The Physics Book

BIG IDEAS
THE ART BOOK THE MATH BOOK

THE ASTRONOMY BOOK THE MOVIE BOOK
THE BIBLE BOOK THE MYTHOLOGY BOOK
THE BUSINESS BOOK THE PHILOSOPHY BOOK
THE CLASSICAL MUSIC BOOK THE POLITICS BOOK
THE CRIME BOOK THE PSYCHOLOGY BOOK
THE ECOLOGY BOOK THE RELIGIONS BOOK
THE ECONOMICS BOOK THE SCIENCE BOOK
THE FEMINISM BOOK THE SHAKESPEARE BOOK
THE HISTORY BOOK THE SHERLOCK HOLMES BOOK
THE LITERATURE BOOK THE SOCIOLOGY BOOK
SIMPLY EXPLAINED
THE
PHYSICS
BOOK
THE
PHYSICS
BOOK
DK LONDON DK DELHI First American Edition, 2020
Published in the United States by DK Publishing
1450 Broadway, Suite 801, New York, NY 10018
SENIOR ART EDITOR PROJECT ART EDITOR
Gillian Andrews Pooja Pipil Copyright © 2020 Dorling Kindersley Limited
SENIOR EDITORS ART EDITORS DK, a Division of Penguin Random House LLC
Camilla Hallinan, Laura Sandford Meenal Goel, Debjyoti Mukherjee 20 21 22 23 24 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
EDITORS ASSISTANT ART EDITOR 001–316670–Mar/2020
John Andrews, Jessica Cawthra, Joy Evatt, Nobina Chakravorty
Claire Gell, Richard Gilbert, Tim Harris, All rights reserved.
Janet Mohun, Victoria Pyke, Dorothy Stannard,
SENIOR EDITOR
Suefa Lee Without limiting the rights under the copyright
Rachel Warren Chadd reserved above, no part of this publication may be
US EDITOR ASSISTANT EDITOR reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval
Aashirwad Jain system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means
Megan Douglass
SENIOR JACKET DESIGNER (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
ILLUSTRATIONS or otherwise), without the prior written permission
Suhita Dharamjit
James Graham of the copyright owner.
JACKET DESIGN SENIOR DTP DESIGNER
Neeraj Bhatia Published in Great Britain by
DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Dorling Kindersley Limited
Sophia MTT DTP DESIGNER
Anita Yadav
PRODUCER, PRE-PRODUCTION A catalog record for this book
Gillian Reid PROJECT PICTURE RESEARCHER is available from the Library of Congress.
Deepak Negi
PRODUCER ISBN: 978–1–4654–9102–2
Nancy-Jane Maun PICTURE RESEARCH MANAGER
Taiyaba Khatoon
SENIOR MANAGING ART EDITOR DK books are available at special discounts when
Lee Griffiths PRE-PRODUCTION MANAGER purchased in bulk for sales promotions, premiums,
Balwant Singh fund-raising, or educational use. For details, contact:
MANAGING EDITOR
Gareth Jones PRODUCTION MANAGER DK Publishing Special Markets, 1450 Broadway, Suite
Pankaj Sharma 801, New York, NY 10018
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHING DIRECTOR
Liz Wheeler MANAGING ART EDITOR SpecialSales@dk.com
Sudakshina Basu Printed in China
ART DIRECTOR
Karen Self SENIOR MANAGING EDITOR
Rohan Sinha
DESIGN DIRECTOR A WORLD OF IDEAS:
Philip Ormerod
SEE ALL THERE IS TO KNOW
PUBLISHING DIRECTOR original styling by
STUDIO 8
Jonathan Metcalf
www.dk.com
CONTRIBUTORS
DR. BEN STILL, CONSULTANT EDITOR Scientific American, and Forbes. He has also appeared as a space
expert on several radio and television shows, and is currently
working on a series of educational science books for children.
A prize-winning science communicator, particle physicist, and
author, Ben teaches high school physics and is also a visiting
research fellow at Queen Mary University of London. After a master’s MUKUL PATEL
degree in rocket science, a PhD in particle physics, and years of
research, he stepped into the world of outreach and education in Mukul Patel studied natural sciences at King’s College Cambridge
2014. He is the author of a growing collection of popular science and mathematics at Imperial College London. He is the author of
books and travels the world teaching particle physics using LEGO®. We’ve Got Your Number, a children’s math book, and over the last
25 years has contributed to numerous other books across scientific
JOHN FARNDON and technological fields for a general audience. He is currently
investigating ethical issues in AI.
John Farndon has been short-listed five times for the Royal Society’s
Young People’s Science Book Prize, among other awards. A widely ROBERT SNEDDEN
published author of popular books on science and nature, he has
written around 1,000 books on a range of subjects, including Robert Snedden has been involved in publishing for 40 years,
internationally acclaimed titles such as The Oceans Atlas, Do researching and writing science and technology books for young
You Think You’re Clever?, and Do Not Open, and has contributed people on topics ranging from medical ethics to space exploration,
to major books such as Science and Science Year By Year. engineering, computers, and the internet. He has also contributed to
histories of mathematics, engineering, biology, and evolution, and
written books for an adult audience on breakthroughs in mathematics
TIM HARRIS and medicine and the works of Albert Einstein.
A widely published author on science and nature for both
children and adults, Tim Harris has written more than 100 mostly GILES SPARROW
educational reference books and contributed to many others. These
include An Illustrated History of Engineering, Physics Matters!, A popular science author specializing in physics and astronomy,
Great Scientists, Exploring the Solar System, and Routes of Science. Giles Sparrow studied astronomy at University College London and
science communication at Imperial College London. He is the author
of books including Physics in Minutes, Physics Squared, The Genius
HILARY LAMB Test and What Shape Is Space?, as well as DK’s Spaceflight, and has
contributed to bestselling DK titles including Universe and Science.
Hilary Lamb studied physics at the University of Bristol and science
communication at Imperial College London. She is a staff journalist
at Engineering & Technology Magazine, covering science and JIM AL-KHALILI, FOREWORD
technology, and has written for previous DK titles, including
How Technology Works and Explanatorium of Science. An academic, author, and broadcaster, Jim Al-Khalili FRS holds a
dual professorship in theoretical physics and the public engagement
in science at the University of Surrey. He has written 12 books
JONATHAN O’CALLAGHAN on popular science, translated into over 20 languages. A regular
presenter on British TV, he is also the host of the Radio 4 program
With a background in astrophysics, Jonathan O’Callaghan has been The Life Scientific. He is a recipient of the Royal Society Michael
a space and science journalist for almost a decade. His work has Faraday Medal, the Institute of Physics Kelvin Medal, and the
appeared in numerous publications including New Scientist, Wired, Stephen Hawking Medal for science communication.
6
CONTENTS
10 INTRODUCTION 38 The most wonderful
productions of the
MEASUREMENT mechanical arts
AND MOTION Measuring time
PHYSICS AND THE 40 All action has a reaction
EVERYDAY WORLD Laws of motion
18 Man is the measure 46 The frame of the system

of all things of the world
Measuring distance Laws of gravity 76 The minute parts of matter
are in rapid motion
20 A prudent question 52 Oscillation is everywhere Fluids
is one half of wisdom Harmonic motion
The scientific method 80 Searching out the fire-secret
54 There is no destruction Heat and transfers
24 All is number of force
The language of physics Kinetic energy and 82 Elastical power in the air
potential energy The gas laws
32 Bodies suffer no resistance
but from the air 55 Energy can be neither 86 The energy of the universe
Free falling created nor destroyed is constant
The conservation of Internal energy and the first law
36 A new machine for energy of thermodynamics
multiplying forces
Pressure 56 A new treatise on 90 Heat can be a cause
mechanics of motion
37 Motion will persist Energy and motion Heat engines
Momentum
58 We must look to the 94 The entropy of the universe
heavens for the measure tends to a maximum
of the Earth Entropy and the second law
SI units and physical of thermodynamics
constants
100 The fluid and its vapor
become one
ENERGY AND MATTER Changes of state and
making bonds
MATERIALS AND HEAT
104 Colliding billiard balls
68 The first principles of in a box
the universe The development of statistical
Models of matter mechanics
72 As the extension, so 112 Fetching some gold from

the force the sun
Stretching and squeezing Thermal radiation
7
192 These mysterious waves

ELECTRICITY AND we cannot see
MAGNETISM Electromagnetic waves
TWO FORCES UNITE 196 The language of spectra is
a true music of the spheres
122 Wondrous forces Light from the atom
Magnetism
200 Seeing with sound
124 The attraction of Piezoelectricity and ultrasound
electricity
Electric charge 202 A large fluctuating echo
Seeing beyond light
128 Potential energy becomes
palpable motion
Electric potential 158 An encyclopedia on the head THE QUANTUM WORLD
of a pin OUR UNCERTAIN UNIVERSE
130 A tax on electrical Nanoelectronics
energy
Electric current and 159 A single pole, either north 208 The energy of light is
resistance or south distributed discontinuously
Magnetic monopoles in space
134 Each metal has a certain Energy quanta
power
Making magnets
SOUND AND LIGHT 212 They do not behave like
anything that you have
136 Electricity in motion THE PROPERTIES OF WAVES ever seen
The motor effect Particles and waves
164 There is geometry in the
138 The dominion of magnetic humming of the strings 216 A new idea of reality
forces Music Quantum numbers
Induction and the generator
effect 168 Light follows the path 218 All is waves
of least time Matrices and waves
142 Light itself is an Reflection and refraction
electromagnetic disturbance 220 The cat is both alive
Force fields and Maxwell’s 170 A new visible world and dead
equations Focusing light Heisenberg’s uncertainty
principle
148 Man will imprison the power 176 Light is a wave
of the sun Lumpy and wavelike light
Generating electricity
180 Light is never known to
152 A small step in the control bend into the shadow
of nature Diffraction and interference
Electronics
184 The north and south sides
156 Animal electricity of the ray
Bioelectricity Polarization
157 A totally unexpected 188 The trumpeters and the

scientific discovery wave train
Storing data The Doppler effect and redshift
8
222 Spooky action at a distance 248 Dreadful amounts of 276 Does Oxford stop at
Quantum entanglement energy this train?
Nuclear bombs and power Special relativity
224 The jewel of physics
Quantum field theory 252 A window on creation 280 A union of space and time
Particle accelerators Curving spacetime
226 Collaboration between
parallel universes 256 The hunt for the quark 281 Gravity is equivalent
Quantum applications The particle zoo and quarks to acceleration
The equivalence principle
258 Identical nuclear particles
NUCLEAR AND PARTICLE do not always act alike 282 Why is the traveling
twin younger?
PHYSICS Force carriers
Paradoxes of special relativity
INSIDE THE ATOM 260 Nature is absurd
Quantum electrodynamics 284 Evolution of the stars
and life
236 Matter is not infinitely
261 The mystery of the missing Mass and energy
divisible
Atomic theory neutrinos
Massive neutrinos 286 Where spacetime
simply ends
238 A veritable transformation
262 I think we have it Black holes and wormholes
of matter
Nuclear rays The Higgs boson
290 The frontier of the
264 Where has all the known universe
240 The constitution of matter
antimatter gone? Discovering other galaxies
The nucleus
Matter–antimatter asymmetry
294 The future of the universe
242 The bricks of which atoms
265 Stars get born and die The static or expanding
are built up
Nuclear fusion in stars universe
Subatomic particles
296 The cosmic egg, exploding
244 Little wisps of cloud
Particles in the cloud chamber RELATIVITY AND THE at the moment of creation
The Big Bang
246 Opposites can explode UNIVERSE
OUR PLACE IN THE COSMOS 302 Visible matter alone
Antimatter
is not enough
Dark matter
247 In search of atomic glue 270 The windings of the
The strong force heavenly bodies 306 An unknown ingredient
The heavens dominates the universe
Dark energy
272 Earth is not the center
of the universe 308 Threads in a tapestry
Models of the universe String theory
274 No true times or true 312 Ripples in spacetime

lengths Gravitational waves
From classical to special
relativity 316 DIRECTORY
324 GLOSSARY
275 The sun as it was about 328 INDEX
eight minutes ago 335 QUOTATIONS
The speed of light 336 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
9
FOREWORD
I fell in love with physics as a boy when I discovered we make observations and conduct experiments,
that this was the subject that best provided answers revising and improving on what we know. Often,
to many of the questions I had about the world around we take wrong turns or discover after many years
me—questions like how magnets worked, whether that a particular description or theory is wrong, or
space went on forever, why rainbows form, and how only an approximation of reality. Sometimes, new
we know what the inside of an atom or the inside discoveries are made that shock us and force us to
of a star looks like. I also realized that by studying revise our view entirely.
physics I could get a better grip on some of the more
profound questions swirling around in my head, such One beautiful example of this that has happened
as: What is the nature of time? What is it like to fall in my lifetime was the discovery, in 1998, that the
into a black hole? How did the universe begin and universe is expanding at an accelerating pace, leading
how might it end? to the idea of so-called dark energy. Until recently,
this was regarded as a complete mystery. What
Now, decades later, I have answers to some of was this invisible field that acted to stretch space
my questions, but I continue to search for answers against the pull of gravity? Gradually, we are learning
to new ones. Physics, you see, is a living subject. that this is most likely something called the vacuum
Although there are many things we now know with energy. You might wonder how changing the name of
confidence about the laws of nature, and we have used something (from “dark energy” to “vacuum energy”)
this knowledge to develop technologies that have can constitute an advance in our understanding. But
transformed our world, there is still much more we the concept of vacuum energy is not new. Einstein had
do not yet know. That is what makes physics, for me, suggested it a hundred years ago, then changed his
the most exciting area of knowledge of all. In fact, mind when he thought he’d made a mistake, calling it
I sometimes wonder why everyone isn’t as in love his “biggest blunder.” It is stories like this that, for me,
with physics as I am. make physics so joyous.
But to bring the subject alive—to convey that sense This is also why The Physics Book is so enjoyable.
of wonder—requires much more than collecting Each topic is made more accessible and readable with
together a mountain of dry facts. Explaining how the introduction of key figures, fascinating anecdotes,
our world works is about telling stories; it is about and the timeline of the development of the ideas. Not
acknowledging how we have come to know what we only is this a more honest account of the way science
know about the universe, and it is about sharing in progresses, it is also a more effective way of bringing
the joy of discovery made by the many great scientists the subject alive.
who first unlocked nature’s secrets. How we have
come to our current understanding of physics can be I hope you enjoy the book as much as I do.
as important and as joyful as the knowledge itself.
This is why I have always had a fascination with

the history of physics. I often think it a shame that
we are not taught at school about how concepts and
ideas in science first developed. We are expected to
simply accept them unquestioningly. But physics,
and indeed the whole of science, isn’t like that. We
ask questions about how the world works and we
develop theories and hypotheses. At the same time, Jim Al-Khalili
INTRODU
CTION
12 INTRODUCTION
W
e humans have a people were free to wonder about marvels from east to west. Ideas
heightened sense of our place in the universe. First the from this wealth of culture drew
our surroundings. We Greeks, then the Romans tried to Europe out of the dark ages and
evolved this way to outmaneuver make sense of the world through into a new age of enlightenment
stronger and faster predators. To patterns they observed in nature. known as the Renaissance. A
achieve this, we have had to predict Thales of Miletus, Socrates, Plato, revolution of our world view began
the behavior of both the living Aristotle, and others began to reject as ideas from ancient civilizations
and the inanimate world. Knowledge supernatural explanations and became updated or outmoded,
gained from our experiences was produce rational answers in the quest replaced by new ideas of our place
passed down through generations to create absolute knowledge—they in the universe. A new generation
via an ever-evolving system of began to experiment. of experimenters poked and prodded
language, and our cognitive prowess At the fall of the Roman Empire, nature to extract her secrets. In
and ability to use tools took our so many of these ideas were lost to Poland and Italy, Copernicus and
species to the top of the food chain. the Western world, which fell into a Galileo challenged ideas that had
We spread out of Africa from dark age of religious wars, but they been considered sacrosanct for two
around 60,000 years ago, extending continued to flourish in the Arab millennia—and they suffered harsh
our abilities to survive in world and Asia. Scholars there persecution as a result.
inhospitable locations through sheer continued to ask questions and Then, in England in the
ingenuity. Our ancestors developed conduct experiments. The 17th century, Isaac Newton’s laws
techniques to allow them to grow language of mathematics was of motion established the basis of
plentiful food for their families, and invented to document this new-
settled into communities. found knowledge. Ibn al-Haytham
and Ibn Sahl were just two of the
Experimental methods Arab scholars who kept the flame
Early societies drew meaning from of scientific knowledge alive in the
unrelated events, saw patterns that 10th and 11th centuries, yet their
did not exist, and spun mythologies. discoveries, particularly in the Whosoever studies works of
They also developed new tools and fields of optics and astronomy, science must … examine tests
methods of working, which required were ignored for centuries outside and explanations with the
advanced knowledge of the inner the Islamic world. greatest precision.
workings of the world—be it the Ibn al-Haytham
seasons or the annual flooding of the A new age of ideas
Nile—in order to expand resources. With global trade and exploration
In some regions, there were periods came the exchange of ideas.
of relative peace and abundance. In Merchants and mariners carried
these civilized societies, some books, stories, and technological
INTRODUCTION 13
classical physics, which was to thermodynamics. British physicist

reign supreme for more than two James Clerk Maxwell produced
centuries. Understanding motion equations to describe the close
allowed us to build new tools— relationship of electricity and
machines—able to harness energy magnetism—electromagnetism.
in many forms to do work. Steam By 1900, it seemed that there
One cannot help but be in
engines and water mills were two were laws to cover all the great
of the most important of these— phenomena of the physical world.
awe when he contemplates
they ushered in the Industrial Then, in the first decade of the 20th
the mysteries of eternity,
Revolution (1760–1840). century, a series of discoveries sent of life, of the marvellous
shock waves through the scientific structure of reality.
The evolution of physics community, challenging former Albert Einstein
In the 19th century, the results “truths” and giving birth to modern
of experiments were tried and physics. A German, Max Planck,
tested numerous times by a new uncovered the world of quantum
international network of scientists. physics. Then fellow countryman
They shared their findings through Albert Einstein revealed his theory
papers, explaining the patterns of relativity. Others discovered the
they observed in the language of structure of the atom and uncovered Physics has evolved over the
mathematics. Others built models the role of even smaller, subatomic years as a science, branching
from which they attempted to particles. In so doing, they launched out and breaching new horizons
explain these empirical equations the study of particle physics. New as discoveries are made. Arguably,
of correlation. Models simplified the discoveries weren’t confined to its main areas of concern now lie at
complexities of nature into digestible the microscopic—more advanced the fringes of our physical world,
chunks, easily described by simple telescopes opened up the study of at scales both larger than life and
geometries and relationships. These the universe. smaller than atoms. Modern
models made predictions about new Within a few generations, physics has found applications in
behaviors in nature, which were humanity went from living at the many other fields, including new
tested by a new wave of pioneering center of the universe to residing on technology, chemistry, biology, and
experimentalists—if the predictions a speck of dust on the edge of one astronomy. This book presents the
were proven true, the models were galaxy among billions. Not only had biggest ideas in physics, beginning
deemed laws which all of nature we seen inside the heart of matter with the everyday and ancient,
seemed to obey. The relationship of and released the energy within, we then moving through classical
heat and energy was explored by had charted the seas of space with physics into the tiny atomic world,
French physicist Sadi Carnot and light that had been traveling since and ending with the vast expanse
others, founding the new science of soon after the Big Bang. of space. ■
MEASURE
AND MOT
physics and the
I
everyday world
MENT
ON
16 INTRODUCTION
Italian astronomer Nicolaus
The Greek philosopher Copernicus publishes De Dutch physicist Christiaan
The Egyptians Euclid writes Revolutionibus orbium Huygens invents the
use the cubit Elements, one of the coelestium (On the pendulum clock, allowing
to measure foremost texts of the Revolutions of the Heavenly scientists to accurately
distance and time about geometry Spheres), marking the start of measure the motion
manage farmland. and mathematics. the Scientific Revolution. of objects.
3000 BCE 3RD CENTURY BCE 1543 1656
4TH CENTURY BCE 1361 1603
Aristotle develops the French philosopher Nicholas Galileo Galilei shows

scientific method Oresme proves the mean that balls rolling
using inductions from speed theorem, which down inclined planes
observations to draw describes the distance accelerate at the
deductions about covered by objects undergoing same rate regardless
the world. constant acceleration. of their mass.
O
ur survival instincts have purchase plentiful goods cheaply were unrivalled for millennia and
made us creatures of in one location before transporting devise farming systems to feed
comparison. Our ancient and selling them for a higher price the burgeoning population. As
struggle to survive by ensuring that in another location where that trade with ancient Egypt became
we found enough food for our family commodity was scarce. As trade global, the idea of a common
or reproduced with the correct in goods grew to become global, language of measurement
mate has been supplanted. These local leaders began taxing trade spread around the world.
primal instincts have evolved with and imposing standard prices. To The Scientific Revolution
our society into modern equivalents enforce this, they needed standard (1543–1700) brought about a new
such as wealth and power. We measures of physical things to need for these metrics. For the
cannot help but measure ourselves, allow them to make comparisons. scientist, metrics were to be
others, and the world around us by used not for trading goods but
metrics. Some of these measures Language of measurement as a tool with which nature could
are interpretive, focusing upon Realizing that each person’s be understood. Distrusting their
personality traits that we experience is relative, the ancient instincts, scientists developed
benchmark against our own Egyptians devised systems that controlled environments in which
feelings. Others, such as height, could be communicated without they tested connections between
weight, or age, are absolutes. bias from one person to another. different behaviors—they
For many people in the ancient They developed the first system experimented. Early experiments
and modern world alike, a measure of metrics, a standard method focused on the movement of
of success was wealth. To amass for measuring the world around everyday objects, which had
fortune, adventurers traded goods them. The Egyptian cubit allowed a direct effect upon daily life.
across the globe. Merchants would engineers to plan buildings that Scientists discovered patterns
MEASUREMENT AND MOTION 17
Isaac Newton Swiss mathematician British physicist
English cleric John publishes Principia Leonhard Euler’s James Joule conducts
Wallis suggests that and revolutionizes laws of motion define experiments that show
momentum, the our understanding linear momentum that energy is neither
product of mass and of how objects and the rate of lost nor gained when
velocity, is conserved move on Earth and change of angular it is converted from one
in all processes. in the cosmos. momentum. form to another.
1668 1687 1752 1845
1663 1670 1740 1788 2019
French physicist Blaise French astronomer and French mathematician French physicist The units
Pascal’s law about the mathematician Gabriel Émilie du Châtelet Joseph-Louis with which we
uniform distribution of Mouton suggests the discovers how to figure Lagrange produces benchmark our
pressure throughout a metric system of the kinetic energy of equations to universe are
liquid in an enclosed units using the meter, a moving object. simplify calculations redefined to depend
space is published. liter, and gram. about motion. on nature alone.
in linear, circular, and repetitive on his laws of motion, English international (SI) collection of
oscillating motion. These patterns physicist Isaac Newton invented metrics to convey their results.
became immortalized in the calculus, which brought a new The value of each of these SI
language of mathematics, a gift ability to describe the change metrics and their link to the world
from ancient civilizations that had in systems over time, not just around us are defined and decided
then been developed in the Islamic calculate single snapshots. To upon by an international group of
world for centuries. Mathematics explain the acceleration of falling scientists known as metrologists.
offered an unambiguous way objects, and eventually the nature This first chapter charts these
of sharing the outcomes of of heat, ideas of an unseen entity early years of the science we today
experiments and allowed scientists called energy began to emerge. call physics, the way in which
to make predictions and test these Our world could no longer be the science operates through
predictions with new experiments. defined by distance, time, and experimentation, and how results
With a common language and mass alone, and new metrics from these tests are shared across
metrics, science marched forward. were needed to benchmark the the world. From the falling objects
These pioneers discovered links measurement of energy. that Italian polymath Galileo Galilei
between distance, time, and speed Scientists use metrics to convey used to study acceleration to the
and set out their own repeatable and the results of experiments. Metrics oscillating pendulums that paved
tested explanation of nature. provide an unambiguous language the way to accurate timekeeping,
that enables scientists to interpret this is the story of how scientists
Measuring motion the results of an experiment and began to measure distance, time,
Scientific theories progressed repeat the experiment to check energy, and motion, revolutionizing
rapidly and with them the language that their conclusions are correct. our understanding of what makes
of mathematics changed. Building Today, scientists use the Système the world work. ■
18
MAN IS THE
MEASURE OF
ALL THINGS
MEASURING DISTANCE
W
hen people began to to the tip of the outstretched
IN CONTEXT build structures on an middle finger. Of course, not
organized scale, they everyone has the same length of
KEY CIVILIZATION
needed a way to measure height forearm and middle finger, so this
Ancient Egypt
and length. The earliest measuring “standard” was only approximate.
BEFORE devices are likely to have been
c. 4000 bce Administrators use primitive wooden sticks scored Imperial measure
a system of measuring field with notches, with no accepted As prodigious architects and
sizes in ancient Mesopotamia. consistency in unit length. The first builders of monuments on a
widespread unit was the “cubit,” grand scale, the ancient Egyptians
c. 3100 bce Officials in ancient which emerged in the 4th and 3rd needed a standard unit of distance.
Egypt use knotted cords—pre- millennia bce among the peoples of Fittingly, the royal cubit of the Old
stretched ropes tied at regular Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Indus Kingdom of ancient Egypt is the
intervals—to measure land and Valley. The term cubit derives from first known standardized cubit
survey building foundations. the Latin for elbow, cubitum, and measure in the world. In use since
was the distance from the elbow at least 2700 bce, it was 20.6–20.8 in
AFTER (523–529 mm) long and was divided
1585 In the Netherlands, into 28 equal digits, each based
Simon Stevin proposes a on a finger’s breadth.
decimal system of numbers. Archaeological excavations of
1799 The French government pyramids have revealed cubit rods
adopts the meter. of wood, slate, basalt, and bronze,
which would have been used as
1875 Signed by 17 nations, Cubit measures by craftsmen and
the Meter Convention agrees a architects. The Great Pyramid at
consistent length for the unit. Palm Giza, where a cubit rod was found
in the King’s Chamber, was built
1960 The eleventh General to be 280 cubits in height, with a
Conference on Weights and The Egyptian royal cubit was based base of 440 cubits squared. The
Measures sets the metric on the length of the forearm, measured Egyptians further subdivided
system as the International from the elbow to the middle fingertip.
Cubits were subdivided into 28 digits cubits into palms (4 digits), hands
System of Units (“SI,” from the (each a finger’s breadth in length) and (5 digits), small spans (12 digits),
French Système international). a series of intermediary units, such as large spans (14 digits, or half a
palms and hands. cubit), and t’sers (16 digits or
See also: Free falling 32–35 ■ Measuring time 38–39 SI units and physical
constants 58–63 ■ Heat and transfers 80–81
■
Changing definitions
In 1668, English clergyman
John Wilkins followed Stevin’s
proposal of a decimal-based
unit of length with a novel
definition: he suggested that
1 meter should be set as the
distance of a two-second
pendulum swing. Dutch
physicist Christiaan Huygens
4 palms). The khet (100 cubits) was Cubit rods—such as this example (1629–1695) calculated this to
used to measure field boundaries from the 18th dynasty in ancient be 39.26 in (997 mm).
and the ater (20,000 cubits) to Egypt, c. 14th century bce—were used In 1889, an alloy bar of
define larger distances. widely in the ancient world to achieve platinum (90%) and iridium
consistent measurements. (10%) was cast to represent
Cubits of various length were
used across the Middle East. The the definitive 1-meter length,
Assyrians used cubits in c. 700 bce, male’s thumb—foot, and mile. but because it expanded and
while the Hebrew Bible contains The Roman mile was 1,000 paces, contracted very slightly at
different temperatures, it was
plentiful references to cubits— or mille passus, each of which was
accurate only at the melting
particularly in the Book of Exodus’s five Roman feet. Roman colonial
point of ice. This bar is still
account of the construction of the expansion from the 3rd century bce kept at the International
Tabernacle, the sacred tent that to the 3rd century ce introduced Bureau of Weights and
housed the Ten Commandments. these units to much of western Measures in Paris, France.
The ancient Greeks developed their Asia and Europe, including When SI definitions were
own 24-unit cubit, as well as the England, where the mile was adopted in 1960, the meter
stade (plural stadia), a new unit redefined as 5,280 feet in 1593 was redefined in terms of the
representing 300 cubits. In the by Queen Elizabeth I. wavelength of electromagnetic
3rd century bce, the Greek scholar emissions from a krypton
Eratosthenes (c. 276 bce–c. 194 bce) Going metric atom. In 1983, yet another
estimated the circumference of In his 1585 pamphlet De Thiende definition was adopted: the
Earth at 250,000 stadia, a figure he (The Art of Tenths), Flemish distance that light travels
later refined to 252,000 stadia. The physicist Simon Stevin proposed a in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458
Romans also adopted the cubit, decimal system of measurement, of a second.
along with the inch—an adult forecasting that, in time, it would
be widely accepted. More than two
centuries later, work on the metric
system was begun by a committee
of the French Academy of Sciences,
with the meter being defined as
You are to make upright one ten-millionth of the distance
from Earth’s equator to the North A mile shall contain eight
frames of acacia wood for furlongs, every furlong forty
the Tabernacle. Each frame Pole. France became the first nation
to adopt the measurement, in 1799. poles, and every pole
is to be ten cubits long and shall contain sixteen
International recognition was
a cubit and a half wide. foot and a half.
not achieved until 1960, when the
Exodus 26:15–16 Système international (SI) set the Queen Elizabeth I
The Bible
meter as the base unit for distance.
It was agreed that 1 meter (m) is
equal to 1,000 millimeters (mm) or
100 centimeters (cm), and 1,000 m
make up 1 kilometer (km). ■
20
IN CONTEXT
A PRUDENT
KEY FIGURE
Aristotle (c. 384–322 bce)
BEFORE
QUESTION IS
585 bce Thales of Miletus,
a Greek mathematician
and philosopher, analyzes
movements of the sun
and moon to forecast a
ONE HALF OF
solar eclipse.
AFTER
1543 Nicolaus Copernicus’s
De Revolutionibus orbium
WISDOM
coelestium (On the Revolutions
of the Heavenly Spheres) and
Andreas Vesalius’s De humani
corporis fabrica (On the
Workings of the Human Body)
THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD rely on detailed observation,

marking the beginning of the
Scientific Revolution.
1620 Francis Bacon proposes
the inductivist method,
which involves making
generalizations based on
accurate observations.
C
areful observation and a
questioning attitude to
findings are central to the
scientific method of investigation,
which underpins physics and all the
sciences. Since it is easy for prior
knowledge and assumptions to
distort the interpretation of data,
the scientific method follows a set
procedure. A hypothesis is drawn
up on the basis of findings, and
then tested experimentally. If this
hypothesis fails, it can be revised
and reexamined, but if it is robust,
it is shared for peer review—
independent evaluation by experts.
People have always sought to
understand the world around them,
and the need to find food and
See also: Free falling 32–35 ■ SI units and physical constants 58–63 ■ Focusing
light 170–175 ■ Models of the universe 272–273 ■ Dark matter 302–305
Scientists form a
The starting point for
hypothesis (a theory
the scientific method is
to explain the
an observation.
observation).
An experiment is carried out to test the hypothesis.

Aristotle
The son of the court physician
of the Macedonian royal
family, Aristotle was raised
Data from the experiment is collected. by a guardian after his parents
died when he was young. At
around the age of 17, he joined
Plato’s Academy in Athens,
the foremost center of learning
If the data supports in Greece. Over the next two
the hypothesis, the If the data refutes decades, he studied and wrote
experiment is repeated the hypothesis, the about philosophy, astronomy,
to make sure the results hypothesis is revised. biology, chemistry, geology,
are correct. and physics, as well as
politics, poetry, and music. He
also traveled to Lesvos, where
he made ground-breaking
observations of the island’s
botany and zoology.
The hypothesis is eventually accepted as fact. In c. 343 bce, Aristotle was
invited by Philip II of Macedon
to tutor his son, the future
Alexander the Great. He
understand changing weather were who sought to interpret the world established a school at the
matters of life and death long before and record their findings. One of Lyceum in Athens in 335 bce,
ideas were written down. In many the first to reject supernatural where he wrote many of his
societies, mythologies developed explanations of natural phenomena most celebrated scientific
treatises. Aristotle left Athens
to explain natural phenomena; was the Greek thinker Thales of
in 322 bce and settled on the
elsewhere, it was believed that Miletus. Later, the philosophers island of Euboea, where he
everything was a gift from the gods Socrates and Plato introduced died at the age of about 62.
and events were preordained. debate and argument as a method
of advancing understanding, but it
Early investigations was Aristotle—a prolific investigator Key works
The world’s first civilizations— of physics, biology, and zoology—
ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, who began to develop a scientific Metaphysics
Greece, and China—were method of inquiry, applying logical On the Heavens
sufficiently advanced to support reasoning to observed phenomena. Physics
“natural philosophers,” thinkers He was an empiricist, someone ❯❯
22 THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
Anatomical drawings from 1543
reflect Vesalius’s mastery of dissection
and set a new standard for study of the
human body, unchanged since the
Greek physician Galen (129–216 ce).
All truths are
easy to understand greater authority. In fact, the
once they are geocentric view of the universe
discovered; the point was held to be true—due in part
is to discover them. to its enforcement by the Catholic
Galileo Galilei Church, which discouraged ideas
that challenged its interpretation of
the Bible—until it was superseded
in the 17th century by the ideas of
Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton.
Testing and observation

who believes that all knowledge is Arab scholar Ibn al-Haytham
based on experience derived from (widely known as “Alhazen”) was
the senses, and that reason alone an early proponent of the scientific
is not enough to solve scientific method. Working in the 10th and
problems—evidence is required. 11th centuries ce, he developed his
Traveling widely, Aristotle own method of experimentation
was the first to make detailed to prove or disprove hypotheses. point of a luminous object radiates
zoological observations, seeking His most important work was light along every straight line and
evidence to group living things by in the field of optics, but he also in every direction.
behavior and anatomy. He went made important contributions to Unfortunately, al-Haytham’s
to sea with fishermen in order to astronomy and mathematics. methods were not adopted beyond
collect and dissect fish and other Al-Haytham experimented with the Islamic world, and it would be
marine organisms. After discovering sunlight, light reflected from 500 years before a similar approach
that dolphins have lungs, he judged artificial light sources, and refracted emerged independently in Europe,
they should be classed with whales, light. For example, he tested—and during the Scientific Revolution.
not fish. He separated four-legged proved—the hypothesis that every But the idea that accepted theories
animals that give birth to live may be challenged, and overthrown
young (mammals) from those that if proof of an alternative can be
lay eggs (reptiles and amphibians). produced, was not the prevailing
However, in other fields Aristotle view in 16th-century Europe. Church
was still influenced by traditional Earth Moon authorities rejected many scientific
ideas that lacked a grounding in Mars ideas, such as the work of Polish
good science. He did not challenge Mercury astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.
the prevailing geocentric idea Sun He made painstaking observations
that the sun and stars rotate around Saturn Venus of the night sky with the naked eye,
Earth. In the 3rd century bce, another explaining the temporary retrograde
Greek thinker, Aristarchus of (“backward”) motion of the planets,
Samos, argued that Earth and the which geocentrism had never
known planets orbit the sun, that Jupiter accounted for. Copernicus realized
stars are very distant equivalents of the phenomenon was due to Earth
Copernicus’s heliocentric model,
“our” sun, and that Earth spins on its so-called because it made the sun and the other planets moving
axis. Though correct, these ideas (helios in Greek) the focus of planetary around the sun on different orbits.
were dismissed because Aristotle orbits, was endorsed by some scientists Although Copernicus lacked the
and his student Ptolemy carried but outlawed by the Church. tools to prove heliocentrism, his use
recorded observations on matters of facts to create axioms (a process
as varied as the movement of the known as “inductivism”), while
planets, the swing of pendulums, being careful to avoid generalizing
and the speed of falling bodies. He beyond what the facts tell us;
produced theories to explain them, then gathering further facts to
If a man will begin with then made more observations to produce an increasingly complex
certainties, he shall end in test the theories. He used the new base of knowledge.
doubts, but if he will be content technology of telescopes to study
to begin with doubts, he four of the moons orbiting Jupiter, Unproven science
shall end in certainties. proving Copernicus’s heliocentric When scientific claims cannot be
Francis Bacon model—under geocentrism, all verified, they are not necessarily
objects orbited Earth. In 1633 wrong. In 1997, scientists at the
Galileo was tried by the Church’s Gran Sasso laboratory in Italy
Roman Inquisition, found guilty of claimed to have detected evidence
heresy, and placed under house- of dark matter, which is believed
arrest for the last decade of his to make up about 27 percent of
life. He continued to publish by the universe. The most likely
of rational argument to challenge smuggling papers to Holland, away source, they said, were weakly
accepted thinking set him apart as from the censorship of the Church. interacting massive particles
a true scientist. Around the same Later in the 17th century, (WIMPs). These should be detected
time, Flemish anatomist Andreas English philosopher Francis Bacon as tiny flashes of light (scintillations)
Vesalius transformed medical reinforced the importance of a when a particle strikes the nucleus
thinking with his multi-volume work methodical, skeptical approach to of a “target” atom. However,
on the human body in 1543. Just as scientific inquiry. Bacon argued despite the best efforts of other
Copernicus based his theories on that the only means of building research teams to replicate the
detailed observation, Vesalius true knowledge was to base experiment, no other evidence
analyzed what he found when axioms and laws on observed of dark matter has been found.
dissecting human body-parts. facts, not relying (even if only It is possible that there is an
partially) on unproven deductions unidentified explanation—or the
Experimental approach and conjecture. The Baconian scintillations could have been
For Italian polymath Galileo Galilei, method involves making systematic produced by helium atoms, which
experimentation was central to the observations to establish verifiable are present in the experiment’s
scientific approach. He carefully facts; generalizing from a series photomultiplier tubes. ■
The scientific method in practice

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was diffraction pattern would be
identified as the carrier of genetic X-shaped. British scientist
information in the human body in Rosalind Franklin tested this
1944, and its chemical composition theory by performing X-ray
was shown to be four different diffraction on crystallized pure
molecules called nucleotides. DNA, beginning in 1950. After
However, it was unclear how refining the technique over a
genetic information was stored period of two years, her analysis
in DNA. Three scientists—Linus revealed an X-shaped pattern
Pauling, Francis Crick, and (best seen in “Photo 51”),
James Watson—put forward the proving that DNA had a helical
Photo 51, taken by Franklin, is hypothesis that DNA possessed structure. The Pauling, Crick,
a 1952 X-ray diffraction image of a helical structure, and realized Watson hypothesis was proven,
human DNA. The X-shape is due from work done by other scientists forming the starting point for
to DNA’s double-helix structure. that if that was the case, its X-ray further studies on DNA.
ALL IS
NUMBER
THE LANGUAGE OF PHYSICS
26 THE LANGUAGE OF PHYSICS
P
hysics seeks to understand
IN CONTEXT the universe through
observation, experiment,
KEY FIGURE
and building models and theories.
Euclid of Alexandria
All of these are intimately entwined
(c. 325–c. 270 bce) with mathematics. Mathematics is Number is the ruler of forms
BEFORE the language of physics—whether and ideas, and the cause of
3000–300 bce Ancient used in measurement and data gods and daemons.
Mesopotamian and Egyptian analysis in experimental science, Pythagoras
civilizations develop number or to provide rigorous expression
systems and techniques to for theories, or to describe the
solve mathematical problems. fundamental “frame of reference” in
which all matter exists and events
600–300 bce Greek scholars, take place. The investigation of
including Pythagoras and space, time, matter, and energy is
Thales, formalize mathematics only made possible through a prior prediction increased. Power was
using logic and proofs. understanding of dimension, shape, tied to knowledge of astronomical
symmetry, and change. cycles and seasonal patterns,
AFTER such as flooding. Agriculture and
c. 630 ce Indian Driven by practical needs architecture required accurate
mathematician Brahmagupta The history of mathematics is one calendars and land surveys.
uses zero and negative of increasing abstraction. Early The earliest place value number
numbers in arithmetic. ideas about number and shape systems (where a digit’s position
developed over time into the most in a number indicates its value)
c. 820 ce Persian scholar
general and precise language. and methods for solving equations
al-Khwarizmi sets down In prehistoric times, before the date back more than 3,500 years
the principles of algebra. advent of writing, herding animals to civilizations in Mesopotamia,
c. 1670 Gottfried Leibniz and and trading goods undoubtedly Egypt, and (later) Mesoamerica.
Isaac Newton each develop prompted the earliest attempts
calculus, the mathematical at tallying and counting. Adding logic and analysis
study of continuous change. As complex cultures emerged in The rise of ancient Greece brought
the Middle East and Mesoamerica, about a fundamental change in
demands for greater precision and focus. Number systems and
Euclid Although his Elements were the loose ideas of other scholars.
immensely influential, few details Thus, the theorems of the
of Euclid’s life are known. He was 13 books of Euclid’s Elements
born around 325 bce, in the reign are not original, but for two
of Egyptian pharaoh Ptolemy I millennia they set the standard
and probably died around 270 bce. for mathematical exposition.
He lived mostly in Alexandria, then The earliest surviving editions
an important center of learning, but of the Elements date from the
he may also have studied at Plato’s 15th century.
academy in Athens.
In Commentary on Euclid,
written in the 5th century ce, the Key works
Greek philosopher Proclus notes
that Euclid arranged the theorems Elements
of Eudoxus, an earlier Greek Data
mathematician, and brought Catoptrics
“irrefutable demonstration” to Optics
See also: Measuring distance 18–19 ■ Measuring time 38–39 ■ Laws of motion 40–45 ■ SI units and physical
constants 58–63 ■ Antimatter 246 ■ The particle zoo and quarks 256–257 ■ Curving spacetime 280
Central to calculus is the idea of

calculating infinitesimals (infinitely
small quantities), which was
anticipated by Archimedes of
Syracuse, who lived in the 3rd
century bce. To calculate the
approximate volume of a sphere,
for instance, he halved it, enclosed
the hemisphere in a cylinder, then
1 ⁄ 16 1⁄ 8 1⁄ 4 1⁄ 2 1 imagined slicing it horizontally,
from the top of the hemisphere,
The dichotomy paradox is one of Zeno’s paradoxes that show motion to where the radius is infinitesimally
be logically impossible. Before walking a certain distance a person must small, downward. He knew that
walk half that distance, before walking half the distance he must walk a the thinner he made his slices, the
quarter of the distance, and so on. Walking any distance will therefore entail
more accurate the volume would
an infinite number of stages that take an infinite amount of time to complete.
be. Reputed to have shouted
“Eureka!” on discovering that the
measurement were no longer which cannot be exactly expressed upward buoyant force of an object
simply practical tools; Greek as one whole number divided by immersed in water is equal to the
scholars also studied them for their another) by the Pythagorean weight of the fluid it displaces,
own sake, together with shape and philosopher Hippasus; according Archimedes is notable for applying
change. Although they inherited to legend, he was murdered by math to mechanics and other
much specific mathematical scandalized colleagues. branches of physics in order to
knowledge from earlier cultures, solve problems involving levers,
such as elements of Pythagoras’s Titans of mathematics screws, pulleys, and pumps.
theorem, the Greeks introduced the In the 5th century bce, the Greek Archimedes studied in
rigor of logical argument and an philosopher Zeno of Elea devised Alexandria, at a school established
approach rooted in philosophy; the paradoxes about motion, such as by Euclid, often known as the
ancient Greek word philosophia Achilles and the tortoise. This “Father of Geometry.” It was by ❯❯
means “love of wisdom.” was the idea that, in any race
The ideas of a theorem (a where the pursued has a head start,
general statement that is true the pursuer is always catching up—
everywhere and for all time) and eventually by an infinitesimal
proof (a formal argument using amount. Such puzzles, which were
the laws of logic) are first seen in the logical—if simple to disprove in
geometry of the Greek philosopher practice—would worry generations
Thales of Miletus in the early 6th of mathematicians. They were
century bce. Around the same resolved, at least partially, in the
time, Pythagoras and his followers 17th century by the development of
elevated numbers to be the building calculus, a branch of mathematics
blocks of the universe. that deals with continuously
For the Pythagoreans, numbers changed quantities.
had to be “commensurable”—
measurable in terms of ratios or
Greek philosophers drew in the sand
fractions—to preserve the link when teaching geometry, as shown
with nature. This world view was here. Archimedes is said to have been
shattered with the discovery of drawing circles in the sand when he
irrational numbers (such as √2, was killed by a Roman soldier.
analyzing geometry itself that precise, symbolic language of
Euclid established the template modern mathematics—which is
for mathematical argument for significantly more effective for
the next 2,000 years. His 13-book analyzing problems and universally
treatise, Elements, introduced understood—is relatively recent.
the “axiomatic method” for Around 250 ce, however, the Greek Imaginary numbers are a fine
geometry. He defined terms, mathematician Diophantus of and wonderful refuge of the
such as “point,” and outlined five Alexandria introduced the partial divine spirit … almost an
axioms (also known as postulates, use of symbols to solve algebraic amphibian between being
or self-evident truths), such as “a problems in his principal work and non-being.
line segment can be drawn Arithmetica, which influenced the Gottfried Leibniz
between any two points.” From development of Arabic algebra after
these axioms, he used the laws the fall of the Roman Empire.
of logic to deduce theorems. The study of algebra flourished
By today’s standards, Euclid’s in the East during the Golden Age
axioms are lacking; there are of Islam (from the 8th century to the
numerous assumptions that 14th century). Baghdad became
a mathematician would now the principal seat of learning. Here, French mathematician François
expect to be stated formally. at an academic center called the Viète finally pioneered the use of
Elements remains, however, House of Wisdom, mathematicians symbols in equations in his 1591
a prodigious work, covering not could study translations of Greek book, Introduction to the Analytic
only plane geometry and three- texts on geometry and number Arts. The language was not yet
dimensional geometry, but also theory or Indian works discussing standard, but mathematicians could
ratio and proportion, number theory, the decimal place-value system. now write complicated expressions
and the “incommensurables” that In the early 9th century, Muhammad in a compact form, without resorting
Pythagoreans had rejected. ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (from to diagrams. In 1637, French
whose name comes the word philosopher and mathematician
Language and symbols “algorithm”) compiled methods for René Descartes reunited algebra
In ancient Greece and earlier, balancing and solving equations and geometry by devising the
scholars described and solved in his book al Jabr (the root of the coordinate system.
algebraic problems (determining word “algebra”). He popularized
unknown quantities given certain the use of Hindu numerals, which More abstract numbers
known quantities and relationships) evolved into Arabic numerals, Over millennia, in attempts to solve
in everyday language and by using but still described his algebraic different problems, mathematicians
geometry. The highly-abbreviated, problems in words. have extended the number system,
expanding the counting numbers
1, 2, 3 … to include fractions and
irrational numbers. The addition
of zero and negative numbers
indicated increasing abstraction.
In ancient number systems, zero
had been used as a placeholder—a
way to tell 10 from 100, for instance.
By around the 7th century ce,
Islamic scholars gather in one of

Baghdad’s great libraries in this 1237
image by the painter Yahya al-Wasiti.
Scholars came to the city from all points
of the Islamic Empire, including Persia,
Egypt, Arabia, and even Iberia (Spain).
negative numbers were used In differential calculus, Integrating a curve’s
the gradient (slope) of the equation between two
for representing debts. In 628 ce, tangent to a curve at a values of gives the
x
the Indian mathematician point shows the rate of area under the curve
Brahmagupta was the first to treat change at that point between those values
negative integers (whole numbers) y y
just like the positive integers for 5 5
arithmetic. Yet, even 1,000 years
later, many European scholars still 4 4
considered negative numbers
unacceptable as formal solutions 3 3
to equations.
The 16th-century Italian 2 2
polymath Gerolamo Cardano not
only used negative numbers, but, 1 1
in Ars Magna, introduced the idea x x
of complex numbers (combining a 0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
real and imaginary number) to
DIFFERENTIAL CALCULUS INTEGRAL CALCULUS
solve cubic equations (those with
at least one variable to the power
of three, such as x3, but no higher). Differential calculus examines the rate of change
Complex numbers take the form over time, shown geometrically here as the rate of
a + bi, where a and b are real change of a curve. Integral calculus examines the
areas, volumes, or displacement bounded by curves.
numbers and i is the imaginary
unit, usually expressed as i = √-1.
The unit is termed “imaginary” set down the first rules for using new methods and techniques
because when squared it is complex and imaginary numbers, emerged. One of the most
negative, and squaring any real it took a further 200 years before significant for physics, was the
number, whether it is positive or Swiss mathematician Leonhard development of “infinitesimal”
negative, produces a positive Euler introduced the symbol i to methods in order to study curves
number. Although Cardano’s denote the imaginary unit. and change. The ancient Greek
contemporary Rafael Bombelli Like negative numbers, complex method of exhaustion—finding the
numbers were met with resistance, area of a shape by filling it with
right up until the 18th century. smaller polygons—was refined in
Yet they represented a significant order to compute areas bounded
advance in mathematics. Not by curves. It finally evolved into
only do they enable the solution a branch of mathematics called
A new, a vast, and a powerful of cubic equations but, unlike real integral calculus. In the 17th
language is developed for the numbers, they can be used to century, French lawyer Pierre
future use of analysis, in solve all higher-order polynomial de Fermat’s study of tangents to
which to wield its truths so equations (those involving two or curves inspired the development
that these may become of more terms added together and of differential calculus—the
higher powers of a variable x, such calculation of rates of change.
more speedy and accurate
as x4 or x5). Complex numbers Around 1670, English physicist
practical application for the emerge naturally in many branches Isaac Newton and German
purposes of mankind. of physics, such as quantum philosopher Gottfried Leibniz
Ada Lovelace mechanics and electromagnetism. independently worked out a
British computer scientist
theory that united integral
Infinitesimal calculus and differential calculus into
From the 14th century to the infinitesimal calculus. The
17th century, together with the underlying idea is of approximating
increasing use of symbols, many a curve (a changing quantity) by ❯❯
Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometries
In Euclidean geometry, space is In hyperbolic geometry, developed In elliptic geometry, the surface
assumed to be “flat.” Parallel lines by Bolyai and Lobachevsky, the surface curves outward like a sphere and
remain at a constant distance from curves like a saddle and lines on the parallel lines curve toward each
one another and never meet. surface curve away from each other. other, eventually intersecting.
considering that it is made up is not on that line, exactly one line (hyperbolic geometry) in which
of many straight lines (a series of can be drawn through the given the fifth postulate is false and
different, fixed quantities). At the point and parallel to the given parallel lines never meet. In their
theoretical limit, the curve is line. Throughout history, various geometry, the surface is not flat as
identical to an infinite number mathematicians, such as Proclus in Euclid’s, but curves inward. By
of infinitesimal approximations. of Athens in the 5th century or the contrast, in elliptic geometry and
During the 18th and 19th Arabic mathematician al-Haytham, spherical geometry, also described
centuries, applications of calculus have attempted in vain to show in the 19th century, there are no
in physics exploded. Physicists that the parallel postulate can be parallel lines; all lines intersect.
could now precisely model dynamic derived from the other postulates. German mathematician
(changing) systems, from vibrating In the early 1800s, Hungarian Bernhard Riemann and others
strings to the diffusion of heat. mathematician János Bolyai and formalized such non-Euclidean
The work of 19th-century Scottish Russian mathematician Nicolai geometries. Einstein used
physicist James Clerk Maxwell Lobachevsky independently Riemannian theory in his general
greatly influenced the development developed a version of geometry theory of relativity—the most
of vector calculus, which models advanced explanation of gravity—
change in phenomena that have in which mass “bends” spacetime,
both quantity and direction. Maxwell making it non-Euclidean, although
also pioneered the use of statistical space remains homogeneous
techniques for the study of large (uniform, with the same properties
numbers of particles. Out of nothing I have created a at every point).
strange new universe. All that
Non-Euclidean geometries I have sent you previously is Abstract algebra
The fifth axiom, or postulate, on like a house of cards in By the 19th century, algebra
geometry that Euclid set out in had undergone a seismic shift,
comparison with a tower.
his Elements, is also known as to become a study of abstract
the parallel postulate. This was
János Bolyai symmetry. French mathematician
in a letter to his father
controversial, even in ancient Évariste Galois was responsible for
times, as it appears less self-evident a key development. In 1830, while
than the others, although many investigating certain symmetries
theorems depend on it. It states exhibited by the roots (solutions)
that, given a line and a point that of polynomial equations, he
developed a theory of abstract In the 1950s and 1960s, physicists
mathematical objects, called used group theory to develop the
groups, to encode different kinds Standard Model of particle physics.
of symmetries. For example,
all squares exhibit the same Modeling reality
reflectional and rotational Mathematics is the abstract study
symmetries, and so are associated of numbers, quantities, and shapes,
with a particular group. From his which physics employs to model
research, Galois determined that, reality, express theories, and
unlike for quadratic equations (with predict future outcomes—often
a variable to the power of two, such with astonishing accuracy. For
as x2, but no higher), there is no example, the electron g-factor—
general formula to solve polynomial a measure of its behavior in an
equations of degree five (with terms electromagnetic field—is computed
such as x5) or higher. This was a to be 2.002 319 304 361 6, while the
dramatic result; he had proved that experimentally determined value
there could be no such formula, no is 2.002 319 304 362 5 (differing by Emmy Noether was a highly creative
matter what future developments just one part in a trillion). algebraist. She taught at the University
occurred in mathematics. Certain mathematical models of Göttingen in Germany, but as
Subsequently, algebra grew into have endured for centuries, a Jew was forced to leave in 1933.
She died in the US in 1935, aged 53.
the abstract study of groups and requiring only minor adjustments.
similar objects, and the symmetries For example, German astronomer
they encoded. In the 20th century, Johannes Kepler’s 1619 model of instance, the application of
groups and symmetry proved vital the solar system, with some 19th-century group theory to
for describing natural phenomena refinements by Newton and modern quantum physics. There
at the deepest level. In 1915, Einstein, remains valid today. are also many examples of
German algebraist Emmy Noether Physicists have applied ideas mathematical structures driving
connected symmetry in equations that mathematicians developed, insight into nature. When British
with conservation laws, such as the sometimes much earlier, simply physicist Paul Dirac found twice as
conservation of energy, in physics. to investigate a pattern; for many expressions as expected in
his equations describing the
behavior of electrons, consistent
with relativity and quantum
Mathematics is an abstract, mechanics, he postulated the
concise, symbolic language of quantity, pattern, existence of an anti-electron; it
symmetry, and change. was duly discovered, years later.
While physicists investigate
what “is” in the universe,
mathematicians are divided as to
whether their study is about nature,
Physicists’ mathematical models of nature have or the human mind, or the abstract
great predictive power. manipulation of symbols. In a
strange historical twist, physicists
researching string theory are now
suggesting revolutionary advances
in pure mathematics to geometers
(mathematicians who study
Mathematics must be a true (if partial) description geometry). Just exactly how this
of the universe. illuminates the relationship
between mathematics, physics,
and “reality” is yet to be seen. ■
32
IN CONTEXT
BODIES SUFFER
KEY FIGURE
Galileo Galilei (1564–1642)
NO RESISTANCE
BEFORE
c. 350 bce In Physics, Aristotle
explains gravity as a force that
moves bodies toward their
BUT FROM
“natural place,” down toward
the center of Earth.
1576 Giuseppe Moletti
THE AIR
writes that objects of
different weights free fall
at the same rate.
AFTER
FREE FALLING 1651 Giovanni Riccioli and
Francesco Grimaldi measure
the time of descent of falling
bodies, enabling calculation
of their rate of acceleration.
1687 In Principia, Isaac
Newton expounds
gravitational theory in detail.
1971 David Scott shows that
a hammer and a feather fall at
the same speed on the moon.
W
hen gravity is the only
force acting on a moving
object, it is said to be
in “free fall.” A skydiver falling from
a plane is not quite in free fall—
since air resistance is acting upon
him—whereas planets orbiting
the sun or another star are. The
ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle
believed that the downward motion
of objects dropped from a height
was due to their nature—they
were moving toward the center
of Earth, their natural place. From
Aristotle’s time until the Middle
Ages, it was accepted as fact that
the speed of a free-falling object
was proportional to its weight, and
inversely proportional to the density
See also: Measuring distance 18–19 ■ Measuring time 38–39 ■ Laws of motion
40–45 ■ Laws of gravity 46–51 ■ Kinetic energy and potential energy 54
If gravity is the only force acting on a moving

object, it is in a state of free fall.
In a vacuum, its
Unless it moves in a speed increases at a
vacuum, air resistance constant rate of
and/or friction will slow acceleration, regardless of
it down. its size or weight. Galileo Galilei
The oldest of six siblings,
Galileo was born in Pisa, Italy,
in 1564. He enrolled to study
medicine at the University of
Bodies suffer no resistance but from the air. Pisa at the age of 16, but his
interests quickly broadened
and he was appointed Chair of
Mathematics at the University
of the medium it was falling free-falling body will fall more of Padua in 1592. Galileo’s
through. So, if two objects of quickly than a lighter one—a view contributions to physics,
mathematics, astronomy, and
different weights are dropped that had recently been challenged
engineering single him out as
at the same time, the heavier by several other scientists.
one of the key figures of the
will fall faster and hit the ground In 1576, Giuseppe Moletti, Scientific Revolution in 16th-
before the lighter object. Aristotle Galileo’s predecessor in the Chair and 17th-century Europe. He
also understood that the object’s of Mathematics at the University of created the first thermoscope
shape and orientation were factors Padua, had written that objects of (an early thermometer),
in how quickly it fell, so a piece of different weights but made of the defended the Copernican
unfolded paper would fall more same material fell to the ground at idea of a heliocentric solar
slowly than the same piece of the same speed. He also believed system, and made important
paper rolled into a ball. that bodies of the same volume ❯❯ discoveries about gravity.
Because some of his ideas
Falling spheres challenged Church dogma,
At some time between 1589 and he was called before the
1592, according to his student and Roman Inquisition in 1633,
biographer Vincenzo Viviani, Italian declared to be a heretic, and
sentenced to house arrest
polymath Galileo Galilei dropped
Nature is inexorable and until his death in 1642.
two spheres of different weight
from the Tower of Pisa to test immutable; she never
Aristotle’s theory. Although it was transgresses the laws Key works
more likely to have been a thought imposed upon her.
Galileo Galilei 1623 The Assayer
experiment than a real-life event,
1632 Dialogue Concerning
Galileo was reportedly excited to
the Two Chief World Systems
discover that the lighter sphere fell 1638 Discourses and
to the ground as quickly as the Mathematical Demonstrations
heavier one. This contradicted the Relating to Two New Sciences
Aristotelian view that a heavier
34 FREE FALLING
Fall of 1 ft (0.3 m) after 1 second sacrosanct by the Catholic Church,
in which Oresme served as a
Fall of 4 ft (1.2 m) after 2 seconds bishop. It is not known whether
Oresme’s studies influenced the
later work of Galileo.
Fall of 9 ft (2.7 m) after 3 seconds
Balls on ramps
From 1603, Galileo set out to
investigate the acceleration of free-
Fall of 16 ft (4.9 m) falling objects. Unconvinced that
after 4 seconds they fell at a constant speed, he
believed that they accelerated as
Fall of 25 ft they fell—but the problem was
(7.6 m) after how to prove it. The technology
5 seconds to accurately record such speeds
simply did not exist. Galileo’s
ingenious solution was to slow
down the motion to a measurable
speed, by replacing a falling object
Galileo showed that objects of different mass Lighter ball with a ball rolling down a sloping
accelerate at a constant rate. By timing how long a ball Heavier ball ramp. He timed the experiment
took to travel a particular distance down a slope, he could using both a water clock—a device
figure out its acceleration. The distance fallen was always
proportional to the square of the time taken to fall. that weighed the water spurting
into an urn as the ball traveled—
and his own pulse. If he doubled
but made of different materials uniformly, its speed increases in the period of time the ball rolled, he
fell at the same rate. Ten years direct proportion to time, and the found the distance it traveled was
later, Dutch scientists Simon Stevin distance it travels is proportional four times as far.
and Jan Cornets de Groot climbed to the square of the time during Leaving nothing to chance,
33 ft (10 m) up a church tower in which it is accelerating. It was Galileo repeated the experiment
Delft to release two lead balls, one perhaps surprising that Oresme “a full hundred times” until he
ten times bigger and heavier than should have challenged the had achieved “an accuracy such
the other. They witnessed them established Aristotelian “truth,” that the deviation between two
hit the ground at the same time. which at the time was considered observations never exceeded one-
The age-old idea of heavier objects
falling faster than lighter ones
was gradually being debunked.
Another of Aristotle’s beliefs—
that a free-falling object descends
at a constant speed—had been
challenged earlier still. Around
1361, French mathematician Nicole
Oresme had studied the movement
of bodies. He discovered that if an
object’s acceleration is increasing
In this fresco by Giuseppe Bezzuoli,

Galileo is shown demonstrating his
rolling-ball experiment in the presence of
the powerful Medici family in Florence.
tenth of a pulse beat.” He also
changed the incline of the ramp: as The hammer and the feather
it became steeper, the acceleration
increased uniformly. Since Galileo’s In 1971, American astronaut walk, Scott dropped a 3-lb
David Scott—commander of geological hammer and a 1-oz
experiments were not carried out in
the Apollo 15 moon mission— falcon’s feather from a height
a vacuum, they were imperfect— performed a famous free-fall of 5 ft. In the virtual vacuum
the moving balls were subject to experiment. The fourth NASA conditions of the moon’s surface,
air resistance and friction from expedition to land on the moon, with no air resistance, the
the ramp. Nevertheless, Galileo Apollo 15 was capable of a ultralight feather fell to the
concluded that in a vacuum, all longer stay on the moon than ground at the same speed as the
objects—regardless of weight or previous expeditions, and its heavy hammer. The experiment
shape—would accelerate at a crew was the first to use a was filmed, so this confirmation
uniform rate: the square of the Lunar Roving Vehicle. of Galileo’s theory that all
elapsed time of the fall is Apollo 15 also featured a objects accelerate at a uniform
proportional to the distance fallen. greater focus on science than rate regardless of mass was
earlier moon landings. At the witnessed by a television
Quantifying gravitational end of the mission’s final lunar audience of millions.
acceleration
In spite of Galileo’s work, the The priests, who described their dense rocks near Earth’s surface.
question of the acceleration of free- methodology in detail, repeated If the constant acceleration of an
falling objects was still contentious the experiments several times. object in free fall near Earth’s
in the mid-17th century. From 1640 Riccioli believed that free-falling surface is represented by g, the
to 1650, Jesuit priests Giovanni objects accelerated exponentially, height at which it is released is z0
Riccioli and Francesco Grimaldi but the results showed him that and time is t, then at any stage in
conducted various investigations he was wrong. A series of falling its descent, the height of the body
in Bologna. Key to their eventual objects were timed by pendulums above the surface z = z0 – 1/2 gt2,
success were Riccioli’s time- at the top and bottom of the tower. where gt is the speed of the body
keeping pendulums—which were They fell 15 Roman feet (1 Roman and g its acceleration. A body of
as accurate as any available at the foot = 11.6 in) in 1 second, 60 feet mass m at a height z0 above Earth’s
time—and a very tall tower. The in 2 seconds, 135 feet in 3 seconds, surface possesses gravitational
two priests and their assistants and 240 feet in 4 seconds. The data, potential energy U, which can be
dropped heavy objects from various published in 1651, proved that calculated by the equation U =
levels of the 321-ft (98-m) Asinelli the distance of descent was mgz0 (mass  acceleration  height
Tower, timing their descents. proportional to the square of the above Earth’s surface). ■
length of time the object was
falling—confirming Galileo’s ramp
experiments. And for the first time,
due to relatively accurate time-
keeping, it was possible to work
When Galileo caused out the value of acceleration due
to gravity: 9.36 (±0.22) m/s2. This In questions of science,
balls … to roll down the authority of a
an inclined plane, figure is only about 5 percent less
than the range of figures accepted thousand is not worth
a light broke upon all the humble reasoning
today: around 9.81 m/s2.
students of nature. of a single individual.
The value of g (gravity) varies
Immanuel Kant according to a number of factors: it Galileo Galilei
German philosopher
is greater at Earth’s poles than at
the equator, lower at high altitudes
than at sea level, and it varies very
slightly according to local geology,
for example if there are particularly
36
A NEW MACHINE
FOR MULTIPLYING
FORCES
PRESSURE
W
hile investigating Pascal’s findings weren’t published
IN CONTEXT hydraulics (the until 1663, the year after his
mechanical properties death, but they would be used by
KEY FIGURE
of liquids), French mathematician engineers to make the operation
Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
and physicist Blaise Pascal made of machinery much easier. In
BEFORE a discovery that would eventually 1796, Joseph Bramah applied the
1643 Italian physicist revolutionize many industrial principle to construct a hydraulic
Evangelista Torricelli processes. Pascal’s law, as it press that flattened paper, cloth, and
demonstrates the existence became known, states that if steel, doing so more efficiently
of a vacuum using mercury pressure is applied to any part of and powerfully than previous
in a tube; his principle is later a liquid in an enclosed space, that wooden presses. ■
used to invent the barometer. pressure is transmitted equally to
every part of the fluid, and to the
AFTER container walls. Small
1738 In Hydrodynamica, force
Swiss mathematician Daniel The impact of Pascal Small
piston
Bernoulli argues that energy Pascal’s law means that pressure
in a fluid is due to elevation, exerted on a piston at one end of Large
motion, and pressure. a fluid-filled cylinder produces an piston
equal increase in pressure on
1796 Joseph Bramah, another piston at the other end of Large
a British inventor, uses the cylinder. More significantly, force
Pascal’s law to patent the if the cross-section of the second
first hydraulic press. piston is twice that of the first, the
force on it will be twice as great. Liquids cannot be compressed
1851 Scottish–American So, a 2.2 lb (1 kg) load on the small and are used to transmit forces in
inventor Richard Dudgeon piston will allow the large piston to
hydraulics systems such as car jacks.
patents a hydraulic jack. A small force applied over a long
lift 4.4 lb (2 kg); the larger the ratio distance is turned into a larger force
1906 An oil hydraulic of the cross-sections, the more over a small distance, which can
system is installed to raise weight the large piston can raise. raise a heavy load.
and lower the guns of the
US warship Virginia. See also: Laws of motion 40–45 ■ Stretching and squeezing 72–75 ■ Fluids
76–79 ■ The gas laws 82–85
MOTION WILL
PERSIST
MOMENTUM
W
hen objects collide,
IN CONTEXT several things happen.
They change velocity
KEY FIGURE
and direction, and the kinetic
John Wallis (1616–1703)
energy of motion may be converted
BEFORE to heat or sound. A body in motion
1518 French natural In 1666, the Royal Society of is apt to continue
philosopher Jean Buridan London challenged scientists to its motion.
describes “impetus,” the come up with a theory to explain John Wallis
measure of which is later what happens when objects collide.
understood to be momentum. Two years later, three individuals
published their theories: from
1644 In his Principia England, John Wallis and
Philosophiae (Principles of Christopher Wren, and from
Philosophy), French scientist Holland, Christiaan Huygens.
René Descartes describes All moving bodies have still some loss of kinetic energy. In
momentum as the “amount momentum (the product of their The Geometrical Treatment of the
of motion.” mass and velocity). Stationary Mechanics of Motion, John Wallis
bodies have no momentum because went further, correctly arguing that
AFTER their velocity is zero. Wallis, Wren, momentum is also conserved in
1687 Isaac Newton describes and Huygens agreed that in an inelastic collisions, where objects
his laws of motion in his elastic collision (any collision in become attached after they collide,
three-volume work Principia. which no kinetic energy is lost causing the loss of kinetic energy.
through the creation of heat or One such example is that of a
1927 German theoretical
noise), momentum is conserved as comet striking a planet.
physicist Werner Heisenberg
long as there are no other external Nowadays, the principles of
argues that for a subatomic forces at work. Truly elastic conservation of momentum have
particle, such as an electron, collisions are rare in nature; the many practical applications, such
the more precisely its position nudging of one billiard ball by as determining the speed of
is known, the less precisely its another comes close, but there is vehicles after traffic accidents. ■
momentum can be known,
and vice versa. See also: Laws of motion 40–45 ■ Kinetic energy and potential energy 54
■ The conservation of energy 55 ■ Energy and motion 56–57
38
THE MOST WONDERFUL

