What is the connection between this painting and physics?

In Marcel Duchamp’s 1912 painting, we view a woman at several times during her descent of a staircase, very much like Einstein’s spacetime diagrams. The woman’s features are uncertain, abstract, like a blurred photographic time exposure of a moving figure.

Historians believe it was no coincidence that abstract art and modern physics both originated during 1900- 1914. Early 20^th century cubist painters such as Duchamp and Pablo Picasso experienced the same currents of thought that influenced the theory of relativity and the origins of quantum physics. Albert Einstein’s unification of space and time into a single abstract “spacetime” with time as the fourth dimension was similar to Picasso’s and Duchamp’s portrayal of reality as abstract volumes or “cubes” viewed from several perspectives and times simultaneously.

Such connections between art and science shouldn’t be viewed from a causal perspective. It’s not as though Duchamp decided to inject relativity or quantum physics into his paintings. Instead, new ideas about space, time, and determinism were in the air, and perspective people such as Einstein, Picasso, and Duchamp reflected these ideas in their own creations.

What professors are saying:

“This is close to ideal for true liberal arts students, especially those who want to make the world better, or at least resist unhealthy trends, and who want to argue about the things they care about. The author has a passion for relevance and environmental issues.”

-Doanld Franceshetti, University of Memphis

“Hobson’s textbook is both well named and well constructed. Its coverage of modern physics presents a conceptual grasp of some of the most exciting developments in the physics of our day.”

-Leon M. Lederman, Pritzker Professor of Science, IIT (Illinois Institute of Technology); Resident Scholar, IMSA (Illinois Math and Science Academy); Director Emeritus, Fermilab; and Nobel Laureate Physics, 1988.

“Its an excellent introduction at a conceptual level to some of the basic principles of physics. He does an excellent job of developing his themes of the scientific process, the social context of physics, energy, and the significance of post-Newtonian physics.”

-Louis Schwartzkopf , Minnesota State University

“It has the best (and the most modern) discussion of quantum mechanics that I’ve ever seen-much clearer than some of the famous writers.”

- Marc Sher, William and Mary

“When I examined the first edition of Hobson’s Physics Concepts and Connections, I thought that it was the best of many physics texts for non-scientist that I had seen, and the later editions have further improvements over the first. He presents a remarkably comprehensive survey of the physical world with lucidity, accuracy, and- above all- fascination. Hobson unforgettably reminds his readers of the social implications of physics and the inseparability of knowledge and values.”

 - Abner Shimon, Boston University

BRIEF CONTENTS

PART 1 Prelude: Of Stars and Atoms 1

CHAPTER 1 The Way of Science: Experience and Reason 2

CHAPTER 2 Atoms: The Nature of Things 29

PART 2 The Newtonian Universe: A Clockwork Kingdom 51

CHAPTER 3 How Things Move: Galileo Asks the Right Questions 52

CHAPTER 4 Why Things Move as They Do 70

CHAPTER 5 Newton’s Universe 90

PART 3 Transition to the New Physics 115

CHAPTER 6 Conservation of Energy: You Can’t Get Ahead– 116

CHAPTER 7 Second Law of Thermodynamics: –and You Can’t Even Break Even 135

CHAPTER 8 Light and Electromagnetism 162

CHAPTER 9 Electromagnetic Radiation and Global Climate Change 190

PART 4 The Post-Newtonian Universe: The Observer Intrudes 219

CHAPTER 10 The Special Theory of Relativity 220 

CHAPTER 11 The General Theory of Relativity and the New Cosmology 248

CHAPTER 12 The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence 272

CHAPTER 13 The Quantum Idea 298 CHAPTER 14 The Quantum Universe 320

PART 5 Within the Atom: Fire of the Nucleus, Fire of the Sun 353

CHAPTER 15 The Nucleus and Radioactivity: A New Force– 354

CHAPTER 16 Fusion and Fission: –and a New Energy 380

CHAPTER 17 The Energy Challenge 408

CHAPTER 18 Quantum Fields: Relativity Meets the Quantum 439

Epilogue: Summing Up 469

ANSWERS TO ODD-NUMBERED CONCEPTUAL EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS A-1

