8. Physics News from the Web
Items selected from the bulletins of the Institute of Physics (UK) and the American Institute of Physics.
a) Reflective roofs and pavements could fight climate change
b) Quantum mechanics in popular-science books A podcast
c) The perfect storm: The sinking of the Titanic
a) Reflective roofs and pavements could fight climate change
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2012/apr/13/reflective-roofs-and-pavements-could-fight-climate-change
Replacing roofs and pavements with more reflective versions could lower global temperatures by up to 0.07°C, equivalent to a reduction in carbon-dioxide emissions of about 150billion tonnes. That is according to researchers in Canada who used a global climate model to look at the effects of such albedo changes in urban areas.
"Scientists have been proposing novel ideas – mostly untested – for the geoengineering of global climate," says Hashem Akbari of Concordia University. "But humans have had experience with white buildings and reflective pavements for thousands of years without any unknown negative side effects. Hence, cool urban surfaces should be our geoengineering 101."
b) Quantum mechanics in popular-science books A podcast
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/multimedia/2012/apr/11/quantum-mechanics-in-popular-science-books
Since its inception in the early part of the 20th century, the theory of quantum mechanics has consistently baffled many of the great physicists of our time. But while the ideas of quantum physics are challenging and notoriously weird, they seem to capture the public imagination and hold an enduring appeal. Evidence of this comes in part from the numerous popular-science books that have been written on the topic over the years. This episode in the Physics World books podcast series looks at the popularity of quantum mechanics in science writing
As usual, the podcast is hosted by James Dacey, who is joined by Physics World's editor Matin Durrani and the magazine's reviews editor Margaret Harris. The first part of the podcast addresses the question of why so many authors decide to write these books. The Physics World hosts are joined by physicist Chad Orzel, author of the bestselling book How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog, which was released in 2010.
The middle section of the podcast looks in more detail at the process of writing these books. It features the established popular-science writer Marcus Chown, who describes his experience of writing the book Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You, which was published in 2007. Chown admits that he found the Pauli exclusion principle to be the most challenging aspect of quantum mechanics to explain in everyday language. This leads on to an interesting debate about the pros and potential pitfalls of using metaphors to describe complex science and mathematics.
If scientists and science writers go through such pain to describe these features of the quantum world, then surely somebody without a scientific background should run a mile. But they don't, instead they keep buying these books. In the final section of the podcast, the historian and philosopher Robert P Crease shares his thoughts on why the counterintuitive nature of quantum physics holds such a fascinating appeal for readers.
c) The perfect storm: The sinking of the Titanic
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/2012/apr/02/the-perfect-storm
A century on from the Titanic tragedy, Richard Corfield says that the cascade of fateful events that led to her demise was partly caused by the science of the ship's construction.
One hundred years ago this month, the world reverberated to the news that the largest ship in the world had met with destruction on her first ever outing.
At 11.40 p.m. on Sunday 14 April 1912, the Royal Mail Steamer Titanic, bound from Southampton to New York, collided with an iceberg and sank within three hours, with the loss of more than two-thirds of the 2224 passengers and crew.
The world was stunned, for the superlatives that had followed the launch of the Titanic from the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast had been stupendous – some would say almost say hubris-inducing. Nature stepped up to the challenge and with almost contemptuous ease sent the Titanic to an icy grave 4 km deep at 41° 43' N, 49 56' W off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. The Titanic's last reported position was 41 46' N, 50 14' W, although this was later shown to be out by more than 20 km, an inaccuracy that greatly contributed to the difficulties encountered while trying to locate the wreck.
When people ask the question "What sank the Titanic?", at first glance the answer is obvious: she hit an iceberg. But that simplistic answer masks deeper and more substantive questions: why did the Titanic hit the berg in the first place and why did she sink so quickly?