Short description
Drawn from Feynman's introductory course of lectures on physics, this title delves into the revolutionary discovery of twentieth-century physics: Einstein's theory of relativity.
Long description
These Six Not-So-Easy Pieces are drawn from Feynman's celebrated introductory course of lectures on physics. They delve into the most revolutionary discovery of twentieth-century physics: Einstein's theory of relativity. 'In these lectures everything you've ever heard about Feynman's wit and genius comes true' - John Horgan.
Review
'Lucid, fluid, uplifting' Sunday Times
Table of contents
- Part 1 Vectors: symmetry in physics
- translations
- rotations
- vectors
- vector algebra
- Newton's laws in vector notation
- scalar product of vectors. Part 2 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. Part 3 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. Part 4 Relativistic energy and momentum: relativity and the philosophers
- the twin paradox
- transformation of velocities
- relativistic mass
- relativistic energy. Part 5 Space-time: the geometry of space-time
- space-time intervals
- past, present and future
- more about four-vectors
- four-vector algebra. Part 6 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.
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