What do you think?
Rate this book
Physics Around the Clock: Adventures in the Science of Everyday Living
Physics Around the Clock is an illuminating and fun journey through the physics of everyday life. From the thermodynamics of cooking the perfect pizza, or what 'plate' mechanics says about how to cut your fingernails to the optimal way to board an aeroplane, this lively book explains what physics can reveal about so many seemingly routine aspects of life. The book follows a typical day, beginning at breakfast and the morning routine, and moving through typical daytime activities and evening pursuits, such as enjoying a take-away and film. Binding it all together is physics and what physical theories or experimental techniques can reveal about our everyday situations.
303 pages, Kindle Edition
Expected publication September 11, 2025
2 people want to read
About the author
Michael Banks
2 books3 followersMichael Banks was born in Oldham, Lancashire, UK. After an undergraduate degree in physics from Loughborough University, UK, Michael did a PhD in condensed-matter physics at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Physics in Stuttgart, Germany, studying magnetism. For over a decade, Michael has been news editor of the international monthly magazine Physics World, where he covers the latest developments in physics.
Michael has given talks worldwide about science and science journalism including in China, Japan and the US. In addition to Physics World, Michael has written for Nature, BBC Focus and Science Uncovered as well as appeared on BBC Radio 4. Michael is based in Bristol, UK, where he lives with his wife and two boys. He tweets at @Mike_Banks.
Michael has given talks worldwide about science and science journalism including in China, Japan and the US. In addition to Physics World, Michael has written for Nature, BBC Focus and Science Uncovered as well as appeared on BBC Radio 4. Michael is based in Bristol, UK, where he lives with his wife and two boys. He tweets at @Mike_Banks.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 11, 2025
One of the easiest ways to make science accessible is to tie it to everyday life - and this is something Michael Banks does well in his exploration of physical goings on from breakfast to bedtime.
Each of twelve chapters focuses on an aspect of our non-working/sleeping time. We begin with the morning coffee, take on the physics of breakfast food and so on, travelling through the day to end up in front of the TV show or film. I was impressed by just how much Banks could get from the simple (or, rather, anything but simple) extraction of a cup of coffee from ground coffee beans. One of the very first topics covered here was a fascinating surprise - how static electricity developed during the grinding process (a phenomenon not unlike the lightning produced by volcanoes) causes grounds to clump, and how baristas use a drop of water to overcome this.
There were plenty of such revelations, whether it was the optics of a fishbowl that can make fish disappear or the scientific complexities of cooking (and cutting) the perfect pizza. There were a couple of chapters that were personally not as interesting as the rest - one on plants and another on sport, which probably illustrates that there are bits of 'everyday living' that don't appeal to everyone. but as each will have their own particular interests, this is neither surprising nor a problem.
One chapter, on friends and family, seemed to stretch the definition of physics somewhat - it was mostly maths and sociology - but it was still interesting, so who cares? Overall the combination of the range of different topics in the twelve chapters and the number of fascinating topics that Banks manages to incorporate in what is based on a series of columns in the Institute of Physics magazine Physics World is thoroughly enjoyable.
This isn't the first such book - for example, Helen Czerski's excellent Storm in a Teacup from 2017 was also a 'physics of everyday life' title and inevitably there's a degree of overlap. But Banks has a different tone and introduces plenty of newly explained phenomena, making it an ideal dip into everyday physics.
Each of twelve chapters focuses on an aspect of our non-working/sleeping time. We begin with the morning coffee, take on the physics of breakfast food and so on, travelling through the day to end up in front of the TV show or film. I was impressed by just how much Banks could get from the simple (or, rather, anything but simple) extraction of a cup of coffee from ground coffee beans. One of the very first topics covered here was a fascinating surprise - how static electricity developed during the grinding process (a phenomenon not unlike the lightning produced by volcanoes) causes grounds to clump, and how baristas use a drop of water to overcome this.
There were plenty of such revelations, whether it was the optics of a fishbowl that can make fish disappear or the scientific complexities of cooking (and cutting) the perfect pizza. There were a couple of chapters that were personally not as interesting as the rest - one on plants and another on sport, which probably illustrates that there are bits of 'everyday living' that don't appeal to everyone. but as each will have their own particular interests, this is neither surprising nor a problem.
One chapter, on friends and family, seemed to stretch the definition of physics somewhat - it was mostly maths and sociology - but it was still interesting, so who cares? Overall the combination of the range of different topics in the twelve chapters and the number of fascinating topics that Banks manages to incorporate in what is based on a series of columns in the Institute of Physics magazine Physics World is thoroughly enjoyable.
This isn't the first such book - for example, Helen Czerski's excellent Storm in a Teacup from 2017 was also a 'physics of everyday life' title and inevitably there's a degree of overlap. But Banks has a different tone and introduces plenty of newly explained phenomena, making it an ideal dip into everyday physics.
Displaying 1 of 1 review