Physics, the Human Adventure

From Copernicus to Einstein and Beyond

By: Gerald Holton, Stephen G. Brush

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Paperback | 1 March 2001 | Edition Number 3

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Physics, the Human Adventure is the third edition of the classic text Introduction to Concepts and Theories in Physical Science. Authored by Gerald Holton, the text was a landmark in science education. It was the first modern textbook in physics (or in any other science) to make full and effective use of the history and philosophy of science in presenting for both the general and the science-oriented student an account of the nature of physical science. A second edition, prepared by Stephen G. Brush, brought the book up to date by increasing the coverage of topics in modern physics and by taking account of recent scholarly research in the history of science.

In the new book Physics, The Human Adventure, each of the chapters has been reworked to further clarify the physics concepts and to incorporate recent physical advances and research. The book shows the unifying power of science by bringing in connections to chemistry, astronomy, and geoscience. In short, the aid of the new edition is to teach good physics while presenting physical science as a human adventure that has become a major force in our civilization.

New chapters discuss theories of the origin of the solar system and the expanding universe; fission, fusion, and the Big Bang -- Steady State Controversy; and thematic elements and styles in scientific thought.

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Preface	p. xiii
The Origins of Scientific Cosmology
The Astronomy of Ancient Greece	p. 3
The Motions of Stars, Suns, and Planets	p. 3
Plato's Problem	p. 5
The Aristotelian System	p. 6
How Big Is the Earth?	p. 8
The Heliocentric Theory	p. 10
Modified Geocentric Theories	p. 11
The Success of the Ptolemaic System	p. 14
Copernicus' Heliocentric Theory	p. 17
Europe Reborn	p. 17
The Copernican System	p. 17
Bracing the System	p. 22
The Opposition to Copernicus's Theory	p. 23
Historic Consequences	p. 25
On the Nature of Scientific Theory	p. 27
The Purpose of Theories	p. 27
The Problem of Change: Atomism	p. 30
Theories of Vision	p. 31
Criteria for a Good Theory in Physical Science	p. 35
Kepler's Laws	p. 40
The Life of Johannes Kepler	p. 40
Kepler's First Law	p. 41
Kepler's Second Law	p. 43
Kepler's Third Law	p. 45
Kepler's Theory of Vision	p. 46
The New Concept of Physical Law	p. 47
Galileo and the New Astronomy	p. 50
The Life of Galileo	p. 50
The Telescopic Evidences for the Copernican System	p. 52
Toward a Physical Basis for the Heliocentric System	p. 54
Science and Freedom	p. 58
The Study of Motion
Mathematics and the Description of Motion	p. 63
Rene Descartes	p. 63
Constant Velocity	p. 65
The Concept of Average Speed	p. 67
Instantaneous Speed	p. 68
Acceleration	p. 70
Oresme's Graphical Proof of the Mean-speed Theorem	p. 72
Equations of Motion for Constant Acceleration	p. 73
Galileo and the Kinematics of Free Fall	p. 77
Introduction	p. 77
Aristotelian Physics	p. 78
Galileo's Two New Sciences	p. 80
Galileo's Study of Accelerated Motion	p. 83
Projectile Motion	p. 88
Projectile with Initial Horizontal Motion	p. 88
Introduction to Vectors	p. 91
The General Case of Projectile Motion	p. 93
Applications of the Law of Projectile Motion	p. 96
Galileo's Conclusions	p. 97
Summary	p. 99
Newton's Laws and His System of the World
Newton's Laws of Motion	p. 103
Science in the Seventeenth Century	p. 103
A Short Sketch of Newton's Life	p. 104
Newton's Principia	p. 105
Newton's First Law of Motion	p. 108
Newton's Second Law of Motion	p. 109
Standard of Mass	p. 111
Weight	p. 112
The Equal-Arm Balance	p. 114
Inertial and Gravitational Mass	p. 115
Examples and Applications of Newton's Second Law of Motion	p. 116
Newton's Third Law of Motion	p. 118
Examples and Applications of Newton's Third Law	p. 119
Rotational Motion	p. 123
Kinematics of Uniform Circular Motion	p. 123
Centripetal Acceleration	p. 125
Derivation of the Formula for Centripetal Acceleration and Force	p. 127
