A book to teach Quantum Mechanics to laymen in the form of puzzles and games
I've been thinking about this for a while. I work in quantum physics, and get the impression that people are very fascinated by it - but also often very confused by accounts that make it sound magical by virtue of leaving it too vague. A lot of the basic properties of QM can be exemplified by relatively straightforward small examples, but talks of electrons, photons, two-slits, and other stuff that couldn't possibly be computed by hand with just pen and paper coat it in its own mystique.
My idea is a book that talks about QM from the very beginning and only in the form of small exercises that can be done with pen an paper by anyone with a knack for puzzles. I'd start with a couple chapters with the very basics of necessary maths that I can't give for granted - namely complex numbers and matrix algebra - then move on to simple examples to explain stuff like entanglement and tunnelling, or even the two-slit experiment. What do you think? Do you believe there would be an audience for something like this, or do I risk striking the middle point between laymen who don't want to get lost in math and experts who think it too simplistic? Would you be interested in something like this?
Posted Jul 3, 2018, 8:59 AM UTC