Interesting mechanics.

Ya. I. Perelman

Entertaining physics

FROM THE EDITOR

Proposed edition “ Entertaining physics" ME AND. Perelman repeats the four previous ones. The author worked on the book for many years, improving the text and supplementing it, and in last time During the author's lifetime, the book was published in 1936 (thirteenth edition). When releasing subsequent editions, the editors did not set as their goal a radical revision of the text or significant additions: the author selected the main content of “Entertaining Physics” in such a way that, while illustrating and deepening the basic information from physics, it is not outdated to this day. In addition, the time after 1936 so much has passed that the desire to reflect latest achievements physics would lead to a significant increase in the book and to a change in its “face”. For example, the author’s text about the principles space flights is not outdated, and there is already so much factual material in this area that one can only refer the reader to other books specifically devoted to this topic.

The fourteenth and fifteenth editions (1947 and 1949) were published under the editorship of prof. A. B. Mlodzeevsky. Associate Professor took part in the preparation of the sixteenth edition (1959 - 1960). V.A. Ugarov. When editing all publications published without an author, outdated figures were only replaced, projects that did not justify themselves were removed, and individual additions and notes were made.

In this book, the author strives not so much to impart new knowledge to the reader, but to help him “find out what he knows,” that is, to deepen and revive the basic information from physics that he already has, teach him how to consciously manage it and encourage him to use it in many ways. . This is achieved by considering a motley series of puzzles, intricate questions, entertaining stories, funny problems, paradoxes and unexpected comparisons from the field of physics related to the circle everyday occurrences or drawn from well-known works of science fiction fiction. Material last kind the compiler used it especially widely, considering it the most appropriate for the purposes of the collection: excerpts from novels and stories by Jules Verne, Wells, Mark Twain and others are given. The fantastic experiences described in them, in addition to their temptingness, can also play an important role in teaching as living illustrations.

The compiler tried, as far as he could, to give the presentation an outward appearance interesting shape, communicate attractiveness to an object. He was guided by the psychological axiom that interest in a subject increases attention, facilitates understanding and, consequently, contributes to more conscious and lasting assimilation.

Contrary to the custom established for this kind of collections, in “Entertaining Physics” very little space is devoted to the description of funny and spectacular physical experiments. This book has a different purpose than collections that offer material for experimentation. the main objective“Entertaining Physics” - to excite the activity of the scientific imagination, to accustom the reader to think in the spirit of physical science and create in his memory numerous associations of physical knowledge with the most diverse phenomena of life, with everything with which he usually comes into contact. The guidelines that the compiler tried to adhere to when revising the book were given by V.I. Lenin in the following words: “A popular writer leads the reader to a deep thought, to a deep teaching, based on the simplest and generally known data, indicating with the help of simple reasoning or well-chosen examples the main conclusions from these data, prompting the thinking reader to further and further questions. A popular writer does not assume a reader who does not think, does not want, or cannot think; on the contrary, he assumes in an undeveloped reader serious intention work with your head and helps him to do this serious and hard work, guides him, helping him take his first steps and teaching move on on your own” [V. I. Lenin. Collection cit., ed. 4, vol. 5, p. 285.].

In view of the interest shown by readers in the history of this book, we provide some bibliographic information about it.

“Entertaining Physics” was “born” a quarter of a century ago and was the first-born in the large book family of its author, which now numbers several dozen members.

“Entertaining physics” was lucky enough to penetrate - as letters from readers testify - into the most remote corners of the Union.

The significant distribution of the book, testifying to the keen interest of wide circles in physical knowledge, imposes on the author serious responsibility for the quality of its material. The awareness of this responsibility explains the numerous changes and additions to the text of “Entertaining Physics” during repeated editions. The book, one might say, was written during all 25 years of its existence. In the latest edition, barely half of the text of the first has been preserved, and almost none of the illustrations.

The author received requests from other readers to refrain from revising the text, so as not to force them “to purchase each re-edition because of a dozen new pages.” Such considerations can hardly relieve the author from the obligation to improve his work in every possible way. “Entertaining physics” is not piece of art, and the essay is scientific, although popular. Its subject - physics - even in its initial foundations is constantly enriched with fresh material, and the book must periodically include it in its text.

On the other hand, one often hears reproaches that “Entertaining Physics” does not devote space to such topics as latest achievements radio engineering, splitting atomic nucleus, modern physical theories etc. Reproaches of this kind are the fruit of a misunderstanding. “Entertaining physics” has a very specific target setting; consideration of these issues is the task of other works.

