VJOURNAL SMART BOOK · Volume II · Electricity, magnetism, energy
Physics
Six chapters, each with a living 3D scene: static charge, circuits, magnets, motors, the power grid and heat engines.
Start readingElectricity is invisible, which is why it is so hard to picture. In this volume you can see it. A 3D scene sits beside every chapter: charges that push each other apart, dots that stream round a circuit, iron filings that trace a magnet, a motor that turns, a power line that carries a city's energy, and an engine that breathes in four strokes.
Each chapter has five moments. Read a block and the scene jumps to its moment; scrub back and it returns exactly as it was. Every formula is explained symbol by symbol and followed by a worked example with real numbers, and the sandbox under the picture lets you change the charge, the voltage or the temperature and compare your result with the text. Electricity can kill, so every experiment here is on the page and none involves the mains or a storm.
Contents
- 01Static electricity and chargeElectrostatics: charge, force and sparksRub a balloon on your hair and tiny charges move from one to the other. Charges that are alike push apart and charges that are different pull together, which is why your hair stands up.
- 02Circuits, voltage and Ohm's lawElectric current: the loop, the push and the limitA battery pushes tiny charges round a loop of wire. Voltage is the strength of the push, current is how much charge flows, and resistance is how hard the wire makes it for them.
- 03Magnets and the Earth's fieldMagnetism: poles, field lines and the compassEvery magnet has a north and a south end, and ends that match push apart. Our planet is a giant magnet too, which is why a compass needle always swings towards the north.
- 04Electromagnets and motorsElectromagnetism: from Ørsted's compass to the motorA wire with current in it turns into a magnet. Wind it into a coil and it gets stronger, and put it between two magnets and it spins: that is the electric motor.
- 05Generators, transformers and the gridInduction: how motion becomes electricityMove a magnet near a coil of wire and a current appears. Power stations do this on a huge scale, and then wires carry the electricity to your home.
- 06Heat, energy and enginesThermodynamics: temperature, the two laws and the engineHeat is the motion of tiny particles. It flows from hot to cold, and an engine can turn some of it into work, but never all of it.
What follows
- Relativity: space, time and lightBeing written
- The quantum worldBeing written
- Nuclear energyBeing written
- The physics of musicBeing written
VITON13 LAB
Keep studying on the LAB table
Open the chapter's experiment, timeline or map on VITON13 LAB, with your notes as a document beside it.
Open VITON13 LABAbout this book
What does Volume II of the animated physics textbook cover?
It follows the story of electricity and energy in six chapters: static charge and Coulomb's law, circuits and Ohm's law, magnets and the Earth's field, electromagnets and motors, generators and the power grid, and heat, engines and efficiency. Each chapter pairs five blocks of text with a 3D scene and a sandbox.
Do I need Volume I first?
It helps but is not required. Volume I covers motion, forces, waves and light. This volume uses only arithmetic, a little algebra and the idea of a formula, and it explains every symbol the first time it appears.
Are the experiments safe to repeat?
The animations and sandboxes are completely safe. The text never asks you to experiment with the mains socket, with lightning or with anything connected to the mains. Franklin's kite is told as history only, and the real accounts of it are debated. Real circuits at home should be limited to small batteries and supervised school lessons.
Are the numbers real?
Yes. The scenes use real constants and formulas: the charge of the electron, Coulomb's constant, the Curie point of iron, 230 V and 50 Hz mains in Europe and Russia, 120 V and 60 Hz in the USA. Every worked example has been checked, and each chapter lists the sources behind its facts.