PRODUCTIONS OF THE
MECHANICAL
MEASURING TIME
ARTS
IN CONTEXT A pendulum takes the same time to swing in each direction

because of gravity.
KEY FIGURE
Christiaan Huygens
(1629–1695)
BEFORE The smaller the swing,
The longer the pendulum,
the more accurately the
c. 1275 The first all- the more slowly it swings.
pendulum keeps time.
mechanical clock is built.
1505 German clockmaker
Peter Henlein uses the force
from an uncoiling spring to An escapement
make the first pocket watch. A pendulum is a simple
mechanism keeps the
timekeeping device.
1637 Galileo Galilei has the pendulum moving.
idea for a pendulum clock.
AFTER
T
c. 1670 The anchor wo inventions in the mid the flow of water, or the burning of
escapement mechanism 1650s heralded the start a candle. These mechanical clocks
makes the pendulum clock of the era of precision relied on a “verge escapement
more accurate. timekeeping. In 1656, Dutch mechanism,” which transmitted
mathematician, physicist, and force from a suspended weight
1761 John Harrison’s fourth inventor Christiaan Huygens built through the timepiece’s gear train,
marine chronometer, H4, passes the first pendulum clock. Soon a series of toothed wheels. Over
its sea trials. after, the anchor escapement was the next three centuries, there
invented, probably by English were incremental advances in
1927 The first electronic clock, scientist Robert Hooke. By the the accuracy of these clocks, but
using quartz crystal, is built. 1670s, the accuracy of timekeeping they had to be wound regularly
1955 British physicists Louis devices had been revolutionized. and still weren’t very accurate.
Essen and Jack Parry make The first entirely mechanical In 1637, Galileo Galilei
the first atomic clock. clocks had appeared in Europe in had realized the potential for
the 13th century, replacing clocks pendulums to provide more
reliant on the movement of the sun, accurate clocks. He found that
See also: Free falling 32–35 ■ Harmonic motion 52–53 SI units and physical
constants 58–63 ■ Subatomic particles 242–243
■
Harrison’s marine
chronometer
Christiaan Huygens’ pendulum In the early 18th century, even
clock dramatically improved the the most accurate pendulum
accuracy of timekeeping devices. clocks didn’t work at sea—a
This 17th-century woodcut shows the major problem for nautical
inner workings of his clock, including navigation. With no visible
toothed gears and pendulum. landmarks, calculating a ship’s
position depended on accurate
latitude and longitude
this, even the most advanced non- readings. While it was easy to
pendulum clocks lost 15 minutes a gauge latitude (by viewing the
day; now that margin of error could position of the sun), longitude
be reduced to as little as 15 seconds. could be determined only by
knowing the time relative to
Quartz and atomic clocks a fixed point, such as the
Pendulum clocks remained the Greenwich Meridian. Without
most accurate form of time clocks that worked at sea, this
measurement until the 1930s, was impossible. Ships were
lost and many men died, so, in
when synchronous electric clocks
1714, the British government
became available. These counted offered a prize to encourage
the oscillations of alternating the invention of a marine clock.
current coming from electric British inventor John
power supply; a certain number Harrison solved the problem in
of oscillations translated into 1761. His marine chronometer
movements of the clock’s hands. used a fast-beating balance
The first quartz clock was built wheel and a temperature-
in 1927, taking advantage of the compensated spiral spring to
piezoelectric quality of crystalline achieve remarkably accurate
a swinging pendulum was almost quartz. When bent or squeezed, timekeeping on transatlantic
isochronous, meaning the time it it generates a tiny electric voltage, journeys. The device saved
took for the bob at its end to return or conversely, if it is subject to lives and revolutionized
to its starting point (its period) was an electric voltage, it vibrates. exploration and trade.
roughly the same whatever the A battery inside the clock emits
length of its swing. A pendulum’s the voltage, and the quartz chip
swing could produce a more vibrates, causing an LCD display
accurate way of keeping time than to change or a tiny motor to move
the existing mechanical clocks. second, minute, and hour hands.
However, he hadn’t managed to The first accurate atomic clock,
build one before his death in 1642. built in 1955, used the cesium-133
Huygens’ first pendulum clock isotope. Atomic clocks measure the
had a swing of 80–100 degrees, frequency of regular electromagnetic
which was too great for complete signals that electrons emit as they
accuracy. The introduction of change between two different
Hooke’s anchor escapement, energy levels when bombarded
which maintained the swing of with microwaves. Electrons in an
the pendulum by giving it a small “excited” cesium atom oscillate, John Harrison’s prototype
push each swing, enabled the use or vibrate, 9,192,631,770 times per chronometer, H1, underwent sea
trials from Britain to Portugal in
of a longer pendulum with a smaller second, making a clock calibrated 1736, losing just a few seconds
swing of just 4–6 degrees, which on the basis of these oscillations on the entire voyage.
gave much better accuracy. Before extremely accurate. ■
ALL ACTION HAS A
REACTION
LAWS OF MOTION
42 LAWS OF MOTION
P
rior to the late 16th surface. Smoke rises because it is
IN CONTEXT century, there was little largely made of air. However, the
understanding of why circular movement of celestial
KEY FIGURES
moving bodies accelerated or objects was not considered to be
Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716),
decelerated—most people governed by the elements—rather,
Isaac Newton (1642–1727) believed that some indeterminate, they were thought to be guided by
BEFORE innate quality made objects fall to the hand of a deity.
c. 330 bce In Physics, Aristotle the ground or float up to the sky. Aristotle believed that bodies
expounds his theory that it But this changed at the dawn move only if they are pushed,
takes force to produce motion. of the Scientific Revolution, when and once the pushing force is
scientists began to understand removed, they come to a stop.
1638 Galileo’s Dialogues that several forces are responsible Some questioned why an arrow
Concerning Two New for changing a moving object’s unleashed from a bow continues
Sciences is published. It is velocity (a combined measure to fly through the air long after
later described by Albert of its speed and direction), direct contact with the bow has
Einstein as anticipating the including friction, air resistance, ceased, but Aristotle’s views went
work of Leibniz and Newton. and gravity. largely unchallenged for more
than two millennia.
1644 René Descartes Early views In 1543, Polish astronomer
publishes Principles in For many centuries, the generally Nicolaus Copernicus published
Philosophy, which includes accepted views of motion were his theory that Earth was not the
laws of motion. those of the ancient Greek center of the universe, but that it
philosopher Aristotle, who and the other planets orbited the
AFTER
classified everything in the sun in a “heliocentric” system.
1827–1833 William Rowan
world according to its elemental Between 1609 and 1619, German
Hamilton establishes that composition: earth, water, air, fire, astronomer Johannes Kepler
objects tend to move along and quintessence, a fifth element developed his laws of planetary
the path that requires the that made up the “heavens.” motion, which describe the shape
least energy. For Aristotle, a rock falls to the and speed of the orbits of planets.
1907–1915 Einstein proposes ground because it has a similar Then, in the 1630s, Galileo
his theory of general relativity. composition to the ground (“earth”). challenged Aristotle’s views on
Rain falls to the ground because falling objects, explained that
water’s natural place is at Earth’s a loosed arrow continues to fly
Gottfried Leibniz Born in Leipzig (now Germany) unpublished ideas and passing
in 1646, Leibniz was a great them off as his own. Although
philosopher, mathematician, it was later generally accepted
and physicist. After studying that Leibniz had arrived at his
philosophy at the University ideas independently, he never
of Leipzig, he met Christiaan managed to shake off the
Huygens in Paris and determined scandal during his lifetime.
to teach himself math and physics. He died in Hanover in 1716.
He became a political adviser,
historian, and librarian to the
royal House of Brunswick in Key works
Hanover in 1676, a role that gave
him the opportunity to work on a 1684 “Nova methodus pro
broad range of projects, including maximis et minimis” (“New
the development of infinitesimal method for maximums and
calculus. However, he was also minimums”)
accused of having seen Newton’s 1687 Essay on Dynamics
See also: Free falling 32–35 ■ Laws of gravity 46–51 ■ Kinetic energy and potential energy 54 ■ Energy and motion 56–57
■ The heavens 270–271 ■ Models of the universe 272–273 ■ From classical to special relativity 274
Movement does not occur because of inherent, invisible

properties possessed by an object.
There is neither more nor

less power in an effect than
there is in its cause. Forces act upon the object, causing it to move or come to rest.
Gottfried Leibniz These forces can be calculated and predicted.
Objects move at a constant Unless it moves in a vacuum,

speed and direction, or an object in motion is
because of inertia, and described remain at rest unless acted on subject to friction, which
the role of friction in bringing to a by an external force. slows it down.
halt a book sliding across a table.
These scientists laid the basis
for French philosopher René
Descartes and German polymath
Gottfried Leibniz to formulate their
own ideas about motion, and for Acceleration is proportional to an object’s mass and
English physicist Isaac Newton the force applied to it.
to draw all the threads together
in Mathematical Principles of
Natural Philosophy (Principia).
A new understanding Space and time are best understood as being relative between
In Principles in Philosophy, objects, and not as absolute qualities that remain constant
Descartes proposed his three everywhere, all the time.
laws of motion, which rejected
Aristotle’s views of motion and
a divinely guided universe, and thorough laws of motion in Newton’s three laws of motion
explained motion in terms of Principia, which—like Dynamics— (see pp.44–45) clearly explained
forces, momentum, and collisions. was also published in 1687. Newton the forces acting on all bodies,
In his 1687 Essay on Dynamics, respected Descartes’ rejection of revolutionizing the understanding
Leibniz produced a critique of Aristotelian ideas, but argued that of the mechanics of the physical
Descartes’ laws of motion. the Cartesians (followers of world and laying the foundations
Realizing that many of Descartes’ Descartes) did not make enough for classical mechanics (the study
criticisms of Aristotle were use of the mathematical techniques of the motion of bodies). Not all of
justified, Leibniz went on to of Galileo, nor the experimental Newton’s views were accepted
develop his own theories on methods of chemist Robert Boyle. during his lifetime—one of those
“dynamics,” his term for motion However, Descartes’ first two who raised criticisms was Leibniz
and impact, during the 1690s. laws of motion won the support himself—but after his death they
Leibniz’s work remained of both Newton and Leibniz, and were largely unchallenged until
unfinished, and he was possibly became the basis for Newton’s the early 20th century, just as
put off after reading Newton’s first law of motion. Aristotle’s beliefs about motion ❯❯
44 LAWS OF MOTION
The bicycle is in motion due to the force Rider flies over handlebars, example, why does it eventually
supplied by the pedalling of the rider, until the since he or she has not
been acted on by the
stop? In fact, as the ball rolls it
external force of the rock acts upon it, causing experiences an outside force:
external force (the rock)
it to stop.
friction, which causes it to
decelerate. According to Newton’s
second law, an object will accelerate
in the direction of the net force.
Friction Forward
motion Since the force of friction is
opposite to the direction of travel,
this acceleration causes the object
to slow and eventually stop. In
interstellar space, a spacecraft
Bicycle in motion due to force Rock supplies external will continue to move at the same
supplied by rider’s pedaling force, greater in quantity than velocity because of an absence of
being greater than friction and bicycle’s forward motion, friction and air resistance—unless
drag (air resistance) bringing bicycle to a stop
it is accelerated by the gravitational
field of a planet or star, for example.
had dominated scientific thinking object are known, it is possible to
for the best part of 2,000 years. calculate the net external force— Change is proportional
However, some of Leibniz’s views the combined total of the external Newton’s second law is one of the
on motion and criticisms of Newton forces—expressed as ∑ F (∑ stands most important in physics, and
were far ahead of their time, for “sum of”). For example, if a ball describes how much an object
and were given credence by has a force of 23 N pushing it left, accelerates when a given net force
Albert Einstein’s general theory and a force of 12 N pushing it right, is applied to it. It states that the
of relativity two centuries later. ∑F = 11 N in a leftward direction. rate of change of a body’s
It is not quite as simple as this, momentum—the product of its
Law of inertia since the downward force of gravity mass and velocity—is proportional
Newton’s first law of motion, which will also be acting on the ball, so to the force applied, and takes place
is sometimes called the law of horizontal and vertical net forces in the direction of the applied force.
inertia, explains that an object at also need to be taken into account. This can be expressed as
rest stays at rest, and an object in There are other factors at play. ∑F = ma, where F is the net force,
motion remains in motion with the Newton’s first law states that a a is the acceleration of the object in
same velocity unless acted upon by moving object that is not acted the direction of the net force, and m
an external force. For instance, if upon by outside forces should is its mass. If the force increases, so
the front wheel of a bicycle being continue to move in a straight line does acceleration. Also, the rate of
ridden at speed hits a large rock, at a constant velocity. But when a change of momentum is inversely
the bike is acted upon by an ball is rolled across the floor, for proportional to the mass of the
external force, causing it to stop.
Unfortunately for the cyclist, he or
she will not have been acted upon
by the same force and will continue
in motion—over the handlebars.
For the first time, Newton’s law Low mass,
enabled accurate predictions of high acceleration
motion to be made. Force is defined
as a push or pull exerted on one
object by another and is measured High mass,
in Newtons (denoted N, where 1 N low acceleration
is the force required to give a 1 kg Two rockets with different masses but identical engines
mass an acceleration of 1 m/s²). If will accelerate at different rates. The smaller rocket will
the strength of all the forces on an accelerate more quickly due to its lower mass.
Notions of time, distance, and
acceleration are fundamental to an
understanding of motion. Newton
argued that space and time are
entities in their own right, existing
The laws of motion … independently of matter. In 1715–
Motion is really nothing
are the free 1716, Leibniz argued in favor of a
more than change of place.
decrees of God. relationist alternative: in other words,
So motion as we
Gottfried Leibniz that space and time are systems of
experience it is nothing
relations between objects. While
Newton believed that absolute time but a relation.
exists independently of any observer Gottfried Leibniz
and progresses at a constant pace
throughout the universe, Leibniz
reasoned that time makes no sense
object, so if the object’s mass except when understood as the
increases, its acceleration relative movement of bodies. Newton
decreases. This can be expressed argued that absolute space “remains
as a = ∑F ∕m. For example, as a always similar and immovable,” dismissed at the time, Einstein’s
rocket’s fuel propellant is burned but his German critic argued that general theory of relativity (1907–
during flight, its mass decreases it only makes sense as the relative 1915) made more sense of them two
and—assuming the thrust of its location of objects. centuries later. While Newton’s laws
engines remains the same—it will of motion are generally true for
accelerate at an ever-faster rate. From Leibniz to Einstein macroscopic objects (objects that
A conundrum raised by Irish bishop are visible to the naked eye) under
Equal action and reaction and philosopher George Berkeley everyday conditions, they break
Newton’s third law states that around 1710 illustrated problems down at very high speeds, at very
for every action there is an equal with Newton’s concepts of absolute small scales, and in very strong
and opposite reaction. Sitting time, space, and velocity. It gravitational fields. ■
down, a person exerts a downward concerned a spinning sphere:
force on the chair, and the chair Berkeley questioned whether, if it
Two Voyager spacecraft were
exerts an equal upward force on was rotating in an otherwise empty launched in 1977. With no friction
the person’s body. One force is universe, it could be said to have or air resistance in space, the craft
called the action, the other the motion at all. Although Leibniz’s are still moving through space today,
reaction. A rifle recoils after it is criticisms of Newton were generally due to Newton’s first law of motion.
fired due to the opposing forces
of such an action–reaction. When
the rifle’s trigger is pulled, a
gunpowder explosion creates
hot gases that expand outward,
allowing the rifle to push forward
on the bullet. But the bullet also
pushes backward on the rifle.
The force acting on the rifle
is the same as the force that
acts on the bullet, but because
acceleration depends on force
and mass (in accordance with
Newton’s second law), the bullet
accelerates much faster than the
rifle due to its far smaller mass.
THE FRAME OF THE
SYSTEM
OF THE WORLD
LAWS OF GRAVITY
48 LAWS OF GRAVITY
IN CONTEXT
They must be attracted
KEY FIGURE Why do raindrops always
toward the center of
Isaac Newton (1642–1727) fall downward?
Earth by gravity.
BEFORE
1543 Nicolaus Copernicus
challenges orthodox thought
with a heliocentric model of
the solar system.
Could gravity also cause Could gravity extend
1609 Johannes Kepler the moon’s orbit beyond the rain clouds?
publishes his first two laws of around Earth? Could it reach the moon?
planetary motion in Astronomia
Nova (A New Astronomy),
arguing that the planets move
freely in elliptical orbits.
AFTER If that’s the case, perhaps gravity is universal.
1859 French astronomer
Urbain Le Verrier argues that
Mercury’s precessionary orbit
P
(the slight variance in its axial ublished in 1687, Newton’s model of the solar system, with
rotation) is incompatible with law of universal gravitation Earth and the planets orbiting the
Newtonian mechanics. remained—alongside his sun. According to him, “We revolve
laws of motion—the unchallenged around the sun like any other
1905 In his paper “On the bedrock of “classical mechanics” for planet.” His ideas, published in
Electrodynamics of Moving more than two centuries. It states 1543, were based on detailed
Bodies,” Einstein introduces that every particle attracts every observations of Mercury, Venus,
his theory of special relativity. other particle with a force that is Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn made
1915 Einstein’s theory of directly proportional to the product with the naked eye.
general relativity states of their masses, and inversely
that gravity affects time, proportional to the square of the Astronomical evidence
distance between their centers. In 1609, Johannes Kepler
light, and matter.
Before the scientific age in published Astronomia Nova
which Newton’s ideas were (A New Astronomy) which, as
formulated, the Western well as providing more support
understanding of the natural for heliocentrism, described the
world had been dominated by the elliptical (rather than circular)
writings of Aristotle. The ancient orbits of the planets. Kepler also
Greek philosopher had no concept discovered that the orbital speed
of gravity, believing instead that of each planet depends on its
What hinders the heavy objects fell to Earth because distance from the sun.
fixed stars from falling that was their “natural place,” and Around the same time, Galileo
upon one another? celestial bodies moved around Galilei was able to support Kepler’s
Isaac Newton Earth in circles because they were view with detailed observations
perfect. Aristotle’s geocentric view made with the aid of telescopes.
remained largely unchallenged When he focused a telescope on
until the Renaissance, when Jupiter and saw moons orbiting
Polish–Italian astronomer Nicolaus the giant planet, Galileo uncovered
Copernicus argued for a heliocentric further proof that Aristotle had
See also: Free falling 32–35 ■ Laws of motion 40–45 ■ The heavens 270–71 ■ Models of the universe 272–73
■ Special relativity 276–79 ■ The equivalence principle 281 ■ Gravitational waves 312–15
and a feather on NASA’s Apollo 15

mission. With no air resistance at
the moon’s surface, the two objects 0 ft/s
hit the ground at the same time.
32 ft/s
Newton’s apple
While the story of an apple 65 ft/s
falling on Isaac Newton’s head
is apocryphal, watching the fruit
drop to the ground did spark his 98 ft/s
curiosity. By the time Newton
started thinking seriously about Grimaldi
and Riccioli
gravity in the 1660s, much important showed that
groundwork had already been gravity causes
achieved. In his seminal work 131 ft/s
objects to fall at
Principia, Newton credited the the same speed
work of Italian physicist Giovanni regardless of their
Borelli (1608–1679) and French mass. If air
astronomer Ismael Bullialdus (1605– resistance is
eliminated,
1694), who both described the objects accelerate 164 ft/s
sun’s gravity exerting an attractive at a constant rate
The New Almagest, a 1651 work by force. Bullialdus believed incorrectly of 32.15 ft/s (9.8 m/s) faster
Riccioli, illustrates the tussle between that the sun’s gravity attracted a with each passing second.
rival models of planetary motion: Tycho planet at its aphelion (the point on
Brahe’s Earth-centric theory is shown its orbital curve when it is furthest motion states that there is an exact
outweighing heliocentrism.
from the sun) but repulsed it at the mathematical relationship between
perihelion (when it is closest). a planet’s distance from the sun
been wrong: if all things orbited The work of Johannes Kepler and the length of time it takes
Earth, Jupiter’s moons could not was probably the greatest influence to complete a full orbit.
exist. Galileo also observed the on Newton’s ideas. The German In 1670, English natural
phases of Venus, demonstrating astronomer’s third law of orbital philosopher Robert Hooke argued
that it orbits the sun. that gravitation applies to all
Galileo also challenged the idea celestial bodies and that its power
that heavy objects fall to the ground decreases with distance, and—in
more quickly than light objects. His the absence of any other attractive
contention was supported by Italian forces—moves in straight lines. By
Jesuit priests Giovanni Battista 1679, he had concluded that the
Riccioli and Francesco Maria If the Earth should cease to inverse square law applied, so
Grimaldi, who in the 1640s dropped attract its waters to itself all gravity weakens in proportion to
objects from a Bologna tower and the waters of the sea would be the square of the distance from a
timed their descent to the street raised and would flow to the body. In other words, if the distance
below. Their calculations provided body of the moon. between the sun and another body
reasonably accurate values for Johannes Kepler is doubled, the force between them
the rate of acceleration due to reduces to only one quarter of the
gravity, now known to be 32.15 ft/s2 original force. However, whether
(9.8 m/s2). Their experiment was this rule could be applied close to
recreated in 1971 by US astronaut the surface of a large planetary
David Scott, who dropped a hammer body such as Earth was unknown. ❯❯
50 LAWS OF GRAVITY
Newton argued that gravity is a universal, attractive
Universality of free fall force that applies to all matter, however large or small. Its
strength varies according to how much mass the objects
The principle of universality have, and how far they are from each other.
of free fall was empirically
discovered by Galileo and
others, then mathematically
proven by Newton. It states
that all materials, heavy or
light, fall at the same rate in
a uniform gravitational field. The greater an object’s The further apart two objects
Consider two falling bodies mass, the stronger its are, and the less mass they have,
of different weight. Since gravitational pull the weaker the gravitational pull
Newton’s theory of gravity
says that the greater the mass Universal gravitation the speed of the cannonball was
of an object, the greater the Newton published his own laws of relatively slow it would fall back to
gravitational force, the heavy motion and gravitation in Principia Earth, but if it was fired at a much
object should fall faster. in 1687, asserting “Every particle faster velocity it would continue to
However, his second law of attracts every other particle … with circle Earth in a circular orbit; this
motion tells us that a larger
a force directly proportional to the would be its orbital velocity. If its
mass does not accelerate as
quickly as a smaller one if the
product of their masses.” He velocity was faster still, the ball
applied force is the same, so it explained how all matter exerts would continue to travel around
will fall more slowly. In fact, an attractive force—gravity—that Earth in an elliptical orbit. If it
the two cancel each other out, pulls other matter toward its center. reached a speed that was faster
so the light and heavy objects It is a universal force, the strength than 7 miles/s (11.2 km/s), it would
will fall with the same of which depends on the mass of leave Earth’s gravitational field and
acceleration as long as no the object. For instance, the sun travel onward into outer space.
other forces—such as air has a greater gravitational strength More than three centuries
resistance—are present. than Earth, which in turn has more later, modern-day physics has put
gravitational strength than the Newton’s theories into practice.
moon, which in turn has more The cannonball phenomenon
gravitational strength than a ball can be seen when a satellite or
dropped upon it. Gravitational spacecraft is launched into orbit.
strength can be expressed with the Instead of the gunpowder that
equation F = Gm1m2 /r2, where F is
the force, m1 and m2 are the masses
of the two bodies, r is the distance
between their centers, and G is the
gravitational constant.
Newton continued to refine his
views long after the publication of Nonsense will fall of its
Principia. His cannonball thought- own weight, by a sort of
experiment speculated on the intellectual law of gravitation.
trajectory of a ball fired from a And a new truth will go
cannon on top of a very high into orbit.
mountain in an environment in Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin
which there was no air resistance. British–American astronomer
The Asinelli tower in Bologna, If gravity was also absent, he
Italy, was the chosen site for the argued that the cannonball would
free-fall experiments of Riccioli
and Grimaldi, in which Galileo’s follow a straight line away from
theory was put to the test. Earth in the direction of fire.
Assuming gravity is present, if
blasted Newton’s imaginary as its gravitational mass? Repeated An object moving faster
projectile, powerful rocket engines experiments have shown that the than 25,000 mph At 17,000 mph
(40,000 km/h) will (27,000 km/h),
lift the satellite from Earth’s surface two properties are the same, a fact escape Earth’s an object will
and give it forward speed. When that fascinated Albert Einstein, gravitational pull go into orbit
it reaches its orbital velocity, the who used it as a basis for his theory
spacecraft’s propulsion ceases and of general relativity. At under
7,000 mph
it falls all the way around Earth, (11,300 km/h),
never hitting the surface. The angle Reinterpreting gravitation it will fall
of the satellite’s path is determined Newton’s ideas on universal back to
Earth
by its initial angle and speed. The gravitation and motion were
success of space exploration has unchallenged until 1905, when
relied heavily on Newton’s laws Einstein’s theory of special
of gravitation. relativity was published. Whereas
Newton’s theory depended on the
Understanding mass assumption that mass, time, and
An object’s inertial mass is its distance remain constant, Einstein’s
inertial resistance to acceleration theory treats them as fluid entities Newton correctly predicted that
from any force, gravitational or not. that are defined by the observer’s objects would orbit Earth if they were
It is defined by Newton’s second frame of reference. A person launched at the correct speed. If a
law of motion as F = ma, where F standing on Earth as it spins on satellite moves quickly enough, the
is the force applied, m is its inertial its axis orbits the sun—and moves curvature of its fall is less than that
of Earth, so it stays in orbit, never
mass, and a is acceleration. If a through the universe in a different returning to the ground.
known force is applied to the object, frame of reference to an astronaut
by measuring its acceleration the flying through space in a spacecraft.
inertial mass is found to be F /a. In Einstein’s theory of general relativity observed from two very different
contrast, according to Newton’s law also states that gravity is not a force, frames of reference. In this
of universal gravitation, gravitational but rather the effect of the distortion instance, scientists must rely on
mass is the physical property of of spacetime by massive objects. Einstein’s theories of relativity.
an object that causes it to interact Newton’s laws are adequate for Classical mechanics and Einstein’s
with other objects through the most day-to-day applications, but theories of relativity agree as long
gravitational force. Newton was they cannot explain the differences as an object’s speed is low or the
troubled by the question: is the in motion, mass, distance, and gravitational field it experiences
inertial mass of an object the same time that result when bodies are is small. ■
Isaac Newton Born in the English village of over who had discovered
Woolsthorpe on Christmas Day calculus, and Robert Hooke
1642, Newton went to school regarding the inverse square
in Grantham and studied law. As well as being a keen
at Cambridge University. In scientist, Newton was very
Principia, he formulated the interested in alchemy and
laws of universal gravitation and biblical chronology. He died
motion, which formed the basis in London in 1727.
of classical mechanics until the
early 20th century when they Key works
were partially superseded by
Einstein’s theories of relativity. 1684 On the Motion of Bodies
Newton also made important in an Orbit
contributions to mathematics and 1687 Philosophiae Naturalis
optics. Sometimes a controversial Principia Mathematica
character, he had long-running (Mathematical Principles
disputes with Gottfried Leibniz of Natural Philosophy)
52
OSCILLATION IS
EVERYWHERE
HARMONIC MOTION
P
eriodic motion—motion in the opposite direction to the
IN CONTEXT repeated in equal time displacement from the center. While
intervals—is found in many tending to restore the string toward
KEY FIGURE
natural and artificial phenomena. the center, it overshot to the other
Leonhard Euler (1707–1783)
Studies of pendulums in the 16th side, creating a repeating cycle.
BEFORE and 17th centuries, for instance, This type of movement, with
1581 Galileo discovers the helped lay the foundations for a specific relationship between
link between the length of Isaac Newton’s laws of motion. But displacement and restoring force,
a pendulum and its period groundbreaking though these laws is today known as simple harmonic
of motion. were, physicists still faced major motion. As well as vibrating
barriers in applying them to real- strings, it encompasses phenomena
1656 Christiaan Huygens world problems involving systems such as a swinging pendulum and
builds a pendulum clock that (interacting groups of items) that a weight bouncing on the end of a
uses the periodic motion of were more complex than Newton’s spring. Bernoulli also discovered
a pendulum to regulate a idealized, freely-moving bodies. that harmonic oscillations plotted
timekeeping mechanism.
Musical oscillations Displacement wave
AFTER One particular area of interest was
1807 Joseph Fourier, a French the vibration of musical strings—
physicist, shows that any another form of periodic motion.
periodic process can be In Newton’s day, the principle
treated as the sum of simple that strings vibrate at different
harmonic oscillations overlaid frequencies to produce different
on each other. sounds was well established, but
the exact form of the vibrations was
1909 German engineer
unclear. In 1732, Swiss physicist
Hermann Frahm develops a and mathematician Daniel Bernoulli Direction of travel
“dynamic vibration absorber,” found a means of applying Newton’s Acceleration wave
a device that absorbs energy second law of motion to each
from oscillations and releases segment of a vibrating string.
it out of sync in order to For any system in simple harmonic
He showed that the force on the motion, the displacement and
reduce vibration. string grew as it moved further acceleration can be described by
from the center line (its stationary sine wave oscillations that are mirror
starting point), and always acted images of each other.
See also: Measuring time 38–39 ■ Laws of motion 40–45 ■ Kinetic energy
and potential energy 54 ■ Music 164–167
Bernoulli’s earlier work and

eventually hit upon a form that
mirrored the structure of Newton’s
second law. In 1752, Euler was the
first person to express that famous
Nothing takes place in law in the now familiar equation
the world whose meaning F = ma (the force acting on a body
is not that of some is equal to its mass multiplied by
maximum or minimum. its acceleration). In parallel, his
Leonhard Euler equation for rotation states that:
L = I d/dt, where L is the torque Leonhard Euler
(the rotational force acting on the
object), I is the object’s “moment Born into a religious family
of inertia” (broadly speaking, its in Basel, Switzerland, in 1707,
resistance to turning), and d /dt Leonhard Euler was the most
is the rate of change of its angular important mathematician of
on a graph form a sine wave—a velocity  (in other words, its his generation, taking an
mathematical function that is “angular acceleration”). interest in pure math and its
easily manipulated to find solutions Simple harmonic motion many applications—including
to physical problems. Harmonic has proved to have countless ship design, mechanics,
motion can also be applied in applications, including in fields astronomy, and music theory.
some more surprising places. that were not dreamt of in Euler’s Entering Basel’s university
at the age of 13, Euler studied
For instance, both circular motion time, ranging from harnessing
under Johann Bernoulli. He
(for example, a satellite orbiting the oscillations of electrical and
spent 14 years teaching and
Earth) and the rotation of objects magnetic fields in electric circuits researching at the Imperial
(Earth spinning on its axis) could to mapping the vibrations of Russian Academy in St.
be treated as oscillations back and electrons between energy levels Petersburg, before Frederick
forth in two or more directions. in atoms. ■ the Great invited him to
Berlin. Despite losing his sight
Using Newton’s law in one eye in 1738 and the
Swiss mathematician and physicist other in 1766, Euler continued
Leonhard Euler was intrigued by to work at a prodigious rate,
the forces that cause ships to pitch establishing several entirely
(bob up and down lengthwise from new areas of mathematical
bow to stern) and roll (tilt side to investigation. On his return to
side). Around 1736, he realized St. Petersburg, he continued
that the motion of a ship could be to work until he died of a
brain hemorrhage in 1783.
split into a translation element (a
movement between two places)
and a rotational element. Key works
Searching for an equation to
describe the rotation part of the 1736 Mechanics
movement, Euler built on Daniel 1744 A method for finding
curved lines enjoying properties
of maximum or minimum
As a young medic in the Russian 1749 Naval science
navy, Leonhard Euler became 1765 Theory on the motion
fascinated by the way in which of solid or rigid bodies
waves affect the motion of ships.
54
THERE IS NO
DESTRUCTION
OF FORCE
KINETIC ENERGY AND POTENTIAL ENERGY
I
saac Newton’s laws of motion Du Châtelet concluded that each
IN CONTEXT incorporated the fundamental ball’s vis viva (broadly the same
idea that the sum of momentum concept as the modern kinetic
KEY FIGURE
across all objects involved is the energy attributed to moving
Émilie du Châtelet
same before as after a collision. He particles) was proportional to its
(1706–1749)
had little to say, however, about the mass but also to the square of its
BEFORE concept of energy as understood velocity (mv2). She hypothesized
1668 John Wallis proposes today. In the 1680s, Gottfried Leibniz that since vis viva was clearly
a law of conservation of noted that another property of conserved (or transferred wholesale)
momentum—the first in its moving bodies, which he called in such collisions, it must exist in a
modern form. vis viva (“living force”), also seemed different form when the weight was
to be conserved. suspended before its fall. This form
AFTER Leibniz’s idea was widely is now known as potential energy
1798 American-born British rejected by Newton’s followers, who and is attributed to an object’s
physicist Benjamin Thompson, felt that energy and momentum position within a force field. ■
Count Rumford, makes should be indistinguishable, but it
measurements that suggest was revived in the 1740s. French
heat is another form of kinetic philosopher Marquise Émilie du
energy, contributing to the Châtelet, who was working on a
total energy of a system. translation of Newton’s Principia,
proved vis viva’s significance. She
1807 British polymath Thomas repeated an experiment—first Physics is an immense
Young first uses the term carried out by Dutch philosopher building that surpasses the
“energy” for the vis viva Willem ‘s Gravesande—in which powers of a single man.
investigated by du Châtelet. she dropped metal balls of differing Émilie du Châtelet
weights into clay from various
1833 Irish mathematician heights and measured the depth of
William Rowan Hamilton the resulting craters. This showed
shows how the evolution of that a ball traveling twice as fast
a mechanical system can be made a crater four times as deep.
thought of in terms of the
changing balance between See also: Momentum 37 ■ Laws of motion 40–45 ■ Energy and motion 56–57
potential and kinetic energies. ■ Force fields and Maxwell’s equations 142–147
ENERGY CAN BE
NEITHER CREATED
NOR DESTROYED
THE CONSERVATION OF ENERGY
T
he law of conservation often given to British physicist
IN CONTEXT of energy states that the James Joule. In 1845, Joule
total energy of an isolated published the results of a key
KEY FIGURE
system remains constant over experiment. He designed an
James Joule (1818–1889)
time. Energy cannot be created or apparatus with a falling weight to
BEFORE destroyed, but can be transformed spin a paddle wheel in an insulated
1798 Benjamin Thompson, from one form to another. cylinder of water, using gravity
Count Rumford, uses a cannon Although German chemist and to do the mechanical work. By
barrel immersed in water and physicist Julius von Mayer first measuring the increase in water
bored with a blunted tool to advanced the idea in 1841, credit is temperature, he calculated the
show that heat is created precise amount of heat an exact
from mechanical motion. amount of mechanical work would
create. He also showed that no
AFTER energy was lost in the conversion.
1847 In his paper “On Joule’s discovery that heat had
the Conservation of Force,” been created mechanically was not
German physicist Hermann widely accepted until 1847, when
von Helmholtz explains the Hermann von Helmholtz proposed
convertibility of all forms a relationship between mechanics,
of energy. heat, light, electricity, and
magnetism—each a form of energy.
1850 Scottish civil engineer Joule’s contribution was honored
William Rankine is the first when the standard unit of energy
to use the phrase “the law of was named after him in 1882. ■
the conservation of energy”
to describe the principle.
For his experiment, Joule used this
1905 In his theory of relativity, vessel, filled with water, and the brass
paddle wheel, turned by falling weights.
Albert Einstein introduces his The water’s rising temperature showed
principle of mass–energy that mechanical work created heat.
equivalence—the idea that
every object, even at rest, has See also: Energy and motion 56–57 ■ Heat and transfers 80–81 ■ Internal energy
energy equivalent to its mass. and the first law of thermodynamics 86–89 ■ Mass and energy 284–285
56
A NEW TREATISE
ON MECHANICS
ENERGY AND MOTION
T
hroughout the 18th equations of the first kind” were
IN CONTEXT century, physics advanced simply a structure of equation
considerably from the laws that allowed constraints to be
KEY FIGURE
of motion set out by Isaac Newton considered as separate elements
Joseph-Louis Lagrange
in 1687. Much of this development in determining the movement
(1736–1813)
was driven by mathematical of an object or objects.
BEFORE innovations that made the central Even more significant were
1743 French physicist and principles of Newton’s laws easier to the equations “of the second
mathematician Jean Le Rond apply to a wider range of problems. kind,” which abandoned the
d’Alembert points out that A key question was how best “Cartesian coordinates” implicit
the inertia of an accelerating to tackle the challenge of systems in Newton’s laws. René Descartes’
body is proportional and with constraints, in which bodies pinning-down of location in three
opposite to the force causing are forced to move in a restricted dimensions (commonly denoted
way. An example is the movement x, y, and z) is intuitively easy to
the acceleration.
of the weight at the end of a fixed interpret, but makes all but the
1744 Pierre-Louis Maupertuis, pendulum, which can’t break free simplest problems in Newtonian
a French mathematician, from its swinging rod. Adding any
shows that a “principle of form of constraint complicates
least length” for the motion Newtonian calculations
of light can be used to find considerably—at each point in an
its equations of motion. object’s movement, all the forces
acting on it must be taken into
AFTER account and their net effect found. Newton was the greatest
1861 James Clerk Maxwell genius that ever existed,
applies the work of Lagrange Langrangian equations and the most fortunate, for we
and William Rowan Hamilton In 1788, French mathematician cannot find more than once
to calculate the effects of and astronomer Joseph-Louis a system of the world
electromagnetic force fields. Lagrange proposed a radical new to establish.
approach he called “analytical Joseph-Louis Lagrange
1925 Erwin Schrödinger mechanics.” He put forward two
derives his wave equation mathematical techniques that
from Hamilton’s principle. allowed the laws of motion to be
more easily used in a wider variety
of situations. The “Lagrangian
See also: Laws of motion 40–45 ■ The conservation of energy 55 ■ Force fields
and Maxwell’s equations 142–147 ■ Reflection and refraction 168–169
Newton’s laws of motion It is very difficult to

describe motion in calculate complex
Cartesian coordinates (3-D problems of motion using
x-, y-, and z-coordinates). Cartesian coordinates.
Joseph-Louis Lagrange Joseph-Louis

This revealed that devised equations that Lagrange
objects usually move along allowed problems of motion
the path that requires the to be solved using the Born in Turin, Italy, in
least energy. most appropriate 1736, Lagrange studied law
coordinate system. before becoming interested
in mathematics at the age
of 17. From then on, he taught
himself and developed his
knowledge rapidly, lecturing
physics very hard to calculate. The the path that requires the least on mathematics and ballistics
method developed by Lagrange energy. Using this principle, he at Turin’s military academy.
allowed calculations to be made proved that any mechanical system He subsequently became a
with whatever coordinate system could be described by solving it with founding member of the Turin
Academy of Sciences, and he
was most appropriate for the a mathematical method similar to
published work that attracted
problem under investigation. The identifying the turning points on the attention of others,
generalization set out by Lagrange a graph. including Leonhard Euler.
for equations of the second kind Finally, in 1833, Hamilton set In 1766, he moved to Berlin,
was not just a mathematical tool, out a powerful new approach to where he succeeded Euler as
but also pointed the way to a mechanics through equations head of mathematics at the
deeper understanding of the that described the evolution of a Academy of Science. There, he
nature of dynamic systems. mechanical system over time, in produced his most important
terms of generalized coordinates work on analytical mechanics
Solving systems and the total energy of the system and addressed astronomical
Between 1827 and 1833, Irish (denoted H and now known as the problems such as the
mathematician William Rowan “Hamiltonian”). Hamilton’s gravitational relationship
Hamilton expanded on Lagrange’s equations allowed the system’s between three bodies. He
work and took mechanics to a new balance of kinetic and potential moved to Paris in 1786, where
he spent the remainder of his
level. Drawing on the “principle of energies to be calculated for a
career until his death in 1813.
least time” in optics, first proposed particular time, and therefore
by French mathematician Pierre predicted not just the trajectories
de Fermat in the 17th century, of objects, but their exact locations. Key works
Hamilton developed a method to Alongside his general principle of
1758–73 Miscellanea
calculate the equations of motion “least time,” they would prove to
Taurinensia: papers published
for any system based on a principle have applications in several other by the Turin Academy of
of least (or stationary) action. This areas of physics, including Sciences
is the idea that objects, just like gravitation, electromagnetism, 1788–89 Analytical Mechanics
light rays, will tend to move along and even quantum physics. ■
WE MUST LOOK TO
THE HEAVENS
FOR THE MEASURE OF
THE EARTH
SI UNITS AND PHYSICAL CONSTANTS
60 SI UNITS AND PHYSICAL CONSTANTS
IN CONTEXT Measurements used to be defined by referring to a

“standard unit” (such as the International Prototype Kilogram,
KEY FIGURE or IPK). These standard units changed with time.
Bryan Kibble
(1938–2016)
BEFORE
1875 The Meter Convention
Values for universal physical constants in these standard units
is agreed by 17 nations. were determined through experiment.
1889 The International
Prototype Kilogram and Meter
are constructed.
1946 New definitions of the
ampere and ohm are adopted. Universal physical constants are based
on things in nature that are known to be invariant.
AFTER
1967 The second is redefined
in terms of frequencies linked
with the cesium atom.
1983 The meter is redefined By fixing a value for a physical constant, a unit
in terms of c, the speed of can be defined in terms of a true invariant.
light in a vacuum.
1999 A new derived SI unit
M
measuring catalytic activity, easurement of a physical nature. The meter, for example,
the katal, is introduced. quantity requires the was defined as a fraction of Earth’s
2019 All SI base units are specification of a unit circumference along the Paris
redefined in terms of universal (such as the meter for length), and meridian. In 1799, the prototype
physical constants. comparing measurements requires platinum meter and platinum
that each party defines the unit in kilogram were created, and copies
exactly the same way. Although were sent out for display in public
standard units had been developed places all over France; the meter
by ancient cultures, such as the length was also etched in stone on
Romans, the growth of international sites across Paris and other cities.
trade and industrialization in the Over the next century, other
17th and 18th centuries made countries in Europe and some in
the need for uniformity and South America adopted the metric
Each molecule, throughout precision imperative. system. In 1875, concerned about
the universe, bears impressed The metric system was wear and tear to the existing
on it the stamp of a metric introduced in the 1790s, during platinum prototypes, and their
system as distinctly as the French Revolution, in order to tendency to warp, representatives
does the meter of the rationalize measurement, simplify from 30 nations met in Paris, with
Archives at Paris. trade, and unite France. At the the aim of establishing a global
James Clerk Maxwell time, hundreds of thousands of standard for measurements.
different units were in use, varying The resulting treaty, the Meter
from village to village. The idea Convention (Convention du Mètre),
was to replace them with universal, stipulated new prototypes for the
permanent standards for length, meter and kilogram, made out of
area, mass, and volume based on a platinum–iridium alloy. These
See also: Measuring distance 18–19 ■ Measuring time 38–39 ■ The development of statistical mechanics 104–111
■ Electric charge 124–127 ■ The speed of light 275
were kept in Paris, and copies were The metric system came into use in
produced for the national standards France around 1795. This engraving by
institutes of the 17 signatory L.F. Labrousse shows people using the
new decimal units to measure things,
nations. The Convention outlined and includes a list of metric units, each
procedures for periodically followed by the unit being replaced.
calibrating the national standards
against the new prototypes, and
also set up the Bureau International make a foot—some everyday sums
des Poids et Mesures (International are easy, but more complicated
Bureau of Weights and Measures), arithmetic can be unwieldy. The
or BIPM, to oversee them. metric system specifies only decimal
The SI (Système international, ratios (counting in units of 10),
or International System) version making arithmetic much easier; it
of the metric system, initiated in is clear that 1/10th of 1/100th of a
1948, was approved by signatory meter is 1/1000th of a meter.
nations in Paris in 1960. Since The metric system also
then, it has been used for almost specifies names of prefixes and
all scientific and technological and abbreviations for many multiples,
many everyday measurements. such as kilo- (k) for multiplication
There are still exceptions, such by 1,000, centi- (c) for one hundredth,
as road distances in the UK and and micro- (µ) for one millionth.
US, but even British imperial and US The prefixes allowed by the SI
customary units such as the yard range from yocto- (y), meaning and time. Gauss’s idea was that
and the pound have been defined 10 –24, to yotta- (Y), meaning 1024. all physical quantities could be
in terms of metric standards. measured in these units, or
CGS, MKS, and SI combinations of them. Each
Units of 10 In 1832, German mathematician fundamental quantity would have
With traditional systems of units Carl Gauss proposed a system one unit, unlike some traditional
that use ratios of 2, 3, and their of measurement based on three systems that used several different
multiples—for example, 12 inches fundamental units of length, mass, units for a quantity (for example, ❯❯
The IPK emerged between cylinders.

Since other base units depended
For 130 years, the kilogram was on the definition of the kilogram,
defined by a platinum–iridium this drift affected measurements
cylinder, the IPK (International of many quantities. As scientists
Prototype Kilogram) or “Le Grand and industry demanded greater
K.” Copies of the cylinder were held precision for experiments and
by national metrology institutes technology, the instability of the
around the world, including the IPK became a serious problem.
NPL (National Physical Laboratory, In 1960, when the meter was
UK) and NIST (National Institute redefined in terms of a particular
of Standards and Technology, US), wavelength of light emitted by
and compared with the IPK about a krypton atom, the kilogram
The IPK is just 4 cm tall and is once every 40 years. became the only base unit whose
kept under three glass bell jars at the Although the platinum–iridium standard depended on a physical
BIPM (Bureau International des Poids alloy is extremely stable, over time, object. With the redefinition of SI
et Mesures) in Paris, France. discrepancies of up to 50 µg in 2019, this is no longer the case.
62 SI UNITS AND PHYSICAL CONSTANTS
meters per second (m s–1). As well
SI base units as these derived units, there are
Today, SI base units are defined in terms of physical constants whose currently 22 “derived units with
numerical values are fixed, and—apart from the second and the mole—of special names”—including force,
definitions of other base units. which is measured in newtons (N),
where 1 N = 1 kg m s–2.
Time Second The second (s) is defined by fixing ∆ cs, the
v
(s) unperturbed ground-state hyperfine transition Increasing accuracy
frequency of the cesium-133 atom, to be As theory and technology have
9 192 631 770 Hz (i.e. 9 192 631 770 s–1). advanced, SI base units have been
Length Meter The meter (m) is defined by fixing , the speed of light
c redefined. Modern metrology—the
(m) in a vacuum, to be 299 792 458 m s–1, where the second science of measurement—depends
is defined in terms of ∆ cs.
v on instruments of great precision.
Mass Kilogram The kilogram (kg) is defined by fixing , the Planck
h British metrologist Bryan Kibble’s
(kg) constant, to be 6.626 070 15 × 10–34 J s, (i.e. 6.626 070 15 × development of the moving-coil
10–34 kg m2 s–1, where the meter and the second are watt balance in 1975 greatly
defined in terms of and ∆ cs).
c v
increased the accuracy with which
Electric Ampere The ampere (A) is defined by fixing e, the elementary the ampere could be defined. The
current (A) charge, to be 1.602 176 634 × 10–19 C (i.e. 1.602 176 634 × watt balance compares the power
10–19 A s, where the second is defined in terms of ∆ cs).
v
developed by a moving mass to
Thermo- Kelvin The kelvin (K) is defined by fixing k, the Boltzmann the current and voltage in an
dynamic (K) constant, to be 1.380 649 × 10–23 J K–1 (i.e. 1.380 649 × electromagnetic coil.
temperature 10–23 kg m2 s–2 K–1, where the kilogram, meter, and Kibble went on to collaborate
second are defined in terms of , and ∆ cs).
hc v
with Ian Robinson at the UK’s
Amount of Mole The mole (mol) is defined by fixing NA, the Avogadro National Physical Laboratory (NPL)
substance (mol) constant, to be exactly 6.022 140 76 × 1023 mol–1 in 1978, creating a practical
(i.e. one mole of a substance contains 6.02214076 × instrument—the Mark I—that
1023 particles such as atoms, molecules, or electrons).
enabled the ampere to be measured
with unprecedented accuracy. The
Luminous Candela The candela (cd) is defined by fixing Kcd, the luminous
efficacy of radiation of frequency 540 × 1012 Hz, to be Mark II balance followed in 1990.
intensity (cd)
683 lm W–1 (i.e. 683 cd sr kg–1 m–2 s3, where sr is the solid Constructed in a vacuum chamber,
angle in steradians, and kilogram, meter, and second are this instrument made it possible
defined in terms of , , and ∆ cs).
hc v to measure Planck’s constant
accurately enough to allow for
inch, yard, and furlong for length). including the meter (m) for length, the redefinition of the kilogram.
In 1873, British physicists proposed kilogram (kg) for mass, and second Later models of Kibble’s balance
the centimeter, gram, and second (s) for time. These fundamental have contributed significantly to
(CGS) as the fundamental units. quantities are considered to be the most recent version of the SI.
This CGS system worked well for independent of each other, although Historically, definitions were
many years, but gradually gave the definitions of their units are made in terms of physical artifacts
way to the MKS (meter, kilogram, not—for instance, length and time (such as the IPK) or measured
and second) system. Both were are independent, but the definition properties (such as the frequency
superseded by the SI, which of the meter is dependent on the of radiation emitted by a particular
included standardized units in definition of the second. type of atom), and included one or
newer areas of study, such as Other quantities are measured more universal physical constants.
electricity and magnetism. in “derived units,” which are These constants (such as c, the
combinations of base units, speed of light in a vacuum, or ∆vcs,
Base and derived SI units according to the relationship a frequency associated with an
The SI specifies seven “base units” between the quantities. For electron moving between particular
(and abbreviations) to measure example, speed, which is distance energy levels—the “hyperfine
seven fundamental quantities, per unit time, is measured in transition”—in a cesium atom)
radiation emitted by the cesium
hyperfine transition. This number
was obtained experimentally, by
comparing ∆vcs with the most
rigorous definition of the second
It is natural for man to relate then existing, which was based on
the units of distance by which Earth’s orbit around the sun. Today,
he travels to the dimensions of the definition is subtly different.
the globe that he inhabits. The constant—here, the value
Pierre-Simon Laplace of ∆vcs —is first explicitly defined
French mathematician and (as 9 192 631 770). This expresses
philosopher our confidence that ∆vcs never
changes. It does not really matter
what numerical value is assigned
to it because the size of the unit
it is measured in is arbitrary.
However, there is an existing,
convenient unit—the second—
The Kibble balance at NIST produces
are natural invariants. In other that can be refined, so it is incredibly accurate measurements,
words, universal physical constants assigned a value that makes the and has contributed to the recent
are the same over all time and newly defined second as close as redefinition of all base measurement
space, and so are more stable than possible to the second by the old units in terms of physical constants.
any experimental determination of definition. In other words, instead
them, or any material artifact. of having a fixed definition of the
second, and measuring ∆vcs relative is fixed, and the kilogram has
SI units redefined to it, metrologists fix a convenient been redefined to fit with this
The 2019 redefinition of SI units number for ∆vcs and define the numerical value.
in terms of fundamental physical second relative to that. The new SI now has a stronger
constants was a philosophical shift. Under the old definition of the foundation for its redefinition of
Prior to 2019, definitions of units kilogram, the IPK was considered a units. For practical purposes, most
were explicit. For example, since constant. Under the new definition, are unchanged, but their stability
1967, the second had been defined the value of Planck’s constant and precision at very small or very
as 9 192 631 770 cycles of the (6.626 070 15  10 –34 joule-seconds) large scales is markedly improved. ■
Bryan Kibble Born in 1938, British physicist and enabled measurements (initially
metrologist Bryan Kibble showed of the ampere) to be made with
an early aptitude for science and great accuracy without
won a scholarship to study at the reference to a physical artifact.
University of Oxford, where he After his death in 2016, the watt
was awarded a DPhil in atomic balance was renamed the Kibble
spectroscopy in 1964. After a balance in his honor.
short post-doctoral period in
Canada, he returned to the UK in
1967 and worked as a researcher Key works
at the National Physical
Laboratory (NPL) until 1998. 1984 Coaxial AC Bridges
Kibble made several significant (with G.H. Raynor)
contributions to metrology over 2011 Coaxial Electrical
his career, the greatest of which Circuits for Interference-Free
was his development of the Measurements (with Shakil
moving-coil watt balance, which Awan and Jürgen Schurr)
ENERGY
AND MATT
materials
and heat
ER
66 INTRODUCTION
The Greek philosophers British physicist and

Democritus and Leucippus James Watt creates inventor Benjamin
establish the school of Isaac Newton suggests an efficient steam Thompson, Count
atomism, believing the that atoms are held engine, which proves Rumford, provides an
world to be made from together by an to be the motive force authoritative definition
small, indestructible invisible force of the Industrial of the conservation
fragments. of attraction. Revolution. of energy.
5TH CENTURY BCE 1704 1769 1798
1678 1738 1787 1802
English polymath Swiss mathematician Jacques Charles discovers Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac

Robert Hooke publishes Daniel Bernoulli the relationship between rediscovers Charles’s
Hooke’s law, which discovers that a fluid’s the volume of a gas and gas law and also the
describes the way pressure decreases its temperature at relationship between
objects deform as its velocity constant pressure, but a gas’s temperature
under tension. increases. does not publish his work. and pressure.
S
ome things in our universe Long before the Greeks, early were powered by water in its
are tangible, things we can humans had used the materials gaseous form of steam. Heat was
touch and hold in our hands. around them in order to achieve the key to creating steam from
Others seem ethereal and unreal the desired task. Every now water. In the 1760s, Scottish
until we observe the effect they and then, a new material was engineers Joseph Black and James
have on those objects we hold. discovered, mostly by accident but Watt made the important discovery
Our universe is constructed from sometimes through trial-and-error that heat is a quantity, while
tangible matter but it is governed by experiments. Adding coke (carbon) temperature is a measurement.
the exchange of intangible energy. to iron produced steel, a stronger Understanding how heat is
Matter is the name given to but more brittle metal that made transferred and how fluids move
anything in nature with shape, better blades than iron alone. became crucial to success in the
form, and mass. The natural industrial world, with engineers
philosophers of ancient Greece were The age of experimentation and physicists vying to build the
the first to propose that matter was In Europe during the 17th century, biggest and best machines.
made from many small building experimentation gave way to Experiments with the physical
blocks called atoms. Atoms collect laws and theories, and these ideas properties of gases began with the
together to form materials, made led toward new materials and creation of the vacuum pump by
of one or more different atoms methods. During the European Otto von Guericke in Germany
combined in various ways. Such Industrial Revolution (1760–1840), in 1650. Over the next century,
differing microscopic structures engineers selected materials to chemists Robert Boyle in England
give these materials very different build machines that could and Jacques Charles and Joseph-
properties, some stretchy and withstand large forces and Louis Gay-Lussac in France
elastic, others hard and brittle. temperatures. These machines discovered three laws that related
ENERGY AND MATTER 67
Dutchman Johannes German physicist Max

Sadi Carnot analyzes the James Joule Diderik van der Waals Planck proposes a new
efficiencies of steam discovers that heat proposes his equation theory for blackbody
engines and develops the is a form of energy of state to describe radiation, and
idea of a reversible process, and that other forms mathematically the introduces the idea
initiating the science of energy can be behavior of gases as they of the quantum
of thermodynamics. converted to heat. condense to a liquid. of energy.
1824 1844 1873 1900
1803 1834 1865 1874
British chemist John Dalton Frenchman Émile German physicist Irish-born engineer and physicist
proposes his modern atomic Clapeyron combines Rudolf Clausius William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin)
model from the ratio with the gas laws of Boyle, introduces the formally states the second law
which certain chemical Charles, Gay-Lussac, and modern definition of thermodynamics, which
elements combine to Amedeo Avogadro into of entropy. eventually leads to the
form compounds. the ideal gas equation. thermodynamic arrow of time.
the temperature, volume, and Physicists designed new heat particles that make up a system.
pressure of a gas. In 1834, these engines to squeeze as much work as Heat flowing only from hot to cold
laws were combined into a single they could from every last bit of heat. was a specialized example of the
equation to simply show the Frenchman Sadi Carnot discovered second law of thermodynamics,
relationship between gas pressure, the most efficient way to achieve which states that the entropy and
volume, and temperature. this theoretically, placing an upper disorder of an isolated system can
Experiments conducted by limit on the amount of work only ever increase.
British physicist James Joule obtainable for each unit of heat The variables of temperature,
showed that heat and mechanical exchanged between two reservoirs volume, pressure, and entropy seem
work are interchangeable forms of at different temperatures. He to only be averages of microscopic
the same thing, which we today confirmed that heat only moved processes involving innumerable
call energy. Industrialists desired spontaneously from hot to cold. particles. The transition from
mechanical work in exchange for Machines were imagined that did microscopic huge numbers to a
heat. Vast quantities of fossil fuels, the opposite, but these refrigerators singular macroscopic number
mainly coal, were burned to boil were only constructed years later. was achieved through kinetic
water and create steam. Heat theory. Physicists were then able
increased the internal energy Entropy and kinetic theory to model complex systems in a
of the steam before it expanded The single direction of heat transfer simplified way and link the kinetic
and performed mechanical work, from hot to cold suggested an energy of particles in a gas to
pushing pistons and turning underlying law of nature, and the its temperature. Understanding
turbines. The relationship between idea of entropy emerged. Entropy matter in all its states has helped
heat, energy, and work was set out describes the amount of disorder physicists solve some of the deepest
in the first law of thermodynamics. there is among the underlying mysteries of the universe. ■
68
IN CONTEXT
THE FIRST
KEY FIGURE
Democritus (c. 460–370 bce)
BEFORE
PRINCIPLES
c. 500 bce In ancient Greece,
Heraclitus declares that
everything is in a state of flux.
AFTER
OF THE
c. 300 bce Epicurus adds the
concept of atomic “swerve” to
atomism, allowing for some
behavior to be unpredictable.
UNIVERSE
1658 French clergyman
Pierre Gassendi’s Syntagma
philosophicum (Philosophical
Treatise), which attempts
to marry atomism with
Christianity, is published
MODELS OF MATTER posthumously.
1661 Anglo-Irish physicist
Robert Boyle defines elements
in The Sceptical Chymist.
1803 John Dalton puts
forward his atomic theory,
based on empirical evidence.
A
mong the several
mysteries that scholars
have contemplated over
millennia is the question of what
everything is made of. Ancient
philosophers—from Greece to
Japan—tended to think of all
matter as being made from a
limited set of simple substances
(“elements”), usually earth, air
or wind, fire, and water, which
combined in different proportions
and arrangements to create all
material things.
Different cultures imagined
these systems of elements in
different ways, with some linking
them to deities (as in Babylonian
mythology) or tying them into
See also: Changes of state and making bonds 100–103 ■ Atomic theory 236–237
■ The nucleus 240–241 ■ Subatomic particles 242–243
of atomism on the idea that it must

be impossible to continue dividing
matter eternally. He argued that
all matter must therefore be made
up of tiny particles that are too
small to see. He named these
particles “atoms” from the word
atomos, meaning uncuttable.
According to Democritus,
atoms are infinite and eternal.
The properties of an object depend Democritus
not just on the size and shape of
its atoms but how these atoms are Democritus was born into a
assembled. Objects could, he wealthy family in Abdera, in
stated, change over time through the historic region of Thrace
shifts in their atomic arrangement. in southeast Europe around
For example, he proposed bitter 460 bce. He traveled at length
foods were made of jagged atoms through parts of western Asia
that tore the tongue as they were and Egypt as a young man
chewed; sweet foods, on the before arriving in Greece to
The classical system of elements familiarize himself with
focused on earth, water, air, and fire. other hand, consisted of smooth
atoms that flowed smoothly natural philosophy.
This illustration, from a manuscript
Democritus acknowledged
dated c. 1617, shows these elements over the tongue.
within a divine universe.
his teacher Leucippus as his
While modern atomic theory
greatest influence, and
looks very different from the theory classicists have sometimes
put forward by Leucippus and struggled to distinguish
grander philosophical frameworks Democritus almost 2,500 years between their contributions
(such as the Chinese philosophy ago, their idea that the properties to philosophy—particularly
of Wu Xing). of substances are affected by as none of the original works
On the Indian subcontinent, how atoms are arranged remains has survived to this day.
for instance, as early as the 8th relevant today. ❯❯ Best known for formulating
century bce, the Vedic sage Aruni “atomism,” Democritus is also
had described “particles too small recognized as an early pioneer
to be seen [which] mass together in aesthetics, geometry, and
into the substances and objects epistemology. He believed
of experience.” A number of that rational reasoning was a
other Indian philosophers had necessary tool to seek truth
By convention sweet because observations made
independently developed their
and by convention bitter, by through human senses would
own atomic theories. always be subjective.
convention hot, by convention Democritus was a modest
A materialist approach cold, by convention color; but man and is said to have
In the 5th century bce, the Greek in reality atoms and void. taken a humorous approach
philosopher Democritus and his Democritus to scholarship, giving him his
teacher Leucippus also took a nickname: “The Laughing
more materialist approach to these Philosopher.” He died
systems of elements. Democritus, around 370 bce.
who valued rational reasoning over
observation alone, based his theory
70 MODELS OF MATTER
Europe effectively abandoned the
Keep concept of atomism for several
dividing an object, These fragments are centuries, Islamic philosophers
and eventually it can be atoms, which exist such as Al-Ghazali (1058–1111)
divided no further. in a void. developed their own distinct
forms of atomism. Indian Buddhist
philosophers such as Dhamakirti
in the 7th century described atoms
as point-like bursts of energy.
The features
and arrangement Atoms come in Atomism revival
of these atoms are what different shapes The birth of the Renaissance in
gives substances and sizes. 14th-century Italy revived classical
their properties. arts, science, and politics across
Europe. It also saw the rebirth
of the theory of atomism, as had
been described by Leucippus
and Democritus. Atomism was
According to Democritus, only atoms and the void are real. controversial, however, because of
its link with Epicureanism, which
many people believed violated
strict Christian teachings.
In the 17th century, French
Around 300 bce, the Greek fire was made up of tiny tetrahedra, clergyman Pierre Gassendi
philosopher Epicurus refined which—with their sharp points and dedicated himself to reconciling
Democritus’s ideas, by proposing edges—made it more mobile than Christianity with Epicureanism,
the notion of atomic “swerve.” This earth, which was made of stable including atomism. He put forward
idea, that atoms can deviate from and squat cubes. Plato’s student a version of Epicurean atomism in
their expected actions, introduces Aristotle—who loathed Democritus which atoms have some of the
unpredictability at the atomic scale and reputedly wanted to burn his physical features of the objects
and allowed for the preservation works—proposed that there were they make up, such as solidity
of “free will,” a core belief held by five elements (adding the celestial and weight. Most importantly,
Epicurus. Atomic swerve could be element of “ether”) and no basic Gassendi’s theory stated that God
seen as an ancient iteration of the unit of matter. Although Western had created a finite number of
uncertainty at the core of quantum
mechanics: since all objects have
Each particle is fixed in one Particles are closely packed Particles move freely,
wave-like properties, it is impossible position, giving solids a but random, giving liquid giving gas no fixed
to accurately measure their position fixed shape and volume fixed volume but fluid shape shape or volume
and momentum at the same time.
The rejection of atomism

Some of the most influential
Greek philosophers rejected
atomism and instead backed the
theory of four or five fundamental
elements. In 4th-century Athens,
Plato proposed that everything Solid Liquid Gas
was composed of five geometric
solids (the Platonic solids), which Dalton’s atomic theory proposed that solids, liquids,
gave types of matter their and gases consist of particles (atoms or molecules). The
characteristics. For instance, motion of the particles and distances between them vary.
size; and atoms in gases are
mobile and distant from each
other, resulting in a substance
with no fixed shape or volume.
Oxygen atom Hydrogen atoms Water molecule The atom is divisible

