© Barnard Castle School Department of Physics 2008, 2009
Text and Questions © Paul McHarry / Keith Gibbs
Years 7-9
IGCSE
GCSE
Pre-U
A-level
Physics Library
All Physics students are welcome to borrow books from the Physics Library. All we ask is that you keep them for a maximum of two weeks.
You will find the library in the Robert Hooke Laboratory and books should be signed out at the Prep Room.
You can reserve books using our Contact Page and collect them next time you are in the Macfarlane Building. Opposite is a list of our most recent acquisitions.
If there is a book not in the library but which you think we should buy, let us know.
You will find the library in the Robert Hooke Laboratory and books should be signed out at the Prep Room.
You can reserve books using our Contact Page and collect them next time you are in the Macfarlane Building. Opposite is a list of our most recent acquisitions.
If there is a book not in the library but which you think we should buy, let us know.
Recent Acquisitions
Magazine Library
Every month, the following magazines are bought for the library:
•Focus
•Sky at Night
•Scientific American
•Popular Science
•Discover
Others, such as New Scientist, Alien Worlds, American Scientist and Astronomy are bought occasionally.
You are welcome to borrow magazines from the racks in the entrance foyer or in the Michael Faraday Laboratory.
There is no need to sign these out but please keep
•Focus
•Sky at Night
•Scientific American
•Popular Science
•Discover
Others, such as New Scientist, Alien Worlds, American Scientist and Astronomy are bought occasionally.
You are welcome to borrow magazines from the racks in the entrance foyer or in the Michael Faraday Laboratory.
There is no need to sign these out but please keep
Quantum Enigma
Quantum Theory defies common sense but, in this groundbreaking book, the authors show that its effects are now being observed in larger and larger objects. Mind and matter may be one and the same.
• Bruce Rosenblum & Fred Kuttner
• Oxford University Press
Quantum Theory defies common sense but, in this groundbreaking book, the authors show that its effects are now being observed in larger and larger objects. Mind and matter may be one and the same.
• Bruce Rosenblum & Fred Kuttner
• Oxford University Press
Don't Try This at Home
Two physicists and an experiment in time. Their own time. but what happens if it works? And how can they undo it? This is a thought-provoking film about the consequences of what might be possible.
• Adam Weiner
• Kaplan
Two physicists and an experiment in time. Their own time. but what happens if it works? And how can they undo it? This is a thought-provoking film about the consequences of what might be possible.
• Adam Weiner
• Kaplan
The Science of Harry Potter
There are features of Harry Potter's world that, although they are understandable, still remain magical when one takes a scientific view. Invisibility cloaks may use clever stealth technology that is only now being developed by Muggles. Broomsticks could switch off gravity while Bott's beans could exploit new understanding of our senses of taste and smell ...
• Roger Highfield
• Headline
There are features of Harry Potter's world that, although they are understandable, still remain magical when one takes a scientific view. Invisibility cloaks may use clever stealth technology that is only now being developed by Muggles. Broomsticks could switch off gravity while Bott's beans could exploit new understanding of our senses of taste and smell ...
• Roger Highfield
• Headline
Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You
In simple language in this brilliant book, Marcus Chown explains the two most exhilarating ideas of our time: the quantum theory and the general theory of relativity. No-one who considers himself educated should be without an understanding of both.
• Marcus Chown
• Faber & Faber
In simple language in this brilliant book, Marcus Chown explains the two most exhilarating ideas of our time: the quantum theory and the general theory of relativity. No-one who considers himself educated should be without an understanding of both.
• Marcus Chown
• Faber & Faber
Four Laws that Drive the Universe
Among the many laws of science, there lurks a mighty handful: four simple laws that direct and constrain everything that happens in the Universe.
• Peter Atkins
• Oxford University Press
Among the many laws of science, there lurks a mighty handful: four simple laws that direct and constrain everything that happens in the Universe.
• Peter Atkins
• Oxford University Press
The Void
If you take away the Earth, the Moon, the stars - everything material - what remains? The concept of the Void has alarmed and fascinated human beings from the dawn of time.
