Particle Physics Brick by Brick: Atomic and Subatomic Physics Explained... in LEGO

by Ben Still

A simple and entertaining introduction to the building blocks of the universe. In 2014 the LEGO® Group sold 62 billion LEGO® pieces. That's 102 LEGO® bricks for every person in the world. That's nothing however compared to the estimated seven billion billion billion atoms that make up each of us, let alone the between ten quadrillion vigintillion and one-hundred thousand quadrillion vigintillion atoms in the known observable universe. Thankfully, understanding atomic and subatomic physics need not be infathomable. LEGO® bricks are a great way to visualize the blueprint of the universe, right down to its smallest elements. Particle Physics Brick by Brick explains how and with what the universe came to be. It introduces the Standard Model of Physics, the "rule book" of physics that has been proven correct again and again since its mid-20th century development. Today, it is the gaps in the model that keep physicists busy. In concise chapters, the book assigns to each atomic element a colored LEGO® brick, such as neutrons, leptons and quarks. By assembling actual or imaginary bricks and observing their relationships and interactions, particle physics becomes clear. The book opens with the Standard Model of Physics, the physicists and the discoveries made over history, and directions on how to use the book. The chapters that follow Particle Physics Brick by Brick is a succinct introduction for anyone that wants to gain a basic understanding of the atomic world, its elements and how they interact. By using tangible substitutes - bricks - it brings the unseen atomic world into the realm of the visual.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Physics, Stem, Science Nature, Education

176 pages, Paperback

Published March 21, 2018

About the author

Ben is currently Honorary Research Fellow at Queen Mary, University of London and also teaches physics to 13-18 years old students. For years Ben has enjoyed sharing his passion for physics and the scientific method through his writing, collaborations with artists, and live performances. He is a multi award winning science communicator who has enjoyed national recognition for his work in the field. Although Ben's research interests lie primarily in the field of particle physics he relishes communicating many complex science topics to all audiences through metaphor, interactivity, and clear graphics.

Reviews

[WiseB · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have long been looking for a book that can provide me the particle physics knowledge so as to supplement my quest in quantum theory learning. This book exactly serves the purpose. Although using lego bricks is the primary mean the author articulated and explained the subject, I believe one can easily transform the explanation to one's preferred form of interpretation. Regardless of the usage of bricks, the illustrations, diagrams and design throughout using colors and notations really help the mind to digest all these facts on particles, which to be frank is not any easy task for one without strong background in this domain.
The contents of the book is structured in a good way to bring one progressively from the building blocks (of the Standard Model) and the different kinds of forces & fields, to how these interact with each others. The closing of the book also include pointers to unsolved problems like dark matter, dark energy and beyond Standard Model (i.e. energy exceeding Planck scale) extension ... including Super-Symmetry (S particles) and String Theory.

[Santiago Ortiz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overcomplicated, but it's not the author's fault, it's just how our Universe is.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing and inspired book this is. While the Lego brick analogy has its limitations, Ben Still uses it to great effect to explain a subject that is not easily explained. The explanations are clear and concise, and easily digested. You don't need to buy any Lego bricks to understand the book but having some to hand does help.

If you are a novice when to comes to this subject matter then you could do a lot worse than this book to learn about it. Quantum physics has never been so much fun.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting and great format. I am a 15 year old who is really into particle and quantum physics and I love how complex ideas were explained.

[Kaylee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish a book like this was around when I was a physics undergrad! Using Lego bricks helps to make weird, foreign things like quarks more familiar and approachable. The book does a good job of explaining the current story of what humans know about the wacky ways of subatomic particles. It gives a big picture of particle physics concepts without getting bogged down in math. This is not light reading, but it's easier to digest than, say, the Wikipedia article on quantum chromodynamics. I learned plenty. And to the book designer: I loved the glossary and Standard Model cheat-sheet on the cover flaps.

[Merenwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The idea of using plastic bricks to explain particle physics is ingenious. I wish a book like this had been around when I was high school-aged. I do think the glossary could have been a little more thorough, though. I had to look in the index for some things, and the book never explains what the "N" in "NeV" means. (I'm guessing it's "nano".) Still, this is a pretty good book. I hope I can retain most of the information.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Lego-fan son checked this out, but it was rather beyond his 10yo grasp. So I read it on a lazy Saturday. It fits right in with the other popular physics book I own or have read.

