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Wizards, Aliens, and Starships: Physics and Math in Fantasy and Science Fiction
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Wizards, Aliens, and Starships: Physics and Math in Fantasy and Science Fiction
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Overview
From teleportation and space elevators to alien contact and interstellar travel, science fiction and fantasy writers have come up with some brilliant and innovative ideas. Yet how plausible are these ideasfor instance, could Mr. Weasley's flying car in the Harry Potter books really exist? Which concepts might actually happen, and which ones wouldn’t work at all? Wizards, Aliens, and Starships delves into the most extraordinary details in science fiction and fantasysuch as time warps, shape changing, rocket launches, and illumination by floating candleand shows readers the physics and math behind the phenomena.
With simple mathematical models, and in most cases using no more than high school algebra, Charles Adler ranges across a plethora of remarkable imaginings, from the works of Ursula K. Le Guin to Star Trek and Avatar, to explore what might become reality. Adler explains why fantasy in the Harry Potter and Dresden Files novels cannot adhere strictly to scientific laws, and when magic might make scientific sense in the muggle world. He examines space travel and wonders why it isn’t cheaper and more common today. Adler also discusses exoplanets and how the search for alien life has shifted from radio communications to space-based telescopes. He concludes by investigating the future survival of humanity and other intelligent races. Throughout, he cites an abundance of science fiction and fantasy authors, and includes concise descriptions of stories as well as an appendix on Newton's laws of motion.
Wizards, Aliens, and Starships will speak to anyone wanting to know about the correctand incorrectscience of science fiction and fantasy.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780691147154 |
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Publisher: | Princeton University Press |
Publication date: | 02/02/2014 |
Pages: | 392 |
Product dimensions: | 6.40(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.30(d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
1 PLAYING THE GAME 11.1 The Purpose of the Book 11.2 The Assumptions I Make 31.3 Organization 41.4 The Mathematics and Physics You Need 51.5 Energy and Power 6I POTTER PHYSICS 112HARRY POTTER AND THE GREAT CONSERVATION LAWS 132.1 The Taxonomy of Fantasy 132.2 Transfiguration and the Conservation of Mass 142.3 Disapparition and the Conservation of Momentum 162.4 Reparo and the Second Law of Thermodynamics 213WHY HOGWARTS IS SO DARK 273.1 Magic versus Technology 273.2 Illumination 284FANTASTIC BEASTS AND HOW TO DISPROVE THEM 384.1 Hic sunt Dracones 384.2 How to Build a Giant 394.3 Kleiber's Law, Part 1: Mermaids 454.4 Kleiber's Law, Part 2: Owls, Dragons, Hippogriffs, and Other Flying Beasts 49II SPACE TRAVEL 575WHY COMPUTERS GET BETTER AND CARS CAN'T (MUCH) 595.1 The Future of Transportation 595.2 The Reality of Space Travel 615.3 The Energetics of Computation 635.4 The Energetics of the Regular and the Flying Car 645.5 Suborbital Flights 686VACATIONS IN SPACE 716.1 The Future in Science Fiction: Cheap, Easy Space Travel? 716.2 Orbital Mechanics 746.3 Halfway to Anywhere: The Energetics of Spaceflight 746.4 Financing Space Travel 827SPACE COLONIES 867.1 Habitats in Space 867.2 O'Neill Colonies 877.3 Matters of Gravity 897.4 Artificial "Gravity" on a Space Station 937.5 The Lagrange Points 1037.6 Off-Earth Ecology and Energy Issues 1067.7 The Sticker Price 1128THE SPACE ELEVATOR 1158.1 Ascending into Orbit 1158.2 The Physics of Geosynchronous Orbits 1168.3 What Is a Space Elevator, and Why WouldWeWant One? 1188.4 Why Buildings Stand Upor Fall Down 1198.5 Stresses and Strains: Carbon Nanotubes 1228.6 Energy, "Climbers," Lasers, and Propulsion 1238.7 How Likely Is It? 1258.8 The Unapproximated Elevator 1279MANNED INTERPLANETARY TRAVEL 1309.1 It's Not an Ocean Voyage or a Plane Ride 1309.2 Kepler's Three Laws 1319.3 The Hohmann Transfer Orbit 1349.4 Delta v and All That 