Motion Mountain: The Adventure of Physics – Vol.V : Motion Inside Matter - Pleasure, Technology and the Stars

New 2021 edition - more than 400 000 readers across the world. This physics volume presents motion inside matter. It explains how chemistry, biology, material properties, stars, nuclear reactors and particle physics follow from the quantum of action. The volume leads from molecular motors in muscles to the colour of gems, from the working of nerves to the processes that make volcanoes erupt, and from the structure of DNA to the reasons that stars shine. This is the fifth volume of the Motion Mountain Physics Textbook, written to be surprising and challenging on every page. It provides a simple, modern and vivid introduction to the motion inside people, animals, nuclei, and stars, including the physics of perception and the senses, of crystals and of elementary particles. The text is written in an easy style, uses little mathematics, and is accessible to undergraduates, teachers and anybody who is interested in the precise description of nature. Enjoy the reading! Cover Preface Contents Motion Inside Matter – Pleasure, Technology and Stars 1 - Motion for enjoying life From quantum physics to biological machines and miniaturization Reproduction Quantum machines How do we move? – Molecular motors Linear molecular motors A rotational molecular motor: ATP synthase Rotational motors and parity breaking Curiosities and fun challenges about biology The physics of pleasure The nerves and the brain Living clocks When do clocks exist? The precision of clocks Why are predictions so difficult, especially of the future? Decay and the golden rule The present in quantum theory Why can we observe motion? Rest and the quantum Zeno effect Consciousness – a result of the quantum of action Why can we observe motion? – Again Curiosities and fun challenges about quantum experience Summary on biology and pleasure 2 - Changing the world with quantum effects Chemistry – from atoms to DNA Atomic bonds Ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid Curiosities and fun challenges about chemistry Materials science Why does the floor not fall? Rocks and stones Crystal formation Some interesting crystals How can we look through matter? What is necessary to make matter invisible? What moves inside matter? Curiosities and fun challenges about materials science Quantum technology Transistors Motion without friction – superconductivity and superfluidity The fractional quantum Hall effect How does matter behave at the lowest temperatures? Lasers and other spin-one vector boson launchers From lamps to lasers The three lightbulb scams Applications of lasers Challenges, dreams and curiosities about quantum technology Summary on changing the world with quantum effects 3 - Quantum electrodynamics – the origin of virtual reality Ships, mirrors and the Casimir effect The Lamb shift The QED Lagrangian and its symmetries Interactions and virtual particles Vacuum energy: infinite or zero? Moving mirrors Photons hitting photons Is the vacuum a bath? Renormalization – why is an electron so light? Curiosities and fun challenges of quantum electrodynamics How can one move on perfect ice? – The ultimate physics test A summary of quantum electrodynamics Open questions in QED 4 - Quantum mechanics with gravitation – first steps Falling atoms Playing table tennis with neutrons The gravitational phase of wave functions The gravitational Bohr atom Curiosities about quantum theory and gravity Gravitation and limits to disorder Measuring acceleration with a thermometer: Fulling–Davies–Unruh radiation Black holes aren't black The lifetime of black holes Black holes are all over the place Fascinating gamma-ray bursts Material properties of black holes How do black holes evaporate? The information paradox of black holes More paradoxes Quantum mechanics of gravitation Do gravitons exist? Space-time foam Decoherence of space-time Quantum theory as the enemy of science fiction No vacuum means no particles Summary on quantum theory and gravity 5 - The structure of the nucleus – the densest clouds A physical wonder – magnetic resonance imaging The size of nuclei and the discovery of radioactivity Nuclei are composed Nuclei can move alone – cosmic rays Nuclei decay – more on radioactivity Radiometric dating Why is hell hot? Nuclei can form composites Nuclei have colours and shapes The four types of motion in the nuclear domain Nuclei react Bombs and nuclear reactors Curiosities and challenges on nuclei and radioactivity Summary on nuclei 6 - The sun, the stars and the birth of matter The Sun Motion in and on the Sun Why do the stars shine? Why are fusion reactors not common yet? Where do our atoms come from? Curiosities about the Sun and the stars Summary on stars and nucleosynthesis 7 - The strong interaction – inside nuclei and nucleons The feeble side of the strong interaction Bound motion, the particle zoo and the quark model The essence of quantum chromodynamics The Lagrangian of quantum chromodynamics Experimental consequences of the quark model Confinement of quarks – and elephants Asymptotic freedom The sizes and masses of quarks The mass, shape and colour of protons Curiosities about the strong interaction A summary of QCD and its open issues 8 - The weak nuclear interaction and the handedness of nature Transformation of elementary particles The weakness of the weak nuclear interaction Distinguishing left from right Distinguishing particles and antiparticles, CP violation Weak charge and mixings Symmetry breaking – and the lack of electroweak unification The Lagrangian of the weak and electromagnetic interactions Curiosities about the weak interaction A summary of the weak interaction 9 - The standard model of particle physics – as seen on television Summary and open questions 10 - Dreams of unification Grand unification Comparing predictions and data The state of grand unification Searching for higher symmetries Supersymmetry Other attempts Dualities – the most incredible symmetries of nature Collective aspects of quantum field theory Curiosities about unification A summary on unification, mathematics and higher symmetries 11 - Bacteria, flies and knots Bumblebees and other miniature flying systems Swimming Rotation, falling cats and the theory of shape change Swimming in curved space Turning a sphere inside out Clouds Vortices and the Schrödinger equation Fluid space-time Dislocations and solid space-time Polymers Knots and links The hardest open problems that you can tell your grandmother Curiosities and fun challenges on knots and wobbly entities Summary on wobbly objects 12 - Quantum physics in a nutshell – again Quantum field theory in a few sentences Achievements in precision What is unexplained by quantum theory and general relativity? The physics cube The intense emotions due to quantum field theory and general relativity What awaits us? Appendix A - Units, measurements and constants SI units The meaning of measurement Planck's natural units Other unit systems Curiosities and fun challenges about units Precision and accuracy of measurements Limits to precision Physical constants Useful numbers Appendix B - Composite particle properties Appendix C - Algebras, shapes and groups Algebras Lie algebras Classification of Lie algebras Topology – what shapes exist? Topological spaces Manifolds Holes, homotopy and homology Types and classification of groups Lie groups Connectedness Compactness Mathematical curiosities and fun challenges Challenge hints and solutions Bibliography Subject index Which quantum effects are at the basis of life?How many motors does a human contain?How do our senses work?What crystals are used in everyday life?What is vacuum energy?How does magnetic resonance work?Where do the atoms in our body come from?Why do stars shine?Which problems in physics are unsolved?Answering these and other questions on motion, this series gives an entertaining and mind-twisting introduction into modern physics – one that is surprising and challenging on every page. Starting from everyday life, the adventure provides an overview of modern results in mechanics, heat, electromagnetism, relativity, quantum physics and unification.Christoph Schiller, PhD Université Libre de Bruxelles, is a physicist and physics popularizer. He wrote this book for his children and for all students, teachers and readers interested in physics, the science of motion.