The History of Physics from 2000BCE to 1945
()
About this ebook
Read more from Sheldon Cohen
Revenge Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/52,637 Years of Physics from Thales of Miletos to the Modern Era Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStory of the Jew Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWorld War IV: Militant Islam's Battle For World Domination Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKishka for Koppel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Brainstorm: A Medical Murder Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBad Blood: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Slim Book of Health Pearls: The Perfect Prescription Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gift: And Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGrandpa's Story-Poems & Grandkid's Illustrate It Yourself Book Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Jewish Journey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Jewish Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA THREE PART BOOK: Anti-Semitism:The Longest Hatred / World War II / WWII Partisan Fiction Tale Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Twins Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBrainstorm Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBad Blood: A Medical Murder Mystery Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Recruit: Walter Mitty Revisited Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHoly Warrior Trojan Horses: A Story of Home Grown Terrorism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTrojan Horses: a Story of Homegrown Terrorism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The History of Physics from 2000BCE to 1945
Related ebooks
Nuclear Physics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Physicists from Galileo to Einstein Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Perfect Theory: A Century of Geniuses and the Battle over General Relativity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Standard Model in a Nutshell Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNuclear Physics in a Nutshell Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Physics in Daily Life & Simple College Physics-I (Classical Mechanics) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhat Is Relativity?: An Intuitive Introduction to Einstein's Ideas, and Why They Matter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Feynman Lectures Simplified 1A: Basics of Physics & Newton's Laws Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5General Relativity 4: Astrophysics & Cosmology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHiggs & Bosons & Fermions....Oh My! SubAtomic Journey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMen of Mathematics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5General Relativity 1: Newton vs Einstein Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Relativity Simply Explained Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Feynman Lectures Simplified 4A: Math for Physicists Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Trouble with Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Five Ages of the Universe: Inside the Physics of Eternity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fifty Formulas that Changed the World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFeynman Lectures Simplified 3A: Quantum Mechanics Part One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Accelerating Universe: Infinite Expansion, the Cosmological Constant, and the Beauty of the Cosmos Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Black Hole: How an Idea Abandoned by Newtonians, Hated by Einstein, and Gambled on by Hawking Became Loved Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Quantum Mechanics 2: Reality, Uncertainty, & Schrödinger’s Cat Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Principia: The Authoritative Translation and Guide: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gravity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Elementary Particle Physics in a Nutshell Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Galileo: And the Science Deniers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Principia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Special Relativity 1: Light, Time & What's Relative Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Particle Physics: A Beginner's Guide Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Boltzmanns Atom: The Great Debate That Launched A Revolution In Physics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Physics For You
Quantum Physics for Beginners Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Physics I For Dummies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Reality Revolution: The Mind-Blowing Movement to Hack Your Reality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vibration and Frequency: How to Get What You Want in Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Quantum Physics: A Beginners Guide to How Quantum Physics Affects Everything around Us Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Diagnose and Fix Everything Electronic, Second Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Introducing Quantum Theory: A Graphic Guide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Moving Through Parallel Worlds To Achieve Your Dreams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Step By Step Mixing: How to Create Great Mixes Using Only 5 Plug-ins Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Flatland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Feynman Lectures Simplified 1A: Basics of Physics & Newton's Laws Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Physics and Music: The Science of Musical Sound Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Theory of Relativity: And Other Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Welcome to the Universe: An Astrophysical Tour Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Quantum Spirituality: Science, Gnostic Mysticism, and Connecting with Source Consciousness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5String Theory For Dummies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The God Effect: Quantum Entanglement, Science's Strangest Phenomenon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The World According to Physics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Brief Welcome to the Universe: A Pocket-Sized Tour Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Physics Essentials For Dummies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unlocking Spanish with Paul Noble Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Consciousness of the Atom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question? Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for The History of Physics from 2000BCE to 1945
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The History of Physics from 2000BCE to 1945 - Sheldon Cohen
century.
WHAT IS LIGHT?
The Greeks were also responsible for the first enlightened discussion on the subject of light. Prior to their serious evaluation of this phenomenon, the world was content to accept God’s pronouncement: Let there be light: and there was light. Light was the antithesis of dark. Because of it, all life on earth was given the gift of sight.
What was it that caused our eyes to perceive the world around us when the sun or the moon or fire allowed us to see? What did our eyes do that allowed us to visualize distant objects? Did our eyes emit something that sped rapidly to a distant or nearby object, and once having struck the object caused us to see it, or did light issue forth from any luminous object and reach our eyes, and having done so give us a visible world? Pythagoras (582-500BCE) championed this latter thought.
