Energy, the Subtle Concept : The Discovery of Feynman's Blocks From Leibniz to Einstein

Energy Is At The Heart Of Physics (and Of Huge Importance To Society) And Yet No Book Exists Specifically To Explain It, And In Simple Terms. In Tracking The History Of Energy, This Book Is Filled With The Thrill Of The Chase, The Mystery Of Smoke And Mirrors, And Presents A Fascinating Human-interest Story. Following The History Provides A Crucial Aid To Understanding: This Book Explains The Intellectual Revolutions Required To Comprehend Energy, Revolutions As Profound As Those Stemming From Relativity And Quantum Theory. Texts By Descartes, Leibniz, Bernoulli, D'alembert, Lagrange, Hamilton, Boltzmann, Clausius, Carnot And Others Are Made Accessible, And The Engines Of Watt And Joule Are Explained. Many Fascinating Questions Are Covered, Including: - Why Just Kinetic And Potential Energies - Is One More Fundamental Than The Other? - What Are Heat, Temperature And Action? - What Is The Hamiltonian? - What Have Engines To Do With Physics? - Why Did The Steam-engine Evolve Only In England? - Why S=klogw Works And Why Temperature Is It. - Why Is Time Linear? Using Only A Minimum Of Mathematics, This Book Explains The Emergence Of The Modern Concept Of Energy, In All Its Forms: Hamilton's Mechanics And How It Shaped Twentieth-century Physics, And The Meaning Of Kinetic Energy, Potential Energy, Temperature, Action, And Entropy. It Is As Much An Explanation Of Fundamental Physics As A History Of The Fascinating Discoveries That Lie Behind Our Knowledge Today--provided By Publisher. 1. Introduction: Feynman's Blocks -- 2. Perpetual Motion Is Prohibited -- 3. Vis Viva: The Fist 'block' Of Energy -- 4. Heat: In The Seventeenth Century -- 5. Heat In The Eighteenth Century -- 6. The Discovery Of Latent And Specific Heats -- 7. A Hundred And One Years Of Mechanics: Newton To Lagrange -- 8. A Tale Of Two Countries: The Rise Of The Steam Engine And The Caloric Theory Of Heat -- 9. Rumford, Davy And Young -- 10. Naked Heat: The Gas Laws And The Specific Heat Of Gases -- 11. Two Contrasting Characters: Fourier And Herapath -- 12. Sadi Carnot -- 13. Hamilton And Green -- 14. The Mechanical Equivalent Of Heat -- 15. Faraday And Helmholtz -- 16. The Laws Of Thermodynamics: Thomson And Clausius -- 17. A Forward Look -- 18. Impossible Things; Difficult Things -- 19. Conclusions. Jennifer Coopersmith. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [370]-394) And Index. This book explains the idea of energy by tracking the story of its discovery, from Galileo through to Einstein. It explains the physics using the minimum of mathematics, presenting both a gripping historical narrative and a fascinating introduction to an elusive physical concept. Energy is at the heart of physics (and of huge importance to society) and yet no book exists specifically to explain it, and in simple terms. In tracking the history of energy, this book is filled with the thrill of the chase, the mystery of smoke and mirrors, and presents a fascinating human-interest story. Moreover, following the history provides a crucial aid to understanding: this book explains the intellectual revolutions required to comprehend energy, revolutions as profoundas those stemming from Relativity and Quantum Theory. Texts by Descartes, Leibniz, Bernoulli, d'Alembert, Lagrange, Hamilton, Boltzmann, Clausius, Carnot and others are made accessible, and the engines of Watt and Joule are explained. Many fascinating questions are covered, including:- Why just kinetic and potential energies - is one more fundamental than the other?- What are heat, temperature and action?- What is the Hamiltonian?- What have engines to do with physics?- Why did the steam-engine evolve only in England?