“Entertaining Physics,” in addition to her second book, contains several other works by the same author. One is intended for a relatively unprepared reader who has not yet begun the systematic study of physics, and is entitled “Physics at Every Step” (published by “Detizdat”). The other two, on the contrary, refer to those who have already completed their high school physics course. This - " Entertaining mechanics” and “Do you know physics?” The last book is, as it were, the completion of “Entertaining Physics”.

1936 Ya. Perelman

Chapter first. SPEED. ADDITION OF MOVEMENTS.

How fast are we moving?

A good runner runs a sports distance of 1.5 km in about 3 minutes. 50 sec. (world record 1958 - 3 minutes 36.8 seconds). To compare with the usual pedestrian speed - 1.5 m per second - you need to do a small calculation; then it turns out that the athlete runs 7 m per second. However, these speeds are not entirely comparable: a pedestrian can walk for a long time, for hours, doing 5 km per hour, while an athlete is only able to maintain a significant running speed a short time. Infantry military unit runs three times slower than the record holder; she does 2 meters per second, or more than 7 kilometers per hour, but has the advantage over the athlete that she can make much greater transitions.

It is interesting to compare the normal gait of a person with the speed of such proverbial slow animals as a snail or a turtle. The snail fully lives up to the reputation attributed to it by the proverb: it travels 1.5 mm per second, or 5.4 m per hour - exactly a thousand times less than a person! Another classically slow animal, the turtle, is not much faster than the snail: its usual speed is 70 m per hour.

Agile next to a snail and a turtle, a person will appear before us in a different light if we compare his movement with others, even not very fast movements V surrounding nature. True, it easily overtakes the flow of water in most lowland rivers and does not lag far behind the moderate wind. But a person can successfully compete with a fly flying 5 m per second only on skis. A person cannot drive a hare or a hunting dog even on a horse. A person can compete in speed with an eagle only on an airplane.

Made and sent by Anatoly Kaidalov.
_____________________

Editor's Preface 6
From the author's preface 9
Chapter first. Basic laws of mechanics 11
Two Egg Problem 11
Journey on a wooden horse 13
Common Sense and Mechanics 14
Duel on a ship 15
Wind tunnel 17
On full speed ahead trains 18
How to understand the law of inertia 19
Action and reaction 22
Two Horse Problem 24
Two Boat Problem 25
The Riddle of the Pedestrian and the Locomotive 25
Strange pencil 28
What does it mean to “overcome inertia” 29
Railway car 30
Chapter two. Strength and Movement 31
Mechanical Reference Table 31
Firearm recoil 33
Everyday experience and scientific knowledge 35
Gun on the Moon 37
Shot at the bottom of the ocean 38
Move Earth 40
The false path of invention 43
Where is the center of gravity of a flying rocket? 45
Chapter three. Gravity 47
Evidence of plumb line and pendulum 47
Pendulum in water 52
On inclined plane 52
When a "horizontal" line is not horizontal 54
Magnetic mountain 58
Rivers flowing uphill 59
Iron rod problem 60
Chapter Four. Falling and throwing 62
Seven-league boots 62
Projectile Man 66
Ball throwing record 70
Over the fragile bridge 71
Three ways 74
Four Stones Problem 76
Two Stones Problem 76
Ball game 77
Chapter five. Roundabout Circulation 78
Centripetal force 78
First escape speed 81
Stationary artificial Earth satellite 83
An easy way to gain weight 85
Unsafe ride 88
At the railway rounding 89
The road is not long enough for pedestrians 91
Slanted Earth 92
Why do rivers meander 93
Chapter six. Impact 97
Why is it important to study the phenomenon of impact 97
Impact mechanics 98
Explore vault ball 100
On the croquet court 105
“Speed makes power” 107
Anvil Man 108
Chapter seven. Something About Strength 110
About measuring ocean depths 110
The longest plumbs 112
The strongest material 113
What is stronger than a hair? 114
Why is a bicycle frame made from 115 tubes?
Parable of the Seven Rods 118
Chapter eight. Work, power, energy 120
What many people don't know about unit of work 120
How to produce a kilogram meter of work 121
How to calculate work 122
Space rocket speed 123
Second escape speed 128
Third escape speed 128
Tractor traction 129
Live and mechanical engines 130
One hundred hares and one elephant 132
Machine slaves of humanity 133
Walking weights 137
Aristotle's Problem 137
Packing fragile items 139
Whose energy? 140
Self-winding mechanisms 142
Making fire by friction 144
Energy of a dissolved spring 148
Chapter Nine. Friction and resistance of the medium 151
WITH ice mountain 151
With the engine off 152
Cart wheels 153
What is the energy of steam locomotives and ships used for? 154
Stones carried away by water 155
Raindrop speed 157
Mystery of falling bodies 161
Downstream 164
How a rudder steers a ship 165
When will it rain the most? 167
Chapter ten. Mechanics in living nature 170
Gulliver and the Giants 170
Why is the hippopotamus clumsy 172
The structure of land animals 173
The fate of extinct monsters 174
Who is the best jumper? 175
Who flies better? 177
Harmless Fall 179
Why don't trees grow to the sky 179
From the book of Galileo 181

