Absolutely Small: How Quantum Theory Explains Our Everyday World

Physics is a complex and daunting topic, but it is also deeply satisfying--even thrilling. And it is absolutely one you can understand. Absolutely Small develops your intuition for the very nature of things at their most basic and intriguing levels by demystifying the world of quantum science. Just as we can understand the concept of gravity without solving a single equation, author Michael D. Fayer, professor of chemistry at Stanford University, uses examples from the everyday world to help you understand quantum science like never before. Exploring a range of scientific concepts--from particles of light, to probability, to states of matter, to what makes greenhouse gases bad--in considerable depth, he provides readers the answers to questions like: What makes blueberries blue and strawberries red? Does sound really travels in waves? and Why does light behave so differently from any other phenomenon in the universe? Challenging without being intimidating and accessible but not condescending, Absolutely Small liberates physics from its mathematical underpinnings so anyone with curiosity and imagination can explore its beauty.