Customer Reviews

Clouds in a Glass of Beer: Simple Experiments in Atmospheric Physics (Wiley Science Editions)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Craig Bohren is a first-rate atmospheric scientist with an unusual knack for being able to explain difficult concepts to general audiences. Sure, some of the explanations can get complicated so most readers will have to pause and think or reread sections occasionally to understand. However, Dr. Bohren uses figures and analogies rather than equations to explain physical processes. The book does not assume any particular scientific background and should be accessible to almost anyone willing to put in a little bit of mental effort. The book is less than 200 pages so the effort feels like a pleasant jog rather than a marathon. What's more, the author's fascination with the world around him and mostly interesting anecdotes inspire and entice the reader all the way. The author manages to do all this without dumbing down the science in any way. The subtitle suggests that the main purpose of the book is to provide educators with handy demonstrations of atmospheric physics. While the book certainly does this, it is not a recipe book in any sense. What one sees during the demonstrations is described well enough that the reader does not actually need to do them to follow what is going on. Moreover, the underlying science is well described and related to things most people see regularly in the sky around them. I have no plans to assemble these demonstrations but enjoyed the book immensely nonetheless. I am sure many others with an interest in the atmosphere will as well.

[The following autobiographical information is to help you evaluate this review. I hold a Ph.D. in chemical engineering, having done my thesis work on some issues regarding airborne particulate matter. I am an assistant professor in environmental engineering at a major US research university, where I teach and regularly publish peer-reviewed research papers on air pollution. While I do not claim to be as expert as Dr. Bohren on the topic of atmospheric optics (few people can), I feel qualified to evaluate this book both technically and otherwise.]

This is not a chummy kitchen science experiment book. The science is serious and some principles obtuse. I studied this sort of thing in college and found some of it tough going, though I do think I came away with a lucid understanding for the effort.

The author rambles a bit, mixing exposition and reminisces. This is not a terrible thing, but may not be what you expect. Some of the experiments are elegant and clever, and impressed my 6 year-old considerably. The author's bent is towards optical phenomena, such as why the sky is blue, more than the meteorological, though there's plenty in there.

A fun and interesting book in a conversational and sometimes amusing format. And yes, I finally can explain why the sky is blue.

This is a very well written, creative and informative work. It's a league well above the cliche "amazing science experiments" books and offers detailed insight into atmospheric phenomena. The style is prose, not the boring step by step method that turns off many readers. You can use it to perform experiments, but it's a good readin itself. I highly recommend it to teachers - you'll learn some interesting stuff while getting your demo ideas.

The book, Clouds in a Glass of Beer, Simple Experiments in Atmospheric Physics by Craig Bohren is a very in depth read for a very avid reader or scientist. This book is split up into twenty-two chapters about atmospheric science. A few examples about some of the chapters included in this book are; the explanation of the mystery of the elusive blue moon, why black clouds form, and the fantastic phenomenon that is the rainbow and many other different details. One of the chapters I really enjoyed reading about was chapter three, which talked about the mechanics and utilization of the sippy duck. Before reading this book, I had no understanding of these ducks and how they work. But now I know pretty much everything there is to know about them. In another chapter later on, Bohren conducts yet another experiment about the misinterpretation of the laws of pressure. What he does is place a can in a shallow pan of water, and then adds hot water inside the can. For this experiment to be successful, the can should cave inward and contract. The main reason why I enjoyed this chapter is because the experiment took no skill or much time at all, and it was an interesting way to explain atmospheric pressure. Other than the well planned put chapters in this book, there was one that went into way too much detail about explaining the greenhouse effect. I do agree that it was highly detailed fact wise but he just went a little much into detail. One segment of the book I really enjoyed was when he talked about the rare occurrences of either a blue moon, or the green flash. It really excited me to get up and actually try to see one of these one day. If you like rare occurrences, than you'll love this book. Overall, Bohren is a very in depth writer and people who enjoy physics will benefit from reading this book.

