Physics : imagination and reality / P.R. Wallace.

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Print version record.

Physics: Imagination and Reality introduces the reader to major ideas and the conceptual structure of modern physics, by tracing its development from the introduction of fields into physics by Faraday and Maxwell in the last century. Because the approach is historical, the book provides a comprehensive overview of the subjects. It should appeal to anyone interested in a basic understanding of the contemporary physicists view of the physical world. It avoids all but the simplest mathematics and presents ideas and concepts in everyday language. Physics: Imagination and Reality attempts to provide educated citizens with an understanding of contemporary physics and, at the same time, shows that its ideas have a grandeur, a challenge to the imagination and an aesthetic appeal which merit its recognition as an integral part of our culture.

PREFACE; Chapter 1 SCIENCE IN THE MODERN WORLD- SOME OBSERVATIONS; HISTORY IS THE BUNK.; Chapter 2 FUNDAMENTALS OF NEWTONIAN MECHANICS; 2.1. Mass; 2.2. Force; 2.3. M o m e n t um; 2.4. Work and Energy; 2.5. Angular Momentum; 2.6. Law of Universal Gravitation and Kepler's Laws of Planetary Orbits; Chapter 3 TWO SCIENCES MADE ONE: ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM; 3.1. Electricity; 3.2. Fields and Lines of Force; 3.3. Magnetism; Chapter 4 FARADAY, MAXWELL AND ELECTROMAGNETIC THEORY; 4.1. The Contributions of Michael Faraday; 4.2. The Contribution of J.C. Maxwell.

4.3. Prospect and RetrospectChapter 5 RELATIVITY -- THE SPECIAL THEORY; 5.1. Relative Time and the Relativity of Simultaneity; 5.2. The Mount Washington Experiment and Time Dilation; 5.3. Length Contraction; Argument 1; Argument 2; 5.4. Other Relativistic Phenomena: Relativistic Ma.?8 Increase; 5.5. On the Famous Relation E = mc2; 5.6. Does the Existence of Mass Imply Energy?; 5.7. A Digression on the Relation of Mathematics to Physics; 5.8. The Relativistic Doppler Effect; 5.9. On the Addition of Velocities; 5.10. Relativity of Simultaneity; 5.11. More on the Use of Space-time Diagrams.

5.11.1. Time dilation5.11.2. Space (Lorentz) contraction; 5.12. Are Relativistic Phenomena Real?; 5.12.1. From electricity to magnetism by change of reference frame; 5.13. The Twin Paradox4; 5.14. An Alternative Viewpoint on the Twin Paradox; 5.15. The Reality of Relativity -- An Addendum; 5.16. Appendix: The Twin Paradox Elaborated; 5.16.1. How to use the space-time diagram; 1. Let us recall the following established facts:; 2. Here is how the diagram is constructed:; 3. How each observer perceives reality; Chapter 6 THE GENERAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY.

6.1. Early Tests of the Theory: Bending of Light in a Gravitational Field6.2. Gravitational Redshift; 6.3. Advance of the Perihelion of Mercury; 6.4. General Relativity and Geometry; 6.5. Rotating Frames of Reference: Newton's Bucket and Mach's Principle; 6.6. Motion in Rotating Frames of Reference; 6.7. Rotating Systems Seen from an Inertial Frame of Reference; 6.8. Postscripts on Gravitational Redshift and Advance of Perihelion; Chapter 7 COSMOLOGY; 7.1. Measurement of Astronomical Distances; 7.2. Looking Backward: The Big Bang -- 7.3. The Future of the Universe.

7.4. Forms of the ""Missing Mass""7.5. The Microwave Cosmic Background Radiation; 7.6. The ""Paradox"" of the Dark Night Sky; Chapter 8 THE EVOLUTION OF STARS; 8.1. Pulsars (Neutron Stars); 8.2. The Crab Nebula and its Pulsar; Chapter 9 BLACK HOLES; 9.1. Other Features of Black Holes; 9.2. Another Stephen Hawking Theorem; 9.3. Black Holes and the Quantum Theory; Chapter 10 BLACK HOLES IN ASTROPHYSICS; 10.1. Black Holes in Stellar Collapse; 10.2. Quasars and Exploding Galaxies; 10.3. Unravelling the Puzzle of the Quasars; 10.4. The Distribution of Quasars.

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