In our scientific age an understanding of physics is part of a liberal education. Lawyers, bankers, governors, business heads, administrators, all wise educated people need a lasting understanding of physics so that they can enjoy those contacts with science and scientists that are part of our civilization both materially and intellectually. They need knowledge and understanding instead of the feelings, all too common, that physics is dark and mysterious and that physicists are a strange people with incomprehensible interests. Such a sense of understanding science and scientists can be gained neither from sermons on the beauty of science nor from the rigorous courses that colleges have offered for generations when the headache clears away it leaves little but a confused sense of mystery. Nor is the need met by survey courses that offer a smorgasbord of tidbit--they give science a bad name as a compendium of information or formulas.
The non-scientist needs a course of study that enables him to learn real science and make its own--with delight. For lasting benefits the intelligent non-scientist needs a course of study that enables him to learn genuine science carefully and then encourages him to think about it and use it. He needs a carefully selected framework of topics--not so many that learning becomes superficial and hurried not so few that he misses the connected nature of scientific work and thinking. He must see how scientific knowledge is built up by building some scientific knowledge of his own, by reading and discussing and if possible by doing experiments himself. He must think his own way through some scientific arguments. He must form his own opinion, with guidance, concerning the parts played by experiment and theory and he must be shown how to develop a taste for good theory. He must see several varieties of scientific method at work. And above all, he must think about science for himself and enjoy that. These are the things that this book encourages readers to gain, by their own study and thinking.
Physics for the Inquiring Mind is a book for the inquiring mind of students in college and for other readers who want to grow in scientific wisdom, who want to know what physics really is.
Author(s): Eric M. Rogers
Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr
Year: 1960
Language: English
Pages: 792
Tags: Физика;Популярная физика;
Preface......Page 9
Contents......Page 13
PART ONE Matter, Motions, and Force......Page 15
Preliminary problems leading to chapter 1......Page 16
1 Gravity, a field of physics......Page 17
2 Projectiles: geometrical addition: vectors......Page 50
3 Forces as vectors......Page 67
4 "It's your experiment", Laboratory work......Page 75
5 Law and order among stress and strain......Page 92
6 Surface tension: drops and molecules......Page 101
7 Force and motion: F =| M a......Page 119
8 Crashes and collisions. Momentum......Page 149
9 Fluid flow......Page 168
10 Vibrations and waves......Page 184
INTERLUDE Appendix on arithmetic......Page 205
11 Appendix on arithmetic......Page 207
PART TWO Astronomy: a history of theory......Page 219
12 Mankind and the heavens......Page 221
13 Facts and early progress......Page 227
14 Greek astronomy: great theories and great observations......Page 237
15 Awakening questions......Page 255
16 Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543)......Page 258
17 Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)......Page 265
18 Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)......Page 275
19 Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)......Page 287
20 The seventeenth century......Page 301
21 Circular orbits and acceleration......Page 309
22 Isaac Newton (1642-1727)......Page 326
23 Universal Gravitation......Page 350
24 Scientific theories and scientific methods......Page 355
PART THREE Molecules and energy......Page 365
25 The great molecular theory of gases......Page 367
26 Energy......Page 384
27 Measuring heat and temperature......Page 426
28 Power. A chapter for laboratory work......Page 439
29 The principle of conservation of energy - experimental basis......Page 446
30 Kinetic theory of gases: fruitfull expansion......Page 458
INTERLUDE Mathematics and relativity......Page 481
31 Mathematics: accurate language, shorthand machine, and brilliant chancellor. Relativity: new science and new philosophy......Page 482
PART FOUR Electricity and magnetism......Page 515
32 Electric circuits - a laboratory chapter......Page 517
33 Electric charges and fields: electrostatics......Page 547
34 Magnetism, Facts and theory......Page 582
35 Chemistry and electrolysis......Page 600
PART FIVE Atoms and nuclei......Page 619
36 Electrons and electric fields......Page 621
37 Magnetic catapults: driving motors and investigating atoms......Page 629
38 Analyzing atoms......Page 638
39 Radioactivity and the tools of nuclear physics......Page 647
40 Atoms: experiment and theory......Page 662
41 Laboratory work with electrons: from generators to oscilloscopes......Page 669
42 Atom-accelerators - the big machines......Page 686
43 Nuclear physics......Page 696
44 More theory and experiment: physics today......Page 728
"General Problems"......Page 774
Untitled......Page 783
