Storm in a Teacup: The Physics of Everyday Life by Helen Czerski (PDF)

Description

A physicist explains daily phenomena from the mundane to the magisterial.Take a look up at the stars on a clear night and you get a sense that the universe is vast and untouchable, full of mysteries beyond comprehension. But did you know that the key to unveiling the secrets of the cosmos is as close as the nearest toaster?Our home here on Earth is messy, mutable, and full of humdrum things that we touch and modify without much thought every day. But these familiar surroundings are just the place to look if you’re interested in what makes the universe tick. In Storm in a Teacup, Helen Czerski provides the tools to alter the way we see everything around us by linking ordinary objects and occurrences, like popcorn popping, coffee stains, and fridge magnets, to big ideas like climate change, the energy crisis, or innovative medical testing. She guides us through the principles of gases (“Explosions in the kitchen are generally considered a bad idea. But just occasionally a small one can produce something delicious”); gravity (drop some raisins in a bottle of carbonated lemonade and watch the whoosh of bubbles and the dancing raisins at the bottom bumping into each other); size (Czerski explains the action of the water molecules that cause the crime-scene stain left by a puddle of dried coffee); and time (why it takes so long for ketchup to come out of a bottle).Along the way, she provides answers to vexing questions: How does water travel from the roots of a redwood tree to its crown? How do ducks keep their feet warm when walking on ice? Why does milk, when added to tea, look like billowing storm clouds? In an engaging voice at once warm and witty, Czerski shares her stunning breadth of knowledge to lift the veil of familiarity from the ordinary. You may never look at your toaster the same way.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “Excellent….an ideal gift for any scientifically inquisitive person, including children or adults who retain a child’s sense of wonder. Robert Hooke would have loved it.” ― John Gribbin, The Wall Street Journal”Czerski entertainingly mixes reports of her anyone-can-do-this experiments with serious questions about the world in which we live.” ― Booklist”Storm in a Teacup is a course in physics, but it’s less like a classroom than a long walk with a patient, charming, and very, very learned friend. Czerski has a remarkable knack for finding scientific wonders under every rock, alongside every raindrop, and inside every grain of sand.” ― Jordan Ellenberg, author of How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking”A delightful book on the joys and universality of physics. Czerski brings our humdrum everyday world to life, showing us that it is just as fascinating as anything that can be seen by the Hubble Telescope or created at the large Hadron Collider.” ― Jim Al-Khalili, author of Life on the Edge”This book is charming, accessible and enthusiastic. Helen invites you in to see the world through her eyes and understand how a physicist think. It’s a wonderful way to discover the hidden scientific connections behind the ordinary and everyday.” ― Hannah Fry, author of The Mathematics of Love”In an age when any questions we have about the workings of the world are instantly answerable via Google, physicist Czerski pushes us to resist the search engine….why not learn some simple physics so that you can try to puzzle things out for yourself?” ― Scientific American”[Czerski’s] quest to enhance humanity’s everyday scientific literacy is timely and imperative.” ― Science”Helen Czerski’s engaging debut book seeks to demystify physics in everyday life, so whether you know your refraction from your reflection, or find the entire subject incomprehensible, this should be an invaluable primer.” ― The Guardian”Czerski [is] a thoughtful educator who has done her homework….Genuinely informative.” ― Kirkus Reviews About the Author Helen Czerski is a physicist at University College London’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, and a science presenter for BBC. She writes a monthly column for BBC Focus magazine called “Everyday Science” that was shortlisted for a Professional Publishers Association award.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I read a lot of books about science and this one is up there in terms of “a-ha” moments for me. There were a lot of examples, particularly early on in the book, that were amazing and insightful and had a lot of tie-in with Chemistry and Biology as well as Physics and because of the way the curriculum is structured, I will likely use this book as summer reading for my AP Biology class. The author has a very interesting field of research and does a good job of trying to provide examples of how Physics applies without trying to sound erudite or smarter than her audience. She is very good at taking a complex topic and explaining it in a way that anyone can understand. I think it was a great way of connecting several disciplines together while providing an entertaining and educational narrative that was hard to put down and a lot of fun. I would recommend this book to anyone who is curious about their world and even those who have read science books in the past because although you may have learned some of the information, you will likely come away with some new knowledge. A great read overall!!!

⭐Makes complex issues in science easy to understand!

⭐I have to say, that I am a former science teacher. I found this book a little boring. She covers some great things that bring the science into the day to day. Most of it, I already knew – so I guess it wasn’t written for people like me who have some basic science background. However, if it is written for the lay person, I’m afraid it would be over their heads. The author seems to expect that whoever is reading has a basic understanding of physical science terms and events. Not sure who would enjoy this book. It’s like explaining why you should eat right to a nutritionist.

