Mysterious Motions and Other Intriguing Phenomena in Physics


Book Description

This book dwells upon intriguing examples and situations that are not generally analysed or discussed in standard textbook and formal couses in physics. In this book, a majority of the examples are from classical physics, which forms an essential part of our education. Each of the six chapters covers a major area of physics, and is subdivided into sections, each of which has a runing theme.







QED


Book Description

Feynman’s bestselling introduction to the mind-blowing physics of QED—presented with humor, not mathematics Celebrated for his brilliantly quirky insights into the physical world, Nobel laureate Richard Feynman also possessed an extraordinary talent for explaining difficult concepts to the public. In this extraordinary book, Feynman provides a lively and accessible introduction to QED, or quantum electrodynamics, an area of quantum field theory that describes the interactions of light with charged particles. Using everyday language, spatial concepts, visualizations, and his renowned Feynman diagrams instead of advanced mathematics, Feynman clearly and humorously communicates the substance and spirit of QED to the nonscientist. With an incisive introduction by A. Zee that places Feynman’s contribution to QED in historical context and highlights Feynman’s uniquely appealing and illuminating style, this Princeton Science Library edition of QED makes Feynman’s legendary talks on quantum electrodynamics available to a new generation of readers.




Beyond Weird


Book Description

“Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it.” Since Niels Bohr said this many years ago, quantum mechanics has only been getting more shocking. We now realize that it’s not really telling us that “weird” things happen out of sight, on the tiniest level, in the atomic world: rather, everything is quantum. But if quantum mechanics is correct, what seems obvious and right in our everyday world is built on foundations that don’t seem obvious or right at all—or even possible. An exhilarating tour of the contemporary quantum landscape, Beyond Weird is a book about what quantum physics really means—and what it doesn’t. Science writer Philip Ball offers an up-to-date, accessible account of the quest to come to grips with the most fundamental theory of physical reality, and to explain how its counterintuitive principles underpin the world we experience. Over the past decade it has become clear that quantum physics is less a theory about particles and waves, uncertainty and fuzziness, than a theory about information and knowledge—about what can be known, and how we can know it. Discoveries and experiments over the past few decades have called into question the meanings and limits of space and time, cause and effect, and, ultimately, of knowledge itself. The quantum world Ball shows us isn’t a different world. It is our world, and if anything deserves to be called “weird,” it’s us.




Time, Space, and Number in Physics and Psychology (Psychology Revivals)


Book Description

The crux of the debate between proponents of behavioral psychology and cognitive psychology focuses on the issue of accessibility. Cognitivists believe that mental mechanisms and processes are accessible, and that their inner workings can be inferred from experimental observations of behavior. Behaviorists, on the contrary, believe that mental processes and mechanisms are inaccessible, and that nothing important about them can be inferred from even the most cleverly designed empirical studies. One argument that is repeatedly raised by cognitivists is that even though mental processes are not directly accessible, this should not be a barrier to unravelling the nature of the inner mental processes and mechanisms. Inference works for other sciences, such as physics, so why not psychology? If physics can work so successfully with their kind of inaccessibility to make enormous theoretical progress, then why not psychology? As with most previous psychological debates, there is no "killer argument" that can provide an unambiguous resolution. In its absence, author William Uttal explores the differing properties of physical and psychological time, space, and mathematics before coming to the conclusion that there are major discrepancies between the properties of the respective subject matters that make the analogy of comparable inaccessibilities a false one. This title was first published in 2008.




