The Flying Circus of Physics explained
| The Flying Circus of Physics |
| Author: | Jearl Walker |
| Illustrator: | Anna Melhorn |
| Cover Artist: | Norm Christiansen |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Subject: | The physics of real-world phenomena |
| Publisher: | John Wiley and Sons |
| Pub Date: | 1975 (1st ed.)
1977 (1st ed. with answers)
2007 (2nd ed.) |
| Pages: | 331 |
| Isbn: | 978-0-471-76273-7 |
| Oclc: | 64595915 |
| External Url: | https://archive.org/search?query=flying+circus+of+physics+jearl+walker |
| External Host: | Internet Archive |
The Flying Circus of Physics by Jearl Walker (1975, published by John Wiley and Sons; "with Answers" in 1977; 2nd edition in 2007), is a book that poses (and answers) 740 questions concerned with everyday physics. The emphasis is strongly on phenomena that might be encountered in one's daily life. The questions are interspersed with 38 "short stories" about related material.
The book covers topics having to do with motion, fluids, sound, thermal processes, electricity and magnetism, optics, and vision.
There is a website for the book which stores over 11,000 references, 2,000 links, new material, a detailed index, and other supplementary material. There is also a collection of YouTube videos by the author on the material. See External links at the bottom of this page.
Jearl Walker is a professor of physics at Cleveland State University. He is also known for his work on the highly popular textbook of introductory physics, Fundamentals of Physics, which is currently in its 12th edition. From 1978 until 1990, Walker wrote The Amateur Scientist column in Scientific American magazine.
Examples
Typically, the questions posed by the book are about phenomena that many readers will have encountered but not thought through physically. For example, here is question 4.78, "A Candle Flame":
Note that this question is actually a series of closely related sub-questions. This is often the case. Here is another example; this one is an excerpt from question 5.2, "Lightning: People, cows, and sheep":
Here is a third example; this one is an excerpt from question 6.1, "Rainbows":
Many of the short stories are descriptions of particular events. For example, item 1.54 is the short story "Bomber crashes into Empire State Building." The story describes how this actually occurred in 1945 and what happened to the bomber, the building, and one of the elevators.
History
As is discussed in the preface of the book, the idea for the collection of real-world physics phenomena started when Jearl was a graduate student teaching assistant, and was asked by a student to give an example of how physics had anything to do with her life. The collection grew steadily over time, and he gave it a name that he thought would attract attention. Eventually it became large enough and popular enough to justify publication. The original 1975 edition provided no answers to the questions, but did provide references to use as a starting point. This was followed in 1977 by a modified 1st edition that included a section at the back with answers or partial answers to the questions. The author continued to work on the project and 31 years later, in 2006, the 2nd edition was released. It is a major expansion of the material and the answers now immediately follow the questions. The references for the 2nd edition are kept in an online website (see External links below) along with other useful material. The book has been translated and published in 11 different languages, the colorful covers of which can be seen here.
Reception
The various editions of the book all received highly favorable reviews.
The reviews make it clear that the book poses questions about the real world that most readers will find interesting and which present challenges at all levels of expertise from high school science student to professional physicist.
Edward Adelson, physicist at Ohio State University writes of the 2nd edition: "Jearl Walker, known for writing of exceptional clarity in his editions of Fundamentals of Physics by Halliday, Resnick, and Walker, has offered us a new, expanded version of The Flying Circus of Physics, his collection of natural phenomena and physics oddities. ... This book, full of examples you will want to think through or discuss with friends, also includes phenomena that have not yet been fully tested or explained. It is easy for a physicist to become immersed in this book and ignore colleagues, spouse, children, and earthquakes."
A staff writer for Goodreads said in a review of the 2nd edition: "Wiley published the first edition of Jearl Walker’s The Flying Circus of Physics, which has sold over 100,000 copies and become a cult classic in the physics community. The Flying Circus is a compendium of interesting real world phenomena that can be explained using basic laws of physics. This new edition represents a thorough updating and modernization of the book. The new edition gives us the opportunity to highlight Jearl’s creativity, his communication skills, and his ability to make physics interesting."
Thomas E Taylor, at the University of Arizona, says in a review of the 1st edition (with answers), "Jearl Walker's 'Flying Circus of Physics' is so fascinating that it is difficult to review. In 174 pages, no less than 618 "just-for-fun" problems are posed regarding things that we see in everyday life. ... While this little book comes with 'physics' in the title, it obviously transcends that single science (if indeed it can be isolated). My students not only read it with enthusiasm, they also try out the things that are listed. And, with time, they resist looking at the answers until they have thoroughly experimented with each phenomenon."
