Author : Robert H. Eather
Publisher :
Page : 344 pages
File Size : 20,83 MB
Release : 1980
Category : Science
ISBN :
Authoritative account written for the general reader.
Author : Lucy Jago
Publisher : Vintage
Page : 244 pages
File Size : 45,6 MB
Release : 2007-12-18
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 0307429091
Science, biography, and arctic exploration coverage in this extraordinary true story of the life and work of Norwegian scientist Kristian Birkeland, the troubled genius who solved the mysteries of one of nature’s most spectacular displays. Captivated by the otherworldly lights of the aurora borealis, Birkeland embarked on a lifelong quest to discover their cause. His pursuit took him to some of the most forbidding landscapes on earth, from the remote snowcapped mountains of Norway to the war-torn deserts of Africa. In the face of rebuke by the scientific establishment, sabotage by a jealous rival, and his own battles with depression and paranoia, Birkeland remained steadfast. Although ultimately vindicated, his theories were unheralded—and his hopes for the Nobel Prize scuttled—at the time of his suspicious death in 1917. The Northern Lights offers a brilliant account of the physics behind the aurora borealis and a rare look inside the mind of one of history's most visionary scientists.
Author : Neil Bone
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 189 pages
File Size : 41,67 MB
Release : 2007-10-14
Category : Science
ISBN : 0387684697
This new book addresses a gap in the literature, offering an explanation of the aurora's causes, how the occurrence of major events may now be predicted, and how amateur observers can go about recording displays. This is the first serious book about aurora written for practical but non-professional observers. It provides a concise accessible description of the various auroral forms and how to record them, illustrated with color images of recent displays. It contains details of 'Space Weather' forecasting websites, how to interpret and use the information given on these, and how to anticipate auroral activity.
Author : Kenneth J. H. Phillips
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 400 pages
File Size : 16,58 MB
Release : 1995-03-30
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780521397889
The Sun has been an object of scientific interest since the time of the ancient Greeks. The vast amounts of observational data acquired in recent years have led to a greatly improved knowledge of the physics of the Sun. With a minimum of technicalities, this book gives an account of what we now know about the Sun's interior, its surface and atmosphere, its relation to the solar system including the earth, and its relation to other stars. The way that solar power is being converted to useful forms of energy is explained. The book is aimed at anyone with a broad science background interested in learning about the latest developments in solar studies, from those at high-school level to the non-specialist professional.
Author : Margaret G. Kivelson
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 594 pages
File Size : 13,6 MB
Release : 1995-04-28
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780521457149
All aspects of space plasmas in the Solar System are introduced and explored in this text for senior undergraduate and graduate students. Introduction to Space Physics provides a broad, yet selective, treatment of the complex interactions of the ionized gases of the solar terrestrial environment. The book includes extensive discussion of the Sun and solar wind, the magnetized and unmagnetized planets, and the fundamental processes of space plasmas including shocks, plasma waves, ULF waves, wave particle interactions, and auroral processes. The text devotes particular attention to space plasma observations and integrates these with phenomenological and theoretical interpretations. Highly coordinated chapters, written by experts in their fields, combine to provide a comprehensive introduction to space physics. Based on an advanced undergraduate and graduate course presented in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles, the text will be valuable to both students and professionals in the field.
Author : John A. Jacobs
Publisher : Elsevier
Page : 827 pages
File Size : 12,70 MB
Release : 2016-01-22
Category : Science
ISBN : 1483288706
Geomagnetism, Volume 4 focuses on the processes, methodologies, technologies, and approaches involved in geomagnetism, including electric fields, solar wind plasma, pulsations, and gravity waves. The selection first offers information on solar wind, magnetosphere, and the magnetopause of the Earth. Discussions focus on magnetopause structure and transfer processes, magnetosphere electric fields, geomagnetically trapped radiation, microstructure of the solar wind plasma, and hydro magnetic fluctuations and discontinuities. The text then examines geomagnetic tail, neutral upper atmosphere, and geomagnetic pulsations and plasma waves in the Earth's magnetosphere. Topics include plasma waves and instabilities in the magnetosphere, waves in a magneto plasma, gravity waves, atmospheric tides, balance equations for mass, momentum and energy, and absorption of solar and particle radiation. The publication takes a look at auroras and physical processes producing magnetosphere substorms and magnetic storms, including aurora theory and morphology, structure of the magnetosphere, and models of magnetosphere substorms. The selection is a valuable source of data for researchers wanting to explore geomagnetism. - Covers upper atmosphere physics, the magnetosphere, and solar wind - Expert team of contributors from all over the world - The fourth volume of the only comprehensive treatise covering all aspects of geomagnetism
Author : May-Britt Kallenrode
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 369 pages
File Size : 23,42 MB
Release : 2013-03-09
Category : Science
ISBN : 3662036533
Observations and physical concepts are interwoven to give basic explanations of phenomena and also show the limitations in these explanations and identify some fundamental questions. Compared to conventional plasma physics textbooks this book focuses on the concepts relevant in the large-scale space plasmas. It combines basic concepts with current research and new observations in interplanetary space and in the magnetospheres. Graduate students and young researchers starting to work in this special field of science, will find the numerous references to review articles as well as important original papers helpful to orientate themselves in the literature. Emphasis is on energetic particles and their interaction with the plasma as examples for non-thermal phenomena, shocks and their role in particle acceleration as examples for non-linear phenomena. This second edition has been updated and extended. Improvements include: the use of SI units; addition of recent results from SOHO and Ulysses; improved treatment of the magnetosphere as a dynamic phenomenon; text restructured to provide a closer coupling between basic physical concepts and observed complex phenomena.