These conflicting theories only served to raise many more questions. If light entered our eyes enabling us to see, or if something left our eyes giving us the same ability, what is it that entered or left? What is its size? What does it weigh? Very little, no doubt, if it has weight at all? What is its speed? Why does it pass through some objects and not others? Why does cloth block light and thick glass allow it to pass through?
These questions would remain unanswered for centuries, and the solution would be intimately connected with the development of the atom theory that the Greeks so brilliantly propounded.
THERE ARE ATOMS AFTER ALL
The first to experimentally open the door to confirming the atomos theory was Robert Boyle (1627-1691). He was born in Ireland. His father was the richest man in the British Isles. Boyle, to his credit, took advantage of the opportunities that money opened up for him. He became a renaissance man, studying religion, philosophy, mathematics, languages, and the physics of such pioneers as Descartes and Galileo.
His natural philosophic work included an improved vacuum pump that allowed him to make excellent vacuums, and in so doing he demonstrated that air was necessary to sustain life, that sound would disappear in a vacuum, and a candle would stop burning as the air was evacuated.
His main triumph, so familiar to all students of chemistry, was the volume-pressure inverse relationship. Boyle used a J shaped glass tube closed at the shorter end and opened at the long end. When he poured mercury in the tube, air trapped in the closed short end. The more mercury he poured in the less air seemed to be trapped. He made many measurements at atmospheric pressure and also at lower and higher then atmospheric pressure. He determined that when the pressure on the air was increased by the addition of more mercury, the volume of the air decreased, and when the pressure on the air was decreased the volume of air increased.
This was the pressure-volume inverse relationship and it lent credence to the atomistic theory: if air is made up of widely separated atoms, suggested by Democritus, this would explain the fact that air was lighter then solids, where the atoms were closer together. Placing the atoms of air under pressure would push the atoms closer together, thus decreasing the volume of the air.
It all made sense under the atomistic theory. Others could easily reproduce Boyle’s experiments, and the concept of atoms gained the upper hand, finally vindicating the Greek philosophers.
ATOMS ELEMENTS COMPOUNDS
Boyle’s work also laid the foundation for ending the concept of air, fire, earth, and water as the basic four elements. Boyle said speculation as to the basic elements served no purpose and an element was anything that could not be broken down further by chemical manipulation. Chemists then started on the trail of elements and eventually it was determined that gases, such as oxygen and nitrogen were elements, and iron, copper, gold, silver, and the mercury used in Boyle’s experiments were elements.
This led to the definition of a compound (latin meaning put together), which was any substance put together by a combination of elements.
Joseph Louis Proust (1754-1826) was born in France and trained as a pharmacist. He taught and did research in Spain for twenty years. Napoleon’s invasion of Spain forced him back to France where he did his most important work.
Chemists of the time were trying to determine the proportion of elements within each compound. The French chemist Claude Berthollet (1748-1822) stated that the compounds could vary in composition depending upon the amount and proportion of the reactants used in the formation of the compounds.
Proust experimented with copper carbonate and separated it into copper, carbon, and oxygen in a ratio of five to one to four. No matter how he did the experiment this was the result. If he added more of one of the elements in a greater proportion then there ordinarily would be in the compound, he founded some of the element left over. He found the same thing to be true for other compounds he worked with. They always had a fixed amount of elements in a definite proportion. He named this the law of definite proportions, and other chemists confirmed his work. Berthollet eventually had to admit that his concept was wrong and Proust’s was right.
Proust’s work supported the concept of the indivisibility of atoms.
John Dalton (1766-1844) was an English chemist who worked with gases and discovered that different gases could have different proportions of the same elements. For instance: the substance carbon monoxide had one part carbon and one part oxygen, while the compound carbon dioxide had one part carbon and two parts oxygen. (mon is a Greek word for one and di is a Greek word for two). He called this the law of multiple proportions, although each compound followed the law of definite proportions. He agreed that all chemical elements were composed of atoms, and each atom of an element had the same mass, whereas different elements had different atomic masses, and it was these masses that differentiated one element from another. Dalton also said that atoms combine with each other in whole number ratios. As example 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 2:4, etc. Since atoms were indivisible, it was impossible for a fraction of an atom to combine to form a