Download or read book The Concept of Physical Law written by Norman Swartz and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1985 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Concept of Physical Law is an original and creative defense of the Regularity theory of physical law, the concept that physical laws are nothing more than descriptions of whatever universal truths happen to be instanced in nature. Professor Swartz clearly identifies and analyzes the arguments and intuitions of the opposing Necessitarian theory, and argues that the standard objection to the Regularity theory turns on a mistaken view of what Regularists mean by 'physical impossibility'; that it is impossible to construct an empirical test that can distinguish between events Necessitarians call 'mere accidents' and those they call 'nornologically necessary', and that the Necessitarian theory cannot account for human beings' free wills. Other topics in this important work include: the distinction between instrumental scientific laws and true physical laws; the distinction between failure and doom; potentialities; miracles and marvels; predictability and uniformity; statistical and numerical laws; and necessity-in-praxis.
Download or read book The Character of Physical Law written by Richard P Feynman and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2007-09-06 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A series of classic lectures, delivered in 1960 and recorded for the BBC. This is Feynman's unique take on the problems and puzzles that lie at the heart of physical theory - with Newton's Law of Gravitation; on whether time can ever go backwards; on maths as the supreme language of nature. Demonstrates Feynman's knack of finding the right everyday illustration to bring out the essence of a complicated principle - eg brilliant analogy between the law of conservation energy and the problem of drying yourself with wet towels. 'Feynman's style inspired a generation of scientists. This volume remains the best record I know of his exhilarating vision' - Paul Davies
Download or read book The Concept of Physical Law written by Norman Swartz and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1985-11-29 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Concept of Physical Law is an original and creative defense of the Regularity theory of physical law, the concept that physical laws are nothing more than descriptions of whatever universal truths happen to be instanced in nature. Professor Swartz clearly identifies and analyzes the arguments and intuitions of the opposing Necessitarian theory, and argues that the standard objection to the Regularity theory turns on a mistaken view of what Regularists mean by 'physical impossibility'; that it is impossible to construct an empirical test that can distinguish between events Necessitarians call 'mere accidents' and those they call 'nornologically necessary', and that the Necessitarian theory cannot account for human beings' free wills. Other topics in this important work include: the distinction between instrumental scientific laws and true physical laws; the distinction between failure and doom; potentialities; miracles and marvels; predictability and uniformity; statistical and numerical laws; and necessity-in-praxis.
Download or read book Connecting Quarks with the Cosmos written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2003-03-12 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Advances made by physicists in understanding matter, space, and time and by astronomers in understanding the universe as a whole have closely intertwined the question being asked about the universe at its two extremesâ€"the very large and the very small. This report identifies 11 key questions that have a good chance to be answered in the next decade. It urges that a new research strategy be created that brings to bear the techniques of both astronomy and sub-atomic physics in a cross-disciplinary way to address these questions. The report presents seven recommendations to facilitate the necessary research and development coordination. These recommendations identify key priorities for future scientific projects critical for realizing these scientific opportunities.
Download or read book The Concept of Physical Law written by Prof Brooks and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2022-03-02 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Concept of Physical Law is an original and creative defense of the Regularity theory of physical law, the concept that physical laws are nothing more than descriptions of whatever universal truths happen to be instanced in nature. Prof. Brooks identifies and analyzes the arguments and intuitions of the opposing Necessitation theory, and argues that the standard objection to the Regularity theory turns on a mistaken view of what Regularizes mean by 'physical impossibility'; that it is impossible to construct an empirical test that can distinguish between events Necessitations call 'mere accidents' and those they call 'neurologically necessary', and that the Necessitation theory cannot account for human beings' free wills. It is strange, but on the rare occasions when I have been invited to play the drum in public,1the presenter never thought it necessary to remember that I also deal with theoretical physics. Maybe it's because we respect the arts more than the sciences. Renaissance artists used to say that man's primary interest must be man: however, there are other interesting things in the world, and even artists appreciate sunsets, ocean waves and the walk of the stars across the skies. So there are good reasons to sometimes talk about something else as well. When we look at the beauties of nature, we derive an aesthetic pleasure from direct observation. Among the phenomena of nature, however, there is also a structure, a rhythm that does not appear directly to the eye, but that is revealed only after a more careful analysis; and it is these rhythms and structures that we call physical laws. What I want to discuss in this series of lectures is the general feature of physical laws; if you will, this is a higher level of generality that is above the laws themselves. More precisely, what I want to consider is nature and its more general qualities as they appear on detailed analysis. Now, such a subject has a certain tendency to become too philosophical precisely because it becomes so general: when it is spoken in such general terms that everyone can understand, then the subject is considered profound philosophy. I would like to be a little more.