- Why S=klogW works and why temperature is IT. Using only a minimum of mathematics, this book explains the emergence of the modern concept of energy, in all its forms: Hamilton's mechanics and how it shaped twentieth-century physics, and the meaning of kinetic energy, potential energy, temperature, action, and entropy. It is as much an explanation of fundamental physics as a history of the fascinating discoveries that lie behind our knowledge today Energy is at the heart of physics and of huge importance to society and yet no book exists specifically to explain it, and in simple terms. In tracking the history of energy, this book is filled with the thrill of the chase, the mystery of smoke and mirrors, and presents a fascinating human-interest story. Moreover, following the history provides a crucial aid to understanding: this book explains the intellectual revolutions required to comprehend energy, revolutions as profound as those stemming from Relativity and Quantum Theory. Texts by Descartes, Leibniz, Bernoulli, d'Alembert, Lagrange, Hamilton, Boltzmann, Clausius, Carnot and others are made accessible, and the engines of Watt and Joule are explained. Many fascinating questions are covered, including: *Why just kinetic and potential energies - is one more fundamental than the other? *What are heat, temperature and action? *What is the Hamiltonian? *What have engines to do with physics? *Why did the steam-engine evolve only in England? *Why S=klogW works and why temperature is IT. Using only a minimum of mathematics, this book explains the emergence of the modern concept of energy, in all its forms: Hamilton's mechanics and how it shaped twentieth-century physics, and the meaning of kinetic energy, potential energy, temperature, action, and entropy. It is as much an explanation of fundamental physics as a history of the fascinating discoveries that lie behind our knowledge today. Contents......Page 8 Preface......Page 10 Acknowledgements......Page 11 List of Illustrations......Page 14 1. Introduction: Feynman’s Blocks......Page 16 2. Perpetual Motion......Page 20 3. Vis viva, the First ‘Block’ of Energy......Page 29 4. Heat in the Seventeenth Century......Page 61 5. Heat in the Eighteenth Century......Page 78 6. The Discovery of Latent and Specific Heats......Page 93 7. A Hundred and One Years of Mechanics: Newton to Lagrange......Page 106 8. A Tale of Two Countries: the Rise of the Steam Engine and the Caloric Theory of Heat......Page 163 9. Rumford, Davy, and Young......Page 183 10. Naked Heat: the Gas Laws and the Specific Heats of Gases......Page 193 11. Two Contrasting Characters: Fourier and Herapath......Page 216 12. Sadi Carnot......Page 223 13. Hamilton and Green......Page 245 14. The Mechanical Equivalent of Heat......Page 261 15. Faraday and Helmholtz......Page 279 16. The Laws of Thermodynamics: Thomson and Clausius......Page 299 17. A Forward Look......Page 319 18. Impossible Things, Diffcult Things......Page 339 19. Conclusions......Page 365 Appendix I: Timeline......Page 376 Appendix II: Questions......Page 382 Bibliography......Page 385 Notes and References......Page 386 C......Page 410 E......Page 411 H......Page 412 N......Page 413 S......Page 414 Z......Page 415 Machine generated contents note: 1. Introduction: Feynman's blocks 2. Perpetual motion is prohibited 3. Vis viva: the fist 'block' of energy 4. Heat: seventeenth century 5. Heat in the eighteenth century 6. The discovery of latent and specific heats 7. A hundred and one years of mechanics: Newton to Lagrange via Daniel Bernoulli 8. A tale of two countries: the rise of the steam engine and the caloric theory of heat 9. Rumford, Davy and Young 10. Naked heat: the gas laws and the specific heat of gases 11. Two contrasting characters: Fourier and Herapath 12. Sadi Carnot 13. Hamilton and Green 14. The mechanical equivalent of heat: Mayer, Joule and Waterston 15. Faraday and Helmholtz 16. The laws of thermodynamics: Thomson and Clausius 17. A forward look: Maxwell, Boltzmann, Planck, Schrodinger and Einstein 18. Impossible things; difficult things 19. Conclusions.