The Amazing Story of Quantum Mechanics: A Math-Free Exploration of the Science that Made Our World

556 Pages·2010·4.16 MB·English

by  James Kakalios

Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Introduction
SECTION 1 - TALES TO ASTONISH
CHAPTER ONE - Quantum Mechanics in Three Easy
Steps
CHAPTER TWO - Photons at the Beach
CHAPTER THREE - Fearful Symmetry
CHAPTER FOUR - It’s All Done with Magnets
SECTION 2 - CHALLENGERS OF THE
UNKNOWN
CHAPTER FIVE - Wave Functions All the Way Down
CHAPTER SIX - The Equation That Made the Future!
CHAPTER SEVEN - The Uncertainty Principle Made
Easy
CHAPTER EIGHT - Why So Blue, Dr. Manhattan?
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SECTION 3 - TALES OF THE ATOMIC
KNIGHTS
CHAPTER NINE - Our Friend, the Atom
CHAPTER TEN - Radioactive Man
CHAPTER ELEVEN - Man of the Atom
SECTION 4 - WEIRD SCIENCE STORIES
CHAPTER TWELVE - Every Man for Himself
CHAPTER THIRTEEN - All for One and One for All
SECTION 5 - MODERN MECHANICS AND
INVENTIONS
CHAPTER FOURTEEN - Quantum Invisible “Ink”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN - Death Rays and DVDs
CHAPTER SIXTEEN - The One-Way Door
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - Big Changes Come in Small
Packages
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - Spintronics
CHAPTER NINETEEN - A Window on Inner Space
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SECTION 6 - THE WORLD OF TOMORROW
CHAPTER TWENTY - Coming Attractions
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE - Seriously, Where’s My Jet
Pack?
AFTERWORD
Acknowledgements
NOTES
RECOMMENDED READING
INDEX
PHOTO CREDITS

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To Thomas, Laura, and David,
who truly make the future
Our citizens and our future citizens cannot share
properly in shaping the future unless we understand the
present, for the raw material of events to come is the
knowledge of the present and what we make it.
LIEUTENANT GENERAL LESLIE R. GROVES
(WHO OVERSAW CONSTRUCTION OF THE
PENTAGON AND WAS
CHIEF MILITARY LEADER OF THE MANHATTAN
PROJECT)
FROM THE FOREWORD TOLearn How Dagwood
Splits the Atom
WRITTEN BY JOHN DUNNING AND LOUIS HEIL
AND DRAWN BY JOE MUSIAL
(KING FEATURES SYNDICATE, 1949)
INTRODUCTION
Quantum Physics? You’re Soaking in It!
Perhapsyousharemyfrustrationthat,wellinto
the twenty-first century, we still await flying cars, jet
packs, domed underwater cities, and robot personal as-
sistants. From the 1930s on, science fiction pulp
magazines and comic books promised us that by the
year 2000 we would be living in a gleaming utopia
where the everyday drudgery of menial tasks and the
tyrannyofgravitywouldbeovercome.Comparingthese
predictions from more than fifty years ago to the reality
of today, one might conclude that, well, we’ve been lied
to.
And yet . . . and yet. In 2010 we are able to commu-
nicatewiththoseontheothersideoftheglobe,instantly
and wirelessly. We have more computing power in our
laptopsthanintheroom-sizecomputersthatwereenvi-
sionedinthesciencefictionpulps.Wecanpeerinsidea
person, without the slice of a knife, performing medical
diagnosesusingmagneticresonanceimaging.Touch-ac-
tivated computer screens, from the local ATM to the
iPhone, are everywhere. And the number of automated