Brian E Woolnough of University of Oxford says of the 1st edition (with answers)"Now and again there is published a book which comes like a breath of fresh air through the existing tomes in that field; such a book is The Flying Circus of Physics by Professor Jearl Walker - It is a delight to peruse. ... Having met Jearl Walker I know that he would hope that his book would make people realize that physics is not an irrelevant, esoteric art which is the sole preserve of those who communicate with advanced mathematics. On the contrary, there is physics all around us, and an appreciation of this can make the whole of our life more enjoyable and more fun."
Douglas D. Smith, a high school teacher, in a review of the 1st edition (without answers), says "The book is especially valuable to a general science teacher but has many items that relate to high school chemistry. One successful use of the book was to give students the opportunity to choose one of the phenomena and find answers to the related questions by checking into the references."
In a review of the 1st edition (without answers), Robert H. Romer, a physics professor at Amherst College, says "I recommend this book without reservation to everyone who enjoys physics, who knows the subject and who wants to learn more about its application to real phenomena. My major worry about the book is my fear that it might be mistaken for an 'elementary' book. It is true that no quantum mechanics is needed, for instance, to grapple with these questions, but at least with many of these questions, you will not get far without a sound knowledge of classical physics."
Brief Contents
PrefaceChapter 1. Slipping Between Falling Drops. (Motion).Chapter 2. Racing on the Ceiling, Swimming Through Syrup. (Fluids).Chapter 3. Hiding Under the Covers, Listening for the Monsters. (Sound).Chapter 4. Striking at the Heat in the Night. (Thermal Processes).Chapter 5. Ducking First a Roar and Then a Flash. (Electricity and Magnetism).Chapter 6. Splashing Colors Everywhere, Like a Rainbow. (Optics).Chapter 7. Armadillos Dancing Against a Swollen Moon. (Vision).Index
Contents
The following is a full listing of the titles of the questions and the short stories, which may be quite useful for determining if a particular topic of interest is addressed in the book. The questions themselves are usually much longer than the titles and often contain numerous sub-questions.
CHAPTER 1: Slipping Between Falling Drops (MOTION)
1.1 Run or walk in the rain?1.2 Traffic platoons and gridlock1.3 Shock waves on the freeway1.4 Minimum trailing distance for a car1.5 Running a yellow light1.6 Spinout during hard braking1.7 To slide or not to slide1.8 Skidding to a stop1.9 SHORT STORY: Some records for skid marks1.10 Woodpeckers, bighorn sheep, and concussion1.11 SHORT STORY: The game of gs1.12 Head-on car collision1.13 SHORT STORY: Playing with locomotives1.14 Rear-end collision and whiplash injury1.15 Race-car turns1.16 Sprint tracks1.17 Takeoff illusion1.18 SHORT STORY: Air Canada Flight 1431.19 Fear and trembling at the amusement park1.20 SHORT STORY: Circus loop-the-loop acts1.21 Catching a fly ball1.22 SHORT STORY: High ball1.23 Hitting a baseball1.24 Legal passes in rugby1.25 Juggling1.26 Pole vaulting1.27 Launch of an atlatl and a toad tongue1.28 Slings1.29 Tomahawks1.30 Bolas1.31 Siege machine1.32 Human cannonball1.33 Basketball shots1.34 SHORT STORY: Records in free throws1.35 Hang time in basketball and ballet1.36 Golfing1.37 SHORT STORY: Curtain of death of a meteor strike1.38 The high jump and the long jump1.39 Jumping beans1.40 Somersault of a click beetle, attack of a mantis shrimp1.41 SHORT STORY: Some record lifts1.42 Chain collisions1.43 Dropping a stack of balls1.44 SHORT STORY: A crashing demonstration1.45 Karate1.46 