16 mass units 1 mass unit each 18 mass units
Atoms are the smallest ordinary
object to have the properties of an
element. However, they are no longer
John Dalton proposed that atoms combine to produce considered indivisible. In the two
molecules in simple ratios of mass. For example, two atoms of centuries since Dalton built modern
hydrogen (each with a mass of 1) combine with one of oxygen
(with a mass of 16) to create a water molecule with a mass of 18.
atomic theory, it has been adapted
to explain new discoveries. For
instance, plasma—the fourth basic
atoms at the beginning of the they can be bonded or broken state of matter after solids, liquids,
universe, arguing that everything apart from other atoms to form and gases—can only be fully
could be made up of these atoms new substances. explained if atoms can be divided
and still be ruled by God. This idea Dalton’s theory was confirmed further. Plasma is created when
helped steer atomism back into the in 1905, when Albert Einstein electrons are delocalized (stripped
mainstream among European used mathematics to explain the away) from their atoms.
scholars, aided by the endorsement phenomenon of Brownian motion— In the late 19th and early 20th
of Isaac Newton and Robert Boyle. the jiggling of tiny pollen grains in century, scientists found atoms
In 1661, Boyle published The water—using atomic theory. are made up of several subatomic
Sceptical Chymist, which rejected According to Einstein, the pollen particles—electrons, protons, and
Aristotle’s theory of five elements is constantly bombarded by the neutrons; and those neutrons
and instead defined elements as random motion of many atoms. and protons are composed of
“perfectly unmingled bodies.” Disputes over this model were even smaller, subatomic particles.
According to Boyle, many different settled in 1911 when French This more complex model has
elements such as mercury and physicist Jean Perrin verified allowed physicists to understand
sulfur were made of many particles that atoms were responsible for phenomena that Democritus and
of different shapes and sizes. Brownian motion. The concept Dalton could never have imagined,
that atoms are bonded to or split such as radioactive beta decay and
How elements combine from other atoms to form different matter–antimatter annihilation. ■
In 1803, British physicist John substances is simple but remains
Dalton created a basic model of useful for understanding everyday
how atoms combine to form these phenomena, such as how atoms
elements. It was the first model of iron and oxygen combine to
built from a scientific basis. From form rust.
his experiments, Dalton noticed
that the same pairs of elements, States of matter [Epicurus] supposes not only all
such as hydrogen and oxygen, Plato taught that the consistency mixt bodies, but all others to be
could be combined in different of substances depended on the produced by the various and
ways to form various compounds. geometric shapes from which they casual occursions of atoms,
They always did so with whole were made, but Dalton’s atomic moving themselves to and
number mass ratios (see diagram theory more accurately explains fro … in the … infinite vacuum.
above). He concluded that each the states of matter. As illustrated Robert Boyle
element was composed of its own opposite, atoms in solids are closely
atom with unique mass and other packed, giving them a stable shape
properties. According to Dalton’s and size; atoms in liquids are
atomic theory, atoms cannot be weakly connected, giving them
divided, created, or destroyed, but indefinite shapes but mostly stable
72
IN CONTEXT
AS THE
KEY FIGURES
Robert Hooke (1635–1703),
Thomas Young (1773–1829)
EXTENSION,
BEFORE
1638 Galileo Galilei explores
the bending of wooden beams.
AFTER
SO THE
1822 French mathematician
Augustin-Louis Cauchy shows
how stress waves move
through an elastic material.
FORCE
1826 Claude-Louis Navier, a
French engineer and physicist,
develops Young’s modulus
into its modern form, the
elastic modulus.
STRETCHING AND SQUEEZING 1829 German miner Wilhelm

Albert demonstrates metal
fatigue (weakening of metal
due to stress).
1864 French physicist Jean
Claude St-Venant and German
physicist Gustav Kirchhoff
discover hyperelastic materials.
B
ritish physicist and polymath
Robert Hooke made many
crucial contributions in
the Scientific Revolution of the 17th
century, but he became interested
in springs in the 1660s because he
wanted to make a watch. Up to
then, timepieces were typically
pendulum-driven, and pendulum
clocks became erratic when used
on ships. If Hooke could create a
timepiece driven by a spring and
not a pendulum, he could make a
clock that could keep time at sea,
thus solving the key navigational
problem of the age—calculating
a ship’s longitude (east–west
distance) required accurate
timekeeping. Using a spring
See also: Pressure 36 ■ Measuring time 38–39 ■ Laws of motion 40–45
■ Kinetic energy and potential energy 54 ■ The gas laws 82–85
Metal wound as a coil Hanging a weight on a

spring can be stretched coil spring makes it
and squeezed. grow longer.
The stretching of an
elastic material is The amount the spring
grows longer varies Robert Hooke
proportional to the
force stretching it. directly with the weight. Born on the Isle of Wight
in 1635, Robert Hooke went
on to make his way through
Oxford University, where he
gained a passion for science.
In 1661, the Royal Society
As the extension, so the force. debated an article on the
phenomenon of rising water
in slender glass pipes; Hooke’s
explanation was published in
a journal. Five years later, the
pendulum also meant that Hooke summarized in a simple equation,
Royal Society hired Hooke as
could make a watch small enough F = kx, in which F is the force, x is their curator of experiments.
to be put in a pocket. the distance stretched, and k is a The range of Hooke’s
constant (a fixed value). This simple scientific achievements is
Spring force law proved to be a key platform for huge. Among his many
In the 1670s, Hooke heard that understanding how solids behave. inventions were the ear
Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens Hooke wrote his idea down trumpet and the spirit level.
was also developing a spring-driven as a Latin anagram, ceiiinosssttvu, He also founded the science
watch. Anxious not to be beaten, a common way for scientists at the of meteorology, was the great
Hooke set to work with master time to keep their work secret until pioneer of microscope studies
clockmaker Thomas Tompion to they were ready to publish it. ❯❯ (discovering that living things
make his watch. are made from cells), and
As Hooke worked with Tompion, developed the key law on
he realized that a coil spring must elasticity, known as Hooke’s
law. He also collaborated with
unwind at a steady rate to keep
Robert Boyle on the gas laws,
time. Hooke experimented with and with Isaac Newton on the
stretching and squeezing springs The most ingenious book laws of gravity.
and discovered the simple
I ever read in my life.
relationship embodied in the law
on elasticity that was later given
Samuel Pepys
English diarist,
his name. Hooke’s law says that on Hooke’s book Micrographia Key works
the amount a spring is squeezed or
stretched is precisely proportional 1665 Micrographia
to the force applied. If you apply 1678 “Of Spring”
twice the force, it stretches twice 1679 Collection of Lectures
as far. The relationship can be
74 STRETCHING AND SQUEEZING
Hooke’s spring balance used metallic bonds between their
the stretching of a spring to show the atoms. Although scientists would
weight of something. Hooke used this not understand this for another
illustration to explain the concept in
his “Of Spring” lecture.
200 years, the Industrial Revolution’s
engineers soon realized the benefits
of Hooke’s law when they began to
constantly collided with each other build bridges and other structures
(anticipating the kinetic theory of with iron in the 1700s.
gases by more than 160 years).
He suggested that squeezing a Engineering math
solid pushed the particles closer In 1694, Swiss mathematician
and increased collisions making it Jacob Bernoulli applied the
more resistant; stretching it reduced phrase “force per unit area” to the
collisions so that the solid became deforming force—the stretching or
less able to resist the pressure of squeezing force. Force per unit area
the air around itself. came to be called “stress” and the
There are clear parallels amount the material was stretched
between Hooke’s law, published or squeezed came to be known as
in 1678, and Boyle’s law (1662) on the “strain.” The direct relationship
gas pressure, which Robert Boyle between stress and strain varies—
Deciphered, the anagram read called “the spring of the air.” for example, some materials will
Ut tensio sic vis, which means Furthermore, Hooke’s vision of deform much more under a certain
“as the extension, so the force”— the role of invisible particles in the stress than others. In 1727, another
that is, the extension is proportional strength and elasticity of materials Swiss mathematician, Leonhard
to the force. Once the watch was seems remarkably close to our Euler, formulated this variation
made, Hooke went on to publish his modern understanding. We now in stress and strain in different
ideas about springs two years later, know that strength and elasticity materials as the coefficient (a
in his 1678 pamphlet “de Potentia do indeed depend on a material’s number by which another number
Restitutiva” (“Of Spring”). He began molecular structure and bonding. is multiplied) “E”, and Hooke’s
by outlining a simple demonstration Metals are hugely resilient, for equation became  = E, in which
for people to try at home—twist instance, because of special  is the stress and  is the strain.
wire into a coil, then hang different
weights to see how far the coil
stretches. He had invented the
spring balance. Spring
However, Hooke’s paper was of
lasting importance. Not only was it
a simple observation of how springs
behaved, but it also provided a When the
key insight into the strength of x force ( ) is
F
materials and the behavior of solids doubled (2 ),
F
spring stretches
under stress—factors that are twice as far to a
central to modern engineering. 2 x distance of 2x
Force ( ) of weight
F
stretches spring by F
Mini springs a distance of
x
In trying to find an explanation
for the behavior of springs, Hooke
suspected that it was tied to a Hooke’s law shows that the amount a
fundamental property of matter. spring is squeezed or stretched is precisely
He speculated that solids were proportional to the force applied. If you apply
made of vibrating particles that twice the force, it stretches twice as far. 2F
Tensile strength When materials are stretched of iron wires of various lengths.”
beyond their elastic limit, they We now know that structural
will not return to their original steel has a high tensile strength
size, even when the stress is of over 400 MPa (megapascals).
removed. If they are stretched A pascal is the measurement
even further, they may eventually unit for pressure: 1 Pa is defined
snap. The maximum stress that as 1 N (newton) per square
a material can take in tension— meter. Pascals are named after
being pulled longer—before it mathematician and physicist
snaps is known as its tensile Blaise Pascal.
strength, and is crucial in deciding Structural steel is often used
the suitability of a material for a for today’s suspension bridges,
particular task. such as the George Washington
Some of the first tests of tensile Bridge in New Jersey (see left).
strength were carried out by Carbon nanotubes can be over
Leonardo da Vinci, who wrote in a hundred times as strong as
1500 about “Testing the strength structural steel (63,000 MPa).
Young’s measure strength of various materials to between a material’s stress

During experiments carried out derive his measures. Young’s and strain is linear. Young’s
in 1782, Italian scientist Giordano modulus is a measure of a chosen contributions about the strength of
Riccati had discovered that steel material’s ability to resist stretching materials, and also their resistance
was about twice as resistant to or squeezing in one direction. It is to stress, were of huge value to
stretching and squeezing as brass. the ratio of the stress to the strain. engineers. Young’s modulus and
Riccati’s experiments were very A material such as rubber has a low his equations opened the door to
similar in concept to the work of Young’s modulus—less than 0.1 Pa the development of a whole series
Euler and also, 25 years later, the (pascals)—so it will stretch a lot of calculation systems that allow
work of Thomas Young. with very little stress. Carbon fiber engineers to work out the stresses
Young was, like Robert Hooke, has a modulus of around 40 Pa, and strains on proposed structures
a British polymath. He earned which means it is 400 or more precisely before they are built.
his living as a physician but his times more resistant to stretching These calculation systems are
scientific achievements were wide than rubber. fundamental to constructing
ranging and his work on stress and everything from sports cars to
strain in materials was a keystone Elastic limit suspension bridges. Total collapses
for 19th-century engineering. Young realized that the linear of these structures are rare. ■
In 1807, Young revealed the relationship (in which one quantity
mechanical property that was increases directly proportionally
Euler’s coefficient “E ”. In his to another) between a material’s
remarkable series of lectures, stress and strain works over a
during the same year, entitled limited range. This varies between
“Natural Philosophy and the materials, but in any material
Mechanical Arts,” Young subjected to too much stress, a A permanent alteration
introduced the concept of a nonlinear (disproportionate) of form limits the strength
“modulus” or measure to describe relationship between stress and of materials with regard
the elasticity of a material. strain will eventually develop. If to practical purposes.
the stress continues, the material Thomas Young
Stress and strain will reach its elastic limit (the point
Young was interested in what he at which it stops returning to its
called the “passive strength” of original length after the stress is
a material, by which he meant removed). Young’s modulus only
the elasticity, and he tested the applies when the relationship
76
IN CONTEXT
THE MINUTE
KEY FIGURE
Daniel Bernoulli (1700–1782)
PARTS OF
BEFORE
1647 Blaise Pascal defines
the transmission of pressure
change in a static fluid.
MATTER ARE IN
1687 Isaac Newton
explains a fluid’s viscosity
in Philosophiae Naturalis
RAPID MOTION
Principia Mathematica
(Mathematical Principles
of Natural Philosophy).
AFTER
FLUIDS 1757 Influenced by Bernoulli,
Leonhard Euler writes on
fluid mechanics.
1859 James Clerk Maxwell
explains the macroscopic
qualities of gases.
1918 German engineer
Reinhold Platz designs the
airfoil of the Fokker D.VII
aircraft to produce greater lift.
A
fluid is defined as a phase
of matter that has no fixed
shape, yields easily to
external pressure, deforms to the
shape of its container, and flows from
one point to another. Liquids and
gases are among the most common
types. All fluids can be compressed
to some degree, but a great deal of
pressure is required to compress
a liquid by just a small amount.
Gases are more easily compressed
since there is more space between
their atoms and molecules.
One of the greatest contributors
to the field of fluid dynamics—the
study of how forces affect the motion
of fluids—was Swiss mathematician
and physicist Daniel Bernoulli,
See also: Pressure 36 ■ Laws of motion 40–45 ■ Kinetic energy and potential
energy 54 ■ The gas laws 82–85 ■ The development of statistical mechanics 104–111
An increase in a fluid’s A decrease in a fluid’s

speed causes a reduction speed causes an increase
in its pressure. in its pressure.
This principle is known as Daniel Bernoulli

Bernoulli’s law.
Born in 1700 in Groningen in
the Netherlands into a family
of prominent mathematicians,
whose 1738 Hydrodynamica and the fluid leaving the hole. Bernoulli studied medicine
(Hydrodynamics) laid the basis The velocity at which the fluid at the University of Basel in
for the kinetic theory of gases. His leaves the hole is proportional to Switzerland, Heidelberg
principle states that an increase in the height of fluid above the hole. University in Germany, and
the speed of motion of a fluid occurs So, v = 2gh where g is the the University of Strasbourg
simultaneously with a reduction in acceleration due to gravity. ❯❯ (at the time also in Germany).
He gained a doctorate in
its pressure or potential energy.
anatomy and botany in 1721.
Top surface As droplets fall 1 h Bernoulli’s 1724 paper
From bath tubs to barrels ( ) of fluid
h and 2, they reach
h on differential equations and
Bernoulli’s principle built on the the same velocity the physics of flowing water
discoveries of earlier scientists. The as fluids flowing
from holes 1 and 2 earned him a post at the
first major work on fluids was On Academy of Sciences in St.
Floating Bodies by the ancient Greek h Petersburg, Russia, where
philosopher Archimedes. This he taught and produced
3rd-century bce text states that a
h 1
important mathematical
body immersed in a liquid receives 1
v 1 work. Hydrodynamica was
a buoyant force equal to the weight Fluid flows with
published after his return to
of the fluid it displaces, a fact that low velocity ( 1)v the University of Basel. He
h 2 v 1 and doesn’t worked with Leonhard Euler
Archimedes is said to have realized
squirt far from on the flow of fluids, especially
when taking a bath, leading to the the container
famous cry “Eureka!” (“I found it!”). blood in the circulatory
system, and also worked on
Centuries later, in 1643, Italian v 2
2 the conservation of energy in
mathematician and inventor fluids. He was elected to the
Evangelista Torricelli formulated v Royal Society of London in
2
Torricelli’s law. This principle of 1750, and died in 1782 in
Fluid flows with
fluid dynamics explains that the high velocity ( 2)
v Basel, Switzerland, aged 82.
velocity of flow (v) of a fluid leaving and squirts further
a hole in a container, where h is the
depth of fluid above the hole, is the Under Torricelli’s law, fluid squirts
from holes 1 and 2—placed at a depth Key work
same as the velocity that a droplet of h1 and h2 from the top of the fluid—
of fluid would acquire falling freely in a container. As h increases, the 1738 Hydrodynamica
from a height h. If h increases, so velocity of the fluid also increases. The (Hydrodynamics)
do the velocity of the falling droplet same applies for droplets in free fall.
78 FLUIDS
Pressure Aeronautics makes use of Bernoulli’s law: since air Boyle’s discovery that the pressure
difference travels faster above a curved wing than below it, low of a given mass of gas, at a constant
creates lift pressure above the wing causes the wing to lift. temperature, increases as the
volume of the container holding
it decreases. Bernoulli argued
Low pressure that gases are made up of huge
numbers of molecules moving
Airflow is randomly in all directions, and that
faster over their impact on a surface causes
the top of the
wing, so the pressure. He wrote that what is
air pressure experienced as heat is the kinetic
is lower energy of their motion, and that—
given the random motion of
Curve of the molecules—motion and pressure
top surface Airflow is slower
of the wing underneath the increase as temperatures rise.
forces air to wing, so the air By drawing these conclusions,
flow faster High pressure pressure is greater Bernoulli laid the basis of the
kinetic theory of gases. It was
not widely accepted at the time
Another breakthrough came easily, while high-viscosity fluids of publication in 1738, since the
in 1647, when French scientist resist deformation and do not flow principle of the conservation of
Blaise Pascal proved that for an easily. According to Newton’s energy would not be proven for
incompressible fluid inside a viscosity law, a fluid’s viscosity more than a century. Bernoulli
container, any change in pressure is its “shear stress” divided by its discovered that as fluids flow more
is transmitted equally to every part “shear rate.” While not all liquids quickly, they produce less pressure
of that fluid. This is the principle follow this law, those that do are and, conversely, when fluids flow
behind the hydraulic press and called Newtonian liquids. Shear more slowly, they produce greater
the hydraulic jack. stress and rate can be pictured as pressure. This became known
Pascal also proved that a fluid sandwiched between two as Bernoulli’s law, which now has
hydrostatic pressure (the pressure plates. One is fixed below the fluid, many applications, such as the lift
of a fluid due to the force of gravity) and the other drifts slowly on the generated by airflow in aeronautics.
depends not on the weight of fluid surface of the fluid. The fluid is
above it, but on the height between subject to shear stress (the force
that point and the top of the liquid. moving the upper plate, divided
In Pascal’s famous (if apocryphal) by the plate’s area). The shear rate
barrel experiment, he is said to is the velocity of the moving plate
have inserted a long, narrow, water- divided by the distance between
filled pipe into a water-filled barrel. the plates.
When the pipe was raised above Later studies showed that there
the barrel, the increased hydrostatic are also different kinds of fluid flow.
pressure burst the barrel. A flow is described as “turbulent”
when it exhibits recirculation,
Viscosity and flow eddying, and apparent randomness.
In the 1680s, Isaac Newton studied Flows that lack these characteristics
fluid viscosity—how easily fluids are described as “laminar.”
flow. Almost all fluids are viscous,
exerting some resistance to Bernoulli’s law
A diagram in Bernoulli’s
deformation. Viscosity is a measure Bernoulli studied pressure, density, Hydrodynamica depicts air molecules
of a fluid’s internal resistance to and velocity in static and moving colliding with the walls of a container,
flow: fluids with low viscosity fluids. He was familiar both with creating enough pressure to support a
possess low resistance and flow Newton’s Principia and with Robert weight resting on a movable surface.
equation to describe a distribution
curve, now known as the Maxwell–
Boltzmann distribution, that showed
the range of different speeds of
gas molecules. He also calculated
Nature always the mean free path (the average As the atoms are cooled, they
tends to act in the
distance traveled by gas molecules start piling into the lowest
simplest ways.
between collisions) and the number possible energy state.
Daniel Bernoulli
of collisions at a given temperature, Lene Hau
and found that the higher the Danish physicist, on superfluids
temperature, the faster the molecular
movement, and the greater the
number of collisions. He concluded
that the temperature of a gas is a
measure of its mean kinetic energy.
Maxwell also confirmed Italian
Kinetic theory scientist Amedeo Avogadro’s law exhibited zero viscosity, flowing
While Bernoulli and other scientists of 1811, which states that equal without losing kinetic energy. At
laid the foundations for the kinetic volumes of two gases, at equal such low temperatures, atoms
theory of gases, Scottish scientist temperatures and pressures, contain almost stop moving. The scientists
James Clerk Maxwell attempted equal numbers of molecules. had discovered a “superfluid.”
to quantify the nature of molecular When superfluids are stirred,
motion within them. He explained Superfluid discoveries vortices form that can rotate
the macroscopic qualities of gases: Findings in the 20th century indefinitely. They have greater
their pressure, temperature, revealed how fluids behave at thermal conductivity than any
viscosity, and thermal conductivity. very cold temperatures. In 1938, known substance—hundreds of
Along with Austrian physicist Canadian physicists John F. Allen times greater than copper, which
Ludwig Boltzmann, Maxwell and Don Misener and Russian itself has high thermal conductivity.
developed a statistical means physicist Pyotr Kapitsa discovered Superfluids called “Bose–Einstein
of describing this theory. that a helium isotope behaved condensates” have been used
In the mid-19th century, most strangely when cooled to a experimentally as coolants, and in
scientists assumed that all gas temperature close to absolute 1998 Danish physicist Lene Hau
molecules travel at the same speed, zero. Below its boiling point of used them to slow the speed of
but Maxwell disagreed. In his 1859 –452.1 °F (–268.94 °C) it behaved light to 10 mph (17 km/h). Such “slow
paper “Illustration of the Dynamic as a normal colorless liquid, but light” optical switches could cut
Theory of Gases,” he produced an below –455.75 °F (–270.97 °C), it power requirements dramatically. ■
Applied fluid dynamics costs, and maintain quality. CFD CFD is a branch of fluid
has its roots in the work of French dynamics that uses flow
Predicting how fluids behave engineer Claude-Louis Navier. modeling and other tools to
is fundamental to many modern Building on earlier work by Swiss analyze problems and predict
technological processes. For physicist Leonhard Euler, in 1822 flows. It can take into account
instance, factory-based food Navier published equations that variables such as changes
production systems are designed applied Isaac Newton’s second law in a fluid’s viscosity due to
to convey ingredients and final of motion to fluids. Later known temperature, altered flow
foodstuffs—from binding syrups as Navier–Stokes equations after speeds caused by phase
to soups—through pipes and further contributions from Anglo- change (such as melting,
ducts. Integral to this process Irish physicist George Stokes in freezing, and boiling), and it
is computational fluid dynamics the mid-19th century, they were can even predict the effects
(CFD), a branch of fluid dynamics able to explain, for example, the of turbulent flow in parts of
that can maximize efficiency, cut movement of water in channels. a pipe system.
80
SEARCHING
OUT THE
FIRE-SECRET
HEAT AND TRANSFERS
I
n the early 1600s, thermoscopes The introduction of the first
IN CONTEXT began to appear across Europe. successful steam engine in 1712 by
These liquid-filled glass tubes British inventor Thomas Newcomen
KEY FIGURES
(shown opposite) were the first ever sparked huge interest in heat. In
Joseph Black (1728–1799),
instruments for measuring how hot a 1761 lecture, Scottish chemist
James Watt (1736–1819)
things are. In 1714, German-born Joseph Black spoke of experiments
BEFORE Dutch scientist and instrument- he had done on melting. These
1593 Galileo Galilei creates maker Daniel Fahrenheit created showed that the temperature did not
the thermoscope for showing the first modern thermometer, filled change when ice melted to water,
changes in hotness. with mercury—he established his yet melting the ice required the
famous temperature scale in 1724. same heat as it took to warm water
1654 Ferdinando II de Medici, Swedish scientist Anders Celsius from melting point to 140°F (60°C).
Grand Duke of Tuscany, makes invented the more convenient Black realized that heat must be
the first sealed thermometer. centigrade scale in 1742. absorbed when ice melted, and he
1714 Daniel Fahrenheit makes
the first mercury thermometer.
When ice melts to water, there is no temperature change.
1724 Fahrenheit establishes
a temperature scale.
1742 Anders Celsius invents
the centigrade scale.
AFTER It takes the same amount
of heat to melt water as Water must absorb
1777 Carl Scheele identifies
to raise its temperature heat when it melts—it
radiant heat. becomes latent.
to 140°F (60°C).
c. 1780 Jan Ingenhousz
clarifies the idea of heat
conduction.
Heat and temperature must be different.

See also: The gas laws 82–85 ■ Internal energy and the first law of thermodynamics 86–89 ■ Heat engines 90–93
■ Entropy and the second law of thermodynamics 94–99 ■ Thermal radiation 112–117
Galilean thermoscopes are tubes

filled with a liquid (often ethanol),
holding liquid-filled “floats.” Heat
causes the density of all the liquids to
change, making the floats rise or fall.
The heat which disappears

of cold water barely affects the cold
in the conversion of water water’s temperature, but bubbling
into vapor is not lost, a little steam through the water
but is retained in vapor. brings it quickly to a boil.
Joseph Black
How heat moves
In 1777, an apothecary in Sweden,
Carl Scheele, made a few simple
yet crucial observations—such
as the fact that on a cold day you
can feel the heat of a glowing
called the heat absorbed “latent fire a few feet away while still
heat.” The latent (hidden) heat is seeing your breath on the cold Meanwhile, around 1780, Dutch
the energy required to change a air. This is radiant heat, and is scientist Jan Ingenhousz pinned
material to another state. Black had infrared radiation (emitted from down a third kind of heat transfer:
made a crucial distinction between a source, such as fire or the sun), conduction. This is when atoms
heat, which we now know is a form which travels like light—radiation in a hot part of a solid vibrate a
of energy, and temperature, which is quite different from convective lot, collide with their neighboring
is a measurement of energy. heat. Convection is how heat atoms, and by doing so transfer
James Watt also discovered the moves through a liquid or gas; energy (heat). Ingenhousz coated
concept of latent heat in 1764. Watt heat causes the molecules and wires of different metals with wax,
was conducting experiments on atoms to spread out—for example, heated one end of each wire, and
steam engines and noticed that when air above a stove is warmed noted how quickly the wax melted
adding a little boiling water to a lot it will then rise. for each metal. ■
James Watt Scottish engineer James Watt was Watt noticed that the engine
one of the pivotal figures in the wasted a lot of steam, and
history of the steam engine. The came up with a revolutionary
son of a ship’s instrument-maker, improvement—introducing
Watt became highly skilled in a second cylinder with one
making instruments, in his running hot and the other cold.
father’s workshop and in London This change transformed the
as an apprentice. He then steam engine from a pump of
returned to Glasgow to make limited use to the universal
instruments for the university. source of power that drove
In 1764, Watt was asked to the Industrial Revolution.
repair a model Newcomen steam
engine. Before making practical Key inventions
adjustments to the model, Watt
conducted some scientific 1775 Watt steam engine
experiments, during which he 1779 Copying machine
discovered latent heat. 1782 Horsepower
82
IN CONTEXT
ELASTICAL
KEY FIGURES
Robert Boyle (1627–1691),
Jacques Charles (1746–1823),
Joseph Gay-Lussac
POWER IN
(1778–1850)
BEFORE
1618 Isaac Beeckman
suggests that, like water, air
THE AIR
exerts pressure.
1643 Italian physicist
Evangelista Torricelli makes
the first barometer and
measures air pressure.
THE GAS LAWS 1646 French mathematician
Blaise Pascal shows that air
pressure varies with height.
AFTER
1820 British scientist John
Herapath introduces the
kinetic theory of gases.
1859 Rudolf Clausius shows
that pressure is related to the
speed of gas molecules.
T
he fact that gases are
so transparent and
seemingly insubstantial
meant that it took natural
philosophers a long time to
appreciate that they have any
physical properties at all.
However, during the 17th
and 18th centuries, European
scientists gradually realized that,
like liquids and solids, gases do
indeed have physical properties.
These scientists discovered the
crucial relationship between the
temperature, pressure, and volume
of gases. Over a period of 150 years,
studies carried out by three
individuals—Robert Boyle in
Britain and Frenchmen Jacques
See also: Pressure 36 ■ Models of matter 68–71 ■ Fluids 76–79 ■ Heat engines 90–93 ■ Changes of state and making
bonds 100–103 ■ The development of statistical mechanics 104–111
Gases (including air) have

physical properties, such as volume,
pressure, and temperature.
When a gas When a gas is

heated, it takes up When a gas is heated
is subjected to
more space (the volume in a sealed container,
pressure, the volume
it occupies expands). pressure increases.
it occupies expands.
There is a three-way
relationship between a gas’s volume,
pressure, and temperature.
Charles and Joseph Gay-Lussac— limit was instead the maximum after Robert Boyle. The youngest
finally produced the laws that weight of water the pressure of son of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of
explain the behavior of gases. air outside could support. Cork and once the richest man
To prove his point, Torricelli in Ireland, Robert Boyle used his
The pressure of air filled a tube closed at one end inherited wealth to set up in ❯❯
Early in the 17th century, Dutch with mercury, a far denser liquid
scientist Isaac Beeckman than water, then turned it upside
suggested that, just like water, down. The mercury dropped
air exerts pressure. The great to about 30 in (76 cm) below the
Italian scientist Galileo Galilei closed end, then stopped falling.
disagreed, but Galileo’s young He concluded that this was the
protégé Evangelista Torricelli maximum height the pressure
not only proved Beeckman right of air outside could support. The
but showed how to measure height of mercury in the tube
pressure by inventing the world’s would vary slightly in response
first barometer. to changes in air pressure, which
Galileo had observed that a is why this is described as the
siphon could never raise water above first barometer.
33 ft (10 m). At the time, vacuums
were thought to “suck” liquids, and Boyle’s “spring of the air”
Evangelista Torricelli used a
Galileo wrongly thought this was Torricelli’s groundbreaking column of mercury to measure air
the maximum weight of water that invention paved the way for the pressure. He deduced that air pressing
a vacuum above it could draw up. discovery of the first of the gas down on the mercury in the cistern
In 1643, Torricelli showed that the laws, known as Boyle’s law, balanced the column in the tube.
84 THE GAS LAWS
discovery to Boyle’s friend Richard same rate as it cooled. If plotted
Townley, and a friend of Townley, on a graph, it showed the volume
physician Henry Power. Boyle would shrink to zero at –460°F,
himself called the idea “Townley’s now known as absolute zero, and
hypothesis,” but it was Boyle who the zero point on the Kelvin scale.
Air when reduc’d made the idea well known. Charles had discovered a law that
to half Its wonted extent describes how volume varies with
[volume] obtained … Charles’s hot air discovery temperature provided the pressure
twice as forcible Just over a century later, French stays steady.
a Spring [pressure]. scientist and balloon pioneer Charles never wrote down his
Robert Boyle Jacques Charles added in a third ideas. Instead they were described
element to the relationship between and clarified in the early 1800s in
volume and pressure—temperature. a paper written by fellow French
Charles was the first person to scientist Joseph Gay-Lussac, at
experiment with balloons filled with much the same time as English
hydrogen rather than hot air, and on scientist John Dalton showed that
August 27, 1783, in Paris, he sent the rule applied universally to
Oxford his own private scientific up the first large hydrogen balloon. all gases.
research laboratory, the first ever. In 1787, Charles conducted an
Boyle was a pioneering advocate experiment with a container of gas A third dimension
of experimental science and it in which the volume could vary Gay-Lussac added a third gas
was here that he conducted crucial freely. He then heated up the gas law to those of Boyle and Charles.
experiments on air pressure that and measured the volume as the Known as Gay-Lussac’s law,
he described in his book known in temperature rose. He saw that for it showed that if the mass and
short as Touching the Spring and each degree temperature rise, the volume of a gas are held constant
Weight of the Air (published in gas expanded by 1 ⁄273 of its volume then pressure rises in line with the
1662). “Spring” was his word for at 32ºF (0°C). It contracted at the temperature. As was soon clear,
pressure—he viewed squeezed
air acting as if it had springs
One weight
that recoil when pushed. represents
Inspired by Torricelli’s pressure inside
barometer, Boyle poured mercury a fixed volume
container
into a J-shaped glass tube sealed at
the lower end. He could see that the Two weights
volume of air trapped in the lower represent increased
tip of the J varied according to pressure
how much mercury he added.
In other words, there was a clear Particles at a low
temperature move
relationship between how much slowly
mercury the air could support
and its volume.
Boyle argued that the volume (v) Hot particles
move faster and
of a gas and its pressure (p) vary create more
in inverse proportion, provided pressure
the temperature stays the same.
Mathematically this is expressed
as pv = k, a constant (an Gay-Lussac’s law states that for a fixed mass
of “ideal” gas (one with zero interparticle forces)
unchanging number). In other at constant volume, the pressure is directly
Heat
words, if you decrease the volume proportional to the absolute temperature. As
of a gas, its pressure increases. more heat is applied, the particles move faster
Some people credit the crucial and pressure inside the container rises.
Joseph Gay-Lussac employed
atmospheric balloons for several
experiments. In this 1804 ascent
with Jean-Baptiste Biot, he studied
how Earth’s electromagnetic intensity
varied with altitude.
molecules varies exactly with the

volume. This is called Avogadro’s
hypothesis, and it explained Gay-
Lussac’s discovery that gases
combine in particular proportions.
Crucially, Avogadro’s hypothesis
indicated that oxygen by itself Joseph Gay-Lussac
existed as double-atom molecules,
which split to combine with French chemist and physicist
two atoms of hydrogen in water Joseph Gay was the son of a
vapor—this must be so if there wealthy lawyer. The family
are to be as many water molecules owned so much of the village
as there were molecules of hydrogen of Lussac in southwestern
and oxygen. France that, in 1803, both
there is a simple three-way This work was important to the father and son incorporated
relationship between the volume, development of atomic theory and Lussac into their names.
pressure, and temperature of gases. the relationship between atoms and Joseph studied chemistry
in Paris before working as a
This relationship applies to ideal molecules. It was also vital to the
researcher in Claude-Louis
gases (gases with zero interparticle kinetic theory of gases developed
Berthollet’s laboratory. By age
forces), although it is approximately by James Clerk Maxwell and others. 24, he had already discovered
true for all gases. This states that gas particles move the gas law named after him.
randomly and produce heat when Gay-Lussac was also a
How gases combine they collide. It helps explain the balloon pioneer and in 1804
Gay-Lussac went on to make relationship between pressure, he ascended in a balloon to
another important contribution volume, and temperature. ■ more than 22,965 ft (7,000 m)
to our understanding of gases. In with fellow French physicist
1808, he realized that when gases Jean-Baptiste Biot to sample
combine, they do so in simple air at different heights. From
proportions by volume—and that these experiments, he showed
when two gases react, the volume that the composition of the
of gases produced depends on the atmosphere does not change
original volumes. So, two volumes Compounds of gaseous with height and decreasing
of hydrogen join to one volume of substances with each other pressure. In addition to his
are always formed in very work on gases, Gay-Lussac
oxygen in a ratio of 2:1 to create also discovered two new
two volumes of water vapor. simple ratios, so that
elements, boron and iodine.
Two years later, Italian scientist representing one of the
Amedeo Avogadro explained this terms by unity, the other
discovery by tying it in with the is 1, 2, or at most 3.
rapidly emerging ideas about atoms Joseph Gay-Lussac Key works
and other particles. He theorized
1802 “On the Expansion of
that at a given temperature and Gases and Vapors,” Annals
pressure, equal volumes of all of Chemistry
gases have the same number of 1828 Lessons of Physics
“molecules.” Indeed, the number of
86
IN CONTEXT
THE ENERGY
KEY FIGURE
William Rankine
(1820–1872)
OF THE UNIVERSE
BEFORE
1749 Émilie du Châtelet
implicitly introduces the idea
IS CONSTANT
of energy and its conservation.
1798 Benjamin Thompson
develops the idea that heat
is a form of kinetic energy.
INTERNAL ENERGY AND THE FIRST 1824 French scientist Sadi
LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS Carnot concludes there are no
reversible processes in nature.
1840s James Joule, Hermann
von Helmholtz, and Julius von
Mayer introduce the theory of
conservation of energy.
AFTER
1854 William Rankine
introduces potential energy.
1854 Rudolf Clausius publishes
his statement of the second
law of thermodynamics.
I
n the late 18th century,
scientists had begun to
understand that heat was
different from temperature. Joseph
Black and James Watt had shown
that heat was a quantity (while
temperature was a measurement),
and the development of steam
engines throughout the Industrial
Revolution focused scientific
interest on how exactly heat
gave those engines such power.
At the time, scientists followed
the “caloric” theory—the idea
that heat was a mysterious fluid
or weightless gas called caloric
that flowed from hotter to colder
bodies. The connection between
heat and movement had long
See also: Kinetic energy and potential energy 54 ■ The conservation of energy 55 ■ Heat and transfers 80–81
■ Heat engines 90–93 ■ Entropy and the second law of thermodynamics 94–99 ■ Thermal radiation 112–117
Generating electricity The burning of fossil fuels (coal, heat energy into kinetic energy),
oil, and natural gas) to generate which generates electricity
electricity is a classic example of (electrical potential energy).
a chain of energy conversions. It Finally, the electricity is
begins with solar energy from converted into useful forms
the sun’s rays. Plants convert the of energy, such as light in light
solar energy into chemical energy bulbs or sound in loudspeakers.
as they grow—this then becomes Throughout all of these
“stored” as chemical potential conversions, the total energy
energy in the chemical bonds always remains the same.
made. The stored energy is During the entire process,
concentrated as the plants are energy is converted from one
compressed into coal, oil, and gas. form to another, but it is never
The fuel is burned, creating created or destroyed, and there
heat energy, which heats water is no loss of energy when one
to produce steam, and the steam form of energy is changed to
makes turbines turn (converting another form.
been recognized, but no one fully the metal. It seemed that the heat happen, just like muscle power.
appreciated how fundamental must be in the movement. In other They would come to realize that all
this link was. In the 1740s, French words, heat is kinetic energy—the forms of energy are interchangeable.
mathematician Émilie du Châtelet energy of movement. But few people In 1840, Julius von Mayer had
studied the concept of momentum accepted this idea and the caloric been looking at the blood of sailors
and introduced the idea of theory held for another 50 years. in the tropics and found that blood
mechanical “energy,” which is The breakthrough came from returning to the lungs was still rich
the capacity to make things several scientists simultaneously in in oxygen. In colder locations, a
happen—though she did not the 1840s, including James Joule person’s blood would return to the
name it as such at the time. in Britain, and Hermann von lungs carrying a lot less oxygen.
But it was becoming clear that Helmholtz and Julius von Mayer in This meant that, in the tropics, the
moving objects had energy, later Germany. What they all saw was body needed to burn less oxygen
identified as “kinetic” energy. that heat was a form of energy with to keep warm. Mayer’s conclusion
the capacity to make something was that heat and all forms of energy
Heat is energy (including those in his observations:
In 1798, American-born physicist muscle power, the heat of the
Benjamin Thompson, later known body, and the heat of the sun) are
as Count Rumford, conducted an interchangeable and they can be
experiment in a cannon foundry changed from one form to another,
in Munich. He wanted to measure but never created. The total energy
the heat generated by the friction You see, therefore, that living will remain the same. However,
when the barrels of cannons were force may be converted into Mayer was a medic and physicists
bored out. After many hours of heat, and heat may be paid his work little attention.
continuous friction from a blunt converted into living force.
boring machine, heat was still James Joule Converting energy
being generated, yet there was Meanwhile, young James
no change in the structure of the Joule began experimenting in a
cannon’s metal—so it was clear laboratory in the family home in
that nothing physical (and no Salford near Manchester. In 1841,
caloric fluid) was being lost from he figured out just how much ❯❯
88 INTERNAL ENERGY AND THE FIRST LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS
heat is made by an electric current. they expand—the basis of
He then experimented with ways of refrigeration. Joule also made the
converting mechanical movement first clear estimate of the average
into heat and developed a famous speed of molecules in a gas.
experiment in which a falling
weight turns a paddle wheel in The first law The commonest objects
water, heating the water (shown Throughout the next decade, are by science rendered
below). By measuring the rise in Helmholtz and Thomson—along precious.
the water temperature Joule could with German Rudolf Clausius and William Rankine
work out how much heat a certain Scotsman William Rankine—began
amount of mechanical work would to pull their findings together.
create. Joule’s calculations led him Thomson first used the phrase
to the belief that no energy is ever “thermo-dynamic” in 1849 to sum
lost in this conversion. But like up the power of heat. Over the
Mayer’s research, Joule’s ideas next year, Rankine and Clausius
were initially largely ignored by (apparently independently) Gottfried Leibniz had referred to
the scientific community. developed what is now called this as vis visa or “living force,”
Then, in 1847, Hermann von the first law of thermodynamics. which was a term still used by
Helmholtz published a key paper, Like Joule, Rankine and Clausius Rankine. But it was only in the
which drew from his own studies focused on work—the force used to 1850s that its full significance
and those of other scientists, move an object a certain distance. emerged, and the word “energy”
including Joule. Helmholtz’s paper Throughout their studies, they saw in its modern sense began to be
summarized the theory of the a universal connection between used regularly.
conservation of energy. The same heat and work. Significantly, Clausius Clausius and Rankine worked
year, Joule presented his work at a also began to use the word “energy” on the concept of energy as a
meeting of the British Association to describe the capacity to do work. mathematical quantity—in the
in Oxford. After the meeting, Joule In Britain, Thomas Young had same way that Newton had
met William Thomson (who later coined the word “energy” in 1802 revolutionized our understanding
became Lord Kelvin), and the two to explain the combined effect of gravity by simply looking at it
of them worked on the theory of of mass and velocity. Around the as a universal mathematical rule,
gases and on how gases cool as late 17th century, German polymath without actually describing how
it works. They were finally able
to banish the caloric idea of heat
Joule’s paddle wheel
as a substance. Heat is energy, a
experiment featured
a paddle wheel inside a capacity to do work, and heat
Winding tank of water, powered must therefore conform to another
drum simple mathematical rule: the law
by falling weights—
Pulley this caused the water of conservation of energy. This law
temperature to rise. shows that energy cannot be
Joule measured the created or destroyed; it can
temperature to calculate
Weight how much heat a certain
only be transferred from one place
amount of mechanical to another or converted into other
work would create. forms of energy. In simple terms,
Water in
insulated tank
the first law of thermodynamics
is the law of conservation of energy
applied to heat and work.
Paddle wheel
turns and
Thermometer Clausius’ and Rankine’s ideas
heats water and research had been inspired by
trying to understand theoretically
how engines worked. So Clausius
looked at the total energy in a closed
system (a system where matter things. So he made a useful
cannot be moved in or out, but division of energy into two kinds:
energy can be moved—like in the stored energy and work energy.
cylinders of a steam engine) and Stored energy is energy held still,
talked about its “internal energy.” ready to move—like a compressed
You cannot measure the internal spring or a skier standing at the
energy of the system, but you can top of a slope. Today we describe
measure the energy going in and stored energy as potential energy.
out. Heat is a transfer of energy into Work is either the action done to
the system and a combination of store up the energy or it is the
heat and work is a transfer out. movement when that energy
According to the energy is unleashed. Rankine’s categorizing
conservation law, any change in of energy in this way was a simple
internal energy must always be and lastingly effective way of William Rankine
the difference between the energy looking at energy in its resting
moving into the system and the and moving phases. Scotsman William Rankine
energy that is moving out—this also By the end of the 1850s, the was born in Edinburgh in
equates to the total difference remarkable work of du Châtelet, 1820. He became a railroad
between heat and work. Put more Joule, Helmholtz, Mayer, Thomson, engineer, like his father, but
heat into the same system and you Rankine, and Clausius had having become fascinated by
get more work out, and also the other transformed our understanding the science behind the steam
way around—this adheres to the first of heat. This pioneering group of engines he was working with,
law of thermodynamics. This must young scientists had revealed the he later switched to studying
be so because the total energy in the reciprocal relationship between science instead.
universe (all energy surrounding heat and movement. They had Along with scientists
Rudolf Clausius and William
the system) is constant, so the also begun to understand and show
Thomson, Rankine became
transfers in and out must match. the universal importance of this
one of the founding fathers of
relationship. They summed it up in thermodynamics. He helped
Rankine’s categories the term “thermodynamics”—the establish the two key laws of
Rankine was a mechanical idea that the total amount of energy thermodynamics, and defined
engineer, which meant that he in the universe must always be the idea of potential energy.
liked to put a practical spin on constant and cannot change. ■ Rankine and Clausius also
independently described the
entropy function (the idea
that heat is transferred in a
Heat going into a closed system usually raises disordered way). Rankine
its internal energy. wrote a complete theory of the
steam engine, and of all heat
engines, and contributed to
the final move away from the
caloric theory of heat as a
The amount of Work going out fluid. He died in Glasgow,
energy in the universe of the system lowers at the age of 52, in 1872.
is constant. its energy.
Key works
1853 “On the General Law of

The change in internal energy is therefore the Transformation of Energy”
difference between the heat going 1855 “Outlines of the Science
in and work going out. of Energetics”
90
IN CONTEXT
HEAT CAN BE
KEY FIGURE
Sadi Carnot (1796–1832)
BEFORE
A CAUSE OF
c. 50 ce Hero of Alexandria
builds a small steam-driven
engine known as the aeolipile.
1665 Robert Boyle publishes
MOTION
An Experimental History of
Cold, an attempt to determine
the nature of cold.
1712 Thomas Newcomen
builds the first successful
HEAT ENGINES steam engine.
1769 James Watt creates
his improved steam engine.
AFTER
1834 British–American
inventor Jacob Perkins
makes the first refrigerator.
1859 Belgian engineer
Étienne Lenoir develops
the first successful internal
combustion engine.
I
t is hard to overestimate the
impact of the coming of the
steam engine in the 18th
century. Steam engines gave
people a previously unimaginable
source of power. They were
practical machines, built by
engineers, and were put to use on
a grand scale to drive the Industrial
Revolution. Scientists became
fascinated by how the awesome
power of steam engines was
created, and their curiosity drove
a revolution with heat at its heart.
The idea of steam power is
ancient. As long ago as the 3rd
century bce, a Greek inventor
in Alexandria called Ctesibius
realized that steam jets out
See also: Kinetic energy and potential energy 54 ■ Heat and transfers 80–81 ■ Internal energy and the first law
of thermodynamics 86–89 ■ Entropy and the second law of thermodynamics 94–99
The first successful steam engine

was invented by Thomas Newcomen to
pump water from mines. It worked by
cooling steam in a cylinder to create a
partial vacuum and draw up a piston.
To take away today from
England her steam-engines of air against the pulling power of
would be to take away at the eight strong horses. This discovery
same time her coal and iron. opened up a new way of using
Sadi Carnot steam, very different from Hero’s
jets. French inventor Denis Papin
realized in the 1670s that if steam
trapped in a cylinder cools and
condenses, it shrinks dramatically
to create a powerful vacuum, strong
enough to draw up a heavy piston, a
powerfully from the spout of a moving component of engines. So,
water-filled container heated over a instead of using steam’s expansive
fire. He began to play with the idea power, the new discovery utilized
of an aeolipile or wind ball, a hollow the massive contraction when it
sphere on a pivot. When the water cools and condenses.
within boiled, the expanding steam compatriot Joseph Black, that it
escaped in jets from two curved, Steam revolution is heat, not temperature, that
directional nozzles, one on each In 1698, English inventor Thomas provides the motive power of
side. The jets set the sphere Savery built the first large steam steam. Watt also realized that the
spinning. About 350 years later, engine using Papin’s principle. efficiency of steam engines could
another Alexandrian, named Hero, However, Savery’s engine used be hugely improved by using not
created a working design for an high-pressure steam that made one cylinder but two—one which
aeolipile—replicas of which have it dangerously explosive and was kept hot all the time and a
since been built. It is now known unreliable. A much safer engine, separate cold one to condense
that when liquid water turns to which used low-pressure steam, the steam. Watt also introduced a
vapor (steam), the bonds holding was built by Devon iron seller crank to convert the up-and-down
its molecules to each other break Thomas Newcomen in 1712. motion of the piston into the
down, causing it to expand. Although Newcomen’s engine was rotary motion needed to drive a
Hero’s device, though, was so successful that it was installed wheel. This smoothed the action
simply a plaything, and although in thousands of mines across of the piston strokes to maintain
various inventors experimented Britain and Europe by 1755, it was constant power. Watt’s innovations
with steam, it was another 1,600 inefficient because the cylinder were extraordinarily successful and
years before the first practical steam had to be cooled at every stroke could be said to have launched
engine was built. The breakthrough to condense the steam, and this the age of steam.
was the discovery of the vacuum used a huge amount of energy.
and the power of air pressure in In the 1760s, to improve on Energy and
the 17th century. In a famous the Newcomen engine, Scottish thermodynamics
demonstration in 1654, German engineer James Watt conducted The efficiency of steam engines
physicist Otto von Guericke showed the first scientific experiments intrigued young French military
that atmospheric pressure was on the way heat moves in a steam engineer Sadi Carnot. He visited
powerful enough to hold together engine. His experiments led to factory after factory, studying not
the two halves of a sphere drained his discovery, along with his only their steam engines but also ❯❯
92 HEAT ENGINES
heat was a fluid. However, this
misconception allowed him to
Water power see a key analogy between water
depends on a difference Heat engines depend on a and steam power. Water power
in water levels that allows temperature difference. depends on a head of water, a
water to fall. difference in water levels, that
allows water to fall. In the same
way, Carnot saw that a heat engine
depends on a head of heat that
allows a “fall of caloric.” In other
words, for a heat engine to work
For a heat engine to work, there must be a cold there must not just be heat, but
place for heat to flow to. also a cold place for it to flow to.
The engine is driven not by heat
but by the flow of heat from hot to
cold. So the motive power is the
difference between hot and cold,
The engine is driven by the flow of heat not the heat by itself.
from hot to cold.
Perfect efficiency
Carnot had a second key insight—
that for the generation of maximum
those driven by water power. systems driven by heat. This was power there must be no wasted
In 1824, he wrote a short book, the first recognition of the true flow of heat at any place or time.
Reflections On the Motive Power significance of heat in the universe, An ideal engine is one in which
of Heat. Carnot realized that heat is and provided the launchpad for the all the heat flow is converted into
the basis of all motion on Earth, science of thermodynamics. useful movement. Any loss of heat
driving the winds and ocean Seeing and comparing water that does not generate motive
currents, earthquakes and other and steam power in factories gave power is a reduction in the heat
geological shifts, and the body’s Carnot a key insight into the nature engine’s efficiency.
muscle movements. He saw the of heat engines. Like most of his To model this, Carnot outlined
cosmos as a giant heat engine made contemporaries, he believed in the a theoretical ideal heat engine
of countless smaller heat engines, caloric theory—the false idea that reduced to its basics. Now known
Sadi Carnot Born in Paris in 1796, Sadi Carnot In 1824, Carnot wrote his
came from a family of renowned groundbreaking Reflections on
scientists and politicians. His the Motive Power of Heat, which
father Lazare was a pioneer in drew attention to the importance
the scientific study of heat, as of heat engines and introduced
well as ranking high in the the Carnot cycle. Little attention
French Revolutionary Army. was paid to Carnot’s work
Sadi followed his father into the at the time and before its
military academy. After graduating significance as the starting
in 1814, he joined the military point of thermodynamics could
engineers as an officer and was be appreciated, he died of
sent around France to make a cholera in 1832.
report on its fortifications. Five
years later, having become Key work
fascinated by steam engines,
he retired from the army to 1824 Reflections on the Motive
pursue his scientific interests. Power of Heat
Carnot’s cycle
Hot reservoir Cold reservoir Insulation
The production of heat alone Movable

piston
is not sufficient to give birth Isothermal Adiabatic
expansion Ideal gas expansion
to the impelling power: Heated particle that
it is necessary that there ideal gas Heat is cooled
from hot
should also be cold. particle
reservoir
Sadi Carnot
Stage 1: There is a heat transfer from Stage 2: The gas, now insulated from
the hot reservoir to the gas in the the reservoirs, continues to expand
cylinder. The gas expands, pushing up as weight is lifted from the piston.
the piston. This stage is isothermal The gas cools as it expands, though
because there is no temperature no heat is lost from the system overall.
change in the system. This expansion is adiabatic.
as a Carnot engine, this ideal
engine works in a cycle in four
stages. First, the gas is heated by
conduction from an external source Heat Isothermal
released compression Ideal gas Adiabatic
(such as a reservoir of hot water) particle at compression
from
and expands. Second, the hot gas system Temperature
normal
is kept insulated (inside a cylinder, temperature
remains the
for example) and as it expands it same
does work on its surroundings
(such as pushing on a piston). As it Stage 3: Weight is added above Stage 4: More weight is added on
expands, the gas cools. Third, the the piston. Since heat is now able the piston, compressing the gas
surroundings push the piston to transfer from the cylinder into in the cylinder. Since the gas is
down, compressing the gas. Heat the cold reservoir, the gas does not now insulated from the reservoirs
is transferred from the system to increase in temperature, so this again, the compression causes its
stage is isothermal. temperature to increase adiabatically.
the cold reservoir. Finally, as the
system is kept insulated and the
piston continues to push down, (the efficiency) can be expressed as Carnot’s work on heat was only just
the gas temperature rises again. (TH  TC)/TH = 1 (TC /TH). Even beginning when he died of cholera
In the first two stages the gas is Carnot’s ideal engine is far from at the age of 36. Unfortunately, his
expanding, and in the second two 100 percent efficient, but real copious notes were burned to
it is contracting. But the expansion engines are much less efficient destroy the infection, so we will
and contraction each go through two than Carnot’s engine. Unlike never know how far he got. Two
phases; isothermal and adiabatic. Carnot’s ideal engine, real engines years after his death, Benoît Paul
In the Carnot cycle, isothermal use irreversible processes. Once Émile Clapeyron published a
means there is an exchange of oil is burned, it stays burned. So summary of Carnot’s work using
heat with the surroundings, but no the heat available for transfer is graphs to make the ideas clearer,
temperature change in the system. continually reduced. And some of and updating it to remove the
Adiabatic means no heat goes the engine’s work output is lost as caloric element. As a result,
either into or out of the system. heat through the friction of moving Carnot’s pioneering work on
Carnot calculated the efficiency parts. Most motor vehicle engines heat engines revolutionized
of his ideal heat engine: if the are barely 25 percent efficient, and our understanding of the key
hottest temperature reached is TH even steam turbines are only 60 role of heat in the universe
and the coldest is TC, the fraction of percent efficient at best, which and laid the foundations of the
heat energy that comes out as work means a lot of heat is wasted. science of thermodynamics. ■
THE ENTROPY
OF THE UNIVERSE
TENDS TO A
MAXIMUM
ENTROPY AND THE SECOND
LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS
96 ENTROPY AND THE SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS
I
n the mid-1800s, a group of
IN CONTEXT physicists in Britain, Germany,
and France revolutionized
KEY FIGURE
the understanding of heat. These
Rudolf Clausius (1822–1888)
scientists, including William
BEFORE Thomson and William Rankine in No other part of science has
1749 French mathematician Britain; Hermann von Helmholtz, contributed as much to the
and physicist Émilie du Julius von Mayer, and Rudolf liberation of the human spirit
Châtelet introduces an early Clausius in Germany; and Sadi as the second law of
idea of energy and how it Carnot in France showed that thermodynamics.
is conserved. heat and mechanical work are Peter William Atkins
interchangeable. They are both British chemist
1777 In Sweden, pharmacist manifestations of what came to
Carl Scheele discovers how be called energy transfers.
heat can move by radiating In addition, the physicists found
through space. that the interchange of heat and
mechanical work is entirely
1780 Dutch scientist Jan balanced: when one form of energy
Ingenhousz discovers that heat increases, another must decrease. French military scientist Sadi
can be moved by conduction The total energy can never be lost; Carnot had envisaged an ideal
through materials. it simply switches form. This heat engine in which, contrary to
AFTER came to be called the law of the what happened in nature, energy
1876 American scientist conservation of energy and was changes were reversible: when one
Josiah Gibbs introduces the the first law of thermodynamics. It form of energy was converted to
idea of free energy. was later broadened and reframed another, it could be changed back
by Rudolf Clausius as “the energy again with no loss of energy. In
1877 Austrian physicist of the universe is constant.” reality, however, a large portion of
Ludwig Boltzmann states the the energy used by steam engines
relationship between entropy Heat flow was not translated into mechanical
and probability. Scientists quickly realized that movement but lost as heat. Even
there was another fundamental though engines of the mid-1800s
theory of thermodynamics were more efficient than they had
concerning heat flow. In 1824, been in the 1700s, they were far
Rudolf Clausius The son of a headmaster and summaries of the laws of

pastor, Rudolf Clausius was born thermodynamics: “The energy
in Pomerania, Prussia (now in of the universe is constant” and
Poland) in 1822. After studying “The entropy of the universe
at the University of Berlin, he tends to a maximum.” Clausius
became a professor at Berlin’s died in Bonn in 1888.
Artillery and Engineering School.
In 1855, he became professor of Key works
physics at the Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology in Zurich. 1850 “On the Moving Force
He returned to Germany in 1867. of Heat”
The publication of his paper 1856 “On a Modified Form
“On the Moving Force of Heat” of the Second Fundamental
in 1850 marked a key step in the Theorem in the Mechanical
development of thermodynamics. Theory of Heat”
In 1865, he introduced the concept 1867 The Mechanical Theory
of entropy, leading to his landmark of Heat
See also: Kinetic energy and potential energy 54–55 ■ Heat and transfers 80–81 ■ Internal energy and the first law of
thermodynamics 86–89 ■ Heat engines 90–93 ■ Thermal radiation 112–117
Clausius realized that in a real heat engine, it is impossible to extract an supplies available for work are not
amount of heat (QH) from a hot reservoir and use all the extracted heat to do inexhaustible: in time, they are all
work (W). Some of the heat (QC) must be transferred to a cold reservoir. A reduced to heat and so everything
perfect heat engine, in which all the extracted heat (QH) can be used to
do work (W), is impossible according to the second law of thermodynamics.
has a limited lifespan.
Energy of the universe

In the early 1850s, Clausius and
Thomson independently began to
QH QH speculate on whether Earth itself
was a heat engine with a finite
W lifespan, and whether this could
W be true of the entire universe. In
QC 1852, Thomson speculated that
Hot reservoir
there would be a time when the
sun’s energy would run out. The
Cold reservoir implications of this to Earth meant
that Earth must have a beginning
Real heat engine Perfect heat engine
and an end—a new concept.
Thomson then attempted to work
below a 100 percent conversion rate. initially thought. It became clear out how old Earth must be by
It was partly the scientists’ efforts to that heat engines are doomed to calculating the time it would
understand this energy loss that led inefficiency. However cleverly they have taken to cool to its present
them to discover the second law of are designed, some energy will temperature, given how long the
thermodynamics. Clausius realized, always leak away as heat, whether sun could generate heat as it slowly
as did Thomson and Rankine, that as friction, exhaust (gas or steam), collapsed under its own gravity.
heat flows only one way: from hot to or radiation, without doing any Thomson’s calculation showed
cold, not from cold to hot. useful work. Earth to be just a few million years
Work is done by the flow of old, which brought him into bitter
External help heat from one place to another. To conflict with geologists and
In 1850, Clausius wrote his first Clausius and the other scientists evolutionists, who were convinced
statement of the second law of researching thermodynamics, it that it was considerably older. ❯❯
thermodynamics: “heat cannot by soon became clear that if work is
itself flow from a colder body to a done by heat flow, there must be
warmer one.” Clausius was not a concentration of energy stored
saying that heat can never flow from in one place in order to initiate the
cold to hot, but that it needs external flow; one area must be hotter than
help to do so. It needs to do work: the another. However, if heat is lost
effect of energy. This is how modern every time work is done, then heat
refrigerators operate. Like heat gradually spreads out and becomes
engines in reverse, they transfer dissipated. Concentrations of heat
heat from cold regions inside the become smaller and rarer until no
device to hot regions outside, more work can be done. Energy
making the cold regions even cooler.
Such a transfer requires work, which
An eruption of the Sakurajima
is supplied by an expanding coolant. volcano in Japan transfers thermal
Clausius soon realized that the energy from Earth’s super-hot interior
implications of a one-way flow to the cooler exterior, demonstrating
of heat were far more complex than the second law of thermodynamics.
98 ENTROPY AND THE SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS
The explanation for the discrepancy more about the universe than
is that nothing was then known Thomson could and no longer
about radioactivity and Einstein’s accept the heat death theory,
1905 discovery that matter can be although the universe’s ultimate
turned into energy. It is the energy fate remains unknown.
of matter that has kept Earth warm I have intentionally formed
for much longer than solar radiation Stating the second law the word entropy so as to be
alone. This pushes Earth’s history In 1865, Clausius introduced the as similar as possible to the
back more than 4 billion years. word “entropy” (coined from the word energy.
Thomson went further still Greek for “intrinsic” and “direction”) Rudolf Clausius
and suggested that in time all the to sum up the one-way flow of heat.
energy in the universe would be The concept of entropy brought
dissipated as heat. It would spread together the work that Clausius,
out as a uniform “equilibrium” Thomson, and Rankine had been
mass of heat, with no concentrations doing for the previous 15 years
of energy at all. At that point, as they developed what was to
nothing further would be able to become the second law of random mess of low-level energy.
change in the universe and it would thermodynamics. Yet entropy came As a result, entropy is now
effectively be dead. However, to mean much more than just one- considered a measure of the degree
Thomson also asserted that the way flow. As Clausius’s ideas took of dissipation, or more precisely
“heat death” theory depended on shape, entropy developed into a the degree of randomness. But
there being a finite amount of mathematical measure of just how Clausius and his peers were
matter in the universe, which much energy dissipated. talking specifically about heat.
he believed was not the case. Clausius argued that because In fact, Clausius defined entropy
Because of this, he said, its a concentration of energy is needed as a measure of the heat that a body
dynamic processes would carry to hold the shape and order of the transfers per unit of temperature.
on. Cosmologists now know much universe, dissipation leads to a When a body contains a lot of heat
but its temperature is low, the
heat must be dissipated.
The fate of all things

Clausius summed up his version of
the second law of thermodynamics
as “the entropy of the universe
tends to a maximum.” Because this
wording is vague, many people now
imagine it applies to everything. It
has become a metaphor for the fate
of all things—which will ultimately
be consumed by chaos.
In 1854, however, Clausius
was specifically talking about heat
and energy. His definition contained
the first mathematical formulation
of entropy, though at the time he
Crab Nebula is a supernova, an

exploded star. According to the heat
death theory, the heat released into
space by such explosions will eventually
lead to a thermal equilibrium.
Time’s arrow
When there is a large store of When a system has low The significance of the
internal heat energy, internal heat energy, discovery of the second law
temperature is high. temperature is low. of thermodynamics is often
overlooked, because other
scientists quickly built on
the work of Clausius and
his peers. In fact, the second
law of thermodynamics is
Heat flows from hot areas to cold areas. as crucial to physics as
Newton’s discovery of the
laws of motion, and it played
a key part in modifying the
Newtonian vision of the
universe that had prevailed
Heat naturally dissipates (spreads out) over time. until then.
In Newton’s universe, all
actions happen equally in
every direction, so time has
no direction—like an eternal
mechanism that can be run
The degree of dissipation, or entropy, of the backward or forward.
universe tends to a maximum. Clausius’s second law of
thermodynamics overturned
this view. If heat flows one
way, so must time. Things
called it “equivalence value,” with Thomson came up with a way decay, run down, come to an
one equation for S (entropy) for of describing the second law of end, and time’s arrow points
open energy systems and another thermodynamics in relation to the in one direction only—toward
for closed systems. An energy limits of heat engines. This became the end. The implications of
system is a region where energy the basis of what is now known this discovery shook many
flows—it could be a car engine or as the Kelvin-Planck statement of people of religious faith who
believed that the universe
the entire atmosphere. An open the law (Lord Kelvin was the title
was everlasting.
system can exchange both energy Thomson took when given a
and matter with its surroundings; peerage in 1892). German physicist
a closed system can only exchange Max Planck refined Kelvin’s idea
energy (as heat or work). so that it read: “it is impossible to
devise a cyclically operating heat
engine, the effect of which is to
absorb energy in the form of heat
from a single thermal reservoir and
to deliver an equivalent amount
of work.” In other words, it is
Within a finite period of time impossible to make a heat engine
to come the earth again must that is 100 percent efficient. It is
be unfit for human habitation. not easy to see that this is what
William Thomson Clausius was also saying, which
has caused confusion ever since. Once a candle has been burned,
Essentially, these ideas are all based the wax that was burned cannot be
restored. The thermodynamic arrow
on the same thermodynamics law: of time points in one direction:
the inevitability of heat loss when toward the end.
heat flows one way. ■
100
IN CONTEXT
THE FLUID AND

