Didactics Self-study Motto Plan Now with paper version Dedication History
I always wanted to write the physics textbook from which I would have liked
to learn the subject when I was young. After 20 years,
the present, 23rd edition is approaching that goal. The main edition
is the electronic one: the free pdf with colour images, with embedded movies,
clickable cross-references and live internet links.
This electronic edition is organized by a charitable non-profit
association.
Aim of the project
Across all languages, physics is the science with the worst textbooks. This project wants to change this, by producing a simple, vivid and up-to-date introduction to modern physics. 'Simple' means that concepts are stressed more than formalism; 'vivid' means that the reader is continuously entertained, motivated and challenged; 'up-to-date' means that modern research and present ideas about unification are included. The subtitle of the text, The Adventure of Physics, sums up these three aspects.
The approach starts with an uncommon, but clear definition of physics: physics is the science of motion. The project then takes the search for a precise description of motion as a guiding principle for an exploration of modern physics. This leads to a storyline which is somewhat different from the usual one. Nature's limits to speed, entropy, force, action and charge are central to the presentation.
The text aims to explain the unification of physics - the full theory of motion - in simple language. The project will be completed as soon as the current search for a full theory of motion will have been completed successfully and its results included in the text.
Didactics
The text is written for self-study. It tells a story; it is not a commented formula collection. In its teaching approach, the project tries to satisfy several needs. First of all, the explanations are written in a way that should appeal both to people who prefer thinking in images and to those that prefer thinking in words. Furthermore, the content has been selected to attract both male and female readers. Next, the text is written to appeal to composer and to competitor characters. The text also tries to cater both for the experimentally and the theoretically inclined. Finally, the story should appeal to those who like the natural sciences and to those who like the humanities.
Self-study
Motto
The motto of the text, 'Die Menschen stärken, die Sachen klären', translates as 'To fortify people, to clarify things'. The motto has direct consequences for the presentation. Many people email to ask that certain beliefs be inserted: astrology, creation, alleged invention of physics by the Mayas or other people, examples of perpetuum mobiles, new energy sources, strange religious topics, cranky philosophical statements, dishonest theological theses, faster-than-light energy speeds, telepathy, "mind is stronger than matter", "there are things that cannot be measured", multiverse, many-world interpretations of quantum theory, and more. However, the motto stands for clarity: statements that are false or without content are labeled as such. Thus, such email requests will indeed lead to inclusion in the text, if the statements are entertaining enough: the topics will end up in the section on nonsense or in that on lies.
Plan
As of end 2009, the remaining plan is to improve the explanations and to add topics where necessary.
Paper version
At the time being, the first, second, third, fourth and sixth volumes are available in black and white paper form from lulu.com, by clicking on paper volume I, paper volume II, paper volume III, paper volume IV or paper volume VI. Unfortunately, lulu.com makes prices for European authors that are higher in euros than they are in dollars for American authors, which almost doubles the end price for no reason. I'll work on this. The last missing volume, volume V, will follow soon.
These paper versions are all in black and white, because on-demand colour printing is extremely expensive. The colour version will be organized with another, traditional publisher.
Dedication
Since its start in 1997, this website is dedicated to my brothers Stephan and Philipp Schiller.
History
The 23rd edition, of October 2009 includes new films on the relativistic effects due to aberration and accelerated motion, new films on the motion of wave functions in quantum theory, and over 100 new colour photographs. The text now tells how yellow light improves tomato sales and pink light reduces crime, it presents the still unexplained experiences of apnoea divers, it explains why wearing sunglasses can transform humans into apes, it tells about the recently discovered natural quasicrystals, it explains nerve pulses as a mixture of sound and current, it describes the wake behind ducks, swans and ships, it explains why ultrasound imaging is not safe for a foetus, it adds the relativistic circular train puzzle, it explains how to prove the invariance of the speed of light by looking at the sky, it gives details about the solar spectrum, it presents the 'floating bed' puzzle, it tells about a measured version of the Unruh effect called the Sokolov-Ternov effect, it explains how to measure the power of the with closed eyes, it gives the ideal shape of skateboard half-pipes, and it estimates the total length of all capillaries in the human body.
The 22nd edition, of January 2009, adds over 50 new illustrations, explains how it is possible to plunge a bare hand into molten lead, includes a film of an oscillating quartz inside a watch, explains how it is possible to type a letter by controlling a computer with thought alone, includes a film of a solar flare, explains the fifteen ways that colours appear in rocks plants and animals, explains the connection between cats and gauge theory, adds more ways in which the human eye invents colours that are not there, includes a list of laser types and applications, includes many images of crystals, explains how physics Plotinus and christianty come together to show that the universe and god are one and the same, adds the handcuff puzzle and several other puzzles, explains how jet pilots frighten civilians with sonic superbooms produced by fighter planes, presents the most beautiful and precise sundial available today, adds a simple photographic proof that the Earth is larger than the Moon, improves the presentation of elementary particle physics, adds a photo of a red rainbow, gives the latest discoveries on the Galileo trial, presents a fascinating mathematical aspect of Ohm's law, states the hardest open math problem that you can explain to your grandmother, and much more.
The 21st edition, of December 2007, adds over one hundred new figures and tables, numerous explanations, and many examples from animals, plants and machines. The text now explains why the speed of light is too slow to speculate with success on the stock exchange, adds the second-level bear fur colour puzzle and the young mother puzzle, presents the nearest place with a pressure permanently lower than that of the atmosphere, adds the puzzle about the horse and the snail on a rubber, tells more about metamaterials, adds some simple chemical puzzles, presents what incredible things on atomic layers one can discover using a pencil and sticky tape, tells more on biological rhythms and clocks, explains how to observe the rotation of the Earth in any classroom after two seconds of observation, shows an electric effect observed on many playgrounds, shows the beauty of bursting soap bubbles and bouncing tennis balls, explains how it is possible to observe the motion of single, isolated electrons, and tells how to build the simplest possible radio control system.
The 20th edition, of January 2007, adds a dozen animations and films: generation and motion of electromagnetic waves, leap-frogging vortex rings, jumping snakes, the propagation of solitons and dromions, growing ice crystals, rotating atomic orbitals, the actin-myosin system in muscles in action, and Dirac's belt trick. The edition also introduces robots that walk on water, explains how to observe the polarization of light with the unaided human eye in the same way as honey bees do, shows how to produce floating plasma clouds similar to ball lightning, tells more about the Galilean satellites, mentions the world records for running backwards and the attempts to break the speed sailing record, tells in more detail how to learn from books with as little effort as possible, presents the polarized car headlight problem and many other puzzles.
The site was set up in November 1997, to pass on the best stories known about physics. Updates appear twice a year. The project itself started in 1990, in Yokohama.