Schiller C. Motion Mountain. The Adventure of Physics. Volume V. Motion Inside Matter - Pleasure, Technology and Stars

28th edition. — Christoph Schiller, 2015. — 440 p.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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
The standard model of particle physics — as seen on television
Summary and open questions
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
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
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?
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
Composite particle properties
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