The Kaleidoscope of Physics

From Soap Bubbles to Quantum Technologies

Atlio

Rigamont

University of Pavia, Italy

Andrey Varlamov SPIN-CNR, Italy

Key Features

Jacques Villain

Academy of Sciences of France, France

• his book talks about ph sics and its role in the world around us • n 20 4, the publishing house elin published Le Kaleidoscope de la Ph si ue , which was awarded the main pri e or the best popular science book o the ear in rench the internatonal oberval pri e, a ear a er its publicaton. ts ussian language version, published in 2020, was recogni ed among the best scientfc popular books and awarded the iploma o ussian cadem o Sciences

Descripton

Physics manifests itself in our life, like the metamorphoses of a kaleidoscope. his book is wri en b pro essional scientsts who have devoted their entre lives to fnding answers to the riddles posed b nature. he authors investgate this rom the ver frst chapter the curious reader will fnd out wh the sk and the sea are blue, wh the rivers are meandering, how natural waveguides work, wh the climate changes and so on ...

urther, the path o knowledge leads rom the beautes and uncovered m steries o nature to the ph sics o ever da li e. rom the train in the galler , to the secrets o a glass harmonica and a good violin. ver an aperit , the authors ask uestons about the secrets o bubbles o champagne and wine tears on the walls o the glass, knowing the answers to which will help ou to be known as an e perienced sommelier. hen ou enter the kitchen the ph sical phenomena around ovens and stoves are endless, rom microwaves to cooking, with corresponding phase trans ormatons. aking pi a re uires deep thought, not to menton pasta, where talian and German philosophies collide. he ph sics behind making good (or bad) co ee is ver interestng, and ou can t go wrong.

er an e cursion to the kitchen, the authors invite us to a strange uantum world, believing that the themes o the last part ma be on the verge o understanding or the uninitated. ndeed, the ualit o the te t and the splendor o the illustratons conve the aesthetcs o the ph sics o the atomic and subatomic world. he chapter enttled Ph sics, Geometr and eaut deals with ullerenes, Leonardo, Piero della rancesca and Luca Pacioli. Even though our senses are alread heightened b wine, cooking and good co ee, perhaps it is in the feld o uantum ph sics that two cultures, once united, and then separated b ristotelian constructons, again merge into world harmon .

Authors

Atlio Rigamont (born 937) is e perimental ph sicist, pro essor, member o the Lombard nsttute cadem o Science and Le ers ( tal ), o the G Cardano nsttute, and o the editerranean nsttute o undamental Ph sics.

Andrey Varlamov (born in 954) is theoretcal ph sicist, pro essor, corresponding member o the Lombard nsttute cadem o Science and Le ers ( tal ), o the editerranean nsttute o undamental Ph sics, populari er o science.

February 2023

Imprint: World Scientfc Publishing

Compan

Extent: 260pp

Type: Popular ook

Main Subject: Ph sics

Sub-Subjects: General Ph sics (Popular eading) Popular Science Secondar nd High School

Keywords: eanders atural Waveguides Colours o Sk and Sea oucault s Pendulum Coriolis orce ides ubbles and rops Climate morphous Compounds erod namics ernoulli Law Energ Sources ibratons and coustcs Ph sics n Kitchen Heat rans er Ph sics o Pi a Spaghe and Ph sics Ph sics o Co ee Science in Cuisine Li uid itrogen ce Cream Uncertaint Principle uantum Ph sics Superconductvit Persistent Currents Li uid Helium agnetc esonance maging

Readership: Students in high school, college and universit . General readership interested in ph sics. Courses o general ph sics, thermod namics, electromagnetsm, histor o ph sics, condensed ma er ph sics, nanoph sics, low temperature ph sics, molecular culinar

• Open-air Physics:

Rivers, Meanders, and Lakes

Artfcial and Natural Waveguides

Colours of Sky and Sea

Foucault’s Pendulum and the Coriolis Force

Tides

Bubbles and Drops

Climate: Why the Summers Become Hoter Tracks on the Beach

From the Crystal Snowfakes to the Amorphous Glass

• Everyday Physics:

Conversaton During a Train Trip

Stradivarius’s Legacy

Singing and Silent Glasses

Energy: Obedient Maid or Oppressive Mistress?

Nunc Est Bibendum

• The Sapiens Cooker:

Waitng for a Cup of Tea

When Physics Invades the Kitchen

Ab Ovo

Thinking About Baking Pizza

Knots, Spaghet and Physics

Physics of Good or Bad Cofees

Science, Cuisine and Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream

• The Strange World of the Quanta:

Uncertaint , the eal ase o the uantum Ph sics

Ph sics, Geometr and eaut

Eternal oton in Superconductors

Propertes and pplicatons o Superconductors

Snowballs in Li uid Helium

Looks nside the Human od

Semiconductors and anoscience