Download or read book Mechanics from Aristotle to Einstein written by Michael J. Crowe and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mechanics, the science of moving bodies and their interactions, is among the finest accomplishments of western civilization. This is the story of development, from the ground-breaking attempts of the Greeks, through the brilliant abstractions of medieval logicians, to the breathtaking achievements of Galileo, Huygens, and Newton, to the dazzling virtuosity of Maxwell and Einstein. Crowe's presentation allows the reader to appreciate this story from the inside, following the thoughts of the original authors in their own words. Ample commentary places these scientific giants in their context and helps modern readers understand the unfamiliar modes of expression of earlier times. In the course of telling the story, this book also provides a practical introduction to mechanics, with sample computations and problems in both classical physics and relativistic kinematics.
Download or read book Instant Physics written by Tony Rothman and published by ibooks. This book was released on 2018-04-17 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For all of you who break out in a sweat at the thought of thermodynamics, or freeze up at the mention of quantum mechanics, like a bolt from the blue, INSTANT PHYSICS will zap you through the fascinating history of our most basic, yet baffling, science. From the thousand-year search for proof of the existence of the ever-elusive atom to the varied and heated arguments behind the big bang theory, INSTANT PHYSICS answers all the heavy questions with a light touch. You'll learn:* How the Greek philosophers used the sledgehammer of mathematics to break apart the mysteries of the physical universe.* Why gravity is a "romantic" force.* How to tell the difference between a gluon, a meson, and a quark, even if you can't see them.INSTANT PHYSICS is crammed with special features, including chapter summaries, who's who lists, biographical and historical tidbits, and a host of illustrations, photos, equations, diagrams, and drawings.
Download or read book Neo Aristotelian Perspectives on Contemporary Science written by William M.R. Simpson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-10-19 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The last two decades have seen two significant trends emerging within the philosophy of science: the rapid development and focus on the philosophy of the specialised sciences, and a resurgence of Aristotelian metaphysics, much of which is concerned with the possibility of emergence, as well as the ontological status and indispensability of dispositions and powers in science. Despite these recent trends, few Aristotelian metaphysicians have engaged directly with the philosophy of the specialised sciences. Additionally, the relationship between fundamental Aristotelian concepts—such as "hylomorphism", "substance", and "faculties"—and contemporary science has yet to receive a critical and systematic treatment. Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives on Contemporary Science aims to fill this gap in the literature by bringing together essays on the relationship between Aristotelianism and science that cut across interdisciplinary boundaries. The chapters in this volume are divided into two main sections covering the philosophy of physics and the philosophy of the life sciences. Featuring original contributions from distinguished and early-career scholars, this book will be of interest to specialists in analytical metaphysics and the philosophy of science.
Download or read book From Newton s Laws to Einstein s Theory of Relativity written by Lizhi Fang and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 1987 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book aims to introduce to the reader the main thread of development from Newton's laws to Einstein's theory of relativity. Limited by its scope and avoiding as much as possible the use of mathematical apparatus, the authors try to clarify the most fundamental ideas and concepts. Both authors hold a deep reverence for Galileo and Einstein, and this book is dedicated to these two great scientists.
Download or read book In The Grip Of The Distant Universe The Science Of Inertia written by Peter Graneau and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2006-06-01 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a book about the history of the science of inertia. Nobody denies the existence of the forces of inertia, but they are branded as “fictitious” because they do not fit smoothly into modern physics. Named by Kepler and given mathematical form by Newton, the force of inertia remains aloof because it has no obvious local cause. At the end of the 19th century, Ernst Mach bravely claimed that the inertia of an object was the result of its instantaneous interaction with all matter in the universe.Many other well-known physicists, including Aristotle, Galileo, Descartes and Einstein, are shown to have tackled this difficult subject. The book also concentrates on inertia research in the 20th century, taking place under the shadow of general relativity, which is seen as uncomfortable with Mach's principle. A Newtonian paradigm, based on action-at-a-distance forces, is discussed throughout the book, allowing the revival of Mach's principle as the only coherent explanation of the inertia forces which play such an important role in the laboratory and in the cosmos.
