What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks?: More Experiments in Atmospheric Physics (Dover Science Books)

By Craig F. Bohren

Book Overview

Praise for Clouds in a Glass of Beer - "… informative and engagingly idiosyncratic … brings the subject down to earth with offbeat, everyday examples and easy-to-follow experiments … Both professionals and laymen can learn from this book …" -The New York Times Book Review "A delightful book.…" -Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society "A brilliant collection of intriguing examples of the physics of everyday phenomena, with the examples presented as puzzles." -Discover "We highly recommend Craig Bohren's book; you will certainly enjoy yourself while learning from the best. "-The Daily Mercury, Guelph (Ontario) Here is the sequel to Craig Bohren's popular Clouds in a Glass of Beer-the book that opened up the fascinating world of atmospheric physics to nonscientists. Like its predecessor-selected one of the "100 Best Products of the Year" by Curriculum Product News-its lively writing, fun, easy-to-perform experiments, and many photographs and illustrations offer you a great way to learn about a fascinating branch of science. And while it is an entertaining diversion for science enthusiasts, this book is something more. As David Jones-author of the renowned, "Daedalus" column, regularly appearing in Nature magazine-writes in his foreword, "Above all you will learn something of the scientist's approach to the world, that powerful combination of practical curiosity and developed skepticism."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 047152915X
• ISBN13: 9780471529156
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: Wiley
• Length: 190 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Everyday science at its best

A variety of everyday phenomena are explained in this little book (185 pages). Most of it is optics and thermal physics, like frost and dew on the window, interference colors, mirages, heating and cooling (of LA smog, the greenhouse effect) origin of seasons, ...Quite complex concepts like optical thickness are illustrated with nice experiments (pouring milk in water) and by foot steps in the snow. Don't be afraid of refractive index gradients or polarization upon reflection, Bohren will explain them marvelously.I hope more physics textbooks would be like this: this is intriguing science whereas geometrical optics, the school book stuff, is mostly boring. Besides, these experiments and observations can be carried out by anybody with commonly available stuff: you only need a light bulb, a ruler and some volunteers to measure solar irrandiance, with 10-20% accuracy.