• Frank Close
• Oxford University Press
If you take away the Earth, the Moon, the stars - everything material - what remains? The concept of the Void has alarmed and fascinated human beings from the dawn of time.
• Frank Close
• Oxford University Press
Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman!
"There are two types of genius. Ordinary geniuses do great things, but they leave you room to believe that you could do the same if only you worked hard enough. Then there are the magicians, and you can have no idea how they do it. Feynman was magician."
Review:
The book describes Richard Feynman’s life in his own words. It is truly fascinating to learn about all the adventures this great scientist experienced. He played in the Rio Carnival, cracked a number of “Top Secret” safes and even used Physics to attract the opposite sex. As soon as I began reading this book I could not put it back down and now every time I draw a Feynman diagram, I smile to myself. (SAD)
• Richard Feynman
• Vintage
"There are two types of genius. Ordinary geniuses do great things, but they leave you room to believe that you could do the same if only you worked hard enough. Then there are the magicians, and you can have no idea how they do it. Feynman was magician."
Review:
The book describes Richard Feynman’s life in his own words. It is truly fascinating to learn about all the adventures this great scientist experienced. He played in the Rio Carnival, cracked a number of “Top Secret” safes and even used Physics to attract the opposite sex. As soon as I began reading this book I could not put it back down and now every time I draw a Feynman diagram, I smile to myself. (SAD)
• Richard Feynman
• Vintage
Isaac Newton - The Last Sorcerer
"According to a list of the most influential people in history, The 100, Isaac Newton ranks number 2 ... Yet Newton was not the man that history has claimed him to be. More than any other scientist in history, Newton's image has been protected by his disciples and by generations of biographers ..."
• Michael White
• Fourth Estate
"According to a list of the most influential people in history, The 100, Isaac Newton ranks number 2 ... Yet Newton was not the man that history has claimed him to be. More than any other scientist in history, Newton's image has been protected by his disciples and by generations of biographers ..."
• Michael White
• Fourth Estate
Q.E.D.
The theory of Quantum Electrodynamics is one of the pinnacles of humanity's achievements; if you are looking for a work that is universal in scope and yet is a creation of the human spirit, there is nothing to rival this book." The Independent.
• Richard Feynman
• Penguin
The theory of Quantum Electrodynamics is one of the pinnacles of humanity's achievements; if you are looking for a work that is universal in scope and yet is a creation of the human spirit, there is nothing to rival this book." The Independent.
• Richard Feynman
• Penguin
Six Easy Pieces
This classic book is an essential introduction to the world of Physics by one of its greatest teachers and icons.
"With Feynman as a guide, you can't help wondering why everyone is not turning to science." The Guardian
• Richard Feynman
• Penguin
This classic book is an essential introduction to the world of Physics by one of its greatest teachers and icons.
"With Feynman as a guide, you can't help wondering why everyone is not turning to science." The Guardian
• Richard Feynman
• Penguin
The Fly in the Cathedral
The splitting of the atom, performed in a shabby Cambridge lab in April 1932, was a triumph of ingenuity over adversity. John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton, under the stern gaze of the brilliantly eccentric New Zealander Lord Rutherford, cobbled together handmade or recycled components - while American rivals had state-of-the-art equipment - to make one of the great scientific breakthroughs of all time.
Review:
This book describes the experimental physics being used at the turn of the century that enabled scientists to understand the workings of the atom. This well written book provides a number of anecdotes about the people and the experiments they performed. I was particularly interested in Rutherford and the Cavendish Laboratory and, having read this book, I intend to pay a visit to Cambridge. This book complements “In search of Schrodinger’s Cat” by describing how experimental Physics developed at the same time as theoretical Physics. (SAD)
• Brian Cathcart
• Penguin
The splitting of the atom, performed in a shabby Cambridge lab in April 1932, was a triumph of ingenuity over adversity. John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton, under the stern gaze of the brilliantly eccentric New Zealander Lord Rutherford, cobbled together handmade or recycled components - while American rivals had state-of-the-art equipment - to make one of the great scientific breakthroughs of all time.
