A free pdf book on the fascination of light, electricity, magnetism and the human brain.

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This freely downloadable book explains how light, radio waves and electric currents move. It also shows how living beings, from sharks to people, make use of fields and light in their senses, brains and machines. Light and other electromagnetic fields can be used to illuminate and image, to communicate, to measure, to influence or process matter, and to harness energy. All these topics are fascinating - both in nature and in technology. The pdf includes entertaining facts, clear and simple explanations, intriguing connections, many pictures and numerous modern research results.

pdf  Free download of volume III : LIGHT, CHARGES AND BRAINS        

The types of levitation, the working of the eye, the infrared pits of snakes, the many types of rainbows, the various types of mirages, the working of a needle compass, the appearance of lightning, the working of computers and mobile phones, and the making of photographs, holograms and X-ray images are all shown to be effects of electricity and magnetism. The meaning of Maxwell's equations is made as clear as possible, with as little math as possible. The different types of light and many beautiful electromagnetic effects in matter are introduced.

The concepts of electricity, magnetism and optics are explained in an entertaining way, with as little mathematics as possible. Charges, fields, light waves and images are introduced and explored in detail. The book includes videos, pictures, many tables, riddles and numerous surprising facts from nature and technology.

The book describes light sources, lenses and polarization. It tells about the numerous optical fibers in your eyes, explains how to measure the power of the Sun with closed eyes, introduces the tricky sides of three-dimensional interferometers, explores the Poynting vector field for a cable and a transformer, tells the story of the biggest disappointment of the television industry in the twentieth century, describes how yellow light improves tomato sales and pink light reduces crime, explains why wearing sunglasses can transform humans into apes, gives details about the solar spectrum, presents the 'floating bed' puzzle, shows how the human eye can invent colours that are not there, presents the many types of rainbows, shows an electric effect observed on many playgrounds, tells how to build the simplest possible radio control system, explains how to observe the polarization of light with the unaided human eye in the same way as honey bees do, explains the three international light bulb scams of the past 20 years, and poses the polarized car headlight problem.

Get the printed volume from AMAZON (in colour or in black & white).

The text also explains how nature builds brains and what people can do with them. How do we form physical concepts? What can we observe? How much of the future can we predict? How can one use to use electrodynamics to find out the number you are thinking of? What is a good lie? Why is there levitation? Why is there no free energy in nature?

The book guarantees to be interesting and surprising on every page: it includes many embedded colour films and a large number of photographs, riddles, tables, internet links and curiosities. Enjoy the adventure!

pdfDownload volume III LIGHT, CHARGES AND BRAINS
        1 Liquid electricity, invisible fields and maximum speed 14
        2 The description of electromagnetic field evolution 69
        3 What is light? 88
        4 Images and the eye - optics 122
        5 Electromagnetic effects 168
        6 Summary and limits of classical electrodynamics 192
        7 The story of the brain 198
        8 Thought and language 217
        9 Concepts, lies and patterns of nature 238
        10 Classical physics in a nutshell 279
  Appendix A Units, measurements and constants 286

 
Please help to make this volume the best available introduction to electromagnetism and optics: send your improvements and suggestions to christoph@motionmountain.net. And enjoy the reading!