101 Quantum Questions

What You Need to Know About the World You Can't See

Kenneth W. Ford, Paul Hewitt, Kenneth William Ford

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9780674066076, 9780674050990
• eBook ISBN: 9780674060937
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Ethics & Moral Philosophy

Ken Ford's mission is to help us understand the "great ideas" of quantum physics—ideas such as wave-particle duality, the uncertainty principle, superposition, and conservation. These fundamental concepts provide the structure for 101 Quantum Questions, an authoritative yet engaging book for the general reader in which every question and answer brings out one or more basic features of the mysterious world of the quantum—the physics of the very small.

Nuclear researcher and master teacher, Ford covers everything from quarks, quantum jumps, and what causes stars to shine, to practical applications ranging from lasers and superconductors to light-emitting diodes. Ford's lively answers are enriched by Paul Hewitt's drawings, numerous photos of physicists, and anecdotes, many from Ford's own experience. Organized for cover-to-cover reading, 101 Quantum Questions also is great for browsing.

Some books focus on a single subject such as the standard model of particles, or string theory, or fusion energy. This book touches all those topics and more, showing us that disparate natural phenomena, as well as a host of manmade inventions, can be understood in terms of a few key ideas. Yet Ford does not give us simplistic explanations. He assumes a serious reader wanting to gain real understanding of the essentials of quantum physics.

Ken Ford's other books include The Quantum World: Quantum Physics for Everyone (Harvard 2004), which Esquire magazine recommended as the best way to gain an understanding of quantum physics. Ford's new book, a sequel to the earlier one, makes the quantum world even more accessible.

Index

Page numbers followed by the letter n refer to footnotes. Those followed by the letter t refer to tables. Italicized page numbers refer to illustrations.

137 (the number), 244–247

absolute conservation laws, 154–157

absorption

as annihilation, 186

of light, 215

Aczel, Amir, 247n

Alda, Alan, 16n

Allen, John, 236

alpha decay, 89–90

alpha particles

deflection of, 11, 14

naming of, 88

as projectiles, 208

AM radio, 201

amplifier, 227

amplitudes of states, 253

amu, 83

Anderson, Carl, 212

angular momentum

combining spin and orbital, 61

conservation of, 47, 48–49, 151, 155, 156t, 172

as measure of rotation strength, 46

quantization of, 5, 47

rules for addition of, 48–49

See also spin

annihilation and creation, 186, 205

as a “big idea,” 2

combining to simulate continuity, 167

as a feature of all interactions, 20, 141–142

Fermi’s role in the idea of, 144

antineutrinos, 105–106

production in a reactor, 105

antiparticle

definition of, 119

antisocial particles

as a “big idea,” 2

See also fermions

Aristotle, 257

arsenic as dopant, 221, 226

astronauts, speed of, 39

Atkinson, Robert, 232

Atlas, 213–214

atomic mass, 83–84

atomic mass unit, 83

atomic nucleus. See nucleus

atomic number, 83–84

atom(s)

interior of, 9–12, 12

largeness of, 181

size of, 9, 78–79

B factories, 126

backward-in-time motion, 142–144

Bahcall, John, 112

Balmer, Johann, 75

Balmer series, 75, 76

band gap, 221

in quantum dots, 239

Bardeen, John, 226

and superconductivity theory, 233–234

barrier, electric, 89

barrier penetration. See tunneling

baryon number conservation, 148, 152

baryons

definition of, 119

properties of, 271t

base (...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction
• I The Subatomic World
• II Digging Deeper
• III The Small and the Swift
• IV Quantum Lumps and Quantum Jumps
• V Atoms and Nuclei
• VI And More about Nuclei
• VII Particles
• VIII And More Particles
• IX Interactions
• X Constancy during Change
• XI Waves and Particles
• XII Waves and Probability
• XIII Quantum Physics and Technology
• XIV Quantum Physics at Every Scale
• XV Frontiers and Puzzles
• Appendix A
• Appendix B
• Acknowledgments
• Index
• Copyright