The Flying Circus of Physics (Paperback)

by Jearl Walker (Author) "Should you run or walk when crossing a street in the rain without an umbrella?..." (more)
Key Phrases: surf skimmer, dunking bird, teapot effect, Slipping Between Falling Drops, Splashing Colors Everywhere, Swimming Through Syrup (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Supplement Available -- The publisher, John Wiley & Sons --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
Witness astounding feats of physics

Hurry! Hurry! Come one, come all. Meet a man who can pull two railroad passenger cars with his teeth and a real-life human cannon ball. Come face to face with a dead rattlesnake that still bites. And unlock the secrets to the magician's bodiless head.

Welcome to Jearl Walker's Flying Circus of Physics, 2nd Edition, where death-defying stunts, high-flying acrobatics, strange curiosities, and mind-bending illusions are all part of everyday life. You don't need a ticket; you only need to look to the world around you to uncover these fascinating feats of physics.

Completely updated and expanded, this Second Edition of Jearl Walker's best-selling book features more than 700 thoroughly intriguing questions about relevant, fun, and completely real physical phenomena. Detailed explanations and references to outside sources guide your way through the problems.

You'll discover answers to such questions as:
* Can you start a fire with ice?
* Why does the sky turn green just before a tornado?
* Why do wintergreen LifeSavers glow in the dark when you bite them?
* If you are falling in an elevator, should you try to jump up at the last second or lay flat against the floor?
* How do electric eels produce their electric field?
* Why is wet sand darker than dry sand?
* What causes an oasis mirage?
* Why do stars twinkle?
* Could you drive a car on a ceiling?

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 2 edition (June 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471762733
• ISBN-13: 978-0471762737
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #116,611 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and enlightening, October 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Flying Circus of Physics With Answers (Paperback)

You can learn a lot of physics from this book. It can help you develop the kind of intuition that you will not get from conventional physics books. In addition, you can learn some off-beat physics that is not normally taught in classes.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kicked Off A Lifelong Interest in Science, October 20, 2005

By	Richard T. Young Jr. (Colorado, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Flying Circus of Physics With Answers (Paperback)

A favorite uncle gave me this book when I was eleven or twelve, and I went on to love it literally to pieces. **But I still have all the pieces**, and I give copies of this book to kids who seem succeptible to it like I was.

Potential buyers should know that the book is arranged in an unusual format. One section, the questions, is divided topically into the major subcategories of physics; questions are numbered by category and then sequentially, such as 5.8, 5.9, 5.10... The answers to the questions are found in a separate section, using the numbers. Because of this, you tend to read the book with a finger stuck in the answers so you can find your place when you go to check your work.

There is also a separate bibliography section, but I never paid much attention to that as a kid :^)

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought Provoking & Ultimate Lab Supplement, June 30, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Flying Circus of Physics With Answers (Paperback)

This is a book of real-world physics questions and explainations. Billiards, air-conditioning, carnival games, and more are covered.

Our high school advanced physics course used this book for a "special" kind of weekly lab where groups of students were assigned a few questions and the group was to write up short answers/explainations to the questions posed by Jearl, applying the concepts we learned in class and stretching our thought process.

Most questions have solid physics explainations, some don't. As such, scores were given based on insight, communication, and application.

The point of this book is to provoke thought and grab students' interest, and Jearl is a master.