[Nick Silin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, boy... LEGO bricks on the cover is a click bait, it gives false assumption that this book is an easy ride. It certainly requires some engineering background to read it. What to say, I was reading it on lazy Saturdays sheet by sheet dedicating enough time to try understanding. Well, at the end I think I understood I think at most 70% and remembered 10% 😁 but, at the end I enjoyed the book pretty much, because it is a great source of thoughts and explanation that humanity is far from understanding our Universe and there are plenty of things to discover left for curios minds

[Alecsphys · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely a must have book if you are curious about how our world is made of, based on the more advanced theory we have, the Standard Model.
The particle zoo is well described, with highlights on the several properties involved and even on open questions at the edge of current research.
4 and not 5 stars only because a point of improvement could have been to roughly describe the more important experiments which helped in consolidating the zoo.

[Filip Nykvist · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a good book and very informative. Though, you should have some basic understanding on the matter. It's kind of a tough read.

The frontpage is a little bit misleading since it can give the impression that it's a book for curious youth's. I wouldn't say that's the case. I wouldn't say that this book is written for physics-rookies as i initially thought.

[James Kinsley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got about two thirds through before realising I was just looking at words. The more I read, the less i understood. No fault of the book's, which is well written and nicely laid out.

I will say, however, that the Lego angle is a complete red herring. Other than rendering the illustrations familiar, they add nothing to the explanation. Just a gimmick, sadly.

[Kevin de Ataíde · Rating 3 out of 5]

A useful introduction to basic particle physics and quantum physics. The whole building elements from bricks thing on the book cover is something of a lie. Unless you want to sit with sacks of lego bricks and build all the necessary particles for a few months/years. But the analogy is very clever, and an electron neutrino (for example) is forever going to appear in my mind as a lego brick now.

[Alex Linschoten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Visually engaging and well presented. The text itself has a lot of typos and doesn't seem really aligned with the audience who are looking for explanation in lego blocks. Which is to say, it doesn't really explain things from the basics/fundamentals. But not the worst book of its kind at all...

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this. To be honest not read anything about particle physics before but this was a good introduction and the added brick diagrams really helped.

I’m far from an expert after reading this but at least I understand some of the concepts discussed in the Big Bang theory now 😂

[Dominic Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good read and it explains all the “basics” of particle physics really well.
Wouldn’t say it’s for a complete physics rookie but particle physics isn’t for a complete rookie; so I honestly don’t think any book on particle physics could be.

[skein]

congratulations! it’s cute.

i expected it to have a fair amount of gimmick, but this exceeded my expectations: it is almost all the way there! even the stuff i understand didn’t make sense. even “what is an atom? what is a nucleus?” didn’t make sense.

[Joseph Matuch · Rating 5 out of 5]

My sons love this book. There are, obviously, very few particle physics books out there that capture the imagination of elementary school students. Not sure how much they understand — because a lot went over my head — but it was interesting nevertheless.

[jeffrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite the clever use of colorful bricks to illustrate the concepts presented, this is no casual read. It requires quite close attention and concentration. Good luck!

[Charlie Christensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know if using Lego really adds illumination to the subject; at times, it felt forced. Even so, the material was organized and explained well; a bit repetitive at times.

[Karla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow

Very interesting read

Recommended for high school physics students

[Lorens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good and simple introduction.

[Remy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Lego illustrations didn't add to the explanations at all. In fact, they kind of made things more confusing (imo).

[Declan Raven]

Makes something as complicated as particle physics super simple and easy to understand!

[maeve · Rating 3 out of 5]

i think im an idiot.
also lost it when physicists ran out of ideas for names and went to Smuon Sneutrino and WIMP

[Venks · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book has seven chapters. The author makes a bold claim to explain atomic and subatomic physics using Lego blocks. Unfortunately, the author falls far short.

The first chapter is interesting and I learned a lot. If that was the end of the book, I would have given it 5 stars. But we wouldn’t have touched upon many other theories necessary. And that’s where the author fails miserably in using the Lego blocks. Soon into the third chapter, the author was writing for an audience of one - himself.

All in all, it’s not a great book other than the first chapter. I would recommend reading that one.