Explaining the Universe: The New Age of PhysicsPrinceton University Press, 2002 - 226 Seiten In this fascinating book, John Charap offers a panoramic view of the physicist's world as the twenty-first century opens--a view that is entirely different from the one that greeted the twentieth century. We have learned that the universe is billions of galaxies larger than we imagined--and billions of years older. We know more about how it came to be and what it is. Because of physics, we live in a world of greater danger and more convenience, smaller particles and bigger ideas. Charap introduces these ideas but spares us the math behind them. After a review of the twentieth century's thorough transformation of physics, he checks in on the latest findings from particle physics, astrophysics, chaos theory, and cosmology. His tour includes ongoing efforts to find the universe's missing matter and to account for the first moments after the big bang. Taking readers right to the field's speculative edge, he explains how superstring theory may finally unite quantum mechanics with general relativity to produce a consistent quantum theory of gravity. Along the way, Charap poses the questions that continue to inspire research. Why is the universe flat? Why can't we forecast weather better? Can Schrodinger's cat really be simultaneously dead and alive? Why does fractal geometry keep showing up in strange places? Might spacetime have eleven dimensions? What does quantum mechanics mean about the nature of our world? In this book's pages, the nonphysicist will accept as commonsensical Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, and physicists can meet across specialties. Students can access physics' critical concepts, and poets can learn a new language to describe the universe's many wonders. Taking us from the ultraviolet catastrophe that undid the Newtonian world to tomorrow's Theory of Everything, Charap brings today's most fascinating science down to Earth, where we can all enjoy it. |
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... example . I could not hope to give even a survey account of all of them . But I do want to convey some indication of the enormous strides we made in the twentieth century in our understanding of the physical universe , and of the ...
... example , the world's population is now about 6 billion , or 6 X 10 9 ; and this is increasing by a staggering quarter of a million , or 2.5 x 10s , every day . This increase is about 90 million ( 9 X 10 1 ) a year , which means a pro ...
... example — were made that were also to mark the end of what we now call classical physics . Before embarking on an account of some of the amazing advances in the twentieth century and looking into the future , it seemed appropriate to ...
... example . From the time he was appointed as director of the laboratory at Leiden in the Netherlands in 1882 , Kamerlingh Onnes had sought to push back one of the frontiers of experimental physics : he tried to get closer to the absolute ...
... example , in the magnets used in MRI scanners in hospitals . The story does not end here , for it was found that certain ceramic mate- rials also lose their electrical resistance when cooled only to the modest extent attainable by using ...
Inhalt
PHYSICS 1900 | xiv |
HEAVENS ABOVE | 22 |
CHANCE AND CERTAINTY | 41 |
ORDER OUT OF CHAOS | 62 |
YOUR PLACE OR MINE | 75 |
MANY HISTORIES MANY FUTURES | 84 |
MICROCOSM | 98 |
WEIGHTY MATTERS | 117 |
IN THE BEGINNING | 149 |
DOWN TO EARTH | 170 |
EPILOGUE | 186 |
Notes | 193 |
Glossary | 207 |
Suggestions for Further Reading | 213 |
Index of Names | 217 |
221 | |