Even when preparing the fifth edition of the book, which was published after the author’s death, we were forced to make some corrections and changes to the text, as well as to the drawings. The task of such a correction turned out to be not as simple as one might initially think. The point here is not only that knowledge individual person limited that it is difficult to be an expert in all those areas, mainly technology, that are touched upon in this book along with mechanics. It seems to us that we are bumping into in this case and to a fundamental difficulty. To explain the essence of the matter, let us turn to a comparison.
The novels of Jules Verne are well-deserved: reading them not only captivates teenagers, but at the same time brings them extreme benefits. What can be said, however, about his best novel, “Eighty Thousand Kilometers Under Water”? Can a shipbuilder be satisfied with the ultimately superficial and inaccurate description of the “Nautilus” that we find in Jules Verne, can an ichthyologist be satisfied with the description of the underwater animal world in this novel, etc., etc.? Obviously not. Yes, there is no need for this. Novel for young people scientific encyclopedia in many volumes. A talented, but deliberately simplified description of technology and natural phenomena is not only acceptable, but also completely out of place in such a novel.
The same applies to Fun Mechanics. A comprehensive study of some of the phenomena described in it would present great difficulties, therefore Ya. I. Perelman fixes the reader’s attention only on clarifying the role of this or that law of physics. It may be good that Ya. I. Perelman was not, like Jules Verne, a specialist scientist, but now that editing falls into the hands of specialists, their task is primarily to correct direct inaccuracies, if possible keeping the spirit of the book.
We sought to supplement Ya. I. Perelman’s book with some more examples taken from our technology and reality. Let us point out, in particular, the problem of managing belyany with forest on the Volga, added in the fifth edition (see p. 166). This remarkable example of Russian ingenuity was then used in the United States of America, where it found application on the Mississippi River.
Changing the author's material several times, we believed that the main condition for such processing is maintaining the freshness and entertainingness of the presentation, which are distinctive feature valuable books by the talented popularizer Ya. I. Perelman and which attracted the sympathy of a wide variety of readers.
This seventh edition also includes some corrections and additions. On October 4, 1957, an event that shocked the world took place in the Soviet Union: the first artificial satellite Earth. The launch of the second and then the third satellites soon followed. Finally, on January 2, 1959, the first Soviet space rocket, which became a member of our planetary system. In September 1959, for the first time in history, a flight was made to another celestial body: the second Soviet space rocket reached the surface of the Moon, and the next month an automatic interplanetary station was launched onto a trajectory around the Moon.
There is no doubt that our inquisitive youth are interested in the theory of motion space rockets and the problem of interplanetary flights. Therefore, this edition of Ya. I. Perelman’s book is supplemented with material of an astronautical nature. In particular, added elementary output magnitudes first, second and third cosmic speeds. We hope that this comparison
A very simple theory will interest our readers and encourage them to study the mechanics of rocket propulsion in more depth.
When editing the fifth edition, I used the useful comments of Associate Professor V. S. Shchedrov. V. I. Levantovsky and B. V. Nafikov took part in the preparation of additions to the seventh edition. I express my gratitude to all of them.
Prof. I. Ya. Shtaerman

