Entertaining physics. Why does a bird sitting on a high voltage wire not die from electric shock? Chapter I

(December 4, 1882, Bialystok - March 16, 1942, Leningrad) - Russian scientist, popularizer of physics, mathematics and astronomy, one of the founders of the genre of popular science literature.

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 in elementary grades. The brother of Yakov Perelman, Osip Isidorovich, was a playwright writing in Russian and Yiddish (pseudonym Osip Dymov).

The father died in 1883 and the mother had to raise the children alone. She did everything to ensure that the children received a decent education. In 1890, Yakov went to study in the first grade of an elementary school, and on August 18, 1895, he entered the Bialystok real school.

In August 1901 he was enrolled in the Forestry Institute in St. Petersburg. Almost from the first year, he began to collaborate with the journal Nature and People, the first essay he wrote, The Century of Asteroids, was published in No. 4 of the journal in 1901. In 1903, his mother died. In 1904, Perelman, while continuing his studies at the Forestry Institute, became the executive secretary of the journal Nature and People.

In 1908, Perelman defended his thesis on the topic “Starorussky State Sawmill. His equipment and work "and on January 22, 1909 - received a diploma of graduation from the Forest Institute with the title of" forestry scientist of the 1st category. But he did not have a chance to work in the profession he had chosen at the institute; after graduating from the institute, Perelman began to collaborate in the magazine constantly, and not only wrote essays himself, but also printed the works of others.

July 1913 - the first part of the book "Entertaining Physics" was published. The book was a resounding success with readers. It aroused interest among physicists as well. Professor of Physics at St. Petersburg University Orest Danilovich Khvolson, having met Perelman and learning that the book was written not by a physicist, but by a forestry scientist, said to Yakov Isidorovich: We have plenty of forestry scientists, but people who could write like this about physics, as you write, not at all. My most urgent advice to you is: keep on, be sure to keep writing such books in the future.

August 29, 1913 - the beginning of the correspondence with K. E. Tsiolkovsky, which continued until the death of Tsiolkovsky.

November 20, 1913 - made a presentation in the Russian Society of Lovers of the World Science "On the possibility of interplanetary communications", which was based on the ideas of K. E. Tsiolkovsky. In 1914, he wrote and published an additional chapter "Breakfast in a Weightless Kitchen" to Jules Verne's novel "From a Cannon to the Moon", which he gave the term "science fiction" (Jules Verne called his novels scientific, and HG Wells fantastic), thus becoming the author of a new concept.

In 1915, while on vacation in the summer, Perelman met a young doctor, Anna Davidovna Kaminskaya. They soon got married.

1916-1917 - served in the Petrograd "Special Meeting on Fuel", where he proposed to move the clock forward an hour in order to save fuel (this was done in the 20s).

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

1918-1923 - worked as an inspector of the department of the Unified Labor School of the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR. He compiled new curricula in physics, mathematics and astronomy, and at the same time taught these subjects in various educational institutions.

1919-1929 - edited the first Soviet popular science magazine "In the Workshop of Nature", created on his own initiative.

1924 - participated in the work of the Moscow "Section of interplanetary communications" of the Osoaviakhim of the USSR, among whose members were F. E. Dzerzhinsky, K. E. Tsiolkovsky, V. P. Vetchinkin, F. A. Zander. N. A. Rynin and others.

1924-1929 - worked in the science department of the Leningrad "Red Newspaper"; member of the editorial board of the journals "Science and Technology", "Pedagogical Thought".
1925-1932 - member of the board of the cooperative publishing house "Vremya"; organized the mass production of books in an entertaining series.

November 13, 1931 - the end of 1933 - was in charge of the propaganda department at LenGIRD, a member of the presidium of LenGIRD, developed the project of the first Soviet anti-hail rocket.

1932 - awarded a diploma of the Leningrad Regional Council of the Osoaviakhim of the USSR "for particularly active participation in the development of scientific and technical tasks in the field of air technology aimed at strengthening the defense capability of the USSR."