GLOSSARY G-1

PHOTO CREDITS P-1

INDEX I-1

CONTENTS

PREFACE xi

ABOUT THE AUTHOR xvii

PART 1 PRELUDE OF STARS AND ATOMS 1

CHAPTER 1The Way of Science: Experience and Reason 2

1.1 Stardust: An Invitation to Science 2

1.2* Observing the Night Sky 4

1.3* Ancient Greek Theories: An Earth-Centered Universe 8

1.4* Copernicus’s Theory: A Sun-Centered Universe 14

1.5* Kepler’s Theory: A Sun-Focused Universe 17

1.6* Science: A Dialogue Between Nature and Mind 19

1.7* The Copernican Revolution: Dawn of the Modern Age 23

Answers, concepts, review, exercises 26

CHAPTER 2 Atoms: The Nature of Things 29

2.1 The Greek Atom: The Smallest Pieces 29

2.2 Atoms and Molecules 32

2.3 The Atom’s Explanatory Power: The Odor of Violets 34

2.4 Metric Distances and Powers of 10 37

2.5 The Incredible Smallness of Atoms 38

2.6 Atomic Materialism: Atoms and Empty Space 41

2.7 Three Atomic Models: Greek, Planetary, and Quantum 43

2.8 Chemistry and Life: What Did Atoms Ever Do for You? 44 Answers, concepts, review, exercises 47

PART 2 THE NEWTONIAN UNIVERSE: A CLOCKWORK KINGDOM 51

CHAPTER 3How Things Move: Galileo Asks the Right Questions 52

3.1 Aristotelian Physics: A Commonsense View 53

3.2 How Do We Know? Difficulties with Aristotelian Physics 53

3.3 The Law of Inertia: The Foundation of Newtonian Physics 56

3.4 Measuring Motion: Speed and Velocity 59

3.5 Measuring Motion: Acceleration 61 3.6* Falling 63

Answers, concepts, review, exercises, problems 66

CHAPTER 4 Why Things Move as They Do 70

4.1 Force: Why Things Accelerate 71

4.2 Connecting Force and Acceleration 72

4.3 Newton’s Law of Motion: Centerpiece of Newtonian Physics 75

4.4 Weight: Gravity’s Force on a Body 78

4.5* The Law of Force Pairs: You Can’t Do Just One Thing 79

4.6* Newton Meets the Automobile 81

Answers, concepts, review, exercises, problems 85

CHAPTER 5 Newton’s Universe 90

5.1 The Idea of Gravity: The Apple and the Moon 91

5.2 The Law of Gravity: Moving the Farthest Star 94

5.3* Gravitational Collapse: The Evolution of the Solar System 99

5.4* Gravitational Collapse: The Deaths of More Massive Stars 102

5.5 The Newtonian Worldview: A Democratic, Mechanical Universe 106

5.6 Beyond Newton: Limitations of Newtonian Physics 108

Answers, concepts, review, exercises, problems 110

PART 3 TRANSITION TO THE NEW PHYSICS 115

CHAPTER 6 Conservation of Energy: You Can’t Get Ahead— 116

6.1 Work: Using a Force to Move Something 117

6.2 Work and Energy: A Simple Example 118

6.3 A Quantitative Look at Energy 119

6.4 Energy: The Ability to Do Work 121

6.5 The Law of Energy: Energy Is Forever 123

6.6 Transformations of Energy 125

6.7 Power: The Quickness of Energy Transformation 127

Answers, concepts, review, exercises, problems 130

CHAPTER 7 Second Law of Thermodynamics: —and You Can’t Even Break Even 135

7.1 Heating 136

7.2 Heat Engines: Using Thermal Energy to Do Work 137

7.3 Energy Quality: Things Run Down 140

7.4* The Law of Entropy: Why You Can’t Break Even 140

7.5* The Automobile 143

7.6* Transportation Efficiency 147

7.7 The Steam–Electric Power Plant 149

7.8* Resource Use and Exponential Growth 152

Answers, concepts, review, exercises, problems 157

CHAPTER 8 Light and Electromagnetism 162

8.1 Waves: Something Else That Travels 163

8.2 Interference: A Behavior Unique to Waves 165

8.3 Light: Particles or Wave? 168

8.4 Electricity: Part of the Electromagnetic Force 171

8.5 Magnetism: The Other Part 172

8.6 The Electric Atom 174

8.7 The Planetary Model of the Atom: A Useful Theory 178

8.8 Force Fields: A Disturbance of Space 181

Answers, concepts, review, exercises, problems 185

CHAPTER 9 Electromagnetic Radiation and Global Climate Change 190

9.1 The Electromagnetic Wave Theory of Light 190

9.2 The Decline of the Newtonian Universe 195

9.3 The Complete Spectrum 196

9.4 Solar Radiation: The Light from Our Star 199

9.5* Global Ozone Depletion: A Vulnerable Planet 201

9.6* Global Warming: Provoking the Beast 206

Answers, concepts, review, exercises, problems 215

PART 4THE POST-NEWTONIAN UNIVERSE: THE OBSERVER INTRUDES 219

CHAPTER 10 The Special Theory of Relativity 220

