Six Not-So-Easy Pieces: Einstein's Relativity, Symmetry, and Space-Time (Helix Books)

No twentieth-century American scientist is better known to a wider spectrum of people than Richard P. Feynman (1918-1988) -- physicist, teacher, author, and cultural icon. His autobiographies and biographies have been read and enjoyed by millions of readers around the world, while his wit and eccentricities have made him the subject of TV specials and even a theatrical film. The spectacular reception of the book and audio versions of Feynman's Six Easy Pieces (published in 1995) resulted in a worldwide clamor for "More Feynman! More Feynman!" The outcome is these six additional lectures, drawn from the celebrated three-volume Lectures on Physics. Though slightly more challenging than the first six, these lectures are more focused, delving into the most revolutionary discovery in twentieth-century physics: Einstein's Theory of Relativity. No single breakthrough in twentieth-century physics (with the possible exception of quantum mechanics) changed our view of the world more than that of Einstein's discovery of relativity. The notions that the flow of time is not a constant, that the mass of an object depends on its velocity, and that the speed of light is a constant no matter what the motion of the observer, at first seemed shocking to scientists and laymen alike. But, as Feynman shows so clearly and so entertainingly in the lectures chosen for this volume, these crazy notions are no mere dry principles of physics, but are things of beauty and elegance. No one -- not even Einstein himself -- explained these difficult, anti-intuitive concepts more clearly, or with more verve and gusto, than Richard Feynman. Learn about Einstein#39;s theory of relativity from a physics Nobel laureate and quot;one of the greatest minds of the twentieth centuryquot; ( New York Review of Books ) in six memorable lessons It was Richard Feynman#39;s outrageous and scintillating method of teaching that earned him legendary status among students and professors of physics. From 1961 to 1963, Feynman delivered a series of lectures at the California Institute of Technology that revolutionized the teaching of physics.#160;In Six Not-So-Easy Pieces , taken from these famous Lectures on Physics , Feynman delves into one of the most revolutionary discoveries in twentieth-century physics: Einstein#39;s theory of relativity. The idea that the flow of time is not a constant, that the mass of an object depends on its velocity, and that the speed of light is a constant no matter what the motion of the observer, at first seemed shocking to scientists and laymen alike. But as Feynman shows, these tricky ideas are not merely dry principles of physics, but things of beauty and elegance. #160; No one not even Einstein himself explained these difficult, anti-intuitive concepts more clearly, or with more verve and gusto, than Feynman. Filled with wonderful examples and clever illustrations,#160; Six Not-So-Easy Pieces #160;is the ideal introduction to the fundamentals of physics by one of the most admired and accessible physicists of all time. #160; There is no better explanation for the scientifically literate layman. Washington Post Book World Learn about Einstein's theory of relativity from a physics Nobel laureate and "one of the greatest minds of the twentieth century" ( New York Review of Books ) in six memorable lessons It was Richard Feynman's outrageous and scintillating method of teaching that earned him legendary status among students and professors of physics. From 1961 to 1963, Feynman delivered a series of lectures at the California Institute of Technology that revolutionized the teaching of physics. In Six Not-So-Easy Pieces , taken from these famous Lectures on Physics , Feynman delves into one of the most revolutionary discoveries in twentieth-century physics: Einstein's theory of relativity. The idea that the flow of time is not a constant, that the mass of an object depends on its velocity, and that the speed of light is a constant no matter what the motion of the observer, at first seemed shocking to scientists and laymen alike. But as Feynman shows, these tricky ideas are not merely dry principles of