Title:
Poetry Of The Universe : A Mathematical Exploration of the Cosmos
Author:
Osserman, Robert.
Publisher: New York : Anchor Books, 1995.
Subjects: Mathematics--Popular works.
Description:
xiv, 210 p. : ill. ; 20 cm.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN: 0385473400
Quotes:
In reference to the Hubble's Law "It is very likely true that
not since Newton formulated his law of universal gravity has any
comparably simple physical law led to such an astonishing series
of consequences"
Title: The Character of Physical Law.
Author: Feynman, Richard Phillips.
Publisher: Cambridge, Mass. : M.I.T. Press, 1965.
Subjects: Physics.
Description: Messenger Lectures given by Feynmen at Cornell University
in
1964 173 p. : ill. ; 21 cm.
Series Title: Messenger lectures on the evolution of civilization
; 1964.
ISBN: 0262060167 (hdc.)
Quotes: "Even the artists appreciate sunsets, and the ocean waves
and he march of the stars across the heavens. There is then some reason
to talk of other things sometimes. As we look into these things we
get an aesthetic pleasure from them directly on observation. There
is also a rhythm and a pattern between the phenomena of nature which
is not apparent to the eye, but only to the eye of analysis; and it
is these rhythms and patterns which we call Physical Laws." (p.
13)
While
tethered to the terrestrial jugglers are prone to test finer points
of the laws of gravitation on a daily basis. While
speaking about the laws of ravitation Feynman reminds us that "it
has been called 'the greatest generalization achieved by the human
mind.'"
Title: Gravity
Author: George Gamow
Publisher: Dover (1st Edition was a Doubleday).
Binding: Soft cover
Edition: 1st Edition
Format: Paperback (Illustrated), 157 pages
Publication Date: January 2002 (1st 1962)
Publisher: Dover
ISBN: 0486425630 (1st Edition was ISBN: 0385015771)
After
reading this book I just have to say that Gravity is a very simple
law that quickly becomes very complicated. The first sentence of the
preface kicks off with "Gravity rules the universe." To
help us grapple with understanding of gravity Gamow starts by telling
us the story of Galileo watching a candelabrum swinging to and fro
and noticing each swing distance get shorter they still took the same
amount of time. This lead to his famous discovery that objects with
identical densities but different weights fall at the same velocity.
Using plain English, graphs, drawings (in his own hand), and simple
math Gamow lays out gravitational phenomena.
Using
the moon and an apple describes how Newton points out that size does
matter. After tracking the moon's orbit and doing some math Newton
concluded that terrestrial force of gravity decreases the farther
you travel away from the earth. Newton compared these forces with
the attraction between two apples and did lots of math and conjecturing.
Eventually he stated his Universal Law of Gravitation: "Every
two material objects attract each other with a force proportional
to the product of their masses, and inversely proportional to the
square of the distance between them." Newton died before Henry
Cavendish demonstrated this with equipment that can be found in many
physics lecture rooms today. Finally, at the end of chapter 2 we learn
that the British physicist C. V. Boys calculated the weight of the
world to be 6.10**24 kilograms.