1932-1936 - corresponded with S.P. Korolev on the promotion of space knowledge; worked in the Leningrad department of the publishing house of the Central Committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League "Young Guard" as an author, consultant and scientific editor.

August 1, 1934 - as part of a group of Leningrad writers and popularizers, he met with Herbert Wells, who was visiting the USSR.

Summer 1935 - a trip to Brussels for the International Congress of Mathematicians.

1939 - wrote a detailed article "What is entertaining science."

July 1, 1941 - February 1942 - gave lectures to reconnaissance soldiers of the Leningrad Front and the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, as well as partisans on orienteering without instruments.

On January 18, 1942, Anna Davidovna Kaminskaya-Perelman died of exhaustion while on duty in the hospital.

March 16, 1942 - Yakov Perelman died of general exhaustion caused by hunger in besieged Leningrad by German troops.

Bibliography

Perelman's bibliography includes more than 1000 articles and notes published by him in various publications. And this is in addition to 47 popular science, 40 educational books, 18 school textbooks and teaching aids.

According to the All-Union Book Chamber, from 1918 to 1973 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 the calculations of the Moscow bibliophile Yu. P. Iroshnikov, the books of Ya. I. Perelman were published 126 times in 18 foreign countries in the following 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;
in oriental languages - 7;
other languages - 6 times.

Books

ABC of the metric system. L., Scientific publishing house, 1925
Quick account. L., 1941
To the world distances (about interplanetary flights). M., Publishing House of Osoaviakhim of the USSR, 1930
Fun tasks. Pg., Publishing House of 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., Rainbow, 1925.
Geometry and the beginnings of trigonometry. A short textbook and a collection of tasks for self-education. L., Sevzappromburo of the Supreme Economic Council, 1926.
distant worlds. Astronomical essays. Pg., Publishing House of P. P. Soikin, 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.
Live geometry. Theory and tasks. Kharkov - Kyiv, Unizdat, 1930.
Living Mathematics. Mathematical stories and puzzles. M.-L., PTI, 1934
Riddles in curiosities in the world of numbers. Pg., Science and school, 1923.
Entertaining Algebra. L., Time, 1933.
Entertaining arithmetic. Riddles and curiosities in the world of numbers. L., Time, 1926.
Entertaining astronomy. L., Time, 1929.
Entertaining geometry. L., Time, 1925.
Entertaining geometry outdoors and at home. L., Time, 1925.
Entertaining mathematics. L., Time, 1927.
Entertaining mathematics in stories. L., Time, 1929.
Entertaining mechanics. L., Time, 1930.
Entertaining physics. Book. 1. St. Petersburg, Publishing House of P. P. Soikin, 1913.
Entertaining physics. Book. 2. Pg., Publishing House of P. P. Soikin, 1916 (until 1981 - 21 editions).
Entertaining tasks. L., Time, 1928.
Entertaining tasks and experiences. M., Detgiz, 1959.
Do you know physics? (Physical quiz for youth). M. - L., GIZ, 1934.
To the stars on a rocket. Kharkiv, Ukr. worker, 1934.
How to solve problems in physics. M. - L., ONTI, 1931.
Mathematics in the open air. L., Polytechnic School, 1931.
Mathematics at every turn. A book for extracurricular reading of FZS schools. M. - L., Uchpedgiz, 1931.
Between this and then. Experiences and entertainment for older children. M. - L., Rainbow, 1925.
Interplanetary travel. Flights to world space and reaching celestial bodies. Pg., Publishing House of P. P. Soikin, 1915 (10).
Metric system. Everyday handbook. Pg., Scientific publishing house, 1923.
Science at your leisure. L., Young Guard, 1935.
Scientific tasks and entertainment (puzzles, experiments, classes). M. - L., Young Guard, 1927.
Don't believe your eyes! L., Surf, 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 a short course in geometry. M. - L., GIZ, 1922.
New Geometry Problem Book. Pg., GIZ, 1923.
Optical illusions. Pg., Scientific publishing house, 1924.
Flight to the moon. Modern projects of interplanetary flights. L., Sower, 1925.
Promotion of the metric system. Methodological guide for lecturers and teachers. L., Scientific publishing house, 1925.
Traveling on the planet (Physics of Planets). Pg., Publishing House of A. F. Marx, 1919.
Fun with matches. L., Surf, 1926.
Rocket to the moon. M. - L., GIZ, 1930.
Technical Physics. A manual for self-study and a collection of practical exercises. L., Sevzappromburo of the Supreme Economic Council, 1927.
Puzzle figures of 7 pieces. M. - L., Rainbow, 1927.
Physics at every turn. M., Young Guard, 1933.
Physical reader. A manual on physics and a book to read.
- Issue. I. Mechanics. Pg., Sower, 1922;
- issue II. Warmth, Pg., Sower, 1923;
- issue III. Sound. L., GIZ, 1925;
- issue IV. Light. L., GIZ, 1925.
Focuses and entertainment. The miracle of our age. Giant numbers. Between this and then. L., Rainbow, 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 anniversary of the birth. M. - L., GTTI, 1932.
Tsiolkovsky K. E. His life and technical ideas. M. - L., ONTI, 1935.
Giant numbers. M. - L., Rainbow, 1925.
The miracle of our age. M. - L., Rainbow, 1925.
Young surveyor. L., Surf, 1926.
Box of riddles and tricks. M. - L., GPZ, 1929.

