The Universe as It Really Is: Earth, Space, Matter, and Time

364 Pages·2018·18.972 MB·English

by  Thomas R Scott

THE
U N I V E R S E

AS IT REALLY IS
Earth, Space, Matter, and Time
Thomas R. Scott
with the assistance of
James Lawrence Powell
THE UNIVERSE AS IT REALLY IS

THE
U N I V E R S E
as It Really Is
Earth, Space, Matter, and Time
Thomas R. Scott
with the assistance of
James Lawrence
Powell
columbia university press / new york
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © 2018 Thomas R. Scott
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Scott, Thomas R., author. | Powell, James Lawrence, 1936– author.
Title: The universe as it really is : Earth, space, matter, and time /
Thomas R. Scott; with the assistance of James Lawrence Powell.
Description: New York : Columbia University Press, [2018] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017055511 | ISBN 9780231184946 (cloth : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780231545761 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Cosmic physics. | Space sciences. | Earth (Planet) |
Universe. | Gravitational fields. | Meteorology.
Classification: LCC QC806 .S375 2018 | DDC 523.01—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017055511
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent
and durable acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
Cover design: Lisa Hamm
Cover image: ArSciMed/Science Source
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is
than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
—Carl Sagan

CONTENTS
List of Illustrations ix
Preface xi
About the Author and This work xiii
Introduction 1
1. It’s Elementary 7
2. Getting Together: Atoms to Molecules 29
3. Gravity 38
4. Time 58
5. Light 77
6. Earth: A Biography 101
7. Earth: A Physical Exam 124
8. Atmosphere and Weather 153
9. Oceans 186
VIII ˙ CONTENTS
10. The Sun 210
11. The Solar System 226
12. The Milky Way 250
13. The Cosmos 269
Notes 295
Bibliography 321
Index 331
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FIGURE 1.1: Niels Bohr, the Danish physicist and Nobel laureate who made
breakthroughs in atomic structure and quantum mechanics. 14
FIGURE 1.2: The periodic table of elements. 27
FIGURE 2.1: Hydrogen bonding between the positive (hydrogen) side of one
water molecule and the negative (oxygen) side of another. 34
FIGURE 3.1: Einstein’s accelerating elevator. 48
FIGURE 3.2: The simultaneous arrival of the first gravitational waves ever
detected at the twin LIGO observatories. 54
FIGURE 5.1: Thomas Young’s double-slit experiment. 80
FIGURE 5.2: Daguerre’s “Boulevard du Temple” (1838) in Paris. 94
FIGURE 5.3: The electromagnetic spectrum. 99
FIGURE 6.1: Claire Patterson, first to measure the age of the Earth, working
happily at his mass spectrometer. 104
FIGURE 6.2: The continents reassembled into Pangaea, with proto-oceans in
between. 112
FIGURE 6.3: Artist’s reconstruction of the Chicxulub impact crater soon after
impact. 116
FIGURE 6.4: Charles Lyell, the original uniformitarian, at the meeting of the
British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1840. 117
FIGURE 7.1: Alfred Wegener, intrepid explorer of Greenland. 137
FIGURE 7.2: The floor of the Atlantic Ocean. 140
FIGURE 7.3: Earth’s major tectonic plates. 143
FIGURE 7.4: The Ring of Fire encircling the Pacific plate, home to a majority
of Earth’s active volcanoes and the site of most major earthquakes. 146