Clouds in a Glass of Beer is not a book for everyone. If you do not have a vast understanding of atmospheric science and physics, you will not enjoy reading this book. In essence, this book is 22 different experiments with an explanation on how each experiment works. If you do find enjoyment in reading about the atmosphere, however, you will enjoy this book.
The first experiment is, as you probably guessed, why clouds form in a glass of beer when salt is added. The passage goes on to explain why and how the clouds form, why a cloud comes out of a freshly opened bottle of beer, and the behavior of the bubbles. It is interesting to see all of the scientific forces behind this action, even though it may become hard to understand at times.
The next experiment is how to make a cloud form in a bottle. This is done by filling the bottom with water and a tube, sucking a little bit of the air out through the tube, letting some smoke in, blowing air into the jar, putting your finger on the end and releasing it quickly. If the bottle is painted black, the cloud should be easier to see.
One experiment I found very entertaining was how to keep fog from forming on a mirror. It consisted of smearing an extremely small amount of dish washing detergent on the glass and trying to fog the mirror to proved that it worked. The soap forces all the fog droplets to create a thin layer of water.
Many of the experiments in this book are quite interesting. This book answers why a rainbow could form in the winter, the requirements for a blue moon, and why you can't see forever on a clear day. If you have a great understanding of science, this book will, without a doubt, amuse you.

optics, meteorology and the evidence of my own eyes have all been endlessly fascinating subjects since chancing on this little gem. Should be a compulsary gift for every one of those slightly jaded 500 hour pilots who think they have seen it all

This book has been invaluable to me in teaching a university class on the Earth's climate. I've been able to pull off some of the clever demonstrations in the classroom. I've never read more understandable descriptions of pressure, "heat", the latent heat of vaporization, and blackbody radiation, including its relationship to the greenhouse effect. The author's dismissive comments towards global warming as just the current fad of 1982 have not stood the test of time. His book, however, will help educators explain to the public our dire circumstances so that something might be done about it.

This is a terrible book with an attractive title. It i a collection of inexpensive experiments to teach atmospheric physics 1.01. The author was happy to publish his lectures notes: that can certainly be useful to another teacher, but it does not make a book. For instance, the book is made of a series of experiments: it is not organized by concepts and the concepts are not explained. It is not a book. You can find hundreds of such experiments for free on the internet, many of them on Youtube.

Clouds in a bottle of beer was an eye-opening exposure to the physics, and some say chemistry, that creates so many exquisite natural phenomenon in the atmosphere. You will learn what creates sun-dogs, moon circles and even about specters. These specters are not exactly ghosts but they're as close as the average person will get to seeing them. This book is more complex than a simple question and answer work on "why does [blank] happen?"

If you have a passion outdoor photography, this is a must-read. After reading this book, you will be able to guess, predict and explain many more of your photographs than you had before. Even as an engineer, there was much I gleaned from Bohren's work. It's a quick and entertaining read and well worth the time. This book was originally suggested by Galen Rowell and I heartily second his recommendation.

Craig F. Bohren writes science books with a delight that is infectious. There are few books like this where science and education are turned into an entertaining commentary. Bohren shows us that the things we see normally, in our day to day life, contain the science truths which can be used to teach concepts, useful for understanding and solving more complex problems.

The book is an amazing survey of simple experiments that can be done to understand the concepts relevant to the cloud physics and atmospheric phenomena. A fascinating introduction to formation of clouds, including role of salt particles in nucleation, relies on carefully observing the bubbles formed in a glass of beer. Surface tension is introduced by example of dew formed on bath mirror. Concepts related to evaporative cooling or mixing clouds or relative humidity, come with a baggage of simple experiments that debunk scientific myths and illustrate essential physics. A textbook on Atmospheric Thermodynamics, published by the same author, is an entertaining and more course friendly account of the same ideas. The science of clouds by Tricker is an equally delightful text on classroom demonstrations and cloud physics inherent in simple observations.

Bohren tackles many concepts of light scattering which are quite difficult to grasp initially or say teach to young students, in a brilliant series of examples about what we observe in our daily life. Be it a discussion about "blue moon" or colors of sea or rainbows, Bohren takes the essential ideas and expresses them with his characteristic wit and brilliance. He supplies you with a tangible set of experiments to illustrate the concepts further. Bohren's treatise on Absorption and Scattering of Light by Small Particles (coauthored with Huffman) is most definitely the resource for looking at detailed physics and mathematics associated with scattering. The classic text by van de Hulst "Light Scattering by Small Particles" is a useful supplement for those interested in theory of small particle scattering.

Bohren has written another book titled: "What Light through Yonder Window Breaks" with some more hand-on experiments about Atmospheric Physics. "Clouds in the Glass of Beer" and its sequel are two books that every atmospheric physics student must read and own. The books are throughly enjoyable for anyone even remotely interested in everyday science. No equations involved! No education beyond high school required! Only for fun loving scientists, who believe that true understanding comes when a difficult concept can be explained by simple analogies and in simple language. Highly recommended.