1369.5 Getting Back 1379.6 Gravitational Slingshots and Chaotic Orbits 1389.7 Costs 14210ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS 14510.1 Getting There Quickly 14510.2 Why Chemical Propulsion Won'tWork 14610.3 The Most Famous Formula in Physics 14710.4 Advanced Propulsion Ideas 14810.5 Old "Bang-Bang": The Orion Drive 15310.6 Prospects for Interplanetary Travel 15511SPECULATIVE PROPULSION SYSTEMS 15711.1 More Speculative Propulsion Systems 15711.2 Mass Ratios for Matter-Antimatter Propulsion Systems 16811.3 Radiation Problems 17312INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL AND RELATIVITY 17612.1 Time Enough for Anything 17612.2 Was Einstein Right? 17812.3 Some Subtleties 18212.4 Constant Acceleration in Relativity 18413FASTER-THAN-LIGHT TRAVEL AND TIME TRAVEL 18813.1 The Realistic Answer 18813.2 The Unrealistic Answer 18813.3 Why FTL Means Time Travel 19013.4 The General Theory 19313.5 Gravitational Time Dilation and Black Holes 19513.6 Wormholes and Exotic Matter 19813.7 The Grandfather Paradox and Other Oddities 205III WORLDS AND ALIENS 21514DESIGNING A HABITABLE PLANET 21714.1 Adler's Mantra 21814.2 Type of Star 22114.3 Planetary Distance from Its Star 22614.4 The Greenhouse Effect 22914.5 Orbital Eccentricity 23214.6 Planetary Size and Atmospheric Retention 23314.7 The Anna Karenina Principle and Habitable Planets 23714.8 Imponderables 23915THE SCIENTIFIC SEARCH FOR SPOCK 24215.1 Exoplanets and Exoplants 24215.2 Doppler Technique 24615.3 Transits and the Kepler Mission 24915.4 The Spectral Signatures of Life 25015.5 Alien Photosynthesis 25116THE MATHEMATICS OF TALKING WITH ALIENS 25516.1 Three Views of Alien Intelligences 25516.2 Motivation for Alien Contact 25916.3 Drake-Equation Models and the Mathematics of Alien Contact 267IV YEAR GOOGOL 27317THE SHORT-TERM SURVIVAL OF HUMANITY 27517.1 This Is the Way the WorldWill End 27517.2 The Short-Term: Man-Made Catastrophes 27518WORLD-BUILDING 29218.1 Terraforming 29218.2 Characteristics of Mars 29418.3 Temperature and the Martian Atmosphere 29518.4 Atmospheric Oxygen 29918.5 Economics 30119DYSON SPHERES AND RINGWORLDS 30319.1 Dyson's Sphere 30319.2 The Dyson Net 30519.3 Niven's Ringworld 31119.4 The Ringworld, GPS, and Ehrenfest's Paradox 31819.5 The Ringworld Is Unstable! 32019.6 Getting There from Hereand Do We Need To? 32420ADVANCED CIVILIZATIONS AND THE KARDASHEV SCALE 32620.1 The Kardashev Scale 32620.2 Our Type 0.7 Civilization 32720.3 Type I Civilizations 32920.4 Moving Upward 33120.5 Type II Civilizations 33220.6 Type III Civilizations 33421A GOOGOL YEARS 33621.1 The Future of the Future 33621.2 The "Short Term": Up to 500 Million Years or so 33621.3 The "Medium Term": Up to about 1013 Years 33821.4 The "Long Term": Up to a Googol Years 34121.5 Black Hole-Powered Civilizations 34421.6 Protons Decayor Do They? 34621.7 A Googol YearsAll the Black Holes Evaporate 34621.8 Our Last Bow 349Acknowledgments 351Appendix: Newton's Three Laws of Motion 353Bibliography 359Index 371
What People are Saying About This
"To only call Wizards, Aliens, and Starships engaging would be a real understatement—it is a delightful, funny, and immensely interesting romp through science and fiction. From candlepower to teleportation, all the way to the fate of the cosmos in the span of a googol years, this is a cornucopia of teachable material. It is also a reminder of the simple thrill of applying science to the world around us, real or imagined. A new classic."—Caleb Scharf, author of Gravity's Engines and The Copernicus Complex"This terrific book analyzes the romantic ideas of science fiction using the hard-nosed reality of the laws of physics. It will interest all readers, from Star Trek enthusiasts to astrophysicists."—Paul Nahin, author of The Logician and the Engineer"Wizards, Aliens, and Starships rigorously applies the principles of physics to concepts, plot devices, and other features of science fiction and fantasy books, films, and television series. Readers who follow Adler's carefully developed analyses will learn a great deal about familiar science fiction tropes, physics, and how scientists think about the world. An exceptional book."—A. Bowdoin Van Riper, author of Science in Popular Culture