The dissemination of physical knowledge in our country, unfortunately, still does not correspond to the exceptional importance of this science. Especially vague in wide circles are the ideas from that department of physics from which its study begins: from mechanics, the study of motion and forces. And “he who does not know motion does not understand nature” (Aristotle).
Although many pages are devoted to mechanics in both books of Entertaining Physics, I found it useful to devote a separate book to mechanics, written in the same manner.
"Entertaining Mechanics" considers it inappropriate to introduce the reader to latest achievements science until its first foundations have been clarified. She does not, however, present her subject with educational systematicity.
Assuming that the reader has some, at least vaguely assimilated or half-forgotten information, the book seeks to refresh and clarify them by analyzing a series of mechanical tasks, curious in one way or another. The book does not pretend to exhaust all departments of mechanics: many interesting questions are not considered, others are barely touched upon. The goal of “Entertaining Mechanics” is to awaken dormant thoughts and instill a taste for studying mechanics; the inquisitive reader himself will then find and acquire the missing information.
Contrary to the established custom for popular books, “Entertaining Mechanics” contains mathematical calculations. I know the dislike that many people have for such parts of books. And yet I do not avoid calculations, because I believe physical knowledge,
acquired without calculations, shaky and practically fruitless. It is unthinkable to obtain any useful and lasting information from physics and especially from mechanics, bypassing the simplest calculations related to them.
In the “Code of Justinian” (VI century) there is a law “on villains, mathematicians ‘) and the like,” by virtue of which “reprehensible things are certainly prohibited.” mathematical art" Nowadays mathematicians are not equated with villains, but for some reason their “art” is banished from popular books. I am not a supporter of such popularization. This is not why we spend entire years in school studying mathematics in order to throw it overboard when we need it. "Entertaining Mechanics" resorts to calculations wherever it is necessary to introduce precision into a question; It is unnecessary to add that mathematical “atrocities” are committed here within the modest confines of the school course.
When creating the book, we drew material from everywhere. This is not a textbook, but a free book that aims to increase interest in the subject with entertaining comparisons. Giving a number of examples of the application of the laws of mechanics in technology, we also included in our book applications of mechanics to sports, circus performances, and other unexpected areas. When compiling a book that should be entertaining for everyone, you cannot follow a formulaic path.
‘) Citing this curiosity, we must recall that mathematicians in the “Code of Justinian” are called market fortunetellers, lovers of unscrupulous gambling n other “skilled deceivers.” (Editor's note)

Genre: Debut:

essay “Concerning the expected rain of fire”

Yakov Isidorovich Perelman(December 4, Bialystok - March 16, Leningrad) - Russian, Soviet scientist, popularizer of physics, mathematics and astronomy, one of the founders of the genre of popular science literature, and the founder of entertaining science, author of the concept sci-fi.

Biography

Yakov Isidorovich Perelman was born on December 4 (November 22, old style) 1882 in the city of Bialystok, Grodno province of the Russian Empire (now Bialystok is part of Poland). His father worked as an accountant, his mother taught at primary school. Brother Yakov Perelman, Osip Isidorovich, was a prose writer and playwright who wrote in Russian and Yiddish (pseudonym Osip Dymov).

1916 - the second part of the book “Entertaining Physics” was published.

Bibliography

Perelman's bibliography includes more than 1,000 articles and notes published by him in various publications. And this is in addition to 47 popular science books, 40 educational books, 18 school textbooks and teaching aids.

According to the All-Union Book Chamber, from this year his books were published 449 times in our country alone; their total circulation was more than 13 million copies. They were printed:

in Russian 287 times (12.1 million copies);
in 21 languages of the peoples of the USSR - 126 times (935 thousand copies).

According to calculations by Moscow bibliophile Yu. P. Iroshnikov, Ya. I. Perelman’s books were published 126 times in 18 foreign countries in languages:

German - 15 times;
French - 5;
Polish - 7;
English - 18;
Bulgarian - 9;
Czech - 3;
Albanian - 2;
Hindi - 1;
Hungarian - 8;
modern Greek - 1;
Romanian - 6;
Spanish - 19;
Portuguese - 4;
Italian - 1;
Finnish - 4;
on oriental languages - 7;
other languages - 6 times.