KEY FIGURE
Johannes Diderik
van der Waals (1837–1923)
ITS VAPOR
BEFORE
c. 75 bce The Roman thinker
Lucretius suggests liquids are
BECOME ONE
made from smooth round
atoms but solids are bound
together by hooked atoms.
1704 Isaac Newton theorizes
CHANGES OF STATE AND MAKING BONDS that atoms are held together
by an invisible force of
attraction.
1869 Irish chemist and
physicist Thomas Andrews
discovers the continuity
between the two fluid states
of matter—liquid and gas.
AFTER
1898 Scottish chemist James
Dewar liquefies hydrogen.
1908 Dutch physicist Heike
Kamerlingh Onnes liquefies
helium.
I
t has long been known that the
same substance can exist in
at least three phases—solid,
liquid, and gas. Water, for example,
can be ice, liquid water, and
vapor. But what was going on
in the changes between these
phases seemed for much of the
19th century to present an obstacle
to the gas laws that had been
established in the late 18th century.
A particular focus was the two
fluid states—liquid and gas. In
both states, the substance flows to
take up the shape of any container,
and it cannot hold its own shape
like a solid. Scientists had shown
that if a gas is compressed more
and more, its pressure does not
See also: Models of matter 68–71 ■ Fluids 76–79 ■ Heat and transfers 80–81 ■ The gas laws 82–85 ■ Entropy and the
second law of thermodynamics 94–99 ■ The development of statistical mechanics 104–111
(362°C), at which point no splashing temperature, pressure, and volume,

was heard. The boundary between and how it might affect the phases
the gas and the liquid was gone. of a substance. In 1869, he described
It was known that keeping a experiments in which he trapped
liquid under pressure can stop it carbon dioxide above mercury in a
all turning to gas, but de la Tour’s glass tube. By pushing the mercury
How am I to name this point experiments revealed that there is up, he could raise the pressure of
at which the fluid and its a temperature at which a liquid will the gas until it turned liquid. Yet it
vapor become one according always turn to gas, no matter how would never liquefy above 91.26°F
to a law of continuity? much pressure it is subjected to. (32.92°C), no matter how much
Michael Faraday At this temperature, there is no pressure he applied. He called this
In a letter to fellow scientist,
distinction between the liquid temperature the “critical point” of
William Whewell (1844)
phase and the gas phase—both carbon dioxide. Andrews further
become equally dense. Decreasing observed, “We have seen that the
the temperature then restores the gaseous and liquid phases are
differences between the phases. essentially only distinct stages of
The point where liquid and one and the same state of matter
gas are in equilibrium remained and that they are able to go into each
a vague concept until the 1860s, other by a continuous change.”
increase indefinitely, and eventually when physicist Thomas Andrews The idea of the continuity
it turns to liquid. Similarly, if a investigated the phenomenon. He between the liquid and gas phases
liquid is heated, a little evaporates studied the relationship between was a key insight, highlighting ❯❯
at first, and then eventually all of it
evaporates. The boiling point of
PRESSURE (ATMOSPHERE, OR ATM)
water—the maximum temperature

that water can reach—is easily
218
measured, and this measurably
rises under pressure, which is the Critical point
Normal
principle behind a pressure cooker. freezing Water
point
The points of change
Scientists wanted to go beyond
these observations to know what 1
happens within a substance when Normal
liquid changes to gas. In 1822, boiling point
Ice Steam
French engineer and physicist
Baron Charles Cagniard de la Tour 0.006
experimented with a “steam
digester,” a pressurized device that Water vapor
generated steam from water heated
beyond its normal boiling point. He
partially filled the digester cylinder
with water and dropped a flint ball Triple point 32 212 705
into it. Rolling the cylinder like a log, TEMPERATURE (ºF)
he could hear the ball splashing A phase diagram plots the temperature and pressure at which a
as it met the water. The cylinder substance—in this case, water—is solid, liquid, or gas. At the “triple
was then heated to a temperature, point,” a substance can exist simultaneously as a solid, a liquid, and
estimated by de la Tour to be 683.6°F a gas. At the critical point, a liquid and its gas become identical.
102 CHANGES OF STATE AND MAKING BONDS
forces occur in “polar” molecules,
where electrons are shared
In a liquid, molecules Heat gives molecules unequally between the atoms of
move but are bound the energy to move the molecule. In hydrochloric acid,
weakly together. more quickly.
for example, the chlorine atom
has an extra electron, taken from
the hydrogen atom. This gives the
chlorine part of the molecule a
slight negative charge, unlike the
The liquid turns to a gas hydrogen part. The result is that
Some move so quickly that
when most molecules in liquid hydrochloric acid solution,
they break away from the
move too quickly to negative sides of some molecules
surface of the liquid.
stick together. are attracted to the positive sides of
others—this binds them together.
London dispersion force (named
after German–American scientist
their fundamental similarity. developed a key “equation of state” Fritz London, who first recognized
What had yet to be discovered, to mathematically describe the it in 1930) occurs between nonpolar
though, were the forces that lay behavior of gases and their molecules. For example, in chlorine
behind these different phases of condensation to liquid, which could gas the two atoms in each molecule
matter and how they interacted. be applied to different substances. are equally charged on either side.
Van der Waals’ work helped But, the electrons in an atom are
Molecular ties establish the reality of molecules constantly moving. This means
Early in the 19th century, British and identify intermolecular bonds. that one side of the molecule may
scientist Thomas Young suggested These are far weaker than the become briefly negative while the
that the surface of a liquid is held bonds between atoms, which are other becomes briefly positive,
together by intermolecular bonds. based on powerful electrostatic so bonds within molecules are
It is this “surface tension” that pulls forces. Molecules of the same constantly formed and reformed.
water into drops and forms a curve substance are held together The third force, the hydrogen
on the top of a glass of water, as differently, in both the liquid and bond, is a special kind of dipole–
the molecules are drawn together. gas phases. For instance, the bonds dipole bond that occurs within
This work was taken further by the that bind water molecules are not hydrogen. It is the interaction
Dutch physicist Johannes Diderik the same as the bonds that tie between a hydrogen atom and an
van der Waals, who looked at what together oxygen and hydrogen atom of either oxygen, fluorine, or
happened when the surface tension atoms within each water molecule. nitrogen. It is especially strong for
broke and allowed the molecules to When a liquid is turned to a gas, an intermolecular bond because
break away, turning liquid water the forces between the molecules
into water vapor. need to be overcome to allow those
Van der Waals proposed that molecules to move freely. Heat
the change in state is part of a provides the energy to make the
continuum and not a distinct break molecules vibrate. Once the
between liquid and gas. There vibrations are powerful enough, the
is a transition layer in which molecules break free of the forces I was quite convinced of the
the water is neither exclusively that bind them and become gas. real existence of molecules.
liquid nor gas. He found that as Johannes Diderik
temperature rises, surface tension Forces of attraction van der Waals
diminishes, and at the critical Three key forces of intermolecular
temperature surface tension attraction—dipole–dipole, London
vanishes altogether, allowing the dispersion, and hydrogen bond—
transition layer to become infinitely have become known collectively as
thick. Van der Waals then gradually Van der Waals forces. Dipole–dipole
oxygen, fluorine, and nitrogen
atoms are strong attractors of
electrons, while hydrogen is prone
to losing them. So, a molecule that
combines them becomes strongly
polar, creating, for instance, the There can be no doubt that
robust hydrogen bonds that hold the name of van der Waals
water (H2O) together. will soon be among the
Dispersion bonds are the foremost in molecular science.
weakest of the van der Waals James Clerk Maxwell
forces. Some elements that are
bound together by them, such as
chlorine and fluorine, remain as a
gas unless cooled to an extremely Johannes Diderik van
low temperature (-306.4°F [-188°C]
der Waals
and -302.8°F [-186°C] respectively),
when the bonds become strong and back again. His “equation of Born the son of a carpenter
enough to enter the liquid phase. state” enabled critical points to be in the Dutch city of Leiden in
Hydrogen bonds are the strongest, found for a range of substances, 1837, Johannes Diderik van
which is why water has an unusually making it possible to liquefy gases der Waals lacked sufficient
high boiling point for a substance such as oxygen, nitrogen, and schooling to enter higher
made of oxygen and hydrogen. helium. It also led to the discovery of education. He became a
superconductors—substances that teacher of mathematics and
Critical discoveries lose all electrical resistance when physics and studied part-time
In showing that the attraction cooled to ultra-low temperatures. ■ at Leiden University, finally
forces between gas molecules were achieving his doctorate—in
not zero but could be forced, under molecular attraction—in 1873.
At a liquid oxygen plant, oxygen Van der Waals was hailed
pressure, into state-changing gas is extracted from air in separation immediately as one of the
bonds, van der Waals laid the columns and cooled by passing through leading physicists of the day,
foundations for the understanding heat exchangers to its liquefying and in 1876 became Professor
of how liquids change into gases temperature of -302.8°F (-186°C). of Physics at the University of
Amsterdam. He remained
there for the rest of his career,
until succeeded as professor
by his son, also called
Johannes. In 1910, Van der
Waals was awarded the Nobel
Prize in Physics “for his work
on the equation of state for
gases and liquids.” He died
in Amsterdam in 1923.
Key works
1873 On the Continuity of

the Gaseous and Liquid State
1880 Law of Corresponding
States
1890 Theory of Binary
Solutions
COLLIDING
BILLIARD BALLS
IN A BOX
THE DEVELOPMENT OF
STATISTICAL MECHANICS
106 THE DEVELOPMENT OF STATISTICAL MECHANICS
IN CONTEXT
A gas consists of a huge number of molecules.
KEY FIGURE
Ludwig Boltzmann
(1844–1906)
BEFORE
1738 Daniel Bernoulli makes
the first statistical analysis The molecules are moving at high speeds and in
infinitely varied directions.
of particle movement.
1821 John Herapath gives
the first clear statement of
kinetic theory.
1845 John Waterston It is impossible to calculate the movement of
calculates the average any individual molecule.
speed of gas molecules.
lays out his kinetic theory.
AFTER Statistical averages and mathematical probability
1902 Willard Gibbs publishes can help us understand the movement of the sum of
molecules in a system.
the first major textbook on
statistical mechanics.
1905 Marian von speculated that this might be in the 1640s. The accepted
Smoluchowski and Albert because air is composed of explanation was that air is made
Einstein demonstrate particles that repel each other, of particles, which were thought
Brownian motion as statistical in the manner of a spring. Isaac at the time to be floating in an
mechanics in action. Newton proved mathematically invisible substance called “ether.”
that if the “springiness” of air—its Inspired by the recent invention
pressure—comes from repulsion of the steam engine, Bernoulli
of particles, then the repulsive force proposed a radical new idea. He
T
he idea that properties of must be inversely proportional asked his readers to imagine a
matter—and in particular, to the distances between the
of gases—depend on the particles. But Newton believed
behavior of atoms and molecules that the particles were fixed in
is now accepted as scientific fact. place, vibrating on the spot.
But this theory was slow to gain
acceptance and remained a subject Gases and heat
of bitter dispute, particularly in Swiss mathematician Daniel We live submerged
the 19th century. Several pioneers Bernoulli made the first serious at the bottom of
faced at best neglect and at worst proposal of the kinetic (movement) an ocean of the
derision, and it was a long time theory of gases in 1738. Prior to element air.
before the “kinetic theory”—the that date, scientists already knew Evangelista Torricelli
idea that heat is the rapid movement that air exerted pressure—for
of molecules—was truly accepted. instance, enough pressure to hold
In the 17th century, Robert up a heavy column of mercury,
Boyle showed that air is elastic, which had been demonstrated by
and expands and contracts. He Evangelista Torricelli’s barometer
See also: Kinetic energy and potential energy 54 ■ Fluids 76–79 Heat engines
90–93 ■ Entropy and the second law of thermodynamics 94–99
■
Brownian motion
In 1827, Scottish botanist
Robert Brown described
who would be forever remembered
the random movement of
in the Kelvin temperature scale) pollen grains suspended
drew the same conclusion in 1848. in water. Although he
It was in 1821 that British was not the first to notice
physicist John Herapath gave the this phenomenon, he was the
A well-constructed theory first clear statement of kinetic first to study it in detail. More
is in some respects theory. Heat was still seen as a investigation showed that
undoubtedly an artistic fluid and gases were considered the tiny to-and-fro movements
production. A fine example is to be made of repelling particles, of pollen grains got faster
the famous kinetic theory. as Newton had suggested. But as the temperature of the
Ernest Rutherford Herapath rejected this idea, liquid increased.
suggesting instead that gases are The existence of atoms
made of “mutually impinging atoms.” and molecules was still a
If such particles were infinitely matter of heated debate at
the start of the 20th century,
small, he reasoned, collisions would
but in 1905 Einstein argued
increase as a gas was compressed,
that Brownian motion could
so pressure would rise and heat be explained by invisible
piston within a cylinder, which would be generated. Unfortunately, atoms and molecules
contained tiny, round particles Herapath’s work was rejected by bombarding the tiny but
zooming this way and that. Bernoulli the Royal Society in London as visible particles suspended
argued that as the particles collided overly conceptual and unproven. in a liquid, causing them
with the piston, they created In 1845, the Royal Society to vibrate back and forth. A
pressure. If the air was heated, the also rejected a major paper on year later, Polish physicist
particles would speed up, striking kinetic theory by Scotsman John Marian Smoluchowski
the piston more often and pushing it Waterston, which used statistical published a similar theory,
up through the cylinder. His proposal rules to explain how energy is and in 1908 Frenchman
summed up the kinetic theory of distributed among gas atoms and Jean Baptiste Perrin conducted
gases and heat, but his ideas were molecules. Waterston understood experiments that confirmed
forgotten because first the theory that molecules do not all move at this theory.
that combustible materials contain a the same speed, but travel at a
fire element called phlogiston, then range of different speeds around a
the caloric theory—that heat is a statistical average. Like Herapath
kind of fluid—held sway for the next before him, Waterston’s important
130 years, until Ludwig Boltzmann’s contribution was neglected, and
statistical analysis in 1868 banished the only copy of his groundbreaking
it for good. work was lost by the Royal Society.
It was rediscovered in 1891, but
Heat and motion by this time Waterston had gone
There were other unrecognized missing and was presumed to
pioneers, too, such as Russian have drowned in a canal near his
polymath Mikhail Lomonosov, who Edinburgh home.
in 1745 argued that heat is a measure
of the motion of particles—that is, Messy universe
the kinetic theory of heat. He went Waterston’s work was especially Brownian motion of particles in
on to say that absolute zero would significant because this was the a fluid results from collisions with
fast-moving molecules of the fluid.
be reached when particles stopped first time that physics rejected the It was eventually explained using
moving, more than a century before perfect clockwork of the Newtonian statistical mechanics.
William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin, universe. Instead, Waterston was ❯❯
looking at values whose range was A gas molecule collides Molecule
repeatedly with other changes
so messy that they could only be direction
looked at in terms of statistical molecules, causing it to Point A after collision
change direction. The
averages and probabilities, not molecule shown here has
certainties. Although Waterston’s 25 such collisions, and
work was originally rejected, the the average distance it
idea of understanding gas and heat travels between each
in terms of high-speed movements collision is what Rudolf
of minute particles was at last Clausius called its “mean
beginning to take hold. The work of free path.” Compare the
shortest distance
British physicists James Joule and between point A and
William Thomson, German physicist point B with the distance Molecule
Rudolf Clausius, and others was actually traveled. Point B
showing that heat and mechanical
movement are interchangeable
forms of energy—rendering temperature, meaning that each of gas is in fact far less varied than
redundant the idea that heat is molecule collides with another this, making the statistical task of
some kind of “caloric fluid.” more than 8 billion times a second. It analyzing them far simpler.
is the sheer tininess and frequency
Molecular movement of these collisions that make a gas Boltzmann’s breakthrough
Joule had calculated the very high appear to be fluid and smooth, The key figure in the development
speeds of gas molecules with some rather than a raging sea. of the statistical analysis of moving
accuracy in 1847, but assumed that Within a few years, James molecules was Austrian physicist
they all moved at the same speed. Clerk Maxwell provided such a solid Ludwig Boltzmann. In major papers
Ten years later, Clausius furthered exposition of kinetic theory that it at in 1868 and 1877, Boltzmann
understanding with his proposition last became more widely accepted. developed Maxwell’s statistical
of a “mean free path.” As he saw it, Significantly, in 1859, Maxwell approach into an entire branch of
molecules repeatedly collide and introduced the first-ever statistical science—statistical mechanics.
bounce off each other in different law in physics, the Maxwell Remarkably, this new discipline
directions. The mean free path is distribution, which shows the allowed the properties of gases and
the average distance each molecule probable proportion of molecules heat to be explained and predicted
travels before bumping into another. moving at a particular velocity in an in simple mechanical terms, such
Clausius calculated this to be barely ideal gas. Maxwell also established as mass, momentum, and velocity.
a millionth of a millimeter at ambient that the rate of molecular collisions These particles, although tiny,
corresponds to temperature—the behaved according to Newton’s
more frequent the collisions are, laws of motion, and the variety
the higher the temperature. In in their movement is simply down
1873, Maxwell estimated that to chance. Heat, which had
there are 19 trillion molecules in previously been thought of as a
a cubic centimeter of gas in ideal mysterious and intangible fluid
Available energy is conditions—not that far from the known as “caloric,” could now
the main object at stake modern estimate of 26.9 trillion. be understood as the high-speed
in the struggle for Maxwell also compared movement of particles—an entirely
existence and the molecular analysis to the science of mechanical phenomenon.
evolution of the world. population statistics, which divided Boltzmann faced a particular
Ludwig Boltzmann people according to factors such as challenge in testing his theory:
education, hair color, and build, and molecules are so innumerable and
analyzed them in order to determine so tiny that making individual
average characteristics. Maxwell calculations would be impossible.
observed that the vast population More significantly, their movements
of atoms in just a cubic centimeter vary hugely in speed, and infinitely
in direction. Boltzmann realized that Boltzmann called its “macrostate”—
the only way to investigate the idea remains stable. Boltzmann realized
in a rigorous and practical way was that a macrostate can be calculated
to employ the math of statistics and by averaging the microstates.
probability. He was forced to forego To average the microstates
the certainties and precision of that make up the macrostate, Let us have free
Newton’s clockwork world, and Boltzmann had to assume that all scope for all directions
enter into the far messier world microstates are equally probable. of research;
of statistics and averages. He justified this assumption with away with dogmatism,
what came to be known as the either atomistic or
Micro and macrostates “ergodic hypothesis”—that over anti-atomistic.
The law of conservation of energy a very long period of time, any Ludwig Boltzmann
states that the total energy ( E) in dynamic system will, on average,
an isolated volume of gas must be spend the same amount of time
constant. However, the energy of in each microstate. This idea of
individual molecules can vary. So, things averaging out was vital to
the energy of each molecule cannot Boltzmann’s thinking.
be E divided by the total number
of molecules ( E/N), 19 trillion, for Statistical thermodynamics Scientists now understand
instance—as it would be if they Boltzmann’s statistical approach that the subatomic world can be
all had the same energy. Instead, has had huge ramifications. It has explored through probabilities
Boltzmann looked at the range of become the primary means of and averages, not just as a way of
possible energies that individual understanding heat and energy, understanding or measuring it, but
molecules might have, considering and made thermodynamics—the as a glimpse of its very reality—the
factors including their position and study of the relationships between apparently solid world we live in is
velocity. Boltzmann called this heat and other forms of energy— essentially a sea of subatomic
range of energies a “microstate.” a central pillar of physics. His probabilities. Back in the 1870s,
As the atoms within each approach also became a hugely however, Boltzmann faced dogged
molecule interact, the microstate valuable way of examining the opposition to his ideas when he
changes many trillions of times subatomic world, paving the way laid out the mathematical basics
every second, but the overall for the development of quantum of thermodynamics. He wrote two
condition of the gas—its pressure, science, and it now underpins key papers on the second law of
temperature, and volume, which much of modern technology. thermodynamics (previously ❯❯
Ludwig Boltzmann Born in Vienna in 1844, at the kinetic theory of gases and
height of the Austro-Hungarian the mathematical basis of
Empire, Ludwig Boltzmann thermodynamics in relation
studied physics at the University to the probable movements of
of Vienna and wrote his PhD atoms. His ideas brought him
thesis on the kinetic theory of opponents, and he suffered
gases. At the age of 25, he became from bouts of depression. He
a professor at the University of committed suicide in 1906.
Graz, and then took teaching
posts at Vienna and Munich Key works
before returning to Graz. In 1900,
he moved to the University of 1871 Paper on Maxwell–
Leipzig to escape his bitter Boltzmann distribution
long-term rival, Ernst Mach. 1877 Paper on second law of
It was at Graz that Boltzmann thermodynamics and probability
completed his work on statistical (“On the Relationship between
mechanics. He established the the Second Fundamental”)
developed by Rudolf Clausius, be used to show the average
William Thomson, and William speed of the molecules and also
Rankine), which shows that to show the most probable speed.
heat flows only in one direction, The distribution highlights the
from hot to cold, not from cold to “equipartition” of energy—which
hot. Boltzmann explained that shows that the energy of moving
the law could be understood atoms averages out as the same
precisely by applying both the in any direction.
basic laws of mechanics (that is,
Newton’s laws of motion) and Atomic denial
the theory of probability to the Boltzmann’s approach was
movement of atoms. such a novel concept that he
In other words, the second law faced fierce opposition from
of thermodynamics is a statistical some of his contemporaries.
law. It states that a system tends Many considered his ideas
toward equilibrium, or maximum to be fanciful, and it is possible
entropy—the state of a physical that hostility to his work
system at greatest disorder— contributed to his eventual
because this is by far the most suicide. One reason for such
probable outcome of atomic opposition was that many The St. Louis World’s Fair in
motion; things average out over scientists at the time were 1904 was the venue for a lecture by
time. By 1871, Boltzmann had unconvinced of the existence Boltzmann on applied mathematics.
also developed Maxwell’s of atoms. Some, including Austrian His American tour also included visits
to Stanford and Berkeley universities.
distribution law of 1859 into a physicist Ernst Mach—a fierce
rule that defines the distribution rival to Boltzmann, and known
of speeds of molecules for a gas for his work on shock waves— The majority of scientists only
at a certain temperature. The believed that scientists should accepted the existence of atoms
resulting Maxwell–Boltzmann only accept what they could after contributions from Albert
distribution is central to the directly observe, and atoms Einstein and Polish physicist
kinetic theory of gases. It can could not be seen at the time. Marian Smoluchowski. Working
independently, they explored
Brownian motion, the unexplained
This Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution
shows the speeds of molecules (the distribution of
random flitting to and fro of tiny,
probabilities of gas molecules moving at a certain suspended particles in a fluid. In
0.004 speed) for helium, neon, argon, and xenon, at a 1905, Einstein, and the following
temperature of 77 ºF (25 ºC). On average, heavier year, Smoluchowski, both showed
PROPORTION OF MOLECULES
molecules—such as xenon—move more slowly that it could be explained via

than lighter molecules, such as helium. This means statistical mechanics as the result
0.003 that heavier molecules have a narrower speed of collisions of the particles with
distribution, whereas lighter molecules have a
speed distribution that is spread out more widely. the fast-moving molecules of the
fluid itself.
0.002
Wider acceptance
Xenon Neon Although a brilliant lecturer who
was much loved by his students,
0.001 Argon Helium
Boltzmann did not achieve wider
popularity for his work, perhaps
because he did not promote it.
The widespread acceptance of his
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 theoretical approach was due in
SPEED (METERS/SECOND) some part to American physicist
Willard Gibbs, who wrote the first Weather forecasts
major textbook on the subject,
Statistical Mechanics, in 1902. The methods developed
in statistical mechanics to
It was Gibbs who coined the
analyze and predict mass
phrase “statistical mechanics” movements of particles have
to encapsulate the study of the Atoms? been used in many situations
mechanical movement of particles. Have you beyond thermodynamics.
He also introduced the idea of an seen one yet? One real-world application,
“ensemble,” a set of comparable Ernst Mach for instance, is the calculation
microstates that combine to form a of “ensemble” weather
similar macrostate. This became forecasts. More conventional
a core idea in thermodynamics, methods of numerical weather
and it also has applications in forecasting involve collecting
other areas of science, ranging data from weather stations
from the study of neural pathways and instruments around the
to weather forecasting. matter, and all complex things, are world and using it to simulate
subject to probability and entropy. future weather conditions. In
Final vindication It is impossible to overestimate contrast, ensemble forecasting
is based on a large number
Thanks to Gibbs, Boltzmann the immense shift in outlook his
of possible future weather
was invited on a lecture tour in ideas created among physicists. predictions, rather than on
the US in 1904. By that time, the The certainties of Newtonian a single predicted outcome.
hostility to his life’s work was physics had been replaced by a The probability that a single
beginning to take its toll. He had a view of the universe in which there forecast will be wrong is
medical history of bipolar disorder, is only a fizzing sea of probabilities, relatively high, but forecasters
and in 1906 he hanged himself and the only certainties are can have a strong degree of
while on a family vacation in decay and disorder. ■ confidence that the weather
Trieste, Italy. In a bitter twist of will fall within a given range
fate, his death came in the same of an ensemble forecast.
A tornado is a chaotic system that The idea was proposed
year that the work of Einstein can be analyzed using statistical
and Smoluchowski was gaining by American mathematician
mechanics. Projecting the distribution
acceptance, vindicating Boltzmann. Edward Lorenz in a 1963
of atmospheric molecules can help
His overarching idea was that gauge its temperature and intensity. paper, which also outlined
“chaos theory.” Known for
the so-called “butterfly
effect,” his theory explored
how events occur in a chaotic
system such as Earth’s
atmosphere. Lorenz famously
suggested that a butterfly
flapping its wings can set off a
chain of events that eventually
triggers a hurricane.
The power of a statistical
approach is immense, and
allowing uncertainty to play
a part has enabled weather
forecasting to become far
more reliable. Forecasters can
confidently predict weather
locally for weeks in advance—
within a given range.
FETCHING SOME
GOLD
FROM THE SUN
THERMAL RADIATION
114 THERMAL RADIATION
IN CONTEXT
A material that absorbs energy at a
KEY FIGURE certain wavelength emits energy at the
Gustav Kirchhoff same wavelength.
(1824–1887)
BEFORE
1798 Benjamin Thompson
(Count Rumford) suggests
that heat is related to motion. A blackbody absorbs all the energy that strikes it.
1844 James Joule argues
that heat is a form of energy
and that other forms of energy
can be converted to heat.
1848 William Thomson (Lord
Kelvin) defines absolute zero. The energy of radiation emitted by a blackbody
depends only on its temperature.
AFTER
1900 German physicist Max
Planck proposes a new theory
for blackbody radiation, and
introduces the idea of the
quantum of energy.
When the blackbody is in equilibrium with its
1905 Albert Einstein uses surroundings, the radiation absorbed equals
Planck’s idea of blackbody the radiation emitted.
radiation to solve the problem
of the photoelectric effect.
H
eat energy can be his theory was correct. Everything light. In 1800, he used a prism
transferred from one place that has a temperature above to split light into a spectrum,
to another in one of three absolute zero (equal to –459.67 °F and measured the temperature
ways: by conduction in solids, by or –273.15 °C) emits radiation. at different points within that
convection in liquids and gases, All of the objects in the universe spectrum. He noticed that
and by radiation. This radiation, are exchanging electromagnetic the temperature increased
known as thermal—or heat— radiation with each other all of as he moved his thermometer
radiation, does not require the time. This constant flow of from the violet part of the spectrum
physical contact. Along with radio energy from one object to another to the red part of the spectrum.
waves, visible light, and X-rays, prevents anything from cooling To his surprise, Herschel found
thermal radiation is a form of to absolute zero, the theoretical that the temperature also increased
electromagnetic radiation that minimum of temperature at beyond the red end of the spectrum,
travels in waves through space. which an object would transmit where no light was visible at
James Clerk Maxwell was the no energy at all. all. He had discovered infrared
first to propose the existence of radiation—a type of energy that
electromagnetic waves in 1865. Heat and light is invisible to the eye, but which
He predicted that there would German-born British astronomer can be detected as heat. For
be a whole range, or spectrum, William Herschel was one of example, modern-day toasters use
of electromagnetic waves, and the first scientists to observe a infrared radiation to transmit heat
later experiments showed that connection between heat and energy to the bread.
See also: The conservation of energy 55 ■ Heat and transfers 80–81 ■ Internal energy and the first law of thermodynamics
86–89 ■ Heat engines 90–93 ■ Electromagnetic waves 192–195 ■ Energy quanta 208–211
Intensely cold gas and dust in the

Eagle nebula are rendered in reds
(–442 ˚F or –263 ˚C) and blues (–388 ˚F
or –205 ˚C) by the Herschel Space
Observatory far-infrared telescope.
Bodies can be imagined
temperature of more than 1,292 °F which … completely absorb
(700 °C). Objects with equal all incident rays, and neither
radiative properties emit light reflect nor transmit any.
of the same color when they I shall call such bodies …
reach the same temperature. blackbodies.
Gustav Kirchhoff
Absorption equals emission
In 1858, Scottish physicist Balfour
Stewart presented a paper titled “An
Account of Some Experiments on
Radiant Heat.” While investigating
the absorption and emission of heat
The amount of thermal radiation in thin plates of different materials, Two years after Stewart’s paper
given off by an object depends on he found that at all temperatures, was published, German physicist
its temperature. The hotter the the wavelengths of absorbed Gustav Kirchhoff, unaware of the
object, the more energy it emits. and emitted radiation are equal. Scotsman’s work, published
If an object is hot enough, a large A material that tends to absorb similar conclusions. At the time,
portion of the radiation it emits energy at a certain wavelength the academic community judged
can be seen as visible light. For tends also to emit energy at that that Kirchhoff’s work was more
example, a metal rod heated to a same wavelength. Stewart noted rigorous than Stewart’s
high enough temperature will that “the absorption of a plate investigations, and found more
begin to glow first a dull red, then equals its radiation [emission], immediate applications to other
yellow, then brilliant white. A metal and that for every description fields, such as astronomy. Despite
rod glows red when it reaches a [wavelength] of heat.” his discovery being the earlier ❯❯
Gustav Kirchhoff Born in 1824, Kirchhoff was that each chemical element
educated in Königsberg, Prussia has a unique, characteristic
(modern-day Kaliningrad, Russia). spectrum. He then worked
He proved his mathematical skill with Robert Bunsen in 1861
in 1845 as a student, by extending to identify the elements in the
Ohm’s law of electrical current sun’s atmosphere by examining
into a formula that allowed the its spectrum.
calculation of currents, voltages, Although poor health in later
and resistances in electrical life prevented Kirchhoff from
circuits. In 1857, he discovered laboratory work, he continued to
that the velocity of electricity in a teach. He died in Berlin in 1887.
highly conductive wire was almost
exactly equal to the velocity of Key work
light, but he dismissed this as a
coincidence, rather than inferring 1876 Vorlesungen über
that light was an electromagnetic mathematische Physik (Lectures
phenomenon. In 1860, he showed on mathematical physics)
116 THERMAL RADIATION
example, has its peak at the center radiation that is absorbed by the
of the visible light range. Since surface is equal to the amount
perfect blackbodies do not exist, to emitted, at any temperature and
help explain his theory Kirchhoff wavelength. Hence, the efficiency
conjectured a hollow container with with which an object absorbs
Since we can produce a single, tiny hole. Radiation can radiation at a given wavelength
all types of light by means only enter the container through the is the same as the efficiency with
of hot bodies, we can ascribe, hole, and is then absorbed inside which it emits energy at that
to the radiation in thermal the cavity, so the hole acts as a wavelength. This can be expressed
equilibrium with hot bodies, perfect absorber. Some radiation more concisely as: absorptivity
the temperature of will be emitted through the hole equals emissivity.
these bodies. and through the surface of the In 1893, German physicist
Wilhelm Wien cavity. Kirchhoff proved that the Wilhelm Wien discovered the
radiation inside the cavity depends mathematical relationship between
only on the temperature of the temperature change and the shape
object, and not on its shape, size, of the blackbody curve. He found
or the material it is made from. that when the wavelength at which
the maximum amount of radiation
Law of thermal radiation is emitted was multiplied by the
of the two, Stewart’s contribution Kirchhoff’s 1860 law of thermal temperature of the blackbody, the
to the theory of thermal radiation radiation states that when an object resulting value is always a constant.
was largely forgotten. is in thermodynamic equilibrium— This finding meant that
at the same temperature as the the peak wavelength could be
Blackbody radiation objects around it—the amount of calculated for any temperature,
Kirchhoff’s findings can be
explained as follows. Imagine an
Blackbody curves depict the radiation
object that perfectly absorbs all of emitted by objects at different wavelengths
the electromagnetic radiation that of the electromagnetic spectrum. The
strikes it. Since no radiation is approximated curves on this graph show
Visible
reflected from it, all of the energy objects at four different temperatures, and
that it emits depends solely on its are roughly equivalent to the sun, Aldebaran
temperature, and not its chemical 10 (a red-giant star), a carbon-arc electric lamp,
Ultraviolet
Infrared
and a halogen light bulb.

composition or physical shape.
In 1862, Kirchhoff coined the
term “blackbodies” to describe
8
these hypothetical objects. Perfect T = 4000 °K (carbon-
T = 6000 °K (sun)
RADIATION EMISSION
blackbodies do not exist in nature. arc electric lamp)

An ideal blackbody absorbs T = 5000 °K T = 3000 °K (halogen
and emits energy with 100 percent 6 (Aldebaran) light bulb)
efficiency. Most of its energy output
is concentrated around a peak T = temperature
frequency—denoted  max, where 4
K = kelvins
 is the wavelength of the radiation = MAX
emitted—which increases as the
temperature increases. When
plotted on a graph, the spread 2
of energy-emitting wavelengths
around the object’s peak frequency
takes a distinctive profile known 0
as a “blackbody curve.” The 1.0 2.0
blackbody curve of the sun, for WAVELENGTH ( ) MEASURED IN MICROMETERS
incorrect. But explaining why the
Rayleigh–Jeans calculations were
wrong required bold theoretical
physics, the likes of which had
never been attempted.
Quantum beginnings
At the same time as the Rayleigh–
Jeans findings were announced,
Max Planck was working on his
own theory of blackbody radiation
in Berlin. In October 1900, he
Kirchhoff envisaged a blackbody as proposed an explanation for the
a container with a small hole. Most of blackbody curve that agreed
the radiation that enters the enclosure Stellar temperatures
will be trapped. The amount of radiation
with all the known experimental
emitted depends on the surroundings. measurements, yet went beyond
the framework of classical physics. It is possible to calculate
His solution was radical, and the surface temperature of a
blackbody by measuring the
and it explained why objects involved an entirely new way
energy that it emits at specific
change color as they get hotter. of looking at the world. wavelengths. Since stars,
As the temperature increases Planck found that the ultraviolet including the sun, produce
the peak wavelength decreases, catastrophe could be averted by light spectrums that closely
moving from longer infrared waves understanding a blackbody’s approximate a blackbody
to shorter ultraviolet waves. By energy emission as occurring spectrum, it is possible to
1899, however, careful experiments not in continuous waves, but in calculate the temperature of
showed that Wien’s predictions discrete packets, which he called a distant star.
were not accurate for wavelengths “quanta.” On December 19, 1900, A blackbody’s temperature
in the infrared range. Planck presented his findings to is given by the following
a meeting of the German Physical formula: T = 2898 ∕  max
Ultraviolet catastrophe Society in Berlin. This date is where T = the temperature
In 1900, British physicists Lord generally accepted as marking of the blackbody (measured
Rayleigh and Sir James Jeans the birth of quantum mechanics, in degrees Kelvin), and  max =
published a formula that seemed and a new era in physics. ■ the wavelength (, measured
to explain what had been observed in micrometers) of the
at the infrared end of the spectrum. maximum emission of the
However, their findings were soon blackbody.
This formula can be used
called into question. According to
to calculate the temperature
their theory, there was effectively of a star’s photosphere—the
no upper limit to the higher light-emitting surface—using
frequencies of ultraviolet energy These laws of light …
the wavelength at which it
that would be generated by the may have been observed emits the maximum amount
blackbody radiation, meaning before, but I think they of light. Cool stars emit more
that an infinite number of highly are now for the first time light from the red and orange
energetic waves would be connected with a theory end of the spectrum, whereas
produced. If this was the case, of radiation. hotter stars appear blue. For
opening the oven door to check Gustav Kirchhoff instance, blue supergiants—as
on a cake as it bakes would result depicted in the above artist’s
in instant annihilation in a burst impression—are a class of star
of intense radiation. This came that can be up to eight times
to be known as the “ultraviolet hotter than the sun.
catastrophe,” and was obviously
ELECTRICI
MAGNETIS
two forces unite
TY AND
M
120 INTRODUCTION
English physician and physicist Alessandro Volta

The ancient Greeks William Gilbert publishes De Benjamin Franklin demonstrates the
give amber an electric Magnete (On the Magnet), the first develops his one-fluid first electric pile, or
charge by rubbing it systematic work on electricity and theory of electricity, in battery, which
with rabbit fur, using magnetism since antiquity. He which he introduces provides continuous
its attraction to move coins the new Latin word electrica, the idea of positive electric current for
light objects. from the Greek for amber (elektron). and negative charge. the first time.
2ND CENTURY BCE 1745 1785
Chinese scholars use German cleric Ewald Georg Charles-Augustin de Coulomb

shards of magnetic von Kleist and Dutch scientist discovers his law for
lodestone as simple Pieter van Musschenbroek determining the attractive or
direction-finders. invent the Leyden jar as a way repulsive force between two
of storing electric charge. electrically charged objects.
I
n ancient Greece, scholars force producing these phenomena together produced behavior
noticed that some stones from was evidence that the stones and similar to that of amber and fur.
Magnesia, in modern-day amber had a soul. For example, glass rubbed with
Thessaly, behaved strangely when The strange forces exhibited by silk also made small objects dance.
they were placed near certain the stones from Magnesia are today When both amber and glass were
metals and iron-rich stones. The known as magnetism, taking its rubbed, they pulled together in
stones pulled metals toward name from the region where it was an attraction, while two lumps of
them through an unseen attraction. first found. Forces exhibited by amber or two of glass would push
When placed in a particular way, the amber were given the name apart. These were identified as
two of these stones were seen to electricity from the ancient Greek two distinct electricities—vitreous
attract each other, but they pushed word for amber, elektron. Chinese electricity for the glass and
each other apart when one was scholars and, later, mariners and resinous for the amber.
flipped around. other travelers used small shards American polymath Benjamin
Ancient Greek scholars also of magnesia stone placed in Franklin chose to identify these
noted a similar, but subtly different, water as an early version of two types of electricity with
behavior when amber (fossilized the compass, since the stones positive or negative numbers, with
tree sap) was rubbed with animal aligned themselves north–south. a magnitude that became known
fur. After rubbing for a little time, as electric charge. While hiding
the amber would gain a strange Attraction and repulsion from the revolutionists to keep his
ability to make light objects, such No new use was found for head attached to his body, French
as feathers, ground pepper, or hair, electricity until the 18th century. By physicist and engineer Charles-
dance. The mathematician Thales this time, it had been discovered Augustin de Coulomb carried
of Miletus argued that the unseen that rubbing other materials out a series of experiments.
ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM 121
French physicist André-Marie Michael Faraday American inventor American chemist

Ampère provides a generates an Thomas Edison’s Chad Mirkin invents
mathematical derivation of electric current first electricity nanolithography,
the magnetic force between from a changing generating plant which “writes”
two parallel wires carrying an magnetic field to starts producing nanocircuitry on
electric current. discover induction. in London. silicon wafers.
1825 1831 1882 1999
1820 1827 1865 1911
Danish physicist Hans German physicist Georg James Clerk Dutch physicist
Christian Ørsted Ohm publishes his law Maxwell combines Heike Kamerlingh
discovers that a wire establishing the all knowledge of Onnes discovers
carrying an electric relationship between electricity and magnetism superconductivity in
current produces a current, voltage, in a few equations. mercury chilled to
magnetic field. and resistance. near absolute zero.
He discovered that the force of to an electric potential difference. Maxwell elegantly accommodated
attraction or repulsion between We now know that chemical Faraday’s findings, and those
electric objects grew weaker as the reactions and the flow of electricity of earlier scientists, in just four
distance between them increased. through a metal are inextricably equations. In doing so, he
Electricity was also observed linked because both result from the discovered that light was a
to flow. Small sparks would leap movement of subatomic electrons. disturbance in electric and
from an electrically charged magnetic fields. Faraday conducted
object to one without charge in A combined force experiments that demonstrated
an attempt to balance out, or In mid-19th-century Britain, Michael this, showing that magnetic fields
neutralize charge. If one object Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell affect the behavior of light.
was at a different charge from those produced the link between the Physicists’ understanding
surrounding it, then that object was two apparently distinct forces of of electromagnetism has
said to have different potential. Any electricity and magnetism, giving revolutionized the modern world
difference in potential can induce a rise to the combined force of through technologies that have
flow of electricity called a current. electromagnetism. Faraday created been developed to use electricity
Electric currents were found to flow the idea of fields, lines of influence and magnetism in new and
easily through most metals, while that stretch out from an electric innovative ways. Research into
organic materials seemed far less charge or magnet, showing the electromagnetism also opened
able to permit a current to flow. region where electric and magnetic up previously unthought-of areas
In 1800, Italian physicist forces are felt. He also showed that of study, striking at the heart of
Alessandro Volta noticed that moving magnetic fields can induce fundamental science—guiding us
differences in the chemical an electric current and that electric deep inside the atom and far out
reactivity of metals could lead currents produce magnetic fields. into the cosmos. ■
122
WONDROUS
FORCES
MAGNETISM
T
he striking properties of would inherit its properties and
IN CONTEXT the rare, naturally occurring could be used to make a compass.
lodestone—an ore of iron The maritime compass made it
KEY FIGURE
called magnetite—fascinated possible for ships to navigate away
William Gilbert (1544–1603)
ancient cultures in Greece from the shore, and the instrument
BEFORE and China. Early writings from reached Europe via Chinese
6th century bce Thales of these civilizations describe seafarers. By the 16th century,
Miletus states iron is attracted how lodestone attracts iron, the compass was driving the
to the “soul” of lodestone. affecting it over a distance expansion of European empires,
without any visible mechanism. as well as being used in land
1086 Astronomer Shen Kuo By the 11th century, the Chinese surveying and mining.
(Meng Xi Weng) describes a had discovered that a lodestone Despite centuries of practical
magnetic needle compass. would orient itself north–south if application, the underlying physical
allowed to move freely (for example, mechanism of magnetism was
1269 French scholar Petrus
when placed in a vessel floating in poorly understood. The first
Peregrinus describes magnetic a bowl of water). Moreover, an iron systematic account on magnetism
poles and laws of attraction needle rubbed with lodestone was Petrus Peregrinus’ 13th-century
and repulsion.
AFTER
1820 Hans Christian Ørsted A compass needle points approximately north, but also
discovers that an electric shows declination (deviation away from true north) and
current flowing in a wire inclination (tilting toward or away from Earth’s surface).
deflects a magnetic needle.
1831 Michael Faraday
describes invisible “lines of A compass needle shows exactly the same behavior
force” around a magnet. when moved over the surface of a
spherical magnetic rock, or lodestone.
1906 French physicist Pierre-
Ernest Weiss advances the
theory of magnetic domains
to explain ferromagnetism. Earth is a giant magnet.
See also: Making magnets 134–135 ■ The motor effect 136–137 ■ Induction and
the generator effect 138–141 ■ Magnetic monopoles 159
When a magnet is brought close to

an object made from ferromagnetic
material, the object itself becomes
magnetic. The approaching pole
of the magnet induces an opposite
The poles of iron bars are pole in the near side of the
changed when a lodestone ferromagnetic object and attracts it.
simply presents its pole to Depending on its exact composition
them and faces them even and interaction with the magnet,
from some distance. the ferromagnetic object may
William Gilbert become permanently magnetized, William Gilbert
retaining this property after the
original magnet is removed. William Gilbert was born into
Once physicists connected a prosperous English family in
electricity and magnetism and 1544. After graduating from
developed an understanding of Cambridge, he established
atomic structure in the 19th himself as a leading physician
text in which he described polarity century, a reasonable theory of in London. He met prominent
(the existence of magnetic north ferromagnetism began to emerge. naval officers, including
and south poles in pairs). He also The idea is that the movement Francis Drake, and cultivated
found that pieces of a lodestone of electrons in an atom makes each connections at the court of
“inherited” magnetic properties. atom into a miniature magnetic Elizabeth I. Through his
connections and on visits
dipole (with north and south poles).
to the docks, Gilbert learned
Gilbert’s little Earths In ferromagnetic materials such as
of the behavior of compasses
It was English astronomer William iron, groups of neighboring atoms at sea and acquired specimens
Gilbert’s groundbreaking work that align to form regions called of lodestones. His work with
dispelled long-held superstitions magnetic domains. these magnetic rocks informed
about magnetism. Gilbert’s key These domains are usually his masterwork.
innovation was to simulate nature arranged in closed loops, but when In 1600, Gilbert was
in the laboratory. a piece of iron is magnetized, the elected president of the Royal
Using spheres of lodestone domains line up along a single axis, Society of Physicians and
that he called terella (Latin for little creating north and south poles at appointed personal physician
Earths), he showed that a compass opposite ends of the piece. ■ to Elizabeth I. He also
needle was deflected in the same invented the electroscope to
way over different parts of the detect electric charge and
sphere as it was over the distinguished the force of
corresponding regions of our static electricity from that of
magnetism. He died in 1603,
planet. He concluded that Earth
possibly succumbing to
was itself a giant magnet and bubonic plague.
published his findings in the
groundbreaking De Magnete
(On the Magnet) in 1600. Key works
1600 De Magnete (On the

A new understanding Magnet)
A simple magnet, with a north and
The magnetism exhibited by south pole, creates lines of force around 1651 De Mundo nostro
magnetite is called ferromagnetism, it. Iron filings scattered around the Sublunari Philosophia Nova
a property that is also seen with magnet line up along these lines of (The New Philosophy)
iron, cobalt, nickel, and their alloys. force, which is stronger at each pole.
124
IN CONTEXT
THE ATTRACTION
KEY FIGURE
Charles-Augustin de
Coulomb (1736–1806)
OF ELECTRICITY
BEFORE
6th century bce Thales of
Miletus notes electrostatic
effects caused by friction
ELECTRIC CHARGE in elektron (Greek for amber).
1747 Benjamin Franklin
identifies positive and
negative charge.
AFTER
1832 Michael Faraday shows
static and current electrical
effects are manifestations of
a single phenomenon.
1891 George J. Stoney says
charge occurs in discrete units.
1897 J.J. Thomson finds that
cathode rays are streams of
charged subatomic particles.
1909 Robert Millikan studies
the charge on an electron.
F
or millennia, people have
observed electrical effects
in nature—for example,
lightning strikes, the shocks
delivered by electric rays (torpedo
fish), and the attractive forces
when certain materials touch or
are rubbed against each other.
However, it is only in the last
few hundred years that we have
begun to understand these
effects as manifestations of the
same underlying phenomenon—
electricity. More precisely, these are
electrostatic effects, due to electric
forces arising from static (stationary)
electric charges. Electric current
effects, on the other hand, are
caused by moving charges.
See also: Laws of gravity 46–51 ■ Electric potential 128–129 ■ Electric current
and resistance 130–133 ■ Bioelectricity 156 ■ Subatomic particles 242–243
as well as attractive, and

Negatively
charged postulated that there were two
comb types of electrical fluid—vitreous
and resinous. Like fluids (such as
two vitreous fluids) repelled each
Metal plate other, and unlike fluids attracted.
This theory was simplified by
American statesman and polymath
Metal rod
Benjamin Franklin in 1747, when he
proposed that there was only one
type of electrical fluid and different
Gold foil leaves objects could have a surplus or
move apart deficiency of this fluid. He labeled a Electrostatic
surplus of fluid (charge, in today’s
discharge
terms) to be positive, and a deficit
The gold-leaf electroscope detects
static electricity through the principle negative, and proposed that the An electrostatic discharge
of like charges repelling. When a total amount of fluid in the universe occurs when the electric
negatively charged comb is brought was conserved (constant). He also charge carriers (typically
near the metal plate, electrons (which designed (and possibly conducted) electrons) in a charged body
carry negative charge) are repelled an experiment to show that lightning or region are rapidly and
toward the electroscope’s gold foil was a flow of electrical fluid, by violently conducted away from
leaves, which causes the leaves it. Lightning is a particularly
flying a kite in a storm. Charge is
to separate. powerful form of electrostatic
still labeled as positive or negative,
although this is simply convention: discharge that occurs when
The concept of electric charge, and there is no excess “fluid” in a proton so much charge has built up
between regions of the
a mathematical description of the that makes it positive, and nothing
atmosphere that the
forces between charges, emerged lacking in an electron that makes
intervening space becomes
in the 18th century. Previously, the it negative. ionized (electrons separate
ancient Greeks had noted that from their atoms) and can
when a piece of amber (elektron), Coulomb’s law conduct a current.
was rubbed with wool, it would During the 18th century, scientists The current is made visible
attract light objects such as feathers. suggested mathematical laws that by the electrons heating up
In his 1600 book De Magnete might govern the strength of the ❯❯ the air so much that it emits
(On the Magnet), William Gilbert light. Ionization occurs over
named this effect “electricus” and short distances, which is why
discussed his experiments with the lightning bolts appear forked,
instrument that he had devised to changing direction every
detect the force—the versorium. few feet. Electrostatic
Gilbert saw that the force had an discharge happens first at
Bodies, electrified with the sharp edges—which is why
instantaneous effect over distance same kind of electricity, are your hair stands on end when
and suggested that it must be mutually repelled. statically charged (the hair
carried by a fast-moving electrical Charles-Augustin de tips repel each other) and
“fluid” released by the rubbed Coulomb why lightning conductors and
amber, rather than a slowly diffusing static discharge devices on
“effluvium,” as previously thought. aircraft wings are shaped
In 1733, French chemist Charles like spikes.
François du Fay observed that
electrical forces could be repulsive
126 ELECTRIC CHARGE
electrical force, modeled on the
inverse square law of gravitation
that Newton had established in his Two electrically charged A torsion balance can
hugely influential Principia of 1687. bodies experience a small measure the force by how
In 1785, French engineer mutual force. much it twists a silk thread.
Charles-Augustin de Coulomb
developed a torsion balance that
was sensitive enough to measure
the electrical force between
charges. The apparatus consisted
of a series of metal spheres When the distance between the charged
bodies is doubled, the amount of torsion (twisting) is
connected by a rod, needle, and
reduced to a quarter of the original.
silk thread. When Coulomb held a
charged object next to the external
sphere, the charge transferred to an
internal sphere and needle. The
needle, suspended from a silk
thread, moved away from the The electrical force between charged bodies varies inversely
charged sphere and produced a with the square of the distance between them.
twisting (torsion) in the silk thread.
The degree of torsion could be
measured from a scale.
Coulomb published a series of
papers detailing his experiments Coulomb established that when was quantized—and in 1891,
and establishing that the force electric charges attract or repel he suggested a name for this
between two stationary, charged each other, there is a relationship unit—the electron.
bodies was inversely proportional between the strength of attraction In 1897, British physicist
to the distance between them. He or repulsion and distance. However, J.J. Thomson demonstrated that
also assumed, but did not prove, it would be more than a century cathode rays—the glowing “rays”
that the force was proportional to before scientists came closer to of electricity that could be made to
the product of the charges on the understanding the exact nature travel between two charged plates
bodies. Today, this law is called of electric charge. in a sealed glass tube containing
Coulomb’s law. very little gas (a near vacuum)—
Finding the charge carrier were in fact made of electrically
In the 1830s, British scientist charged particles. By applying
Michael Faraday carried out electric and magnetic forces of
experiments with electrolysis known strength to the cathode
(using electricity to drive chemical rays, Thomson could bend them
reactions) and found that he by a measurable amount. He could
The sciences are monuments needed a specific amount of then calculate how much charge a
devoted to the public good; electricity to create a specific particle must carry per unit mass.
each citizen owes to them amount of a compound or element. Thomson also deduced that
a tribute proportional to Although he was not convinced these charge carriers were very
his talents. that matter was made up of atoms much lighter than the smallest
Charles-Augustin de (indivisible parts), this result atom. They were common in all
Coulomb suggested that electricity, at least, matter because the behavior of
might come in “packets.” In 1874, the rays did not vary even if he
Irish physicist George Stoney used plates of different metals.
developed the idea that there was This subatomic particle—the
an indivisible packet or unit of first to be discovered—was then
electric charge—that is, charge given Stoney’s name for the basic
unit of charge: the electron. The be 1.6  10-19 C (coulombs), very one percent would make it feel
charge on an electron was assigned close to today’s accepted value. forces of devastating power. Our
as negative. The discovery of the Nearly a century after Franklin understanding of electric charge
positive charge carrier, the proton, suggested that the total amount and carriers has not changed
would follow a few years later. of electric “fluid” is constant, dramatically since the discovery
Faraday conducted experiments of the electron and proton. We also
The charge on an electron that suggested that charge is know of other charge carriers, such
Although Thomson had calculated conserved—the total amount as the positively charged positron
the charge-to-mass ratio for the of charge in the universe remains and the negatively charged
electron, neither the charge nor the the same. antiproton that make up an exotic
mass were known. From 1909 to form of matter called antimatter.
1913, American physicist Robert Balance of charge In modern terminology, electric
Millikan performed a series of This principle of conservation of charge is a fundamental property
experiments to find these values. charge is a fundamental one in of matter that occurs everywhere—
Using special apparatus, he modern physics, although there are in lightning, inside the bodies of
measured the electric field needed circumstances—in high-energy electric rays, in stars, and inside us.
to keep a charged droplet of oil collisions between particles in Static charges create electric fields
suspended in air. From the radius particle accelerators, for example— around them—regions in which
of a droplet, he could work out its where charge is created through a other electric charges “feel” a force.
weight. When the droplet was still, neutral particle splitting into Moving charges create electric and
the upward electric force on it negative and positive particles. magnetic fields, and through the
balanced the downward However, in this case, the net subtle interplay between these
gravitational force, and the charge charge is constant—equal numbers fields, give rise to electromagnetic
on the droplet could be calculated. of positive and negative particles radiation, or light.
By repeating the experiment carrying equal amounts of negative Since the development of
many times, Millikan discovered and positive charge are created. quantum mechanics and particle
that droplets all carried charges that This balance between charges physics in the 20th century, we
were whole-number multiples of a isn’t surprising given the strength now understand that many of the
particular smallest number. Millikan of the electric force. The human most familiar properties of matter
reasoned that this smallest number body has no net charge and are fundamentally connected
must be the charge on a single contains equal amounts of to electromagnetism. Indeed, the
electron—called the elementary positive and negative charge, but electromagnetic force is one of
charge, e—which he computed to a hypothetical imbalance of just the fundamental forces of nature. ■
Charles-Augustin de Born in 1736 into a relatively he formulated the inverse square

Coulomb wealthy French family, Coulomb law that bears his name. He also
graduated as a military engineer. consulted on civil engineering
He spent nine years in the French projects and oversaw the
colony of Martinique in the West establishment of secondary
Indies but was dogged by illness schools. He died in Paris in
and returned to France in 1773. 1806. The SI unit of charge, the
While building a wooden coulomb, is named in his honor.
fort in Rochefort, southwestern
France, he conducted pioneering
work on friction and won the Key works
Grand Prize of the Académie des
Sciences in 1781. He then moved 1784 Theoretical Research and
to Paris and devoted most of his Experiments on the Torsion Force
time to research. As well as and Elasticity of Metal Wires
developing the torsion balance, 1785 Memoirs on Electricity and
Coulomb wrote memoirs in which Magnetism
128
POTENTIAL ENERGY
BECOMES PALPABLE
MOTION
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
T
hrough the 17th and 18th electrochemical cell, that scientists
IN CONTEXT centuries, an increasing had a supply of a moderate flow of
number of investigators electrical charge over time: a current.
KEY FIGURE
began to apply themselves to
Alessandro Volta
studying electricity, but it remained Energy and potential
(1745–1827)
an ephemeral phenomenon. Both the sudden discharge of
BEFORE The Leyden jar, invented in 1745 the Leyden jar and the extended
1745 Pieter van by two Dutch and German chemists discharge (current) from a battery
Musschenbroek and E. Georg working independently, allowed are caused by a difference in what is
von Kleist invent the Leyden electric charge to be accumulated called “electric potential” between
jar, the first practical device and stored until it was needed. each device and its surroundings.
that can store electric charge. However, the jar would discharge Today, electric potential is
(unload the charge) rapidly as a considered to be a property of
1780 Luigi Galvani observes spark. It was not until the late the electric field that exists around
“animal electricity.” 18th century, when Italian chemist electric charges. The electric
Alessandro Volta developed the first potential at a single point is always
AFTER
1813 French mathematician
and physicist Siméon-Denis
Poisson establishes a general Similarly, an imbalance of
equation for potential. In a gravitational field, charge between different
different altitudes have places in an electric field
1828 British mathematician different amounts of gives these places different
George Green develops gravitational potential. amounts of electric
Poisson’s ideas and introduces potential.
the term “potential.”
explains the chemical basis
of the voltaic (galvanic) cell.
A difference in altitude A difference in electric
1836 British chemist John causes a current of water potential causes a current
Daniell invents the Daniell cell. to flow. of electricity to flow.
See also: Kinetic energy and potential energy 54 ■ Electric charge 124–127
■Electric current and resistance 130–133 ■ Bioelectricity 156
measured relative to that at another apart the opposite poles of two

point. An imbalance of charge magnets does). This energy comes
between two points gives rise from chemical reactions in the cell.
to a potential difference between When the cell is connected to an
them. Potential difference is external circuit, the energy that was
measured in volts (V) in honor of “stored” in the potential difference
Volta, and is informally referred to appears as the electrical energy that
as “voltage.” Volta’s work paved the drives the current around the circuit.
way for fundamental breakthroughs Volta made his battery by
in the understanding of electricity. connecting individual cells made of
silver and zinc disks separated by Alessandro Volta
From animal electricity brine-soaked cloth. He demonstrated
to batteries the resulting voltaic pile to the Alessandro Volta was born
In 1780, Italian physician Luigi Royal Society in London in 1800. into an aristocratic family in
Galvani had noticed that when Voltaic cells only supply current for 1745 in Como, Italy. Volta was
he touched a (dead) frog’s leg with a short time before the chemical just seven years old when his
two dissimilar metals, or applied reactions stop. Later developments father died. His relatives
an electrical spark to it, the leg such as the Daniell cell and the steered his education toward
twitched. He presumed that the modern dry zinc-carbon or alkaline the Church, but he undertook
source of this motion was the frog’s cell have greatly improved longevity. his own studies in electricity
body and deduced it contained an Like alkaline cells, voltaic cells and communicated his ideas
electrical fluid. Volta performed cannot be recharged once to prominent scientists.
Following Volta’s early
similar experiments, but without exhausted, and are termed primary
publications on electricity,
animals, eventually coming up with cells. Secondary cells, like those
he was appointed to teach
the theory that the dissimilarity found in the lithium polymer in Como in 1774. The following
of the metals in the circuit was batteries of cell phones, can be year, he developed the
the source of the electricity. recharged by applying a potential electrophorus (an instrument
Volta’s simple electrochemical difference across the electrodes to for generating electric charge),
cell consists of two metal pieces reverse the chemical reaction. ■ and in 1776 he discovered
(electrodes), separated by a salt methane. Volta became
solution (an electrolyte). Where professor of physics at Pavia
each metal meets the electrolyte in 1779. There he engaged in
a chemical reaction takes place, friendly rivalry with Luigi
creating “charge carriers” called Galvani in Bologna. Volta’s
ions (atoms that have gained or doubts about Galvani’s ideas
lost electrons, and so are negatively of “animal electricity” led to
or positively charged). Oppositely his invention of the voltaic
pile. Honored by both
charged ions appear at the two
Napoleon and the emperor of
electrodes. Because unlike charges Austria, Volta was a wealthy
attract each other, separating man in his later years, and
positive and negative charges died in 1827.
requires energy (just as holding
The voltaic pile consists of a series of Key work

metal disks separated by brine-soaked
cloth. A chemical reaction between 1769 On the Forces of
them creates a potential difference, Attraction of Electric Fire
which drives an electric current.
130
IN CONTEXT
A TAX ON
KEY FIGURE
Georg Simon Ohm
(1789–1854)
ELECTRICAL
BEFORE
1775 Henry Cavendish
anticipates a relationship
between potential difference
and current.
ENERGY
1800 Alessandro Volta invents
the first source of continuous
current, the voltaic pile.
AFTER
ELECTRIC CURRENT AND RESISTANCE 1840 British physicist James
Joule studies how resistance
converts electrical energy
into heat.
1845 Gustav Kirchhoff, a
German physicist, proposes
rules that govern current and
potential difference in circuits.
1911 Dutch physicist Heike
Kamerlingh Onnes discovers
superconductivity.
A
s early as 1600, scientists
had distinguished
“electric” substances,
such as amber and glass, from
“nonelectric” substances, such as
metals, on the basis that only the
former could hold a charge. In 1729,
British astronomer Stephen Gray
brought a new perspective to
this division of substances by
recognizing that electricity (then,
still thought to be a kind of fluid)
could travel from one electric
substance to another via
a nonelectric substance.
By considering whether
electricity could flow through a
substance rather than whether it
could be stored, Gray established
See also: Electric charge 124–127 ■ Electric potential 128–129 ■ Making magnets 134–135 ■ The motor effect 136–137
■ Induction and the generator effect 138–141 ■ Electromagnetic waves 192–195 ■ Subatomic particles 242–243
wire, and the points must be at

A voltage (potential difference) applied across different electric potentials (having
the two ends in a conductor will cause a current to flow an imbalance in charge between
through it. the two points). Current flows
from higher potential to lower (by
scientific convention, from positive
to negative).
In metals, the charge carriers
are negatively charged, so a current
flowing in a metal wire from A to B
Typical conductors offer some resistance to this is equivalent to negatively charged
flow of current. electrons flowing in the opposite
direction (toward the higher, or
relatively positive potential). Charge
carriers in other materials may be
positive. For example, salt water
contains positively charged sodium
If the resistance remains constant, then the current ions (among others)—and their
remains proportional to the applied voltage. movement would be in the same
direction as the flow of current.
Current is measured in units called
amps, short for amperes. A current
of 1 amp means about 6 trillion
the modern distinction between different energy levels. In metals, electrons are moving past a
conductors and insulators. It was there are relatively few electrons particular point every second.
Alessandro Volta’s invention of the in the outermost orbitals, and In a copper wire, delocalized
electrochemical cell (battery) in 1800 these electrons easily become electrons move around randomly
that finally gave scientists a source “delocalized,” moving freely and at more than 1,000 km per second.
of continuously flowing electric randomly throughout the metal. Because they are moving in random
charge—an electric current—to Gold, silver, and copper are excellent directions, the net (average) velocity
study conductance and resistance. conductors because their atoms is zero, and so there is no net ❯❯
have only one outermost electron,
Conducting and insulating which is easily delocalized.
As Volta’s invention demonstrated, Electrolytes (solutions such as salt
an electric current can only flow water) contain charged ions that can
if it has a conductive material move around fairly easily. In contrast,
through which to travel. Metals are in insulators, the charge carriers are
generally very good conductors of localized (bound to particular atoms). The beauty of electricity …
electricity; ceramics are generally is not that the power
good insulators; other substances, Flow of charge is mysterious and
such as a salt solution, water, or The modern description of current unexpected … but that
graphite, fall somewhere between. electricity emerged in the late 19th it is under law.
The carriers of electric charge century, when current was finally Michael Faraday
in metals are electrons, which understood to be a flow of positive
were discovered a century later. or negatively charged particles. In
Electrons in atoms are found in order for a current to flow between
orbitals at different distances from two points, they must be connected
the nucleus, corresponding to by a conductor such as a metal
132 ELECTRIC CURRENT AND RESISTANCE
electromagnetic wave, which decrease in temperature. Some
travels extremely quickly. The materials exhibit zero resistance
copper wire acts as a “waveguide,” when cooled below a specific, very
and electromagnetic energy travels low temperature—a property known
along the wire at (typically) 80–90 as superconductivity.
Current is of equal percent of what would be its speed The resistance of a conductor
strength in all parts in a vacuum—hence electrons may vary with the potential
of the circuit. throughout the circuit all begin to difference (also known as the
Georg Ohm drift almost instantaneously, and voltage) applied or the current
a current is established. flowing through it. For example, the
resistance of a tungsten filament
Electrical resistance in an incandescent bulb increases
The property of an object to oppose with current. The resistance of
a current is called its resistance. many conductors remains constant
Resistance (and its opposite, as the current or voltage varies.
current. Applying a potential conductance) depends not only on Such conductors are known as
difference across the ends of the an object’s intrinsic properties (how ohmic conductors, named after
wire creates an electric field. This the particles that make it up are Georg Ohm, who formulated a law
field causes the free, delocalized arranged, and in particular whether that relates voltage to current.
electrons to experience a net force the charge carriers are delocalized),
toward the end at high potential but also on extrinsic factors such as Ohm’s law
(because they are negatively its shape, and whether it is subject The law Ohm established is
charged), accelerating them so that to high temperature or pressure. that current flowing through
they drift through the wire. This drift A thicker copper wire, for example, a conductor is proportional
velocity constitutes the current, and is a better conductor than a thinner to the voltage across it. Dividing
it is very small—typically a fraction one of the same length. Such factors the voltage (measured in volts)
of a millimeter per second in a wire. are comparable with hydraulic by the current (measured in amps)
Although charge carriers in a systems. For example, it is harder to gives a constant number, which
wire move relatively slowly, they push water through a narrow pipe is the resistance of the conductor
interact with each other via an than through a wide one. (measured in ohms).
electric field (due to their charge) and Temperature also plays a role in a A copper wire is an ohmic
a magnetic field (created by their material’s resistance. The resistance conductor—it obeys Ohm’s law as
movement). This interaction is an of many metals decreases with a long as its temperature does not
Georg Simon Ohm Ohm was born in Erlangen he began to experiment

(now Germany) in 1789. His with electricity. At first, his
father, a locksmith, taught him publications were not well
mathematics and science. He received, partly because of his
was admitted to the University of mathematical approach, but also
Erlangen and met mathematician because of squabbles over his
Karl Christian von Langsdorff. In scientific errors. Later, however,
1806, Ohm’s father, worried that he was awarded the Royal
his son was wasting his talents, Society’s Copley Medal in 1841,
sent him to Switzerland, where and was made Chair of Physics
he taught mathematics and at the University of Munich in
continued his own studies. 1852, two years before his death.
In 1811, Ohm returned to
Erlangen and obtained a doctorate. Key work
He moved to Cologne to teach
in 1817. After hearing of Hans 1827 The Galvanic Circuit
Christian Ørsted’s discoveries, Investigated Mathematically
Ohm’s law encapsulates the link between voltage (potential
difference), current, and resistance. Its formula (see right) can be
used to calculate how much current (in amps) passes through a Voltage (V)
component depending on the voltage (V) of the power source Current =
and the resistance (measured in ohms) of items in the circuit. (A)
Current Resistance (Ω)
measured
in amps (A)
1A 5A 5A
1Ω
Voltage 1Ω 1Ω
1V supplied 5V 10V 1Ω
by battery
Resistance
measured
in ohms (Ω) Higher voltage When voltage and
increases flow of current resistance are both doubled,
as long as resistance Ohm’s law means that
stays the same current stays the same
change dramatically. The resistance the next in the direction of a the resistance depends on the
of ohmic conductors depends on temperature gradient. In describing applied potential difference (or
physical factors such as temperature the flow of electrical current, the current flowing).
and not on the applied potential potential difference across an
difference or the current flowing. electrical conductor is similar to Joule heating
Ohm arrived at his law through the temperature difference across The higher the current in a metal
a combination of experiments and two ends of a thermal conductor. conductor, the more collisions
mathematical theory. In some of Ohm’s law is not a universal occur between the electrons and
his experiments, he made circuits law, however, and does not hold the ionic lattice. These collisions
using electrochemical cells to for all conductors, or under all result in the kinetic energy of the
supply the voltage and a torsion circumstances. So-called non- electrons being converted into
balance to measure current. He ohmic materials include diodes heat. The Joule-Lenz law (named in
used wire of different lengths and the tungsten filament in part after James Prescott Joule who
and thicknesses to carry the incandescent bulbs. In such cases, discovered that heat could be
electricity and noted the difference generated by electricity in 1840)
in current and resistance that states that the amount of heat
occurred as a result. His theoretical generated by a conductor carrying
work was based on geometrical a current is proportional to its
methods to analyze electrical resistance, multiplied by the
conductors and circuits. square of the current.
Ohm also compared the flow Joule heating (also called ohmic
of current with Fourier’s theory of heating, or resistive heating) has
heat conduction (named after many practical uses. It is responsible
French mathematician Joseph for the glow of incandescent lamp
Fourier). In this theory, heat energy filaments, for example. However,
is transferred from one particle to Joule heating can also be a
significant problem. In electricity
transmission grids, for example, it
Filament (incandescent) light bulbs causes major energy losses. These
work by providing high resistance to
current electricity because the wire losses are minimized by keeping
(the filament) is very narrow. This the current in the grid relatively
resistance causes electrical energy low, but the potential difference
to be converted to heat and light. (voltage) relatively high. ■
134
EACH METAL
HAS A CERTAIN
POWER
MAKING MAGNETS
IN CONTEXT
KEY FIGURE A battery in a
A compass needle is
complete circuit creates
Hans Christian Ørsted deflected by magnetism.
an electric current.
(1777–1851)
BEFORE
1600 English astronomer
William Gilbert realizes that
Earth is a giant magnet.
When an electric current is turned on next to
1800 Alessandro Volta a compass needle, the needle moves.
makes the first battery,
creating a continuous flow
of electric current for the
first time.
AFTER Electricity produces a magnetic field.
1820 André-Marie Ampère
develops a mathematical
theory of electromagnetism.
B
1821 Michael Faraday creates y the end of the 18th every modern electrical appliance,
century, many magnetic from headphones to cars, but it was
the first electric motor and
and electrical phenomena discovered purely by chance.
shows electromagnetic
had been noticed by scientists.
rotation in action.
However, most believed electricity Ørsted’s chance discovery
1876 Alexander Graham Bell, and magnetism to be totally Alessandro Volta’s invention of
a Scottish–American physicist, distinct forces. It is now known the voltaic pile (an early battery)
invents a telephone that uses that flowing electrons produce a in 1800 had already opened up a
electromagnets and a magnetic field and that spinning whole new field of scientific study.
permanent horseshoe magnet magnets cause an electric current For the first time, physicists could
to transmit sound vibrations. to flow in a complete circuit. This produce a steady electric current.
relationship between electricity In 1820, Danish physicist Hans
and magnetism is integral to nearly Christian Ørsted was delivering a
See also: Magnetism 122–123 ■ Electric charge 124–127 ■ Induction and the
generator effect 138–141 ■ Force fields and Maxwell’s equations 142–147
Hans Christian Ørsted