Boxing1.47 Skywalk collapse1.48 World Trade Center collapse1.49 Falls from record heights1.50 A daring parachuting rescue1.51 Cats in long falls1.52 Land diving and bungee jumping1.53 Trapped in a falling elevator cab1.54 SHORT STORY: Bomber crashes into Empire State Building1.55 Falls in fighting, landing during parachuting1.56 Beds of nails1.57 Hanging spoons1.58 Trails of migrating rocks1.59 Hitches1.60 Rock climbing1.61 Rock climbing by bighorn sheep1.62 Pulling statues across Easter Island1.63 Erecting Stonehenge1.64 Lifting the blocks for the Egyptian pyramids1.65 A Slinky1.66 Leaning tower of blocks1.67 Leaning tower of Pisa1.68 Falling dominoes1.69 Falling chimneys, pencils, and trees1.70 Breaking pencil points1.71 Failure of a bridge section1.72 Jackknifing of a train1.73 Bowling strikes1.74 Shots in pool and billiards1.75 Miniature golf1.76 Super Ball tricks1.77 Racquetball shots1.78 SHORT STORY: A controversial goal1.79 Tennis1.80 Bicycles and motorcycles1.81 Motorcycle long jumps1.82 Skateboards1.83 Pitching horseshoes1.84 Spinning hula hoops and lassos1.85 Yo-yo1.86 Unwinding a yo-yo1.87 Driving through the sound barrier1.88 SHORT STORY: Spin test explosion1.89 Kayak roll1.90 Curling1.91 Tightrope walk1.92 Bull riding1.93 Tearing toilet paper1.94 Skipping stones and bombs1.95 Spinning ice-skater1.96 Spinning a book1.97 Falling cat, astronaut antics, and fancy diving1.98 Quadruple somersault1.99 Tumbling toast1.100 Ballet1.101 Skiing1.102 Abandoned on the ice1.103 SHORT STORY: Rotation sequence matters1.104 Personalities of tops1.105 SHORT STORY: A headstrong suitcase1.106 Tippy tops1.107 Spinning eggs1.108 Diabolos1.109 Rattlebacks1.110 Wobbling coins and bottles1.111 Judo, aikido, and Olympic wrestling1.112 Bullet spin and long passes1.113 Pumping playground swings1.114 Incense swing1.115 The pendulum in the pit1.116 Inverted pendulums, unicycle riders1.117 Carrying loads on the head1.118 Carrying loads with oscillating poles1.119 Coupled pendulums1.120 Spring pendulum1.121 The bell that would not ring1.122 Spaghetti effect1.123 The spider and the fly1.124 Footbridge and dance floor oscillations1.125 Precariously balanced structures and rocks1.126 Sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk1.127 Detection by sand scorpion1.128 Snow waves1.129 Football-stadium wave1.130 Body armor1.131 Archer's paradox1.132 Oscillating plants1.133 Oscillating tall buildings1.134 Diving from a springboard1.135 Fly casting1.136 The Falkland Islands battle, Big Bertha1.137 Jack and the beanstalk to space1.138 Spring fever and the standing of eggs1.139 Moon madness1.140 Gravity hill1.141 Falling through the center of Earth1.142 Stretching of plastic shopping bags1.143 Giant's Causeway and starch columns1.144 Broken fingernails1.145 Crumpling paper into a ball1.146 Playful to tragic examples of explosive expansion1.147 Why a hanging picture becomes crooked1.148 A two-spring surprise1.149 Stability of a pop can1.150 Wilberforce pendulum1.151 Drag racing starts1.152 Turn or stop1.153 Slipping past a bus1.154 Compression region in sticky tape1.155 Bobsled in a curve1.156 Too quick to slide1.157 The home of the Little Prince1.158 Parachuting with a pumpkin1.159 Pulling in a feisty fish1.160 Fiddlesticks1.161 Rotor on a notched stick1.162 Shot put and hammer throw1.163 Jumps during downhill ski race1.164 Pulling a tablecloth beneath dishes1.165 SHORT STORY: Pulling with teeth1.166 Jerking chair1.167 Lifting a person with fingers1.168 Rockets, and a problem with an iceboat1.169 SHORT STORY: Earth to Venus1.170 A choice of hammers1.171 Pressure regulator1.172 Sliding a stick across fingers1.173 SHORT STORY: Giant tug-of-war1.174 Shooting along a slope1.175 Starting a car on a slippery road1.176 Balancing a tire1.177 Carnival bottle swing1.178 Hanging goblet. ready to crash1.179 Breaking a drill bit1.180 Swinging watches1.181 SHORT STORY: Flattening the Golden Gate Bridge1.182 Hunting by railway vehicles1.183 Oscillating car antenna1.184 A ship's antiroll tank1.185 Road corrugation1.186 Seeing only one side of the Moon1.187 Intelligence satellites1.188 Air drag speeds up satellite1.189 Moon trip figure eight1.190 Earth and Sun pull on Moon1.191 Gravitational slingshot effect1.192 Making a map of India1.193 Shaving with twin blades1.194 The handedness of river erosion