Books

ABC metric system. L., Scientific publishing house, 1925
Quick count. L., 1941
Into the world's distances (about interplanetary flights). M., Publishing House of Osoaviakhim of the USSR, 1930.
Fun challenges. Pg., Publishing house A. S. Suvorin, 1914.
Evenings of entertaining science. Questions, tasks, experiments, observations from the field of astronomy, meteorology, physics, mathematics (co-authored with V.I. Pryanishnikov). L., Lenoblono, 1936.
Calculations with approximate numbers. M., APN USSR, 1950.
Newspaper sheet. Electrical experiments. M. - L., Raduga, 1925.
Geometry and rudiments of trigonometry. A short textbook and collection of problems for self-education. L., Sevzappromburo VSNKh, 1926.
Distant worlds. Astronomical essays. Pg., P. P. Soykin Publishing House, 1914.
For young mathematicians. The first hundred puzzles. L., The beginnings of knowledge, 1925.
For young mathematicians. The second hundred puzzles. L., The beginnings of knowledge, 1925.
For young physicists. Experiences and entertainment. Pg., The beginnings of knowledge, 1924.
Living geometry. Theory and tasks. Kharkov - Kyiv, Unizdat, 1930.
Living Mathematics. Mathematical stories and puzzles. M.-L., PTI, 1934
Riddles and wonders in the world of numbers. Pg., Science and school, 1923.
Entertaining algebra. L., Time, 1933.
Entertaining arithmetic. Riddles and wonders in the world of numbers. L., Time, 1926.
Entertaining astronomy. L., Time, 1929.
Interesting geometry. L., Time, 1925.
Entertaining geometry in the open air and at home. L., Time, 1925.
Entertaining mathematics. L., Time, 1927.
Entertaining mathematics in stories. L., Time, 1929.
Interesting mechanics. L., Time, 1930.
Entertaining physics. Book 1 St. Petersburg, P. P. Soykin Publishing House, 1913.
Entertaining physics. Book 2. Pg., P. P. Soykin Publishing House, 1916 (until 1981 - 21 editions).
Entertaining tasks. L., Time, 1928.
Entertaining tasks and experiments. M., Detgiz, 1959.
Do you know physics? (Physics Quiz for Youth). M. - L., GIZ, 1934.
To the stars on a rocket. Kharkov, Ukr. worker, 1934.
How to solve problems in physics. M. - L., ONTI, 1931.
Mathematics in the free air. L., Polytechnic school, 1931.
Mathematics at every step. Book for extracurricular reading FZS schools. M. - L., Uchpedgiz, 1931.
Between this and then. Experiences and entertainment for older children. M. - L., Raduga, 1925.
Interplanetary travel. Flights into outer space and achievements celestial bodies. Pg., P. P. Soykin Publishing House, 1915 (10).
Metric system. Everyday reference book. Pg., Scientific book publishing, 1923.
Science at leisure. L., Young Guard, 1935.
Scientific tasks and entertainment (puzzles, experiments, activities). M. - L., Young Guard, 1927.
Don't believe your eyes! L., Priboy, 1925.
New and old measures. Metric measures in everyday life, their advantages. The simplest methods of translation into Russian. Pg., Ed. magazine "In the Workshop of Nature", 1920.
New problem book for short course geometry. M. - L., GIZ, 1922.
New problem book on geometry. Pg., GIZ, 1923.
Optical illusions. Pg., Scientific book publishing, 1924.
Flight to the moon. Modern projects interplanetary flights. L., Sower, 1925.
Propaganda of the metric system. Methodological guide for lecturers and teachers. L., Scientific book publishing, 1925.
Travels to the planets (physics of planets). Pg., A.F. Marx Publishing House, 1919.
Fun with matches. L., Priboy, 1926.
Rocket to the Moon. M. - L., GIZ, 1930.
Technical Physics. Self Study Guide and Meeting practical exercises. L., Sevzappromburo VSNKh, 1927.
7 piece puzzle figures. M. - L., Raduga, 1927.
Physics at every step. M., Young Guard, 1933.
Physical reader. Physics manual and reading book.
- Vol. I. Mechanics. Pg., Sower, 1922;
- issue II. Warmth, Pg., Sower, 1923;
- issue III. Sound. L., GIZ, 1925;
- issue IV. Light. L., GIZ, 1925.
Tricks and entertainment. The miracle of our century. The numbers are giants. Between this and then. L., Raduga, 1927.
Reader-problem book on elementary mathematics(For labor schools and self-education of adults). L., GIZ, 1924.
Tsiolkovsky. His life, inventions and scientific works. On the occasion of the 75th birthday. M. - L., GTTI, 1932.
Tsiolkovsky K. E. His life and technical ideas. M. - L., ONTI, 1935.
The numbers are giants. M. - L., Raduga, 1925.
The miracle of our century. M. - L., Raduga, 1925.
Young surveyor. L., Priboy, 1926.
Box of riddles and tricks. M. - L., GPZ, 1929.