⭐Storm in a Teacup is a fantastic read and one that anyone with an interest in how their world works will enjoy. Complex physical properties are made accessible through the author’s use of real world examples, but, unlike other science books I have read, she does not start with a statement of the scientific law which is then supplemented with abstract examples. Instead, she pulls the reader in by tapping into our innate curiosity about what we see in our everyday lives but are usually to busy to inquire about. Starting from a place of “Did you ever wonder why…?” instead of “In the 18th century the following law was discovered…” allows readers to feel like they are invited into the discovery process even if the knowledge about that discovery is centuries old. Her excitement for the material is infectious. After finishing some sections, I found myself wanting to grab whoever was in the room to explain to them a concept that they could try for themselves. I think the best part about this book is the joy the author finds in physics and that her command of the material frees the reader to feel like they can be part of the experimenting process and, better yet, have the permission to experiment themselves.

⭐A very enjoyable topic. I wasnt sure I liked physics. Before this book physics and the long problems were a nearly forgotten o a rt of high school. This book however shows how fun, applicaple and simple physics can be. The author starts with a simple every day idea, like a toaster and explains that physics behind it. Then she expands the basic principle and applies it to a much larger abstract idea. A very interesting read.

⭐This is an excellent book. It’s humorous, very interesting and informative. I’ve listened to it on audio twice and had to have a hard copy. There is an error in this edition about the speed of something or other. My son-in-law caught it and we looked it up and sure enough it’s wrong but I still loved this book. She believes in evolution, but as I read this book, it made me see the incredible design of the physical world around me and see that it’s obvious there must be a creator. This could not have happened by chance!!

⭐This is a good review of physics principles and how they apply to some unusual situations. I liked the how the author illustrated tuning a radio by describing how we can see red ink with green or blue filters but not with red filters. There are also some pretty interesting facts e.g. if you are on the Equator you are 13 miles farther from the center of the Earth than if you are on the North Pole. She has a breezy writing style that made reading easy even if the topic might be a bit daunting.

⭐I heard this book reviewed on NPR and had to get it. Terrific insights into things we watch happen every day but don’t necessarily associate with physics and chemistry principles. Not only did I learn a lot about the natural world, it was a good refresher for basic physics principles. Don’t let a bad high school physics experience scare you away from giving it a read – the explanations of the theory in words with examples, will make you wonder why your high school physics teacher didn’t explain it that way.

⭐Storm in a Teacup’ is an accessible guide to Physics, a science that gets complicated very quickly when you have to study it at school and beyond. Czerski’s skill is to make sure it never gets too tricky, but focusing on the science of everyday objects – such as how the fact that boiled eggs are solid while raw eggs are liquid inside means that they behave differently when you spin them.The going is best in the early stages, as there are more areas of Physics for Czerski to explore from her living room or kitchen. This is the ‘everyday life’ part of the book, but the further we venture into the science, the further we go from the everyday. That’s not a problem, per se, but it does mean that you have to pay increasing levels of attention – especially by the time you start reading about electromagnetism. Fortunately the quantum world does not make its presence felt in either tea or milk, so Czerski can leave this part of Physics alone.The one real weakness of the book is in the writing style. This feels less like a book and more like a written-down Netflix nature documentary. But in a documentary, when the camera cuts from a scene on a beach to a scene ten kilometres under the sea, we have David Attenborough’s calm voice guiding us; here, the sudden cut is jolting, and though you know why Czerski is doing it, the technique grates when it’s used for the fourth or fifth time in that chapter. We don’t need the element of surprise to keep us interested in the topic – the topic is interesting enough not to require such artifice.

⭐While there is something of a logical progression to the subjects covered within this book, it failed me on several levels.Firstly, it is very much a basic introduction to the small-scale physics of the everyday world, a subject anyone who has any level of education in the subject will be sufficiently familiar with that there wuill be nothing new within these pages.Secondly, there are too many isntances where a subject is being covered, and the author jumps, without warning, section-break, or even neatly wrapping the preceeding thought, to some anecdote or historical background.

⭐Overall a fantastic book for the enquiring mind. Czerski dips into a vast array of science subjects and relates interesting facts, before moving on. A really good aspect is her habit of relating an aspect of physical magnitude to each phenomena discussed – which adds to the understanding of the reader.Topics flow in an orderly structure for most of the book. If there is a small criticism to make, I felt that the last chapter was slightly shallow compared to the rest (more description than explanation). Perhaps Czerski was rushing to finish, before setting off on her next adventure, but this didn’t significantly detract from what was an excellent book.

⭐Thoroughly enjoyed this book – very well thought out and written. Manages to apply physics to the everyday world around us in simple everyday language without being patronising. As an engineer I have a background in physics and whilst I might not have seen any new physics I certainly saw physics in a new way!Can recommend this book for the person who knows about physcis and for the person who doesn’t.

⭐Easy to understand Physics. This is a great general interest book to get you thinking about the physics of how things work but without all the mind numbing talk that most physics books ramble on about. Lots of little simple experiments to try in your home as you read along. Would be great to read and do the experiments with your kids. Or just for fun for big kids. An easy and very captivating read with plenty of humour to keep you interested.

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