CHAPTER 2: Racing on the Ceiling, Swimming Through Syrup (FLUIDS)
2.1 Race cars on the ceiling2.2 Drafting2.3 Aerodynamics of passing trains2.4 Collapse of the old Tacoma Narrows Bridge2.5 Aerodynamics of buildings2.6 Kites2.7 Ski Jumping2.8 Speed of a downhill skier2.9 Boomerangs2.10 Throwing cards2.11 Seeds that spin2.12 Flying snakes2.13 Air drag on tennis balls2.14 Veering a football around a defensive wall2.15 Golf-ball aerodynamics2.16 Baseball aerodynamics2.17 Cricket aerodynamics2.18 Birds flying in V formation2.19 Speed swimming in syrup2.20 Contrails2.21 Inward flutter of a shower curtain2.22 Prairie dog and giant ant nests2.23 Bathtub vortex2.24 Vortex in a cup of coffee2.25 Gathering of tea leaves, spinning of olives2.26 Meandering rivers2.27 Bird spinning in water2.28 Water climbing a spinning egg2.29 Circular water-flow pattern in a sink2.30 Water level in canals2.31 Solitary waves2.32 Tidal bores2.33 Tides2.34 Tides in the Bay of Fundy2.35 Dead water2.36 Tornadoes2.37 SHORT STORY: Looking up into a tornado2.38 Waterspouts and funnel clouds2.39 Dust devils, fog devils, and steam devils2.40 Ring vortexes2.41 Siphons and toilets2.42 Lizards walking on water2.43 Lead bar floating in a boat2.44 Floating bars and open containers2.45 Hole in a dam, ship in dry dock2.46 g-LOC in pilots2.47 Blood circulation in snakes, giraffes, and tall dinosaurs2.48 Did the sauropods swim?2.49 Gastroliths in dinosaurs and crocodiles2.50 Coanda effect2.51 Teapot effect2.52 Ascents after deep diving2.53 Snorkeling by people and elephants2.54 Deep diving submarine escape2.55 Lake Nyos disaster2.56 SHORT STORY: House-hopping, and riding the skies in a lawn chair2.57 Flow of medieval cathedral window glass2.58 Strange viscous fluids2.59 Soup reversal2.60 Bouncing liquid stream2.61 Rod-climbing fluids2.62 Liquid rope coils2.63 Water waves2.64 Extreme and rogue waves2.65 Waves turning to approach a beach2.66 Waves pass through a narrow opening2.67 Seiches and sloshes2.68 Wakes of ducks and aircraft carriers2.69 Surfing2.70 Porpoise and dolphin motion2.71 Edge waves2.72 Beach cusps2.73 Oil and waves2.74 Floating drops2.75 Splashing drops2.76 Bubbles in soda, beer, and champagne2.77 Soap bubbles and beer foams2.78 Bursting bubbles2.79 Whales and bubble nets2.80 Water striders2.81 Beading on rods and saliva threads2.82 Rain harvesting by desert lizards2.83 Prey harvesting by shorebirds2.84 Drops and liquid films on solid surfaces2.85 Breakfast cereal pulling together2.86 Sandcastles2.87 Appearance of bad coffee2.88 Tears of wine and other liquid surface play2.89 Tia Maria worm-like patterns2.90 Patterns in hot coffee and other fluids2.91 Patterns in coffee stains2.92 Breath figures2.93 The lotus effect2.94 Aphids and liquid marbles2.95 Paintbrushes, wet hair, and dunking cookies2.96 Deep-fat frying of potatoes2.97 Ducks stay dry2.98 Cut potatoes, bird droppings, and a car2.99 Catapulting mushroom spores2.100 Waves on a falling stream2.101 Water bells, sheets, and chains2.102 Stepping on a wet beach and into quicksand2.103 Collapse of buildings and a freeway2.104 SHORT STORY: Quicksand effect with grain2.105 Pedestrian flow and escape panic2.106 Sandpiles and self-organizing flow2.107 Flows in hourglasses and