Physics, Fun, and Beyond: Electrifying Projects and Inventions from Recycled and Low-Cost Materials

“The best magic is that which involves absolutely no sleight-of-hand, only the unexpected yet natural workings of nature. Physics, Fun, and Beyond is chock full of just this kind of magic–simple yet fascinating experiments, easy to follow and colorful drawings, and fun facts. Simply wonderful!”

–Roald Hoffmann, 1981 Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry

Pure Fun, Pure Excitement: You’;ve Never Learned Physics Like This Before!

Physics is pure excitement: nothing’;s more fun than discovering how the world works and exploring its many possibilities! With Physics, Fun, and Beyond, you’;ll grab the universe in your own two hands as you build more than 110 projects that uncover the physics beneath everyday life!

Most of these projects are amazingly easy to build: all you’;ll need are your everyday household tools and cheap (sometimes even free) materials. From wind tunnels to flying saucers, you’;ll learn exactly how to safely build these experiments, why they work, and what they mean. Learn about all this, and more:

• Step on eggs without breaking them...and understand the principles of material strength

• Build the “Magic Can” that teaches you about the different kinds of energy

• Discover why the Earth isn’;t exactly round

• Learn more about gravity, with the “Astronaut in the Elevator” experiment

• Use pendulums to visualize radio/TV frequencies and broadcasting

• Feel pressure by sitting on a bed of nails

• Build hydraulic robots to discover how you can transmit and amplify forces

• Construct wings and wind tunnels that show why airplanes fly

• Learn about optics by making bottles invisible

• Recreate the sun and sky to realize why the sky is blue

• Demonstrate the “greenhouse effect” with a homemade solar heater

• Get water to climb walls–as you understand cohesion and adhesion

• Build “wireless phones” that capture sound and make acoustics fun

• Create simple motors that display the basics of electromagnetism

Physics, Fun, and Beyond is for kids, teenagers, teachers, parents, homeschoolers...everyone from 10 to 100 with curiosity and a passion for discovery and new challenges!

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About the Author

Eduardo de Campos Valadares received his doctorate in physics from the Brazilian Center for Physical Research in Rio de Janeiro in 1987 and did postdoctoral research at São Paulo University (1987–1990) and at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom (1990–1993). Since 1993, he has been with the Physics Department of the Federal University of Minas Gerais, one of the major Brazilian universities. Valadares has published over 60 papers in different areas of condensed matter physics, physics education, and the popularization of science. His first book is a translation of work by the German poet Stefan George (Iluminuras, São Paulo, 2000), followed by Física mais que divertida (UFMG University Press, 2000, 2nd edition, 2002), launched in Germany in 2003 by Aulis Verlag Deubner (Spaß mit Physik) and now in the United States by Prentice Hall (the American edition, Physics, Fun, and Beyond, is enlarged with over 40 new projects and includes comments on all experiments). He also published in Brazil a biography of Isaac Newton (Odysseus Editora, 2003), illustrated with low-cost experiments highlighting Newton's ideas. Valadares is co-author of an introductory book on nanotechnology targeted at secondary school teachers, a joint publication of the Brazilian Physical Society and Editora Livraria da Física (2005). In 2001 he received the State Prize Francisco the Assis Magalhães Gomes for his contributions to popularization of science and technology in Brazil. He is also the president of the Youth Science Foundation Brazil. Valadares loves playing with his three children, who deeply inspire him, and to contemplate the world from the top of the mountains surrounding his home.

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