User's Guide to the Universe (PDF)

Acknowledgments. Introduction. "So, what do you do?" 1 Special Relativity. "What happens if I'm traveling at the speed of light, and I try to look at myself in a mirror?" Why can't you tell how fast a ship is moving through fog? How fast does a light beam go if you're running beside it? If you head off in a spaceship traveling at nearly the speed of light, what horrors await you when you return? Can you reach the speed of light (and look at yourself in a mirror)? Isn't relativity supposed to be about turning atoms into limitless power? 2 Quantum Weirdness. "Is Schrödinger's Cat Dead or Alive?" Is light made of tiny particles, or a big wave? Can you change reality just by looking at it? If you look at them closely enough, what are electrons, really? Is there some way I can blame quantum mechanics for all those times I lose things? Can I build a transporter, like on Star Trek? If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound? 3 Randomness. "Does God play dice with the universe?" If the physical world is so unpredictable, why doesn't it always seem that way? How does carbon dating work? Does God play dice with the universe? 4 The Standard Model. "Why didn't the Large Hadron Collider destroy Earth?" What do we need a multibillion-dollar accelerator for, anyway? How do we discover subatomic particles? Why are there so many different rules for different particles? Where do the forces really come from? Why can't I lose weight (or mass)--all of it? How could little ol' LHC possibly destroy the great big world? If we discover the Higgs, can physicists just call it a day? 5 Time Travel. "Can I build a time machine?" Can I build a perpetual motion machine? Are black holes real, or are they just made up by bored physicists? What happens if you fall into a black hole? Can you go back in time and buy stock in Microsoft? Who does time travel right? How can I build a practical time machine? What are my prospects for changing the past? 6 The Expanding

Dave Goldberg is an associate professor of physics at Drexel University, where he works on theoretical and observational cosmology. He earned his Ph.D. in astrophysical sciences at Princeton University and is very interested in the interface between science and pop culture. He has contributed to Slate and appeared on WNYC's Studio 360. He lives with his wife and daughter in Philadelphia. Jeff Blomquist earned his master's degree in physics from Drexel University in 2008 and is currently an engineer at Boeing Aerospace. He drew the illustrations in A User's Guide to the Universe all by himself! He lives in Philadelphia and has only recently stopped sleeping on a couch.

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