244
Index
Clifton Suspension Bridge, 34, 130 Coal power, 146–148 Color detection, human eye, 152 Conjecture, 64 Conservation laws, 117 Conservation of energy, 117–121, 144–145, 146, 199–200 Conservation of mass, 131 Conservation of momentum, 111–117, 130, 143–144, 155, 200 Conserved quantity, 143 Coordinates spatial, 72–73 time, 73 Copernicus, 9–10 Cosmic speed limit, 3, 87–89, 103–104, 126, 137. See also Speed of light Coulomb, Charles Augustin de, 183 Curvature of the earth, 68–69, 219–222, 224–225, 227–228 Curved spacetime, 219–242 Davidson, Charles, 232 Davy, Sir Humphry, 17, 18, 174, 181 Democritus, 136 Deuteron, 159, 204–205 Dimensions, 71–72, 228 Dirac, Paul, 176, 177 Displacement current, 25–26 Distance, 106–108, 219–222 and spacetime, 59, 70–91, 225 “Distance of the Moon” (Calvino), 61 Double pulsars, 233–235 Dyson, Frank, 232 Earth early, 161 formation of, 2 geology, 157 motion of, 10–11, 227–228 position in solar system, 6–8 Eddington, Sir Arthur, 172, 232 Edison, Thomas, 18 Egyptians, ancient, 9 Eiffel Tower, 34
Einstein, Albert, 1–5, 14, 15, 59 early career, 37–39 “God does not play dice,” 190 general theory of relativity, 221–238 special theory of relativity, 37–55 Electricity, 140–141, 183 discovery of, 18 and magnets, 18–19 Electromagnetic fields, 19–20 and the speed of light, 28–29 static electricity, 27 Electromagnetic induction, 19 Electromagnetism, 21, 23–29, 62, 153, 156, 184–185 and weak nuclear force, 186 Electron fields, 190, 191–192 Electron volt, 148–149 Electron-positron pair, 208 Electron, 51 Electrostatic repulsion, 183 Elementary particles, 50–52, 181–182 Elements (Euclid), 40 Elevator analogy, 223–224 Empirical observation, 11–13 Energy binding, 149, 153, 160, 176 chemical, 148, 153–156 conservation of, 117–121, 144–146, 199–200 defining, 119–120 as heat, 119, 145–146 hydroelectric plants, 155 kinetic, 121, 133, 139–140, 143–145, 155 and mass, 135–136, 141–148 negative, 149 nuclear, 156–169 nuclear vs. chemical, 160 wind and sea, 155 Energy-momentum four-vector, 136 Englert, Francois, 210 Equations, 20–25, 63–64, 104 fundamental, 104–105 symmetry of, 187–188 Equator, 5