Kinetic Theory Of Gases, The: An Anthology Of Classic Papers With Historical Commentary

Kinetic Theory Of Gases, The: An Anthology Of Classic Papers With Historical Commentary PDF Author: Stephen G Brush
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 1783261056
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 664

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Book Description
This book introduces physics students and teachers to the historical development of the kinetic theory of gases, by providing a collection of the most important contributions by Clausius, Maxwell and Boltzmann, with introductory surveys explaining their significance. In addition, extracts from the works of Boyle, Newton, Mayer, Joule, Helmholtz, Kelvin and others show the historical context of ideas about gases, energy and irreversibility. In addition to five thematic essays connecting the classical kinetic theory with 20th century topics such as indeterminism and interatomic forces, there is an extensive international bibliography of historical commentaries on kinetic theory, thermodynamics, etc. published in the past four decades.The book will be useful to historians of science who need primary and secondary sources to be conveniently available for their own research and interpretation, along with the bibliography which makes it easier to learn what other historians have already done on this subject.

Kinetic Theory Of Gases, The: An Anthology Of Classic Papers With Historical Commentary

Kinetic Theory Of Gases, The: An Anthology Of Classic Papers With Historical Commentary PDF Author: Stephen G Brush
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 1783261056
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 664

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book introduces physics students and teachers to the historical development of the kinetic theory of gases, by providing a collection of the most important contributions by Clausius, Maxwell and Boltzmann, with introductory surveys explaining their significance. In addition, extracts from the works of Boyle, Newton, Mayer, Joule, Helmholtz, Kelvin and others show the historical context of ideas about gases, energy and irreversibility. In addition to five thematic essays connecting the classical kinetic theory with 20th century topics such as indeterminism and interatomic forces, there is an extensive international bibliography of historical commentaries on kinetic theory, thermodynamics, etc. published in the past four decades.The book will be useful to historians of science who need primary and secondary sources to be conveniently available for their own research and interpretation, along with the bibliography which makes it easier to learn what other historians have already done on this subject.

Anxiety and the Equation

Anxiety and the Equation PDF Author: Eric Johnson
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262546612
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
A man and his equation: the anxiety-plagued nineteenth-century physicist who contributed significantly to our understanding of the second law of thermodynamics. Ludwig Boltzmann's grave in Vienna's Central Cemetery bears a cryptic epitaph: S = k log W. This equation was Boltzmann's great discovery, and it contributed significantly to our understanding of the second law of thermodynamics. In Anxiety and the Equation, Eric Johnson tells the story of a man and his equation: the anxiety-plagued nineteenth-century physicist who did his most important work as he struggled with mental illness. Johnson explains that “S” in Boltzmann's equation refers to entropy, and that entropy is the central quantity in the second law of thermodynamics. The second law is always on, running in the background of our lives, providing a way to differentiate between past and future. We know that the future will be a state of higher entropy than the past, and we have Boltzmann to thank for discovering the equation that underlies that fundamental trend. Johnson, accessibly and engagingly, reassembles Boltzmann's equation from its various components and presents episodes from Boltzmann's life—beginning at the end, with “Boltzmann Kills Himself” and “Boltzmann Is Buried (Not Once, But Twice).” Johnson explains the second law in simple terms, introduces key concepts through thought experiments, and explores Boltzmann's work. He argues that Boltzmann, diagnosed by his contemporaries as neurasthenic, suffered from an anxiety disorder. He was, says Johnson, a man of reason who suffered from irrational concerns about his work, worrying especially about opposition from the scientific establishment of the day. Johnson's clear and concise explanations will acquaint the nonspecialist reader with such seemingly esoteric concepts as microstates, macrostates, fluctuations, the distribution of energy, log functions, and equilibrium. He describes Boltzmann's relationships with other scientists, including Max Planck and Henri Poincaré, and, finally, imagines “an alternative ending,” in which Boltzmann lived on and died of natural causes.