silos2.108 Brazil-nut effect and oscillating powders2.109 Avalanche balloon2.110 and ripples and movement2.111 Sand dunes2.112 Yardangs and other sand cuttings2.113 Snow fences and wind deposits2.114 Snow avalanches2.115 Long-runout landslides2.116 Rockfalls2.117 Fluttering flags and ribbons2.118 Fluttering fountains and pounding waterfalls2.119 Pulsating fountains2.120 Pouring: inverted glass, yard-of-ale2.121 Dripping2.122 Soap bubble shapes2.123 Bubble paths2.124 Antibubbles2.125 Lifting rice with a rod2.126 Throwing a discus2.127 Javelin throw2.128 Two boats drawn together2.129 Aerodynamics of cables and lines2.130 Surf skimmer2.131 Buoyancy while turning a corner2.132 Wave reflection by sandbars2.133 Rain and waves2.134 A salt oscillator2.135 Salt fingers and a salt fountain2.136 Lifting water through tall trees2.137 Windrows on water2.138 Cloud streets and forest-fire strips2.139 Packing M&Ms2.140 A pile of apples2.141 Powder patterns2.142 A hydraulic oscillator2.143 Oil blobs moving through glycerin2.144 Ball in an airstream2.145 Flettner's ship2.146 Strait of Gibraltar. Strait of Messina. Strait of Sicily2.147 Granular splashing2.148 Slight ridge on moving water2.149 Meandering thin streams2.150 Shaver clippings and camphor boats on water2.151 Oil stains on a road2.152 Patterns of water drops onto glycerin2.153 Olive-oil fingers on talc-covered water2.154 Chicken-fat oscillator
CHAPTER 3: Hiding under the Covers, Listening for the Monsters (SOUND)
3.1 Howling of the wind3.2 Singing of telephone wires and pine needles3.3 Whistles and whistling3.4 Speaking and singing3.5 Speaking with helium3.6 Throat singing3.7 Snoring3.8 Purring and roaring3.9 SHORT STORY: Sound from a Parasaurolophus dinosaur3.10 Sounds of tigers and elephants3.11 Bullfrog croaking3.12 Crickets and spiny lobsters3.13 Frog playing a tree; cricket playing a burrow3.14 Attack of the Australian cicadas3.15 Penguin voices3.16 Whale clicks3.17 Reflection tone3.18 Long-distance sound3.19 Acoustic shadows3.20 Hearing the Soviet subs3.21 Cheerleader's horn. foghorns3.22 Direction of a whisper3.23 Doppler shift3.24 Bat finding an insect3.25 Bat finding a flower3.26 Hearing underwater3.27 Cocktail party effect3.28 Sound emitted by the ears3.29 Music in your head3.30 Noise-induced hearing loss3.31 Sound enhanced by noise3.32 Stethoscopes and respiratory sounds3.33 Tightening guitar strings and rubber bands3.34 Bowing a violin3.35 Flashing brilliance of a violin3.36 Conch shells3.37 Didgeridoo3.38 Silo quaking and honking3.39 Singing corrugated tubes3.40 Coffee mug acoustics3.41 Bottle resonance3.42 Fingers on a chalkboard3.43 Rubbing wineglasses3.44 Shattering wineglasses with voice3.45 Murmuring brooks and rain noise3.46 Jar and beaker resonance3.47 Rumbling from plumbing3.48 Knuckle cracking3.49 Korotkoff sounds3.50 Attack of the killer shrimp3.51 Sounds of boiling water3.52 Food-crushing sounds3.53 Snap, crackle, and pop3.54 Sonic booms from aircraft and bullets3.55 Sonic booms from train tunnels3.56 Thunder3.57 Brontides-mysterious booms from the sky3.58 Rockfall and tree downing3.59 Popping bullwhips and wet towels3.60 Coughing and sneezing3.61 Acoustics of rooms and concert halls3.62 Whispering galleries in various enclosures3.63 Whispering gallery in St. Paul's Cathedral3.64 Echoes from walls, corners, and forest groves3.65 Musical echoes from stairs and fences3.66 SHORT STORY: Acoustics of ancient structures3.67 Singing in the shower3.68 Noisy upstairs neighbor3.69 Booming sand and squeaking sand3.70 Cracking ice and bergy seltzer3.71 Audibility through snow3.72 Sounds of walking in snow3.73 "Can you hear the shape of a drum?"3.74 Infrasound3.75 Sounds of corn growing3.76 Snapping cloth sounds3.77 Culvert whistlers3.78 Slinky whistlers3.79 Rifle-shot noises in permafrost regions3.80 Hearing auroras and fireballs3.81 Australian bullroarer
