Mistakes in Instant Physics

 

 

 

p. 23: In the last line the punctuation is incorrect.  It should read:

 Ivory Burns. (Think Zen.)

 

p. 37, line 2: The mass of the earth is 5.98 x 1024 kg

 

p. 38, last line: “to” should be “at”.

 

p. 51, line 3: Should read “founded” modern chemistry. 

 

p. 65, line 15: The atomic weight of H2O is 18, not 10.  The atomic weight of O2 is 32, not 16.

 

pp. 76-79: This entire demo is in the wrong chapter.  The part that was relevant to chapter three was cut and what remains should be in chapter 2.

 

p. 79.  Conservation of energy.  This was typeset incorrectly.  It should read:

 

            Conservation of Energy: Energy is neither created nor destroyed, merely changed in form.

 

 

            Conservation of energy is so important that it is termed the first law of thermodynamics, sometimes also known as

 

           

            The First Law of Thermogoddamnics: You can’t win.

 

 

p. 100, diagram.  The diagram is missing the label “v” on the axis coming out of the page.

 

p. 104, caption, third line from bottom.  Should read “length λ” not “length I”

 

p. 106, equation (6).  The expression in the braces should be typeset on the same line as “stuff” so that it is understood to be multiplying “stuff”

 

p. 109, diagram: The orbits of the planets should be drawn as circles.

 

p. 110, diagram of Fizeau’s apparatus: On the right side of the diagram are two vertical lines between the wheel and the mirror.  Between the two lines at the bottom is a double-sided arrow.  This is supposed to have a label beneath it reading “8 km”

 

p. 116, diagram.  The bottom right arrow is facing in the wrong direction.  It should be facing right, not left.

 

p. 124, equation (1).  This is typeset incorrectly.  It is missing the horizontal line that normally separates numerator from denominator.

 

p. 124, equation (2).  This is typeset very incorrectly.  Lt should be multiplied by  expression in the square root, not divided by it. 

 

p. 127, line 11 up: Should read “Pythagorean theorem”

 

p. 128, equation (6).  This is missing horizontal line to separate numerator from denominator.

 

p. 129, same equation, same problem.

 

p. 131, last paragraph, line 1: Should  read “you see”, not “to see”

 

p. 132, diagram.  The axes are labeled incorrectly.  The 3 should be on the horizontal axis and the 4 should be on the vertical axes.

 

p. 141, first paragraph, last line.  There should be trumpet sounds “Tah-da-tah” not “add trumpet sounds,” which was instructions to the typesetter.

 

p. 144.: Equation (8) should read

 

            q/m = 2yE/B2l2

 

Note the l2 is currently missing.

 

p. 155.  The discussion on binding energy is not quite correct.  The first two full paragraphs should read:

 

            Not quite.  If you carefully add up the mass of all the protons and neutrons in an atom and compare the total with the atomic weight of the elements on a periodic table, you will discover a curious fact.  The atomic weight is always a little smaller than sum of the component protons and neutrons, exactly how much smaller depends on the particular element. 

            “Where did the excess weight go?” you ask.  When you weigh an atom, you are not only counting the weight of the individual protons and neutrons, but you are counting the binding energy that goes into holding the nucleus together. Another way of saying this is that the binding energy is the energy it takes to rip an atom apart into its constituents.  By E = mc2 this energy has weight .  As it turns out, the binding energy per nucleon (that is, per proton or neutron) is a maximum for iron.  That means that iron is the most stable element.  Some heavy elements like uranium are not very stable; they tend to split into two parts, releasing the difference in binding energy between the original uranium and the end products.  It is this energy that appears in alpha, beta and gamma rays when the elements undergo radioactive decay.

                       

 

p. 155, lines 5 up to 7 up.  This should read :

 

Since the atomic number is 92, the number of neutrons is 238-92 = 146.  235U, however, has only 143 neutrons.  Although both of these isotopes have about the same about of binding energy, 238U is stable and tends not to split.  235U, on the other hand, is unstable.

 

p. 156, lines 9-10 should read:

 

            However, not every tale in physics need be dark.  For isotopes lighter than iron, each, banging them together always results in an end product with mass (energy) less than that of the constituents.  So by combining...

 

 

 

p. 165.  The discussion below equation (2) is incorrect and must be changed. 

 

            The equation currently labeled (2) should be deleted and the equation Estring = nhν

should be labeled (2).

 

            The line below equation (2) should read:

            “The important thing is that the number n must be an integer, 1,2,3...(or zero).”

 

            Below the statement of the Quantum Principle the paragraph should read:

 

 

            How did the Quantum Principle solve the “ultraviolet catastrophe,” as the transition to higher and higher frequencies was known?  Actually, Planck had to enlist one other idea, which was already lying around from thermodynamics.  This idea was that even though the frequency ν in equation (2) could get higher and higher as the energy of the oscillator Estring gets bigger, the number of oscillators at high energy drastically decreased.  If you imagine popping popcorn in an open pot in a fireplace, most pieces might fly up to an average height, but very few will fly up to a much greater height.  In the same way, very few oscillators at high energy actually start vibrating, and so if you put an iron in the fireplace, the energy does not get transferred to higher and higher frequencies indefinitely and the ultraviolet catastrophe disappears. The fact that you do not get fried by gamma rays in front of a fireplace is direct proof of quantum mechanics.  So is the shape of the blackbody spectrum.  

 

 

p. 166, diagram.  That funny looking symbol at the end of the squiggly line on the left is supposed to be a greek letter gamma: γ

 

p. 171, line 3 up: “M” should read “m”

 

p. 173, top equation.  “M” should read “m”

 

p. 173, line 6, should read “as in figure b”

 

p. 173, lines 13-14, should read  “So after the seesaw stops moving, as in figure c, we must have”

 

p. 177, equation 7: The symbol “h-bar” should be set as in the next line.

 

p. 184, equation (10).  The right hand side of the inequality should just be an h-bar.  Four lines down should also be an h-bar.

 

p. 195, line 7: h-bar

 

p. 227, diagram.  This is simply the wrong diagram.  This is not the map of the temperature fluctuations measured by COBE.  You must get the correct map, which should be available on the web.

 

p. 235, last paragraph, lines 2-3.  This should read “The fundamental principle of science is that theories should be testable by experiment but theories such as quantum gravity and the like are so far beyond...”

 

p. 237, dialogue.  There is a line missing of dialogue missing. Maybe:

 

            You: --or why people fall in love--