Download or read book Evolution of Physical Laws written by Satdev Sharma and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2014-10-23 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The humble attempt is made in the present short thesis to give mathematical and model form to the ideas about creation expressed in the seed form in the ancient scriptures. Evolution of physical laws is the discipline code for the matter to follow to keep the chaos under check. The evolution of physical laws is necessary consequence of the evolution of matter. The model of the basic units of mass are Akashon (etheron) and that of energy is Prakashon (photon) are governed by very simple mathematical relations and all the laws governing the Universe can be easily dug out by the proper handling of the model and the associated simple mathematical relations without using mind boggling higher mathematics.
Download or read book How the Laws of Physics Lie written by Nancy Cartwright and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 1983-06-09 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this sequence of philosophical essays about natural science, Nancy Cartwright argues that fundamental explanatory laws, the deepest and most admired successes of modern physics, do not in fact describe the regularities that exist in nature. Yet she is not `anti-realist'. Rather, she draws a novel distinction, arguing that theoretical entities, and the complex and localized laws that describe them, can be interpreted realistically, but that the simple unifying laws of basic theory cannot.
Download or read book The Concept of Physical Law Physical Law written by Norman Swartz and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Foundations of Physical Law written by Peter Rowlands and published by World Scientific Publishing Company Incorporated. This book was released on 2014-09 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book originated in a series of lectures given at Liverpool in 2013 to a group that included postgraduate and undergraduate students and staff of the Physics Department. They followed from two very successful lectures given to the undergraduate Physical Society. It seemed that there was a very large interest among the students in investigating the foundations of physics in a way that was never done in physics courses, and was not available in books or other outlets. However, the idea was to create a framework in which students (and interested staff) could develop their own thinking relative to the ideas in the lectures. So it was important to create both conceptual and mathematical structures on the issues that are important at this level. The book has the right sort of technical content to allow for this development, but doesn't lose itself in excessive details. The ideal use for this book would be on postgraduate courses where students would be encouraged to think about the foundations in a way that is well beyond the superficial. However, a course on aspects of this material would also be valuable at the undergraduate level, where students could be stimulated into believing that creative thinking could solve the problems that emerge when we confront foundational problems.
Download or read book University Physics written by OpenStax and published by . This book was released on 2016-11-04 with total page 622 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: University Physics is a three-volume collection that meets the scope and sequence requirements for two- and three-semester calculus-based physics courses. Volume 1 covers mechanics, sound, oscillations, and waves. Volume 2 covers thermodynamics, electricity and magnetism, and Volume 3 covers optics and modern physics. This textbook emphasizes connections between between theory and application, making physics concepts interesting and accessible to students while maintaining the mathematical rigor inherent in the subject. Frequent, strong examples focus on how to approach a problem, how to work with the equations, and how to check and generalize the result. The text and images in this textbook are grayscale.
Download or read book Physics of the Impossible written by Michio Kaku and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2008-03-11 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Inspired by the fantastic worlds of Star Trek, Star Wars, and Back to the Future, the renowned theoretical physicist and national bestselling author of The God Equation takes an informed, serious, and often surprising look at what our current understanding of the universe's physical laws may permit in the near and distant future. Teleportation, time machines, force fields, and interstellar space ships—the stuff of science fiction or potentially attainable future technologies? Entertaining, informative, and imaginative, Physics of the Impossible probes the very limits of human ingenuity and scientific possibility.
