The Physics of War From Arrows to Atoms PDF
Preview The Physics of War From Arrows to Atoms
2 ALSO BY BARRY PARKER Einstein's Brainchild Quantum Legacy Einstein: The Passions of a Scientist Albert Einstein's Vision 3 4 Published 2014 by Prometheus Books The Physics of War: From Arrows to Atoms. Copyright © 2014 by Barry Parker. 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, digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or conveyed via the Internet or a website without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Interior artwork by Lori Scoffield Beer Cover image © 2013 Media Bakery and BIGSTOCK Jacket design by Grace M. Conti-Zilsberger Inquiries should be addressed to Prometheus Books 59 John Glenn Drive Amherst, New York 14228–2119 VOICE: 716–691–0133 FAX: 716–691–0137 WWW.PROMETHEUSBOOKS.COM 18 17 16 15 14 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pending ISBN 978-1-61614-803-4 (hardcover) ISBN 978-1-61614-804-1 (ebook) Printed in the United States of America 5 PREFACE CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Summary of the Book CHAPTER 2: EARLY WARS AND THE BEGINNING OF PHYSICS Battle of Kadesh The Wonder Weapon Copper, Bronze, and Iron The Assyrians Greeks and the Beginning of Physics The New Wonder Machines Alexander the Great Archimedes CHAPTER 3: BASIC PHYSICS OF EARLY WEAPONS Velocity and Acceleration Force and Inertia Momentum and Impulse The Effect of Gravity Energy and Power Angular Momentum and Torque Machines Physics of the Bow and Arrow Physics of Other Early Weapons CHAPTER 4: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND THE EARLY ENGLISH-FRENCH WARS The Romans and Their Weapons 6 Early English-French Wars Origin and Physics of the Longbow CHAPTER 5: GUNPOWDER AND CANNONS: THE DISCOVERIES THAT CHANGED THE ART OF WAR AND THE WORLD Roger Bacon Development of the Cannon The Hundred Years’ War The Basilica and the Siege of Constantinople Cannons in the English-Scottish Wars The French Charles VIII and Victory over Naples CHAPTER 6: THREE MEN AHEAD OF THEIR TIME: DA VINCI, TARTAGLIA, AND GALILEO Leonardo and Physics Leonardo's Military Inventions Leonardo's Attitude toward War Tartaglia Galileo CHAPTER 7: FROM EARLY GUNS TO TOTAL DESTRUCTION AND DISCOVERY The Guns of War The War at Sea Henry VIII of England William Gilbert The Problem of Longitude The Thirty Years’ War Swedish Intervention A New Era of Discovery: Isaac Newton CHAPTER 8: THE IMPACT OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 7 Introduction The French Revolution The English Revolution James Watt and the Steam Engine John “Iron Mad” Wilkinson Benjamin Robins The Flintlock Christiaan Huygens Physics and the Industrial Revolution CHAPTER 9: NAPOLEON'S WEAPONS AND NEW BREAKTHROUGHS IN PHYSICS The French Revolution Jean-Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval Napoleon and His Weapons Count Rumford New Breakthroughs in Physics How This Affected Warfare CHAPTER 10: THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR Development of the Percussion Cap The Minié Ball A Revolution in Rifles and Cannons The War The Role of the Telegraph The Dynamo (Generator) The Gatling Gun The War at Sea Physics of the Propeller “Damn the Torpedoes” Submarines Balloons CHAPTER 11: WHERE DOES THE BULLET GO? BALLISTICS OF RIFLE BULLETS AND CANNON SHELLS 8 Internal Ballistics Recoil Transitional Ballistics and the Sonic Boom External Ballistics Stability of the Bullet Terminal Ballistics CHAPTER 12: HEY, LOOK…IT FLIES! AERODYNAMICS AND THE FIRST AIRPLANES Discoveries That Led to the Airplane The Wright Brothers What Makes an Airplane Fly? The Physical, More Exact Explanation of Lift Details of Drag Steering and Maneuvering the Airplane First Use of Airplanes in War CHAPTER 13: THE MACHINE GUN WAR—WORLD WAR I Development of the Machine Gun Other Weapons How the War Started The First Warplanes The War at Sea and the Menace beneath the Sea The Final Horror—Poisonous Gas The First Tanks America Enters the War CHAPTER 14: THE INVISIBLE RAYS: THE DEVELOPMENT AND USE OF RADIO AND RADAR IN WAR The Production and Detection of Electromagnetic Waves The Electromagnetic Spectrum Radio Waves X-rays Light and Infrared Radar An Amazing Discovery 9 CHAPTER 15: SONAR AND THE SUBMARINE Archimedes’ Principle Physics of Submarines Power for the Propellers Shape and Periscopes Navigation Sonar Torpedoes How Torpedoes Work Submarines in World War II CHAPTER 16: THE GREAT WAR: WORLD WAR II How the War Started Ready for War The Battle of France, and Dunkirk The Radar Advantage The Battle of Britain American Entry into the War Advances in Aviation The First Rockets in War Other Weapons and Small Arms Computers and Intelligence CHAPTER 17: THE ATOMIC BOMB The Beginning Einstein's Role The Italian Breakthrough Hahn, Meitner, and Strassmann Christmas 1938 A Chain Reaction The Letter to Roosevelt The War Begins Meanwhile in England Heisenberg and Bohr The Manhattan Project The First Reactor 10
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