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FUN WITH PHYSICAL PARADOXES, PUZZLES, AND PROBLEMS
1.1 Introduction
A good physical paradox is (1) a surprise, (2) a puzzle, and (3) a lesson, rolled into one fun package. A paradox often involves a very convincing argument leading to a wrong conclusion that seems right, or to a right conclusion that seems wrong or surprising. The challenge to find the mistakeâor explain the surpriseâmay be hard to resist. A joke heard back in the Cold War years claimed that the West could impede Soviet military R&D efforts by scattering leaflets containing puzzlers and brainteasers over the secret Siberian weapons research facilities. Times have changed, and these same brainteasers now are used in hiring interviews. As a Soviet propagandist would have said: either way, they are a capitalist tool.
Resolving a paradox is not only fun; it also trains intuition, logic, and critical thinking. One becomes a better lie detector by resolving paradoxes. A good paradox also teaches caution and humility by showing us how easy it is to go wrong even in relatively simple matters of elementary physics. It is liberating to know that some very smart people have made mistakes in seemingly simple matters of basic physics. Other fieldsâsuch as astronomy, biology, medicine, economics, climate, politics, and mediaâdeal with more complicated objects than physics,1 offering even more room for mistakes there. In addition, some âmistakesâ can be beneficial, at least temporarily.
My main reason in writing this book is to share the fun of imagining how things work. These paradoxes also teach the gist of some physics without the pain of mathematics.2
The puzzles in this book deal with physicsâa subject that walks on two legs, one being mathematics, and the other, physical intuition. Unfortunately, in school the subject is often presented with a severe limp.
A musical analogy. If music were taught the way physics often is taught, we would learn the notes but not the melodies they produce. For too many students of physics, the subject is reduced to a collection of formulas that must be matched to a problem at hand. Not surprisingly, many intelligent students are turned off.
Intuition should come first. Exercise of physical intuition is one practical benefit of this bookâs puzzles. All too many physics courses give short shrift to intuition, emphasizing instead a search for the formula that fits the situation. Examples in this book go in the opposite direction: I tried for a minimum of formulas and a maximum of intuition. The discussion of the spinning top is an example, where I give a formula-free explanation of why the spinning top stays upright. It takes quite a few years of study in mathematics and physics to learn to write differential equations for the motion of a spinning top and to see how to deduce stability from these equations. And at the end of this long study few students end up with an intuitive understanding of why a spinning top stays up. The most powerful toolâour physical intuitionâends up unused.
1.2 Background
Much (but not all) of this book should be accessible to readers without formal background in physics. All physical concepts used are explained in the appendix. Mathematics in this book does not go beyond algebra, with a couple of exceptions where calculus is used. Even there, the reader who is willing to take a little math on trust should not be snagged by these references.3
Attraction to anything surprising is a basic instinct in most living creatures, or, at least, most mammals. By driving us to explore, the instinct helps us surviveâwith some exceptions, such as Darwin Prize winners or the heroes of Jackass. The same instinct that drove Einstein to his great discoveries also drives a curious child to see whatâs inside a mechanical clock. It even drives puppies and cubs to explore. In some people this instinct is so strong it can survive the educational system.
1.3 Sources
This book grew out of a collection of puzzles I started long ago on my fatherâs advice, after I showed him one that occurred to me after a high school class on the capillary effect (page 128). Although I invented some of this bookâs puzzles,4 it is most likely that others thought of them or of something equivalent before I was born. When I know the author or the origin of a puzzle, I make a reference.
Literature. Fortunately, much of the essence of basic physics can be understood, and enjoyed, without (m)any formulas, as some excellent popular books demonstrate. Among these are Walkerâs The Flying Circus of Physics, Epsteinâs Thinking Physics, Jargodzki and Potterâs Mad about Physics, and Perelmanâs classic Physics for Entertainment. Unfortunately, Makovetskyâs delightful book Smotri v korenâ (a loose translation: âSeek the essenceâ), which sold over a million copies in the former Soviet Union, does not seem to have been translated into English. Minnaertâs The Nature of Light and Color in the Open Air, dedicated to optical phenomena in nature, will never age and will give pleasure to any curious individual lucky enough to open it.
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OUTER SPACE PARADOXES
2.1 A Helium Balloon in a Space Shuttle
Problem. Two astronauts, Al and Bob, are strapped to the opposite ends in a space capsule, as in Figure 2.1. Al is holding a large helium-filled balloon, and everything is at rest. Now Al pushes the balloon, which begins to drift toward Bob. Which way will the capsule drift, as seen by an observer hovering in space outside the capsule? Since the astronauts are strapped to the walls, letâs consider them part of the capsule.
Figure 2.1. Which way does the capsule move after Al pushes the balloon?
Figure 2.2. Motion as viewed from the capsuleâs (and Alâs) reference frame.
A reasonable guess. When Al pushes right, the balloon pushes him back, according to Newtonâs âaction equals reactionâ third law. And since the balloon pushes Al left, he, and the shuttle, will drift left. Is this correct?
Answer. Actually, no: the capsule will drift right as well!
An explanation via center of mass. The center of mass of the entire system (the capsule and the contents) is fixed, because there are no external forces (all the concepts in this sentence are explained in the appendix, (pages 169â73). Now the motion inside the capsule, from Alâs point of view, is sketched in Figure 2.2. The balloon has a lot less mass than the air it displaces, and so, from Alâs point of view, the center of mass moves left. But the center of mass of the whole system is fixed in space, since there are no external forces. Therefore, Al himself, and the capsule, move right from the external observerâs point of view.
Our mistake has been in paying too much attention to the balloon and not enough attention to the more massive air that moves left to replace the moving balloon.
An equivalent explanation via linear momentum. As explained in the appendix (pages 169â73), the fact that the center of mass stays put is equivalent to saying that the linear momentum remains zero. Now from Alâs viewpoint, the displaced air moves left. This signals that Al himself (and the shuttle) are moving right, to cancel the leftward motion of the air and to keep the linear momentum at zero.
Figure 2.3. Water stays in place; the nearly massless shell moves right.
The intuitive feel of all this becomes particularly clear by taking the mass ratio to the extreme, as in Figure 2.3, where helium/air is replaced by helium/water. S...