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Physics in the Arts

Revised Edition

  • 1st Edition - July 12, 2011
  • Latest edition
  • Authors: Pupa U.P.A. Gilbert, Willy Haeberli
  • Language: English

Physics in the Arts is a concise, 328-page four-color entry in the Complementary Science Series, designed for science enthusiasts and liberal arts students requiring or desiring… Read more

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Description

Physics in the Arts is a concise, 328-page four-color entry in the Complementary Science Series, designed for science enthusiasts and liberal arts students requiring or desiring a well-developed discussion of physical phenomena, particularly with regard to sound and light. This book offers an alternative route to science literacy for those interested in the arts, music and photography. The material covered is at a level appropriate for self-study or as a complementary textbook.

A typical course on sound and light for non-science majors covers the nature of sound and sound perception as well as important concepts and topics including light and light waves, reflection and refraction; lenses; the eye and the ear; photography; color and color vision; and additive color mixing; subtractive color mixing. There are also discussions on color generating mechanisms; periodic oscillations; simple harmonic motion; damped oscillations and resonance; vibration of strings; Fourier analysis; musical scales; and musical instruments. Problems with solutions are presented. For teaching purposes, all figures in the book as well as hints on how to build labs are provided at http://www.elsevierdirect.com/companion.jsp?ISBN=9780123918789.

This book will be helpful to non-science students in courses related to the study of physics with light and sound.

Key features

  • Offers an alternative route to science literacy for those interested in the arts, music and photography
  • Popular science book with wide readership beyond the classroom at an accessible level
  • Material covered at a level appropriate for self-study or as a complementary textbook
  • For teaching purposes, all figures in the book as well as hints on how to build labs (including seven new labs in March 2012!)

Readership

Non-science students in courses related to the study of physics with light and sound.

Table of contents

Introduction
Light

1: Light and Light Waves

2: Reflection and Refraction

3: Lenses

4: The Eye

5: Photography

6: Color and Color Vision

7: Additive Color Mixing

8: Subtractive Color Mixing

9: Color Generating Mechanisms
Sound

10: Periodic Oscillations

11: Simple Harmonic Motion

12: Damped Oscillations and Resonance

13: Adding Sound Sources: Beats and Harmony

14: Waves

15: Sound Perception

16: The Ear

17: Vibration of Strings

18: Pipes

19: Fourier Analysis

20: Musical Scales

21: Musical Instruments
Solutions to Problems

Review quotes

"...the work of a pair of great physicists and top teachers...clear and imaginative. I cannot remember an occasion where a student complained about this text."—Francis Halzen, University of Wisconsin, Madison

"I found the book very-well written...the book is also very popular with students. It covers the material at a depth appropriate for non-science students who are interested in the subject...it will be a very useful addition to the textbook literature for liberal arts colleges." —Baha Balantekin, Eugene P. Wigner Professor of Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Product details

  • Edition: 1
  • Latest edition
  • Published: July 13, 2011
  • Language: English

About the authors

PG

Pupa U.P.A. Gilbert

Pupa Gilbert is a Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Physics at the University of Wisconsin – Madison and an amateur surrealist painter. She is a physicist with passionate loves for biology, geoscience, and modern art. She studied at the Sapienza University of Rome, worked as a staff scientist at the Italian National Research Council and at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne until she joined the University of Wisconsin in 1999. Her research focuses on biominerals, including coral skeletons, tooth enamel, nacre, and sea urchin spines. She studies them with spectromicroscopy methods at the Advanced Light Source in Berkeley, where she discovers the complex structures of the biominerals, and their formation mechanisms. She won several awards for her research and teaching, including the UW-Madison Distinguished Teaching Award in 2011, Radcliffe Fellowship 2014-15, and the David A. Shirley Award in 2018. She lives in Madison and Berkeley with her husband Ben.
Affiliations and expertise
University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

WH

Willy Haeberli

Affiliations and expertise
University of Wisconsin-Madison, U.S.A.