There are so many interesting things in the world around us! And it is very curious to learn new and surprising things. Yakov Perelman's book "Entertaining Physics" can introduce such phenomena. This is not a textbook for study, but a book that arouses interest in children, encourages them to learn new things, discover the unusual and curious. Here are collected a variety of questions, tasks and experiments that motivate you to study physics more deeply. The author gives many different logical tasks, talks about the paradoxes of our world.

With the help of this book, habitual phenomena can be seen from a completely different perspective, to understand why things happen the way they do. For example, it tells what the center of the human body is and where it is located, how auditory deception occurs, why a kite flies and what walking really is. The book has a lot of interesting things, some cases are taken from famous works of world science fiction, various kinds of prejudices are sorted out, and scientific laws are explained using simple examples from everyday life.

This book is suitable for elementary school students and older children. It will be useful for those who want to learn something interesting on their own. Parents can read this book and tell their children interesting things, give knowledge that will be useful and will stimulate the child's thirst for knowledge.

The work belongs to the genre Science. It was published in 2017 by AST. The book is part of the "The fascinating science of Yakov Perelman" series. On our site you can download the book "Entertaining Physics" in fb2, rtf, epub, pdf, txt format or read online. The rating of the book is 4.54 out of 5. Here, before reading, you can also refer to the reviews of readers who are already familiar with the book and find out their opinion. In the online store of our partner you can buy and read the book in paper form.

In this book, the author seeks not so much to inform the reader of new knowledge, but to help him “learn what he knows”, i.e., to deepen and revive the basic information from physics that he already has, to teach him to consciously dispose of them and to encourage their versatile application. . This is achieved by considering a motley series of puzzles, intricate questions, entertaining stories, amusing problems, paradoxes and unexpected comparisons from the field of physics, related to the circle of everyday phenomena or drawn from well-known works of science fiction fiction. The compiler used the material of the latter kind especially widely, considering it to be the most appropriate for the purposes of the collection: excerpts from the novels and stories of Jules Verne, Wells, Mark Twain, and others are given. The fantastic experiences described in them, in addition to their temptation, can also play an important role in teaching as live illustrations.