A crater is named after Perelman back side History of the Siege of Leningrad Personalities Events

Perelman Ya.I. Big Book entertaining sciences: Algebra, geometry, physics, puzzles, problems, experiments.[Fb2- 6.7M ] [Odt- 6.7M ] [Rtf- 7.5M ] Author: Yakov Isidorovich Perelman. Compiled by D.A. Gusev.
(Moscow: AST: Astrel, 2009)
Scan, processing, Fb2 format, Odt, Rtf: ???, proofreading, editing: Raidar, 2013

SUMMARY:
Preface (3).
From the book “Entertaining Physics. Book I" (6).
From the book “Entertaining Physics. Book II" (65).
From the book “Entertaining Geometry” (123).
From the book “Entertaining Algebra” (148).
From book " Entertaining arithmetic. Mysteries and wonders in the world of numbers" (165).
From the book “Living Mathematics. Mathematical stories and puzzles" (192).
From the book “Entertaining tasks and experiments” (218).

Publisher's abstract: ME AND. Perelman (1882-1942) - famous domestic popularizer of science, talented teacher, an outstanding wordsmith who wrote from 1913 to 1940. about a hundred popular science books addressed to the widest audience. Among them are: famous works, such as “Entertaining Physics”, “Entertaining Arithmetic”, “Living Mathematics”, “Entertaining Geometry”, “Entertaining Algebra” and many others. Despite the fact that the first of them appeared at the beginning of the 20th century, they are still relevant and interesting to this day. Most of the books by Ya.I. Perelman has gone through more than 20 (!) publications, many of them translated into foreign languages and are very popular abroad. The total circulation of his works in our country exceeds 15 million copies, and yet many of his books were bibliographic rarities in their time; readers stood in line for them in libraries.
The secret of such attractiveness of Perelman’s works lies in the fact that the author brilliantly managed to show how interesting, fascinating, even exciting the study of natural sciences: physics, algebra, geometry, usually boring, complex and uninteresting in the presentation of school textbooks and most school teachers, instilling in schoolchildren a persistent dislike of these sciences.
ME AND. Perelman is the only author in our country (and perhaps in the world) who has created such successful works of the popular science genre. Today's schoolchildren and students, as a rule, know little about them and are sometimes deprived of the joy of communicating with Perelman's entertaining science.
The proposed anthology is a collection of the most striking and important (from the point of view of the compiler) passages from various books by Ya.I. Perelman. The reader can be recommended to schoolchildren and students as an auxiliary and additional material for courses in physics, algebra, geometry (for school), mathematics, logic, concepts modern natural science and philosophy (for universities). This reader is intended to show schoolchildren and students that studying various sciences can be not only difficult and tiring, but also pleasant and exciting no less than the activities to which they devote their hours of rest and leisure...

The text and drawings are restored from the book by Ya. I. Perelman “Entertaining Physics”, published by P. P. Soykin (St. Petersburg) in 1913.

All rights reserved. No part of the electronic version of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including posting on the Internet and corporate networks, for private and public use without the written permission of the copyright owner.

“Entertaining Physics” is 85!

I confess: I recently leafed through the first edition of the book, the founder of a new literary genre. “Entertaining physics” – this is what its author, then little-known Yakov Isidorovich Perelman, called his “firstborn”, born in St. Petersburg 85 years ago.

Why do bibliographers, critics, and popularizers clearly link the beginning of scientific interest with the appearance of this book? Was there nothing like this before? And why was Russia destined to become the birthplace of the new genre?

Of course, popular science books on various sciences. If we limit ourselves only to physics, we can recall that already in the 19th century, good books by Beuys, Tisandier, Titus and other authors were published abroad and in Russia. However, they were collections of experiments in physics, often quite funny, but, as a rule, without explaining the essence of the physical phenomena illustrated by these experiments.

“Entertaining Physics” is, first of all, a huge selection (from all sections of elementary physics) entertaining tasks, intricate questions, startling paradoxes. But the main thing is that all of the above is certainly accompanied by fascinating discussions, or unexpected comments, or spectacular experiments that serve the purpose of intellectual entertainment and introducing the reader to the serious study of science.

