Benjamin Bahr · Boris Lemmer Rina Piccolo Quirky Quarks A Cartoon Guide to the Fascinating Realm of Physics Quirky Quarks The Authors Benjamin Bahr, Boris Lemmer, Rina Piccolo Dr. Benjamin Bahr is a quantum gravity researcher at the University of Ham- burg, Germany. He and his research group work on a unification of Einstein’s theory of general relativity with the principles of quantum physics. Before that, he did his PhD at the Max-Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam, and was a research fellow at the University of Cambridge, UK. When he is not trying to calculate what goes on inside a black hole, or what happened at the Big Bang, he likes to explain physics to laypeople – by giving public talks, or writing popular science books. Dr. Boris Lemmer is an experimental elementary particle physicist, working at the University of Göttingen and on the ATLAS Experiment at CERN. Before doing his PhD in Göttingen, he studied physics and mathematics in Gießen. He does not only love science, but also explaining it to laymen, either in books, in talks or on stage. In 2011, he won the German Science Slam cham- pionship. Rina Piccolo’s cartoons have appeared in numerous magazines including The New Yorker, Barron’s Business Magazine, The Reader’s Digest, Parade Magazine, and more. Her daily comic strip “Tina’s Groove” is syndicated in newspapers and websites worldwide. (cid:2) (cid:2) Benjamin Bahr Boris Lemmer Rina Piccolo Quirky Quarks A Cartoon Guide to the Fascinating Realm of Physics BenjaminBahr RinaPiccolo Hamburg,Germany Toronto,Canada BorisLemmer Göttingen,Germany ISBN978-3-662-49507-0 ISBN978-3-662-49509-4(eBook) DOI10.1007/978-3-662-49509-4 SpringerHeidelbergDordrechtLondonNewYork LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2016932389 ©Springer-VerlagBerlinHeidelberg2016 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewhole orpartofthematerialisconcerned, specificallytherightsoftranslation,reprinting,reuse ofillustrations,recitation,broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmsorinanyotherphysical way,andtransmissionorinformationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computer software,orbysimilarordissimilarmethodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped. Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,servicemarks,etc. in thispublicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnames areexemptfromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneral use. Thepublisher,theauthorsandtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinformation in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publishernortheauthorsortheeditorsgiveawarranty,expressorimplied,withrespectto thematerialcontainedhereinorforanyerrorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade. Managingeditor:MargitMaly Illustrator:RinaPiccolo CoverIllustration:RinaPiccolo Printedonacid-freepaper SpringerBerlinHeidelbergispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia (www.springer.com) V Preface What Do You Get When You Collide Two Physicists and a Cartoonist? If you remember your college, or high school phys- As a cartoonist and writer, I am a natural wonder- ics textbook like I remember mine, you’ll agree that er, and although like many people I find physics it was the heaviest of all your books to carry, and the difficult, the stuff of black holes, worm holes, and most difficult to understand. A quick glance through sub-atomic strangeness has always intrigued me. the pages of this book – the one you’re looking at The opportunity to work with Boris, and Benjamin now – will show you that it looks nothing like your – physicists devoted to de-coding nature’s biggest college, or high school textbook. It’s way too fun puzzles – has made me a better wonderer, and a looking. Flip through it and you’ll find two dogs, a shade brighter. Thanks to these gentlemen, I now cat, and quarks with three eyes. You’ll see cartoon understand things like surface tension… and find it electrons, and comics about Special Relativity. Oh, as mind-boggling as dark matter. (Thanks, guys, for and let’s not forget the actual science. Explained in adding to my crazy mental catalogue of things I love plain, everyday language that even a cartoonist like to wonder about.) me can understand, co-authors Boris Lemmer, and Benjamin Bahr will show you what anti-matter has If you’re like me, an avid wonderer who enjoys hav- to do with bananas, and why you feel bloated on ing your mind blown by the often bizarre nature of an airplane (clue: it’s not because you ate bananas). reality – and you like cartoons – then seek no other They’ll crack open an atom, and make you question book than this one. the stability of the ground beneath your feet. They’ll tell you how to create matter out of energy. They’ll So, what do you get when you collide two physi- even have you wondering about a possible other cists and a cartoonist? You get quarks, quirks, and you, in a possible other universe, reading another an enjoyable exploration of the fascinating realm of book eerily like this one. physics. –Rina Piccolo VI Contents Preface V The Characters XIII The Particles XIV Measure for Measure On the Units in Science XVI I – Rocket Science 1 Auroras An Exciting Glow for Humans and Atoms 3 Light Ripples in the Electromagnetic Field 7 Invisibility Cloaks Walk Like a Magician 11 The Doppler Shift The Stretching of Waves 15 Lasers High Quality Light Offering new Possibilities 19 Vacuum and Air Pressure Molecules on the Move 23 Fluid Flow and Turbulences Nothing You Should Test on a Highway 27 Why Does a Plane Fly? How to Guide the Air to Keep You up 31 Surface Tension Minimal Surface for Maximum Comfort 35 Non-Newtonian Fluid Is It Liquid? Or Is It Solid? 39 Rocket Maneuvers Navigating within Nothing 43 Kepler’s Laws The Basic Rules for the Movement of Planets 47 VII Conservation Laws Nothing Gets Lost in Nature 51 The Voyager Probes Where No One Has Gone Before 55 Birth of the Solar System A Star Is Born 59 Genesis of the Moon A Mini Big Bang Close to Earth 63 Extrasolar Planets Is Anybody out There? 67 II – The Cosmos 71 Spectral Classification A Who Is Who of Stars 73 Red Giants and Planetary Nebulae The End of a Main Sequence Star 79 Supernovae Going out with a Bang 83 White Dwarfs and Type Ia Supernovae Corpses of the Suns and Standard Candles 87 Black Holes Once You Go Black, You Never Come Back 91 The Big Bang The Horrendous Space Kablooie 97 Timeline of Our Universe From the Big Bang to the Present 100 The Cosmic Microwave Background The Oldest Photons in the Universe 105 Large Scale Structure of the Universe A Network Made of Stars 109 Galaxy Types Looks Is Everything 113 Relative Space and Time Why you Can’t Make Light Faster by Pushing it 117 The Theory of General Relativity Curved Space and Warped Time 121 Curved Space Time Getting the Right Angle 125 VIII Gravitational Lensing Mirages in the Night Sky 129 Dark Matter More than Meets the Eye 133 Dark Energy The Revival of Einstein’s Biggest Blunder 137 III – Quantum Mechanics 141 Wave-Particle Duality Is It a Wave or Particle? 143 The Double Slit Experiment On the Weirdness of the Quantum World 147 Heisenberg Uncertainty You Cannot Have It Both Ways 151 Schrödinger’s Cat Dead and Alive at the Same Time 155 Feynman Paths Reality as the Sum of Possibilities 159 Quantum Tunneling Where There Is a Wave Function, There’s a Way 163 Radioactive Decay About the Life of Nuclei and Their End 167 Alpha, Beta and Gamma Rays Radioactive Rays 171 Nuclear Fusion Energy Source for Dinosaurs and Future Humans 175 Superconductors Super Highways for Electrons 179 Superfluidity The Creepy Kind of Fluid 183 Spin Particle Dances in Discrete Steps 187 Entanglement A Spooky Action at a Distance? 191 Quantum Teleportation There and Back Again 195 Qubits How to Build a Quantum Computer 199