Download or read book Waves and Particles written by Roger G. Newton and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2014 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In part 2, the history of the idea of atoms is reviewed, and then the scientific evidence for their existence, with Rutherford's discovery of the atomic nucleus. The investigation of what the nucleus is like follows, including the discovery of the neutron, followed by that of the neutrino - of which there are several different kinds - and the muon as well as the pion. The important work of Paul Dirac is described, as well as the discovery of the positron and other antiparticles. The ways by which particles are discovered, by cloud chambers, bubble chambers, etc. are all explained, followed by the invention of the various machines to accelerate particles to high speeds: the cyclotron, the synchrotron, and the bigger and bigger machines, in the US as well as in Switzerland, including their storage rings.
Download or read book Waves And Particles Two Essays On Fundamental Physics written by Roger G Newton and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2014-03-12 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book consists of two separate parts, the first part is on waves and the second part on particles. In part 1, after describing the awesome power of tsunami and the history of their occurrences, the book turns to the history of explaining phenomena by means of mathematical equations. Then it describes other wave phenomena and the laws governing them: the vibration of strings and drums in musical instruments, the sound waves making them audible, ultrasound and its uses, sonar, and shock waves; electromagnetic waves: light waves, refraction, diffraction, why the sky is blue, the rainbow, and the glory; microwaves and radio waves: radar, radio astronomy, the discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation, microwave ovens and how a radio works, lasers and masers; waves in modern physics: the Schrödinger wave function and gravitational waves in general relativity; water waves in the ocean, tides and tidal waves, and the quite different solitary waves, solitons discovered in canals. Finally we return to tsunami and the question of what laws govern them. We conclude that the answer to that question is not quite known yet, but there is ongoing research to solve the riddle.In part 2, the history of the idea of atoms is reviewed, and then the scientific evidence for their existence, with Rutherford's discovery of the atomic nucleus. The investigation of what the nucleus is like follows, including the discovery of the neutron, followed by that of the neutrino — of which there are several different kinds — and the muon as well as the pion. The important work of Paul Dirac is described, as well as the discovery of the positron and other antiparticles. The ways by which particles are discovered, by cloud chambers, bubble chambers, etc. are all explained, followed by the invention of the various machines to accelerate particles to high speeds: the cyclotron, the synchrotron, and the bigger and bigger machines, in the US as well as in Switzerland, including their storage rings. The new terminology of fermions and bosons are explained, followed by the remarkable use of group theory and group representations by matrices, whose unfamiliar algebra is carefully explained.
Download or read book The Theory of Elementary Waves written by Lewis E. Little and published by . This book was released on 2018-08 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Theory of Elementary Waves: A New Explanation of Fundamental Physics, by Dr. Lewis E. Little, upends the standard view of quantum mechanics. His new theory explains activity at the sub-atomic level with the same understanding of cause and effect that governs all other science: In other words, the Theory of Elementary Waves (TEW) "makes sense of the physical universe." The science of physics should allow us to understand the physical world, from galaxies to sub-atomic particles. Yet quantum mechanics has produced a sad irony, namely that millions of high school and college students consider physics to be virtually incomprehensible. Explanations under quantum mechanics include a variety of contradictions. Most prominent is that elementary particles simultaneously exhibit the properties and behavior of particles and waves, a notion which produced the claim that a single particle-or at least it's "potential"-can be in two places at once. The links in this chain of absurdity have led to bizarre extremes, such as the idea of backwards time, curved space and the comment from a well-known physicist that "the moon is demonstrably not there when nobody looks." The time is ripe for a credible challenge to the formalisms of quantum theory. The Theory of Elementary Waves presents: -A full critique of quantum theory, including Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, Bell's Theorem, the "double-slit" experiment and such topics as "dark matter." -An entire chapter on how TEW provides a physical explanation of Einstein's theory of relativity. -How TEW sheds new light on the physics of the atom and atomic decay. -Suggestions for future research, not just in physics but in chemistry and biology as well. In the book's foreword, best-selling author Robert Prechter credits Dr. Little with "a vision as revolutionary as that of Copernicus 350 years earlier," and writes "he not only revolutionizes the fundamentals of sub-atomic physics but also reclaims the fundamentals of scientific philosophy." If you want to experience being at the forefront of a scientific revolution in what was formerly an unnecessarily mysterious field, The Theory of Elementary Waves: A New Explanation of Fundamental Physics is for you.
Download or read book The Wave Function written by Alyssa Ney and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-04-08 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a new volume of original essays on the metaphysics of quantum mechanics. The essays address questions such as: What fundamental metaphysics is best motivated by quantum mechanics? What is the ontological status of the wave function? Does quantum mechanics support the existence of any other fundamental entities, e.g. particles? What is the nature of the fundamental space (or space-time manifold) of quantum mechanics? What is the relationship between the fundamental ontology of quantum mechanics and ordinary, macroscopic objects like tables, chairs, and persons? This collection includes a comprehensive introduction with a history of quantum mechanics and the debate over its metaphysical interpretation focusing especially on the main realist alternatives.
