Overview
- Answers the questions "What the World and its parts are made of?", "How?" and "Is there a hidden underlying simplicity in the immerse complexity and diversity?"
- Brief introduction to the characteristic methodology of physics Shows the relationship to natural constants
- Concise introduction to dimensional analysis of relations in physics
- Deep insights into the laws of physics with no more than lower undergraduate level knowledge of physics and mathematics
- Provides convincing evidence that a "little thinking" (Feynman) can go a long way in deriving relations, which otherwise would require an extensive investment of time and effort
- Offers a panoramic view of "the forest" of the physical world complementing thus the usual approach which emphasizes details of particular "trees"
Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Physics (SpringerBriefs in Physics)
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About this book
This book takes the reader for a short journey over the structures of matter showing that their main properties can be obtained even at a quantitative level with a minimum background knowledge. The latter, besides some high school physics and mathematics, consists of the three cornerstones of science presented in chapters 1 to 3, namely the atomic idea, the wave-particle duality, and the minimization of energy as the condition for equilibrium. Dimensional analysis employing the universal constants and combined with “a little imagination and thinking”, to quote Feynman, allows an amazing short-cut derivation of several quantitative results concerning the structures of matter. This book is expected to be of interest to physics, engineering, and other science students and to researchers in physics, material science, chemistry, and engineering who may find stimulating the alternative derivation of several real world results, which sometimes seem to pop out the magician’s hat.
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Keywords
Table of contents (13 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Three Key-Ideas and a Short-Cut
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Front Matter
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Three key-ideas and a short-cut
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Structures Mediated by Strong Interactions
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Front Matter
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Structures mediated by strong interactions
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The Realm of Electromagnetism
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Front Matter
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The realm of electromagnetism
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Gravity at Front Stage
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Front Matter
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Gravity at front stage
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Back Matter
Reviews
From the reviews:
“This book is the first volume of a newly inaugurated collection (Springer Briefs in Physics) and is the outcome of several lectures delivered along the years by the author to a broad audience. It aims to cover some of the main chapters of modern physics by combining short expositions of the basic ideas and worked examples that apparently require a minimum background knowledge.” (Serban Misicu, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1243, 2012)
Authors and Affiliations
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: A Short Journey from Quarks to the Universe
Authors: Eleftherios N. Economou
Series Title: SpringerBriefs in Physics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20089-2
Publisher: Springer Berlin, Heidelberg
eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)
Copyright Information: Eleftherios N. Economou 2011
eBook ISBN: 978-3-642-20089-2Published: 28 June 2011
Series ISSN: 2191-5423
Series E-ISSN: 2191-5431
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIII, 146
Number of Illustrations: 20 b/w illustrations
Topics: Atomic, Molecular, Optical and Plasma Physics, Astrophysics and Astroparticles, Classical and Quantum Gravitation, Relativity Theory, Classical Electrodynamics, Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences