Special Issue: Everyday Physics

We’ve all been there. Too often, what happens next is an awkward silence. As scientists, we should all be concerned about how the general public perceives us and our profession. Most people are not scientists and really don’t understand how science is done. To the laity, modern physics in particular seems remote. Huge particle accelerators lie in underground tunnels; nuclear‐powered space probes speed toward their planetary destinations; individual atoms are prodded and probed; the bizarreness of quantum mechanics is confirmed in the lab. But the laws of physics apply to matter and energy everywhere—in our living rooms, gardens, and motor vehicles, as well as on the surface of a neutron star. To imbue our nonphysicist friends, families, and neighbors with the excitement and importance of our field, we should perhaps engage them first where the physical world is most immediate—in their everyday lives.

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