Download or read book Particles and Waves written by Peter Achinstein and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1991 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume brings together eleven essays by the distinguished philosopher of science, Peter Achinstein. The unifying theme is the nature of the philosophical problems surrounding the postulation of unobservable entities such as light waves, molecules, and electrons. How, if at all, is it possible to confirm scientific hypotheses about "unobservables"? Achinstein examines this question as it arose in actual scientific practice in three nineteenth-century episodes: the debate between particle and wave theorists of light, Maxwell's kinetic theory of gases, and J.J. Thomson's discovery of the electron. The book contains three parts, each devoted to one of these topics, beginning with an essay presenting the historical background of the episode and an introduction to the philosophical issues. There is an illuminating evaluation of various scientific methodologies, including hypothetico-deductivism, inductivism, and the method of independent warrant which combines features of the first two. Achinstein assesses the philosophical validity of both nineteenth-century and modern answers to questions about unobservables, and presents and defends his own solutions.
Download or read book A Guess at the Riddle written by David Z Albert and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2023-09-19 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Renowned philosopher of science David Z Albert offers an innovative approach to understanding the fundamental physical underpinnings of quantum mechanics. Albert shows how we can discern all the baffling features of quantum theory in a simple picture of the pushings and pullings of concrete and high-dimensional, fundamental physical “stuff.”
Download or read book Particles and Waves written by Peter Achinstein and published by . This book was released on 2023 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of essays by the scientific philosopher Peter Achinstein, representing the culmination of his examination of methodological issues arising from 19th century physics. He focuses on philosophical problems surrounding the postulation of unobservable entities such as light waves.
Download or read book Light And Vacuum The Wave particle Nature Of The Light And The Quantum Vacuum Through The Coupling Of Electromagnetic Theory And Quantum Electrodynamics written by Meis Constantin and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2014-11-07 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Light and Vacuum presents a synthesis of selected fundamental topics of electromagnetic wave theory and quantum electrodynamics (QED) and analyzes the main theoretical difficulties encountered to ensure a coherent mathematical description of the simultaneous wave-particle nature of light, put in evidence by the experiments. The notion and the role of the quantum vacuum, strongly related to light, are extensively investigated.Classical electrodynamics issued from Maxwell's equations revealed the necessity of introducing the notion of volume for an electromagnetic wave to stand entailing precise values of cut-off wavelengths to account for the shape and dimensions of the surrounding space. Conversely, in QED, light is considered to be composed of point particles disregarding the conceptual question on how the frequency of oscillating electric and magnetic fields may be attributed to a point particle.To conciliate these concepts, the book provides a comprehensive overview of the author's work, including innovative contributions on the quantization of the vector potential amplitude at a single photon state, the non-local simultaneous wave-particle mathematical representation of the photon and finally the quantum vacuum. The purpose of the advanced elaborations is to raise questions, give hints and answers, and finally aspire for further theoretical and experimental studies in order to improve our knowledge and understanding on the real essence of Light and Vacuum.
Download or read book Encounters with Einstein written by Werner Heisenberg and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 1989-10-21 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In nine essays and lectures composed in the last years of his life, Werner Heisenberg offers a bold appraisal of the scientific method in the twentieth century--and relates its philosophical impact on contemporary society and science to the particulars of molecular biology, astrophysics, and related disciplines. Are the problems we define and pursue freely chosen according to our conscious interests? Or does the historical process itself determine which phenomena merit examination at any one time? Heisenberg discusses these issues in the most far-ranging philosophical terms, while illustrating them with specific examples.
Download or read book The Physics of Quantum Mechanics written by James Binney and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2013-12 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title gives students a good understanding of how quantum mechanics describes the material world. The text stresses the continuity between the quantum world and the classical world, which is merely an approximation to the quantum world.
Download or read book Physics Essays written by and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Elementary Particles and the Laws of Physics written by Richard P. Feynman and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1999-07-13 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perhaps the two most important conceptual breakthroughs in twentieth century physics are relativity and quantum mechanics. Developing a theory that combines the two seamlessly is a difficult and ongoing challenge. This accessible book contains intriguing explorations of this theme by the distinguished physicists Richard Feynman and Steven Weinberg. Richard Feynman's contribution examines the nature of antiparticles, and in particular the relationship between quantum spin and statistics. In his essay, Steven Weinberg speculates on how Einstein's theory of gravitation might be reconciled with quantum theory in the final laws of physics. Both these Nobel laureates have made huge contributions to fundamental research in physics, as well as to the popularization of science. Anyone interested in the development of modern physics will find this a fascinating book.
