K. Kuehn — A Student’s Guide Through the Great Physics Texts (4 Volumes, 2015)

Автор: K. Kuehn
Название книги: A Student’s Guide Through the Great Physics Texts (4 Volumes)
Формат: PDF
Жанр: Астрономия
Страницы: 410+392+480+473
Качество: Изначально компьютерное, E-book

Volume I: The Heavens and The Earth
This book provides a chronological introduction to the sciences of astronomy and cosmology based on the reading and analysis of significant selections from classic texts, such as Ptolemy’s The Almagest, Kepler’s Epitome of Copernican Astronomy, Shapley’s Galaxies and Lemaître’s The Primeval Atom.
Each chapter begins with a short introduction followed by a reading selection. Carefully crafted study questions draw out key points in the text and focus the reader’s attention on the author’s methods, analysis, and conclusions. Numerical and observational exercises at the end of each chapter test the reader’s ability to understand and apply key concepts from the text.
The Heavens and the Earth is the first of four volumes in A Student’s Guide Through the Great Physics Texts. This book grew out of a four-semester undergraduate physics curriculum designed to encourage a critical and circumspect approach to natural science, while at the same time preparing students for advanced coursework in physics.
This book is particularly suitable as a college-level textbook for students of the natural sciences, history or philosophy. It also serves as a textbook for advanced high-school students, or as a thematically-organized source-book for scholars and motivated lay-readers. In studying the classic scientific texts included herein, the reader will be drawn toward a lifetime of contemplation.
Contents:
Nature, Number and Substance.
The Shape and Motion of the Heavens.
Harmony and Complexity.
Earth at the Center of the World.
The World of Ptolemy.
Measuring the Tropical Year.
Geometrical Tools.
The Sun, the Moon and the Calendar.
From Astronomy to Cartography.
Climates and Continents.
Heliocentrism: Hypothesis or Truth?
Earth as a Wandering Star.
Re-ordering the Heavenly Spheres.
Celestial Physics.
Broken Spheres.
Kepler’s Third Law.
Kepler’s First and Second Laws.
Mountains on the Moon.
The Medician Stars.
The Luminosity of Variable Stars.
Galactic Spectra.
Measuring Astronomical Distances.
A New Theory of Gravity.
Euclid, Gauss and Mercury’s Orbit.
A Finite Universe with No Boundary

Volume II: Space, Time and Motion
Contents:
Scaling in Art and Nature.
The Coherence of Substances.
Archimedes’ Principle and Falling Bodies.
Falling Bodies and Pendular Motion.
Pendular Motion and Harmony.
The Law of the Lever.
Beams, Bones and Giants.
Naturally Accelerated Motion.
The Mean Speed Theorem.
Equilibrium, Force and Acceleration.
From Conic Sections to Projectile Motion.
The Speed and Force of a Projectile.
Reason, Authority and Science.
Pascal’s Principle.
Submerged Bodies.
Syringes, Siphons and Suckling Infants.
Life Under a Sea of Air.
Does Nature Abhor a Vacuum?
Mass, Momentum and Force.
Absolute and Relative Motion.
Newton’s Laws of Motion.
Conservation of Momentum.
The Third Law and the Power of Machines.
Centripetal Force and Acceleration.
Newton’s Rules of Reasoning.

Volume III: Electricity, Magnetism and Light
Each chapter of this book begins with a short introduction followed by a reading selection. Carefully crafted study questions draw out key points in the text and focus the reader’s attention on the author’s methods, analysis and conclusions. Numerical and laboratory exercises at the end of each chapter test the reader’s ability to understand and apply key concepts from the text.
Electricity, Magnetism and Light is the third of four volumes in A Student’s Guide through the Great Physics Texts. This book grew out of a four-semester undergraduate physics curriculum designed to encourage a critical and circumspect approach to natural science while at the same time preparing students for advanced coursework in physics.
This book is particularly suitable as a college-level textbook for students of the natural sciences, history or philosophy. It can also serve as a textbook for advanced high-school or home-schooled students, or as a thematically-organized source-book for scholars and motivated lay-readers. In studying the classic scientific texts included herein, the reader will be drawn toward a lifetime of contemplation.

Volume IV: Heat, Atoms and Quanta
This book provides a chronological introduction to modern atomic theory, which represented an attempt to reconcile the ancient doctrine of atomism with careful experiments―performed during the 19th century―on the flow of heat through substances and across empty space. Included herein are selections from classic texts such as Carnot’s Reflection on the Motive Power of Fire, Clausius’ Mechanical Theory of Heat, Rutherford’s Nuclear Constitution of Atoms, Planck’s Atomic Theory of Matter and Heisenberg’s Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Theory. Each chapter begins with a short introduction followed by a reading selection. Carefully crafted study questions draw out key points in the text and focus the reader’s attention on the author’s methods, analysis and conclusions. Numerical and laboratory exercises at the end of each chapter test the reader’s ability to understand and apply key concepts from the text. Heat, Radiation and Quanta is the last of four volumes in A Student’s Guide through the Great Physics Texts. The book comes from a four-semester undergraduate physics curriculum designed to encourage a critical and circumspect approach to natural science while at the same time preparing students for advanced coursework in physics. This book is particularly suitable as a college-level textbook for students of the natural sciences, history or philosophy. It might also serve as a textbook for advanced high-school or home-schooled students, or as a thematically-organized source-book for scholars and motivated lay-readers. In studying the classic scientific texts included herein, the reader will be drawn toward a lifetime of contemplation.