Great Ideas in PhysicsMcGraw Hill Professional, 17 июл. 2000 г. - Всего страниц: 300 The conservation of energy, the second law of thermodynamics, the theory of relativity, quantum mechanicstogether, these concepts form the foundation upon which modern physics was built. But the influence of these four landmark ideas has extended far beyond hard science. There is no aspect of twentieth-century cultureincluding the arts, social sciences, philosophy, and politicsthat has not been profoundly influenced by them. In Great Ideas in Physics, Alan Lightman clearly explains the physics behind each of the four great ideas and deftly untangles for lay readers such knotty concepts as entropy, the relativity of time, and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Throughout the book he uses excerpts from the writings of scientific luminaries such as Newton, Kelvin, Einstein, and de Broglie to help place each in its proper historical perspective. And with the help of expertly annotated passages from the works of dozens of writers, philosophers, artists, and social theorists, Lightman explores the two-way influences of these landmark scientific concepts on our entire human culture and the world of ideas. |
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René Descartes Section of Principles Showing Relation between God | 32 |
Units of Length Mass Weight and Energy | 33 |
Count Rumford on the Discovery That Heat Is Motion 4041 | 40 |
Julius Mayer on the Conservation of Energy 4849 | 48 |
The Conservation of Energy and the Limited Lifetime | 54 |
The Theory of Relativity | 135 |
Aristotle On the Heavens on Space and Absolute Motion | 167 |
Einsteins Approach to Science | 169 |
Relativity and Sculpture | 175 |
Robert Morris on Role of Time in Modern Sculpture | 176 |
The Photoelectric Effect | 188 |
The DoubleSlit Experiment | 196 |
The Role of the Observer and the Nature of Reality | 201 |
Niels Bohr on Giving Up Conservation of Energy to Explain Beta | 56 |
Reversible and Irreversible Phenomena | 62 |
The Irreversible Flow of Heat | 84 |
Lord Kelvin on a Statement of the Second Law of Thermodynamics | 91 |
Entropy and Order | 98 |
Rudolph Clausius on the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics | 100 |
Resistance to the Implications of the Second Law | 104 |
Arthur Holmes from Age of the Earth on Desire for Perpetual Motion | 106 |
Robert Millikan on Cosmic Rays and Their Proof of a Steady State | 108 |
The Second Law Used to Refute the Theory of Evolution | 114 |
Albert Einstein from His Autobiographical Notes Discussing | 122 |
George Berkeley Three Dialogues on Whether Reality Exists Independent | 204 |
Quantum Physics and Language | 207 |
Louis de Broglie Nobel Prize Address on the Wave Nature | 226 |
Selig Hecht on Quantum Theory Free Will and Determinism 239240 | 239 |
APPENDIX A A Review of Some Basic Mathematics | 241 |
APPENDIX B Problems and Discussion Questions | 253 |
Jorge Luis Borges The Garden of the Forking Paths References | 278 |
Laboratory | 283 |
Endnotes | 289 |
Credits | 295 |
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