Breu història de la física recreativa: Una disciplina amb un passat esplendorós i un futur prometedor

Abstract

One way of encouraging people's interest in physics is to provide them with rewarding experiences that stimulate their curiosity and at the same time encourage them to seek an explanation for the phenomena they observe. These experiences need to be related to the everyday environment to show that basic but far-reaching physical knowledge is accessible without the need for sophisticated equipment. To this end, recreational physics seamlessly blends science, entertainment and outreach by incorporating experiments and games that appeal to people of different ages and educational backgrounds. In this article, we review the most notable documents, authors and activities in recreational physics to show how this discipline has evolved over the centuries and where it stands today.