CHAPTER 4: Striking at the Heat in the Night (THERMAL PROCESSES)
4.1 Dead rattlesnakes4.2 Fire-detecting beetles4.3 Bees kill hornet4.4 Huddling animals4.5 Space walking without a spacesuit4.6 Drops on a hot skillet, fingers in molten lead4.7 SHORT STORY: A rather dreadful swallow4.8 Walking over hot coals4.9 SHORT STORY: Fire-walking accounts4.10 Freezing and supercooling water4.11 Eating sea ice4.12 Cooling rates of initially hot and warm water4.13 Water frozen by the sky4.14 Saving the stored vegetables with a tub of water4.15 Spraying an orchard to prevent freezing4.16 Throwing hot water into very cold air4.17 Icicles4.18 Ice dams at eaves4.19 Rime ice and glaze ice on cables4.20 Ice spikes and other ice formations4.21 Cloudy ice cubes4.22 Figures inside melting ice4.23 Freezing of ponds and lakes4.24 Freezing carbonated drinks4.25 Bursting pipes4.26 Touching or licking a cold pipe4.27 Bumps in winter, pingos in permafrost4.28 Arctic ice polygons4.29 Growing stones in a garden, patterned ground4.30 Ploughing boulders4.31 SHORT STORY: Dead-cat bomb and a frozen disappearance4.32 Snowflake formation4.33 Skiing4.34 Ice-skating and making a snowball4.35 Ice walking4.36 Igloos4.37 Snowrollers4.38 Snow avalanche4.39 Patterns formed by melting snow4.40 Salting icy sidewalks4.41 Homemade ice cream4.42 Drinking hot coffee, eating hot pizza4.43 Boiling water4.44 Boiling an egg4.45 Cooking in a stove or over flames4.46 Campfire cooking4.47 Cooking pizza4.48 Heating in a microwave oven4.49 Popping popcorn4.50 Cooking scrambled eggs4.51 Geysers and coffee percolators4.52 Toy putt-putt boat4.53 Thermal effects on lengths4.54 Collapse of railroad storage tank4.55 Drying of hanging laundry4.56 Warm coats4.57 Warm plants4.58 Polar-bear hairs4.59 Black robes and black sheep in the desert4.60 Cooling rate of a cup of coffee4.61 Cool water from porous pottery4.62 Dunking bird4.63 SHORT STORY: Large dunking birds4.64 Heat pipes and potato stickers4.65 Foggy mirrors4.66 Condensation on eyeglasses4.67 Water collection in arid regions4.68 Mud cracks4.69 Inflating juice containers on airplanes4.70 Inflating bubbles and balloons4.71 Making cakes at high altitudes4.72 Champagne in a tunnel4.73 SHORT STORY: Stuck in a bottle4.74 Wintertime thunder4.75 Stack plume4.76 Smoke signals and mushroom clouds4.77 Fire in a fireplace4.78 A candle flame4.79 Spraying a fire4.80 Cooking-oil fires4.81 Brush fires and forest fires4.82 Firestorms4.83 Temperature regulation in mounds and buildings4.84 Warmth of greenhouses and closed cars4.85 Heat islands4.86 Rubber-band thermodynamics4.87 The foehn and the chinook4.88 The boiling-water ordeal4.89 Energy in a heated room4.90 Icehouse orientation4.91 A radiometer toy and its reversal4.92 Water wells and storms4.93 Insect and shrimp plumes
CHAPTER 5: Ducking First a Roar and Then a Flash (ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM)
5.1 Lightning5.2 Lightning: people, cows, and sheep5.3 Lightning: vehicles5.4 Lightning: trees, towers, and ground5.5 Bead and ball lightning5.6 Sprites5.7 Lightning rods5.8 Sweaters, playground slides, and surgery rooms5.9 Cars, fuel pumps, and pit stops5.10 SHORT STORY: Shocking exchange of gum5.11 Danger of powder floating in the air5.12 Danger of aerosol cans5.13 Danger of spraying water5.14 Ski glow5.15 Hindenburg disaster5.16 A gurney fire5.17 Glow in peeling adhesive tape5.18 Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme5.19 Wintergreen glow in the closet5.20 Earthquake lights5.21 St. Elmo's fire and Andes glow5.22 High-voltage lines5.23 Current, voltage, and people5.24 SHORT STORY: An act of indiscretion5.25 Use of current in surgery5.26 Surgical fires and explosions5.27 Lemon