The author worked for several years on the content of “Entertaining Physics”, after which the publisher P. Soykin kept the manuscript in the editorial “portfolio” for two and a half years, not daring to publish a book with that title. Still: like this basic science and suddenly... entertaining physics!

But the gin was still released from the jug and began its victorious march, first across Russia (in 1913–1914), and then throughout other countries. During the author’s lifetime, the book went through 13 editions, and each subsequent edition was different from the previous one: additions were made, shortcomings were eliminated, and the text was re-edited.

How did contemporaries greet the book? Here are some reviews about her from leading magazines of the time.

“Among various attempts to interest physics by selecting the most “interesting” things from it and more or less playful presentation, Mr. Perelman’s book stands out for its thoughtfulness and seriousness. She gives good material for observation and reflection from all departments elementary physics, neatly published and beautifully illustrated” (N. Drenteln, “Pedagogical Collection”).

“A very instructive and entertaining book, in the most ordinary and at first glance simple questions and answers introducing the basic laws of physics...” (“New Time”).

“The book is equipped with many pictures and is so interesting that it is difficult to put it down without reading it to the end. I think that when teaching natural science, a teacher can profitably extract a lot of instructive information from this wonderful book"(Professor A. Pogodin, "Morning").

“Mr. Perelman does not limit himself only to describing various experiments that can be performed using home remedies... The author of “Entertaining Physics” examines many questions that are not amenable to experimentation at home, but are nevertheless interesting both in essence and in the form that he knows how to give to his narration" (“Amateur Physicist”).

“Internal content, abundance of illustrations, wonderful appearance books and a very low price - all this serves as a guarantee of its wide distribution...” (N. Kamenshchikov, “Bulletin of Experimental Physics”).

And indeed, “Entertaining Physics” received not just wide, but widest distribution. So, in our country it was published in Russian about thirty times and in large numbers. This amazing book published in translations into languages: English, Arabic, Bulgarian, Spanish, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, German, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Tamil, Telugu, Finnish, French, Hindi, Czech, Japanese.

Down and Out trouble started! Inspired by the success of readers and critics, Ya. Perelman prepared and published in 1916 a second (not a continuation of the first, but a second) book on entertaining physics. Further more. His entertaining geometry, arithmetic, mathematics, astronomy, mechanics, algebra are published one after another - a total of forty (!) scientific- entertaining books.

“Entertaining Physics” has already been read by several generations of readers. Of course, not everyone who read it became a scientist, but there is hardly a physicist, at least in Russia, who is not familiar with it.

Now the Russian catalog of entertaining books includes more than 150 branches of science. No other country has such wealth, and a place of honor among these publications belongs, without a doubt, to “Entertaining Physics.”

Yuri Morozov

Source of information – website of the magazine “Knowledge is Power” www.znanie-sila.ru

Preface

This book is an independent collection that is not a continuation of the first book of “Entertaining Physics”; it is called “second” only because it was written later than the first. The success of the first collection prompted the author to process the rest of the material he had accumulated, and thus this second - or, rather, another - book was compiled, covering the same departments of school physics.

This book of Entertaining Physics, like the first, is intended to be read, not studied. Its goal is not so much to inform the reader of new knowledge, but to help him “know what he knows,” that is, to deepen and revive the basic information on physics he already has, teach him to consciously manage it and encourage him to use it in many ways. This is achieved, as in the first collection, by considering a motley series of puzzles, intricate questions, entertaining tasks, amusing paradoxes, unexpected comparisons from the field of physics, related to the range of everyday phenomena or drawn from popular works general and science fiction fiction. The compiler used the latter kind of material especially widely, considering it the most appropriate for the purposes of the collection: excerpts from well-known novels by Jules Verne, Wells, Curd Lasswitz and others were used. Fantastic experiences, in addition to their temptingness, can play an important role when teaching as living illustrations; they found a place for themselves even in school textbooks. “Their goal,” writes our famous teacher V.L. Rosenberg, “is to free the mind from the shackles of habit and to clarify one of the sides of a phenomenon, the understanding of which is obscured.” normal conditions, invading the student’s mind regardless of his will, as a result of habit.”

The compiler tried, as far as he could, to give the presentation an outwardly interesting form, to convey the attractiveness of the subject, sometimes not stopping to draw interest from the outside. He was guided by the psychological axiom that interest increases attention to the subject, attention facilitates understanding and therefore contributes to a more conscious assimilation.