Born in Rudkøbing, Denmark,
in 1777, Ørsted was mostly
home-schooled before
lecture to students at the University By passing an electric current attending the University of
of Copenhagen. He noticed that a through a wire, Ørsted created Copenhagen in 1793. After
compass needle was deflected a magnetic field around it. This gaining a doctorate in physics
away from magnetic north when he deflected a compass needle. and aesthetics, he was
switched an electric current on and awarded a travel bursary and
off. This was the first time a link US’s electrical telegraph network. met German experimenter
had been shown between an The advantage of an electromagnet Johann Ritter, who aroused
his interest in the possible
electric current and a magnetic is that its magnetic field can be
connection between electricity
field. Ørsted carried out more controlled. Whereas a regular
and magnetism.
experiments and found that magnet’s strength is constant, the In 1806, Ørsted returned to
a current produces a concentric strength of an electromagnet can Copenhagen to teach. His 1820
magnetic field around the wire be varied by changing the current discovery of the link between
through which it is flowing. flowing through its wire coil (called the two forces brought him
a solenoid). However, electromagnets international recognition. He
Creating electromagnets only work with a continuous supply was awarded the Royal
Four years after Ørsted’s discovery, of electrical energy. ■ Society of London’s Copley
British inventor William Sturgeon Medal and was later made a
made a magnet from a horseshoe- member of the Royal Swedish
shaped piece of iron and wound Academy of Science and the
it with 18 loops of copper wire. American Academy of Arts
He passed an electric current and Sciences. In 1825, he was
through the wire, magnetizing the first chemist to produce
The agreement of this law pure aluminum. He died in
the horseshoe enough for it to
with nature will be better Copenhagen in 1851.
attract other pieces of iron.
In the 1830s, American scientist seen by the repetition
Joseph Henry developed the of experiments than by Key works
electromagnet further, insulating a long explanation.
copper wire with silk thread and Hans Christian Ørsted 1820 “Experiments on
the Effect of a Current of
winding multiple layers around iron
Electricity on the Magnetic
cores. One of Henry’s magnets lifted Needle”
a weight of 2,064 lb (936 kg). By the 1821 “Observations on
1850s, small electromagnets were Electro-magnetism”
being widely used in receivers in the
136
ELECTRICITY
IN MOTION
THE MOTOR EFFECT
B
uilding on Hans Christian currents either attract or repel each
IN CONTEXT Ørsted’s discovery of the other, depending on whether the
relationship between currents are flowing in the same or
KEY FIGURE
electricity and magnetism, French opposite directions. If the current
André-Marie Ampère
physicist André-Marie Ampère flows in the same direction in both,
(1775–1836)
conducted his own experiments. then the wires are attracted; if one
BEFORE Ørsted had discovered that a flows in the opposite direction, they
1600 William Gilbert conducts current passing through a wire repel each other.
the first scientific experiments forms a magnetic field around the Ampère’s work led to the law
on electricity and magnetism. wire. Ampère realized that two bearing his name, which states
parallel wires carrying electric that the mutual action of two
1820 Hans Christian Ørsted
proves that an electric current
creates a magnetic field.
AFTER A battery produces an
1821 Michael Faraday makes A magnet creates a electric current, which
the first electric motor. magnetic field. flows through a wire.
1831 Joseph Henry and
Faraday use electromagnetic
induction to create the first
electric generator, converting
When an electric current passes through a
motion into electricity. magnetic field, it produces a force called
1839 Moritz von Jacobi, the motor effect.
a Russian engineer,
demonstrates the first practical
rotary electrical motor.
1842 Scottish engineer Robert The direction of When a loop of wire
the force depends on the carries current in opposite
Davidson builds an electric directions, it produces an
motor to power a locomotive. direction of the current.
overall rotational force.
See also: Electric potential 128–129 ■ Making magnets 134–135 ■ Induction and the generator effect 138–141 ■ Force fields
and Maxwell’s equations 142–147 ■ Generating electricity 148–151
lengths of current-carrying wire is rotated 180 degrees, the force

proportional to their lengths and to reverses, so the loop comes
the magnitudes of their currents. to a halt.
This discovery was the foundation French instrument-maker
of a new branch of science known Hippolyte Pixii discovered the
as electrodynamics. solution to this conundrum in 1832 The experimental
when he attached a metal ring split investigation by which
Making motors into two halves to the ends of a coil Ampère established the law
When a current-carrying wire is with an iron core. This device, a of the mechanical action
placed in a magnetic field, it commutator, reverses the current in between electric currents is
is subject to a force because the the coil each time it rotates through one of the most brilliant
magnetic field interacts with half a turn—so the loop continues advancements in science.
the field created by the current. to spin in the same direction. James Clerk Maxwell
If the interaction is strong enough, In the same year, British
the wire moves. The force is at scientist William Sturgeon invented
its greatest when the current is the first commutator electric motor
flowing at right angles to the capable of turning machinery. Five
magnetic field lines. years later, American engineer
If a loop of wire, with two Thomas Davenport invented a
parallel sides, is placed between powerful motor that rotated at more powerful magnets, increasing
the poles of a horseshoe magnet, the 600 revolutions per minute and the current, or using very thin wire
interaction of the current on one was capable of driving a printing to increase the number of loops.
side causes a downward force, press and machine tools. The closer the magnet to the coil,
while there is an upward force on the greater the motor force.
the other side. This makes the An electrodynamic world Direct-current (DC) motors are
loop rotate. In other words, Over the years, electrodynamic still used for small battery-operated
electrical potential energy is technology produced more powerful devices; universal motors, which
converted to kinetic (motion) and efficient motors. Torques use electromagnets instead of
energy, which can do work. (turning forces creating rotational permanent magnets, are used for
However, once the loop has motion) were increased by using many household appliances. ■
André-Marie Ampère Born to wealthy parents in Lyon, speculated about the existence
France, in 1775, André-Marie of “electrodynamic molecules,”
Ampère was encouraged to anticipating the discovery of
educate himself at home, in a electrons. In recognition of his
house with a well-stocked library. work, the standard unit of
Despite a lack of formal education, electric current—the amp—is
he took up a teaching position at named after him. He died in
the new École Polytechnique in Marseilles in 1836.
Paris in 1804 and was appointed
as professor of mathematics there
five years later. Key works
After hearing of Ørsted’s
discovery of electromagnetism, 1827 Memoirs on the
Ampère concentrated his Mathematical Theory of
intellectual energies into Electrodynamics Phenomena,
establishing electrodynamism as Uniquely Deduced from
a new branch of physics. He also Experience
138
IN CONTEXT
THE DOMINION
KEY FIGURE
Michael Faraday (1791–1867)
OF MAGNETIC
BEFORE
1820 Hans Christian Ørsted
discovers the link between
electricity and magnetism.
FORCES
invents a device that uses
the interaction of electricity
and magnetism to produce
INDUCTION AND THE GENERATOR EFFECT mechanical motion.
1825 William Sturgeon, a
British instrument-maker,
builds the first electromagnet.
AFTER
presents a paper describing
electromagnetic waves,
including light waves.
1882 The first power stations
to use electricity generators
are commissioned in London
and New York.
E
lectromagnetic induction
is the production of
electromotive force (emf,
or a potential difference) across an
electrical conductor as the result
of a changing magnetic field. Its
discovery would transform the
world. It is still the foundation of
the electricity power industry
today, and it made possible the
invention of electric generators
and transformers, which are at
the heart of modern technology.
In 1821, inspired by Hans
Christian Ørsted’s discovery of the
relationship between electricity
and magnetism the previous year,
British physicist Michael Faraday
built two devices that took
See also: Electric potential 128–129 ■ The motor effect 136–137 ■ Force fields
and Maxwell’s equations 142–147 ■ Generating electricity 148–151
A magnet
creates a magnetic When a magnet is moved
field around it, and this through a coil of wire, an
is stronger at electric current is induced.
each pole.
When the magnet changes direction, the electric Michael Faraday

current changes direction.
The son of a London
blacksmith, Michael Faraday
received a very limited formal
education. However, when he
was 20, he heard renowned
The combination of a magnetic field and continuing chemist Humphry Davy
mechanical motion in close proximity causes lecturing at London’s Royal
a constant electric current. Institution and sent him his
notes. Faraday was invited to
become Davy’s assistant and
traveled around Europe with
advantage of the so-called motor mutual induction, and the
him from 1813 to 1815.
effect (the creation of a force when apparatus—an induction ring— Famous for inventing the
current passes through a conductor was the world’s first transformer electric motor in 1821, Faraday
in a magnetic field). These devices (a device that transfers electrical also devised an early form of
converted mechanical energy into energy between two conductors). Bunsen burner, discovered
electrical energy. Faraday also moved a magnet benzene, and formulated the
Faraday conducted many through a coil of wire, making laws of electrolysis. A pioneer
experiments to investigate the electric current flow in the coil as in environmental science, he
interplay of electric currents, he did so. However, once the motion warned about the dangers of
magnets, and mechanical motion. of the magnet was stopped, the ❯❯ pollution in the Thames River.
These culminated in a series A man of strong principles, he
of experiments from July to scorned the pseudoscientific
November 1831 that would have cults of the day. He gave
a revolutionary impact. Christmas lectures for the
public, refused to offer advice
to the government on military
The induction ring matters, and turned down a
One of Faraday’s first experiments I am busy just now
again on electro-magnetism knighthood. He died in 1867.
in 1831 was to build an apparatus
with two coils of insulated wire and think I have got
wrapped around an iron ring. When hold of a good thing. Key works
a current was passed through one Michael Faraday
coil, a current was seen to flow 1832 Experimental Researches
temporarily in the other, showing in Electricity
up on a galvanometer, a device that 1859 A Course of Six Lectures
had only recently been invented. on the Various Forces of Matter
This effect became known as
140 INDUCTION AND THE GENERATOR EFFECT
galvanometer registered no to be induced. This could come
First finger points in Thumb
current: the magnet’s field only about as a result of a change in the shows the
the direction of the
enabled current to flow when the strength of the magnetic field, or magnetic field direction
field was increasing or decreasing. by moving the magnet and the coil of force
applied
When the magnet was moved in closer or further from each other, to the wire
the opposite direction, a current or by rotating the coil or turning
was again seen to flow in the coil, the magnet.
this time in the opposite direction. An American scientist called
Faraday also found that a current Joseph Henry had also discovered
flowed if the coil was moved over electromagnetic induction in 1831,
a stationary magnet. independently of Faraday, but
Faraday published first and his Middle finger
shows the direction
The law of induction findings became known as of the current
Like other physicists of the day, Faraday’s law of induction. It
Faraday did not understand the remains the principle behind The right-hand rule shows the
direction in which a current will
true nature of electricity—that generators, transformers, and flow in a wire when the wire moves
current is a flow of electrons—but many other devices. in a magnetic field.
he nevertheless realized that when In 1834, Estonian physicist
a current flows in one coil, it Emil Lenz developed the principle
produces a magnetic field. If the further, stating that the potential Later, in the 1880s, British physicist
current remains steady, so does difference induced in a conductor John Ambrose Fleming described a
the magnetic field, and no potential by a changing magnetic field simple way of working out the
difference (consequently, no opposes the change in that magnetic direction of induced current flow:
current) is induced in the second field. The current resulting from the the “right-hand rule.” This uses the
coil. However, if the current in the potential difference generates a thumb, index finger, and middle
first coil changes, the resulting magnetic field that will strengthen finger of the right hand (held
change in magnetic field will induce the original magnetic field if its perpendicular to one another) to
a potential difference in the other strength is reducing, and weaken it indicate the direction of the current
coil, so a current will flow. if its strength is increasing. This flow from an induced potential
Faraday’s conclusion was that principle is known as Lenz’s law. difference when a wire moves in a
no matter how a change in the One effect of Lenz’s law is that some magnetic field (see diagram, above).
magnetic environment of a coil is electric current is lost and converted
produced, it will cause a current to heat. Faraday’s dynamo
In 1831, the same year as Faraday’s
experiments on the induction ring,
Coil of Magnetic Magnet moves
conducting wire lines of force out of the wire he also created the first electric
dynamo. This was a copper disk
mounted on brass axes that rotated
freely between the two poles of a
permanent magnet. He connected
the disk to a galvanometer and
found that when it rotated, the
galvanometer registered a current,
Magnet
moves into which moved out from the center
the wire of the disk and flowed through a
Flow of spring contact into a wire circuit.
current Galvanometer
measures current The apparatus came to be known
When a bar magnet moves in and out of a coil of wire, it as a Faraday disk.
produces an electric current. The direction of current changes The experiment showed that
according to the direction moved by the magnet. The current the combination of a magnetic
produced would be greater with more coils or a stronger magnet. field and continuing mechanical
motion in close proximity caused current it produced, however,
a constant electric current. In a reversed every half-turn and no one
motor, the flow of electrons through had yet discovered a practical way of
a wire in a magnetic field induces a harnessing this alternating current
force on the electrons and therefore (AC) electricity to power electronic
on the wire, causing it to move. devices. Pixii’s solution was to use Now we find all matter subject
However, in Faraday’s disk (and a device called a commutator to to the dominion of Magnetic
other generators), the law of convert the alternating current forces, as they before were
induction applies—a current to a single-direction current. It known to be to Gravitation,
is produced as a result of the was not until the early 1880s that Electricity, cohesion.
motion of a conductor (the disk) the first large AC generators were Michael Faraday
in a magnetic field. While the constructed by British electrical
characteristic of the motor effect is engineer James Gordon.
that electrical energy is changed to The first industrial dynamo was
mechanical energy, in the generator built in 1844 in Birmingham, UK,
effect, mechanical energy is and was used for electroplating. In
converted to electrical energy. 1858, a Kent lighthouse became the
first installation to be powered by a the springboard for further scientific
Practical uses steam-powered electrical generator. discovery. In 1861, Scottish physicist
Faraday’s discoveries required With the coupling of dynamos to James Clerk Maxwell simplified
painstaking experimentation but steam-driven turbines, commercial the knowledge to date about
produced very practical results. electricity production became electricity and magnetism to
They provided the understanding possible. The first practical 20 equations. Four years later, in a
of how to produce electricity on a electricity generators went into paper presented to the Royal Society
previously undreamed-of scale. production in 1870, and by the in London (“A dynamical theory of
Although the basic design of the 1880s areas of New York and the electromagnetic field”), Maxwell
Faraday disk was inefficient, it would London were lit by electricity unified electric and magnetic fields
soon be taken up by others and produced in this way. into one concept—electromagnetic
developed into practical electricity radiation, which moved in waves
generators. Within months, French A scientific springboard at close to the speed of light.
instrument-maker Hippolyte Pixii Faraday’s work on the relationship The paper paved the way for the
had built a hand-cranked generator between mechanical movement, discovery of radio waves and
based on Faraday’s design. The magnetism, and electricity was also for Einstein’s theories of relativity. ■
Wireless charging
Many small battery-operated inside the device takes power
appliances—such as cell from the field and converts it
phones, electric toothbrushes, back into electric current. In
I have at last and pacemakers—now use small domestic appliances, the
succeeded in induction chargers, which coils are small, so they must be
illuminating a eliminate exposed electrics and in close contact to work.
magnetic curve … reduce reliance on plugs and Inductive charging is also
and in magnetizing cables. Two induction coils in possible for electric vehicles as an
a ray of light. close proximity form an alternative to plug-in charging.
Michael Faraday electrical transformer, which In this case, larger coils can be
charges up an appliance’s used. Robotic, automatic guided
battery. The induction coil in vehicles, for example, don’t need
a charging base produces an to be in contact with the charger
alternating electromagnetic unit, but can simply pull up
field, while the receiver coil close by and charge.
LIGHT ITSELF IS
AN ELECTROMAGNETIC
DISTURBANCE
FORCE FIELDS AND
MAXWELL’S EQUATIONS
144 FORCE FIELDS AND MAXWELL’S EQUATIONS
IN CONTEXT Four equations describe how electric fields, magnetic fields,

electric charges, and currents are related.
KEY FIGURE
James Clerk Maxwell
(1831–1879)
BEFORE
1820 Hans Christian Ørsted A single equation derived from these four describes the
discovers that a current motion of an electromagnetic wave.
carrying wire deflects the
needle of a magnetic compass.
1825 André-Marie Ampère
lays the foundations for the This electromagnetic wave travels at a constant, very high
study of electromagnetism. speed, very close to the observed speed of light.

discovers electromagnetic
induction.
Electromagnetic waves and light
AFTER are the same phenomenon.
1892 Dutch physicist Hendrik
Lorentz investigates how
T
Maxwell’s equations work
he 19th century witnessed was both fundamental and true, the
for different observers, leading
a series of breakthroughs, complexity of the equations (and
to Einstein’s theory of special both experimental and perhaps, its revolutionary nature)
relativity. deductive, that would enable the meant that few other physicists
1899 Heinrich Hertz discovers greatest advance in physics since understood it immediately.
radio waves while he is Isaac Newton’s laws of motion In 1873, Maxwell condensed
investigating Maxwell’s theory and gravitation: the theory of the 20 equations into just four, and
of electromagnetism. electromagnetism. The chief in 1885, British mathematician
architect of this theory was Oliver Heaviside developed a much
Scottish physicist James Clerk more accessible presentation that
Maxwell, who formulated a set of allowed a wider community of
equations based upon the work of, scientists to appreciate their
among others, Carl Gauss, Michael significance. Even today, Maxwell’s
Faraday, and André-Marie Ampère. equations remain valid and useful
Maxwell’s genius was to place at all but the very smallest scales,
the work of his predecessors on a where quantum effects necessitate
I do not perceive in rigorous mathematical footing, their modification.
any part of space, recognize symmetries among
whether … vacant or filled the equations, and deduce their Lines of force
with matter, anything but greater significance in light of In a series of experiments in 1831,
forces and the lines experimental results. Michael Faraday discovered the
in which they are exerted. Originally published as 20 phenomenon of electromagnetic
Michael Faraday equations in 1861, Maxwell’s theory induction—the generation of an
of electromagnetism describes electric field by a varying magnetic
precisely how electricity and field. Faraday intuitively proposed
magnetism are intertwined and a model for induction that turned
how this relationship generates out to be remarkably close to our
wave motion. Although the theory current theoretical understanding,
See also: Magnetism 122–123 ■ Electric charge 124–127 ■ Making magnets 134–135 ■ The motor effect 136–137
■ Magnetic monopoles 159 ■ Electromagnetic waves 192–195 ■ The speed of light 275 ■ Special relativity 276–279
although his inability to express coordinates and associated with

the model mathematically meant a number—the temperature
that it was ignored by many of his at that point.
peers. Ironically, when Maxwell
translated Faraday’s intuition into Force fields
equations, he was in turn initially Taken together, magnetic “field”
ignored, because of the forbidding or “flux” lines describe the region
depth of his mathematics. around a magnet in which
Faraday was keenly aware magnetizable bodies “feel” a
of a long-standing problem in force. In this magnetic field, the
physics—namely, how a force could magnitude of the force at any point
be instantaneously transmitted in space is related to the density of
through “empty” space between field lines. Unlike a temperature field,
Positive Negative
separated bodies. There is nothing charge Field line charge the points on a magnetic field also
in our everyday experience that have a direction, given by the
suggests a mechanism for this Electric field lines show the direction direction of the field line. A magnetic
“action at a distance.” Inspired by of the field between charges. The lines field is therefore a vector field—each
the patterns in iron filings around come together at the negative charge, spatial point in it has an associated
travel away (diverge) from the positive
magnets, Faraday proposed that charge, and can never cross.
strength and direction, like the
magnetic effects were carried by velocity field of flowing water.
invisible lines of force that permeate Similarly, in an electric field, the
the space around a magnet. These attended Faraday’s lectures in field line indicates the direction of
lines of force point in the direction London, turned the descriptive the force felt by a positive charge,
that a force acts and the density of “lines of force” into the mathematical and the concentration of field lines
lines corresponds to the strength formalism of a field. Any quantity indicates the strength of the field.
of the force. that varies with position can be Like typical fluid flows, electric and
Faraday’s experimental results represented as a field. For example, magnetic fields may change over
were first interpreted mathematically the temperature in a room can time (due, for example, to changing
by British physicist J.J. Thomson be considered a field, with each weather patterns), so the vector at
in 1845, but in 1862 Maxwell, who point in space defined by three each point is time-dependent. ❯❯
James Clerk Maxwell Born in Edinburgh in 1831, James Cavendish Laboratory. He made
Clerk Maxwell was a precocious enormous contributions to the
child and presented a paper on study of electromagnetism,
mathematical curves aged just thermodynamics, the kinetic
14. He studied at Edinburgh and theory of gases, and the theory
Cambridge universities. In 1856, of optics and color. All of this
he was appointed professor at he accomplished in a short life,
Marischal College, Aberdeen, before dying of cancer in 1879.
where he correctly reasoned that
the rings of Saturn were made up Key works
of many small solid particles.
Maxwell’s most productive 1861 On Physical Lines of Force
years were at King’s College 1864 A Dynamical Theory of
London from 1860 and then the Electromagnetic Field
Cambridge from 1871, where he 1870 Theory of Heat
was made the first Professor of 1873 A Treatise on Electricity
Experimental Physics at the new and Magnetism
146 FORCE FIELDS AND MAXWELL’S EQUATIONS
Maxwell’s first two equations for negative charge. Gauss’s law for
are statements of Gauss’s laws magnetic fields states that the
for electric and magnetic fields. divergence of a magnetic field is zero
Gauss’s laws are an application everywhere; unlike electric fields,
of Gauss’s theorem (also known there can be no isolated points from
as the divergence theorem), which which magnetic field lines flow out The special theory of
was first formulated by Joseph-Louis or in. In other words, magnetic relativity owes its
Lagrange in 1762 and rediscovered monopoles do not exist and every origins to Maxwell’s
by Gauss in 1813. In its most magnet has both a north and a south equations of the
general form, it is a statement pole. As a consequence, magnetic electromagnetic field.
about vector fields—such as fluid field lines always occur as closed Albert Einstein
flows—through surfaces. loops, so the line leaving a magnet’s
Gauss formulated the law for north pole returns to the south pole
electric fields around 1835, but did and continues through the magnet
not publish it in his lifetime. It relates to close the loop.
the “divergence” of an electric field
at a single point to the presence The Faraday and
of a static electric charge. The Ampère–Maxwell laws equation relates the rate of change
divergence is zero if there is no The third of Maxwell’s equations is of the magnetic field B with time,
charge at that point, positive (field a rigorous statement of Faraday’s to the “curl” of the electric field. The
lines flow away) for positive charge, law of induction, which the latter curl describes how electric field
and negative (field lines converge) had deduced in 1831. Maxwell’s lines circulate around a point.
Unlike the electric fields created
by static point charges, which
have divergence but no curl,
Maxwell’s equations electric fields that are induced by
Maxwell’s four equations contain the variables E and B, representing changing magnetic fields have
the electric and magnetic field strengths, which vary with position and a circulating character, but no
time. They may be written as this set of four coupled partial differential divergence, and can cause current
equations. They are “differential” because they involve differentiation, a to flow in a coil.
mathematical operation concerned with how things change. They are “partial” The fourth of Maxwell’s
because the quantities involved depend on several variables, but each term
of the equation only considers a part of the variation, such as dependence equations is a modified version of
on time. They are “coupled” because they involve the same variables and André-Marie Ampère’s circuital law,
are all simultaneously true. which was originally formulated in
1826. This states that a constant
Name Equation electric current flowing through a
conductor will create a circulating
Gauss’s law for electric fields   E  0 magnetic field around the conductor.
Driven by a sense of symmetry,
Gauss’s law for magnetic fields B0 Maxwell reasoned that just as a
changing magnetic field generates
Faraday’s law   E  Bt an electric field (Faraday’s law), so
a changing electric field should
Ampère–Maxwell law   B  0 J  0 0 (Et) generate a magnetic field. In order
to accommodate this hypothesis,
J  Electric current density (current flowing   Partial derivate with
t he added the ∂E/∂t term (which
in a given direction through unit area) respect to time
represents the variation of an electric
B  Magnetic field E  Electric field   Electric charge density field, E, in time, t) to Ampère’s law
(charge per unit volume)
to make what is now called the
  Differential 0  Electric constant 0  Magnetic constant Ampère–Maxwell law. Maxwell’s
operator
addition to the law was not based
on any experimental results but
was vindicated by later experiments
and advances in theory. The most
dramatic consequence of Maxwell’s
addition to Ampère’s law was that
it suggested that electric and
magnetic fields were commonly
associated with a wave.
Electromagnetic waves
and light
In 1845, Faraday observed that a
magnetic field altered the plane of
polarization of light (this is known as
the Faraday effect). The phenomenon
of polarization had been discovered
by Christiaan Huygens back in 1690,
but physicists did not understand
how it worked. Faraday’s discovery
did not directly explain polarization,
but it did establish a link between
light and electromagnetism—a
relationship that Maxwell would
put on firm mathematical footing established that electromagnetic Heinrich Hertz’s experiments at
a few years later. phenomena have a wavelike the end of the 19th century proved what
From his several equations, character (having deduced that Maxwell had predicted and confirmed
Maxwell produced an equation that disturbances in the electromagnetic the existence of electromagnetic waves,
including radio waves.
described wave motion in three- field propagate as a wave), but that
dimensional space. This was his the wave speed, determined
electromagnetic wave equation. theoretically through comparison validity of the theory became
The speed of the wave described with the standard form of a wave obvious in 1899 when German
by the equation is given by the term equation, was very close to the physicist Heinrich Hertz—who
1/√(0 e0). Maxwell had not only experimentally determined value was determined to test the
for the speed of light. validity of Maxwell’s theory of
Since nothing else but light electromagnetism—discovered
was known to travel at anything radio waves.
like the speed of light, Maxwell Maxwell’s four equations
concluded that light and today underlie a vast range of
electromagnetism must be two technologies, including radar,
It turns out that the magnetic aspects of the same phenomenon. cellular radio, microwave ovens,
and the electric force … and infrared astronomy. Any
is what ultimately is the Maxwell’s legacy device that uses electricity or
deeper thing … where we can Maxwell’s discovery encouraged magnets fundamentally depends on
start with to explain many scientists such as American them. Classical electromagnetism’s
other things. physicist Albert Michelson to impact cannot be overstated—not
Richard Feynman seek a more accurate measurement only does Maxwell’s theory contain
of the speed of light in the 1880s. the fundamentals of Einstein’s
Yet Maxwell’s theory predicts an special theory of relativity, it is
entire spectrum of waves, of which also, as the first example of a
visible light is only the most easily “field theory,” the model for many
sensed by humans. The power and subsequent theories in physics. ■
148
IN CONTEXT
MAN WILL
KEY FIGURE
Thomas Edison (1847–1931)
BEFORE
IMPRISON
1831 Michael Faraday shows
that a changing magnetic
field interacts with an
electric circuit to produce
an electromagnetic force.
THE POWER
1832 Hippolyte Pixii develops
a prototype DC generator
based on Faraday’s principles.
OF THE SUN
1878 German electrical
engineer Sigmund Schuckert
builds a small steam-driven
power station to light a
Bavarian palace.
GENERATING ELECTRICITY AFTER

1884 Engineer Charles
Parsons invents the compound
steam turbine, for more efficient
power generation.
1954 The first nuclear power
station goes online in Russia.
O
n January 12, 1882,
the Edison Electric
Light Station at Holborn
Viaduct in London began to
generate electricity for the first
time. This facility, the brainchild of
prolific American inventor Thomas
Edison, was the world’s first coal-
fired power station to produce
electricity for public use. A few
months later, Edison opened a bigger
version, at Pearl Street in New York
City. The ability to make electricity
on a large scale was to be one of
the key drivers for the Second
Industrial Revolution of 1870–1914.
Until the 1830s, the only way of
making electricity was by chemical
reactions inside a battery. In 1800,
See also: Magnetism 122–123 ■ Electric potential 128–129 ■ Electric current and resistance 130–133 ■ Making magnets
134–135 ■ The motor effect 136–137 ■ Induction and the generator effect 138–141 ■ Force fields and Maxwell’s equations 142–147
Gramme’s dynamo was the first

electric motor to enter production.
It became widely used in
manufacturing and farming.
Industry demanded ever more
efficient manufacturing processes
to increase production. This was
the age of prolific invention, and
Edison was an outstanding
example, turning ideas into
commercial gold at his workshops
and laboratories. His “light bulb
moment” came when he devised
a lighting system to replace gas
lamps and candles in homes,
factories, and public buildings.
Edison didn’t invent the light
bulb, but his 1879 carbon-
Thomas Edison installed six huge between magnetic and electric filament incandescent design was
dynamos in the Pearl Street Station fields (Faraday’s law, or the induction economical, safe, and practical for
plant in Manhattan, New York, in 1882. principle) and used this knowledge home use. It ran on low voltage but
Each of the dynamos produced enough to build the first electric generator, required a cheap, steady form of
electricity to power 1,200 lights.
or dynamo, in 1831. This consisted electricity to make it work.
of a highly conductive copper disk
Italian scientist Alessandro rotating between the poles of a Jumbo dynamos
Volta converted chemical energy horseshoe magnet, whose magnetic Edison’s power plants transformed
to electricity to produce a steady field produced an electric current. mechanical energy into electricity.
current in a battery (later known Faraday’s explanation of the A boiler fired by burning coal
as a Voltaic pile). Although this principles of mechanical electricity converted water to high-pressure
was the first electric battery, generation—and his dynamo— steam within a Porter-Allen steam
it was impractical, unlike that built would become the basis for the engine. The shaft of the engine
by British inventor John Daniell more powerful generators of was connected directly to the
in 1836. The component parts of a the future, but in the early 19th armature (rotating coil) of the ❯❯
Daniell cell were a copper pot filled century there wasn’t yet the
with copper sulfate solution, demand for large voltages.
in which was immersed an Electricity for telegraphy,
earthenware container filled with arc lighting, and electroplating
zinc sulfate and a zinc electrode. was supplied by batteries, but
Negatively charged ions migrated this process was very expensive,
to one electrode, and positively and scientists from several nations We will make electricity
charged ions to the other, creating sought alternatives. French inventor so cheap that only the
an electric current. Hippolyte Pixii, Belgian electrical rich will burn candles.
engineer Zenobe Gramme, and Thomas Edison
The first dynamo German inventor Werner von
In the 1820s, British physicist Siemens all worked independently
Michael Faraday experimented to develop Faraday’s induction
with magnets and coils of insulated principle in order to generate
wire. He discovered the relationship electricity more efficiently. In 1871,
150 GENERATING ELECTRICITY
low voltage and high current had
Industry needs to increase production, and to do a limited range due to resistance
so needs more power. in the wires. To get around this
problem, Edison proposed a system
of local power plants that would
provide electricity for local
Direct current (DC) neighborhoods. Because of the
Generators produce problem transmitting over long
electricity is low voltage and high-voltage alternating
cannot be carried far, so has distances, these generating
current (AC).
limited use. stations needed to be located
within 1 mile (1.6 km) of the user.
Edison had built 127 of these
stations by 1887, but it was clear
that large parts of the United States
Step-up transformers (near generators) increase voltage
to carry current long distances. would not be covered even with
thousands of power plants.
The rise of AC electricity

Serbian-American electrical
AC electricity is Step-down transformers engineer Nikola Tesla had suggested
carried huge distances reduce voltage for safe use an alternative—using alternating
and powers industry. in homes and industry. current (AC) generators— in which
the polarity of the voltage in a coil
reverses as the opposite poles of a
rotating magnet pass over it. This
dynamo for greater efficiency. incandescent light bulbs. About regularly reverses the direction of
Edison used six “Jumbo” dynamos 110 volts of direct current (DC) current in the circuit; the faster
in his plant at Pearl Street Station, power was carried underground in the magnet turns, the quicker the
which were four times larger than copper wires, which ran through current flow reverses. When
any ever previously built. Each insulating tubes. American electronics engineer
weighed 30 tons (27 metric tons), In the late 19th century, it wasn’t William Stanley built the first
produced 100 kilowatts of possible to convert DC to a high workable transformer in 1886, the
electricity, and could light 1,200 voltage, and power carried at a voltage of transmission from an
Primary coil around Power stations produce high-current, low-voltage

iron core receives electricity, which then has to be boosted to a high voltage
electricity supply (low current) so it can be carried more efficiently over long
Secondary coil has
twice as many wire distances. Before it can be used in industry or homes, the
turns, doubling current passes through a step-down transformer, which
Power the voltage converts it to a lower voltage.
station
Low current Secondary coil
High voltage has fewer wire
turns, reducing
Iron core Primary coil the voltage
Step-up Step-down
transformer transformer
High current High current
Low voltage Low voltage
larger operating plants employed
higher steam pressures for greater
efficiency. During the 20th century,
electricity generation increased
almost 10-fold. High-voltage AC
The deadly electricity transmission enabled power to be
of the alternating current moved from distant power stations
can do no harm unless a man to industrial and urban centers
is fool enough to swallow hundreds or even thousands of
a whole dynamo. miles away.
George Westinghouse At the start of the century, coal
was the primary fuel burned to
create the steam to drive turbines.
It was later supplemented by other Thomas Edison
fossil fuels (oil and natural gas),
wood chippings, and enriched One of the most prolific
uranium in nuclear power stations. inventors of all time, Edison
AC generator could be “stepped up” had more than 1,000 patents
and the current simultaneously Sustainable solutions to his name by the time of his
“stepped down” in smaller-diameter With fears about rising atmospheric death. He was born in Milan,
wire. At higher voltages, the same CO2 levels, sustainable alternatives Ohio, and was mostly home-
power could be transmitted at a to fossil fuels have been introduced. taught. In an early sign of
much lower current, and this high Hydroelectric power, which dates his entrepreneurial talent, he
voltage could be transmitted over back to the 19th century, now gained exclusive rights to sell
long distances, then “stepped produces almost one-fifth of the newspapers while working
as a telegraph operator with
down” again before use in a world’s electricity. The power of
Grand Trunk Railway. His first
factory or home. wind, waves, and tides is now
invention was an electronic
American entrepreneur George harnessed to drive turbines and vote recorder.
Westinghouse realized the problems provide electricity. Steam originating At the age of 29, Edison
of Edison’s design, purchased deep in Earth’s crust produces established an industrial
Tesla’s many patents, and hired geothermal energy in parts of the research lab in New Jersey.
Stanley. In 1893, Westinghouse world such as Iceland. About 1 Some of his most famous
won a contract to build a dam and percent of global electricity is now patents were for radical
hydroelectric power plant at Niagara generated by solar panels. Scientists improvements to existing
Falls to harness the immense water are also working to develop devices, such as the telephone,
power to produce electricity. The hydrogen fuel cells. ■ microphone, and light bulb.
installation was soon transmitting Others were revolutionary,
AC to power the businesses and including the phonograph in
homes of Buffalo, New York, and 1877. He went on to found the
marked the beginning of the end General Electric Company
in 1892. Edison was a
for DC as the default means of
vegetarian and proud that
transmission in the United States. he never invented weapons.
New, super-efficient steam
turbines allowed generating
capacity to expand rapidly. Ever-
Key work
2005 The Papers of Thomas

Solar panels are made of dozens of A. Edison: Electrifying
photovoltaic cells, which absorb solar New York and Abroad,
radiation, exciting free electrons and April 1881–March 1883
generating a flow of electrical current.
152
IN CONTEXT
A SMALL
KEY FIGURE
John Bardeen (1908–1991)
BEFORE
STEP IN THE
1821 German physicist
Thomas Seebeck observes
a thermoelectric effect in a
semiconductor.
CONTROL OF
1904 British engineer John
Ambrose Fleming invents
the vacuum tube diode.
1926 Austrian–American
NATURE
engineer Julius Lilienfeld
patents the FET (field-effect
transistor).
1931 British physicist Alan
Herries Wilson establishes
ELECTRONICS the band theory of conduction.

AFTER
1958–59 American engineers
Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce
develop the integrated circuit.
1971 Intel Corporation releases
the first microprocessor.
E
lectronics encompasses the
science, technology, and
engineering of components
and circuits for the generation,
transformation, and control of
electrical signals. Electronic
circuits contain active components,
such as diodes and transistors, that
switch, amplify, filter, or otherwise
change electrical signals. Passive
components, such as cells, lamps,
and motors, typically only convert
between electrical and other forms
of energy, such as heat and light.
The term “electronics” was first
applied to the study of the electron,
the subatomic particle that carries
electricity in solids. The discovery
of the electron in 1897 by the
See also: Electric charge 124–127 ■ Electric current and resistance 130–133 ■ Quantum applications 226–231
■ Subatomic particles 242–243
Electronics is the use of To produce these signals, Semiconductors contain

electricity to produce signals the flow of electric a variable number of
that carry information and current must be controlled charge carriers (particles
control devices. with great precision. that carry electricity).
In most semiconductors, the most important Doping (adding impurities to)

electronic component, the transistor, is made silicon semiconductors affects the nature
of doped silicon regions. It can amplify of their charge carriers, enabling current
electrical signals or turn them on or off. to be controlled precisely.
British physicist J.J. Thomson surface and move through the into DC (direct current). This
generated scientific study of how tube. When a voltage was allowed for the detection of AC
the particle’s electric charge could applied across the electrodes, it radio waves, so the valve found
be harnessed. Within 50 years, this made the anode relatively positive, wide application as a demodulator
research had led to the invention so the electrons were attracted (detector) of signals in early
of the transistor, paving the way to it and a current flowed. When AM (amplitude modulation)
for the concentration of electrical the voltage was reversed, the radio receivers.
signals into ever-more compact electrons emitted by the cathode In 1906, American inventor
devices, processed at ever-greater were repelled from the anode Lee de Forest added a third, grid-
speeds. This led to the spectacular and no current flowed. The diode shaped electrode to Fleming’s
advances in electronic engineering conducted only when the anode diode to create a triode. A small,
and technology of the digital was positive relative to the varying voltage applied across the
revolution that began in the late cathode, and so acted as a one- new electrode and the cathode
20th century and continue today. way valve, which could be used changed the electron flow between
to convert AC (alternating current) the cathode and anode, creating
Valves and currents a large voltage variation—in other
The first electronic components words, the small input voltage was
were developed from vacuum amplified to create a large output
tubes—glass tubes with the air voltage. The triode became a vital
removed. In 1904, British physicist component in the development of
John Ambrose Fleming developed radio broadcasting and telephony.
the vacuum tube into the thermionic
diode, which consisted of two Solid-state physics
electrodes—a cathode and an Although in the following decades
anode—inside the tube. The valves enabled further advances in
metal cathode was heated by an technology, such as the television
The Colossus Mark II computer
electrical circuit to the point of of 1944 used a vast number of valves and early computers, they were
thermionic emission, whereby to make the complex mathematical bulky, fragile, power-hungry, and
its negatively charged electrons calculations needed to decode the limited in the frequency of their
gained enough energy to leave the Nazi Lorenz cipher systems. operation. The British Colossus ❯❯
154 ELECTRONICS
conduct current. In conductors, boron, had a small deficiency. It
the valence and conduction bands became clear that tiny amounts
overlap, so electrons involved in of impurities in a semiconductor
bonding can also contribute to crystal can dramatically change its
conduction. In insulators, there electrical properties. The controlled
It is at a surface where many is a large band gap, or energy introduction of specific impurities to
of our most interesting and difference, between the valence obtain desired properties became
useful phenomena occur. and conduction bands that keeps known as “doping.”
Walter Brattain most electrons bonding but not The regions of a crystal can be
conducting. Semiconductors have doped in different ways. In a pure
a small band gap. When given a silicon crystal, for example, each
little extra energy (by applying atom has four bonding (valence)
heat, light, or voltage), their valence electrons that it shares with its
electrons can migrate to the neighbors. Regions of the crystal
conduction band, changing the can be doped by introducing some
computers of the 1940s, for properties of the material from atoms of phosphorus (which has
example, each had up to 2,500 insulator to conductor. five valence electrons) or boron
valves, occupied a whole room, (with three valence electrons).
and weighed several tons. Control through doping The phosphorus-doped region has
All of these limitations were In 1940, a chance discovery added extra “free” electrons and is called
resolved with the transition to another dimension to the electrical an n-type semiconductor (n for
electronics based not on vacuum potential of semiconductors. When negative). The boron-doped region,
tubes but on the electron properties testing a crystal of silicon, Russell called a p-type semiconductor
of semiconducting solids, such as Ohl, an American electrochemist, (p for positive) has fewer electrons,
the elements boron, germanium, found that it produced different creating charge-carrying “holes.”
and silicon. This in turn was born electrical effects if probed in When the two types are joined,
out of an increasing interest from different places. When examined, it is called a p–n junction. If a
the 1940s onward in solid-state the crystal appeared to have voltage is applied to the p-type
physics—the study of those regions that contained distinct side, it attracts electrons from
properties of solids that depend impurities. One, phosphorus, had a the n-type side and current flows.
on microscopic structure at the small excess of electrons; another, A crystal with one p–n junction
atomic and subatomic scales,
including quantum behavior.
Most semiconductors in transistors are made of silicon (Si), which
A semiconductor is a solid has been doped with impurities to control the flow of current through
with electrical conductivity varying it. Adding phosphorus atoms to silicon makes an n-type semiconductor,
between that of a conductor and an with negatively charged electrons that are free to move. Adding boron
insulator—so neither high nor low. atoms makes a p-type semiconductor, with positively charged “holes”
In effect, it has the potential to that can move through the silicon.
control the flow of electric current.
Positively charged hole
Electrons in all solids occupy Transistor
Silicon electron
distinct energy levels grouped
into bands, called valence and Boron atom
has one less
conduction bands. The valence electron, which
band contains the highest energy Extra electron from acts as a “hole,”
level that electrons occupy when phosphorus atom Si Si Si Si attracting a
silicon electron
bonding with adjacent atoms. The
conduction band has even higher Phosphorus Si P Si B
energy levels, and its electrons are atom Boron atom
not bound to any particular atoms,
but have enough energy to move N-type P-type
throughout the solid, and so (negative) silicon (positive) silicon
John Bardeen Born in 1908, John Bardeen was 1957 he coauthored the BCS
just 15 when he began electrical (Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer)
engineering studies at the local theory of superconductivity.
University of Wisconsin. After He shared two Nobel Prizes
graduating, he joined the Gulf in Physics—in 1956 (for the
Oil laboratories in 1930 as a transistor) and again in 1972
geophysicist, developing magnetic (for BCS theory). He died in 1991.
and gravitational surveys. In 1936,
he earned a PhD in mathematical
physics from Princeton University, Key works
and later researched solid-state
physics at Harvard. During World 1948 “The transistor, a semi-
War II, he worked for the US Navy conductor triode”
on torpedoes and mines. 1957 “Microscopic theory of
After a productive period superconductivity”
at Bell Labs, where Bardeen 1957 “Theory of
coinvented the transistor, in superconductivity”
acts as a diode—it conducts a which was achieved by wrapping the device soon drove spectacular
current across the junction in gold foil around the corner of a growth in the electronics market
only one direction. piece of plastic and slitting the foil and began to replace vacuum
along the edge to create two tightly tubes in computers.
Transistor breakthroughs spaced contacts. When they were
After World War II, the search for pressed onto the germanium, they Processing power
an effective replacement for the formed an amplifier that could The first transistors were made
vacuum tube, or valve, continued. boost the signal that was fed to from germanium, but this was
In the US, the Bell Telephone the base. This first working version superseded as a base material
Company assembled a team of was simply known as a “point by the much more abundant and
American physicists, including contact” but soon became known versatile silicon. Its crystals form on
William Shockley, John Bardeen, as a “transistor.” their surface a thin insulating layer
and Walter Brattain at its The point-contact transistor of oxide. Using a technique called
laboratories in New Jersey to was too delicate for reliable high- photolithography, this layer can be
develop a semiconductor version volume production, so in 1948 engineered with microscopic
of the triode amplifier. Shockley began work on a new precision to create highly complex
Bardeen was the main theorist, transistor. Based on the p–n patterns of doped regions and other
and Brattain the experimenter, in semiconductor junction, Shockley’s features on the crystal.
the group. After failed attempts at “bipolar” junction transistor was The advent of silicon as a base
applying an external electric field to built on the assumption that the and advances in transistor design
a semiconductor crystal to control positively charged holes created by drove rapid miniaturization. This
its conductivity, a theoretical doping penetrated the body of the led first to integrated circuits
breakthrough by Bardeen shifted semiconductor rather than just (entire circuits on a single crystal)
the focus onto the surface of the floating across its surface. The in the late 1960s, and in 1971 to
semiconductor as the key site transistor consisted of a sandwich the Intel 4004 microprocessor—an
of changes in conductivity. In 1947, of p-type material between two entire CPU (central processing unit)
the group began to experiment n-type layers (npn), or n-type on one 3  4 mm chip, with more
with electrical contacts on top of a sandwiched between p-type layers than 2,000 transistors. Since then,
crystal of germanium. A third (pnp), with the semiconductors the technology has developed with
electrode (the “base”) was attached separated by p–n junctions. By incredible rapidity, to the point
underneath. For the device to work 1951, Bell was mass-producing the where a CPU or GPU (graphics
as desired, the two top contacts transistor. Although at first mainly processing unit) chip can contain
needed to be very close together, used in hearing aids and radios, up to 20 billion transistors. ■
156
ANIMAL
ELECTRICITY
BIOELECTRICITY
B
ioelectricity enables the Richard Caton recorded the
IN CONTEXT entire nervous system of an electrical fields produced by the
animal to function. It allows brains of rabbits and monkeys.
KEY FIGURES
the brain to interpret heat, cold, The breakthrough in
Joseph Erlanger (1874–1965),
danger, pain, and hunger, and to understanding how the electrical
Herbert Spencer Gasser
regulate muscle movement, impulses were produced came
(1888–1963) including heartbeat and breathing. in 1932, when Joseph Erlanger
BEFORE One of the first scientists to and Herbert Gasser found that
1791 Italian physicist Luigi study bioelectricity was Luigi different fibers in the same nerve
Galvani publishes his findings Galvani, who coined the term cord possess different functions,
on “animal electricity” in a “animal electricity” in 1791. He conduct impulses at different rates,
frog’s leg. observed muscular contraction in and are stimulated at different
a dissected frog’s leg when a cut intensities. From the 1930s onward,
1843 German physician Emil nerve and a muscle were connected Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley
du Bois-Reymond shows that with two pieces of metal. In 1843, used the giant axon (part of a
electrical conduction travels Emil du Bois-Reymond showed that nerve cell) of a veined squid to
along nerves in waves. nerve signals in fish are electrical, study how ions (charged atoms
and in 1875, British physiologist or molecules) move in and out
AFTER of nerve cells. They found that
1944 American physiologists when nerves pass on messages,
Joseph Erlanger and Herbert sodium, potassium, and chloride
Gasser receive the Nobel Prize ions create fast-moving pulses of
for Physiology or Medicine for electrical potential. ■
their work on nerve fibers.
1952 British scientists Alan Sharks and some other fish have
Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley jelly-filled pores called ampullae of
show that nerve cells Lorenzini, which detect changes in
electric fields in the water. These
communicate with other
sensors can detect a change of just
cells by means of flows of 0.01 microvolt.
ions; this becomes known as
the Hodgkin-Huxley model. See also: Magnetism 122–123 ■ Electric charge 124–127 ■ Electric potential
128–129 ■ Electric current and resistance 130–133 ■ Making magnets 134–135
A TOTALLY
UNEXPECTED
SCIENTIFIC
DISCOVERY
STORING DATA
C
omputer hard-disk drives
IN CONTEXT (HDD) store data encoded
into bits, written on the
KEY FIGURES
disk surface as a series of changes
Albert Fert (1938–),
in direction of magnetization. The
Peter Grünberg (1939–2018) We had just participated in
data is read by detecting these
BEFORE changes as a series of 1s and 0s. the birth of the phenomenon
1856 Scottish physicist The pressure to store more data in which we called giant
William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) less space has driven a constant magnetoresistance.
discovers magnetoresistance. evolution in HDD technology, but a Albert Fert
major problem soon emerged: it was
1928 The quantum- difficult for conventional sensors to
mechanical idea of electron read ever-greater amounts of data
spin is postulated by Dutch– on ever-smaller disk space.
American physicists George In 1988, two teams of computer
Uhlenbeck and Samuel scientists—one led by Albert Fert,
Goudsmit. the other by Peter Grünberg— nonmagnetic material between
independently discovered giant magnetic layers only a few atoms
1957 The first computer magnetoresistance (GMR). GMR thick, and by applying small
hard-disk drive (HDD) is the depends on electron spin, a magnetic fields, the current flowing
size of two refrigerators, and quantum-mechanical property. through became spin-polarized.
can store 3.75 megabytes (MB) Electrons possess either up-spin The electron spin was either
of data. or down-spin—if an electron’s spin oriented “up” or “down,” and if the
is “up,” it will move easily through magnetic field changed, the spin-
AFTER
an up-oriented magnetized polarized current was switched on
1997 British physicist material, but it will encounter or off, like a valve. This spin-valve
Stuart Parkin applies greater resistance through a down- could detect minute magnetic
giant magnetoresistance oriented magnet. The study of impulses when reading HDD data,
to create extremely sensitive electron spin became known as allowing vastly increased amounts
spin-valve technology for “spintronics.” By sandwiching a of data to be stored. ■
data-reading devices.
See also: Magnetism 122–123 ■ Nanoelectronics 158 ■ Quantum numbers
216–217 ■ Quantum field theory 224–225 ■ Quantum applications 226–231
158
AN ENCYCLOPEDIA
ON THE HEAD
OF A PIN
NANOELECTRONICS
T
he components that are In 1975, he revised the timescale
IN CONTEXT integral to virtually every to every two years, a maxim that
electronic device, from became known as “Moore’s law.”
KEY FIGURE
smartphones to car ignition systems, Although the rate of miniaturization
Gordon Moore (1929–)
are only a few nanometers (nm) has slowed since 2012, the smallest
BEFORE in scale (1 nm is one-billionth of 1 modern transistors are 7 nm across,
Late 1940s The earliest meter). A handful of tiny integrated enabling 20 billion transistor-based
transistors are made, circuits (ICs) can perform functions circuits to be integrated into
measuring 1 ⁄3 inch in length. that were previously carried out by a single computer microchip.
thousands of transistors, switching Photolithography (transferring a
1958 American electrical or amplifying electronic signals. pattern from a photograph onto the
engineer Jack Kilby ICs are collections of components, semiconducting material) is used
demonstrates the first such as transistors and diodes, that to fabricate these nanocircuits. ■
working integrated circuit. are printed onto a silicon wafer, a
semiconducting material.
1959 Richard Feynman Reducing the size, weight, and
challenges other scientists power consumption of electronic
to research nanotechnology. devices has been a driving trend
AFTER since the 1950s. In 1965, American
1988 Albert Fert and Peter engineer Gordon Moore forecast the
Grünberg independently demand for ever-smaller electronic
discover the GM (giant components and predicted that the
number of transistors per silicon
magnetoresistance) effect,
chip would double every 18 months.
enabling computer hard drives
to store ever-greater amounts
of data. Gordon Moore, who was CEO of the
technology company Intel between
1999 American electronics 1975 and 1987, is best known for his
engineer Chad Mirkin invents observations about the demand for
dip-pen nanolithography, ever-smaller electronic components.
which “writes” nanocircuitry
on silicon wafers. See also: The motor effect 136–137 ■ Electronics 152–155 ■ Storing data 157
■ Quantum applications 226–231 ■ Quantum electrodynamics 260
A SINGLE POLE,
EITHER NORTH
OR SOUTH
MAGNETIC MONOPOLES
I
n classical magnetism, magnets
IN CONTEXT have two poles that cannot
be separated. If a magnet is
KEY FIGURES
broken in half, the broken end simply
Gerard ’t Hooft (1946–),
becomes a new pole. However,
Alexander Polyakov (1945–)
in particle physics, magnetic Experimenters will continue
BEFORE monopoles are hypothetical to stalk the monopole with
1865 James Clerk Maxwell particles with a single pole, unfailing determination
unifies electricity and either north or south. Theoretically, and ingenuity.
magnetism in one theory. opposite magnetic monopoles John Preskill
attract, matching monopoles repel, American theoretical physicist
1894 Pierre Curie suggests and their trajectories bend in
that magnetic monopoles an electric field.
could exist. There is no observational or
experimental proof that magnetic
1931 Paul Dirac proposes that monopoles exist, but in 1931, British
magnetic monopoles could physicist Paul Dirac suggested that
explain the quantization of they could explain the quantization nuclear forces merge into a single
electric charge. of electric charge, whereby all force. In 1974, theoretical physicists
1974 American physicists electron charges are multiples Gerard ’t Hooft and Alexander
Sheldon Glashow and Howard of 1.6  10 –19 coulombs. Polyakov independently argued
Georgi publish the first Grand Gravity, electromagnetism, that GUT predicts the existence
the weak nuclear force, and the of magnetic monopoles.
Unified Theory (GUT) in
strong nuclear force are the four In 1982, a detector at Stanford
particle physics.
recognized fundamental forces. University recorded a particle
AFTER In particle physics, several variants consistent with a monopole, but
1982 Blas Cabrera, a of Grand Unified Theory (GUT) such particles have never been
Spanish physicist at Stanford propose that in an exceptionally found since, despite scientists’
University, California, records high-energy environment, efforts to find them using highly
an event consistent with a electromagnetic, weak, and strong sensitive magnetometers. ■
monopole passing through
a superconducting device. See also: Magnetism 122–123 ■ Electric charge 124–127 ■ Quantum field
theory 224–225 ■ Quantum applications 226–231 ■ String theory 308–311
SOUND AN
LIGHT
the properties
of waves
D
162 INTRODUCTION
Dutch astronomer Willebrord

Snellius devises a law for Robert Hooke publishes
Pythagoras discovers Euclid writes Optics, the relationship between Micrographia, the first
the link between the asserting that light an angle of a ray of study of minute
length of lyre strings travels in straight light entering a transparent objects viewed through
and the pitch of lines and describing material and its angle the microscopes
sound they make. the law of reflection. of refraction. he designed.
6TH CENTURY BCE 3RD CENTURY CE 1621 1665
4TH CENTURY BCE 50 CE 1658
Aristotle correctly suggests that Hero of Alexandria shows that Pierre de Fermat shows that all
sound is a wave conveyed the law of reflection can be laws of reflection and refraction
through motion of the air but derived using geometry alone can be described using the
erroneously proposes that high by adopting the rule that light principle that light always
frequencies travel faster than always travels between two travels between two points on
low frequencies. points by the shortest path. the path that takes the least time.
H
earing and sight are the explored the effects of vibrating reflection and refraction: light
senses we use most to lyre strings of different tensions always chooses to take the
interpret the world; little and lengths. shortest path it can between
wonder that light—a prerequisite any two points.
for human sight—and sound Reflection and refraction The phenomena of reflection
have fascinated humans since Mirrors and reflections have also and refraction of light allowed
the dawn of civilization. long been things of wonder. Again pioneers such as Italian physicist
Music has been a feature of in ancient Greece, scholars proved— and astronomer Galileo Galilei and
everyday life since Neolithic using geometry alone—that light Robert Hooke in England to create
times, as cave paintings and always returns from a mirrored devices that offered new views
archaeology testify. The ancient surface at the same angle at which of the universe, while microscopes
Greeks, whose love of learning it approaches it, a principle known unveiled nature. Telescopes
infused every element of their today as the law of reflection. revealed hitherto unseen moons
culture, sought to work out the In the 10th century, Persian orbiting other planets and
principles behind the production mathematician Ibn Sahl noted the prompted a reassessment of
of harmonic sounds. Pythagoras, relationship between a ray of light’s Earth’s place in the cosmos, while
inspired by hearing hammers angle of incidence as it entered a microscopes offered a view into an
strike different notes on an anvil, transparent material and its angle alien world of tiny creatures and
recognized that a relationship of refraction within that material. the cellular structure of life itself.
existed between sound and the In the 17th century, French The very nature of light was
size of the tool or instrument mathematician Pierre de Fermat questioned by influential scientists
that produced it. In a number proposed correctly that a single many times over the centuries.
of studies, he and his students principle pertained in both Some felt that light was composed
SOUND AND LIGHT 163
German-born British Northern Irish

astronomer William Christian Doppler astrophysicist
Isaac Newton Herschel discovers describes the change in the Jocelyn Bell Burnell
hypothesizes that infrared radiation, color of stars in relation discovers pulsars
light is made the first light outside to their motion, an effect (pulsating stars)
up of particles the electromagnetic later demonstrated using using radio
called corpuscles. spectrum. sound waves. astronomy.
1675 1800 1842 1967
1669 1690 1803 1865
Danish scientist Rasmus Dutch physicist Christiaan Thomas Young’s James Clerk Maxwell
Bartholin describes Huygens publishes Treatise experiment splitting demonstrates that
light polarization on Light, outlining his a beam of sunlight light is an oscillation
after observing wave theory and how light demonstrates the of magnetic and
the birefringence of bends as it passes between wave properties electric fields.
calcite crystals. different media. of light.
of small particles which move light were acting as a wave, and their relative motion as one moved
through the air from a source to an the waves each side of the thin away and the other toward Earth.
observer, possibly after reflection card interfered with one another. The theory was proven for sound and
from an object. Others saw light as Wave theory took off, but only deemed correct for light; the color
a wave, citing behavior such when it became clear that light of light depends on its wavelength,
as diffraction (spreading of light as traveled in transverse waves, unlike which is shorter as a star approaches
it passed through narrow gaps). sound, which travels in longitudinal and longer when it is moving away.
English physicists Isaac Newton waves. Soon, physicists examining In the 19th century, physicists
and Robert Hooke opposed each the properties of light also noticed also discovered new light invisible
other; Newton favored particles that light waves could be forced to to the human eye—first infrared
and Hooke opted for waves. oscillate in particular orientations and then ultraviolet. In 1865,
British polymath and physician known as polarization. By 1821, Scottish physicist James Clerk
Thomas Young provided an answer. French physicist Augustin-Jean Maxwell interpreted light as an
In an experiment outlined to the Fresnel had produced a complete electromagnetic wave, prompting
Royal Society in 1803, he split a theory of light in terms of waves. questions about how far the
beam of sunlight, dividing it by electromagnetic spectrum might
means of a thin card, so that it The Doppler effect extend. Soon physicists discovered
diffracted and produced a pattern While considering the light from light with more extreme frequencies,
on a screen. The pattern was not pairs of stars orbiting each other, such as X-rays, gamma rays, radio
that of two bright patches from two Austrian physicist Christian Doppler waves, and microwaves—and their
rays of light, but a series of bright noticed that most pairs showed one multiple uses. Light that is invisible
and dark repeating lines. The star red and the other blue. In 1842, to humans is now an essential part
results could only be explained if he proposed that this was due to of modern life. ■
164
IN CONTEXT
THERE IS
KEY FIGURE
Pythagoras (c. 570–495 bce)
GEOMETRY IN
BEFORE
c. 40,000 bce The earliest
known purpose-built musical
instrument is a flute carved
THE HUMMING
from a vulture’s wing bone,
found at the Hohle Fels cave
near Ulm, Germany, in 2008.
OF THE STRINGS
AFTER
c. 350 bce Aristotle suggests
that sound is conveyed by the
movement of air.
MUSIC 1636 French theologian

and mathematician Marin
Mersenne discovers the law
linking the fundamental
frequency of a stretched
string to its length, mass,
and tension.
1638 In Italy, Galileo Galilei
claims that pitch depends on
the frequency, rather than the
speed, of sound waves.
H
umans have been making
music since prehistoric
times, but it was not until
the golden age of ancient Greece
(500–300 bce) that some of the
physical principles behind the
production of harmonic sounds,
in particular frequency and pitch,
were established. The earliest
scientific attempt to understand
these fundamental aspects of
music is generally attributed to
the Greek philosopher Pythagoras.
The sound of music

