Understanding Physics Book

Part One: Matter and MotionPrologue to Part One Living Ideas Our Place in Time and Space First Things First Aristotle's Universe 1. Motion Matters Motion Galileo A Moving Object Picturing Motion Speed and Velocity Changing the Speed Falling Freely Two New Sciences Falling Objects The Consequences 2. Moving the Earth Astronomy, Motion, and Mechanics The Scientific Revolution Copernicus The Geocentric View Copernicus versus Ptolemy Arguments for the Heliocentric System Arguments against the Heliocentric System Carrying Forth the Revolution New Data New Orbits New Observations Galileo Condemned 3. Understanding Motion A. The Three Laws of Motion Natural Motion and Newton's First Law Forces in Equilibrium More about Vectors Newton's Second Law of Motion Measuring Mass and Force More about Weight, and Weightlessness Newton's Third Law of Motion B. The Three Laws in Action Projectile Motion The Earth Can Move! Galilean Relativity Orbiting Satellites Circular Motion 4. Newton's Unified Theory Newton and Seventeenth-Century Science Isaac Newton Newton's Principia The Inverse-Square Law The Law of Universal Gravitation Newton's Syntheses Newton and Hypotheses The Magnitude of the Gravitational Force The Value of G, and Some Consequences Further Successes The Nature of Newton's Work 5. Conserving Matter and Motion Conservation of Mass Collisions Conservation of Momentum Momentum and Newton's Laws of Motion Isolated Systems Elastic Collisions Leibniz and the Conservation Law Work Work and Kinetic Energy Potential Energy Conservation of Mechanical Energy Forces that Do No Work 6. The Dynamics of Heat Heat as a Form of Energy The Steam Engine and the Industrial Revolution Power and Efficiency of Engines Carnot and the Beginnings of Thermodynamics Arriving at a General Conservation Law The Two Laws of Thermodynamics Faith in the Laws of Thermodynamics 7. Heat: A Matter of Motion A. The Kinetic Theory An Ideal Gas A Model for the Gaseous State The Speeds of Molecules The Sizes of Molecules B. Applying the Kinetic Theory Kinetic-Theory Explanation of the Ideal Gas Law Kinetic-Theory Explanation of the Second Law Maxwell's Demon and the Statistical View of the Second Law Two Challenges 8. Wave Motion A. Waves Wave is a Wave? The Properties of Waves Wave Propagation Periodic Waves When Waves Meet A Two-Source Interference Pattern Standing Waves Wave Fronts and Diffraction Reflection Sound Waves B. Light What is Light? Propagation of Light Reflection and Refraction Interference and Diffraction What Is Color? Why Is the Sky Blue? Polarization The Ether 9. Einstein and Relativity Theory The New Physics Albert Einstein The Relativity Principle Constancy of the Speed of Light Simultaneous Events Relativity of Time Time Dilation Relativity of Length Relativity of Mass Mass and Energy Confirming Relativity Breaking with the Past Part Two. Fields and Atoms Prologue to Part Two A Revolution in Science The Mechanical World View Energy and Atoms 10. Electricity and Magnetism Gilbert's Magnets Electric Charges and Electric Forces Forces and Fields Electric Currents Electric Potential Difference Electric Potential Difference and Current Electric Potential Difference and Power Current Act on Magnets Current Act on Currents Magnetic Fields and Moving Charges 11. The Electric Age Transporting Energy from One Place to Another Faraday's First Electric Motor The Discovery of Electromagnetic Induction Generating Electricity: The Generator Putting Electricity to Work: The Motor The Electric Light Bulb AC versus DC: The Niagara Falls Power Plant The Energy Picture Today Conservation Renewable and Alternative Energy Sources 12. Electromagnetic Waves Faraday's Suggestion Maxwell's Principles of Electromagnetism The Propagation of Electromagnetic Waves Hertz's Experimental Confirmation The Electromagnetic Spectrum What About the Ether Now? 13. Probing the Atom The Periodic Table The Idea of Atomic Structure Cathode Rays The Smallest Charge Thomson's Model of the Atom The Photoelectric Effect Einstein's Theory of the Photoelectric Effect X Rays 14. The Quantum Model of the Atom Spectra of Gases Regularities in the Hydrogen Spectrum Rutherford's Nuclear Model of the Atom Nuclear Charge and Size Bohr's Theory: The Postulates The Size of the Hydrogen Atom Other Consequences of the Bohr Model Bohr Accounts for the Series Spectra of Hydrogen Do Stationary States Really Exist? Constructing the Periodic Table Evaluating the Bohr Model 15. Quantum Mechanics The Quantum The Particle-Like Behavior of Light The Wave-Like Behavior of Particles Constructing Quantum Mechanics The Uncertainty Principle Origins and a Consequence of the Uncertainty Principle The Probability Interpretation The Complementarity Principle Some Reactions 16. Solids Matter The Success of Quantum Mechanics Forming a Solid Quantum Solids Conducting Electrons Banding Together Superconductors Semiconductors Introducing Impurities Semiconductor Devices Transistors Some Applications of Transistors 17. Probing the Nucleus Questions About the Nucleus Becquerel's Discovery The Curies Discover Other Radioactive Elements Identifying the Rays The Charge and Mass of the Rays Rutherford's "Mousetrap" Radioactive Transformations Radioactive Decay Series Decay Rate and Half-Life The Concepts of Isotopes Transformation Rules Summary of Notation for Nuclides and Nuclear Reactions Some Useful Applications of Radioactivity 18. The Nucleus and its Applications The Problem of Nuclear Structure The Proton-Electron Hypothesis The Discovery of Artificial Transmutation The Discovery of the Neutron The Proton-Neutron Model The Neutrino The Need for Particle Accelerators The Energy of Nuclear Binding Nuclear Binding Energy and Stability Nuclear Fission: Discovery Controlling Chain Reactions Nuclear Power Plants Nuclear Weapons Nuclear Fusion Illustration Credits Index