Brownian Motion and Molecular Reality

Brownian Motion and Molecular Reality PDF Author: George E. Smith
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019009804X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Between 1905 and 1913, French physicist Jean Perrin's experiments on Brownian motion ostensibly put a definitive end to the long debate regarding the real existence of molecules, proving the atomic theory of matter. While Perrin's results had a significant impact at the time, later examination of his experiments questioned whether he really gained experimental access to the molecular realm. The experiments were successful in determining the mean kinetic energy of the granules of Brownian motion; however, the values for molecular magnitudes Perrin inferred from them simply presupposed that the granule mean kinetic energy was the same as the mean molecular kinetic energy in the fluid in which the granules move. This stipulation became increasingly questionable in the years between 1908 and 1913, as significantly lower values for these magnitudes were obtained from other experimental results like alpha-particle emissions, ionization, and Planck's blackbody radiation equation. In this case study in the history and philosophy of science, George E. Smith and Raghav Seth here argue that despite doubts, Perrin's measurements were nevertheless exemplars of theory-mediated measurement-the practice of obtaining values for an inaccessible quantity by inferring them from an accessible proxy via theoretical relationships between them. They argue that it was actually Perrin more than any of his contemporaries who championed this approach during the years in question. The practice of theory-mediated measurement in physics had a long history before 1900, but the concerted efforts of Perrin, Rutherford, Millikan, Planck, and their colleagues led to the central role this form of evidence has had in microphysical research ever since. Seth and Smith's study thus replaces an untenable legend with an account that is not only tenable, but more instructive about what the evidence did and did not show.

History of Shock Waves, Explosions and Impact

History of Shock Waves, Explosions and Impact PDF Author: Peter O. K. Krehl
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3540304215
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1298

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Book Description
This unique and encyclopedic reference work describes the evolution of the physics of modern shock wave and detonation from the earlier and classical percussion. The history of this complex process is first reviewed in a general survey. Subsequently, the subject is treated in more detail and the book is richly illustrated in the form of a picture gallery. This book is ideal for everyone professionally interested in shock wave phenomena.

Foundations of Modern Physics

Foundations of Modern Physics PDF Author: Steven Weinberg
Publisher:
ISBN: 1108897886
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg explains the foundations of modern physics in historical context for undergraduates and beyond.

The Lesser-Known Albert Einstein

The Lesser-Known Albert Einstein PDF Author: Luis Navarro Veguillas
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031355687
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 378

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Book Description
This book highlights the numerous important contributions that Einstein made to physics—aside from his relativity theories—and places each of his achievements in the corresponding context, referring en route to the original sources. There are very few publications devoted to Einstein's work outside of relativity. This book aims to fill the gap by exploring the scope of Einstein's contributions on topics including molecular forces, thermostatistics, the photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, molecular currents, critical opalescence, energy quanta, dual structure of radiation, introduction of the photon, and the formulation of the first quantum statistics. The book pays special attention to Einstein's scepticism toward certain ideas that came to light alongside Schrödinger's first formulation of wave mechanics in 1926, also addressing his doubts regarding the probabilistic interpretation of the quantum formalism, an issue closely connected with the hidden variable theories and their implications. The author discusses the early hidden variable theories, whose appearance was largely a result of Einstein's criticism of the orthodox interpretation of quantum formalism. Finally, in an appendix, the author explores the controversy about the possible contribution that Mileva Marić, Albert Einstein's first wife, may have made to some of her husband's main scientific achievements.

Thermal aspects of field theories

Thermal aspects of field theories PDF Author: Adailton Azevêdo Araújo Filho
Publisher: Amazon.com
ISBN: 650046365X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
This book focus on examining the thermodynamic properties of various prominent field theories concerning high-energy and condensed matter physics. We make the usage of the theory of ensembles to perform our analysis. At the beginning, we supply the thermodynamic properties based on the formalism of canonical ensemble to the Aharonov-Bohm quantum ring considering both scenarios: the relativistic and the non-relativistic cases. Next, we construct a model in order to study quantum gases. In this context, we examine bosons, fermions and spinless particles within the grand-canonical ensemble taking into account two different approaches: interacting and noninteracting particles. To corroborate our results, we apply them to the Bose-Einstein condensate and to the helium dimmers. The same approach is applied considering rather Lorentz violation. Moreover, in this context, we also propose two applications to support our theoretical calculations: phosphorene layers and spin precession of quantum gases. Next, the thermodynamic properties are investigated as well to a variety of models/theories (regarding different energy dispersion relations) when the Lorentz symmetry is no longer maintained within the canonical ensemble formalism. To these cases, three distinct thermal scenarios of the universe are considered: the cosmic microwave background, the electroweak epoch, and the inflationary period.