Pitch is determined by the frequency
of sound waves (the number of
waves that pass a fixed point
each second). A combination
SOUND AND LIGHT 165
See also: The scientific method 20–23 ■ The language of physics 24–31 ■ Pressure 36 ■ Harmonic motion 52–53
■ Electromagnetic waves 192–195 ■ Piezoelectricity and ultrasound 200–201 ■ The heavens 270–271
Limiting the
The timbre (sound
The pitch of a musical movement of a string
quality) of a musical
note depends on the at specific fractions of its
note depends on the
frequency of its length produces notes that
distinct shape of its
sound waves. create a pleasing
sound waves.
musical scale.
Music is governed by patterns in sound

waves and mathematical ratios.
of physics and biology enables or even sung by another singer. to test the hammers and anvils,
its perception by the human ear. Musicians can also alter the timbre and in doing so discovered a
Today, we know that sound waves of an instrument by using different relationship between the size of
are longitudinal—they are created playing techniques. A violinist, for the hammer used and the pitch
by air being displaced back and example, can change the way the of the sound it produced.
forth in directions parallel to that strings vibrate by using the bow Like many other stories
in which the wave is propagating in different ways. about Pythagoras, this episode
(moving through the medium that is certainly invented (there is no
carries it). We perceive sound Pythagorean findings relationship between pitch and
when these oscillations cause According to legend, Pythagoras the size of the hammer striking
our eardrums to vibrate. formulated his ideas about pitch an anvil) but it is true that the
While the frequency or pitch while listening to the melodic philosopher and his followers found
of a sound dictates the note that sound of hammers striking anvils fundamental links between the
we hear, music also has another as he passed a busy blacksmith’s physics of musical instruments
quality known as “timbre.” This workshop. Hearing a note that and the notes they produced.
is the subtle variation in the rise sounded different from the others, They realized that there was a
and fall of the waves produced by he is said to have rushed inside relationship between the size and ❯❯
a particular musical instrument—
features of the wave’s “shape” Even if two notes have the same pitch, their sound depends
that are distinct from its simple on the shape of their waves. A tuning fork produces a pure
frequency and wavelength (the sound with just one pitch. A violin has a jagged waveform
distance between two successive with pitches called overtones on top of its fundamental pitch.
peaks and troughs in a wave).
No nondigital musical instrument
can produce sound waves that
vary consistently and entirely
smoothly, and timbre is the
reason why a note sung by a Simple waveform Overtone
human voice can sound very
different when it is played on a
stringed, wind, or brass instrument,
166 MUSIC
“first harmonic”. Standing waves fundamental tone and the octave
of shorter wavelengths, known as through a series of seven steps
“higher harmonics,” can be created without striking discordant notes.
by “stopping” a string (holding or The 3:2 ratio defined the fifth of
limiting its movement at another these steps, and became known
Harmony … depends on point on its length). The “second as the “perfect fifth.”
musical proportion; it is harmonic” is produced by stopping A set of seven musical notes
nothing but a mysterious the string precisely halfway along (equivalent to the white keys,
musical relation. its length. This results in a wave designated A–G, of an octave on
Florian Cajori whose entire wavelength matches a modern piano) proved somewhat
Swiss–American mathematician the string length—in other limiting, however, and smaller
words, the wavelength is half and tuning divisions called semitones
the frequency double that of the were later introduced. These led to
fundamental tone. To human a versatile system of twelve notes
hearing, this creates a note with (both the white and black keys on
many of the same characteristics a modern piano). While the seven
as the fundamental tone but with white keys alone can only make
sound of musical instruments. a higher pitch—in musical terms it a pleasing progression (known as
In particular, they found similar is an octave higher. A stop one- the “diatonic scale”) when played
relationships among the sounds third of the way down the string in order up or down from one “C”
produced by strings of different creates the third harmonic, with a to the next, the additional black
lengths, organ pipes of varying wavelength of two-thirds the length keys (“sharps” and “flats”) allow
heights, and wind instruments of of the string and a frequency three such a progression to be followed
different diameters and lengths. times that of the fundamental tone. from any point.
The Pythagoreans’ discoveries “Pythagorean tuning” based
had more to do with systematic The perfect fifth on the perfect fifth was used to
experiments involving vibrating The difference between the second find the desirable pitch of notes on
strings than hammers and anvils. and third harmonics was important. Western musical instruments for
The observation that shorter strings Equivalent to a 3:2 ratio between the many centuries, until changes in
vibrate more quickly and produce frequencies of vibrating waves, it musical taste in the Renaissance
higher notes was nothing new— separated pitches (musical notes) era led to more complex tunings.
it had been the basis of stringed that blended together pleasingly, Musical cultures outside Europe,
instruments for at least 2,000 years. but were also musically more such as those of India and China,
However, vibrating identical strings distinct from each other than
in different ways produced more harmonic notes separated by a
interesting results. whole octave.
Pythagoras and his students Experimentation soon allowed
tested strings from lyres (an early the Pythagoreans to construct
musical instrument) with varying an entire musical system around
lengths and tensions. Plucking a this relationship. By building and
string in the middle of its length, correctly “tuning” other strings
for example, creates a “standing to vibrate at frequencies set by
wave” in which the middle simple numerical relationships,
oscillates back and forth while they constructed a musical bridge,
the ends remain fixed in place. In or progression, between the
effect, the string produces a wave
with a wavelength that is twice
The lyre of ancient Greece
its own length and a frequency originally had four strings, but
determined by the wavelength and had acquired as many as 12 by the
the tension in the string. This is 5th century bce. Players plucked
known as the fundamental tone or the strings with a plectrum.
SOUND AND LIGHT 167
A medieval woodcut depicts the
musical investigations of Pythagoras
and his follower Philolaus, including the
various sounds produced by different
sized wind instruments.
and Aristotle and passed into the

canon of Western pre-Renaissance
musical theory.
Another long-standing musical
misunderstanding passed down
from the Pythagoreans was their
claim that the pitch of a string
had a proportional relationship Pythagoras
to both its length and to the
tension at which it was strung. Little is known about the early
When Italian lute-player and life of Pythagoras, but later
musical theorist Vincenzo Galilei Greek historians agreed that
followed their own traditions, (father of Galileo) investigated he was born on the Aegean
although they, too, recognized the these supposed laws in the island of Samos, a major
pleasing effects when notes of mid-16th century, he found that trading center, in around
certain pitches were played in while the claimed relationship 570 bce. Some legends tell of
sequence or together. between length and pitch was youthful travels in the Near
correct, the law of tension East, and studying under
Music of the spheres? was more complex—the pitch Egyptian or Persian priests
and philosophers, as well as
For Pythagorean philosophers, varied in proportion to the square
Greek scholars. They also say
the realization that music was root of the tension applied.
that on returning to Samos,
shaped by mathematics revealed a Galilei’s discovery led to wider he rose rapidly in public life.
profound truth about the universe questions about the supposed At around the age of 40,
as a whole. It inspired them to superiority of ancient Greek Pythagoras moved to Croton,
look for mathematical patterns knowledge, while his experimental a Greek city in southern Italy,
elsewhere, including in the method—carrying out practical where he founded a school of
heavens. Studies of the cyclic tests and mathematical analysis philosophy that attracted
patterns in which the planets and rather than taking the claims of many followers. Surviving
stars moved across the sky led to authority for granted—became writings from Pythagoras’s
a theory of cosmic harmony that a major influence on his son. ■ pupils suggest that his
later became known as the “music teachings included not
of the spheres.” only mathematics and music
Several followers of Pythagoras but also ethics, politics,
also attempted to explain the metaphysics (philosophical
inquiry into the nature of
nature of musical notes by
reality itself), and mysticism.
considering the physics involved. They saw in numbers the Pythagoras acquired great
The Greek philosopher Archytas attributes and ratios of political influence over the
(c. 428–347 bce) suggested that the musical scales. leaders of Croton and may
oscillating strings created sounds have died during a civil
Aristotle
that moved at different speeds, on the Pythagoreans uprising that was triggered
which humans heard as different by his rejection of calls for a
pitches. Although incorrect, this democratic constitution. His
theory was adopted and repeated death is placed at around
in the teachings of the hugely 495 bce.
influential philosophers Plato
168
LIGHT FOLLOWS
THE PATH OF
LEAST TIME
REFLECTION AND REFRACTION
R
eflection and refraction surface, known as the “normal.” The
IN CONTEXT are the two fundamental angle between the incoming ray
behaviors of light. and the normal is the same as
KEY FIGURE
Reflection is the tendency for that between the normal and the
Pierre de Fermat (1607–1665)
light to bounce off a surface in a reflected ray. In the 1st century ce,
BEFORE direction related to the angle at the mathematician Hero of
c. 160 ce Ptolemy puts forward which it approaches that surface. Alexandria showed how this
a theory that the eye emits Early studies led the Greek path always involves the light
rays which return information mathematician Euclid to note ray traveling over the shortest
to the observer. that light is reflected off a mirror distance (and spending the
at an “angle of reflection” equal to least time doing so).
c. 990 Persian mathematician its “angle of incidence”—the angle Refraction is the way rays of light
Ibn Sahl develops a law of at which it approaches in relation to change direction when passing
refraction after studying the a line perpendicular to the mirror’s from one transparent material to
bending of light.
1010 Arabic scholar Ibn Light approaching the boundary to another material can either be
al-Haytham’s Book of Optics reflected off at the same angle to the “normal” line, perpendicular to the
surface, or refracted at an angle that relates to the angle of approach and
proposes that vision is the the relative speed of light in the two materials. Whether light is reflected
result of rays entering the eye. or refracted, it always follows the shortest and simplest path.
Normal Refracted ray as
AFTER denser secondary
Incident ray Angle of Angle of
1807 Thomas Young coins incidence incidence material slows
the term “refractive index” to and reflection it down
are equal
describe the ratio of the speed Secondary
of light in a vacuum to its material
speed in a refracting material. Incident
ray
1821 Frenchman Augustin Normal
Angle of
Fresnel outlines a complete refraction
theory of light and describes Reflected
refraction and reflection in ray Ray exits secondary
Secondary material and returns
terms of waves. material to original speed
Reflection Refraction
SOUND AND LIGHT 169
See also: Energy and motion 56–57 ■ Focusing light 170–175 ■ Lumpy and wavelike light 176–179 ■ Diffraction and
interference 180–183 ■ Polarization 184–187 ■ The speed of light 275 ■ Dark matter 302–305
another. It was 10th-century Persian A landscape is reflected in a lake

mathematician Ibn Sahl who first on a still day. The angle of reflection
found a law linking a ray’s angle equals the angle of incidence—the
angle at which sunlight reflected
of incidence at the boundary of from the landscape hits the water.
two materials with its angle of
refraction in the second material,
as well as the properties of the two smallest imaginable wavelength.
materials. This was rediscovered in This is often seen as justification
Europe in the early 17th century, for the concept of a light “ray”—
most notably by Dutch astronomer the widely used idea of a beam of
Willebrord Snellius, and is known light that travels through space
as Snell’s law. along the path of least time. When
light is moving through a single
Shortest path and time unchanging medium, this means
In 1658, French mathematician that it will travel in straight lines
Pierre de Fermat realized that both (except when the space through
reflection and refraction could be which it travels is distorted).
described using the same basic However, when light reflects from
principle—an extension of that a boundary or passes into a
put forward by Hero of Alexandria. transparent medium in which on entering a denser material,
Fermat’s principle states that the its speed is slower or faster, this and away from it when entering
path light will take between any “principle of least time” dictates one that is less dense.
two points is that which can be the path it will take. Fermat’s discovery was
crossed in the least time. By assuming that the speed important in its own right, but
Fermat created his principle of light was finite, and that light also widely regarded as the first
by considering Dutch physicist moved more slowly in denser example of what is known as a
Christiaan Huygens’ earlier transparent materials, Fermat was family of “variational principles”
concept describing the motion able to derive Snell’s law from his in physics, describing the tendency
of light in the form of waves and principle, describing correctly how of processes to always follow the
how it applied to cases with the light will bend toward the normal most efficient pathway. ■
Pierre de Fermat Born in 1607, the son of a merchant the energy required. This
from southwestern France, Pierre was important for understanding
de Fermat trained and worked not only light and large-scale
as a lawyer, but is mostly motion, but also the behavior
remembered for mathematics. of atoms on the quantum level.
He found a means of calculating Fermat died in 1665; three
the slopes and turning points of centuries later, his famous
curves a generation before Isaac Fermat’s last theorem about
Newton and Gottfried Leibniz the behavior of numbers at
used calculus to do so. powers higher than 2 was
Fermat’s “principle of least finally proved in 1995.
time” is regarded as a key step
toward the more universal Key work
“principle of least action”—an
observation that many physical 1636 “Method of Finding the
phenomena behave in ways that Maxima, Minima and Linear
minimize (or sometimes maximize) Tangents of Curves”
A NEW VISIBLE
WORLD
FOCUSING LIGHT
172 FOCUSING LIGHT
J
ust as rays of light can a larger part of the eye’s field of
IN CONTEXT be reflected in different vision. These magnifying lenses,
directions by plane mirrors however, had limitations. Studying
KEY FIGURE
(with a flat surface), or refracted objects that were very close to
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
from one angle to another as they the lens, using larger lenses to
(1632–1723) cross a flat boundary between achieve a greater field of view
BEFORE different transparent materials, (area of the object that could be
5th century bce In ancient so curved surfaces can be used magnified) involved bending light
Greece, convex disks of crystal to bend light rays onto converging rays that would be diverging
or glass are used to ignite fires paths—bringing them together at strongly between opposite sides
by focusing sunlight on a a point called a focus. The bending of the lens. This required a more
single point. and focusing of light rays using powerful lens (sharply curved and
lenses or mirrors is the key to thicker at the center), which due
c. 1000 ce The first lenses, many optical instruments, including to the limitations of early glass
glass “reading stones” with the groundbreaking single-lens manufacture was more likely
a flat base and convex upper microscope designed by Antonie to produce distortions. High
surface, are used in Europe. van Leeuwenhoek in the 1670s. magnifications therefore seemed
impossible to achieve. These
AFTER Magnifying principles problems held up the development
1893 German scientist August The first form of optical instrument of optical instruments for centuries.
Köhler devises an illumination was the lens, used in Europe from
system for the microscope. the 11th century. The refraction The first telescopes
process as light enters and leaves In the 17th century, scientists
1931 In Germany, Ernst Ruska
a convex lens (with an outward- realized that by using a
and Max Knoll build the first
curving surface) bends the combination of multiple lenses
electron microscope, which spreading light rays from a source instead of a single lens in an
uses the quantum properties onto more closely parallel paths, instrument they could improve
of electrons to view objects. creating an image that occupies magnification significantly,
1979 The Multiple Mirror
Telescope at Mount Hopkins, While the original “Galilean” telescope design uses
Only part
Arizona, is built. a concave eyepiece lens to bend light outward without of the light
passing through a focus, the more advanced Keplerian from the
design uses a convex lens beyond the focus to produce image enters
an image covering a larger field of view. the pupil
Light ray Objective lens
Where the telescope

ends, the microscope
begins. Which of Galilean refracting telescope Concave eyepiece
the two has the
grander view? Light ray Light from the entire
Objective lens image enters the pupil
Victor Hugo
Les Misérables Focal point
Convex eyepiece
Keplerian refracting telescope

SOUND AND LIGHT 173
See also: Reflection and refraction 168–169 ■ Lumpy and wavelike light 176–179 ■ Diffraction and interference 180–183
■ Polarization 184–187 ■ Seeing beyond light 202–203
However, attempting
Lens shapes can also to magnify nearby
Lens-shaped glass or
bend light from nearby objects by large amounts
crystal can bend sunlight
objects to create a creates distortions due
to create a focus.
magnified image. to lens thickness.
A single beadlike lens that is Combining an objective lens

completely spherical can with another eyepiece can
produce an even more highly produce a magnified image
magnified image of a tiny area. of a small area.
creating optical tools that could In 1609, Italian physicist Galileo In 1611, German astronomer
magnify not only nearby objects Galilei built his own telescope Johannes Kepler came up with
but also those very far away. based on this model. His rigorous a better design. In the Keplerian
The first compound optical approach allowed him to improve telescope, the rays are allowed
instrument (one using multiple on the original, producing devices to meet, and the eyepiece lens is
lenses) was the telescope, usually that could magnify by a factor of convex rather than concave. Here,
said to have been invented by 30. These telescopes allowed him the lens is placed beyond the focus
Dutch lens-maker Hans Lippershey to make important astronomical point, at a distance where rays
around 1608. Lippershey’s device, discoveries, but the images were have begun to diverge again.
consisting of two lenses mounted still blurry, and the field of view tiny. The eyepiece therefore acts more
at either end of a tube, produced like a normal magnifying glass,
images of distant objects magnified creating an image with a larger
by a factor of three. Just as a field of view and potentially offering
magnifying glass bends diverging far higher magnification. Keplerian
rays from nearby objects onto telescopes form images that are
more parallel paths, so the front, upside-down and back-to-front, but
or “objective.” lens of a telescope [T]he effect of this was not a significant problem
gathers near-parallel rays from more my instrument is such for astronomical observations, or
distant objects and bends them onto that it makes an object fifty even for practiced terrestrial users.
a converging path. However before miles off appear as large
the rays can meet, a concave as if it were only Tackling aberration
(inward-curving) “eyepiece” lens five miles away. The key to increasing a telescope’s
bends them back onto diverging Galileo Galilei magnifying power lay in the
paths—creating an image in the strength and separation of its
observer’s eye that appears larger lenses, but stronger lenses
and (because the objective lens brought with them problems of
gathered much more light than their own. Astronomers identified
a human pupil) also brighter. two major problems—colorful ❯❯
174 FOCUSING LIGHT
Ten times more powerful than
the Hubble Space Telescope, the Giant
Magellan Telescope in Chile, due to
be completed in 2025, will capture light
from the outer reaches of the universe.
intercepted the converging rays

and sent them toward an eyepiece
on the side of the telescope tube
(crossing over at a focus point
along the way).
Using reflection rather than
refraction sidestepped the issue
of chromatic aberration, but early
reflectors were far from perfect.
The “speculum metal” (a highly
polished copper and tin alloy), used
for mirrors of the time, produced
faint images tinted with brassy
fringes around objects known as same idea allowed telescope colors. Silver-coated glass, a
“chromatic aberration” (caused by makers to eliminate spherical better reflector, was pioneered
different colors of light refracting aberration, too. by French physicist Léon Foucault
at different angles) and blurred in the 1850s.
images due to “spherical aberration” Mirrored telescopes
(difficulties in making a lens of From the 1660s, astronomers Compound microscopes
ideal curvature). began using reflector telescopes. Just as scientists combined lenses
It seemed that the only practical These use a concave, curved to magnify distant objects, they
route to high magnification with primary mirror to gather parallel did the same to improve the power
minimal aberration was to make light rays and bounce them onto of the magnifying glass to look at
the objective lens larger and converging paths. Various designs minuscule objects that were
thinner, and place it much further were proposed in the early 17th close. Credit for inventing the
away from the eyepiece. In the late century, but the first practical “compound microscope” is
17th century, this led to the building example was built by Isaac Newton disputed, but Dutch inventor
of extraordinary “aerial telescopes” in 1668. This used a spherically Cornelis Drebbel demonstrated
focusing light over distances of curved primary lens, with a small such an instrument in London
more than 330 ft (100 meters). secondary mirror suspended at a in 1621. In order to minimize
A more practical solution was diagonal angle in front of it, which thickness and reduce aberration,
discovered by British lawyer
Chester Moore Hall in around
1730. He realized that nesting Main light-
Secondary
an objective lens made of weakly mirror gathering lens
refractive glass next to a concave
second lens with much stronger Eyepiece
refraction would create a “doublet”
that focused all colors at a single
distance, avoiding blurry fringes. Reflector
This “achromatic” lens became telescopes use
Primary light- Eyepiece curved mirrors to
widespread after Hall’s technique gathering mirror lens gather light and
was discovered and marketed produce an image.
by optician John Dollond in the Reflector Refractor Refractor telescopes
1750s. Later developments of the telescope telescope use only lenses.
SOUND AND LIGHT 175
1665 book Micrographia, caused a
sensation, but his work was soon
surpassed by that of Dutch scientist
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek.
My method for seeing the very Simple ingenuity

smallest animalcules and Van Leeuwenhoek’s single-lens
minute eels, I do not impart to microscope was far more powerful
others; nor how to see very than compound microscopes of
many animalcules at one time. the time. The lens itself was a tiny
Antonie van glass bead—a polished sphere able
Leeuwenhoek to bend light rays from a small area
very sharply to create a highly
magnified image. A metal frame, Antonie van
holding the tiny lens in place, was
Leeuwenhoek
held close to the eye, in order for
the sky to act as a light source Born in the Dutch town of Delft
behind it. A pin on the frame held in 1632, van Leeuwenhoek
the objective lens of a compound the sample in place, and three became an apprentice in a
microscope has a very small screws could move the pin in three linen shop at the age of six.
diameter (so light rays passing dimensions, allowing adjustments On marrying in 1654, he set
through different points on the to the focus and the area on which up his own draper’s business.
lens are only slightly divergent). the light focused by the lens fell. Wishing to study the quality
The eyepiece lens, which is often Van Leeuwenhoek kept his of fibers up close, but unhappy
larger than the objective, does lens-making technique a secret, with the power of available
most of the work of producing but it achieved a magnification magnifying glasses, he
the magnified image. of at least 270 times, revealing studied optics and began to
make his own microscopes.
The most successful early features far smaller than Hooke
Van Leeuwenhoek soon
compound microscope was had seen. With this powerful tool, started to use his microscopes
designed by Robert Hooke in the he was able to discover the first for scientific studies, and a
1660s. He mounted a third convex bacteria, human spermatozoa, and physician friend, Regnier de
lens between the objective lens the internal structure of the “cells” Graaf, brought his work to the
and the eyepiece, bending the light already identified by Hooke, for attention of London’s Royal
more sharply and increasing the which he is known as the founding Society. Van Leeuwenhoek’s
magnification, at a cost of greater father of microbiology. ■ studies of the microscopic
aberration. He also addressed world, including his discovery
another important issue—the of single-celled organisms,
tiny field of view on which the amazed its members. Elected
microscope focused meant that to the Royal Society in 1680,
images tended to be dim (simply he was visited by leading
because there are fewer light rays scientists of the day until
his death in 1723.
reflecting from a smaller area).
To correct this, he added an
artificial source of illumination— Key works
a candle whose light was focused
onto the object by a spherical glass 375 letters in Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal
bulb filled with water.
Van Leeuwenhoek made his Society
Hooke’s large-format drawings microscopes himself. They comprised 27 letters in Memoirs of
of plant and insect structures, a tiny spherical lens held between two the Paris Academy of Sciences
created by using the microscope plates with a hole in each side and a
and published in the influential pin to hold the specimen.
176
IN CONTEXT
LIGHT IS
KEY FIGURE
Thomas Young (1773–1829)
BEFORE
A WAVE
5th century bce The Greek
philosopher Empedocles
claims that “light corpuscles”
emerge from the human eye to
illuminate the world around it.
LUMPY AND WAVELIKE LIGHT c. 60 bce Lucretius, a Roman

philosopher, proposes that light
is a form of particle emitted
by luminous objects.
c. 1020 In his Book of Optics,
Arab polymath Ibn al-Haytham
theorizes that objects are lit
by the reflection of light from
the sun.
AFTER
1969 At Bell Labs, in the US,
Willard Boyle and George E.
Smith invent the charge-
coupled device (CCD), which
generates digital images by
collecting photons.
T
heories about the nature
of light had occupied the
minds of philosophers and
scientists since ancient times, but
it was the development of optical
instruments such as the telescope
and microscope in the 1600s that
led to important breakthroughs,
such as confirmation that Earth
was not the center of the solar
system and the discovery of a
microscopic world.
In around 1630, French scientist
and philosopher René Descartes,
seeking to explain the phenomenon
of light refraction (how light bends
when it passes between media),
proposed that light was a traveling
disturbance—a wave moving at
SOUND AND LIGHT 177
See also: Force fields and Maxwell’s equations 142–147 ■ Diffraction and interference 180–183 ■ Polarization 184–187
■ Electromagnetic waves 192–195 ■ Energy quanta 208–211 ■ Particles and waves 212–215
experiments—in which he
split white light into its color
components using a prism and
then recreated a white beam
using lenses—revealed the truth.
Newton also investigated One may conceive light to
reflection. He showed that beams spread successively, by
of light always reflect in straight spherical waves.
lines and cast sharp-edged Christiaan Huygens
shadows. In his view, wavelike light
would show more signs of bending
and spreading, so he concluded
that light must be corpuscular—
White light splits into the rainbow
components of the visible spectrum made up of tiny, lumpy particles.
when it passes through a prism. The Newton published his findings in
precise color depends on the length 1675 and developed them further bends when it passes between
of the wave—red has the longest. in his book Opticks in 1704. His different media (such as water
premise dominated theories about and air) in terms of wave behavior.
light for more than a century. Huygens rejected the corpuscular
infinite speed through a medium model on the grounds that two
that filled empty space. (He called Light bends beams could collide without
this medium the plenum.) Around Newton’s work had some failings, scattering in unexpected
1665, English scientist Robert particularly when it came to directions. He suggested that light
Hooke was the first to make a link refraction. In 1690, Dutch scientist was a disturbance moving at very
between the diffraction of light (its and inventor Christiaan Huygens high (though finite) speed through
ability to spread out after passing published Treatise on Light, in what he called the “luminiferous
through narrow openings) and the which he explained how light ether”—a light-carrying medium. ❯❯
similar behavior of water waves.
This led him to suggest that not
only was light a wave, but it was a
transverse wave, like water—one in Water waves produce a Light spreads out
which the direction of disturbance spreading semicircular after passing through
is at right angles to the direction pattern after passing a narrow slit.
of motion, or “propagation.” through a narrow opening.
The color spectrum

Hooke’s ideas were largely
overlooked thanks to the influence
within the scientific community Overlapping waves in Overlapping light waves
of his great rival, Isaac Newton. water interfere with each interfere with each other to
In around 1670, Newton began a other to produce complex produce lighter and
series of experiments on light and patterns. darker regions.
optics in which he showed that
color is an intrinsic property of
light. Until then, most researchers
had assumed that light acquired
colors through its interaction with Light is a wave.
different matter, but Newton’s
178 LUMPY AND WAVELIKE LIGHT
tank—a shallow bath of water with the way they illuminated a screen
a paddle at one end to generate to how a single beam illuminated
periodic waves. Placing obstacles, it. A pattern of light and dark areas
such as a barrier with one or more appeared on the screen when the
openings, in the bath allowed dividing card was in place, but
The experiments I am about him to study wave behavior. He disappeared when the card was
to relate … may be repeated showed how after passing through removed. Young had elegantly
with great ease, whenever the a narrow slit in a barrier, parallel shown that light was behaving in
sun shines, and without any straight waves would produce a the same way as water waves—
other apparatus than is at spreading semicircular pattern— as the two separated beams
hand to every one. an effect similar to the diffraction diffracted and overlapped, areas
Thomas Young of light through narrow openings. of greater and lesser intensity
A barrier with two slits created interacted to produce an interference
a pair of spreading wave patterns pattern that the corpuscular theory
that overlapped. Waves from the could not explain. (The experiment
two slits could freely pass through was later refined with two narrow
each other, and where they crossed, slits in an opaque glass surface,
the wave height was determined for which it became known as
Huygens developed a useful by the phases of the overlapping the “double-slit experiment”.)
principle in which each point on waves—an effect known as Young argued that his
the advancing “wave front” of a interference. When two wave peaks demonstration showed beyond
light beam is treated as a source of or two troughs overlapped, they doubt that light was a wave.
smaller “wavelets” spreading in all increased the height or depth of the What was more, the patterns
directions. The overall course of the wave; when a peak and a trough varied according to the color of
beam can be predicted by finding met, they cancelled each other out. the diffracted light, which implied
the direction in which the wavelets Young’s next step, outlined in that colors were determined
align and reinforce each other. a lecture to the Royal Society in by wavelengths.
1803, was to demonstrate that light While Young’s experiment
Young’s experiments behaved in a similar way to waves. revived debate about the nature
For most of the 18th century, the To do this, he split a narrow beam of light, the wave theory of light
corpuscular model dominated of sunlight into two beams using was not yet fully accepted. Despite
thinking on light. That changed a piece of thin card and compared Hooke’s early ideas, most scientists
in the early 19th century with the
work of British polymath Thomas
The classic “double-slit” experiment, a modification Waves cancel
Young. As a medical student in of Thomas Young’s original, produces a pair of each other out
the 1790s, Young investigated the diffracting waves whose interference pattern (peaks and troughs
properties of sound waves and intersect), producing
generates light and dark stripes on a screen. the dark stripes
became interested in general wave
phenomena. Similarities between
Dividing card
sound and light convinced him with two slits
that light might also form waves,
and in 1799 he wrote a letter
Interference
setting out his argument to pattern of
the Royal Society in London. light and
Faced with fierce skepticism dark stripes
on the screen
from the followers of Newton’s
model, Young set about devising
experiments that would prove the Light Waves come together
wave behavior of light beyond source (peaks intersect with peaks
and troughs intersect with
doubt. With a shrewd grasp of the Incoming troughs), producing the
power of analogy, he built a ripple light rays white stripes
SOUND AND LIGHT 179
Thomas Young The eldest of 10 children, Young of Egyptian hieroglyphs,

was born into a Quaker family in explained the working of the
the English county of Somerset eye, investigated the properties
in 1773. A born polymath, he of elastic materials, and
mastered several modern and developed a method for tuning
ancient languages as a child, musical instruments. His death
before going on to study medicine. in 1829 was widely mourned in
After making a mark with his the scientific community.
private scientific research, in 1801
he was appointed professor at the Key works
recently founded Royal Institution,
but later resigned to avoid conflict 1804 “Experiments and
with his medical practice. Calculations Relative to
Young continued to study and Physical Optics”
experiment and made valuable 1807 A Course of Lectures on
contributions in many fields. He Natural Philosophy and the
made progress in the translation Mechanical Arts
(including Young himself) at light supposedly traveled. Most now called photons. The intensity
first assumed that if light was a experts believed that Maxwell’s of a light source depends on the
wave, it must be longitudinal— equations described the speed number of photons it produces,
like sound, where the disturbance at which light would enter the but the energy of an individual
of the medium moves back and ether from a source. The failure photon depends on its wavelength
forth parallel to the direction of of increasingly sophisticated or frequency—hence high-energy
propagation. This made some experiments designed to detect blue photons can provide electrons
light phenomena, such as this light-carrying medium raised with enough energy to flow, while
polarization, impossible to fundamental questions and created lower-energy red ones, even in
explain through waves. a crisis that was only resolved by large numbers, cannot. Since the
A solution emerged in France Einstein’s theory of special relativity. early 20th century, the fact that
in 1816, when André-Marie Ampère light can behave like a wave or
suggested to Augustin-Jean Waves and particles like a particle has been confirmed
Fresnel that the waves might be Einstein was largely responsible for in numerous experiments. ■
transverse, which would explain a final shift in our understanding
the behavior of polarized light. of light. In 1905, he put forward an
Fresnel went on to produce a explanation for the photoelectric
detailed wave theory of light that effect—a phenomenon in which
also explained diffraction effects. currents flow from the surface
of certain metals when they are
Electromagnetic properties exposed to certain kinds of light. [W]e have good reason to
Acceptance of light’s wavelike Scientists had been puzzled by conclude that light itself […]
nature coincided with developing the fact that a feeble amount of is an electromagnetic
studies of electricity and magnetism. blue or ultraviolet light would disturbance in the form of
By the 1860s, James Clerk Maxwell cause a current to flow from some waves propagating […]
was able to describe light in a metals while they remained according to the laws
series of elegant equations as an inactive under even the most of electromagnetism.
electromagnetic disturbance moving intense red light. Einstein James Clerk Maxwell
at 186,282 miles (299,792 km) suggested (building on the concept
per second. of light quanta previously used by
However, awkward questions Max Planck) that despite being
still surrounded Huygens’ so-called fundamentally wavelike, light
“luminiferous ether” through which travels in small particle-like bursts,
180
IN CONTEXT
LIGHT IS
KEY FIGURE
Augustin-Jean Fresnel
(1788–1827)
NEVER KNOWN
BEFORE
1665 Robert Hooke compares
the movement of light to the
TO BEND INTO
spreading of waves in water.
1666 Isaac Newton
demonstrates that sunlight is
THE SHADOW
composed of different colors.
AFTER
1821 Augustin-Jean Fresnel
publishes his work on
DIFFRACTION AND INTERFERENCE polarization, suggesting for
the first time that light is a
transverse (waterlike) wave
rather than a longitudinal
(soundlike) wave.
1860 In Germany, Gustav
Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen
use diffraction gratings to link
bright “emission lines” of light
at specific wavelengths with
different chemical elements.
D
ifferent types of waves
share similar behaviors,
such as reflection
(bouncing off a surface at the same
angle as they approach the surface),
refraction (changing direction at
the boundaries between mediums),
and diffraction—the way a wave
spreads around obstacles or spreads
out when it passes through an
aperture. An example of diffraction
is the way water waves spread
into the shadow region beyond a
barrier. The discovery that light
also exhibits diffraction was key
to proving its wavelike nature.
The diffraction of light was
first systematically observed in
the 1660s by Francesco Maria
SOUND AND LIGHT 181
See also: Reflection and refraction 168–169 ■ Lumpy and wavelike light 176–179 ■ Polarization 184–187 ■ The Doppler
effect and redshift 188–191 ■ Electromagnetic waves 192–195 ■ Particles and waves 212–215
Incoming light allowed it to bend. It was Grimaldi

rays travel straight
who coined the term “diffraction”
to describe this. His findings,
published posthumously in 1665,
were a thorn in the side of
scientists trying to prove the
corpuscular nature of light.
Competing theories
In the 1670s, Isaac Newton
treated diffraction (which he
called “inflexion”) as a special
Outgoing light
type of refraction that occurred
diffracts when light rays (which he believed
were corpuscular) passed close
When linear light waves pass to obstacles. At around the same
through a narrow aperture in a time, Newton’s rival Robert Like light waves, wind-generated
barrier, they diffract (spread out) Hooke cast doubt on his theory waves on a lake spread out in circular
into semicircular wave fronts. by conducting successful ripples when they pass through a
demonstrations of Grimaldi’s narrow gap, illustrating the property
of diffraction common to all waves.
experiments, and Dutch scientist
Grimaldi, a Jesuit priest and and inventor Christiaan Huygens
physicist in Italy. Grimaldi put forward his own wave theory Neither the wave theory of light
built a dark room with a pinhole of light. Huygens argued that many nor Newton’s corpuscular theory
aperture through which a pencil- optical phenomena could only be explained the phenomenon of
width beam of sunlight could explained if light was treated as colored fringing—something that
enter and hit an angled screen. an advancing “wave front,” along Grimaldi had noted around both
Where the beam struck the screen, which any point was a source the edges of the illuminated circle
it created an oval circle of light, of secondary waves, whose and the shadow of the rod in his
which Grimaldi measured. He interference and reinforcement experiments. Newton’s struggle
then held a thin rod in the path determined the direction in with this question led him to
of the light beam and measured which the wave front moved. propose some intriguing ideas.
the size of the shadow it cast He maintained that light was
within the illuminated area. strictly corpuscular, but that each
Grimaldi then compared his fast-moving corpuscle could act as
results to calculations based on a source of periodic waves whose
the assumption that light travels vibrations determined its color.
in straight lines. He found that
not only was the shadow larger Nature is not embarrassed Young’s experiments
than such calculations suggested by difficulties of analysis. Newton’s improved theory of light,
it should be, but so was the She avoids complication published in his book Opticks in
illuminated oval. only in means. 1704, did not entirely resolve
The conclusion Grimaldi drew Augustin-Jean Fresnel the questions around diffraction,
from these comparisons was that but the corpuscular model was
light was not composed of simple widely accepted until 1803, when
particles (corpuscles) that traveled Thomas Young’s demonstration
in straight lines, but had wavelike of interference between diffracted
properties, similar to water, that light waves led to a resurgence of ❯❯
182 DIFFRACTION AND INTERFERENCE
interest in Huygens’ ideas. Young is a distance where red light is still
proposed two modifications to diffracted, but blue light is not, then
the Huygens’ model that could it is red fringing that would appear.
explain diffraction. One was the
idea that the points on a wave front Crucial breakthrough
at the very edges of the open In 1818, the French Academy
aperture produced wavelets that of Sciences offered a prize for a
spread into the “shadow” region full explanation of the “problem
beyond the barrier. The other of inflection” identified by Young.
was that the observed pattern of Civil engineer Augustin-Jean
diffraction came about through a Fresnel had been working on
wave passing near the edge of the precisely this question for several
aperture interfering with a wave years, conducting a series of
Augustin-Jean bouncing off the sides of the barrier. intricate homemade experiments
Young also proposed that there and sharing his findings with
Fresnel
must be a distance where light academician François Arago. Some
The second of four sons of was sufficiently far from the edge of his work unwittingly replicated
a local architect, Fresnel was to be unaffected by diffraction. If that of Young, but there were
born at Broglie in Normandy, this distance varied between the new insights as well, and Arago
France, in 1788. In 1806, different colors of light, Young encouraged Fresnel to submit an
he enrolled to study civil maintained, it could explain the explanatory memoir for the prize
engineering at the National colored fringes discovered by competition. In this memoir,
School of Bridges and Roads, Grimaldi. For instance, if there Fresnel gave complex mathematical
and went on to become a
government engineer.
Briefly suspended from
work for his political views Light falls into areas Light is bending or
during the last days of the that should be completely spreading out as it
Napoleonic Wars, Fresnel in shadow. passes obstructions.
pursued his interest in optics.
Encouraged by physicist
François Arago, he wrote
essays and a prize memoir
on the subject, including a
mathematical treatment of The wave front in Huygens’ model would produce
diffraction. Fresnel later secondary waves that might spread out into shaded areas.
explained polarization using a
model of light as a transverse
wave and developed a lens for
focusing intense directional
beams of light (mainly used in
lighthouses). He died in 1827, Secondary wave fronts perfectly reinforce or cancel out only
at the age of 39. in a few places—in most, their interference is more complex.
Key works
1818 Memoir on the Diffraction Interference patterns are only

of Light Light diffraction completely dark where
1819 “On the Action of Rays is a wavelike waves cancel out each
of Polarized Light upon each behavior. other—elsewhere, light is
other” (with François Arago) always present.
SOUND AND LIGHT 183
bird feather artificially by winding
fine hairs between two tightly
threaded screws to create a mesh
with a density of around 100 hairs
per inch. This device was perfected
in 1813 by German physicist and
instrument-maker Joseph von
Fraunhofer, who named it the
“diffraction grating.” Crucially,
diffraction gratings offer a far more
efficient means of splitting light
than glass prisms because they
absorb very little of the light
striking them. They are therefore
The colors on a soap bubble are judges, Siméon-Denis Poisson, ideal for producing spectra from
caused by the interruption of light pointed out, Fresnel’s equations faint sources. Gratings and related
waves as they reflect off the thin predicted that the shadow cast by instruments have gone on to be
film of the bubble and interfere a circular obstacle illuminated by a extremely useful in many branches
with one another.
point source of light, such as a of science.
pinhole, should have a bright spot Fraunhofer also built the first
equations to describe the position at its very center—an idea Poisson “ruling engine”—a machine that
and strength of dark and light believed to be absurd. The matter painstakingly scratched narrowly
interference “fringes” and showed was resolved when Arago promptly spaced transparent lines into a
that they matched the results of constructed an experiment that glass plate covered with an
real experiments. produced just such a “Poisson otherwise opaque surface layer.
Fresnel also demonstrated spot.” Despite this success, the This device allowed him to spread
that the geometry of the fringes wave theory was not broadly sunlight into a far wider spectrum
depended on the wavelength of accepted until 1821, when Fresnel than could previously be achieved,
the light that had produced them. published his wave-based approach revealing the presence of what
For the first time, it was possible to explain polarization—how became known as “Fraunhofer
to measure interference fringes transverse light waves sometimes lines,” which would later play a key
produced by a monochromatic align in a particular direction. role in understanding the chemistry
(single-colored) light source and of stars and atoms. ■
thereby calculate the wavelength Diffraction and dispersion
of that specific color. While Young and Fresnel were
In the memoir, Fresnel summed learning to understand the effects
up the difference between Huygens’ of diffraction and interference by
wave theory and his own with directing light beams through
remarkable simplicity. Huygens’ two narrow slits, some instrument-
error, he said, was to assume that makers were taking a different I think I have found the
light would only spread where approach. As early as 1673, explanation and the law of
the secondary waves exactly Scottish astronomer James Gregory colored fringes which one
reinforced each other. In reality, had noted that sunlight passing notices in the shadows of
however, complete darkness is only through the fine gaps in a bird’s bodies illuminated by a
possible where the waves exactly feather spreads out into a rainbow- luminous point.
cancel each other out. like spectrum similar to the Augustin-Jean Fresnel
Despite its elegance, Fresnel’s behavior of white light passing
prize memoir faced a skeptical through a prism.
reception from a judging panel who In 1785, American inventor
mostly supported the corpuscular David Rittenhouse succeeded in
theory of Newton. As one of the replicating the effect of Gregory’s
184
IN CONTEXT
THE NORTH
KEY FIGURE
Étienne-Louis Malus
(1775–1812)
AND SOUTH
BEFORE
13th century References
to the use of “sunstones” in
Icelandic sagas suggest that
Viking sailors may have used
SIDES OF
the properties of Iceland spar
crystals to detect polarization
for daytime navigation.
AFTER
THE RAY
1922 Georges Friedel
investigates the properties of
three kinds of “liquid crystal”
material and notes their ability
to alter the polarization plane
POLARIZATION of light.
1929 American inventor
and scientist Edwin H. Land
invents “Polaroid,” a plastic
whose polymer strands act as
a filter for polarized light, only
transmitting light in one plane.
P
olarization is the alignment
of waves in a specific plane
or direction. The term is
usually applied to light, but any
transverse wave (oscillating at right
angles to the wave direction) can
be polarized. A number of natural
phenomena produce light that is
polarized—a portion of the sunlight
reflected off a flat and shiny surface
such as a lake, for example, is
polarized to match the angle of the
lake’s surface—and light can also
be polarized artificially.
The investigation of different
effects caused by polarization
helped determine that light is
a wavelike phenomenon, and
also provided important evidence
SOUND AND LIGHT 185
See also: Force fields and Maxwell’s equations 142–147 ■ Focusing light 170–175 ■ Lumpy and wavelike light 176–179
■ Diffraction and interference 180–183 ■ Electromagnetic waves 192–195
Light energy consists of vibrating electric

and magnetic fields.
I believe that this

phenomenon can serve lovers In normal light In polarized
of nature and other interested rays, these fields vibrate light, each field
persons for instruction or at in planes at random oscillates in a
least for pleasure. angles. constant plane.
Rasmus Bartholin
on birefringence
The planes of the fields can remain fixed in

orientation or rotate.
that it is electromagnetic in nature. an early champion of the wave and Newton could not envisage
The first account of identical light theory, argued that the speed of how these could be sensitive
beams differing for seemingly light rays traveling through the to direction.
inexplicable reasons was given by crystal varied according to the
Danish scientist Rasmus Bartholin direction in which they moved, Sides and poles
in 1669. He discovered that and in 1690 used his “wave front” In the early 19th century, French
viewing an object through principle to model the image- soldier and physicist Étienne-Louis
the crystals of a transparent doubling effect. Malus carried out his own version
mineral known as Iceland spar Huygens also carried out some of Huygens’ experiments. Malus
(a form of calcite) produced a new experiments, placing a second was interested in applying ❯❯
double image of that object. crystal of Iceland spar in front of
This phenomenon, known the first and rotating it. When he
as birefringence, arises because did so, he found that the doubling
the crystal has a refractive index effect disappeared at certain
(speed at which the light is angles. He did not understand
transmitted) that changes why, but he recognized that the
according to the polarization of two images produced by the first
the light passing through it. Light crystal were different from each
reflected from most objects has other in some way.
no particular polarization, so on Isaac Newton maintained that
average, half the rays are split birefringence strengthened his
along each path, and a double case for light as a corpuscle—a
image is created. particle with discrete “sides” that
could be affected by its orientation.
Early explanations In Newton’s view, the effect
Bartholin published a detailed helped disprove the wave theory,
Sunglasses with polarized lenses
discussion of the birefringence as Huygens’ model of light involved reduce the harsh glare of light reflecting
effect in 1670, but he could not longitudinal waves (disturbances off a snowy landscape by allowing only
explain it in terms of any particular parallel to the wave direction) light waves that have been polarized in
model of light. Christiaan Huygens, rather than transverse waves, one direction to pass through.
186 POLARIZATION
mathematical rigor to the study in a bowl of water as he rotated
of light. He developed a useful the crystal—the reflections would
mathematical model for what was disappear and reappear depending
actually happening to light rays on the rotation of the crystal. He
in three dimensions when they soon developed a law (Malus’s law)
encountered materials with Have not the rays of light describing how the intensity of a
different reflective and refractive several sides, endued with polarized image viewed through
properties. (Previous models had several properties? a crystal “filter” relates to the
simplified matters by considering Isaac Newton orientation of the crystal.
only what happened to light rays Further experiments revealed
moving in a single flat plane— a similar effect with reflections
two dimensions.) from transparent materials. Malus
In 1808, the French Institute noticed that interaction between
of Science and Arts offered a the surface of the materials and
prize for a full explanation of unpolarized light (with a random
birefringence and encouraged Malus discovered an important mix of orientations) reflected light
Malus to participate. Like many in new aspect of the phenomenon in one specific plane of polarization
the French scientific establishment, while using a piece of Iceland spar rather than others, while light
Malus followed the corpuscular to observe a reflection of the setting polarized in the other plane passed
theory of light, and it was hoped sun in a window of the Palais du into or through the new medium
that a corpuscular explanation for Luxembourg in Paris. He noticed (such as water or glass) along a
birefringence might help debunk that the intensity of the sun’s two refracted path. Malus realized that
the wave theory recently put images varied as he rotated the the factor determining whether to
forward in Britain by Thomas crystal, and one or other image reflect or refract must be the internal
Young. Malus developed a theory disappeared completely with every structure of the new medium, linked
in which light corpuscles had 90-degree turn of the crystal. This, to its refractive index.
distinct sides and “poles” (axes of Malus realized, meant that the
rotation). Birefringent materials, he sunlight had already been polarized New insights
claimed, refracted corpuscles along by reflection off the glass. He Malus’s identification of a link
different paths depending on the confirmed the effect by shining between a material’s structure
direction of their poles. He coined candlelight through a birefringent and its effect on polarized light was
the term “polarization” to describe crystal and looking at how the important: one common application
this effect. resulting pair of light rays reflected today is to study the internal
Étienne-Louis Malus Born into a privileged Parisian the “caustic” reflections created
family in 1775, Malus showed by curved reflecting surfaces,
early mathematical promise. He impressed his peers, and in 1810
served as a regular soldier before his explanation of birefringence
attending the École Polytechnique led to him being elected to the
engineering school in Paris from Académie des Sciences. A year
1794, after which he rose through later, he was awarded the Royal
the ranks of the army engineering Society’s Rumford Medal for the
corps and took part in Napoleon’s same work, despite Britain being
expedition to Egypt (1798–1801). at war with France. Malus died
On returning to France, he worked in 1812, aged 36.
on military engineering projects.
From 1806, a posting to Key works
Paris enabled Malus to mix with
leading scientists. His talent for 1807 Treatise on Optics
mathematically describing the 1811 “Memoir on some
behaviors of light, including new optical phenomena”
SOUND AND LIGHT 187
changes in materials under stress Vertical filter accepts Horizontal filter blocks
from the way they affect polarized only vertical rays vertical rays
light. He attempted to identify a
relationship between a material’s
refractive index and the angle at
which light reflecting from a
surface would be perfectly “plane
polarized” (aligned in a single
plane). He found the correct angle Nothing
for water but was thwarted by the passes
poor quality of other materials he through
investigated; a general law was the filter
Unpolarized light Vertical
found a few years later in 1815 by at right angles polarized light
Scottish physicist David Brewster.
The range of phenomena Unpolarized light waves oscillate at right angles to their direction
involving polarization grew. In 1811, of propagation (motion) in random directions. Plane-polarized light
waves oscillate in a single direction, while the plane of circular-
French physicist François Arago polarized waves rotates steadily as they propagate.
found that passing polarized light
through quartz crystals could rotate
its axis of polarization (an effect now light polarized along the other axis. wave. André-Marie Ampère
known as “optical activity”), and his Using dichroic materials would suggested to Fresnel that a solution
contemporary Jean-Baptiste Biot become one of the ways in which might be found by treating light
reported that light from rainbows polarized light could be easily as a transverse wave. If this were
was highly polarized. produced. Others included using the case, it followed that the axis
Biot went on to identify optical certain types of glass and specially of polarization would be the plane
activity in liquids, formulating the shaped calcite prisms. in which the wave was oscillating
concept of circular polarization (in (vibrating). Thomas Young reached
which the polarization axis rotates Polarized waves the same conclusion when Arago
as the light ray moves forward). He In 1816, Arago and his protégé told him about the experiment, but
also discovered “dichroic” minerals, Augustin-Jean Fresnel made it was Fresnel who took inspiration
which are natural materials that an unexpected and important to create a comprehensive wave
allow light to pass through if it is discovery that undermined claims theory of light, which would
polarized along one axis, but block that polarization supported the eventually displace all older models.
corpuscular nature of light. They Polarization would also play a
created a version of Thomas key role in the next major advance
Young’s “double-slit” experiment in the understanding of light. In
using two beams of light whose 1845, British scientist Michael
polarization could be altered, and Faraday, seeking a way to prove
found that patterns of dark and light the suspected link between light
We find that light acquires caused by interference between the and electromagnetism, decided
properties which are two beams were strongest when to see what would happen if he
relative only to the sides they had the same polarization. But shone a beam of polarized light
of the ray … I shall give the the patterns faded as the difference through a magnetic field. He
name of poles to these in polarization increased, and they discovered that he could rotate
sides of the ray. disappeared completely when the the plane of polarization by
Étienne-Louis Malus polarization planes were at right altering the strength of the field.
angles to each other. This phenomenon, known as the
This discovery was inexplicable Faraday effect, would ultimately
through any corpuscular theory of inspire James Clerk Maxwell to
light, and could not be explained by develop his model of light as an
imagining light as a longitudinal electromagnetic wave. ■
188
IN CONTEXT
THE
KEY FIGURE
Christian Doppler
(1803–1853)
TRUMPETERS
BEFORE
1727 British astronomer James
Bradley explains the aberration
AND THE
of starlight—a change in the
angle at which light from
distant stars approaches
Earth, caused by Earth’s
WAVE TRAIN
motion around the sun.
AFTER
1940s “Doppler radar” is
developed for aviation and
THE DOPPLER EFFECT AND REDSHIFT weather forecasting after early
forms of radar fail to account
for rainfall and the Doppler
shifts of moving targets.
1999 Based on observations of
exploding stars, astronomers
discover that some distant
galaxies are further away than
their Doppler shifts suggest,
implying that the expansion of
the universe is accelerating.
T
oday, the Doppler effect is a
familiar part of our everyday
lives. We notice it as the
shift in the pitch of sound waves
when a vehicle with an emergency
siren speeds toward us, passes us,
and continues into the distance.
The effect is named after the
scientist who first proposed it
as a theoretical prediction. When
applied to light, it has turned out
to be a powerful tool for learning
about the universe.
Explaining star colors

The idea that waves (specifically,
waves of light) might change their
frequency depending on the relative
motion of the source and the
SOUND AND LIGHT 189
See also: Lumpy and wavelike light 176–179 ■ Discovering other galaxies
290–293 ■ The static or expanding universe 294–295 ■ Dark energy 306–307
a higher frequency than they

otherwise would, so the light’s
measured wavelength is shorter.
In contrast, when the source and
observer move apart, peaks in the
[The Doppler effect] will in the wave reach the observer at lower
not too distant future offer frequency than they otherwise
astronomers a welcome means would. The color of light is
to determine the movements dependent on its wavelength, so
and distances of such stars. light from an approaching object
Christian Doppler appears bluer (due its shorter Christian Doppler
wavelengths) than it otherwise
would, while light from a retreating Born in the Austrian city of
object appears redder. Salzburg in 1803 to a wealthy
Doppler hoped this effect (which family, Doppler studied
was soon named after him) would mathematics at the Vienna
help explain the different colors Polytechnic Institute, then
observer was first proposed by of stars in the night sky when took physics and astronomy
Austrian physicist Christian viewed from Earth. He elaborated as a postgraduate. Frustrated
Doppler in 1842. Doppler was his theory to take into account the at the bureaucracy involved in
investigating the aberration of motion of Earth through space, but securing a permanent post,
starlight—a slight shift in the did not realize the magnitude by he came close to abandoning
academia and emigrating to
apparent direction of light from which the speed of stellar motions
the US, but eventually found
distant stars, caused by Earth’s is dwarfed by the speed of light,
employment as a math teacher
motion around the sun—when he making the effect undetectable in Prague.
realized that motion through space with the instruments of the time. Doppler became a professor
would cause a shift in the frequency, However, Doppler’s discovery at the Prague Polytechnic in
and therefore color, of light. was confirmed in 1845, thanks to an 1838, where he produced a
The principle behind the theory ingenious experiment with sound. wealth of mathematics and
is as follows. When the source and Making use of the recently opened physics papers, including a
observer approach one another, Amsterdam–Utrecht railroad, Dutch celebrated study on the colors
“peaks” in the light waves from scientist C.H.D. Buys Ballot asked a of stars and the phenomenon
the source pass the observer at group of musicians to play a single ❯❯ now known as the Doppler
effect. By 1849, his reputation
was such that he was given
Sound waves spread out at the same speed in all an important post at the
directions when measured relative to the source. But University of Vienna. His
if a siren approaches an observer, the wave frequency health—delicate throughout
increases and the wavelength is shortened. much of his life—deteriorated,
and he died of a chest
infection in 1853.
Key work
1842 Über das farbige Licht

der Doppelsterne
(Concerning the Colored Light
Sound waves from a siren are compressed Once the ambulance has passed, the
as the ambulance nears, reducing their siren’s sound waves stretch, increasing
of Double Stars)
wavelength and raising their pitch their wavelength and lowering their pitch
190 THE DOPPLER EFFECT AND REDSHIFT
appear in the spectrum of a static
star. In 1868, William Huggins
An emergency vehicle’s successfully measured the Doppler
The light of stars looks
siren sounds lower-pitched shift of the spectral lines of Sirius,
redder as stars move
once the vehicle has the brightest star in the sky.
away from Earth.
passed an observer.
Glimpsing deeper
In the late 19th century, astronomy’s
reliance on painstaking observations
The frequency of sound or light waves was transformed by improvements
changes depending on the relative motion of in photography, enabling scientists
the source and observer. to measure the spectra and Doppler
shifts of much fainter stars. Long-
exposure photography gathered
vastly more light than the human
eye, and yielded images that could
be stored, compared, and measured
This is called the Doppler effect. long after the original observation.
German astronomer Hermann
Carl Vogel pioneered this marriage
of photography and “spectroscopy”
in the 1870s and 1880s, leading to
continuous note while traveling on narrow, dark lines—such as those important discoveries. In particular,
the train. As the carriage sped past already observed in the sun’s he identified many apparently
him, Buys Ballot experienced the spectrum, and presumed to exist single stars with spectral lines that
now-familiar pitch-shift of sound— in the spectra of other stars—that periodically “doubled,” separating
the high pitch of the note as the could act as defined reference and then reuniting in a regular
train approached him grew lower points in a spectrum of light. cycle. He showed that this line-
as the train traveled away. Putting this idea into practice, splitting arose because the stars
however, required significant are binary pairs—visually
Measuring the shift advances in technology. At such inseparable stars whose close
The effects of the Doppler shift vast distances, even the brightest orbits around each other mean
on light were calculated by French stars are far more faint than the that as one star retreats from Earth
physicist Armand Fizeau in 1848. sun, and the spectra created when
Unaware of Doppler’s own work, he their light is split by diffraction—in
provided a mathematical basis for order to measure individual spectral
the concept of red and blue light lines—are fainter still. British
shifts. Doppler had suggested that astronomers William and Margaret
his theory would bring about a new Huggins measured the spectrum of
understanding of the motions, light from the sun in 1864, and their [The] color and intensity
distances, and relationships of colleague William Allen Miller was of […] light, and the pitch
stars, but Fizeau suggested a able to use the measurements to and strength of a sound will
practical way in which shifts in identify elements in distant stars. be altered by a motion of the
starlight might be detected. He By this time, German scientists source of the light
correctly recognized that changes Gustav Kirchhoff and Robert or of the sound …
in a star’s overall color would be Bunsen had shown that the sun’s William Huggins
both minute and hard to quantify. Fraunhofer lines were caused by
Instead, he proposed that specific elements absorbing light,
astronomers could identify what which enabled astronomers to
we know as Doppler shifts through calculate the wavelengths where
the positions of “Fraunhofer lines,” these absorption lines would
SOUND AND LIGHT 191
So-called “cosmological” redshift is not caused by galaxies cooks. The rate of expansion is the
moving apart in a conventional sense, but by the stretching of space same tiny amount for each light
itself as the universe has expanded over billions of years. This carries year of space, but it accumulates
galaxies apart from each other and stretches the wavelengths of light as
it moves between them.
across the vastness of the universe
until galaxies are dragged apart at
Seen through a
telescope, receding close to the speed of light, and
galaxy appears red Galaxy moves wavelengths of light stretch into
to observer further away the far red—and beyond visible
light, into the infrared—end of the
spectrum. The relationship between
distance and redshift (denoted z) is
so direct that astronomers use z, not
light years, to indicate distance for
the furthest objects in the universe.
Telescope Practical applications
Doppler’s discovery has had many
Wavelength of technological applications. Doppler
light stretches
radar (used in traffic-control “radar
guns” and air-security applications)
its light appears more red, while took this as evidence that spiral reveals the distance to—and relative
the other approaches Earth and nebulae were vast, independent speed of—an object that reflects a
its light appears more blue. galaxies, located far beyond the burst of radio waves. It can also
gravitational grasp of the Milky track severe rainfall by calculating
The expanding universe Way. However, it was not until 1925 the speed of precipitation. GPS
As technology further improved, that American astronomer Edwin satellite navigation systems need
spectrographic techniques were Hubble calculated the distance to to account for the Doppler shift of
applied to many other astronomical spiral nebulae by measuring the satellite signals in order to accurately
objects, including mysterious, fuzzy brightness of stars within them. calculate a receiver unit’s position
“nebulae.” Some of these proved to Hubble began to measure galaxy in relation to the satellites’ orbits.
be huge clouds of interstellar gas, Doppler shifts, and by 1929 he had They can also use this information
emitting all their light at specific discovered a pattern: the further to make precise measurements of
wavelengths, similar to those a galaxy lies from Earth, the faster the receiver unit’s own motion. ■
emitted by vapors in the laboratory. it moves away. This relationship,
But others emitted light in a now known as Hubble’s law but
continuum (a broad swathe of light first predicted in 1922 by Russian
of all colors) with a few dark lines, physicist Alexander Friedmann, is
suggesting they were made up of best interpreted as an effect of the
vast numbers of stars. These universe expanding as a whole.
became known as “spiral nebulae” This so-called “cosmological”
on account of their spiral shape. redshift is not a result of the Doppler
From 1912, American astronomer effect as Doppler would have
Vesto Slipher began to analyze the understood it. Instead, expanding
spectra of distant spiral nebulae, space drags galaxies apart, like
finding that the majority of them raisins in a rising cake mix as it
had significant Doppler shifts to
the red end of the spectrum. This
Named after Edwin Hubble, the
showed that they were moving Hubble Space Telescope has been used
away from Earth at high speeds, to discover distant stars, measure their
regardless of which part of the sky redshifts, and estimate the age of the
they were seen in. Some astronomers universe at 13.8 billion years.
192
IN CONTEXT
THESE
KEY FIGURES
Heinrich Hertz (1857–1894),
Wilhelm Röntgen
(1845–1923)
MYSTERIOUS
BEFORE
1672 Isaac Newton splits
white light into a spectrum
using a prism and then
WAVES WE
recombines it.
1803 Thomas Young suggests
that the colors of visible
light are caused by rays of
CANNOT SEE
different wavelengths.
AFTER
c. 1894 Italian engineer
Guglielmo Marconi achieves
the first long-distance
ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES communication using
radio waves.
1906 American inventor
Reginald Fessenden uses
an “amplitude modulation”
system to make the first
radio broadcast.
I
n 1865, James Clerk Maxwell
interpreted light as a moving
electromagnetic wave with
transverse electric and magnetic
fields—waves locked in step at
right angles to each other (shown
opposite). Maxwell’s theory caused
scientists to ask further questions.
How far did the “electromagnetic
spectrum” extend beyond the range
visible to the human eye? And
what properties might distinguish
waves with much longer or shorter
wavelengths than visible light?
Early discoveries
German-born astronomer William
Herschel found the first evidence for
the existence of radiation beyond
SOUND AND LIGHT 193
See also: Force fields and Maxwell’s equations 142–147 ■ Lumpy and wavelike light 176–179 ■ Diffraction and interference
180–183 ■ Polarization 184–187 ■ Seeing beyond light 202–203 ■ Nuclear rays 238–239
Heinrich Hertz Born in Hamburg, Germany, in when light hits a material)

1857, Heinrich Hertz went on to and carried out important
study sciences and engineering work investigating the way that
in Dresden, Munich, and Berlin, forces are transferred between
under eminent physicists such solid bodies in contact. Hertz’s
as Gustav Kirchhoff and Hermann growing reputation led to an
von Helmholtz. He obtained his appointment as director of the
doctorate from the University of Physics Institute at Bonn in
Berlin in 1880. 1889. Three years later, Hertz
Hertz became a full professor was diagnosed with a rare
of physics at the University of disease of the blood vessels
Karlsruhe in 1885. Here, he and died in 1894.
conducted groundbreaking
experiments to generate radio Key works
waves. He also contributed to
the discovery of the photoelectric 1893 Electric Waves
effect (the emission of electrons 1899 Principles of Mechanics
the range of visible light in 1800. theories linked wavelength and waves with radically different
While measuring temperatures color with electromagnetic waves, wavelengths. Most scientists
associated with the different which meant that his model could concluded that the best way to
(visible) colors in sunlight, also be applied to infrared and prove Maxwell’s model would
Herschel allowed the spectrum ultraviolet rays (with wavelengths be to look for evidence of these
of light he was projecting onto a shorter or longer than those within predicted phenomena.
thermometer to drift beyond the the visible spectrum), allowing Heinrich Hertz, in 1886,
visible red light. He was surprised ultraviolet and infrared rays to be experimented with an electrical
to find the temperature reading had treated as natural extensions of circuit that consisted of two
shot up—a sign that much of the the visible spectrum. separate spiral-wound conducting
heat in radiation from the sun is wires placed near each other. Both
carried by invisible rays. Finding proof ends of each wire terminated in a
In 1801, German pharmacist Maxwell’s ideas remained metal ball, and when a current was
Johann Ritter reported evidence theoretical, as at the time there applied to one of the wires, a spark
for what he called “chemical rays.” were no technologies suitable to would leap between the metal ball
Ritter’s experiment involved prove them. However, he was still terminals of the other. The effect
studying the behavior of silver able to predict phenomena that was an example of electromagnetic
chloride, a light-sensitive chemical, would be associated with his model induction, with the spiral-wound
which was relatively inactive when of light—such as the existence of wires acting as “induction coils.” ❯❯
exposed to red light, but would
darken in blue light. Ritter showed
Electromagnetic waves Magnetic field
that exposing the chemical to are made up of two matching
radiation beyond violet in the Electric
waves at right angles—one field Direction of
visible spectrum (now known as is an oscillating electric field, wave travel
“ultraviolet” radiation) produced and the other is an oscillating
an even faster darkening reaction. magnetic field.
Maxwell published his model
of light as an electromagnetic wave Fields oscillate at
that is self-reinforcing (supports right angles to
itself continuously). Maxwell’s each other
194 ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES
flowed in the induction coil of the
Electromagnetic radiation Different types of circuit, it triggered sparks in the
is a form of energy that electromagnetic radiation have spark gap of that main circuit, and
travels in waves. different wavelengths. also in the receiver’s spark gap. The
receiver was well beyond the range
of any possible induction effects, so
something else had to be causing
current to oscillate within it—the
Invisible electromagnetic Visible light is the only electromagnetic waves.
waves are longer or shorter form of electromagnetic Hertz carried out a variety of
than light waves. radiation that we can see. further tests to prove that he had
indeed produced electromagnetic
waves similar to light—such as
showing that the waves traveled at
Current flowing in one coiled that oscillated rapidly back and the speed of light. He published his
wire generated a magnetic field forth. With careful adjustments of results widely.
that caused current to flow in the the currents and voltages, Hertz
other—but as Hertz studied this was able to “tune” his circuit to Tuning into radio
experiment more closely, he an oscillation frequency of around Other physicists and inventors
formulated an idea for a circuit 50 million cycles per second. soon began investigating these
that could test Maxwell’s theories. According to Maxwell’s theory, “Hertzian waves” (later called
Hertz’s circuit, completed in this oscillating current would radio waves) and found countless
1888, had a pair of long wires produce electromagnetic waves applications. As the technology
running toward each other with with wavelengths of a few feet, improved so did the range and
a tiny “spark gap” between their which could be detected at a quality of signals, and the ability to
ends. The other end of each wire distance. The final element of broadcast many different streams
was attached to its own 12-inch Hertz’s experiment was a “receiver” of radio waves from a single mast.
(30-cm) zinc sphere. Running (which would receive the wave Wireless telegraphy (simple signals
current through an “induction coil” signals)—this was a separate transmitted as Morse code) was
nearby induced sparks across the rectangle of copper wire with its followed by voice communication
spark gap, creating a high voltage own spark gap, mounted at some and eventually television. Hertz’s
difference between the two ends of distance from the main circuit. radio waves still play a vital role in
each wire and an electric current Hertz found that when current modern-day technology.
The electromagnetic spectrum

Radio waves Microwaves Infrared
(1 km–10 cm) (1 cm–1 mm) (100 μm–c. 740 nm)
Dish antennas Microwave ovens A remote

can capture radio heat up food by using control sends
waves to help microwaves to make signals to a
astronomers the water molecules television using
detect stars. within the food vibrate. infrared waves.
SOUND AND LIGHT 195
By the time radio communications The first X-ray image ever taken was
were becoming a reality, another made by the silhouette of Anna Bertha
different type of electromagnetic Röntgen’s hand on a photographic
plate, in 1895. Her wedding ring is
radiation had been discovered. In visible on her fourth finger.
1895, German engineer Wilhelm
Röntgen was experimenting with
the properties of cathode rays. detector screen was glowing
These are streams of electrons during his experiments, and this
observed in vacuum tubes, which was caused by unknown rays
are emitted from a cathode (the being emitted from inside the
electrode connected to the negative tube, which were passing straight
terminal of a voltage supply) and through the cardboard casing.
then released inside a discharge
tube (a glass vessel with a very X-ray imaging
high voltage between its ends). To Tests revealed that Röntgen’s new
avoid any possible effects of light rays (which he called “X” rays,
on the tube, Röntgen wrapped it indicating their unknown nature)
in cardboard. A nearby fluorescent could also affect photographic film,
meaning that he could permanently
record their behavior. He carried overexposure on living tissue were
out experiments to test what types noticed, and steps were gradually
of material the rays would pass introduced to limit exposure. This
through and discovered that they also included a return to X-ray
I have seen were blocked by metal. Röntgen photographs that required only a
my death! asked his wife, Anna, to place brief burst of rays. The true nature
her hand on a photographic plate of X-rays was debated until 1912
Anna Röntgen
while he directed the X-rays at it; when Max von Laue used crystals
on seeing the first X-ray image
revealing the bones of her hand he found that bones blocked the to successfully diffract X-rays
rays but soft tissue did not. (diffraction occurs when any wave
Scientists and inventors raced encounters an obstacle). This
to develop new applications for proved that X-rays were waves
X-ray imaging. In the early 1900s, and a high-energy form of
the damaging effects of X-ray electromagnetic radiation. ■
Visible Ultraviolet X-rays Gamma rays