Download or read book The Elusive Notion of Motion written by Alan A. Kubitz and published by Dog Ear Publishing. This book was released on 2010-12 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ever been confused by basic physics and intimidated by the mere thought of Einstein's relativity theories? If so, yet curiosity still beckons, this book is for you The reward? The colorful history of the elusive notion of motion and unique insights into the fundamental physics behind it all - including relativity. The physics of motion is so fundamental to science and the technological age in which we live that four of the most illustrious names in the annals of science owe their towering reputations, in large part, to their milestone work on the physics of motion. This book relates the stories of Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton, and Albert Einstein as they each stalked the elusive notion of motion. Following in their footsteps, both the layperson with no formal background in mathematics or physics and the practicing engineer/scientist will better understand those physical principles which eluded the best minds for centuries. As Aristotle observed over two thousand years ago, in order to know the natural world, one must first understand motion. Alan Kubitz lives in the heart of California's silicon valley where he spent many years as an electrical engineer designing computer peripheral devices. Throughout his engineering career and subsequent retirement, he has been deeply interested in the history of science, with an emphasis on the fifteenth through the nineteenth centuries. His particular interest is the physics of motion and the pioneering scientists (natural philosophers) such as Galileo and Newton who bequeathed to us the intellectual crown jewels which comprise the foundation of modern physics. Mr. Kubitz has accumulated a substantial reference library on these subjects and enjoys writing about them. Other interests include music, book collecting and, with his wife, their four grandchildren. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University and a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Download or read book How Physics Confronts Reality Einstein Was Correct But Bohr Won The Game written by Roger G Newton and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2009-07-28 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book recalls, for nonscientific readers, the history of quantum mechanics, the main points of its interpretation, and Einstein's objections to it, together with the responses engendered by his arguments. Most popular discussions on the strange aspects of quantum mechanics ignore the fundamental fact that Einstein was correct in his insistence that the theory does not directly describe reality. While that fact does not remove the theory's counterintuitive features, it casts them in a different light.Context is provided by following the history of two central aspects of physics: the elucidation of the basic structure of the world made up of particles, and the explanation, as well as the prediction, of how objects move. This history, prior to quantum mechanics, reveals that whereas theories and discoveries concerning the structure of nature became increasingly realistic, the laws of motion, even as they became more powerful, became more and more abstract and remote from intuitive notions of reality. Newton's laws of motion gained their abstract power by sacrificing direct and intuitive contact with real experience. Arriving 250 years after Newton, the break with a direct description of reality embodied in quantum mechanics was nevertheless profound.
Download or read book Philosophy of Physics written by Tim Maudlin and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-05-26 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Philosophical foundations of the physics of space-time This concise book introduces nonphysicists to the core philosophical issues surrounding the nature and structure of space and time, and is also an ideal resource for physicists interested in the conceptual foundations of space-time theory. Tim Maudlin's broad historical overview examines Aristotelian and Newtonian accounts of space and time, and traces how Galileo's conceptions of relativity and space-time led to Einstein's special and general theories of relativity. Maudlin explains special relativity with enough detail to solve concrete physical problems while presenting general relativity in more qualitative terms. Additional topics include the Twins Paradox, the physical aspects of the Lorentz-FitzGerald contraction, the constancy of the speed of light, time travel, the direction of time, and more. Introduces nonphysicists to the philosophical foundations of space-time theory Provides a broad historical overview, from Aristotle to Einstein Explains special relativity geometrically, emphasizing the intrinsic structure of space-time Covers the Twins Paradox, Galilean relativity, time travel, and more Requires only basic algebra and no formal knowledge of physics
Download or read book Concepts of Simultaneity written by Max Jammer and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2006-09-12 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Publisher description
Download or read book Cracking the Einstein Code written by Fulvio Melia and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2009-10-15 with total page 151 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity describes the effect of gravitation on the shape of space and the flow of time. But for more than four decades after its publication, the theory remained largely a curiosity for scientists; however accurate it seemed, Einstein’s mathematical code—represented by six interlocking equations—was one of the most difficult to crack in all of science. That is, until a twenty-nine-year-old Cambridge graduate solved the great riddle in 1963. Roy Kerr’s solution emerged coincidentally with the discovery of black holes that same year and provided fertile testing ground—at long last—for general relativity. Today, scientists routinely cite the Kerr solution, but even among specialists, few know the story of how Kerr cracked Einstein’s code. Fulvio Melia here offers an eyewitness account of the events leading up to Kerr’s great discovery. Cracking the Einstein Code vividly describes how luminaries such as Karl Schwarzschild, David Hilbert, and Emmy Noether set the stage for the Kerr solution; how Kerr came to make his breakthrough; and how scientists such as Roger Penrose, Kip Thorne, and Stephen Hawking used the accomplishment to refine and expand modern astronomy and physics. Today more than 300 million supermassive black holes are suspected of anchoring their host galaxies across the cosmos, and the Kerr solution is what astronomers and astrophysicists use to describe much of their behavior. By unmasking the history behind the search for a real world solution to Einstein’s field equations, Melia offers a first-hand account of an important but untold story. Sometimes dramatic, often exhilarating, but always attuned to the human element, Cracking the Einstein Code is ultimately a showcase of how important science gets done.
