Have you ever wondered whether a human could really fly with wings like a bird’s? What about how many zombies you could actually drive through? Or whether airplanes could save fuel by using iPads instead of paper safety manuals? How about whether Superman could really punch someone into space?

In Geek Physics, Rhett Allain, a physics professor and Wired’s popular Dot Physics blogger, finds intriguing questions buried in familiar movies and TV shows, video games, viral videos, and news hooks and walks readers through the fascinating answers from a physics perspective, without all the complicated details. Geek Physics appeals not just to the geek oriented but also to anyone who loves pop culture and technology.

With illustrations, basic equations, and easy-to-read graphs and diagrams, each chapter not only covers the most popular subjects from Allain’s blog, like lightsabers and McDonald’s drive-thrus, but uses those questions from a less technical approach to teach basic physics concepts. What better way to explain the nature of light than to consider how Gollum could see in the dark?

Geek Physics explores interesting questions like:

* How much bubble wrap would you need to safely jump off a 6th floor building?* Why does R2-D2 fly the way he does?* Why does a mirror reverse left to light, but not top to bottom?* Is Angry Birds using real physics? * Does a heavier truck make a better snow plow? * What if everyone on earth jumped at the same time? * How many dollar bills would it take to stack them to the moon?

Numerical calculations (what many call computational physics) is a core tool in modern physics.  With numerical methods it’s possible to solve problems that would otherwise be impossible.  Most physics students and educators have at least some exposure to the wave equation.  It shows up in many different contexts—light, quantum mechanics, and even a simple wave on a string.  However, it can be difficult to come up with non-trivial solutions to the wave equation.  This text goes through the techniques to create a numerical model of the wave equation starting from the very basics and using free and open source tools such as Python and Web VPython.

Have you ever wondered whether a human could really fly with wings like a bird’s? What about how many zombies you could actually drive through? Or whether airplanes could save fuel by using iPads instead of paper safety manuals? How about whether Superman could really punch someone into space?

In Geek Physics, Rhett Allain, a physics professor and Wired’s popular Dot Physics blogger, finds intriguing questions buried in familiar movies and TV shows, video games, viral videos, and news hooks and walks readers through the fascinating answers from a physics perspective, without all the complicated details. Geek Physics appeals not just to the geek oriented but also to anyone who loves pop culture and technology.

With illustrations, basic equations, and easy-to-read graphs and diagrams, each chapter not only covers the most popular subjects from Allain’s blog, like lightsabers and McDonald’s drive-thrus, but uses those questions from a less technical approach to teach basic physics concepts. What better way to explain the nature of light than to consider how Gollum could see in the dark?

Geek Physics explores interesting questions like:

* How much bubble wrap would you need to safely jump off a 6th floor building?* Why does R2-D2 fly the way he does?* Why does a mirror reverse left to light, but not top to bottom?* Is Angry Birds using real physics? * Does a heavier truck make a better snow plow? * What if everyone on earth jumped at the same time? * How many dollar bills would it take to stack them to the moon?

Numerical calculations (what many call computational physics) is a core tool in modern physics.  With numerical methods it’s possible to solve problems that would otherwise be impossible.  Most physics students and educators have at least some exposure to the wave equation.  It shows up in many different contexts—light, quantum mechanics, and even a simple wave on a string.  However, it can be difficult to come up with non-trivial solutions to the wave equation.  This text goes through the techniques to create a numerical model of the wave equation starting from the very basics and using free and open source tools such as Python and Web VPython.