Download or read book Knowing written by Michael Munowitz and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005-11-01 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We ask question after question of an indifferent universe that would just as soon remain mute; and slowly, patiently, one sentence at a time, we write our own version of the book of nature. It is called science, from the Latin word for knowledge, and it is a book everybody should read. With simplicity and elegance, Knowing interprets the book of nature for curious readers of all sorts--but especially for those hoping to appreciate the beauty of physics without getting lost in the mathematics. Indeed, there is a world of scientific understanding in the pages of this gracefully written and inviting book, where hundreds of little diagrams substitute for the equations that physicists otherwise need to tell their tale. Readers will discover the way things work: how big things (like Earth or Moon) come from small things (like quarks and electrons), how tiny particles push and pull, and how the world hangs in the balance. We learn how an "unbiased" observer and a fixed speed of light, nothing else, conjure up E=mc2 and four-dimensional space-time. We see how Newton's clockwork universe of unwavering determination differs (but not in every respect) from Heisenberg's quantum universe of hazy uncertainty. And we see how a world of chaos throws a wrench into everybody's mechanical ideal. From tiny atoms to vast galaxies, the universe is ours to explore and to know: its particles, its interactions, its laws, its unending surprises. Heavily illustrated with explanatory drawings and diagrams--perhaps no other science book for general readers uses diagrams so extensively--Knowing takes us to the edge of modern science, allowing us to peer in further than we would have dreamed possible.
Download or read book How Physics Makes Us Free written by J. T. Ismael and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016-02-03 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1687 Isaac Newton ushered in a new scientific era in which laws of nature could be used to predict the movements of matter with almost perfect precision. Newton's physics also posed a profound challenge to our self-understanding, however, for the very same laws that keep airplanes in the air and rivers flowing downhill tell us that it is in principle possible to predict what each of us will do every second of our entire lives, given the early conditions of the universe. Can it really be that even while you toss and turn late at night in the throes of an important decision and it seems like the scales of fate hang in the balance, that your decision is a foregone conclusion? Can it really be that everything you have done and everything you ever will do is determined by facts that were in place long before you were born? This problem is one of the staples of philosophical discussion. It is discussed by everyone from freshman in their first philosophy class, to theoretical physicists in bars after conferences. And yet there is no topic that remains more unsettling, and less well understood. If you want to get behind the façade, past the bare statement of determinism, and really try to understand what physics is telling us in its own terms, read this book. The problem of free will raises all kinds of questions. What does it mean to make a decision, and what does it mean to say that our actions are determined? What are laws of nature? What are causes? What sorts of things are we, when viewed through the lenses of physics, and how do we fit into the natural order? Ismael provides a deeply informed account of what physics tells us about ourselves. The result is a vision that is abstract, alien, illuminating, and-Ismael argues-affirmative of most of what we all believe about our own freedom. Written in a jargon-free style, How Physics Makes Us Free provides an accessible and innovative take on a central question of human existence.
Download or read book How Science Runs written by Eric J. Mittemeijer and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-01-29 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a considered yet entertaining reflection on the progress of modern scientific research. The winding path of science can only be understood by revealing the personal, human side of scientific research, demystifying the actions of the scientist and exposing the human drama on the stage of science. The book looks at the true nature of contemporary science and scientists through the lens of the personal experiences of the author, a renowned and leading materials scientist, over the last half century. It examines the positive threads of modern scientific progress in sober juxtaposition to the manifest negative developments arising from stiff competition within the current academic landscape. A collection of stories and real-life anecdotes is presented in parallel to the career of the author, providing a first-hand account of important achievements in the field of materials science. As a result, this book provides fascinating reading for students, seasoned scientists, and anybody else interested in the workings and machinations of modern science.
Download or read book The Concept of Physical Law electronic Resource written by Swartz, Norman and published by [Burnaby, B.C.] : N. Schwartz. This book was released on 2003 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Absolute or relative motion a study from a Machian point of view of the discovery and the structure of dynamical theories written by Julian B. Barbour and published by CUP Archive. This book was released on 1988 with total page 784 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Metaphysics Within Physics written by Tim Maudlin and published by Oxford University Press on Demand. This book was released on 2007-04-19 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What does physics tell us about metaphysics? Tim Maudlin's philosophical examination of the fundamental structure of the world as presented by physics challenges the most widely accepted philosophical accounts of laws of nature, universals, the direction of time and causation.
