Explaining the Universe
Cód:
491_9780691117447
In this fascinating book, John Charap offers a panoramic view of the physicists world as the twenty-first century opens--a view that is entirely different from the one that greeted the twentieth century. We have learned that the universe is billions of galaxies larger than we imagined--and billions of years older. We know more about how it came to be and what it is. Because of physics, we live in a world of greater danger and more convenience, smaller particles and bigger ideas. Charap introduces these ideas but spares us the math behind them. After a review of the twentieth centurys thorough transformation of physics, he checks in on the latest findings from particle physics, astrophysics, chaos theory, and cosmology. His tour includes ongoing efforts to find the universes missing matter and to account for the first moments after the big bang. Taking readers right to the fields speculative edge, he explains how superstring theory may finally unite quantum mechanics with general relativity to produce a consistent quantum theory of gravity. Along the way, Charap poses the questions that continue to inspire research. Why is the universe flat? Why cant we forecast weather better? Can Schrodingers cat really be simultaneously dead and alive? Why does fractal geometry keep showing up in strange places? Might spacetime have eleven dimensions? What does quantum mechanics mean about the nature of our world? In this books pages, the nonphysicist will accept as commonsensical Heisenbergs uncertainty principle, and physicists can meet across specialties. Students can access physics critical concepts, and poets can learn a new language to describe the universes many wonders. Taking us from the ultraviolet catastrophe that undid the Newtonian world to tomorrows Theory of Everything, Charap brings todays most fascinating science down to Earth, where we can all enjoy it.
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