10.1 Einstein: Rebel with a Cause 221

10.2 Galilean Relativity: Relativity According to Newtonian Physics 222

10.3 The Principle of Relativity 224

10.4 The Constancy of Lightspeed: Strange But True 225

10.5 The Relativity of Time 229

10.6 Time Travel: You Can’t Go Home Again 233

10.7 The Relativity of Space and Mass 235

10.8 E = mc2: Energy Has Mass, and Mass Has Energy 239

Answers, concepts, review, exercises, problems 243

CHAPTER 11 *The General Theory of Relativity and the New Cosmology 248

11.1 Einstein’s Gravity: The General Theory of Relativity 249

11.2 The Big Bang 254

11.3 The Possible Geometries of the Universe 256

11.4 The Shape of the Universe 258

11.5 Dark Matter 259

11.6 The Accelerating Universe and Dark Energy 261

11.7 Cosmic Inflation and a Brief History of the Universe 264

Answers, concepts, review, exercises 269

CHAPTER 12 *The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence 272

12.1 Are There Other “Good” Places for Life? 273

12.2 Does Life Originate on “Good” Planets? 276

12.3 Is Intelligence a Characteristic Feature of Life? 280

12.4 Does Intelligent Life Develop Technology? 282

12.5 Interstellar Communication and Travel: Might We Make Contact? 283

12.6 Fermi’s Question: Where Is Everybody? 286

12.7 UFOs and Pseudoscience 289

Answers, concepts, review, exercises, problems 295

CHAPTER 13 The Quantum Idea 298

13.1 The Post-Newtonian Revolution 298

13.2 The Quantization of Light 300

13.3 The Quantum World 304

13.4 Electron Interference: The Waviness of Matter 306

13.5 The Quantum Mystery of Matter 312

13.6 Nature Is Nonlocal, and Uncertain 313

Answers, concepts, review, exercises, problems 317

CHAPTER 14 The Quantum Universe 320

14.1 The Uncertainty Principle: The Future Is Not Determined by the Past 320

14.2 The Effect of Observation 325 14.3* Quantum Nonlocality: Spooky Action at a Distance 330

14.4 What Does It Mean? Quantum Reality 334

14.5 Toward a Post-Newtonian Worldview 336

14.6* How Do We Know? Observing Atomic Spectra 338

14.7* The Quantum Atom 341

Answers, concepts, review, exercises, problems 348

PART 5 WITHIN THE ATOM: FIRE OF THE NUCLEUS, FIRE OF THE SUN 353

CHAPTER 15 The Nucleus and Radioactivity: A New Force— 354

15.1 Nuclear Forces: The Third Glue 355

15.2 Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Structure 356

15.3 Radioactive Decay: Spontaneous Nuclear Disintegration 358

15.4 Half-Life: When Does a Nucleus Decay? 362

15.5* Radioactive Dating: When Did We Come From? 364

15.6* Human Exposure to Ionizing Radiation 368

15.7* Risk Assessment: Dealing with Risk in a Technological Society 372

 Answers, concepts, review, exercises, problems 376

CHAPTER 16 Fusion and Fission: —and a New Energy 380

16.1 Fusion: Fire of the Sun 381

16.2 The Nuclear Energy Curve 384

16.3 The Origin of the Elements: We’re Made of Star Stuff 386

16.4 The Discovery of Fission: Passage to a New Age 387

16.5 The Chain Reaction: Unlocking Nuclear Forces 391

16.6* The Manhattan Project and Fission Weapons 394

16.7* Fusion Weapons: Star Fire on Earth 399

16.8* Nuclear Terrorism 401

Answers, concepts, review, exercises, problems 404

CHAPTER 17 *The Energy Challenge 408

17.1 A Brief History of Energy 409

17.2 Energy Use Today and Tomorrow 412

17.3 Nuclear Power: How It Works 417

17.4 Technology Assessment: An Example 420

17.5 Issues for Nuclear Power 423

17.6 Future Energy Options: Renewables 426

17.7 Future Energy Options: Using Less 431

Answers, concepts, review, exercises, problems 435

CHAPTER 18 *Quantum Fields: Relativity Meets the Quantum 439

18.1 Quantized Fields: The Reason There Are Particles 439

18.2 Quantum Electrodynamics: The Strange Theory of Electrons and Light 441

18.3 Antimatter 444

18.4 Electroweak Unification and Neutrinos 449

18.5 The Strong Force and Quarks 454

18.6 Quantum Gravity: Physics at the Planck Scale 460

Answers, concepts, review, exercises, problems 466

Epilogue: Summing Up 469

ANSWERS TO ODD-NUMBERED CONCEPTUAL EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS A-1

GLOSSARY G-1

PHOTO CREDITS P-1

INDEX I-1  \n

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