Energy and the unexpected
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Energy and the unexpected
Oxford University Press, 2002
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [141]-142) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Only in the early 19th century did scientists recognize that energy is a distinct physical quantity. Since then, however, it has played a pivotal role in the advancement and the understanding of science and in technology. From the steam engine to the equation e=mc2 and beyond, the concept of energy offers an essential key to our understanding of the Universe. In this entertaining and highly readable book, Professor Laidler explains the concept of energy and its characteristics as they were discovered over the past two centuries. He describes how energy transformations, as interpreted by the second law of thermodynamics, are not absolute but can only be understood in terms of chance and probability. After looking at energy on a small scale and then at the scale of the Universe itself, he shows how these topics are linked with chaos theory according to which the unexpected is inevitable. Written for the general reader with an interest in science, the development and interrelationship of the concepts of energy, chance and chaos are set in their historical context, and illuminated by accounts of the key scientists involved and of some of their investigations.
Table of Contents
- Preface
- A few points about mathematics
- 1. Steam engines and artillery
- 2. Red blood and electric motors
- 3. Steam engines revisited
- 4. The second law of thermodynamics
- 5. Maxwell's demon
- 6. Chance and the distribution of energy
- 7. Packets of energy
- 8. Energy equals mc2
- 9. Energy and the universe
- 10. Chaos: the science of the unexpected
- Suggested reading
- Index
by "Nielsen BookData"
