WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT PHYSICS
Prologue
Over forty years ago, I graduated from university with a degree in Physics. Although I spent my career in business, I have always enjoyed sharing with others my passion for Physics. So, after I retired, I wrote this book, which was first published in 2009. In this second edition, I have added many more examples of inventions that are based on the Physics being discussed.
This book is not meant to be a textbook. My objective is to provide a high-level non-mathematical description of the main concepts in Physics. The target audience of this book is anyone who is curious and would like to know more about Physics – because Physics is relevant. Its discoveries have profound impact. They become the technologies that improve our lives and that drive innovation and business.
Here is a summary of each chapter's contents:
Chapter 1 Particles – describes the most important particles and how they work. Although more than 200 subatomic particles have been discovered, you only need to know about the 14 most important ones.
Chapter 2 Forces – describes the 4 fundamental forces in nature. Most people aren’t aware of these forces, although they affect how everything around us works.
Chapter 3 Classical Mechanics – describes Newton’s 3 laws of motion and Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation. Although these laws were formulated over 300 years ago, they are very accurate at macroscopic scales. They were used to plan trips to the Moon and the trajectories of satellites orbiting the Earth or travelling to other planets.
Chapter 4 Thermodynamics – describes the laws of Thermodynamics that govern the behaviour of systems with huge numbers of microscopic particles e.g. gases. These laws are the basis of how heat engines, refrigerators, and internal combustion engines work.
Chapter 5 Electricity and Magnetism – The first part of this Chapter describes Maxwell’s 4 equations and the Lorentz Force equation that govern the behaviour of charges, electric fields and magnetic fields. The properties of electromagnetic waves and their applications are discussed. The second part of the Chapter describes electrical circuits, semiconductors, superconductivity, and other electrical devices.
Chapter 6 Relativity – describes Special Relativity and General Relativity. Black Holes and Gravitational Waves are discussed.
Chapter 7 Quantum Mechanics – describes the quantization of atomic energy levels, excitation, the Schrödinger Equation and tunnelling. The Uncertainty Principle and entanglement are then discussed. Finally, Quantum Electrodynamics and Quantum Chromodynamics are introduced.
Chapter 8 Cosmology – starts with a description of Hubble’s constant and the expanding universe. Then, the origin and evolution of the universe are discussed including the Big Bang theory, the curvature of the universe, Inflation Theory, and the lifecycle of stars.
Chapter 9 A Theory of Everything – discusses the search for a theory to unify the 4 fundamental forces. It describes the Standard Model, String Theory and Loop Quantum Gravity.
The book concludes with an Epilogue containing 3 provoking questions.
Many of the topics covered in this book are very complicated. Writing this book required significant thought and effort to judge the right level of detail. I hope that the reader feels that this goal was reasonably well accomplished and finds this succinct presentation understandable and intellectually satisfying. I hope it will encourage and help the reader to do further research if they would like more details.
C. John WherryToronto, Canada
October 2020