The Aharonov-Bohm Effect


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Boltzmanns Atom


Book Description

In 1900 many eminent scientists did not believe atoms existed, yet within just a few years the atomic century launched into history with an astonishing string of breakthroughs in physics that began with Albert Einstein and continues to this day. Before this explosive growth into the modern age took place, an all-but-forgotten genius strove for forty years to win acceptance for the atomic theory of matter and an altogether new way of doing physics. Ludwig Boltz-mann battled with philosophers, the scientific establishment, and his own potent demons. His victory led the way to the greatest scientific achievements of the twentieth century. Now acclaimed science writer David Lindley portrays the dramatic story of Boltzmann and his embrace of the atom, while providing a window on the civilized world that gave birth to our scientific era. Boltzmann emerges as an endearingly quixotic character, passionately inspired by Beethoven, who muddled through the practical matters of life in a European gilded age. Boltzmann's story reaches from fin de siècle Vienna, across Germany and Britain, to America. As the Habsburg Empire was crumbling, Germany's intellectual might was growing; Edinburgh in Scotland was one of the most intellectually fertile places on earth; and, in America, brilliant independent minds were beginning to draw on the best ideas of the bureaucratized old world. Boltzmann's nemesis in the field of theoretical physics at home in Austria was Ernst Mach, noted today in the term Mach I, the speed of sound. Mach believed physics should address only that which could be directly observed. How could we know that frisky atoms jiggling about corresponded to heat if we couldn't see them? Why should we bother with theories that only told us what would probably happen, rather than making an absolute prediction? Mach and Boltzmann both believed in the power of science, but their approaches to physics could not have been more opposed. Boltzmann sought to explain the real world, and cast aside any philosophical criteria. Mach, along with many nineteenth-century scientists, wanted to construct an empirical edifice of absolute truths that obeyed strict philosophical rules. Boltzmann did not get on well with authority in any form, and he did his best work at arm's length from it. When at the end of his career he engaged with the philosophical authorities in the Viennese academy, the results were personally disastrous and tragic. Yet Boltzmann's enduring legacy lives on in the new physics and technology of our wired world. Lindley's elegant telling of this tale combines the detailed breadth of the best history, the beauty of theoretical physics, and the psychological insight belonging to the finest of novels.




Atom Land


Book Description

Journey into an unseen world—and to the frontiers of human knowledge Welcome to Atom Land, a subatomic realm governed by the laws of particle physics. Here, electromagnetism is a highway system; the strong force, a railway; the weak force, an airline. With award-winning physicist Jon Butterworth as your guide, you’ll set sail from Port Electron in search of strange new terrain—from the Isle of Quarks to the very edge of Antimatter. Journey into an unseen world—and to the frontiers of human knowledge.




The Mystery Of Ufos


Book Description

Title: The Mystery Of Ufos Table of Contents I. EXPLORATION AND SEARCH 1. The Search for Extraterrestrial Life in the Solar System 2. Exploration of Mars for Signs of Life 3. Europe and the Possibility of Life in Its Underground Oceans 4. The Hunt for Habitable Planets in Other Star Systems II. PHENOMENA AND SIGHTINGS ON EARTH 5. The Mysterious UFOs and Their Impact on Society 6. Famous Cases of UFO Sightings 7. Conventional Explanations for UFO Sightings 8. UFOs That Defy Conventional Explanation 9. Alien Abductions and Their Testimonies 10. Hypnotic Regression and Memory Recovery 11. The Alien Abduction Controversy 12. Crop Circles : Extraterrestrial Art Or Message 13. Origins and Characteristics of Crop Circles 14. Theories About the Creation of Crops Circles 15. Crop Circles And Their Influence On Popular Culture III. CONSPIRACY AND CONCEALMENT THEORIES 16. Alien Conspiracy Theories 17. The Extraterrestrial Evidence Concealment Conspiracy 18. Governments And Their Alleged Relationship With Extraterrestrials 19. Aliens And The Secret Control Of Earth 20. The Influence of Science Fiction on Conspiracy Theories IV. SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION 21. The Lack of Solid Evidence of Extraterrestrial Life 22. The Current State of the Search for Life in the Universe 23. The Challenges of Finding Life Beyond Earth 24. Technological Advances in the Search for Extraterrestrial Life 25. The Limits of Today's Space Exploration 26. Expectations and Hopes in the Search for Extraterrestrial Life V. PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS AND PUBLIC PERCEPTION 27. The Science Behind UFO Sightings 28. Natural Phenomena That Can Be Confused With UFOs 29. Public Perception of Extraterrestrial Phenomena 30. The Future of Research into Extraterrestrial Phenomena




Physics for Mathematicians


Book Description