The Earth's Centripetal Acceleration and Absolute Distances in the Solar System	p. 128
Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation	p. 131
Derivation of the Law of Universal Gravitation	p. 131
Gravitating Planets and Kepler's Third Law	p. 135
The Cavendish Experiment: The Constant of Gravitation	p. 136
The Masses of the Earth, Sun, and Planets	p. 138
Some Influences on Newton's Work	p. 139
Some Consequences of the Law of Universal Gravitation	p. 140
The Discovery of New Planets Using Newton's Theory of Gravity	p. 144
Bode's Law: An Apparent Regularity in the Positions of the Planets	p. 146
Gravity and the Galaxies	p. 149
"I Do Not Feign Hypotheses"	p. 151
Newton's Place in Modern Science	p. 153
Structure and Method in Physical Science
On the Nature of Concepts	p. 157
Introduction: The Search for Constancies in Change	p. 157
Science and Nonscience	p. 158
The Lack of a Single Method	p. 159
Physical Concepts: Measurement and Definition	p. 161
Physically Meaningless Concepts and Statements	p. 163
Primary and Secondary Qualities	p. 164
Mathematical Law and Abstraction	p. 165
Explanation	p. 167
On the Duality and Growth of Science	p. 170
The Free License of Creativity	p. 170
"Private" Science and "Public" Science	p. 171
The Natural Selection of Physical Concepts	p. 172
Motivation	p. 174
Objectivity	p. 176
Fact and Interpretation	p. 177
How Science Grows	p. 178
Consequences of the Model	p. 180
On the Discovery of Laws	p. 187
Opinions on Scientific Procedure	p. 187
A Sequence of Elements in Formulations of Laws	p. 191
The Limitations of Physical Law	p. 195
The Content of Science: Summary	p. 197
The Laws of Conservation
The Law of Conservation of Mass	p. 203
Prelude to the Conservation Law	p. 203
Steps Toward a Formulation	p. 203
Lavoisier's Experimental Proof	p. 204
Is Mass Really Conserved?	p. 206
The Law of Conservation of Momentum	p. 209
Introduction	p. 209
Definition of Momentum	p. 210
Momentum and Newton's Laws of Motion	p. 212
Examples Involving Collisions	p. 213
Examples Involving Explosions	p. 215
Further Examples	p. 215
Does Light Have Momentum?	p. 216
Angular Momentum	p. 217
The Law of Conservation of Energy	p. 219
Christiaan Huygens and the Kinetic Energy (Vis Viva) Concept	p. 219
Preliminary Questions: The Pile Driver	p. 222
The Concept of Work	p. 223
Various Forms of Energy	p. 224
The Conservation Law: First Form and Applications	p. 226
Extensions of the Conservation Law	p. 229
Historical Background of the Generalized Law of Conservation of Energy: The Nature of Heat	p. 234
Mayer's Discovery of Energy Conservation	p. 239
Joule's Experiments on Energy Conservation	p. 242
General Illustration of the Law of Conservation of Energy	p. 245
Conservation Laws and Symmetry	p. 247
The Law of Dissipation of Energy	p. 251
Newton's Rejection of the "Newtonian World Machine"	p. 251
The Problem of the Cooling of the Earth	p. 253
The Second Law of Thermodynamics and the Dissipation of Energy	p. 256
Entropy and the Heat Death	p. 259
Origins of the Atomic Theory in Physics and Chemistry
The Physics of Gases	p. 265
The Nature of Gases--Early Concepts	p. 265
Air Pressure	p. 267
The General Gas Law	p. 270
Two Gas Models	p. 272
The Atomic Theory of Chemistry	p. 275
Chemical Elements and Atoms	p. 275
Dalton's Model of Gases	p. 276
Properties of Dalton's Chemical Atom	p. 278
Dalton's Symbols for Representing Atoms	p. 279
The Law of Definite Proportions	p. 280
Dalton's Rule of Simplicity	p. 281
The Early Achievements of Dalton's Theory	p. 282
Gay-Lussac's Law of Combining Volumes of Reacting Gases	p. 284
Avogadro's Model of Gases	p. 285
An Evaluation of Avogadro's Theory	p. 288
Chemistry After Avogadro: The Concept of Valence	p. 289
Molecular Weights	p. 292
The Periodic Table of Elements	p. 296
The Search for Regularity in the List of Elements	p. 296
The Early Periodic Table of Elements	p. 297
Consequences of the Periodic Law	p. 301
The Modern Periodic Table	p. 303
The Kinetic-Molecular Theory of Gases	p. 308
Introduction	p. 308
Some Qualitative Successes of the Kinetic- Molecular Theory	p. 310
Model of a Gas and Assumptions in the Kinetic Theory	p. 311
The Derivation of the Pressure Formula	p. 315