battery, tingling of teeth fillings5.28 Electric fish and eels5.29 Charging by blown dust, sand, and snow5.30 Lightning-like discharges above a volcano5.31 Bacterial contamination in surgery5.32 Bees and pollination5.33 SHORT STORY: Fire ants and electrical equipment5.34 Plastic food wrap5.35 Flies on ceilings, geckos on walls5.36 Meringue pie5.37 Sauce bearnaise5.38 Lodestones5.39 Earth's magnetic field and archaeology5.40 MRI complications5.41 SHORT STORY: Magnetic search for the Garfield bullet5.42 Magnets, tattoos, and body jewelry5.43 Breakfast and cow magnetism5.44 Electric guitars5.45 Electric-guitar amplifiers5.46 Auroras5.47 Solar eruptions and power outages5.48 Levitating frogs5.49 Fizzing sound from a magnet5.50 Currents in you at a train station
CHAPTER 6: Splashing Colors Everywhere, Like a Rainbow (OPTICS)
6.1 Rainbows6.2 Strange rainbows6.3 Artificial rainbows6.4 The daytime sky is not dark6.5 Colors of the sky6.6 Blue mountains, white mountains, and red clouds6.7 Sailor's warning6.8 Sunsets and volcanoes6.9 Bishop's ring6.10 Cloud-contrast bow6.11 Sky colors during a solar eclipse6.12 When the sky turns green, head for the cellar6.13 Enhancement of overhead blue6.14 Dark patch and rosy border during sunset6.15 Bright and dark shafts across the sky6.16 Blue haze, red haze, brown haze6.17 Lights of a distant city6.18 How far is the horizon?6.19 Color of overcast sky6.20 Maps in the sky6.21 Brighter when it snows6.22 The end of a searchlight beam6.23 SHORT STORY: Newgrange winter-solstice sunbeam6.24 The green flash6.25 Distortions of the low Sun6.26 Red Moon during lunar eclipse6.27 Crown flash6.28 Oasis mirage6.29 Wall mirage6.30 Water monsters, mermen, and large-scale mirage6.31 A ghost among the flowers6.32 Shimmy and twinkling stars6.33 Shadow bands6.34 The 22° halo and sun dogs6.35 A sky full of halos, arcs, and spots6.36 Mountain shadows6.37 Disappearing cloud shadows6.38 Colors of the ocean6.39 Reflection glitter of Sun and Moon6.40 Rings of light6.41 Shadows and colors in water6.42 Color of your shadow6.43 Seeing the dark part of the Moon6.44 Heiligenschein and opposition brightening6.45 Grain field waves6.46 Glory6.47 Corona6.48 Frosty glass corona6.49 Iridescent clouds6.50 Blue moon6.51 Yellow fog lights6.52 Dark when wet6.53 Colors of snow and ice6.54 Firnspiegel and snow sparkles6.55 Whiteouts and snowblindness6.56 Yellow ski glasses6.57 When the ice grows dark6.58 Bright clouds, dark clouds6.59 Noctilucent clouds6.60 You in a looking glass6.61 Reflections off water and a stage mirror6.62 Pepper's ghost and the bodiless head6.63 Tilt of windows for air traffic controllers6.64 Images in two or three mirrors6.65 Kaleidoscopes6.66 Mirror labyrinths6.67 A sideshow laser shoot6.68 Dark triangles among the decorations6.69 Shiny turns to black: blacker than black6.70 Retroreflectors6.71 SHORT STORY: Landing in the dark behind enemy lines6.72 One-way mirror6.73 Rearview mirror6.74 Sideview mirror6.75 A Bar at the Folies-Bergère6.76 Renaissance art and optical projectors6.77 Anamorphic art6.78 The bright and dark of street lamps6.79 Multiple images from double-pane windows6.80 World's most powerful searchlight6.81 Archimedes' death ray6.82 SHORT STORY: Illuminating a referee6.83 Spooky lights in a graveyard6.84 What a fisherman sees of a fish6.85 What a fish sees of the fisherman6.86 Reading through a sealed envelope6.87 SHORT STORY: Sword swallowing and esophagoscopy6.88 Shower-door optics6.89 Magic of refraction6.90 The invisible man and transparent animals6.91 A road made crooked by refraction6.92 Watering plants in sunlight6.93 Starting a fire with ice6.94 Diamonds6.95 Opals6.96 Alexandrite effect6.97 Star sapphire6.98 Patterns from a glass of wine, a window, and adrop of water6.99 Shadows with bright borders and