physics, but things of beauty and elegance. No one — not even Einstein himself — explained these difficult, anti-intuitive concepts more clearly, or with more verve and gusto, than Feynman. Filled with wonderful examples and clever illustrations, Six Not-So-Easy Pieces is the ideal introduction to the fundamentals of physics by one of the most admired and accessible physicists of all time. “There is no better explanation for the scientifically literate layman.” – Washington Post Book World Vectors. Symmetry in physics ; Translations ; Rotations ; Vectors ; Vector algebra ; Newton's laws in vector notation ; Scalar product of vectors Symmetry in Physical Laws. Symmetry operations ; Symmetry in space and time ; Symmetry and conservation laws ; Mirror reflections ; Polar and axial vectors ; Which hand is right? ; Parity is not conserved! ; Antimatter ; Broken symmetries The Special Theory of Relativity ; The principle of relativity ; The Lorentz transformation ; The Michelson-Morley experiment ; Transformation of time ; The Lorentz contraction ; Simultaneity ; Four-vectors ; Relativistic dynamics ; Equivalence of mass and energy ; Relativistic Energy and Momentum. Relativity and the philosophers ; The twin paradox ; Transformation of velocities ; Relativistic mass ; Relativistic energy ; Space-Time. The geometry of space-time ; Space-time intervals ; Past, present, and future ; More about four-vectors ; Four-vector algebra ; Curved Space. Curved spaces with two dimensions ; Curvature in three-dimensional space ; Our space is curved ; Geometry in space-time ; Gravity and the principle of equivalence ; The speed of clocks in a gravitational field ; The curvature of space-time ; Motion in curved space-time ; Einstein's theory of gravitation. It was Feynman's outrageous and scintillating method of teaching that earned him legendary status among students and professors of physics. From 1961 to 1963, Feynman delivered a series of lectures at the California Institute of Technology that revolutionized the teaching of physics. In Six Not-So-Easy Pieces, taken from these famous lectures, Feynman delves into one of the most revolutionary discoveries in twentieth-century physics: Einstein's theory of relativity. The idea that the flow of time is not constant, that the mass of an object depends on its velocity, and that the speed of light is a constant no matter what the motion of the observer, at first seemed shocking to scientists and laymen alike. But as Feynman shows, these tricky ideas are not merely dry principles of physics, but things of beauty and elegance. No one--not even Einstein himself--explained these difficult, anti-intuitive concepts more clearly, or with more verve and gusto, than Richard Feynman. Filled with wonderful examples and clever illustrations, Six Not-So-Easy Pieces is the ideal introduction to fundamentals of physics by one of the most admired and accessible physicists of all times CONTENTS......Page 6 PUBLISHER’S NOTE......Page 8 INTRODUCTION......Page 10 SPECIAL P R E FACE......Page 18 FEYNMAN’S PREFACE......Page 24 1 VECTORS......Page 32 2 SYMMETRY IN PHYSICAL LAWS......Page 54 3 THE SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY......Page 80 4 RELATIVISTIC ENERGY AND MOMENTUM......Page 104 5 SPACE-TIME......Page 124 6 CURVED SPACE......Page 142 Index......Page 176 About Richard Feynman......Page 184 CONTENTS 6 PUBLISHER’S NOTE 8 INTRODUCTION 10 SPECIAL P R E FACE 18 FEYNMAN’S PREFACE 24 1 VECTORS 32 2 SYMMETRY IN PHYSICAL LAWS 54 3 THE SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY 80 4 RELATIVISTIC ENERGY AND MOMENTUM 104 5 SPACE-TIME 124 6 CURVED SPACE 142 Index 176 About Richard Feynman 184 0465025269,9780465025268 Basic Books,2011 These are six lectures taken from the 3 volume Feynmann Lectures on Physics: Vectors (Vol I chapter 11) Symmetry in Physical Laws (Vol I chapter 52) The Special Theory of Relativity (Vol I chapter 15) Relativistic Energy and Momentum (Vol I chapter 16) Space-Time (Vol I chapter 17) Curved Space (Vol II chapter 42) "...In the challenging 'Six Not-So-Easy Pieces', Feynman delves into one of the most revolutionary discoveries in twentieth-century physics: Einstein's Theory of Relativity..."--P. [4] of cover.