Download or read book Theories of the World from Antiquity to the Copernican Revolution written by Michael J. Crowe and published by Courier Corporation. This book was released on 2013-04-09 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Revised edition re-creates the change from an earth- to a sun-centered conception of the solar system by focusing on an examination of the evidence available in 1615.
Download or read book A History of Mechanics written by René Dugas and published by Courier Corporation. This book was released on 1988-01-01 with total page 672 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Monumental study traces the history of mechanical principles chronologically from their earliest roots in antiquity through the Middle Ages to the revolutions in relativistic mechanics and wave and quantum mechanics of the early 20th century. Contributions of ancient Greeks, Leonardo, Galileo, Kepler, Lagrange, many other important figures. 116 black-and-white illustrations.
Download or read book Bodies and Media written by Ido Yavetz and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-08-18 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a recasting of Aristotle’s theory of spatial displacement of inanimate objects. Aristotle’s claim that projectiles are actively carried by the media through which they move (such as air or water) is well known and has drawn the attention of commentators from ancient to modern times. What is lacking, however, is a systematic investigation of the consequences of his suggestion that the medium always acts as the direct instrument of locomotion, be it natural or forced, while original movers (e.g. stone throwers, catapults, bowstrings) act indirectly by impressing moving force into the medium. Filling this gap and guided by discussions in Aristotle’s Physics and On the Heavens, the present volume shows that Aristotle’s active medium enables his theory - in which force is proportional to speed - to account for a large class of phenomena that Newtonian dynamics - in which force is proportional to acceleration - accounts for through the concept of inertia. By applying Aristotle’s medium dynamics to projectile flight and to collisions that involve reversal of motion, the book provides detailed examples of the efficacy and coherence that the active medium gives to Aristotle’s discussions. The book is directed primarily to historians of ancient, medieval, and early modern science, to philosophers of science and to students of Aristotle’s natural philosophy.
Download or read book From Aristotle to Schr dinger written by Antonis Modinos and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-10-04 with total page 521 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Aristotle to Schrödinger: The Curiosity of Physics offers a novel introduction to the topics commonly encountered in the first two years of an undergraduate physics course, including classical mechanics, thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, electromagnetism, relativity, quantum mechanics, atomic and molecular physics, and astrophysics. The book presents physics as it evolved historically; it covers in considerable depth the development of the subject from ancient Greece to the present day. Though the emphasis is on the observations, experiments, theories, and applications of physics, there are additionally short sections on the life and times of the main protagonists of physics. This book grew out of the author's long experience in giving undergraduate and graduate courses in classical physics and in quantum mechanics and its elementary applications. Although meant primarily for the student and teacher of physics, it will be of interest to other scientists and to historians of science, and to those who wish to know something about physics, how it started, and how it developed to its present day magnificence and sophistication.
Download or read book When Einstein Walked with G del written by Jim Holt and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2018-05-15 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Jim Holt, the New York Times bestselling author of Why Does the World Exist?, comes an entertaining and accessible guide to the most profound scientific and mathematical ideas of recent centuries in When Einstein Walked with Gödel: Excursions to the Edge of Thought. Does time exist? What is infinity? Why do mirrors reverse left and right but not up and down? In this scintillating collection, Holt explores the human mind, the cosmos, and the thinkers who’ve tried to encompass the latter with the former. With his trademark clarity and humor, Holt probes the mysteries of quantum mechanics, the quest for the foundations of mathematics, and the nature of logic and truth. Along the way, he offers intimate biographical sketches of celebrated and neglected thinkers, from the physicist Emmy Noether to the computing pioneer Alan Turing and the discoverer of fractals, Benoit Mandelbrot. Holt offers a painless and playful introduction to many of our most beautiful but least understood ideas, from Einsteinian relativity to string theory, and also invites us to consider why the greatest logician of the twentieth century believed the U.S. Constitution contained a terrible contradiction—and whether the universe truly has a future.
Download or read book Inertia and Gravitation written by Vesselin Petkov and published by Minkowski Institute Press. This book was released on 2012-12-18 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book fills a gap in the literature. So far there has been no book which deals with inertia and gravitation by explicitly addressing open questions and issues which have been hampering the proper understanding of these phenomena. The book places a strong emphasis on the physical understanding of the main aspects and features of inertia and gravitation. It discusses questions such as: Are inertial forces fictitious or real? Does Minkowski's four-dimensional formulation of special relativity provide an insight into the origin of inertia? Does mass increase relativistically? Why is the inertial mass equivalent to the gravitational mass? Are gravitational phenomena caused by gravitational interaction according to general relativity? Is there gravitational energy? Do gravitational waves carry gravitational energy? Can gravity be quantized?
Download or read book From Newton to Einstein written by F T Baker and published by Myprint. This book was released on 2014-12-12 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