Forces in Physics

Forces in Physics PDF Author: Steven N. Shore
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313038635
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
Force is one of the most elementary concepts that must be understood in order to understand modern science; it is discussed extensively in textbooks at all levels and is a requirement in most science guidelines. It is also one of the most challenging - how could one idea be involved in such disparate physical phenomena as gravity and radioactivity? Forces in Physics helps the science student by explaining how these ideas originally were developed and provides context to the stunning conclusions that scientists over the centuries have arrived at. It covers the history of all of the four traditional fundamental forces - gravity, electromagnetism, weak nuclear force, and the strong nuclear force - and shows how these forces have, over the years, allowed physicists to better understand the nature of the physical world. Forces in Physics: A Historical Perspective traces the evolution of the concept from the earliest days of the Ancient Greeks to the contemporary attempt to form a GUT (Grand Unified Theory): Aristotle and others in Ancient Greece who developed ideas about physical laws and the introduction of forces into nature; Newton and others in the Scientific Revolution who discovered that forces like gravity applied throughout the universe; the 19th century examinations of thermodynamics and the forces of the very small; and 20th century developments—relativity, quantum mechanics, and more advanced physics—that revolutionized the way we understand force. The volume includes a glossary of terms, a timeline of important events, and a bibliography of resources useful for further research.

The Janus Point

The Janus Point PDF Author: Julian Barbour
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465095496
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
In a universe filled by chaos and disorder, one physicist makes the radical argument that the growth of order drives the passage of time -- and shapes the destiny of the universe. Time is among the universe's greatest mysteries. Why, when most laws of physics allow for it to flow forward and backward, does it only go forward? Physicists have long appealed to the second law of thermodynamics, held to predict the increase of disorder in the universe, to explain this. In The Janus Point, physicist Julian Barbour argues that the second law has been misapplied and that the growth of order determines how we experience time. In his view, the big bang becomes the "Janus point," a moment of minimal order from which time could flow, and order increase, in two directions. The Janus Point has remarkable implications: while most physicists predict that the universe will become mired in disorder, Barbour sees the possibility that order -- the stuff of life -- can grow without bound. A major new work of physics, The Janus Point will transform our understanding of the nature of existence.

Kam Story, The: A Friendly Introduction To The Content, History, And Significance Of Classical Kolmogorov-arnold-moser Theory

Kam Story, The: A Friendly Introduction To The Content, History, And Significance Of Classical Kolmogorov-arnold-moser Theory PDF Author: H Scott Dumas
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company
ISBN: 9814556602
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 378

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Book Description
This is a semi-popular mathematics book aimed at a broad readership of mathematically literate scientists, especially mathematicians and physicists who are not experts in classical mechanics or KAM theory, and scientific-minded readers. Parts of the book should also appeal to less mathematically trained readers with an interest in the history or philosophy of science.The scope of the book is broad: it not only describes KAM theory in some detail, but also presents its historical context (thus showing why it was a “breakthrough”). Also discussed are applications of KAM theory (especially to celestial mechanics and statistical mechanics) and the parts of mathematics and physics in which KAM theory resides (dynamical systems, classical mechanics, and Hamiltonian perturbation theory).Although a number of sources on KAM theory are now available for experts, this book attempts to fill a long-standing gap at a more descriptive level. It stands out very clearly from existing publications on KAM theory because it leads the reader through an accessible account of the theory and places it in its proper context in mathematics, physics, and the history of science.