d like to
show you that, at heart, I’m really more of a dreamer, curious about
everything, tempted to pull on each strand I come upon in the
hopes of untangling a great, universal skein of knowledge. I’ve writ-
ten this book for anyone who shares a similar sense of wonder and
curiosity regarding his or her surroundings, and in these few pages,
I’d like to describe some of the fascinating things that scientists
have recently been inspired to find out about the world around us.
–1___
It’s my hope that, by inviting you to come with me and bite into a
0___
+1___
viii
37116_ch00.i-xii.pdf WBG Soft Proof 4/21/08 2:50:46 PM Pg ix
A FEW APPLES TO SINK YOUR TEETH INTO
few of the ripe fruits of contemporary research, we can both take
part in appreciating the thriving tree of knowledge that is science
and be similarly inspired to keep on reaching for more understand-
ing. The most sophisticated understanding often starts with a
childlike sense of wonder, the simplest of questions, and an honest,
irrepressible desire to know. It’s my desire in this book to encourage
in you the same impulses that led me to become a scientist, but
which can lead anyone to a deeper and more profound understand-
ing of Nature and our place within it.
___–1
___ 0
___+1
ix