Review:
This book describes the experimental physics being used at the turn of the century that enabled scientists to understand the workings of the atom. This well written book provides a number of anecdotes about the people and the experiments they performed. I was particularly interested in Rutherford and the Cavendish Laboratory and, having read this book, I intend to pay a visit to Cambridge. This book complements “In search of Schrodinger’s Cat” by describing how experimental Physics developed at the same time as theoretical Physics. (SAD)
• Brian Cathcart
• Penguin
Time: A User's Guide
Our lives are ruled by minutes and hours. We race from one thing to the next, all of us believing on some level that a mysterious cosmic force called "time" is ticking on. And it's always in short supply.
• Richard Feynman
• Penguin
Our lives are ruled by minutes and hours. We race from one thing to the next, all of us believing on some level that a mysterious cosmic force called "time" is ticking on. And it's always in short supply.
• Richard Feynman
• Penguin
Back to top
The Strangest Man
Dirac was one of the founders of quantum theory and one of the most profound and original minds of the twentieth century. But, as the title of this book says, he was also a very strange man, austere in his personal relations, sometimes to the point of perversity, and unable to communicate, either emotionally or verbally, except with only a few very close friends.
• Graham Farmelo
• Faber and Faber
Dirac was one of the founders of quantum theory and one of the most profound and original minds of the twentieth century. But, as the title of this book says, he was also a very strange man, austere in his personal relations, sometimes to the point of perversity, and unable to communicate, either emotionally or verbally, except with only a few very close friends.
• Graham Farmelo
• Faber and Faber
Why Does E = mc2?
The authors do a great job of answering the question in the book's title, and of tying it to the cutting edge of 21st century physics. But they do much more besides. First, they give a real sense of revelation as the equation emerges from the seemingly unrelated concepts of space and time. Second, they're not afraid to take on questions often asked about the equation.
• Brian Cox and Jeff Foreshaw
• Da Capo Press
The authors do a great job of answering the question in the book's title, and of tying it to the cutting edge of 21st century physics. But they do much more besides. First, they give a real sense of revelation as the equation emerges from the seemingly unrelated concepts of space and time. Second, they're not afraid to take on questions often asked about the equation.
• Brian Cox and Jeff Foreshaw
• Da Capo Press
Quantum
The book does a very good job of establishing how classical physics of the 19th Century was seen as completed and except for a few minor details that needed tidying up, the consensus was that nothing really fundamental at a theoretical level was left to discover. Kumar explores how this certainty that physics was done and dusted came to unravel and how an idea as counter intuitive as the quantum came to be accepted by most physicists.
• Manjit Kumar
• Icon Books
The book does a very good job of establishing how classical physics of the 19th Century was seen as completed and except for a few minor details that needed tidying up, the consensus was that nothing really fundamental at a theoretical level was left to discover. Kumar explores how this certainty that physics was done and dusted came to unravel and how an idea as counter intuitive as the quantum came to be accepted by most physicists.
• Manjit Kumar
• Icon Books
Nothing - A Very Short Introduction
What is 'nothing'? What remains when you take all the matter away? Can empty space - a void - exist? This Very Short Introduction explores the science and the history of the elusive void: from Aristotle who insisted that the vacuum was impossible, via the theories of Newton and Einstein, to our very latest discoveries and why they can tell us extraordinary things about the cosmos.
• Frank Close
• Oxford University Press
What is 'nothing'? What remains when you take all the matter away? Can empty space - a void - exist? This Very Short Introduction explores the science and the history of the elusive void: from Aristotle who insisted that the vacuum was impossible, via the theories of Newton and Einstein, to our very latest discoveries and why they can tell us extraordinary things about the cosmos.
• Frank Close
• Oxford University Press
Introducing Quantum Theory - A Graphic Guide
Introducing Quantum Theory takes us on a step-by-step tour with the key figures, including Planck, Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg and Schrodinger. Each contributed at least one crucial concept to the theory.
• J P McEvoy
• Icon Books
Introducing Quantum Theory takes us on a step-by-step tour with the key figures, including Planck, Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg and Schrodinger. Each contributed at least one crucial concept to the theory.
• J P McEvoy
• Icon Books