Download or read book Particles Versus Waves written by Menahem Finegold and published by . This book was released on 1977 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Golden Age Of Theoretical Physics The Boxed Set Of 2 Vols written by Jagdish Mehra and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2001-02-28 with total page 1436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Golden Age of Theoretical Physics brings together 37 selected essays. Many of these essays were first presented as lectures at various universities in Europe and the USA, and then published as reports or articles. Their enlarged, final versions were published in the joint work of Jagdish Mehra and Helmut Rechenberg, The Historical Development of Quantum Theory, while the other essays were published as articles in scientific journals or in edited books. Here they are published together as a tribute to the Mehra-Rechenberg collaboration sustained for several decades, and cover various aspects of quantum theory, the special and general theories of relativity, the foundations of statistical mechanics, and some of their fundamental applications. Two essays, ‘Albert Einstein's “First” Paper’ (Essay 1) and ‘The Dream of Leonardo da Vinci’ (Essay 37), lie outside the major themes treated in this book, but are included here because of their historical interest. The origin of each essay is explained in a footnote.This book deals with the most important themes developed in the first 40 years of the twentieth century by some of the greatest pioneers and architects of modern physics. It is a vital source of information about what can veritably be described as ‘the golden age of theoretical physics’.
Download or read book Through Two Doors at Once written by Anil Ananthaswamy and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2019-06-11 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The intellectual adventure story of the "double-slit" experiment, showing how a sunbeam split into two paths first challenged our understanding of light and then the nature of reality itself--and continues to almost two hundred years later. Many of science's greatest minds have grappled with the simple yet elusive "double-slit" experiment. Thomas Young devised it in the early 1800s to show that light behaves like a wave, and in doing so opposed Isaac Newton. Nearly a century later, Albert Einstein showed that light comes in quanta, or particles, and the experiment became key to a fierce debate between Einstein and Niels Bohr over the nature of reality. Richard Feynman held that the double slit embodies the central mystery of the quantum world. Decade after decade, hypothesis after hypothesis, scientists have returned to this ingenious experiment to help them answer deeper and deeper questions about the fabric of the universe. How can a single particle behave both like a particle and a wave? Does a particle exist before we look at it, or does the very act of looking create reality? Are there hidden aspects to reality missing from the orthodox view of quantum physics? Is there a place where the quantum world ends and the familiar classical world of our daily lives begins, and if so, can we find it? And if there's no such place, then does the universe split into two each time a particle goes through the double slit? With his extraordinarily gifted eloquence, Anil Ananthaswamy travels around the world and through history, down to the smallest scales of physical reality we have yet fathomed. Through Two Doors at Once is the most fantastic voyage you can take.
Download or read book Quantum Ontology written by Peter J. Lewis and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016-06-13 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Metaphysicians should pay attention to quantum mechanics. Why? Not because it provides definitive answers to many metaphysical questions-the theory itself is remarkably silent on the nature of the physical world, and the various interpretations of the theory on offer present conflicting ontological pictures. Rather, quantum mechanics is essential to the metaphysician because it reshapes standard metaphysical debates and opens up unforeseen new metaphysical possibilities. Even if quantum mechanics provides few clear answers, there are good reasons to think that any adequate understanding of the quantum world will result in a radical reshaping of our classical world-view in some way or other. Whatever the world is like at the atomic scale, it is almost certainly not the swarm of particles pushed around by forces that is often presupposed. This book guides readers through the theory of quantum mechanics and its implications for metaphysics in a clear and accessible way. The theory and its various interpretations are presented with a minimum of technicality. The consequences of these interpretations for metaphysical debates concerning realism, indeterminacy, causation, determinism, holism, and individuality (among other topics) are explored in detail, stressing the novel form that the debates take given the empirical facts in the quantum domain. While quantum mechanics may not deliver unconditional pronouncements on these issues, the range of possibilities consistent with our knowledge of the empirical world is relatively small-and each possibility is metaphysically revisionary in some way. This book will appeal to researchers, students, and anybody else interested in how science informs our world-view.
Download or read book QED written by Richard P. Feynman and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2014-10-26 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Feynman’s bestselling introduction to the mind-blowing physics of QED—presented with humor, not mathematics Celebrated for his brilliantly quirky insights into the physical world, Nobel laureate Richard Feynman also possessed an extraordinary talent for explaining difficult concepts to the public. In this extraordinary book, Feynman provides a lively and accessible introduction to QED, or quantum electrodynamics, an area of quantum field theory that describes the interactions of light with charged particles. Using everyday language, spatial concepts, visualizations, and his renowned Feynman diagrams instead of advanced mathematics, Feynman clearly and humorously communicates the substance and spirit of QED to the nonscientist. With an incisive introduction by A. Zee that places Feynman’s contribution to QED in historical context and highlights Feynman’s uniquely appealing and illuminating style, this Princeton Science Library edition of QED makes Feynman’s legendary talks on quantum electrodynamics available to a new generation of readers.