(c. 740 nm–380 nm) (380 nm–10 nm) (10 nm–0.01 nm) (0.01 nm–0.00001 nm)
The human eye Disinfection can be X-rays pass Nuclear power

can only see this carried out by using through tissue stations use the
short range of the some wavelengths to reveal the energy of gamma
electromagnetic of UV light to teeth or bones radiation to generate
spectrum. kill bacteria. underneath. electricity.
196
IN CONTEXT
THE LANGUAGE
KEY FIGURE
Niels Bohr (1885–1962)
OF SPECTRA
BEFORE
1565 In Spain, Nicolás
Monardes describes the
fluorescent properties of a
IS A TRUE MUSIC
kidney wood infusion.
1669 Hennig Brand, a German
chemist, discovers phosphorus,
OF THE SPHERES
which glows in the dark after
being illuminated.
AFTER
1926 Austrian physicist
LIGHT FROM THE ATOM Erwin Schrödinger shows
that electron orbits resemble
fuzzy clouds rather than
circular paths.
1953 In the US, Charles
Townes uses stimulated
emission from electron
movements to create a
microwave amplifier,
demonstrating the principle
that foreshadows the laser.
T
he ability of materials
to generate light rather
than simply reflect it from
luminous sources such as the sun
was initially regarded with mild
curiosity. Eventually, however, it
proved essential to understanding
the atomic structure of matter,
and in the 20th century it led
to valuable new technologies.
Discovering fluorescence
Substances with a natural ability
to glow in certain conditions were
recorded from at least the 16th
century, but scientists did not
attempt to investigate this
phenomenon until the early 1800s.
In 1819, English clergyman and
SOUND AND LIGHT 197
See also: Electric potential 128–129 ■ Electromagnetic waves 192–195 ■ Energy quanta 208–211 ■ Particles and waves
212–215 ■ Matrices and waves 218–219 ■ The nucleus 240–241 ■ Subatomic particles 242–243
Some minerals are fluorescent. Like chemical “fingerprint”. In 1860

this fluorite, they absorb certain types and 1861, Bunsen and Kirchhoff
of light, such as ultraviolet, and then identified two new elements—
release it at a different wavelength,
changing its perceived color.
cesium and rubidium—from
their emission lines alone.
Michael Faraday, Stokes explained Balmer’s breakthrough

the phenomenon in terms of gas Despite the success of Kirchhoff
atoms becoming energized, and Bunsen’s method, they had
allowing current to flow through yet to explain why the emission
them, then releasing light as they lines were produced at specific
shed their energy. wavelengths. However, they
A few years later, German realized it had something to do
glassblower Heinrich Geissler with the properties of atoms in
invented a new means of creating individual elements. This was a
much better vacuums in glass new concept. At the time, atoms
mineralogist Edward Clarke vessels. By adding specific gases were generally thought of as
described the properties of the to a vacuum, he found he could solid, indivisible particles of a
mineral fluorspar (now better cause a lamp to glow in various particular element, so it was
known as fluorite), which glows colors. This discovery lies behind difficult to imagine an internal
in certain circumstances. the invention of fluorescent lights, process that generated light or
In 1852, Irish physicist George which became widespread in the altered the wavelengths of the
Gabriel Stokes showed that the 20th century. emission lines.
mineral’s glow was caused by An important breakthrough
exposure to ultraviolet light, while Elementary emissions came in 1885, when Swiss
the emitted light was limited to a The reason why some atoms mathematician Johann Jakob
single blue color and wavelength, produce light remained a mystery Balmer identified a pattern in the
appearing as a line when it was until the late 1850s, when fellow series of emission lines created
split apart into a spectrum. He Germans chemist Robert Bunsen by hydrogen. The wavelengths,
argued that fluorspar transformed and physicist Gustav Kirchhoff which until then had seemed
shorter-wavelength ultraviolet joined forces to investigate the like a random collection of
light directly into visible light phenomenon. They focused on lines, could be predicted by a
by somehow stretching its the colors generated when mathematical formula involving ❯❯
wavelength, and coined the term different elements were heated to
“fluorescence” to describe this incandescent temperatures in the
particular behavior. searing flame of Bunsen’s recently
Meanwhile, early electrical invented laboratory gas burner.
experimenters had discovered They found that the light produced
another means of creating luminous was not a blended continuum
matter. When they attempted to of different wavelengths and A chemist who is
pass electric current between metal colors—like sunlight or the light not a physicist
electrodes at either end of a glass from stars—but was a mix of a is nothing at all.
tube that had as much air removed few bright lines emitted with very Robert Bunsen
as possible, the thin gas that specific wavelengths and colors
remained between the electrodes (emission lines).
began to glow when the voltage The precise pattern of emissions
difference between the electrodes was different for each element
was sufficiently high. Working with and was therefore a unique
198 LIGHT FROM THE ATOM
the atom with a tiny central sometimes produce light in small
nucleus surrounded by electrons bursts of specific wavelength
scattered at random throughout and energy.
the rest of the volume.
Discussions with Rutherford Bohr’s model
We have an intimate inspired a young Danish scientist, In 1913, Bohr found a means of
knowledge of the constituents Niels Bohr, to work on his own linking atomic structure to the
of … individual atoms. atomic model. Bohr’s breakthrough Rydberg formula for the first time.
Niels Bohr lay in combining Rutherford’s In an influential trilogy of papers,
nuclear model with Max Planck’s he suggested that the movement
radical suggestion, in 1900, that, of electrons in an atom was
in particular circumstances, constrained so that they could
radiation was emitted in bite-size only have certain values of angular
chunks called quanta. Planck momentum (the momentum due
had suggested this theory as a to their orbit around the nucleus).
two series of whole numbers. mathematical means of explaining In practice this meant that
Emission lines linked with higher the characteristic light output of electrons could only orbit at certain
values of either or both of these stars and other incandescent fixed distances from the nucleus.
numbers were only generated in objects. In 1905, Albert Einstein Because the strength of the
higher- temperature environments. had gone a step further than Planck, electromagnetic attraction
Balmer’s formula, called the suggesting that these small bursts between the positively charged
Balmer series, immediately proved of electromagnetic radiation were nucleus and the negatively
its worth when the high-energy not merely a consequence of certain charged electrons would also vary,
absorption lines associated with types of radiation emission, but were depending on the electron’s orbit,
hydrogen were identified at the fundamental to the nature of light. each electron could be said to have
predicted wavelengths in the Bohr did not, at this point in a certain energy, with lower-energy
spectrum of the sun and other time, accept Einstein’s theory that orbits close to the nucleus and
stars. In 1888, Swedish physicist light always traveled in bursts higher-energy ones further out.
Johannes Rydberg developed a called photons, but he did wonder Each orbit could hold a
more generalized version of the whether something about atomic maximum number of electrons,
formula, subsequently called the structure, and in particular the and orbits close to the nucleus
Rydberg formula, which could arrangement of electrons, could “filled up” first. Empty spaces
be used (with a few tweaks) to
predict emission lines from many
different elements.
An atom consists of a nucleus and electrons, which
Clues from the atom circle the nucleus at different distances from it.
The 1890s and the beginning of the
20th century saw major advances
in the understanding of atoms.
Evidence emerged that atoms were If an electron moves The further an
not the solid, uniform lumps of closer to the nucleus, it electron is from the
matter previously assumed. First, loses energy, which is nucleus, the more
in 1897, J.J. Thomson discovered emitted as light. energy it has.
the electron (the first subatomic
particle), and then in 1909, building
on the work of Hans Geiger
and Ernest Marsden, Ernest Atoms can
Rutherford discovered the nucleus, emit light.
in which most of an atom’s mass is
concentrated. Rutherford imagined
SOUND AND LIGHT 199
Electron orbit track came with an explanation for
a series of lines in the spectrum
Nucleus of super-hot stars, known as the
Pickering series. Bohr correctly
explained that these lines were
associated with electrons jumping
between orbits in ionized helium
Photon (He+)—atoms of helium that had
with a long
wavelength already been stripped of one of
as electron their two electrons.
falls just
one orbit
Roots of the laser
Photon with a short The following decades showed
wavelength as electron
that Bohr’s model was an
falls two orbits Niels Bohr
oversimplification of the strange
The wavelength of light that an quantum processes going on inside Born in Copenhagen,
atom emits depends on how much real atoms, but it nevertheless Denmark, in 1885, Bohr
energy an electron loses in falling from marked a huge step forward in studied physics at the city’s
one orbit to another. The further it falls, scientific knowledge. The Bohr university. His PhD thesis,
the shorter the wavelength of the light
model not only explained the link completed in 1911, was a
and the higher its energy.
between atomic structure and groundbreaking investigation
spectral lines for the first time, of the distribution of electrons
(and entire empty orbits) further but also paved the way for new in metals. A visit to British
out were available for electrons that technologies that would take laboratories in the same year
were closer in to “jump” into if they advantage of this emission, such inspired Bohr to formulate the
model of atomic structure, for
received a boost of energy—from as the laser—an intense beam
which he was awarded the
a ray of incoming light, for example. of photons created by triggering Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922.
If a gap remained in the closer a cascade of emission events By this time he was director
orbit, the transition would usually within an energized material. The of the new Danish Institute
be brief, and the “excited” electron behavior upon which the laser for Theoretical Physics.
would almost immediately fall is based was predicted by Einstein In 1940, Denmark was
back into the lower energy state. as early as 1917, and proven to exist occupied by the Nazis. Three
In this case, it would emit a small in 1928 by Rudolf W. Ladenburg, years later, Bohr, whose
burst of light whose frequency, but a working laser beam was not mother was Jewish, fled to the
wavelength, and color were achieved in practice until 1960. ■ US, where he contributed to
determined by the equation the Manhattan Project to build
∆E = hn (called Planck’s equation, an atomic bomb. Returning
after Max Planck), where ∆E is the to Denmark in 1945, he helped
energy difference in the transition, establish the International
Atomic Energy Agency.
n (the Greek letter nu) is the
Bohr died at his home in
frequency of the emitted light, and
We must be clear that Copenhagen in 1962.
h is the Planck constant, relating
the frequency and energy of when it comes to atoms,
electromagnetic waves. language can be used only Key works
Bohr convincingly applied this as in poetry.
new model to the simplest atom, Niels Bohr 1913 “On the Constitution
of Atoms and Molecules”
hydrogen, and showed how it
1924 “The Quantum Theory
could produce the familiar lines of Radiation”
of the Balmer series. However, the 1939 “The Mechanism of
most convincing evidence that Nuclear Fission”
confirmed he was on the right
200
SEEING
WITH SOUND
PIEZOELECTRICITY AND ULTRASOUND
IN CONTEXT
Crystals are piezoelectric if heating them and/or distorting their
KEY FIGURES structure can create an electric current.
Pierre Curie (1859–1906),
Jacques Curie (1855–1941),
Paul Langevin (1872–1946)
BEFORE
1794 Italian biologist Lazzaro High-frequency electric
Ultrasound echoes
Spallanzani reveals how bats currents can cause
bouncing off an object are
piezoelectric crystals to
navigate by listening to the affected by its shape,
produce high-pitched
echoes of their own calls. composition, and distance.
ultrasound.
AFTER
1941 In Austria, Karl Dussik
is the first person to apply
ultrasound imaging to the
human body. When the crystals compress,
These echoes cause
they produce electric signals
the piezoelectric crystals
1949 John Wild, a physician that can be transformed
to compress.
in the US, pioneers the use of into images.
ultrasound as a diagnostic tool.
1966 At the University of
U
Washington, Donald Baker
sing echolocation—the about icebergs and other large
and colleagues develop the
detection of hidden objects submerged or semi-submerged
first pulsed-wave ultrasound by perceiving the sound objects. Richardson noted that
to take account of the Doppler waves reflected from those objects a ship emitting sound waves
effect—when the source of as echoes—was first proposed in with higher frequencies and
the sound waves is moving— 1912 by British physicist Lewis shorter wavelengths—later called
to measure the movement of Fry Richardson. Shortly after the ultrasound—would be able to
body fluids. RMS Titanic disaster of that year, detect submerged objects with
Richardson applied for a patent greater accuracy than normal
on a method for warning ships sound waves allowed. He
SOUND AND LIGHT 201
See also: Electric potential 128–129 ■ Music 164–167 ■ The Doppler effect and
redshift 188–191 ■ Quantum applications 226–231
Langevin, a former pupil of Pierre

Curie, continued to investigate.
With the outbreak of World War I
and the appearance of a new form
of warfare, the German U-boat
The absorption of (submarine), Langevin realized that
sound by water is less piezoelectricity could be used to
than that by air. produce and detect ultrasound.
Lewis Fry Richardson
New technology
Pulses of high-frequency sound Pierre Curie
waves could be driven out into the
water using powerful oscillating The son of a doctor, Curie
currents running through stacks was born in Paris in 1859 and
of crystals sandwiched between educated by his father. After
envisaged a mechanical means of metal sheets, in a device called a studying mathematics at the
producing such waves and showed transducer. The reverse principle University of Paris, he worked
that they would carry further in could convert the compression as a laboratory instructor in
water than in air. caused by returning echoes into the university’s science faculty.
an electric signal. Langevin’s The experiments he conducted
Curie’s crystals application of the Curie brothers’ in the lab with his brother
Richardson’s invention never discovery forms the foundation Jacques led to the discovery
of piezoelectricity and his
became a reality. The RMS Titanic of sonar and other echolocation
invention of an “electrometer”
disaster faded from the spotlight systems that are still used today.
to measure the weak electrical
and the need became less urgent. At first, the interpretation of currents involved.
Furthermore, a more practical echolocation data entailed turning For his doctorate, Curie
means of creating and detecting the returning pulse back into sound researched the relationship
ultrasound had already been through a speaker, but in the early between temperature and
discovered through the work of 20th century electronic displays magnetism. Through this, he
French brothers Jacques and were developed. These eventually began working with Polish
Pierre Curie. evolved into the sonar display physicist Maria Skłodowska,
In around 1880, while systems used in navigation, whom he married in 1895.
investigating the way certain defense, and medical ultrasound. ■ They spent the rest of their
crystals can create an electric lives researching radioactivity,
current when heated, they found leading to a Nobel prize in
that using pressure to deform the 1903. Pierre died in a traffic
crystal structure also created an accident in 1906.
electric potential difference—called
piezoelectricity. A year later, they Key work
confirmed a prediction made by
French physicist Gabriel Lippmann 1880 “Développement, par
that passing an electric current pression, de l’électricité
through a crystal would cause polaire dans les cristaux
hémièdres à faces inclinée”
a reverse effect—physical
In piezoelectric crystals such as (“Development of electricity
deformation of the crystal. amethyst, the structure of the cells is through pressure on the
The practical applications not symmetrical. When pressure is inclined faces of hemihedral
for piezoelectricity were not applied, the structure deforms and the crystals”)
immediately realized, but Paul atoms move, creating a small voltage.
202
A LARGE
FLUCTUATING
ECHO
SEEING BEYOND LIGHT
P
hysicists’ discovery of Earth’s atmosphere blocks or
IN CONTEXT electromagnetic radiations swamps many of these radiations.
beyond visible light in the In the case of radio waves from
KEY FIGURE
19th and early 20th centuries planets, stars, and other celestial
Jocelyn Bell Burnell (1943–)
introduced new ways of observing phenomena (which can penetrate
BEFORE nature and the universe. They had the atmosphere), the main problem
1800 In the UK, William to overcome many challenges in was their huge wavelengths,
Herschel accidentally their quest, particularly since which made it difficult to locate
discovers the existence their source.
of infrared radiation. The first steps in radio
astronomy were made in 1931, when
1887 Heinrich Hertz American physicist Karl Jansky
successfully generates radio Invisible radio waves
erected a large sensitive antenna
from space penetrate
waves for the first time. Earth’s atmosphere. on a turntable. By measuring how
signals changed through the day as
AFTER Earth rotated, revealing different
1967 US military Vela parts of the sky above the horizon,
satellites, designed to detect he was able to prove that the center
nuclear tests, record the first of the Milky Way was a strong
gamma-ray bursts from violent source of radio waves.
events in the distant universe. Radio telescopes can
gather radio waves Mapping radio waves
1983 NASA, the UK, and the to identify their In the 1950s, the first giant “dish”
Netherlands launch the first approximate location. telescope was built in the UK by
infrared space telescope, IRAS
Bernard Lovell at Jodrell Bank in
(Infrared Astronomical Satellite).
Cheshire. With a diameter of 250 ft
2019 Using aperture synthesis (76.2 m), the telescope was able to
to construct a collaboration of produce blurry images of the radio
telescopes around the world, sky, pinning down the location and
astronomers observe radiation This helps astronomers shape of individual radio sources for
around a supermassive black locate distant stars the first time.
hole in a distant galaxy. and galaxies. Significant improvements in the
resolving power of radio telescopes
were achieved in the 1960s, with
SOUND AND LIGHT 203
See also: Electromagnetic waves 192–195 ■ Black holes and wormholes 286–289 ■ Dark matter 302–305 ■ Dark energy
306–307 ■ Gravitational waves 312–315
Radio maps of the sky show

the source of waves arriving from
deep space. The most intense radio
emissions (red) come from the central
regions of our Milky Way galaxy.
the work of Martin Ryle, Antony

Hewish, and graduate student
Jocelyn Bell Burnell at the
University of Cambridge. Ryle
invented a technique called
aperture synthesis, in which a
grid, or “array,” of individual radio
antennae function as a single giant
telescope. The principle behind it to discover interplanetary This ultimately proved to be a
involved measuring the varying scintillation (IPS)—predicted pulsar—the first known example
amplitude (strength) of incoming variations in radio signals from of a rapidly rotating neutron star,
radio waves received by the different distant sources as they interact an object whose existence had first
antennae at the same moment. with the sun’s magnetic field and been proposed in the 1930s.
This method, and some basic solar wind. Bell Burnell’s discovery of
assumptions about the shape of the Bell Burnell’s project involved pulsars was the first of many
radio waves, allowed the direction monitoring the IPS telescope’s breakthroughs for radio astronomy.
of their source to be calculated measurements and looking for the As technology improved, aperture
with much greater precision. occasional variations that were synthesis would be used to
Using Ryle’s discovery, Hewish predicted. Among her findings, make increasingly detailed images
and Bell Burnell set out to build however, was a much shorter and of the radio sky, helping to reveal
a radio telescope with several more predictable radio signal, lasting the structure of the Milky Way,
thousand antennae, ultimately 1/25th of a second and repeating distant colliding galaxies, and the
covering 4 acres (1.6 ha) of ground. every 1.3 seconds, keeping pace material surrounding supermassive
Hewish hoped to use this telescope with the movement of the stars. black holes. ■
Jocelyn Bell Burnell Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, gone on to a highly successful
in 1943, Jocelyn Bell became career in astronomy and
interested in astronomy after been awarded several other
visiting the Armagh Planetarium prizes, including the 2018
as a young girl. She went on to Special Breakthrough Prize in
graduate in physics from the Fundamental Physics, for both
University of Glasgow in 1965, her scientific research and her
and moved to the University of work promoting the role of
Cambridge to study for a PhD women and minorities in science
under Antony Hewish. It was here and technology.
that she discovered the first pulsar.
Despite being listed as the Key work
second author on the paper that
announced the discovery, Bell 1968 “Observation of a Rapidly
Burnell was overlooked when Pulsating Radio Source”
her colleagues were awarded the (Nature paper, with Antony
Nobel Prize in 1974. She has since Hewish and others)
THE UAN
WORLD
our uncertain
universe
TUM
206 INTRODUCTION
Max Planck describes American Arthur

the radiation emitted Compton discovers the
by a blackbody as Niels Bohr develops quantum nature of Austrian Wolfgang
discrete packages, the first quantum X-rays, confirming the Pauli discovers the
or quanta. model of the atom. existence of photons. exclusion principle.
1900 1913 1923 1925
1905 1922 1924
Albert Einstein explains the Germans Otto Stern and Frenchman Louis de Broglie states
photoelectric effect by Walter Gerlach discover that all matter has wavelike
assuming light interacts with quantum spin—the properties, suggesting that
electrons as discrete lumps, quantization of angular particles such as electrons exhibit
now known as photons. momentum. a wave–particle duality.
O
ur world is deterministic, world that exists on the smallest and suggested that light must be
following laws that set scales. Our door to this new realm made from discrete lumps. Einstein
out definitively how a was unlocked by finding out that had to invoke this seemingly
system will evolve. Usually through light behaves in unfamiliar ways. strange conclusion to describe
trial (such as playing sports and the observed phenomenon of the
predicting a ball’s trajectory) and Waves or particles? photoelectric effect.
error (getting hit by a few balls), we Since the 16th century, a debate There was now evidence for
innately learn these deterministic had raged as to the nature of light. both sides of the particle–wave
laws for specific everyday situations. One camp vowed that light was debate. Something very fishy was
Physicists design experiments made up of tiny particles, an idea happening—welcome to the world
to uncover these laws and so championed by English physicist of quanta, objects that behave
enable us to predict how our world Isaac Newton, but others viewed as both particles and waves,
or things within it will change over light as a wave phenomenon. In depending upon the situation.
time. These experiments have led 1803, British physicist Thomas Most quanta are elementary, or
to the deterministic physics we Young’s double-slit experiment fundamental, subatomic particles,
have talked about in the book up seemed to provide definitive not composed of other particles.
until this point. However, it was evidence for wavelike light as it When looking at them, they
unnerving at the start of the 20th was seen to exhibit interference, appear particle-like, but between
century to discover that at its heart a behavior that could not be observations they behave as if they
this is not how nature behaves. explained by particles. In the early are waves. The wavelike behavior is
The deterministic world we see years of the 20th century, German not like that of water. If two waves
each day is just a blurred picture, physicists Max Planck and Albert combine to make a larger wave, this
an average, of a far more unsettling Einstein revisited Newton’s ideas does not increase the energy of a
THE QUANTUM WORLD 207
Werner Heisenberg discovers Austrian Erwin

the uncertainty principle Schrödinger proposes American Richard The IBM Q System
after developing a matrix his famous “cat in Feynman proposes One quantum
mechanics interpretation of a box” thought the idea of quantum computer is
quantum theory. experiment. computing. launched.
1927 1935 1981 2019
1926 1927 1964 1985
German Max Born Niels Bohr champions John Bell proposes his Briton David Deutsch
gives the probability the Copenhagen theorem to quantitatively publishes a paper
interpretation of interpretation of probe the mechanism setting out his ideas
quantum mechanics. the quantum state behind quantum for a universal
of a particle. entanglement. quantum computer.
quantum as it would a water wave. Niels Bohr championed the accurately you measure one
Instead, it boosts the probability of Copenhagen interpretation of property, the less accurately
a wave being seen in that particular quantum physics. This series you will know the other.
location. When we view a quantum, of ideas maintains that the wave Even more bizarre is the
it cannot be in all locations at the function represents probabilities phenomenon of quantum
same time; instead, it decides upon for final outcomes and it collapses entanglement, which allows one
a single location dependent upon the into just one possible outcome particle to affect another in an
probabilities outlined by its wave. when measured by an observer. entirely different place. When two
This was a new, probabilistic It has been followed up since with particles are entangled, even if
way of behaving, one where we a collection of more complicated separated by a great distance, they
could know all about a quantum interpretations. And still the are effectively a single system. In
at one point in time but never be debate rages on. 1964, Northern Irish physicist John
able to predict definitively where it Stewart Bell presented evidence
would be later. These quanta do not Nothing is certain that quantum entanglement really
behave like sports balls—the flight That is not where the strangeness existed, and French physicist Alain
of which is predictable—there is ends. You can never truly know Aspect demonstrated this “action
always a probability that wherever everything about a quantum. at a distance” in 1981.
we stand we might get hit. German physicist Werner Today, we are learning how
The mechanism for how quantum Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle to utilize these strange quantum
objects transition between explains that it is impossible to behaviors to do some fantastic
wavelike behavior and particle-like know certain pairs of properties, things. New technology using
measurements has been fiercely such as momentum and position, quantum principles is set to change
debated. In 1927, Danish physicist with exacting precision. The more the world of the near future. ■
208
IN CONTEXT
THE ENERGY OF LIGHT KEY FIGURE

Max Planck (1858–1947)
IS DISTRIBUTED
BEFORE
1839 French physicist
DISCONTINUOUSLY
Edmond Becquerel makes
the first observation of the
photoelectric effect.
IN SPACE
1899 British physicist
J.J. Thomson confirms that
ultraviolet light can generate
ENERGY QUANTA electrons from a metal plate.
AFTER
1923 American physicist
Arthur Compton succeeds
in scattering X-rays off
electrons, demonstrating
that they act like particles.
1929 American chemist
Gilbert Lewis coins the name
“photons” for light quanta.
1954 American scientists
working at Bell Laboratories
invent the first practical
solar cell.
O
n October 19, 1900, Max
Planck gave a lecture to
the German Physical
Society (Deutsche Physikalische
Gesellschaft) in Berlin. Although it
would be a few years before the full
implications of his pronouncements
became apparent, they marked the
beginning of a new age for physics:
the era of the quantum.
Planck submitted a solution to
a problem that had been vexing
physicists up until then. The
problem involved blackbodies—
objects that are perfect absorbers
and emitters of all frequencies
of electromagnetic radiation. A
blackbody is so called because all
the radiation striking its surface is
See also: Thermal radiation 112–117 ■ Lumpy and wavelike light 176–179 ■ Diffraction and interference 180–183
■ Electromagnetic waves 192–195 ■ Light from the atom 196–199 ■ Particles and waves 212–215
In the quantum
We are used to thinking
world, things are very Electrons absorb or emit
of energy as being emitted
different. Here, energy energy quanta
across a continuous range.
comes in discrete units, discontinuously.
or quanta.
absorbed; no radiation is reflected a quantum of violet light has twice Planck’s solution worked—the
and the energy it emits depends the frequency, and therefore results of experiments were in
solely on its temperature. Perfect twice the energy, of a quantum accord with the predictions made
blackbodies don’t exist in nature. of red light. This proportionality by his theory. Yet Planck was not
A theory formulated by British explains why a blackbody does entirely happy and resisted the idea
physicists James Jeans and John not give off energy equally across for years that his quanta had any
Strutt, Lord Rayleigh, accurately the electromagnetic spectrum. basis in reality, viewing them
explained the behavior of instead as more of a mathematical
blackbodies at low frequencies, Planck’s constant “fix” for a difficult problem. He
but predicted that, as there was Planck denoted the constant of could give no good reason why
effectively no upper limit to the proportionality as h—now known as quanta should be true and by his
higher frequencies that could be Planck’s constant—and related the own admission had introduced
generated, the amount of energy energy of a quantum to its frequency them as “an act of desperation,” but
radiated from a blackbody should by the simple formula E = hv, where it led to the quantum revolution
continue to increase infinitely. E equals energy and v equals that transformed physics.
This was dubbed the “ultraviolet frequency. The energy of a quantum
catastrophe” as it concerned short- can be calculated by multiplying its The photoelectric effect
wavelength radiation beyond the frequency by Planck’s constant, When Albert Einstein heard about
ultraviolet. Everyday observation which is 6.62607015  10 –34 J s Planck’s theory, he commented,
shows the prediction to be wrong. (joule-seconds). “It was as if the ground had been ❯❯
If it was correct, bakers would be
exposed to lethal doses of radiation
The photoelectric effect is the emission of electrons by
every time they opened their ovens. some metals when they are hit by a beam of light. The higher
But in the late 19th century, no one the frequency of the light, the higher-energy photons it has
could explain why it was wrong. and the higher the energy of the electrons emitted.
Planck made the radical
assumption that the vibrating Low-energy Higher- Very
atoms in a blackbody emit energy photon of energy high-energy
in discrete packets, which he called red light photon of ultraviolet
green light photon
quanta. The size of these quanta
is proportional to the frequency Low-energy High-energy
No electrons electron electron
of vibration. Although there is in
emitted
theory an infinite number of higher from metal
frequencies, it takes increasingly surface
large amounts of energy to release
quanta at those levels. For example,
210 ENERGY QUANTA
The photoelectric effect in space

When a spacecraft is exposed to current to flow from one side
prolonged sunlight on one side, of the spacecraft to the other. In
high-energy ultraviolet photons, the early 1970s, before measures
or light quanta, striking its were taken to counter this
metallic surface cause a steady phenomenon, it disrupted the
stream of electrons to be ejected. delicate circuitry of several
The loss of electrons causes the Earth-orbiting satellites, even
spacecraft to develop a positive causing the complete loss of a
charge on the sunlit side, while military satellite in 1973. The
the other, shaded, side has a rate of electron loss depends
relative negative charge. on the surface material of the
Electric charges can build up on Without conductors to prevent spacecraft, the angle at which
the exterior of spacecraft such as the charge from building up, the the sun’s rays strike it, and the
SpaceX Dragon unless systems difference in charge across the amount of solar activity,
are put in place to drain them. surface will cause an electric including sunspots.
pulled out from under us.” In 1904, intensity of the light, but on its sense until the revelations of
Einstein wrote to a friend that he frequency. Shifting the beam Planck and Einstein. In March
had discovered “in a most simple to higher frequencies, from blue to 1905, Einstein published a paper,
way the relation between the size violet and beyond, produces higher- which took Planck’s quanta and
of elementary quanta … and the energy electrons; a low-frequency married them to the photoelectric
wavelengths of radiation.” This red light beam, even if it is effect, in the monthly Annals of
relationship was the answer to a blindingly bright, produces no Physics journal. This paper would
curious aspect of radiation that had electrons. It is as if fast-moving eventually win him the Nobel Prize
previously defied explanation. In ripples can readily move the sand in 1921. Einstein was particularly
1887, German physicist Heinrich on a beach but a slow-moving interested in the differences
Hertz had discovered that certain wave, no matter how big, leaves between particle theories and wave
types of metal would emit electrons it untouched. In addition, if the theories. He compared the formulae
when a beam of light was directed electrons are going to jump at all, that describe the way the particles
at them. This “photoelectric effect” they jump right away: no buildup in a gas behave as it is compressed
is similar to the phenomenon of energy is involved. This made no or allowed to expand with those
harnessed for use in fiber-optic describing the similar changes as
communications (although optical radiation spreads through space.
fibers are made of semiconductor He found that both obey the same
materials rather than metals). rules, and the mathematics
underpinning both phenomena is
A problem with electrons There is no physical analogy the same. This gave Einstein a way
Physicists at first assumed that we can make to understand to calculate the energy of a light
the electric field (a region of space quantum of a particular frequency;
what goes on inside atoms.
where electric charge is present) his results agreed with Planck’s.
part of the electromagnetic wave
Atoms behave like atoms, From here, Einstein went on
provides the energy that electrons
nothing else. to show how the photoelectric
need to break free. If that were the John Gribbin effect could be explained by the
British science writer
case, then the brighter the light, and astrophysicist existence of light quanta. As
the more high-energy the emitted Planck had established, the energy
electrons should be. That was of a quantum was determined by
found not to be the case, however. its frequency. If a single quantum
The energy of the released transfers its energy to an electron,
electrons depends not on the then the higher the energy of the
latter’s predictions. Yet Millikan
still spoke of Einstein’s “bold, not to
say reckless, hypothesis.” It wasn’t
until the experiments conducted
by American physicist Arthur
Atomic theory and Compton in 1923 that the quantum
quantum mechanics theory finally began to gain
demonstrated that acceptance. Compton observed the
everything, even space scattering of X-rays from electrons
and time, exists in and provided plausible evidence
discrete bits—quanta. that in scattering experiments,
Victor J. Stenger light behaves as a stream of
American particle physicist particles and cannot be explained
purely as a wave phenomenon. In Max Planck
his paper, published in the Physical
Review journal, he explained that Born in Kiel, Germany, in 1858,
“this remarkable agreement Max Planck studied physics at
between our formulas and the the University of Munich,
experiments can leave but little graduating at 17 and gaining
quantum, the higher the energy of doubt that the scattering of X-rays his doctorate four years later.
the emitted electron. High-energy is a quantum phenomenon.” Developing a keen interest in
blue photons, as light quanta were Einstein’s explanation of the thermodynamics, in 1900 he
later named, have the heft to punch photoelectric effect could be produced what is now known
out electrons; red photons simply verified by experiment—light, as Planck’s radiation formula,
didn’t. Increasing the intensity of it seemed, acted as if it were a introducing the idea of quanta
of energy. This marked the
the light produces greater numbers stream of particles. However, light
beginning of quantum theory,
of electrons, but it does not create also acted like a wave in familiar
one of the cornerstones of
more energetic ones. and well-understood phenomena 20th-century physics,
such as reflection, refraction, although its far-reaching
Further experiments diffraction, and interference. So, consequences weren’t
Whereas Planck had viewed the for physicists, the question still understood for several years.
quantum as little more than a remained: what was light? Was it a In 1918, Planck received
mathematical device, Einstein wave or was it a particle? Could it the Nobel Prize for Physics for
was now suggesting that it was an possibly be both? ■ his achievement. After Adolf
actual physical reality. That didn’t Hitler came to power in 1933,
go down well with many other Planck pleaded in vain with
physicists who were reluctant to the dictator to abandon his
give up the idea that light was a racial policies. He died in
wave, and not a stream of particles. Göttingen, Germany, in 1947.
In 1913, even Planck commented
about Einstein, “That sometimes Every rascal
… he may have gone overboard in thinks he knows Key works
his speculations should not be held [what light quanta
against him.” are], but he is 1900 “On an Improvement
Skeptical American physicist deluding himself. of Wien’s Equation for
Robert Millikan performed Albert Einstein the Spectrum”
1903 Treatise on
experiments on the photoelectric
Thermodynamics
effect that were aimed at proving 1920 The Origin and
that Einstein’s assertion was Development of the
wrong, but they actually produced Quantum Theory
results entirely in line with the
212
IN CONTEXT
THEY DO NOT
KEY FIGURE
Louis de Broglie (1892–1987)
BEHAVE LIKE
BEFORE
1670 Isaac Newton develops
his corpuscle (particle) theory
of light.
ANYTHING
1803 Thomas Young performs
his double-slit experiment,
demonstrating that light
THAT YOU HAVE

behaves like a wave.
1897 British physicist J.J.
Thomson announces that
electricity is made up of a
EVER SEEN
stream of charged particles,
now called “electrons.”
AFTER
1926 Austrian physicist Erwin
PARTICLES AND WAVES Schrödinger publishes his
wave equation.
1927 Danish physicist Niels
Bohr develops the Copenhagen
interpretation, stating that a
particle exists in all possible
states until it is observed.
T
he nature of light lies at
the heart of quantum
physics. People have tried
for centuries to explain what it is.
The ancient Greek thinker Aristotle
thought of light as a wave traveling
through an invisible ether that
filled space. Others thought it was
a stream of particles that were too
small and fast moving to be
perceived individually. In 55 bce,
the Roman philosopher Lucretius
wrote: “The light and heat of the
sun; these are composed of minute
atoms which, when they are shoved
off, lose no time in shooting right
across the interspace of air.”
However, the particle theory did
not find much favor and so, for the
See also: Thermal radiation 112–117 ■ Force fields and Maxwell’s equations 142–147 ■ Lumpy and wavelike light 176–179
■ Diffraction and interference 180–183 ■ Electromagnetic waves 192–195 ■ Energy quanta 208–211 ■ Quantum numbers 216–217
so that the light coming through peak, while two troughs make
the hole in the window blind a deeper trough. If a trough and a
would pass through the pinholes peak coincide, then they cancel
and onto a screen. If Newton was each other out. Unfortunately,
right, and light was a stream of Young’s findings were not well
Physics isn’t just about particles, then two points of light received as they disagreed with
writing equations on a board would be visible on the screen the great Isaac Newton’s view
and sitting in front of a where the particles traveled that light was carried by a
computer. Science is about through the pinholes. But that stream of particles.
exploring new worlds. is not what Young saw.
Suchitra Sebastian Rather than two discrete Particles of light
Indian physicist points of light, he saw a series of In the 1860s, Scottish scientist
curved, colored bands separated James Clerk Maxwell declared
by dark lines, exactly as would that light was an electromagnetic
be expected if light were a wave. wave. An electromagnetic wave
Young himself had investigated is made up of two adjoined waves
interference patterns in waves traveling in the same direction but
two years earlier. He had at right angles to each other. One
next 2,000 years or more, it was described how the peak of one of these waves is an oscillating
generally accepted that light wave meeting the peak of another magnetic field, the other an
traveled in waves. add together to make a higher oscillating electric field. The two ❯❯
Isaac Newton was fascinated
by light and carried out many
experiments. He demonstrated,
for example, that white light All matter and energy has both wavelike
could be split into a spectrum and particlelike characteristics. This is called
of colors by passing it through wave–particle duality.
a prism. He observed that light
travels in straight lines and that
shadows have sharp edges. It
seemed obvious to him that In some experiments, a
light was a stream of particles, In other experiments, a
beam of light will act like stream of electrons will act
and not a wave. a stream of discrete like a wave.
particles, called quanta.
The double-slit experiment
The formidably talented British
scientist Thomas Young theorized
that if the wavelength of light was
sufficiently short, then it would The experiments that we perform
appear to travel in straight lines as determine what we see.
if it were a stream of particles. In
1803, he put his theory to the test.
First, he made a small hole in
a window blind to provide a point
source of illumination. Next, he Neither energy nor matter can
took a piece of board and made ever be seen as both a wave and a
two pinholes in it, placed close particle at the same time.
together. He positioned his board
214 PARTICLES AND WAVES
assuming that light was indeed Wavelength of Velocity at which
particle particle is moving
composed of photons, or discrete
energy quanta. As far as Einstein
We have two contradictory

was concerned, light quanta were
a physical reality, but he struggled
without success for the rest of his
l = h/mv
pictures of reality; separately life to resolve the apparent paradox Planck’s Mass of
neither of them fully explains that light was also demonstrably constant particle
the phenomena of light, but wavelike. In an experiment
together they do. carried out in 1922, American De Broglie’s 1924 equation is
used to calculate the wavelength of a
Albert Einstein physicist Arthur Compton
particle by dividing Planck’s constant
succeeded in scattering X-rays
by the particle’s momentum—its mass
off electrons. The small change in multiplied by its velocity.
the frequency of the X-rays that
resulted became known as the
Compton effect and showed that De Broglie considered Einstein’s
both the X-rays and the electrons famous E = mc2, which relates
fields keep in step with each other were acting like particles when mass to energy, and the fact that
as the wave travels along. When, they collided. Einstein and Planck had related
in 1900, Max Planck solved the energy to the frequency of waves.
blackbody radiation problem by Symmetry of nature By combining the two, de Broglie
assuming that electromagnetic In 1924, Louis de Broglie put suggested that mass should have
energy was emitted in quanta, he forward a theory in his doctoral a wavelike form as well and came
didn’t actually believe they were thesis that all matter and up with the concept of a matter
real. The evidence that light was energy—not just light—has the wave: any moving object has an
a wave was too overwhelming for characteristics of both particles associated wave. The kinetic
Planck to accept that it was and waves. De Broglie believed energy of the particle is
actually composed of particles. intuitively in the symmetry of proportional to its frequency
In 1905, Albert Einstein nature and Einstein’s quantum and the speed of the particle
showed how the photoelectric theory of light. He asked, if a wave is inversely proportional to its
effect—which could not be can behave like a particle then wavelength—with faster particles
explained by the wave theory why can’t a particle such as an having shorter wavelengths.
of light—could be explained by electron also behave like a wave? Einstein supported de Broglie’s
idea as it seemed a natural
continuation of his own theories.
De Broglie’s claim that electrons
could behave like waves was
experimentally verified in 1927 when
British physicist George Thomson
and American physicist Clinton
Davisson both demonstrated that
This image shows the X-ray

diffraction pattern for platinum.
X-rays are wavelike forms of
electromagnetic energy carried by
particles which transmit light called
“photons.” The diffraction experiment
here shows X-rays behaving like rays,
but a different experiment might show
them behaving like particles.
a narrow electron beam directed When particles, such
through a thin crystal of nickel as electrons or atoms,
formed a diffraction pattern as it are passed through
a dual-slit apparatus,
passed through the crystal lattice. interference patterns
of light and dark bands
How can it be like that? are produced, just as
Thomas Young had demonstrated happens with waves.
that light was a wave by showing This shows that
how it formed interference patterns. particles have wavelike
In the early 1960s, American Electrons properties and exhibit
wavelike behavior.
physicist Richard Feynman
described a thought experiment
in which he imagined what would Screen with Optical Front view of
happen if one photon or electron at two slits screen optical screen
a time was sent toward twin slits
that could be opened or closed. The
expected result would be that the “know” where to go to build up the Nobody knows how it can be like
photons would travel as particles, interference pattern. It is as if each that.” Feynman’s predicted findings
arrive as particles, and be detected particle travels as a wave, passes have since been confirmed by
on the screen as individual dots. through both slits simultaneously, other scientists.
Rather than interference patterns, and creates interference with itself. What is apparent is that both
there should be two bright areas But how does a single particle the wave theory and the particle
when both slits were open, or just traveling through the left-hand slit theory of light are correct. Light
one if one of the slits was closed. know whether the right-hand slit is acts as a wave when it is traveling
However, Feynman predicted an open or closed? through space, but as a particle
alternative outcome, that the pattern Feynman advised against when it is being measured. There
on the screen builds up, particle by even attempting to answer these is no single model that can describe
particle, into interference patterns questions. In 1964 he wrote: “Do not light in all its aspects. It is easy
when both slits are open—but not keep saying to yourself, if you can enough to say that light has “wave–
if one of the slits is closed. possibly avoid it ‘But how can it be particle duality” and leave it at that,
Even if subsequent photons are like that?’ because you will go down but what that statement actually
fired off after the earlier ones have the drain into a blind alley from means is something that no one
hit the screen, they still somehow which nobody has yet escaped. can answer satisfactorily. ■
Louis de Broglie Born in 1892 in Dieppe, France, wave mechanics. De Broglie

Louis de Broglie obtained a degree taught theoretical physics at the
in history in 1910 and a science Institut Henri Poincaré in Paris
degree in 1913. He was conscripted until he retired. In 1929, he was
during World War I, and when the awarded the Nobel Prize for
war ended he resumed his physics Physics for his discovery of the
studies. In 1924, at the Faculty of wave nature of electrons. He
Sciences at Paris University, de died in 1987.
Broglie delivered his doctoral
thesis, “Recherches sur la théorie Key works
des quanta” (“Researches on the
quantum theory”). This thesis, 1924 “Recherches sur la théorie
which was first received with des quanta” (“Researches on
astonishment, but later confirmed the quantum theory”), Annals
by the discovery of electron of Physics
diffraction in 1927, served as the 1926 Ondes et Mouvements
basis for developing the theory of (Waves and Motions)
216
A NEW IDEA
OF REALITY
QUANTUM NUMBERS
I
n 1802, British chemist saying that light could behave
IN CONTEXT and physicist William Hyde like a stream of packets of energy,
Wollaston noticed that the called quanta. In 1913, Danish
KEY FIGURE
spectrum of sunlight was overlaid physicist Niels Bohr proposed a
Wolfgang Pauli (1900–1958)
by a number of fine dark lines. model of the atom that accounted
BEFORE German lens-maker Joseph von for both quanta and the spectra of
1672 Isaac Newton splits Fraunhofer first examined these elements. In Bohr’s atom, electrons
white light into a spectrum. lines in detail in 1814, listing more traveled around the core nucleus
than 500. In the 1850s, German in fixed, or quantized orbits. Light
1802 William Hyde Wollaston physicist Gustav Kirchhoff and quanta (later called photons)
sees dark lines in the solar German chemist Robert Bunsen striking the atom could be
spectrum. found that each element produces absorbed by electrons, which then
its own unique set of lines, but did moved to higher orbits (further
1913 Niels Bohr puts forward
not know what caused them. from the nucleus). A sufficiently
his shell model of the atom.
energetic photon may eject an
AFTER Quantum leaps electron from its orbit altogether.
1927 Niels Bohr proposes the In 1905, Albert Einstein had Conversely, when an electron gives
Copenhagen interpretation, explained the photoelectric effect, up its “extra” energy as a photon
stating that a particle exists by which light can cause electrons of light, it falls back down to its
in all possible states until it to be emitted from some metals, original energy level, closer to the
is observed.
Fraunhofer lines are fine dark lines that overlay the
1928 Indian astronomer spectrum of visible light. Each element produces its own
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar unique set of Fraunhofer lines (designated by one or more
calculates that a large enough letters), determined by the quantum numbers of its electrons.
star could collapse to form a The most prominent of these lines are shown here.
black hole at the end of its life. Wavelength (nm)
1932 British physicist 400 440 480 520 560 600 640 680
James Chadwick discovers
the neutron.
F (Hydrogen) D (Sodium)
G’ (Hydrogen) b (Magnesium) C (Hydrogen)
See also: Magnetic monopoles 159 ■ Electromagnetic waves 192–195 ■ Light
from the atom 196–199 ■ Energy quanta 208–211 ■ Subatomic particles 242–243
The laws of quantum physics

prevent identical particles Each electron around an atom
from occupying the same has a unique code made up of
space at the same time. four quantum numbers.
The quantum numbers define

Two electrons with the same
characteristics of the Wolfgang Pauli
quantum numbers would
electron—energy, spin,
have to occupy different
angular momentum, The son of a chemist,
energy levels in an atom.
and magnetism. Wolfgang Pauli was born in
1900 in Vienna, Austria. When
he was a schoolboy, he is said
to have smuggled Albert
atom’s nucleus. These steps up and level and the number of electrons Einstein’s papers on special
down are called “quantum leaps.” that each energy level, or shell, relativity into school to read
Their size is unique to each atom. could hold? The reason he came at his desk. As a student at
Atoms give off light at specific up with was that each electron the University of Munich in
wavelengths, and so each element had a unique code, described by Germany, Pauli published his
first paper on relativity in
produces a characteristic set of its four quantum numbers—energy,
1921. This was praised by
spectral lines. Bohr proposed that spin, angular momentum, and
Einstein himself.
these lines were related to the magnetism. The exclusion principle After graduating, Pauli
energy levels of the electron orbits, stated that no two electrons in an assisted physicist Max Born
and that they were produced by atom could share the same four at the University of Göttingen,
an electron absorbing or emitting quantum numbers. No two Germany. The threat of Nazi
a photon at the frequency that identical particles could occupy the persecution led him to move
corresponds to the spectral line. same state at the same time. Two to Princeton, New Jersey, in
The energy level that an electron electrons could occupy the same 1940 and he later became an
can have in an atom is denoted by shell but only if they had opposite American citizen. He was
the primary, or principal, quantum spins, for example. ■ awarded the Nobel Prize in
number, n, in which n = 1 equals 1945 for his discovery of the
the lowest possible orbit, n = 2 the exclusion principle. Pauli
next highest, and so on. Using this moved to Zurich, Switzerland,
scheme, Bohr was able to describe in 1946 and worked as a
professor at the city’s
the energy level in the simplest
Eidgenössische Technische
atom, hydrogen, in which a single Physics is puzzle solving, but Hochschule until his death
electron orbits a single proton. of puzzles created by nature, in 1958.
Later models that incorporated the not by the mind of man.
wavelike properties of electrons
Maria Goeppert Mayer
were able to describe larger atoms. German–American physicist Key works
Pauli exclusion principle 1926 Quantum Theory
In 1925, Wolfgang Pauli was trying 1933 “Principles of Wave
to explain the structure of atoms. Mechanics”
What decided an electron’s energy
218
ALL IS
WAVES
MATRICES AND WAVES
B
y the 1920s, scientists were light absorbed and emitted by atoms
IN CONTEXT starting to challenge the when an electron jumps from one
model of the atom that orbit to another. He used these
KEY FIGURE
Danish physicist Niels Bohr had observations to produce tables of
Erwin Schrödinger
proposed in 1913. Experiments had numbers to represent the positions
(1887–1961)
begun to show not only that light and momentum of electrons and
BEFORE could behave like a stream of worked out rules to calculate the
1897 J.J. Thomson discovers particles, but also that electrons values of these properties.
the electron and suggests that could act like waves.
it is the carrier of electricity. German physicist Werner Matrix mechanics
Heisenberg tried to develop a In 1925, Heisenberg shared his
1924 Louis de Broglie system of quantum mechanics calculations with German–Jewish
proposes that particles that relied only on what could be physicist Max Born, who realized
have wavelike properties. observed. It was impossible to see that this type of table was known
an electron orbiting an atom directly, as a matrix. Together with Born’s
AFTER but it was possible to observe the student, Pascual Jordan, Born and
1927 Werner Heisenberg Heisenberg worked out a new
publishes his uncertainty theory of matrix mechanics that
principle. could be used to link the energies
1927 Niels Bohr endorses the of electrons to the lines that had
Copenhagen interpretation, been observed in the visible
claiming that observation Why do all experiments that light spectrum.
involve, say, the position of a One of the interesting things
determines the quantum
particle make the particle about matrix mechanics is that
state of a particle.
suddenly be somewhere the order in which calculations are
1935 Erwin Schrödinger sets made is important. Calculating the
rather than everywhere?
out the scenario of a cat that is momentum and then the position of
No one knows. a particle will give a different result
simultaneously alive and dead Christophe Galfard
to illustrate a problem with the French physicist
from calculating the position first
Copenhagen interpretation. and then the momentum. It was
this difference that would lead
Heisenberg to his uncertainty
principle, which stated that in
quantum mechanics the velocity
See also: Electromagnetic waves 192–195 ■ Light from the atom 196–199 ■ Energy
quanta 208–211 ■ Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle 220–221 ■ Antimatter 246
We can think of the

wave like a “probability
A particle that is behaving
graph” mapping out
like a wave has no fixed
the chances of finding
position in space.
the particle in a
particular place.
Erwin Schrödinger
Schrödinger’s
equation is a wave A wave equation is Erwin Schrödinger was born
equation that gives us all used to determine the in 1887 in Vienna, Austria, and
possible locations of shape of the probability wave, studied theoretical physics.
a particle, such as an or wave function, After serving in World War I,
electron or photon, at a of the particle. he held posts at universities
given time. in Zurich, Switzerland, and
Berlin, Germany. In 1933, as
the Nazis came to power in
Germany, he moved to Oxford
of an object and its position cannot mechanics as Newton’s laws of in the UK.
That same year, he shared
both be measured exactly at the motion are for events on a large
the Nobel Prize with British
same time. scale. Schrödinger tested his
theoretical physicist Paul
In 1926, Austrian physicist equation on the hydrogen atom and Dirac for “the discovery of
Erwin Schrödinger devised an found that it predicted its properties new productive forms of
equation that determines how with great accuracy. atomic theory.” In 1939, he
probability waves, or wave functions In 1928, British physicist became director of theoretical
(mathematical descriptions of a Paul Dirac married Schrödinger’s physics at the Institute of
quantum system) are shaped and equation to Einstein’s special Advanced Studies in Dublin,
how they evolve. The Schrödinger relativity, which had demonstrated Ireland. He retired to Vienna
equation is as important to the the link between mass and energy, in 1956, and died in 1961.
subatomic world of quantum encapsulated in the famous Fascinated by philosophy,
E = mc2 equation. Dirac’s equation Schrödinger remains best
was consistent with both special known for his 1935 thought
relativity and quantum mechanics in experiment, Schrödinger’s
its description of electrons and other cat, which examined the
idea that a quantum system
particles. He proposed that electrons
could exist in two different
should be viewed as arising from an states simultaneously.
Can nature possibly be so electron field, just as photons arose
absurd as it seemed to us in from the electromagnetic field.
these atomic experiments? A combination of Heisenberg’s Key works
Werner Heisenberg matrices and Schrödinger’s and
1926 “An undulatory theory
Dirac’s equations laid the basis
of the mechanics of atoms and
for two fundamentals of quantum
molecules,” Physical Review
mechanics, the uncertainty 1935 “The Present Situation
principle, and the Copenhagen in Quantum Mechanics”
interpretation. ■
220
THE CAT IS BOTH

ALIVE AND DEAD
HEISENBERG’S UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE
IN CONTEXT According to quantum theory, until a particle is observed and

measured, it simultaneously exists in all the possible locations
KEY FIGURE
and states that it could be in. This is called superposition.
Werner Heisenberg
(1901–1976)
BEFORE
1905 Einstein proposes that
light is made up of discrete All the possible states a Erwin Schrödinger compared
packets called photons. particle might be in are this to a cat that is
described by its simultaneously alive
1913 Niels Bohr sets out wave function. and dead.
a model of the atom with
electrons around a nucleus.
1924 French physicist Louis
de Broglie suggests that The particle’s properties
particles of matter can also have no definite The collapse of
be considered as waves. value until we measure the wave function fixes the
them—when we do so, the properties of the particle.
AFTER wave function collapses.
1935 Einstein, American–
Russian physicist Boris
I
Podolsky, and Israeli physicist
n classical physics, it was interacting with it. To determine
Nathan Rosen publish the
generally accepted that the the position of an electron, we
“EPR paradox,” challenging the
accuracy of any measurement bounce a photon off it. The accuracy
Copenhagen interpretation. was only limited by the precision of the measurement is determined
1957 American physicist of the instruments used. In 1927, by the wavelength of the photon;
Hugh Everett puts forward Werner Heisenberg showed that the higher the frequency of the
his “many worlds theory” this just wasn’t so. photon, the more accurate the
to explain the Copenhagen Heisenberg asked himself position of the electron.
interpretation. what it actually meant to define Max Planck had shown that the
the position of a particle. We can energy of a photon is related to its
only know where something is by frequency by the formula E = hn,
See also: Energy and motion 56–57 ■ Lumpy and wavelike light 176–179 ■ Light from the atom 196–199
■ Energy quanta 208–211 ■ Particles and waves 212–215 ■ Matrices and waves 218–219
Werner Heisenberg Werner Heisenberg was born in project. Whether this failed due
1901 in Würzburg, Germany. He to a lack of resources or because
went to work with Niels Bohr at Heisenberg wanted it to fail is
Copenhagen University in 1924. unclear. He was eventually
Heisenberg’s name will always be taken prisoner by American
associated with his uncertainty troops and sent to the UK.
principle, published in 1927, and After the war, he served as
he was awarded the Nobel Prize the director of the Max Planck
for Physics in 1932 for the creation Institute until he resigned
of quantum mechanics. in 1970. He died in 1976.
In 1941, during World War II,
Heisenberg was appointed Key works
director of the Kaiser Wilhelm
Institute for Physics (later 1925 “On Quantum Mechanics”
renamed the Max Planck Institute) 1927 “On the Perceptual
in Munich, and was put in charge Content of Quantum Theoretical
of Nazi Germany’s atomic bomb Kinematics and Mechanics”
where E equals energy, n equals about the universe. The properties poison that will be released when
frequency, and h is Planck’s of a quantum particle have no a quantum event occurs. According
constant. The higher the frequency definite value until a measurement to the Copenhagen interpretation,
of the photon, the more energy it is made. It is impossible to design the cat is in the superposition state
carries and the more it will knock an experiment that would allow us of being both alive and dead until
the electron off course. We know to see an electron as wave and someone looks in the box, which
where the electron is at that particle at the same time, for Schrödinger thought was
moment, but we cannot know example. The wave and particle ridiculous. Bohr retorted that there
where it is going. If it were possible nature of matter are two sides of was no reason why the rules of
to measure the electron’s momentum the same coin, Bohr suggested. The classical physics should also apply
with absolute precision, its location Copenhagen interpretation opened to the quantum realm—this was
would become completely uncertain, a sharp divide between classical just the way things were. ■
and vice versa. physics and quantum physics over
Heisenberg showed that the whether or not physical systems
uncertainty in the momentum have definite properties prior to
multiplied by the uncertainty in being measured.
the position can never be smaller
than a fraction of Planck’s constant. Schrödinger’s cat
The uncertainty principle is a According to the Copenhagen The atoms or elementary
fundamental property of the interpretation, any quantum state particles themselves are
universe that puts a limit on what can be seen as the sum of two or not real; they form a world
we can know simultaneously. more distinct states, known as of potentialities or possibilities
superposition, until it is observed, rather than one of
Copenhagen interpretation at which point it becomes either things or facts.
What came to be known as the one or the other. Werner Heisenberg
“Copenhagen interpretation” of Erwin Schrödinger asked:
quantum physics was championed when is the switch made from
by Niels Bohr. It accepted that, as superposition into one definite
Heisenberg had shown, there are reality? He described the scenario
some things we simply cannot know of a cat in a box, along with a
222
SPOOKY ACTION
AT A DISTANCE
QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT
O
ne of the main tenets of of momentum laws tell us that the
IN CONTEXT quantum mechanics is the momentum of one particle is equal
idea of uncertainty—we and opposite to that of the other.
KEY FIGURE
cannot measure all the features According to the Copenhagen
John Stewart Bell
of a system simultaneously, no interpretation, neither particle
(1928–1990)
matter how perfect the experiment. will have a definite state until it
BEFORE The Copenhagen interpretation of is measured, but measuring the
1905 Albert Einstein publishes quantum physics championed by momentum of one will determine
his theory of special relativity, Niels Bohr effectively says that the the state and momentum of the
which is based in part on the very act of measurement selects the other, regardless of the distance
idea that nothing can travel characteristics that are observed. between the particles.
faster than the speed of light. Another peculiar property of This is known as “non-local
quantum mechanics is called behavior,” though Albert Einstein
1926 Erwin Schrödinger “entanglement.” If two electrons, called it “spooky action at a
publishes his wave equation. for example, are ejected from a distance.” In 1935, Einstein attacked
quantum system, then conservation entanglement, claiming that there
1927 Niels Bohr champions
the Copenhagen interpretation
of the way in which quantum
systems interact with the When any two subatomic particles, such as electrons,
large-scale world. interact with each other, their states become
interdependent—they are entangled.
AFTER
1981 Richard Feynman
proposes superposition and the The particles remain connected even when
entanglement of particles as physically separated by an enormous distance
basis for a quantum computer. (for example, in different galaxies).
1995 Austrian quantum
physicist Anton Zeilinger
demonstrates wave/particle Measuring the properties As a result, manipulating
switching in an experiment of one particle gives one particle
using entangled photons. information about the instantaneously alters
properties of the other. its partner.
See also: Energy quanta 208–211 ■ Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle 220–221
■ Quantum applications 226–231 ■ Special relativity 276–279
Particle A and particle B have interacted with

each other and become entangled. They will remain
entangled even if they are sent in different directions.
Particles entangled even Pair of entangled particles
when separated sent in different directions
Particle A Particle B
John Stewart Bell
are “hidden variables“ at work that correlate with that of particle B if John Stewart Bell was born
make it unnecessary. He argued normal probability (as opposed to in 1928 in Belfast, Northern
that for one particle to affect the quantum entanglement) is at work. Ireland. After graduating from
other, a faster-than-light signal The statistical distribution of his Queen’s University Belfast,
between them (which was forbidden results proved mathematically that he went on to gain a PhD in
by Einstein’s theory of special Einstein’s “hidden variables” nuclear physics and quantum
relativity) would be required. idea isn’t true, and that there is field theory at the University
instantaneous connection between of Birmingham. He then
Bell’s theorem entangled particles. Physicist Fritjof worked at the Atomic Research
Establishment in Harwell,
In 1964, Northern Irish physicist Capra maintains that Bell’s theorem
UK, and later at the European
John Stewart Bell proposed an shows that the universe is
Organization for Nuclear
experiment that could test whether “fundamentally interconnected.” Research (CERN) in Geneva,
or not entangled particles actually Experiments such as the one Switzerland. There, he worked
did communicate with each other carried out by French physicist on theoretical particle science
faster than light. He imagined the Alain Aspect in the early 1980s and accelerator design. After
case of a pair of entangled electrons, (which used entangled photon a year spent at Stanford,
one with spin up and the other pairs generated by laser) Wisconsin-Madison, and
with spin down. According to demonstrate convincingly that Brandeis universities in
quantum theory, the two electrons “action at a distance” is real—the the US, Bell published his
are in a superposition of states until quantum realm is not bound by breakthrough paper in 1964,
they are measured—either one rules of locality. When two particles which proposed a way to
of them could be spin up or spin are entangled, they are effectively distinguish between quantum
down. However, as soon as one is a single system that has a single theory and Einstein’s notion
measured, we know with certainty quantum function. ■ of local reality. He was elected
a member of the American
that the other has to be its opposite.
Academy of Arts and Sciences
Bell derived formulas, called the Bell in 1987. Bell’s early death in
inequalities, which determine how 1990 at the age of 62 meant
often the spin of particle A should he did not live to see his ideas
tested experimentally.
This conceptual computer artwork
shows a pair of particles that have
become entangled: manipulating one Key work
will result in manipulating the other,
regardless of the distance between 1964 “On the Einstein-
them. Entanglement has applications Podolsky-Rosen Paradox,”
in the new technologies of quantum Physics
computing and quantum cryptography.
224
THE JEWEL
OF PHYSICS
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
O
ne of quantum mechanics’
IN CONTEXT biggest shortcomings is
A field maps out the that it fails to take
KEY FIGURE strength of a force across Einstein’s relativity theories into
Richard Feynman space and time. account. One of the first to try
(1918–1988)
reconciling these cornerstones
BEFORE of modern physics was British
1873 James Clerk Maxwell physicist Paul Dirac. Published
publishes his equations in 1928, the Dirac equation
describing the properties viewed electrons as excitations of
of the electromagnetic field. an electron field, in the same way
Quantum field theory says that photons could be seen as
1905 Einstein proposes that that forces are transmitted by excitations of the electromagnetic
light, as well as acting like force-carrier particles. field. The equation became one
a wave, can be imagined of the foundations of quantum
as a stream of particles field theory.
called quanta. The idea of fields carrying
forces across a distance is well
AFTER established in physics. A field can
1968 Theoretical physicists be thought of as anything that has
Sheldon Glashow, Abdus The force carriers of the values that vary across space and
Salam, and Steven Weinberg electromagnetic force time. For example, the pattern
present their theory of the are photons. made by iron filings scattered
electroweak force, uniting around a bar magnet maps out the
the electromagnetic and lines of force in a magnetic field.
weak nuclear forces. In the 1920s, quantum field
theory proposed a different
1968 Experiments at the approach, which suggested that
Stanford Linear Accelerator forces were carried by means
Laboratory, CA, discover The ways in which photon of quantum particles, such as
evidence of quarks, the exchange interactions take photons (particles of light that
building blocks of place can be visualized using are the carrier particles of
subatomic particles. a Feynman diagram. electromagnetism). Other particles
that were discovered subsequently,
See also: Force fields and Maxwell’s equations 142–147 ■ Quantum applications 226–231 ■ The particle zoo and
quarks 256–257 ■ Force carriers 258–259 ■ Quantum electrodynamics 260 ■ The Higgs boson 262–263
Tomonaga in Japan. It proposes Departing

electrons
that charged particles, such as
electrons, interact with each other e- Exchange e-
by emitting and absorbing photons. of photon
This can be visualized by means of
TIM E
What we observe is not Feynman diagrams, developed by
nature itself, but nature Richard Feynman (see right).
exposed to our method QED is one of the most
Approaching
of questioning. astonishingly accurate theories e- electrons e-
Werner Heisenberg ever formulated. Its prediction for
the strength of the magnetic field SPACE
associated with an electron This Feynman diagram represents
is so close to the value produced, electromagnetic repulsion. Two
that if the distance from London electrons (e -) approach, exchange
to Timbuktu was measured to a photon, then move apart.
the same precision, it would be
such as the quark, the gluon, and accurate to within a hair’s breadth.
the Higgs boson (an elementary interaction, or strong nuclear force,
particle which gives particles their The Standard Model which binds together the protons
mass) are believed to have their QED was a stepping stone toward and neutrons in the nucleus of an
own associated fields. building quantum field theories for atom. The electroweak theory
the other fundamental forces of proposes that the electromagnetic
QED nature. The Standard Model and weak interactions can be
Quantum electrodynamics, or QED, combines two theories of particle considered two facets of a single,
is the quantum field theory that physics into a single framework, “electroweak,” interaction. The
deals with electromagnetic force. which describes three of the four Standard Model also classifies
The theory of QED was fully (and known fundamental forces (the all known elementary particles.
independently) developed by electromagnetic, weak, and strong Reconciling the gravitational force
Richard Feynman and Julian interactions), but not gravity. The with the Standard Model remains
Schwinger in the US and Shin’ichirō strongest of these is the strong one of physics’ biggest challenges. ■
Richard Feynman Born in 1918, Richard Feynman His autobiography, Surely You’re
grew up in New York City. Joking, Mr. Feynman!, is one of
Fascinated by math from an the best-selling books written
early age, he won a scholarship by a scientist. One of his last
to the Massachusetts Institute major achievements was
of Technology and achieved uncovering the cause of NASA’s
a perfect score in his PhD 1986 Challenger space shuttle
application to Princeton. In 1942, disaster. He died in 1988.
he joined the Manhattan Project
to develop the first atomic bomb. Key works
After the war, Feynman
worked at Cornell University, 1967 The Character of
where he developed the QED Physical Law
theory, for which he was jointly 1985 QED: The Strange Theory
awarded the Nobel Prize in 1965. of Light and Matter
He moved to the California 1985 Surely You’re Joking,
Institute of Technology in 1960. Mr. Feynman!
COLLABORATION
BETWEEN PARALLEL
UNIVERSES
QUANTUM APPLICATIONS
228 QUANTUM APPLICATIONS
The Meissner effect is the
IN CONTEXT expulsion of a magnetic field from a
superconducting material, causing
KEY FIGURE a magnet to levitate above it.
David Deutsch (1953–)
BEFORE of these junctions, known as
1911 Heike Kamerlingh Onnes “Josephson junctions,” the current
discovers superconductivity in vibrates at a very high frequency.
super-cooled mercury. Frequencies can be measured
with much greater precision than
1981 Richard Feynman puts voltages, and Josephson junctions
forward the idea of a quantum have been used in devices such
computer. as SQUIDS (superconducting
quantum interference devices) to
1981 French physicist Alain examine the tiny magnetic fields
Aspect proves that quantum produced by the human brain.
entanglement, the linking of They also have potential for use
paired particles, takes place. in ultrafast computers.
1988 American physicist low temperatures. When the Without superconductivity, the
Mark Reed coins the term temperature of the mercury reached powerful magnetic forces harnessed
“quantum dots.” 268.95°C, its electrical resistance in magnetic resonance imaging
disappeared. This meant that, (MRI) scanners would not be
AFTER theoretically, an electrical current possible. Superconductors also act
2009 Researchers at Yale could flow through a loop of super- to expel magnetic fields. This is the
University use a 2-qubit cooled mercury forever. Meissner effect, a phenomenon
(quantum bit) superconducting American physicists John that has allowed the building of
chip to create the first solid- Bardeen, Leon Cooper, and John magnetically-levitated trains.
state quantum processor. Schrieffer came up with an
explanation for this strange Superfluids
2019 The IBM Q System One phenomenon in 1957. At very low Kamerlingh Onnes was also the first
with 20 qubits is launched. temperatures, electrons form person to liquefy helium. In 1938,
so-called “Cooper pairs.” Whereas Russian physicist Pyotr Kapitsa and
a single electron has to obey the British physicists John Allen and
Pauli exclusion principle, which Don Misener discovered that below
T
he grand realm of quantum forbids two electrons from sharing
physics seems a long way the same quantum state, the
from the common-sense Cooper pairs form a “condensate.”
everyday world, but it has given This means that the pairs act as if
rise to a surprising number of they were a single body, with no
technological advances that play a resistance from the conducting Technology at the forefront
vital role in our lives. Computers and material, rather than a collection of human endeavor is
semiconductors, communications of electrons flowing through the hard. But that is what
networks and the internet, GPS and conductor. Bardeen, Cooper, and makes it worth it.
MRI scanners—all depend on the Schrieffer won the 1972 Nobel Prize
Michelle Yvonne
quantum world. in Physics for this discovery.
In 1962, Welsh physicist Brian
Simmons
Professor of quantum physics
Superconductors Josephson predicted that Cooper
In 1911, Dutch physicist Heike pairs should be able to tunnel
Kamerlingh Onnes made a through an insulating barrier
remarkable discovery when he was between two superconductors.
experimenting with mercury at very If a voltage is applied across one
See also: Fluids 76–79 ■ Electric current and resistance 130–133 ■ Electronics 152–155 ■ Particles and waves 212–215
■ Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle 220–221 ■ Quantum entanglement 222–223 ■ Gravitational waves 312–315
Quantum clocks absolute zero temperatures

by slowing them with lasers.
Reliable timekeeping is crucial in Today, the most accurate
synchronizing the activities that atomic clocks measure time
our technological world depends using the transitions between
on. The most accurate clocks in spin states in the nucleus of
the world today are atomic clocks, an atom. Until recently, they
which use atoms “jumping” back used atoms of the cesium-133
and forth between energy states isotope. These clocks can
as their “pendulum.” achieve an accuracy equivalent
The first accurate atomic clock to gaining or losing a second
was built in 1955 by physicist over 300 million years and
A blue laser beam excites Louis Essen at the UK’s National are crucial to GPS navigation
strontium atoms in the 3-D quantum Physical Laboratory. The late and telecommunications. The
gas atomic clock developed 1990s saw major advances in most recent atomic clock uses
by physicists at JILA in atomic clock technology, including strontium atoms and is believed
Boulder, Colorado. the cooling of atoms to near to be even more accurate.
270.98°C, liquid helium completely in the 1920s by German physicist semiconductors. This can cause
lost its viscosity, seemingly flowing Friedrich Hund and others, this problems, as chips become smaller
without any apparent friction and phenomenon allows particles to and the insulating layers between
possessing a thermal conductivity pass through barriers that would components become too thin to
that far outstripped that of the best traditionally be impassable. This stop the electrons at all—effectively
metal conductors. When helium oddity arises from considering making it impossible to turn the
is in its superfluid state, it does electrons, for example, as waves of device off.
not behave like it does at higher probability rather than particles
temperatures. It flows over the rim existing at a particular point. In Quantum imaging
of a container and leaks through transistors, for example, quantum An electron microscope depends
the smallest of holes. When set tunneling allows electrons to pass on the wave/particle duality of
rotating, it does not stop spinning. across a junction between electrons. It works in a similar ❯❯
The Infrared Astronomical Satellite
(IRAS) launched in 1983 was cooled
In classical physics, an object—for example, a rolling ball—
by superfluid helium. cannot move across a barrier without gaining enough energy
A fluid becomes a superfluid to get over it. A quantum particle, however, has wavelike Quantum
when its atoms begin to occupy the properties, and we can never know exactly how much energy particle
same quantum states; in essence, it has. It may have enough energy to pass through a barrier. passes
they lose their individual identities through
barrier
and become a single entity.
Rolling ball
Superfluids are the only quantum
phenomenon that can be observed
by the naked eye.
Tunneling and transistors