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

Contrary to the custom established for such collections, in "Entertaining Physics" very little space is given to the description of amusing and spectacular physical experiments. This book has a different purpose than collections that offer material for experimentation. The main goal of "Entertaining Physics" is to excite the activity of the scientific imagination, to teach the reader to think in the spirit of physical science and to 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 setting that the compiler tried to adhere to when revising the book was given by V.I. Lenin in the following words: examples of the main conclusions from these data, prompting the thinking reader to further and further questions. The popular writer does not presuppose an unthinking, unwilling or unable to think reader; on the contrary, he presupposes in an undeveloped reader a serious intention to work with his head and helps him to do this serious and difficult work, leads him, helping him to take the first steps and teaching him to go further on his own. ".

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

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

"Entertaining Physics" was lucky enough to penetrate - as readers' letters testify - into the most remote corners of the Union.

The significant distribution of the book, which testifies to the keen interest of wide circles in physical knowledge, imposes on the author a serious responsibility for the quality of its material. The consciousness of this responsibility explains the numerous changes and additions in the text of "Entertaining Physics" in the reprints. 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 reworking the text so as not to force them "because of a dozen new pages to purchase each reprint." Such considerations can hardly relieve the author of the obligation to improve his work in every possible way. "Entertaining Physics" is not a work of art, but a scientific essay, 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 the latest advances in radio engineering, the splitting of the atomic nucleus, modern physical theories, etc. Reproaches of this kind are the fruit of a misunderstanding. "Entertaining Physics" has a well-defined target setting; consideration of these questions is the task of other works.

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

Ya. I. Perelman

Entertaining physics

EDITORIAL

The proposed edition of "Entertaining Physics" Ya.I. Perelman repeats the previous four. The author worked on the book for many years, improving the text and supplementing it, and for the 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 chose the main content of "Entertaining Physics" in such a way that, illustrating and deepening the basic information from physics, it has not become outdated so far. In addition, the time after 1936. so much has already passed that the desire to reflect the latest achievements of physics would lead both to a significant increase in the book and to a change in its “face”. For example, the author's text on the principles of space flight is not outdated, and there is already so much factual material in this area that one can only refer the reader to other books specially devoted to this topic.

The fourteenth and fifteenth editions (1947 and 1949) were edited by prof. A. B. Mlodzeevsky. Assoc. prof. V.A.Ugarov. When editing all publications that came out without an author, only obsolete figures were replaced, projects that did not justify themselves were withdrawn, and separate additions and notes were made.

Contrary to the custom established for such collections, in "Entertaining Physics" very little space is given to the description of amusing and spectacular physical experiments. This book has a different purpose than collections that offer material for experimentation. The main goal of Entertaining Physics is to excite the activity of the scientific imagination, to accustom the reader to think in the spirit of physical science and to 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 setting that the compiler tried to adhere to when revising the book was given by V.I. Lenin in the following words: examples of the main findings from these data, prompting the thinking reader to further and further questions. The popular writer does not presuppose an unthinking, unwilling, or unable to think reader; on the contrary, he presupposes in the undeveloped reader a serious intention to work with his head and helps him to do this serious and difficult work, guides him, helping him to take his first steps and teaching to go on independently” [V. I. Lenin. Sobr. cit., ed. 4, vol. 5, p. 285.].

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

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

"Entertaining Physics" was lucky enough to penetrate - as readers' letters testify - into the most remote corners of the Union.

The significant distribution of the book, which testifies to the keen interest of wide circles in physical knowledge, imposes on the author a serious responsibility for the quality of its material. The consciousness of this responsibility explains the numerous changes and additions in the text of "Entertaining Physics" in the reprints. The book, one might say, was written during all 25 years of its existence. In the latest edition, only half of the text of the first has been preserved, and almost none of the illustrations.

The text and figures have been restored according to the book “Entertaining Physics” by Ya. I. Perelman, published by P. P. Soikin (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" - 85!

I confess: with excitement I recently leafed through the first edition of the book - the ancestor of a new literary genre. "Entertaining physics" - so called his "first-born", born in St. Petersburg 85 years ago, its author, then little-known Yakov Isidorovich Perelman.

