The absolute minimum. How quantum theory explains our world

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    We have supplemented our New Science series with the book by Michael Fayer Physics - this is the most complex complex science, it is just as complex, so fascinating. If we discard the mathematical component, physics immediately becomes available to anyone with curiosity and imagination. We will easily understand the concept of the theory of gravity, dispensing with complex mathematical equations. Therefore, to everyone who thinks about what makes blueberries blue and strawberries red; who doubts that sound propagates in the form of waves; anyone wondering why the behavior of light is so different from any other phenomenon in the universe, you need to understand that the whole thing is in quantum physics.

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    This book presents (and demystifies) for ordinary people the magical world of quantum science, like no other book. She talks about basic scientific concepts, from light particles to states of matter and the causes of the negative impact of greenhouse gases, revealing each topic without the use of specific scientific terminology - examples from ordinary everyday life. Of course, a book on quantum physics cannot do without a minimal set of formulas and equations, but it is a necessary minimum, understood by most readers. According to the author, a book popularizing science should be accessible, but not lower to the level of the reader, but to raise and develop its intellect and general cultural level. Written in the best traditions of Stephen Hawking and Lewis Thomas, the book popularizes fascinating discoveries from the field of quantum physics and chemistry


    If you are reading this book, you probably belong to one of two categories of people. Or you are one of my colleagues who are devoted to the secrets of quantum theory and want to see how someone could write a serious book on quantum mechanics without mathematics. Or you belong to the majority of people who look at the world around them without a clear understanding of why many everyday things are arranged in this way and not otherwise. At the same time, this is far from talking about those insignificant aspects of our living environment that could simply be ignored. On the contrary, these are important features of our world that are never clearly explained, because they seem to be beyond our comprehension.

    What gives the objects their color, why does the copper wire conduct electricity, but glass does not, what is trans fats after all, and why is carbon dioxide a greenhouse gas, and oxygen and nitrogen not? These "white spots" in the picture of the structure of things arise due to the seemingly insurmountable barrier that separates us from their understanding .. Usually this barrier is associated with mathematics. To answer the questions posed above, as well as to many others, an understanding of quantum theory is necessary, but in reality mathematics is not required for this.

    This book will develop your quantum intuition - and thereby radically change your way of perceiving the surrounding reality. You understand the mechanics intuitively, but we call the mechanics familiar to you classical. When a long hit is made in baseball, you know that the ball will first fly up and then its path will bend and it will fall to the ground. You know that if you hit the ball harder, it will fly faster and fly further before falling. Why does the ball behave this way? Because it is affected by the gravitational pull of the Earth. You look at the moon and know that it revolves around the earth. Why? Because gravity pulls the moon to the earth. You don’t have to sit down and solve the Newtonian equations of motion in order to calculate what will happen. From everyday experience, you know that apples fall down, not up, and that the car traveling faster takes a longer way to stop. However, everyday experience does not explain why cherries are red and blueberries are blue. Color is inextricably linked with the quantum mechanical description of molecules. Everyday experience does not prepare us to understand the nature of those surrounding things that depend on quantum phenomena. As already mentioned here and described in detail in this book, understanding everyday things like color and electricity requires a quantum-mechanical view of nature.

    Why without math? Imagine that in this book the presentation would begin in your own language, then go to Latin, and then again return to the original language. Now imagine that this switchover would occur whenever detailed explanations begin. Such transitions from language to language, occurring in books on quantum mechanics, differ only in that they are performed not between your language and Latin, but between your language and mathematics. In serious quantum-mechanical books, for example, in my own textbook Elements of Quantum Mechanics (Elements of Quantum Mechanics. Oxford University Press, 2001), you will constantly encounter phrases of this kind: "these interactions are described by the following set of paired differential equations." After the equations, the text will say: “the solutions to these equations are as follows”, and new formulas will follow. In this book, on the contrary, the entire presentation is descriptive. Diagrams replace many equations; the exception is only some simple algebraic formulas, which are explained in detail. However, even without the usual excess of mathematics, the fundamental philosophical and conceptual foundations of the applications of quantum mechanics are fully explained. Thus, everyone can achieve a certain level of penetration into quantum theory and deepen their understanding of the world. If you know the math well, this book will still be useful to you. You will gain the conceptual understanding necessary to move on to the mathematical presentation of quantum theory. If you want to get some amount of mental workload not related to math,

    More detailed information on the book can be found on the website of the publishing house
    Index
    Excerpt

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