E-Book Overview
We ask question after question of an indifferent universe that would just as soon remain mute; and slowly, patiently, one sentence at a time, we write our own version of the book of nature. It is called science, from the Latin word for knowledge, and it is a book everybody should read. With simplicity and elegance, Knowing interprets the book of nature for curious readers of all sorts--but especially for those hoping to appreciate the beauty of physics without getting lost in the mathematics. Indeed, there is a world of scientific understanding in the pages of this gracefully written and inviting book, where hundreds of little diagrams substitute for the equations that physicists otherwise need to tell their tale. Readers will discover the way things work: how big things (like Earth or Moon) come from small things (like quarks and electrons), how tiny particles push and pull, and how the world hangs in the balance. We learn how an "unbiased" observer and a fixed speed of light, nothing else, conjure up E=mc2 and four-dimensional space-time. We see how Newton's clockwork universe of unwavering determination differs (but not in every respect) from Heisenberg's quantum universe of hazy uncertainty. And we see how a world of chaos throws a wrench into everybody's mechanical ideal. From tiny atoms to vast galaxies, the universe is ours to explore and to know: its particles, its interactions, its laws, its unending surprises. Heavily illustrated with explanatory drawings and diagrams--perhaps no other science book for general readers uses diagrams so extensively--Knowing takes us to the edge of modern science, allowing us to peer in further than we would have dreamed possible.
E-Book Content
KNOWING
"Still and all," added Pencroff, "there's so much knowledge in the world. What a fat book could be made, Mr. Cyrus, out of everything we know!" "And an even fatter one out of everything we don't," answered Cyrus Smith. —JULES VERNE, The Mysterious Island
KNOWING The Nature of Physical Law
Michael Munowitz
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam
Copyright © 2005 by Michael Munowitz Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.
1.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Munowitz, M. (Michael) Knowing : the nature of physical law/ Michael Munowitz. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN-13: 978-0-19-516737-5 (cloth : acid-free paper) ISBN-10: 0-19-516737-6 (cloth : acid-free paper) Physical laws—Popular works. 2. Physics—Popular works. I. Title. QC24.5.M864 2005 530—dc 22 2005008494
1 35798642 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper Illustrations, book design, layout, and typography by the author
Contents Preface ... the book of nature
xi
1. GREAT EXPECTATIONS
1
... to know all there is to know
2. TIES THAT BIND
8
...four fundamental interactions
3. IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
42
... reference f