Author : David J. Knudsen
Publisher :
Page : 440 pages
File Size : 20,37 MB
Release : 1990
Category : Ionosphere
ISBN :
Perturbation electric and magnetic fields carry in excess of 10(exp10) to 10(exp12) W of electrical power between the magnetosphere and high-latitude ionosphere. Most of this power is generated by the solar wind. The ionosphere at large spatial and temporal scales acts as a dissipative slab which can be characterized by its height-integrated Pedersen conductivity sigma p, so that the power flux into the ionosphere due to a quasi-static electric field E is given by sigma (pE2) The energy transferred to the ionosphere by time-varying electromagnetic fields in the form of Alfven waves is more difficult to calculate because density and conductivity gradients can reflect energy. Thus, field resonances and standing wave patterns affect the magnitude and altitude distribution of electrical energy dissipation. We use a numerical model to calculate the frequency-dependent electric field reflection coefficient of the ionosphere and show that the ionosphere does not behave as a simple resistive slab for electric field time scales less than a few seconds. Time variation of spacecraft-measured high-latitude electric and perturbation magnetic fields is difficult to distinguish from spatial structuring that has been Doppler-shifted to a non-zero frequency in the spacecraft frame. However, by calculating the frequency-dependent amplitude and phase relations between fluctuating electric and magnetic fields we are able to show that low frequency fields (
Author : L Christophorou
Publisher : Elsevier
Page : 716 pages
File Size : 33,16 MB
Release : 2012-12-02
Category : Science
ISBN : 0323143016
Electron-Molecule Interactions and Their Applications, Volume 1 presents a comprehensive account of electron-molecule interactions in high- and ultra-high-pressure gases and liquids. Topics covered include elastic scattering of electrons by molecules; excitation, ionization, and dissociation of molecules by electron impact; electron-molecule resonances; and electron attachment and detachment processes. This volume is comprised of seven chapters and begins with a discussion on non-resonant elastic scattering and rotational excitation of molecules by electrons, followed by a review of non-resonant vibrational and electronic excitation. The reader is then introduced to resonance effects in electron scattering; electron-induced ionization and dissociation of molecules; and electron-molecule resonances. The ionization mechanisms and types of ions produced are highlighted, along with differential ionization cross sections. The final two chapters focus on electron attachment and detachment processes, paying particular attention to modes of electron capture by molecules such as via negative-ion resonant states. The collisional dynamics for a few selected atomic reactants are also described. Physicists will find this book extremely helpful.
Author : William Burns
Publisher : Manchester University Press
Page : 239 pages
File Size : 13,60 MB
Release : 2024-07-30
Category : History
ISBN : 1526185660
Monstrous births, rains of blood, apparitions of battles in the sky – people in early modern England found all of these events to carry important religious and political meanings. In An age of wonders, available in paperback for the first time, William E. Burns explores the process by which these events became religiously and politically insignificant in the Restoration period. The story involves the establishment of early modern science, the shift from ‘enthusiastic’ to reasonable religion, and the fierce political combat between the Whigs and the Tories. This historical study is based on close readings of a variety of primary sources, both print and manuscript. Burns claims that prodigies lost their religious meaning and became subjects of scientific enquiry as a result of political struggles, first by the supporters of the restored monarchy and the Church of England against Protestant dissenters, and then by the Whig defenders of the Revolution of 1688 against the Tories and the Jacobites. By integrating religious and political history with the history of science, An age of wonders will be of great use to those working in the field of early modern history.
