The Bottom Line
Pros
- Concise, clear puzzles
- Comprehensive solutions to the puzzles, including mathematics as appropriate
Cons
- Some explanations require a fairly high level of proficiency
Description
- Paperback, 162 pages, Johns Hopkins University Press
- Over 50 individual physics puzzles, in 6 theme-oriented chapters
- Most puzzles are easily comprehensible to even the novice physicist. Great for teenagers!
Guide Review - Brainteaser Physics: Challenging Physics Puzzles by Goran Grimvall
Groan Grimvall, physics professor & director of undergraduate studies at Stockholm's Royal Institute of Technology, presents this collection of over 50 physics puzzles. They are clearly presented and the solutions explained, with math provided as necessary in the explanation.In this sort of work, it would be easy to get too complex, but Grimvall steers clear of that problem. The physics (and mathematics) concepts needed to solve this problem are challenging, but not insurmountable, even to a novice physics students.
The problems are broken up thematically into 6 chapters. One chapter features classic physics puzzles, while another features puzzles which require little or no math to solve. The final chapter, which requires a level of creativity in addition to pure physics, is especially intriguing.
Overall, I highly recommend this book. It serves well for those who are looking to idle away a bit of time applying their brain to scientific challenges, and is a good learning aid for students who want to sharpen their wits a bit. Though it may not teach you much physics directly, it would greatly enhance the scientific intuition that is necessary to solve problems in a scientific manner.