Why do bibliographers, critics, and popularizers unequivocally link the beginning of scientific interest with the appearance of this book? Wasn't there anything like it before? And why was Russia destined to become the birthplace of a new genre?

Of course, popular science books on various sciences were published before. If we confine ourselves 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 amusing, 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) of entertaining problems, intricate questions, amazing paradoxes. But the main thing is that all of the above is certainly accompanied in it by fascinating discussions, or unexpected comments, or spectacular experiments that serve the purposes of intellectual entertainment and familiarizing the reader with a serious study of science.

For several years the author worked on the contents of "Entertaining Physics", after which the publisher P. Soikin kept the manuscript in the editorial "portfolio" for two and a half years, not daring to publish a book with that title. Still: such a fundamental science and suddenly ... entertaining physics!

But the genie was nevertheless released from the jug and began its victorious march, first in Russia (in 1913-1914), and then in other countries. During the life of the author, the book went through 13 editions, and each subsequent edition differed from the previous one: additions were made, shortcomings were eliminated, and the text was re-edited.

How was the book received by contemporaries? Here are some reviews of her from the leading magazines of the time.

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

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

“The book is supplied with many drawings 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 benefit from a lot of instructive things from this wonderful book” (Professor A. Pogodin, “Morning”).

“Mr. Perelman is not limited only to describing various experiments that can be performed at home ... The author of Entertaining Physics analyzes many issues that are not amenable to experiment at home, but are nevertheless interesting both in essence and in the form that he knows how to give to his storytelling" ("Amateur Physicist").

“The internal content, the abundance of illustrations, the beautiful appearance of the book and the very low price - all this is the key to its wide distribution ...” (N. Kamenshchikov, “Bulletin of Experimental Physics”).

And indeed, "Entertaining Physics" has received not just wide, but the widest distribution. So, in our country in Russian it was published about thirty times and in mass editions. This amazing book has been translated into 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, Y. Perelman prepares and publishes in 1916 the second (not a continuation of the first, but the second) book on entertaining physics. Further more. His entertaining geometry, arithmetic, mathematics, astronomy, mechanics, algebra are published one after another - forty (!) scientifically entertaining books in all.

"Entertaining Physics" has 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 in the Russian card index of entertaining books there are more than 150 branches of science. No country has such wealth, and the place of honor among these publications belongs, without a doubt, to Entertaining Physics.

Yuri Morozov

Source of information - the website of the journal "Knowledge is Power" www.znanie-sila.ru

Foreword

This book is a stand-alone 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 meant to be read, not studied. Its goal is not so much to inform the reader of new knowledge, but rather to help him “learn what he knows”, i.e., to deepen and revive the basic information he already has in physics, teach him to consciously manage them and encourage him to use them in many ways. This is achieved, as in the first collection, by considering a motley series of puzzles, intricate questions, entertaining problems, amusing paradoxes, unexpected comparisons from the field of physics, related to the circle of everyday phenomena or drawn from popular works of general and science fiction fiction. The compiler used the material of the latter type especially widely, considering it to be the most appropriate for the purposes of the collection: excerpts from the well-known novels of Jules Verne, Wells, Kurd Lasswitz, and others are involved. Fantastic experiments, in addition to their temptation, can play an important role in teaching as living illustrations; they found a place for themselves even in school textbooks. “Their goal,” writes our famous teacher V. L. Rozenberg, “is to free the mind from the shackles of habit and to clarify one of the aspects of the phenomenon, the understanding of which is obscured by ordinary conditions that invade the mind of the student regardless of his will, due to habit.”

The compiler tried, as far as he could, to give the presentation an outwardly interesting form, to impart attractiveness to the subject, without sometimes stopping before drawing interest from outside. He was guided by the psychological axiom that interest to the subject increases attention, attention facilitates understanding and therefore contributes to a more conscious assimilation.