The Physics Book: From the Big Bang to Quantum Resurrection, 250 Milestones in the History of Physics PDF
Preview The Physics Book: From the Big Bang to Quantum Resurrection, 250 Milestones in the History of Physics
Books by Clifford A. Pickover The Alien IQ Test Archimedes to Hawking A Beginner’s Guide to Immortality Black Holes: A Traveler’s Guide Calculus and Pizza Chaos and Fractals Chaos in Wonderland Computers, Pattern, Chaos, and Beauty Computers and the Imagination Cryptorunes: Codes and Secret Writing Dreaming the Future Egg Drop Soup Future Health Fractal Horizons: The Future Use of Fractals Frontiers of Scientific Visualization The Girl Who Gave Birth to Rabbits The Heaven Virus Jews in Hyperspace Keys to Infinity Liquid Earth The Lobotomy Club The Loom of God The Mathematics of Oz The Math Book Mazes for the Mind: Computers and the Unexpected Mind-Bending Visual Puzzles (calendars and card sets) The Möbius Strip The Paradox of God and the Science of Omniscience A Passion for Mathematics The Pattern Book: Fractals, Art, and Nature The Science of Aliens Sex, Drugs, Einstein, and Elves Spider Legs (with Piers Anthony) Spiral Symmetry (with Istvan Hargittai) Strange Brains and Genius Sushi Never Sleeps The Stars of Heaven Surfing through Hyperspace Time: A Traveler’s Guide Visions of the Future Visualizing Biological Information Wonders of Numbers THE PHYSICS BOOK FROM THE BIG BANG TO QUANTUM RESURRECTION, 250 MILESTONES IN THE HISTORY OF PHYSICS Clifford A. Pickover An Imprint of Sterling Publishing 387 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10016 STERLING and the distinctive Sterling logo are registered trademarks of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. © 2011 by Clifford A. Pickover All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. ISBN 978-1-4027-7861-2 (hardcover) ISBN 978-1-40279099-7 (ebook) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pickover, Clifford A. The physics book : from the Big Bang to Quantum Resurrection, 250 milestones in the history of physics / Clifford A. Pickover. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4027-7861-2 (alk. paper) 1. Physics–History. I. Title. QC7.P49 2011 530.09–dc22 2010051365 For information about custom editions, special sales, and premium and corporate purchases, please contact Sterling Special Sales at 800-805-5489 or 2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1 www.sterlingpublishing.com “We all use physics every day. When we look in a mirror, or put on a pair of glasses, we are using the physics of optics. When we set our alarm clocks, we track time; when we follow a map, we navigate geometric space. Our mobile phones connect us via invisible electromagnetic threads to satellites orbiting overhead. But physics is not all about technology…. Even the blood flowing through arteries follows laws of physics, the science of our physical world.” —Joanne Baker, 50 Physics Ideas You Really Need to Know “The great equations of modern physics are a permanent part of scientific knowledge, which may outlast even the beautiful cathedrals of earlier ages.” —Steven Weinberg, in Graham Farmelo’s It Must Be Beautiful Contents Introduction Acknowledgments SETTING THE STAGE 13.7 Billion B.C. Big Bang 3 Billion B.C. Black Diamonds 2 Billion B.C. Prehistoric Nuclear Reactor THE DISCOVERIES 30,000 B.C. Atlatl 20,000 B.C. Boomerang 3000 B.C. Sundial 2500 B.C. Truss 1850 B.C. Arch 1000 B.C. Olmec Compass 341 B.C. Crossbow 250 B.C. Baghdad Battery 250 B.C. Siphon 250 B.C. Archimedes’ Principle of Buoyancy 250 B.C. Archimedean Screw 240 B.C. Eratosthenes Measures the Earth 230 B.C. Pulley 212 B.C. Archimedes’ Burning Mirrors 125 B.C. Antikythera Mechanism 50 Hero’s Jet Engine 50 Gears 78 St. Elmo’s Fire 1132 Cannon 1150 Perpetual Motion Machines 1200 Trebuchet 1304 Explaining the Rainbow 1338 Hourglass 1543 Sun-Centered Universe 1596 Mysterium Cosmographicum 1600 De Magnete 1608 Telescope 1609 Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion 1610 Discovery of Saturn’s Rings 1611 Kepler’s “Six-Cornered Snowflake” 1620 Triboluminescence 1621 Snell’s Law of Refraction 1621 Aurora Borealis 1638 Acceleration of Falling Objects 1643 Barometer 1644 Conservation of Momentum 1660 Hooke’s Law of Elasticity 1660 Von Guericke’s Electrostatic Generator 1662 Boyle’s Gas Law 1665 Micrographia 1669 Amontons’ Friction 1672 Measuring the Solar System 1672 Newton’s Prism 1673 Tautochrone Ramp 1687 Newton’s Laws of Motion and Gravitation 1687 Newton as Inspiration 1711 Tuning Fork 1728 Escape Velocity 1738 Bernoulli’s Law of Fluid Dynamics 1744 Leyden Jar 1752 Ben Franklin’s Kite 1761 Black Drop Effect 1766 Bode’s Law of Planetary Distances 1777 Lichtenberg Figures 1779 Black Eye Galaxy 1783 Black Holes 1785 Coulomb’s Law of Electrostatics 1787 Charles’ Gas Law 1796 Nebular Hypothesis 1798 Cavendish Weighs the Earth 1800 Battery 1801 Wave Nature of Light 1803 Henry’s Gas Law 1807 Fourier Analysis 1808 Atomic Theory 1811 Avogadro’s Gas Law 1814 Fraunhofer Lines 1814 Laplace’s Demon 1815 Brewster’s Optics 1816 Stethoscope 1822 Fourier’s Law of Heat Conduction 1823 Olbers’ Paradox 1824 Greenhouse Effect 1824 Carnot Engine 1825 Ampère’s Law of Electromagnetism 1826 Rogue Waves 1827 Ohm’s Law of Electricity 1827 Brownian Motion 1829 Graham’s Law of Effusion 1831 Faraday’s Laws of Induction 1834 Soliton 1835 Gauss and the Magnetic Monopole 1838 Stellar Parallax 1839 Fuel Cell 1840 Poiseuille’s Law of Fluid Flow
The list of books you might like