Consequences and Verification of the Kinetic Theory	p. 318
The Distribution of Molecular Velocities	p. 322
Additional Results and Verifications of the Kinetic Theory	p. 327
Specific Heats of Gases	p. 329
The Problem of Irreversibility in the Kinetic Theory: Maxwell's Demon	p. 333
The Recurrence Paradox	p. 336
Light and Electromagnetism
The Wave Theory of Light	p. 341
Theories of Refraction and the Speed of Light	p. 341
The Propagation of Periodic Waves	p. 344
The Wave Theory of Young and Fresnel	p. 347
Color	p. 350
Electrostatics	p. 352
Introduction	p. 352
Electrification by Friction	p. 352
Law of Conservation of Charge	p. 353
A Modern Model for Electrification	p. 353
Insulators and Conductors	p. 354
The Electroscope	p. 356
Coulomb's Law of Electrostatics	p. 357
The Electrostatic Field	p. 359
Lines of Force	p. 361
Electric Potential Difference--Qualitative Discussion	p. 362
Potential Difference--Quantitative Discussion	p. 363
Uses of the Concept of Potential	p. 364
Electrochemistry	p. 365
Atomicity of Charge	p. 366
Electromagnetism, X-Rays, and Electrons	p. 369
Introduction	p. 369
Currents and Magnets	p. 369
Electromagnetic Waves and Ether	p. 374
Hertz's Experiments	p. 377
Cathode Rays	p. 379
X-rays and the Turn of the Century	p. 382
The "Discovery of the Electron"	p. 385
The Quantum Theory of Light	p. 388
Continuous Emission Spectra	p. 388
Planck's Empirical Emission Formula	p. 391
The Quantum Hypothesis	p. 392
The Photoelectric Effect	p. 396
Einstein's Photon Theory	p. 398
The Photon-Wave Dilemma	p. 400
Applications of the Photon Concept	p. 402
Quantization in Science	p. 403
The Atom and the Universe in Modern Physics
Radioactivity and the Nuclear Atom	p. 409
Early Research on Radioactivity and Isotopes	p. 409
Radioactive Half-Life	p. 413
Radioactive Series	p. 415
Rutherford's Nuclear Model	p. 417
Moseley's X-Ray Spectra	p. 422
Further Concepts of Nuclear Structure	p. 424
Bohr's Model of the Atom	p. 427
Line Emission Spectra	p. 427
Absorption Line Spectra	p. 428
Balmer's Formula	p. 432
Niels Bohr and the Problem of Atomic Structure	p. 434
Energy Levels in Hydrogen Atoms	p. 435
Further Developments	p. 441
Quantum Mechanics	p. 446
Recasting the Foundations of Physics Once More	p. 446
The Wave Nature of Matter	p. 447
Knowledge and Reality in Quantum Mechanics	p. 451
Systems of Identical Particles	p. 456
Einstein's Theory of Relativity	p. 462
Biographical Sketch of Albert Einstein	p. 462
The FitzGerald-Lorentz Contraction	p. 464
Einstein's Formulation (1905)	p. 467
Galilean Transformation Equations	p. 468
The Relativity of Simultaneity	p. 470
The Relativistic (Lorentz) Transformation Equations	p. 472
Consequences and Examples	p. 474
The Equivalence of Mass and Energy	p. 474
Relativistic Quantum Mechanics	p. 477
The General Theory of Relativity	p. 480
The Origin of the Solar System and the Expanding Universe	p. 487
The Nebular Hypothesis	p. 487
Planetesimal and Tidal Theories	p. 489
Revival of Monistic Theories After 1940	p. 491
Nebulae and Galaxies	p. 494
The Expanding Universe	p. 495
Lemaitre's Primeval Atom	p. 496
Construction of the Elements and the Universe	p. 499
Nuclear Physics in the 1930s	p. 499
Formation of the Elements in Stars	p. 503
Fission and the Atomic Bomb	p. 506
Big Bang or Steady State?	p. 509
Discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Radiation	p. 512
Beyond the Big Bang	p. 513
Thematic Elements and Styles in Science	p. 517
The Thematic Element in Science	p. 517
Themata in the History of Science	p. 520
Styles of Thought in Science and Culture	p. 522
Epilogue	p. 525
Appendixes
Abbreviations and Symbols	p. 531
Metric System Prefixes, Greek Alphabet, Roman Numerals	p. 535
Defined Values, Fundamental Constants and Astronomical Data	p. 537
Conversion Factors	p. 539
Systems of Units	p. 541
Alphabetic List of the Elements	p. 543
Periodic Table of Elements	p. 545
Summary of Some Trigonometric Relations	p. 547
Vector Algebra	p. 551
General Bibliography	p. 555
Credits	p. 559
Index	p. 561
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

Physics, the Human Adventure

From Copernicus to Einstein and Beyond

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