bands6.100 Bright and dark bands over the wing6.101 SHORT STORY: Shock waves from the Thrust SSC car6.102 Pinhole and pinspeck cameras6.103 Solar images beneath a tree6.104 Lights through a screen, lines between fingers6.105 Bright scratches and colorful webs6.106 Bright streaks in a car windshield6.107 Reflections from a phonograph record6.108 Colors on finely grooved items6.109 Anticounterfeiting: Optically variable devices6.110 Colored rings from a misty or dusty mirror6.111 Color of milk in water6.112 Color of campfire smoke6.113 Ouzo effect6.114 Colors of oil slicks, soap films, and metal cooking pots6.115 Structural colors of insects, fish, birds, and monkey butts6.116 Pearls6.117 Protuberances on insect eyes and stealth aircraft6.118 Iridescent plants6.119 Anticounterfeiting: Color-shifting inks6.120 Color saturation in flower petals6.121 Yellow brilliance of aspen trees6.122 Colors of eyes6.123 So cold I turned blue6.124 Speckle patterns6.125 Colors in fluorescent light6.126 Polarizing sunglasses6.127 Sky polarization6.128 Ant navigation6.129 Colors and spots and polarization6.130 Colorless foam and ground powder6.131 Glossy black velvet, glossy varnish6.132 Colors of green glass and green velvet6.133 Peachy skin and apparent softness6.134 Twinkies and Vaseline parties6.135 The colors of meat6.136 A short beer6.137 "Whiter than white"6.138 Disappearing coin6.139 Sunglasses and smog6.140 Brightness of the ocean6.141 Blue ribbon on sea horizon6.142 Darkness falls with a bang6.143 Colorful contrail6.144 Nacreous clouds6.145 Twilight purple light6.146 Ripples in the sky6.147 Line across distant rain6.148 Bright nights6.149 Zodiacal light, gegenschein, and other nocturnal lights6.150 Reflections from sea horizon6.151 Using a solid metal ball to focus light6.152 A fast spin in a curved mirror6.153 Color of cigarette smoke6.154 If you could see in the UV6.155 Diffracted alphabet6.156 A game of reflection
CHAPTER 7: Armadillos Dancing Against a Swollen Moon (VISION)
7.1 Enlarging the Moon7.2 Shape of the sky7.3 Decapitation with the blind spot7.4 Gray networks in the morning, dashing specks in the daylight7.5 Floaters and other spots in your eye7.6 Streetlight halos, candle glow, star images7.7 Phosphenes—psychedelic displays7.8 Humming becomes a stroboscope7.9 Keeping your eye on the baseball7.10 Impressionism7.11 Pointillistic paintings7.12 Moiré patterns7.13 Op art7.14 Depth in oil paintings7.15 Reading in the dark7.16 Trailing ghost light7.17 Reflecting eyes7.18 Underwater vision of humans, penguins, and crocodiles7.19 Underwater vision of "four-eyed fish"7.20 Cheshire cat effect7.21 Rhino-optical effect7.22 Flying clouds and Blue Meanies7.23 Pulfrich illusion7.24 Streetlight delay sequence7.25 Mach bands7.26 An upside-down world7.27 Inverted shadows, the blister effect7.28 Peculiar reflection from a Christmas tree ball7.29 Rotated random-dot patterns7.30 Patterns in television "snow"7.31 Mona Lisa's smile7.32 Floating, ghostly images of a television screen7.33 Reading through pinholes7.34 Finger colors7.35 Stars seen through a shaft during the daytime7.36 A stargazer's eye sweep7.37 Resolution of Earth objects by astronauts7.38 Honeybees, desert ants, and polarized light7.39 Haidinger's brush7.40 Colors of shadows7.41 Safety of sunglasses7.42 Fish lens7.43 Depth in red and blue signs7.44 Purkinje's blue arcs7.45 Maxwell's spot7.46 Visual sensations from radiation7.47 Red light for control boards7.48 Superman's x-ray vision7.49 Fireworks illusion7.50 Looking at the ceiling
External links
- Official website, provides references, an index, new material, and other information related to the book.
- Archived website, use this if the official website is down.
- YouTube Videos by the author demonstrating the material from the book.