Some of the devices we use daily,
such as the touchscreen technology
of mobile phones, would not work if
not for the strange phenomenon of Classical Quantum
quantum tunneling. First explored physics tunneling
230 QUANTUM APPLICATIONS
changing the way they are an individual atom. The quantum
magnetized. When the radio waves dot can absorb and emit energy
are switched off, the protons as electrons move between levels.
return to the previous spin state, The frequency of the light emitted
emitting a signal which is recorded depends on the spacing between
electronically and turned into the levels, which is determined
images of the body tissues they by the size of the dot—larger dots
form a part of. glow at the red end of the spectrum
and smaller dots at the blue. The
Quantum dots luminosity of the dots can be tuned
Quantum dots are nanoparticles, precisely by varying their size.
typically consisting of just a
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) few dozen atoms, made of Quantum computing
scanners produce detailed images, semiconducting materials. They Quantum dot technology is
such as this image of the human brain, were first created by Russian likely to be used in constructing
using a magnetic field and radio waves. physicist Alexey Ekimov and quantum computers. Computers
American physicist Louis Brus, depend on binary bits of
way to a light microscope, but who were working independently information, corresponding to the
instead of using lenses to focus in the early 1980s. The electrons on (1) and off (0) positions of their
light, it employs magnets to focus within semiconductors are locked electronic switches. Spin is a
beams of electrons. As the stream inside the crystal lattice that makes quantum property that seems to
of electrons passes through the up the material, but can be freed if turn up quite often in quantum
magnetic “lens,” they behave like they are excited by photons. When technology. It is the spin of the
particles as the magnet bends their the electrons are free, the electrical electron that gives some materials
path, focusing them on the sample resistance of the semiconductor their magnetic properties. Using
to be examined. Now they act like falls rapidly, allowing current to lasers, it is possible to get electrons
waves, diffracting around the object flow more easily. into a superposition state where
and on to a fluorescent screen where Quantum dot technology can they have both up and down spin at
an image is formed. The wavelength be used in television and computer the same time. These superposition
of an electron is much smaller than screens to produce finely detailed electrons can theoretically be used
that of light, allowing the image images. Quantum dots can be as qubits (quantum bits) which
resolution of objects millions of precisely controlled to do all kinds effectively can be “on,” “off,” and
times smaller than can be seen of useful things. The electrons in something in between, all at the
with a light microscope. a quantum dot each occupy a same time. Other particles, such as
Magnetic resonance imaging different quantum state, so the dot polarized photons, can also be used
(MRI) was developed in the 1970s by has discrete energy levels just like as qubits. It was Richard Feynman
researchers such as Paul Lauterbur
in the US and Peter Mansfield in
In display technology,
the UK. Inside an MRI scanner, the quantum dots change their size
patient is surrounded by a magnetic Blue light and shape to emit light of specific
field many thousands of times more from LED colors when they are stimulated
powerful than that of Earth, by blue light from LEDs.
produced by a superconducting
electromagnet. This magnetic field Core absorbs
blue light and
affects the spin of the protons that emits red light
make up the hydrogen atoms in the
water molecules that constitute Red light from
quantum dot
so much of a human body,
magnetizing them in a particular Surface molecules
stabilize quantum
way. Radio waves are then used dot and increase
to alter the spin of the protons, its efficiency
Normal computers use on/off switches to store binary

information (1s and 0s).
Qubits in quantum
Calculations must be gone
computers can be “on” and
through step by step.
“off” at the same time.
David Deutsch
Entanglement between qubits enables
quantum computers to perform many calculations Born in Haifa, Israel, in
simultaneously. 1953, David Deutsch is one
of the pioneers of quantum
computing. He studied physics
in the UK, at Cambridge and
who first suggested, in 1981, that become a reality, the problem Oxford. He then spent several
enormous computing power would of decoherence will have to be years working in the US at the
be unleashed if the superposition solved. The smallest disturbance University of Texas at Austin,
state could be exploited. Potentially, will collapse, or decohere, the before returning to Oxford
qubits can be used to encode and superposition state. Quantum University. Deutsch is a
founding member of the Centre
process vastly more information computing could avoid this by
for Quantum Computation at
than the simple binary computer bit. making use of the phenomenon
Oxford University.
In 1985, British physicist David of quantum entanglement, which In 1985, Deutsch wrote
Deutsch began to set out ideas on is what Einstein called “spooky a groundbreaking paper,
how such a quantum computer action at a distance.” This allows “Quantum Theory, the
could actually work. The field of one particle to affect another Church–Turing Principle
computer science is in large part somewhere else and could allow and the Universal Quantum
built on the idea of the “universal the value of the qubits to be Computer,” which set out his
computer,” first suggested by determined indirectly. ■ ideas for a universal quantum
British mathematician Alan Turing computer. His discovery of the
in the 1930s. Deutsch pointed out first quantum algorithms, his
that Turing’s concept was limited theory of quantum logic gates,
by its reliance on classical physics and his ideas on quantum
and would therefore represent only computational networks are
a subset of possible computers. among the most important
It’s as if you were trying advances in the field.
Deutsch proposed a universal to do a complex jigsaw puzzle
computer based on quantum
in the dark with your hands Key works
physics and began rewriting
Turing’s work in quantum terms.
tied behind your back.
The power of qubits is such
Brian Clegg 1985 “Quantum Theory,
British science writer, the Church–Turing Principle
that just 10 are sufficient to allow on quantum computing and the Universal Quantum
the simultaneous processing of
Computer,” Proceedings of
1,023 numbers; with 40 qubits, the Royal Society
the possible number of parallel 1997 The Fabric of Reality
computations will exceed 1 trillion. 2011 The Beginning of Infinity
Before quantum computers
NUCLEAR
PARTICLE
inside the atom
AND
PHYSICS
234 INTRODUCTION
The experiments of Ernest Rutherford studies James Chadwick

Henri Becquerel German physicist Hans the hydrogen nucleus, a discovers the
discovers that Geiger and British positively charged electrically neutral
some atoms physicist Ernest Marsden particle found in every neutron particles
emit radiation lead to the discovery of atomic nucleus. He will that exist inside
spontaneously. the atomic nucleus. later dub it a proton. atomic nuclei.
1896 1911 1919 1932
1897 1912 1928
J.J. Thomson discovers Austrian physicist Victor British physicist Paul Dirac
the first subatomic Hess discovers the existence proposes a mirror world
particle: the electron. of cosmic rays by of antimatter and a
measuring ionization rates positively charged electron,
from an atmospheric balloon. later named the positron.
T
he idea of atoms as tiny particles more than a thousand of subatomic particles he named
particles of matter dates times lighter than a hydrogen by the first three letters of the
back to the ancient world, atom; these subatomic particles Greek alphabet.
their seemingly indivisible nature were later named electrons. Rutherford and other physicists
enshrined in their Greek name used alpha particles as tiny
atomos (“uncuttable”). British Exploring the nucleus projectiles, firing them into atoms
physicist John Dalton, who Becquerel’s student Marie Curie to search for smaller structures.
proposed his atomic theory in proposed that such rays came from Most passed through the atoms,
1803, remained convinced of their within the atom, rather than being but a small fraction bounced almost
indestructible nature—as did most the result of chemical reactions— entirely backward in the direction
19th-century scientists. However, an indication that atoms contained they were fired from. The only
in the late 1890s, some researchers smaller particles. In 1899, New possible explanation appeared to
began to challenge this view. Zealand-born physicist Ernest be that a densely packed region of
In 1896, French physicist Henri Rutherford confirmed that there positive charge within the atom was
Becquerel discovered by chance, are different types of radiation. repelling them. Danish physicist
when experimenting with X-rays, He named two—alpha rays, which Niels Bohr worked with Rutherford
that the uranium salt coating he later recognized were positively to produce, in 1913, a new model of
his photographic plate emitted charged helium atoms, and beta an atom with electrically positive
radiation spontaneously. A year rays, negatively charged electrons. nucleus surrounded by light
later, British physicist J.J. Thomson In 1900, French scientist Paul electrons, orbiting like planets.
deduced that the rays he produced Villard discovered a high-energy Further research led physicists
in a cathode ray experiment were light, which Rutherford called to suggest that other particles
made up of negatively charged gamma rays to complete the trio must exist to make up the mass
NUCLEAR AND PARTICLE PHYSICS 235
American physicist
American physicist Carl Sheldon Glashow and The UA1 and UA2
D. Anderson discovers the Pakistani physicist experiments at CERN
muon, a heavier cousin of Abdus Salam propose in Switzerland
the electron and the first in that electromagnetic uncover the weak
the second generation of and weak forces merge force carriers, the
fundamental particles. at high temperatures. W and Z bosons.
1936 1959 1983
1935 1956 1964 2012
Hideki Yukawa predicts American physicists Murray Gell-Mann CERN announces the
the existence of mesons— Frederick Reines and Clyde first uses the word discovery of the Higgs
particles exchanged between Cowan discover the quark to denote the boson, the final piece of
protons and neutrons in the neutrino—26 years after its smallest type of the Standard Model
nucleus to provide a strong prediction by Austrian elementary particle. theory of particle physics.
binding nuclear force. physicist Wolfgang Pauli.
of the nucleus: Rutherford’s 1919 reality as the first commercial The neutrino, first proposed in
discovery of protons provided the nuclear power reactors opened in 1930 to explain missing energy
positive electric charge, while the US and UK in the 1950s. from beta radiation, was detected
electrically neutral neutrons were Meanwhile, particle research in 1956. Heavier versions of the
identified by British physicist continued, and ever more powerful electron and quarks were detected;
James Chadwick in 1932. particle accelerators uncovered a from their interactions, physicists
host of new particles, including began to piece together a picture
More particles revealed kaons and baryons, which decayed of how these particles exchanged
Among the next conundrums to more slowly than expected. Various forces and changed from one type
solve was why positively charged scientists, including American to another. The go-betweens that
protons within a nucleus did not physicist Murray Gell-Mann, made everything happen—the
push the nucleus apart. Japanese dubbed this quality of long decay force-carrying bosons—were also
physicist Hideki Yukawa supplied an “strangeness” and used it to discovered, and the Higgs boson
answer in 1935, proposing that an classify the subatomic particles completed the picture in 2012.
ultra short-range force (the strong that exhibit it into familiar groups, However, the Standard Model—
nuclear force), carried by a particle according to their properties. the theory explaining the four
called a meson, held them together. Gell-Mann later coined the name basic forces, force carriers, and
When two nuclear bombs were quark for the constituents that the fundamental particles of
dropped on Japan to end World War determined such properties, and matter—has known limitations.
II in 1945, the lethal force of nuclear established different “flavors” of Modern particle physics is starting
power became patently clear. Yet quarks—initially up, down, and to push these limits in pursuit of
its use in peacetime to produce strange quarks. Charm, top, and dark matter, dark energy, and a clue
domestic energy also became a bottom quarks came later. as to the origin of matter itself. ■
236
MATTER IS NOT
INFINITELY
DIVISIBLE
ATOMIC THEORY
T
he concept of atoms dates four or five elements (usually earth,
IN CONTEXT back to the ancient world. air, fire, and water) and categorized
The Greek philosophers elements as oxygen, hydrogen,
KEY FIGURE
Democritus and Leucippus, for carbon, and others, but they
John Dalton (1766–1844)
instance, proposed that eternal had yet to discover what made
BEFORE “atoms” (from atomos, meaning each unique.
c. 400 bce The ancient Greek uncuttable) make up all matter.
philosophers Leucippus and These ideas were revived in Europe Dalton’s theory
Democritus theorize that in the 17th and 18th centuries as An explanation arrived with atomic
everything is composed of scientists experimented with theory, which was developed in
“uncuttable” atoms. combining elements to create the early 19th century by British
other materials. They shifted scientist John Dalton. Dalton
1794 French chemist away from historic models of proposed that if the same pair of
Joseph Proust finds that
elements always join in
the same proportions to
form compounds.
Atoms make up all Each element is made up
AFTER matter. of one type of atom.
1811 Italian chemist Amedeo
Avogadro proposes gases are
composed of molecules of two
or more atoms, drawing a
distinction between atoms
Ratios depend on the
and molecules. Different elements join to
relative masses of the
atoms making up form compounds in simple
1897 British physicist mass ratios.
J.J. Thomson discovers each element.
the electron.
1905 Albert Einstein uses
mathematics to provide
evidence for Dalton’s theory. Each element has its own unique atomic mass.
See also: Models of matter 68–71 ■ Light from the atom 196–199 ■ Particles and waves 212–215 ■ The nucleus 240–241
■ Subatomic particles 242–243 ■ Antimatter 246 ■ Nuclear bombs and power 248–251
elements could be combined in John Dalton used wooden balls in

different ways to form different public demonstrations of his theory
compounds, the ratio of these of atoms. He imagined atoms as hard,
consistent spheres.
elements’ masses could be
represented with whole numbers.
He noticed, for instance, that the or destroy a particle of hydrogen.”
mass of oxygen in pure water However, matter could be changed
was nearly eight times the mass by separating particles that are
of hydrogen, so whatever made combined and joining them to other
up oxygen must weigh more than particles to form new compounds.
whatever made up hydrogen. (It Dalton’s model made accurate,
was later shown that one oxygen verifiable predictions and marked
atom weighs 16 times that of a the first time that scientific
hydrogen atom—since a water experimentation had been used
molecule contains one oxygen atom to demonstrate atomic theory. water molecules couldn’t be seen,
and two hydrogen atoms, this fits Einstein proposed that occasionally
with Dalton’s discovery.) Mathematical evidence a small group would mostly move
Dalton concluded that each Evidence to support Dalton’s theory in the same direction and that this
element was composed of its own followed in 1905 when a young was enough to “push” a grain of
unique particles: atoms. These Albert Einstein published a paper pollen. Einstein’s mathematical
could be joined to or broken apart explaining the erratic jiggling description of Brownian motion
from other atoms, but they could of pollen particles in water—the made it possible to calculate the
not be divided, created, or so-called Brownian motion size of an atom or molecule based
destroyed. “No new creation or described in 1827 by Scottish on how fast the pollen grain moved.
destruction of matter is within botanist Robert Brown. While later scientific advances
the reach of chemical agency,” he Einstein used mathematics revealed that there was more inside
wrote. “We might as well attempt to describe how pollen was the atom than Dalton could ever
to introduce a new planet into the bombarded by individual water have imagined, his atomic theory
solar system, or to annihilate one molecules. Although the overall set the foundation for chemistry
already in existence, as to create random movement of these many and many areas of physics. ■
John Dalton John Dalton was born in 1766 in meteorologist. He became a

England’s Lake District to a poor high-profile scientist, giving
Quaker family. He began working lectures at the Royal Institution
to support himself at the age of 10 in London. After his death in
and taught himself science and 1944, he was granted a public
mathematics. He took up teaching funeral with full honors.
at Manchester’s New College in
1793 and went on to propose a
theory (later disproved) on the
cause of color blindness, a Key works
condition he shared with his
brother. In 1800, he became 1806 Experimental Enquiry into
secretary of the Manchester the Proportion of the Several
Literary and Philosophical Society Gases or Elastic Fluids,
and wrote influential essays Constituting the Atmosphere
describing his experiments 1808 and 1810 A New System
with gases. He was also an avid of Chemical Philosophy, 1 and 2
238
A VERITABLE
TRANSFORMATION
OF MATTER
NUCLEAR RAYS
U
ntil the end of the 19th coated with a uranium salt
IN CONTEXT century, scientists believed (potassium uranyl-sulfate) in
that matter emits radiation a drawer. Despite remaining in
KEY FIGURE
(such as visible and ultraviolet light) darkness, strong outlines of the
Marie Curie (1867–1934)
only when stimulated, such as by sample developed on the plate.
BEFORE heating. This changed in 1896 Becquerel concluded that the
1857 Frenchman Abel Niepce when French physicist Henri uranium salt was emitting
de Saint-Victor observes that Becquerel conducted an experiment radiation on its own.
certain salts can expose a into a newly discovered type of
photographic plate in the dark. radiation—X-rays. He expected Radioactive insights
to find that uranium salts emit Becquerel’s doctoral student Marie
1896 Henri Becquerel radiation as a result of absorbing Curie threw herself into studying
discovers that uranium sunlight. However, overcast this phenomenon (which she later
salts can emit radiation weather in Paris forced him to put termed radioactivity) with her
without having been the experiment on hold, and he left husband Pierre. In 1898, they
exposed to sunlight. a wrapped photographic plate extracted two new radioactive
1897 J.J. Thomson, a
British physicist, discovers
the electron. Levels of
Uranium salts emit radioactivity are
AFTER
radiation without affected by the mass of
1898 Marie and Pierre Curie uranium present, not
absorbing sunlight.
discover radioactive polonium chemical reactions.
and radium.
1900 Paul Villard discovers
gamma radiation.
1907 Ernest Rutherford
identifies alpha radiation Radiation is
as an ionized helium atom. Atoms can decay. emitted from within
atoms.
See also: Particles and waves 212–215 ■ The nucleus 240–241 ■ Subatomic
particles 242–243 ■ Nuclear bombs and power 248–251
There are many different types of radiation, each with

unique properties. Ernest Rutherford identified alpha and beta
radiation; Paul Villard discovered gamma radiation.
Plastic or sheet
Paper stops metal stops Thick lead stops
Alpha particle alpha particles beta particles gamma rays
Beta
particle
Marie Curie
Marie Curie (née Skłodowska)
was born in Warsaw, Poland,
in 1867, to a struggling family
of teachers. She traveled to
France in 1891 and enrolled at
Gamma ray
the University of Paris, where
she met her future collaborator
elements, polonium and radium, Alpha emissions are positively and husband, Pierre Curie.
from uranium ore. Marie noticed charged helium atoms and are The Curies shared the Nobel
that the level of electrical activity unable to penetrate more than Prize in Physics with Henri
Becquerel in 1903. In 1911,
in the air surrounding uranium ore several inches of air; beta
Marie was awarded the
was associated only with the mass emissions are streams of negatively Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
of radioactive substance present. charged electrons that can be Later in life, Curie led the
She postulated that radiation was blocked by an aluminum sheet. Radium Institute in Paris and
not caused by chemical reactions Gamma radiation (discovered by developed and organized
but came from within atoms—a French chemist Paul Villard in mobile X-ray units that were
bold theory when science still held 1900 as a high-frequency ray) is used to treat over a million
that atoms could not be divided. electrically neutral. It can be blocked soldiers in World War I. She
The radiation produced by with several inches of lead. sat on the League of Nations’
uranium was found to be a result committee on academic
of the “decay” of individual atoms. Changing elements cooperation with Albert
There is no way to predict when an Rutherford and his collaborator Einstein. She died in 1934 from
individual atom decays. Instead, Frederick Soddy found that alpha complications likely to have
physicists measure the time it and beta radiation were linked been caused by a lifetime’s
exposure to radioactivity.
takes for half of the atoms in a with subatomic changes: elements
sample to decay—this is the half- transmute (change from one
life of that element and can be element to another) via alpha decay. Key works
anything from an instant to billions Thorium, for example, changed to
of years. This concept of half-life radium. They published their law 1898 On a new radioactive
was proposed by New Zealand–born of radioactive change in 1903. substance contained
physicist Ernest Rutherford. This series of rapid discoveries in pitchblende
1898 Rays emitted by
In 1899, Rutherford confirmed overturned the age-old concept of
compounds of uranium and
suspicions raised by Becquerel the indivisible atom, leading of thorium
and Curie that there are different scientists to probe inside it and 1903 Research on radioactive
categories of radiation. He named establish new fields of physics and substances
and described two: alpha and beta. world-changing technologies. ■
240
THE
CONSTITUTION
OF MATTER
THE NUCLEUS
T
he discoveries of the Rutherford began to dismantle
IN CONTEXT electron and of radiation the plum pudding model through
emanating from within a series of tests conducted at
KEY FIGURE
atoms at the end of the 19th his Manchester laboratory with
Ernest Rutherford
century raised the need for a more Ernest Marsden and Hans Geiger.
(1871–1937)
sophisticated atomic model than It became known as the gold
BEFORE had previously been described. foil experiment.
1803 John Dalton proposes the In 1904, British physicist J.J.
atomic theory, stating that all Thomson, who had discovered Flashing particles
matter is composed of atoms. the electron in 1897, proposed the Rutherford and his colleagues
“plum pudding” model of the atom. observed the behavior of alpha
1903 William Crookes, a In this model, negatively charged radiation targeted at a thin sheet
British chemist and physicist, electrons are scattered throughout of gold foil, just 1,000 or so atoms
invents the spinthariscope for a much larger, positively charged thick. They fired a narrow beam
detecting ionizing radiation. atom, like dried fruit in a Christmas of alpha particles at the foil from
dessert. Four years later, New a radioactive source that was
1904 J.J. Thomson proposes Zealand–born physicist Ernest enclosed by a lead shield. The
the “plum pudding” model gold foil was surrounded by a
of the atom. zinc sulfide–coated screen that
AFTER emitted a small flash of light
1913 Danish physicist Niels (scintillation) when struck by
Bohr develops a new model of the alpha particles. Using a
microscope, the physicists could
the atom, in which electrons When we have found how watch as alpha particles struck the
travel in orbits around the the nucleus of atoms is screen. (The set-up was similar to
central nucleus and can built up, we shall have a spinthariscope, which had been
move between orbits. found the greatest secret developed by William Crookes in
1919 Ernest Rutherford of all—except life. 1903 for detecting radiation).
reports that the hydrogen Ernest Rutherford Geiger and Marsden noticed
nucleus (proton) is present that most of the alpha particles
in other nuclei. shot straight through the gold foil,
implying that—in contradiction to
Thomson’s model—most of an atom
was empty space. A small fraction
See also: Models of matter 68–71 ■ Atomic theory 236–237 ■ Nuclear rays
238–239 ■ Subatomic particles 242–243 ■ Nuclear bombs and power 248–251
of the alpha particles was deflected Rutherford’s model had some

at large angles with some even similarities to the Saturnian model
bouncing back toward the source. of the atom proposed by Japanese
Approximately one in every 8,000 physicist Hantaro Nagaoka in 1904.
alpha particles were deflected by Nagaoka had described electrons
an average angle of 90 degrees. revolving around a positively
Rutherford was stunned by what charged center, rather like Saturn’s
he and his colleagues observed—it icy rings.
seemed these particles were being Science is an iterative process,
electrically repelled by a small, however, and in 1913, Rutherford
heavy, positive charge inside played a major role in replacing his Ernest Rutherford
the atoms. own model of the atom with a new
one that incorporated quantum Ernest Rutherford was born in
A new model of the atom mechanics in its description of the Brightwater, New Zealand. In
The results of the gold foil behavior of electrons. This was the 1895, he won a grant that
experiment formed the basis for Bohr model, which was developed allowed him to travel to the
Rutherford’s new model of the with Niels Bohr and had electrons University of Cambridge, UK,
atom, which he published in 1911. orbiting in different “shells.” and work with J.J. Thomson
According to this model, the vast Regardless, Rutherford’s discovery at its Cavendish Laboratory.
majority of an atom’s mass is of the atomic nucleus is widely While there, he found a way
concentrated in a positively considered one of the most to transmit and receive radio
charged core called the nucleus. significant discoveries in physics, waves over long distances,
independently of Italian
This nucleus is orbited by electrons laying the foundation for nuclear
inventor Guglielmo Marconi.
that are electrically bound to it. and particle physics. ■
Rutherford became a
professor at McGill University
in Canada in 1898 but returned
The gold foil experiment to the UK in 1907—this time to
Manchester, where he
A small proportion of Nucleus conducted his most famous
particles are deflected research. He was awarded
when they hit the
Scattered alpha dense nucleus the Nobel Prize in Physics in
particles 1908. Later in life, he became
director of the Cavendish
Laboratory and President of
the Royal Society. Following
his death, he was awarded
the honor of a burial at
Westminster Abbey.
Source of
particles Gold Key works
foil Gold
atom
1903 “Radioactive Change”
1911 “The Scattering of Alpha
Most particles
pass straight and Beta Particles by Matter
through and the Structure of the Atom”
1920 “Nuclear Constitution
of Atoms”
A zinc sulfide–coated
Beam of screen emits flashes of light
alpha particles when hit by alpha particles
242
THE BRICKS OF
WHICH ATOMS
ARE BUILT UP
SUBATOMIC PARTICLES
F
or millennia, atoms were of negatively charged particles
IN CONTEXT thought to be unbreakable more than 1,000 times lighter than
units. A succession of a hydrogen atom. He concluded
KEY FIGURES
discoveries by three generations that these particles were a
Ernest Rutherford
of Cambridge-based physicists universal component of atoms,
(1871–1937), James
dismantled this idea, revealing naming them “corpuscles” (later
Chadwick (1891–1974) smaller particles within the atom. called electrons).
BEFORE The first subatomic particle
1838 British chemist Richard was discovered in 1897 by British Delving into the atom
Laming suggests that physicist J.J. Thomson while he was Thomson incorporated electrons
subatomic particles exist. experimenting with cathode rays. into his 1904 “plum pudding” model
These rays are produced by the of the atom. However, in 1911 a new
1891 Irish physicist George J. negative electrode (cathode) of an model was proposed by Thomson’s
Stoney names the fundamental electrically charged vacuum tube student, Ernest Rutherford. This
unit of charge “electron.” and are attracted to a positive had a dense, positively charged
electrode (anode). The cathode rays nucleus orbited by electrons.
1897 J.J. Thomson provides caused the glass at the far end of the Further refinements made by
evidence for the electron. tube to glow, and Thomson deduced Niels Bohr, along with Rutherford,
AFTER that the rays were composed produced the Bohr model in 1913.
1934 Italian physicist Enrico In 1919, Rutherford discovered
Fermi bombards uranium with that when nitrogen and other
neutrons, producing a new, elements were struck with alpha
radiation, hydrogen nuclei were
lighter element.
emitted. He concluded that the
1935 James Chadwick is hydrogen nucleus—the lightest
awarded the Nobel Prize for … the radiation consists nucleus—is a constituent of all other
his discovery of the neutron. of neutrons: particles of nuclei and named it the proton.
mass 1, and charge 0. Physicists struggled to explain
1938 Austrian-born physicist James Chadwick the properties of atoms with only
Lise Meitner takes Fermi’s protons and electrons, because
discovery further, describing these particles accounted for only
nuclear fission. half the measured mass of atoms.
In 1920, Rutherford suggested
that a neutral particle composed
See also: Models of matter 68–71 ■ Electric charge 124–127 ■ Light from the atom 196–199 ■ Particles and waves 212–215
■ The nucleus 240–241 ■ Nuclear bombs and power 248–251 ■ The particle zoo and quarks 256–257
Models of the atom
Cloudlike Electron Electron Electron Electron

body
Neutron
Proton
Nucleus
Nucleus Shell
Thomson’s plum pudding In Rutherford’s model The Niels Bohr model In 1932, James Chadwick
model (1904) has electrons (1911), electrons whizz (1913) has electrons orbiting discovered that the nucleus
dotted randomly in a around a dense, positively the nucleus in inner and of an atom is made up of
positively charged atom. charged nucleus. outer shells. protons and neutrons.
of a bound-together proton and discovered type of neutral radiation the experiments with more accurate
electron—which he called a (thought to be a form of gamma measurements. He showed that this
neutron—may exist inside nuclei. radiation), which emerged when radiation had about the same mass
While this offered a simple alpha radiation struck light elements as protons and concluded that this
explanation for how electrons such as beryllium. The Joliot-Curies new radiation was composed of
radiated from nuclei, it violated found this radiation carried enough neutrons—neutral particles
principles of quantum mechanics: energy to eject high-energy protons contained in the nucleus. This
there was simply not enough energy from compounds rich in hydrogen. discovery completed the atomic
to trap electrons inside nuclei. But neither Rutherford nor James model in a way that made sense. It
In Paris in 1932, Irène Joliot- Chadwick—Rutherford’s former also set in motion the development
Curie and her husband Frédéric student—believed that these were of new medical technologies and
experimented with a newly gamma rays. Chadwick repeated the dawn of the nuclear age. ■
James Chadwick When Cheshire-born James Physics for the discovery of the
Chadwick won a scholarship neutron. During World War II,
to the University of Manchester, Chadwick headed the British
he was accidentally enrolled in team working on the Manhattan
physics instead of mathematics. Project to develop nuclear
He studied under Ernest weapons for the Allies. He later
Rutherford and wrote his first served as British scientific
paper on how to measure gamma adviser to the UN Atomic
radiation. In 1913, Chadwick Energy Commission.
traveled to Berlin to study under
Hans Geiger but was imprisoned
in the Ruhleben detention camp Key works
during World War I.
After Chadwick’s release, he 1932 “Possible Existence of
joined Rutherford at the University a Neutron”
of Cambridge in 1919. In 1935, he 1932 “The existence of a
was awarded the Nobel Prize in neutron”
244
LITTLE WISPS
OF CLOUD
PARTICLES IN THE CLOUD CHAMBER
S
ubatomic particles are expanding moist air in a sealed
IN CONTEXT ghostly objects, usually made chamber, making it supersaturated.
visible only through their He realized that when ions (charged
KEY FIGURE
interactions. The invention of the atoms) collide with water molecules,
Charles T.R. Wilson
cloud chamber, however, allowed they knock away electrons to create
(1869–1959)
physicists to witness the movements a path of ions around which mist
BEFORE of these particles for the first time forms, and this leaves a visible trail
1894 Charles T.R. Wilson and determine their properties. in the chamber. By 1910, Wilson
creates clouds in chambers Interested in designing a tool had perfected his cloud chamber
while studying meteorological to study cloud formation, Scottish and he demonstrated it to scientists
phenomena at the Ben Nevis physicist and meteorologist Charles in 1911. Combined with magnets
observatory, Scotland. T.R. Wilson experimented with and electric fields, the apparatus
enabled physicists to calculate
1910 Wilson realizes a cloud Wilson’s cloud chamber, on display properties such as mass and
chamber can be used to study at the Cavendish Laboratory museum, electrical charge from the cloudy
subatomic particles emitted Cambridge, produced tracks inside “as trails left by particles. By 1923, he
by radioactive sources. fine as little hairs.” added stereoscopic photography to
AFTER
1912 Victor Hess proposes that
high-energy ionizing radiation
enters the atmosphere from
space as “cosmic rays.”
Alexander Langsdorf modifies
the cloud chamber by adding
dry ice.
1952 The bubble chamber
supersedes the cloud
chamber as a basic tool
in particle physics.
See also: Electric charge 124–127 ■ Nuclear rays 238–239 ■ Antimatter 246
■ The particle zoo and quarks 256–257 ■ Force carriers 258–259
Ionizing radiation knocks away negatively charged electrons

from water molecules.
Water molecules In supersaturated vapor, ions

are ionized (have a are the center of water
positive charge). droplet formation.
Charles T.R. Wilson

Born into a family of farmers
These cloud trails Ionizing radiation creates in Midlothian, Scotland,
show the path of cloud trails in chambers of Charles T.R. Wilson moved to
subatomic particles. supersaturated vapor. Manchester after his father’s
death. He had planned to
study medicine but won a
scholarship to the University
record them. While Wilson observed an equal but opposite charge. He of Cambridge and switched to
radiation from radioactive sources, eventually concluded the trails natural sciences. He began to
cloud chambers can also be used belonged to an anti-electron (the study clouds and worked for
some time at the Ben Nevis
to detect cosmic rays (radiation positron). Four years later, Anderson
meteorological observatory,
from beyond the solar system and discovered another particle—the
which inspired him to develop
Milky Way). muon. Its trails showed it was the cloud chamber. In 1927, he
The concept of cosmic rays more than 200 times heavier than an shared the Nobel Prize in
was confirmed in 1911–1912 when electron but had the same charge. Physics with Arthur Compton
physicist Victor Hess measured This hinted at the possibility of for its invention.
ionization rates from an atmospheric multiple “generations” of particles Despite Wilson’s huge
balloon. During risky ascents to that are linked by similar properties. contribution to particle
17,380 ft (5,300 m), day and night, physics, he remained more
he found increased levels of Discovery of the weak force interested in meteorology. He
ionization and concluded: “radiation In 1950, physicists from Melbourne invented a method to protect
of very high penetrating power University found a neutral particle British barrage balloons from
enters from above into our among cosmic rays, which decayed lightning strikes during World
atmosphere.” These cosmic rays into a proton and other products. War II and proposed a theory
(mostly composed of protons and They named it the lambda baryon of thunderstorm electricity.
alpha particles) collide with the (L). There are several baryons—
nuclei of atoms and create cascades composite particles each affected by
of secondary particles when they the strong force that acts within the Key works
impact Earth’s atmosphere. nucleus. Physicists predicted that
1901 On the Ionization of
the lambda baryon should decay in
Atmospheric Air
The anti-electron 10–23 seconds, but it survived much
1911 On a Method of Making
While investigating cosmic rays in longer. This finding led them to Visible the Paths of Ionizing
1932, American physicist Carl D. conclude that another fundamental Particles Through a Gas
Anderson identified something that force, which worked at a short range, 1956 A Theory of
seemed to be an exact reflection of was involved. It was named the Thundercloud Electricity
an electron—of equal mass with weak interaction, or weak force. ■
246
OPPOSITES
CAN EXPLODE
ANTIMATTER
I
n the 1920s, British physicist bend in different directions based
IN CONTEXT Paul Dirac proposed a mirror on their charge. He discovered a
world of antimatter. In a 1928 particle with a curving trail like
KEY FIGURE
paper, he demonstrated it is equally that of an electron but pointing in
Paul Dirac (1902–1984)
valid for electrons to have positive the opposite direction.
BEFORE or negative energy states. An Anderson’s discovery was
1898 German-born British electron with negative energy followed by other antimatter
physicist Arthur Schuster would behave the opposite way to particles and atoms. It is now
speculates on the existence an ordinary electron. For instance, known that all particles have an
of antimatter. it would be repelled by a proton equivalent antimatter particle, but
rather than attracted to it, so it the question of why ordinary matter
1928 Paul Dirac proposes that has positive charge. is dominant in the universe
electrons could have both a Dirac ruled out the possibility remains unresolved. ■
positive and negative charge. that this particle was a proton,
given that a proton’s mass is far
1931 Dirac publishes a paper greater than that of an electron.
that predicts the positively Instead, he proposed a new particle
charged “anti-electron.” with the same mass as an electron
AFTER but a positive charge. He called it
an “anti-electron.” On meeting, an I think that the discovery
1933 Dirac proposes the of antimatter was perhaps
antiproton—the antimatter electron and anti-electron would
annihilate each other, producing a the biggest jump of all the
equivalent to the proton. big jumps in physics
mass of energy.
1955 Research at the Carl D. Anderson is credited in our century.
University of California, with confirming the existence of Werner Heisenberg
Berkeley confirms the this anti-electron (which he renamed
antiproton exists. the positron) in 1932. Anderson
allowed cosmic rays to pass through
1965 CERN physicists a cloud chamber under the influence
describe the production of of a magnetic field, causing them to
bound antimatter in the form
of antideuterium. See also: Subatomic particles 242–243 ■ Particles in the cloud chamber 244–245
■ The particle zoo and quarks 256–257 ■ Matter–antimatter asymmetry 264
IN SEARCH OF
ATOMIC GLUE
THE STRONG FORCE
T
he discovery of subatomic Proton
IN CONTEXT particles at the beginning
of the 20th century raised The strong
KEY FIGURE force binds
as many questions as it answered.
Hideki Yukawa (1907–1981) protons and
One such question was how are neutrons in
BEFORE positively charged protons bound the nucleus
1935 Yukawa predicts together in a nucleus despite their
the existence of a new force natural electric repulsion? Neutron
within the atomic nucleus. In 1935, Japanese physicist
Hideki Yukawa provided an answer Neutrons and protons (nucleons)
1936 Carl D. Anderson are bound together inside the nucleus
when he predicted an ultra short-
by the strong force carried by mesons.
discovers the muon, thought range force that acts within the Within protons and neutrons, smaller
for a while to be the carrier of atomic nucleus to bind its particles (quarks) are bound by gluons.
this new force. components (protons and neutrons).
He said this force is carried by a
AFTER particle he called a meson. In fact is in fact responsible for the vast
1948 A team of physicists there are many mesons. The first energy unleashed in nuclear
at University of California, to be discovered was the pion (or weapons and nuclear reactors
Berkeley, produce pions pi-meson), which physicists from as atoms are split. Mesons are
artificially by firing alpha the UK and Brazil found in 1947 by the carriers of this force between
particles at carbon atoms. studying cosmic rays raining down nucleons. The strong force between
1964 American physicist on the Andes. Their experiments quarks (which combine in threes to
confirmed that the pion was make up a proton) is carried by
Murray Gell-Mann predicts
involved in the strong interactions gluons (elementary particles, or
the existence of quarks,
Yukawa had described. bosons), named for their ability
which interact via the
By far the strongest of to “glue together” quarks with
strong force. the four fundamental forces (the different “colors” (a property
1979 The gluon is discovered others being electromagnetic, unrelated to normal colors) to
at the PETRA (Positron- gravitational, and the weak force), form “colorless” particles such
Electron Tandem Ring this newly discovered strong force as protons and pions. ■
Accelerator) particle
accelerator in Germany. See also: The nucleus 240–241 ■ Subatomic particles 242–243 ■ The particle
zoo and quarks 256–257 ■ Force carriers 258–259
248
IN CONTEXT
DREADFUL
KEY FIGURES
Enrico Fermi (1901–1954),
Lise Meitner (1878–1968)
AMOUNTS
BEFORE
1898 Marie Curie discovers
how radioactivity emanates
from materials like uranium.
OF ENERGY
proposes that the atom has
a dense nucleus at its core.
1919 Rutherford shows that
one element can be changed
NUCLEAR BOMBS AND POWER to another by bombarding it
with alpha particles.
1932 James Chadwick
discovers the neutron.
AFTER
1945 The first atomic bomb
is tested in New Mexico.
A-bombs are dropped on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
1951 The first nuclear reactor
for electricity generation opens.
1986 The Chernobyl disaster
highlights nuclear power risks.
A
t the turn of the 20th
century, physicists
were unknowingly laying
the groundwork for scientists to
understand and eventually seize
the immense power trapped
inside the atom. By 1911, Ernest
Rutherford had proposed a model
of the atom that placed a dense
nucleus at its core. In Paris, Marie
Curie and her collaborators,
including husband Pierre, had
discovered and described how
radioactivity emanated from within
the atom of natural materials such
as uranium.
See also: Generating electricity 148–151 ■ Atomic theory 236–237 ■ Nuclear rays 238–229 ■ The nucleus 240–241
■ Subatomic particles 242–243
Atoms have a Radioactive materials have

central nucleus. unstable nuclei.
Splitting the nucleus

The released neutrons (by bombarding it with
can cause the nuclei neutrons) releases
of other atoms to split. neutrons and a huge
amount of heat energy.
Photographed in 1913 with Otto
Hahn in their Berlin laboratory, Lise
Meitner later went on to expand on
Enrico Fermi’s work and explain
nuclear fission.
A chain reaction can be initiated.

nuclei were breaking into fragments,
in a process Hahn named nuclear
fission. Crucially, Meitner also used
Albert Einstein’s theory of energy–
mass equivalence (summarized
The chain reaction can An uncontrolled reaction in the equation E = mc2) to show
be controlled and releases the massive, that the mass mysteriously lost in
the heat used to destructive explosion the process was being converted
produce electricity. in a nuclear bomb. into energy. The jigsaw’s pieces
finally all fit together.
Powerful forces
In 1934, Italian physicist Enrico elements were fragments from The forces within a nucleus are
Fermi bombarded uranium with the original uranium nuclei, but powerful and precariously balanced.
neutrons (subatomic particles her proposal was dismissed in The nuclear force binds the nucleus
discovered just two years earlier). the scramble for scientists to together while positively charged
Fermi’s experiment seemed to understand Fermi’s experiment. protons inside the nucleus repel
transform uranium into different In 1938, German chemists each other with approximately
elements—not the new, heavier Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann 230N of force. Holding together the
ones he had expected, but isotopes expanded on Fermi’s work. They nucleus requires a huge amount of
(variants with a different neutron found that bombarding uranium “binding energy,” which is released
number) of lighter elements. Fermi with neutrons produced barium, when the nucleus breaks apart.
had divided the apparently apparently losing 100 protons and The loss of equivalent mass is
indivisible atom, although it took neutrons in the process. Hahn measurable: for the uranium
years for the scientific community conveyed the baffling findings to his fission reaction under investigation,
to grasp the magnitude of what he former colleague Lise Meitner, who around one-fifth the mass of a
had done. German chemist Ida had fled Nazi Germany for Sweden. proton seemed to vanish in
Noddack suggested that the new Meitner proposed that the uranium a burst of heat. ❯❯
250 NUCLEAR BOMBS AND POWER
discovery, as part of the Manhattan spiraling out of control, while
Project. He and his colleagues found producing too few would cause
that slow-moving (thermal) neutrons the reactions to die out. Criticality
were more likely to be absorbed by requires a careful balance of fuel
nuclei and cause fission. U-235 (a mass, fuel density, temperature,
No limits exist to the natural isotope of uranium) was and other variables.
destructiveness of this identified as an ideal fuel because Fermi’s nuclear reactor went
weapon … its very existence it releases three thermal neutrons live in 1942. The Chicago Pile-1
[is] a danger to humanity. every time it fragments. U-235 was built on a university squash
Enrico Fermi is a rare isotope that makes up court, using almost 5 tons of
less than 1 percent of natural unenriched uranium, 44 tons of
uranium, so natural uranium has uranium oxide, and 363 tons of
to be painstakingly enriched to graphite bricks. It was crude,
sustain a chain reaction. unshielded, and low-power, but it
marked the first time scientists had
The critical factor sustained a fission chain reaction.
Meitner and other physicists The Manhattan Project pursued While nuclear reactors must
recognized that neutrons “boiling multiple methods for enriching sustain criticality for civilian use (as
off” from nuclear fission opened up uranium and two possible nuclear in nuclear power stations), nuclear
the possibility of chain reactions reactor designs: one based at weapons must surpass criticality to
in which the free nuclei caused Columbia University that used heavy release deadly quantities of binding
successive fission reactions, water (water containing a hydrogen energy in a flash. Scientists working
releasing more energy and isotope) to slow down neutrons; and under Oppenheimer at Los Alamos
neutrons with each reaction. a second led by Fermi at the were responsible for designing
A chain reaction could either University of Chicago that used such weapons. One design used
release a steady flow of energy or graphite. The scientists were aiming implosion, in which explosives
mount a vast explosion. As nations for criticality—when the rate at around a fissile core ignited and
lurched toward World War II, and which neutrons are produced from so produced shock waves. It
fearful of how this power might fission is equal to the rate at which compressed the core to a smaller,
be used in the wrong hands, neutrons are lost through absorption denser volume that passed
researchers immediately began and leaking. Producing too many criticality. An alternative design—a
to study how to sustain fission. neutrons would mean the reactions “gun-type” weapon—blasted two
The Manhattan Project

Large amount
US president Franklin D. Roosevelt of heat energy released Neutrons
wanted the US and its allies to be when nucleus splits released by the
the first to harness atomic power split hit more
as conflict consumed much of the uranium nuclei,
triggering further
world. Although the US did not fission reactions
enter World War II until Japan’s
Uranium-235
attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the nucleus
secretive Manhattan Project, which
Neutron
employed many of the greatest hits atomic
scientists and mathematicians of nucleus
Unstable nucleus
the 20th century, was established splits into two
in 1939 to develop nuclear weapons daughter nuclei
under the scientific direction of
Uranium-235 (U-235) is a purified The nucleus splits to produce smaller,
J. Robert Oppenheimer. isotope of uranium. This isotope is lighter “daughter” nuclei plus a few
Having fled Fascist Italy in naturally unstable and emits neutrons more neutrons, each of which can
1938, Fermi moved to the US and and heat. Nuclear fission of U-235 starts go on to produce fission in more
restarted work on applications of his when a neutron hits a U-235 nucleus. uranium nuclei.
development of civilian nuclear
applications. The first nuclear
reactor for electricity generation
opened in 1951 in Idaho, and civil
nuclear power stations multiplied
in the next two decades. Nuclear
reactors use controlled chain
reactions—sped up or slowed down
using control rods that capture free
neutrons—to release energy
gradually, boiling water into steam
to turn electrical generators. The
amount of energy that can be
extracted from nuclear fuel is Enrico Fermi
millions of times that found in
similar amounts of fuels like coal, Born in Rome in 1901, Enrico
The world’s first atomic bomb
(code-named Trinity) was detonated at making it an efficient carbon- Fermi was best known for
a test site in Alamogordo, New Mexico, neutral energy source. developing early nuclear
on July 16, 1945, producing a massive However, in 1986, explosions applications, but was also
fireball and mushroom cloud of debris. in a reactor core at Chernobyl in admired as a theoretical
Ukraine, then part of the Soviet physicist. Fermi studied at the
Union, released radioactive material University of Pisa and then left
smaller pieces of fissile material into the atmosphere, eventually Italy to collaborate with
together at high speed to create a killing thousands of people across physicists such as Max Born.
large mass that exceeded criticality. Europe. This and other nuclear Returning to lecture at the
University of Florence in 1924,
In July 1945, in the New Mexico disasters, together with concerns
he helped to develop Fermi-
desert, Manhattan Project scientists about how to store long-lived and
Dirac statistics. In 1926, he
detonated a nuclear weapon for the highly radioactive waste, have became a professor at the
first time. A massive fireball was undermined nuclear power’s University of Rome. Here, he
followed by a radioactive cloud of environmental credentials. proposed the theory of the
debris and water vapor. Most weak interaction and
observers were silent. Oppenheimer From fission to fusion? demonstrated nuclear fission.
later admitted that the words of the Some physicists hope that nuclear In 1938, the year Fermi
god Vishnu from Hindu scripture fusion could be the sustainable won the Nobel Prize in
leapt to mind: “Now I am become energy source of the future. This is Physics, he fled Fascist Italy to
Death, the destroyer of worlds.” The the binding of two nuclei to form a escape anti-Jewish laws that
only two nuclear weapons ever larger nucleus, releasing excess restricted the rights of his wife
used in armed conflict to date were energy in the form of photons. and colleagues. Despite his
dropped on Japan months later: the Scientists have struggled for close involvement with the
gun-type “Little Boy” on Hiroshima decades to induce fusion—the Manhattan Project, he later
became a vocal critic of
on August 6 and the implosion-type powerful repulsive force of protons
nuclear weapons development.
“Fat Man” (which used Pu-239, an can only be overcome amid He died in Chicago in 1954.
isotope of plutonium, as the fissile extreme heat and density. The
material) on Nagasaki on August 9. most promising method uses a
doughnut-shaped device called a Key works
Nuclear power for energy tokamak. This generates a powerful
1934 “Artificial Radioactivity
The end of the war signaled a magnetic field to hold plasma,
Produced by Neutron
partial shift to nuclear fission for matter so hot that electrons are Bombardment”
peaceful purposes, and the Atomic stripped from their atoms, 1938 “Simple Capture of
Energy Commission was created rendering it conductive and easy to Neutrons by Uranium”
in the US in 1946 to oversee the manipulate with magnetic fields. ■
252
IN CONTEXT
A WINDOW
KEY FIGURE
John Cockcroft (1897–1967)
BEFORE
ON CREATION
artificially induces nuclear
fission (splitting the nucleus
of an atom into two nuclei).
1929 Ukrainian–American
PARTICLE ACCELERATORS physicist George Gamow lays
out his theory of quantum
tunneling for alpha particles
emitted in alpha decay.
AFTER
1952 The Cosmotron, the first
proton synchrotron, begins
operating at Brookhaven
National Laboratory in the US.
2009 The Large Hadron
Collider (LHC) at CERN in
Switzerland becomes fully
operational and breaks the
record as the highest-energy
particle accelerator.
I
n 1919, Ernest Rutherford’s
investigation into the
disintegration of nitrogen
atoms proved that it is possible
to break apart particles bound
by the nuclear force—one of the
strongest forces in the universe.
Soon, physicists were wondering
whether they could explore deeper
inside the atom by smashing it to
pieces and examining the remains.
In the late 1920s, former British
soldier and engineer John Cockcroft
was one of the young physicists
assisting Rutherford in such
research at Cambridge University’s
Cavendish Laboratory. Cockcroft
was intrigued by the work of
George Gamow, who in 1928
See also: Models of matter 68–71 ■ Quantum applications 226–231 ■ Subatomic particles 242–243 ■ The particle zoo and
quarks 256–257 ■ The Higgs Boson 262–263 ■ Mass and energy 284–285 ■ The Big Bang 296–301
Particles can escape Particles with high An accelerated

from a nucleus via enough energy can also particle can strike and
quantum tunneling. penetrate a nucleus. disintegrate a nucleus.
Particle accelerators can be used to throw light on the nature

of these particles.
described the phenomenon of beams of protons from a canal ray high-speed protons and monitored
quantum tunneling. This is the tube (essentially a back-to-front the interactions on a detector, a
idea that subatomic particles, such cathode ray tube). When they failed zinc fluoride fluorescent screen.
as alpha particles, can escape from to detect the gamma rays noted They expected to see the gamma
the nucleus, despite the strong by French scientists engaged in rays that French scientists Irene
nuclear force restraining them, similar research, they realized that Joliot-Curie and her husband
because they have wavelike their proton energy was too low. Frédéric had reported. Instead,
attributes, enabling some to go they inadvertently produced
beyond the nuclear force barrier, Ever-increasing energy neutrons (as British physicist
escaping its attractive power. The quest for more powerful James Chadwick would later
particle accelerators began. In prove). Cockcroft and Walton
Reversing the principle 1932, Cockcroft and Walton built then performed the first artificial
Gamow visited the Cambridge a new apparatus that was able to disintegration of an atomic nucleus
laboratory at Cockcroft’s invitation, accelerate a beam of protons to on a nucleus of lithium, reducing it
and the men discussed whether higher energies using lower voltages. to alpha particles. ❯❯
Gamow’s theory could be applied This Cockcroft–Walton accelerator
in reverse; was it possible to begins by accelerating charged
accelerate a proton with enough particles through an initial diode
energy to penetrate and burst the (a semiconductor device) to charge
nucleus of an element? Cockcroft a capacitor (a component that
told Rutherford he believed they stores electrical energy) to peak Particles were coming out of
could penetrate a boron nucleus voltage. The voltage is then the lithium, hitting the screen,
using protons accelerated with reversed, boosting the particles and producing scintillations.
300 kilovolts, and that a nucleus of through the next diode and They looked like stars
lithium would potentially require effectively doubling their energy.
suddenly appearing
less energy. Boron and lithium Through a series of capacitors and
have light nuclei, so the energy diodes, charge is stacked up to
and disappearing.
barriers to be overcome are lower multiple times what would normally
Ernest Walton
on splitting the atom
than those of heavier elements. be possible, by applying the
Rutherford gave the go-ahead maximum voltage.
and, in 1930, joined by Irish Using this pioneering device,
physicist Ernest Walton, Cockcroft Cockcroft and Walton bombarded
experimented with accelerating lithium and beryllium nuclei with
254 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
Particle accelerators use electric and magnetic fields Detectors capture
to produce a beam of high-energy subatomic particles, radiation and
such as protons, which are crashed together or fired particles from
at a metal target. the collision
Electric field strips Beam of Electric field Electromagnet

electrons from hydrogen protons accelerates
to produce protons protons
DETECTOR
PARTICLE
Magnetic field
guides protons
RADIATION
DETECTOR
Hydrogen
gas in
Protons
Proton collide with
PARTICLE PARTICLE PARTICLE other subatomic
GENERATION ACCELERATION GUIDANCE particles
With this historic first, Cockcroft and Most accelerators in particle and synchrotrons. Linacs, such as
Walton showed the value of using physics research use oscillating the Stanford Linear Accelerator in
particle accelerators (nicknamed electromagnetic fields to accelerate California, accelerate particles in
“atom smashers”) to probe the atom charged particles. In electrodynamic a straight line toward a target
and discover new particles, offering accelerators, a particle is accelerated at one end. Cyclotrons are
a more controlled alternative to toward a plate, and as it passes composed of two hollow D-shaped
observing cosmic rays (high-energy through it, the charge on the plate plates and a magnet, which bends
particles moving through space). switches, repelling the particle particles into a circular path as
toward the next plate. This they spiral outward toward a
High-powered accelerators process is repeated with faster target. Synchrotrons accelerate
Cockcroft–Walton machines and and faster oscillations to push the charged particles continuously in a
all early particle accelerators were particles to speeds comparable to circle, until they reach the required
electrostatic devices, using a static that of light. These oscillating fields energies, using many magnets
electric field to accelerate particles. are typically produced via one of to guide the particles.
These are still widely used today in two mechanisms—either magnetic
academic, medical, and industrial induction or radio frequency (RF) Dizzying particle speeds
low-energy particle studies, and in waves. Magnetic induction uses a In 1930, Cockcroft and Walton
everyday electronic applications, magnetic field to induce movement had recognized that the more they
such as microwave ovens. Their of charged particles to create a could accelerate particles, the
energy limit, however, precludes circulating electric field. An RF deeper into matter they could see.
their use for research in modern cavity is a hollow metallic chamber Physicists can now use synchrotron
particle physics. At a certain in which resonating radio waves accelerators that boost particles to
energy point, raising voltages to create an electromagnetic field to dizzying speeds, which nudge
push particles any further causes boost charged particles as they toward the speed of light. Such
the insulators used in construction pass through. speeds create relativistic effects;
of the particle accelerators to Modern particle accelerators as a particle’s kinetic energy
experience electrical breakdown come in three types: linear increases, its mass increases,
and start conducting. accelerators (linacs), cyclotrons, requiring larger forces to achieve
greater acceleration. The largest consumption of the nearby city
and most powerful machines in of Geneva. A chain of booster
existence are the focus of accelerators (including the Super
experiments that can involve Proton Synchrotron) accelerate
thousands of scientists from around beams of charged particles to ever
the world. Fermilab’s Tevatron in higher energies until they finally
Illinois, which operated from enter the LHC. Here particles
1983 to 2011, used a ring 3.9 miles collide head-on at four collision
(6.3 km) long to accelerate protons points, with combined energies of
and antiprotons to energies up to 13 TeV. A group of detectors records
1 TeV (1012  1 eV), where 1 eV is their disintegrations.
the energy gained by an electron
accelerated across one volt—1 TeV The ATLAS calorimetry system at Recreating a primeval state
is roughly the energy of motion of CERN, seen here during installation, Among the experiments conducted
a flying mosquito. measures the energy of particles after at the LHC are attempts to recreate
In the late 1980s, at CERN in a collision by forcing most to stop and the conditions that existed at the
deposit their energy in the detector.
Switzerland, scientists armed with very genesis of the universe. From
the Super Proton Synchrotron what is known about its expansion,
competed with Fermilab scientists 16.8 miles (27 km) long, spanning physicists can work back and
using the Tevatron in the hunt for the border of Switzerland and predict that the early universe was
the top quark (the heaviest quark). France 328 ft (100 m) underground, unimaginably tiny, hot, and dense.
Thanks to the sheer power of the and capable of accelerating two Under these conditions,
Tevatron, Fermilab scientists beams of protons to 99.9999991 elementary particles such as quarks
were able to produce and detect percent the speed of light. and gluons may have existed in a
the top quark in 1995, at a mass The LHC is a triumph of sort of “soup” (quark–gluon plasma).
of approximately 176 GeV/c² (almost engineering; its groundbreaking As space expanded and cooled,
as heavy as a gold atom). technologies—deployed on an they became tightly bound together,
The Tevatron was knocked off enormous scale—include 10,000 forming composite particles such
its pedestal as the most powerful superconducting magnets, chilled as protons and neutrons. Smashing
particle accelerator in 2009 with to temperatures lower than those particles at near light speed can for
the first fully operational run of found in the wilderness of space. an instant reinvent the universe as
CERN’s Large Hadron Collider During operation, the site draws it was trillionths of a second after
(LHC). The LHC is a synchrotron, about one third of the total energy the Big Bang. ■
John Cockcroft Born in Yorkshire, England, in Cockcroft’s insistence that filters

1897, John Cockcroft served be installed in the chimneys at
in World War I, then studied Windscale Piles in Cumbria
electrical engineering. He won limited the fallout in 1957 when
a scholarship to Cambridge one of the reactors caught fire.
University in 1921, where Ernest Cockcroft served as president
Rutherford later supervised his of the Institute of Physics and of
doctorate. The Cockcroft-Walton the British Association for the
accelerator he built at Cambridge Advancement of Science. He
with Ernest Walton won them the died in Cambridge in 1967.
1951 Nobel Prize in Physics.
In 1947, as director of the Key works
British Atomic Energy Research
Establishment, Cockcroft oversaw 1932 Disintegration of Lithium
the opening of the first nuclear by Swift Protons
reactor in western Europe— 1932–36 “Experiments with
GLEEP at Harwell. In 1950, High Velocity Positive Ions I-VI”
256
THE HUNT
FOR THE QUARK
THE PARTICLE ZOO AND QUARKS
B
y the end of World War II, fundamental quality called
IN CONTEXT physicists had discovered “strangeness” could explain
the proton, neutron, and these long-observed lifetimes.
KEY FIGURE
electron, and a handful of other Strangeness is conserved in strong
Murray Gell-Mann
particles. In the following years, and electromagnetic interactions but
(1929–2019)
however, discoveries in cosmic not in weak interactions, so particles
BEFORE rays (high-energy particles moving with strangeness can only decay
1947 The subatomic kaon is through space) and particle via the weak interaction. Gell-Mann
discovered at the University of accelerators caused the number used strangeness and charge to
Manchester, exhibiting a much of particles to balloon into a classify subatomic particles into
longer lifetime than predicted. chaotic “particle zoo.” families of mesons (typically lighter)
Physicists were particularly and baryons (typically heavier).
1953 Physicists propose the confused by families of particles
property of “strangeness” to called kaons and lambda baryons, Quark theory
explain the unusual behavior which decay far more slowly than In 1964, Gell-Mann proposed
of kaons and other particles. expected. In 1953, American the concept of the quark—a
physicist Murray Gell-Mann and fundamental particle, which could
1961 Gell-Mann proposes the Japanese physicists Kazuhiko explain the properties of the new
“Eightfold Way” to organize Nishijima and Tadao Nakano mesons and baryons. According to
subatomic particles. independently proposed that a quark theory, quarks come in six
AFTER
1968 Scattering experiments
reveal pointlike objects inside
Exotic new particles with These particles can be
the proton, proving it is not different properties are arranged according to
a fundamental particle. discovered. their properties.
1974 Experiments produce
J/ particles, which contain
charm quarks.
1995 The discovery of the
Quarks are a fundamental Their properties depend on
top quark completes building block of matter. constituents called quarks.
the quark model.
See also: Models of matter 68–71 ■ Subatomic particles 242–243 ■ Antimatter
246 ■ The strong force 247 ■ Force carriers 258–259 ■ The Higgs boson 262–263
Nucleus
Down quark is one
of two types of
elementary particle Gluon binds
in the nucleus quarks together
of an atom
Up quark
Neutron has two

down quarks and Proton has two up Murray Gell-Mann
one up quark quarks and one
down quark Born in New York in 1929 to a
family of Jewish immigrants,
Protons and neutrons each contain up quarks and down quarks. Murray Gell-Mann began
A proton has two up quarks and one down quark, and a neutron has attending college at the age
one up quark and two down quarks. The quarks are bound together of just 15. In 1955, he moved
by gluons, the carrier particles of the strong force. to the California Institute of
Technology (CIT), where he
taught for almost 40 years.
“flavors” with different intrinsic fermions, the other being the His interests expanded far
properties. Gell-Mann initially leptons. Like the quarks, leptons beyond physics to include
literature, history, and natural
described up, down, and strange come in six flavors, which are
history, but in 1969 he was
quarks, and charm, top, and related in pairs, or “generations.”
awarded the Nobel Prize in
bottom quarks were added later. These are the electron and electron Physics for his work on the
Different quarks (and their antimatter neutrino, which are the lightest theory of elementary particles.
equivalents, antiquarks) are bound and most stable leptons; the Later in his career, Gell-
by the strong force and are found in muon and muon neutrino; and the Mann became interested in
composite particles such as protons tau and tau neutrino, which are the theory of complexity,
and neutrons. Evidence for this the heaviest and most unstable cofounding the Santa Fe
model of the nucleus was found leptons. Unlike quarks, leptons Institute for research into this
at the Stanford Linear Accelerator are unaffected by the strong force. area in 1984 and writing a
Laboratory (SLAC) in California, Quarks and leptons interact popular book about the theory
when pointlike objects were through three of the four (The Quark and the Jaguar).
discovered inside protons in 1968. fundamental forces: strong, At the time of his death in
Further SLAC experiments produced electromagnetic, and weak. (The 2019, he held positions at CIT,
evidence for the other quarks. fourth fundamental force, gravity, the University of Southern
California, and the University
behaves differently.) In the Standard
of New Mexico.
The Standard Model Model, these forces are represented
Quarks play an important role in the by their carrier particles—gluons,
Standard Model of particle physics, photons, and W and Z bosons. Key works
which was developed in the 1970s to The final element of the
1994 The Quark and the
explain the electromagnetic, strong, Standard Model is the Higgs boson,
Jaguar: Adventures in the
and weak forces—as well as their an elementary particle that gives all Simple and the Complex
carrier particles (which are always particles their mass. The Standard 2012 Mary McFadden: A
bosons) and the fundamental Model has brought order to the Lifetime of Design, Collecting,
particles of matter (fermions). The “particle zoo,” although it remains and Adventure
quarks are one of the two groups of a work in progress. ■
258
IDENTICAL NUCLEAR
PARTICLES DO NOT
ALWAYS
FORCE CARRIERS
ACT ALIKE
F
rom around 1930, scientists unstable atomic nuclei, and identify
IN CONTEXT began to unpick the process and observe the force carriers that
of nuclear decay. Beta decay mediate (transmit) the weak
KEY FIGURE
had puzzled earlier researchers, as interaction in nuclear decay.
Chien-Shiung Wu
energy seemed to disappear, in In 1933, Enrico Fermi proposed
(1912–1997)
violation of the law of conservation that beta radiation emerges from
BEFORE of energy. Over the next five the nucleus as a neutron turns
1930 Austrian-born physicist decades, leading physicists would into a proton, emitting an electron
Wolfgang Pauli proposes the discover the bearers of the missing and a further neutral particle that
existence of a neutrino to energy, detail the changes that carries away some energy. (Fermi
explain how energy and other transformed elements within called this neutral particle a
quantities can be conserved
in beta decay.
1933 Enrico Fermi lays out his Conservation of energy appears to be violated in beta decay
theory for the weak interaction (usually the emission of an electron from an atomic nucleus).
to explain beta decay.
AFTER
1956 American physicists
Clyde Cowan and Frederick
Reines confirm that both A light, neutral particle—a During beta-minus decay,
electrons and neutrinos are neutrino or an a neutron turns into a proton,
antineutrino carries away an electron, and an
emitted during beta decay. antineutrino.
some energy.
1968 The electromagnetic
and weak forces are unified
in “electroweak theory.”
1983 W and Z bosons are
discovered at the Super The interaction that is
The weak force involves the
Proton Synchrotron, a particle responsible for this
exchange of particles
process is called the weak
accelerator machine at CERN. called force carriers.
interaction or weak force.
NUCLEAR AND PARTICLES 259
See also: Quantum field theory 224–225 ■ Nuclear rays 238–239 ■ Antimatter 246 ■ The particle zoo and quarks 256–257
■ Massive neutrinos 261 ■ The Higgs boson 262–263
neutrino, but it was later identified Gargamelle, seen here in 1970

as an antineutrino, the antiparticle was designed to detect neutrinos
of the neutrino.) In the other main and antineutrinos. Through its
portholes, cameras could track
type of beta decay—beta-plus the trail of charged particles.
decay—a proton becomes a
neutron, emitting a positron and a
neutrino. The force responsible for decayed. She saw that electrons
such decays was named the weak emitted during beta radiation had a
interaction—now recognized as one preference for a specific direction of
of four fundamental forces of nature. decay (rather than being randomly
emitted in all directions equally),
The rule-breaking force showing that the weak interaction
The strong and electromagnetic violates conservation of parity.
interactions conserve parity; their The weak interaction involves
effect on a system is symmetric, the exchange of force-carrier and Z bosons are very heavy, so
producing a kind of mirror image. particles: W+, W-, and Z0 bosons. processes occurring through them
Suspecting this was not true of the All force-carrying particles are tend to be very slow.
weak interaction, fellow physicists bosons (integer spin), while the In 1973, the interactions of the
Chen Ning Yang and Tsung-Dao key building blocks of matter, bosons were observed at CERN’s
Lee asked Chien-Shiung Wu to such as quarks and leptons, are all Gargamelle bubble chamber, which
investigate. In 1956—the same year fermions (half-integer spin) and captured tracks providing the
that Clyde Cowan and Frederick obey different principles. Uniquely, first confirmation of the weak
Reines confirmed the existence of the weak interaction can also neutral-current interaction. This
neutrinos—Wu got to work at the change the “flavor,” or properties, was interpreted as a neutrino
US National Bureau of Standards of quarks. During beta-minus decay, taking momentum away after
low-temperature laboratory in a “down” quark changes into an being produced in the exchange
Washington, D.C. She aligned the “up” quark, transforming a neutron of a Z boson. The W and Z bosons
spins (internal angular momentum) into a proton, and emits a virtual themselves were first observed in
of the nuclei in a sample of W- boson, which decays into an 1983 using the high-energy Super
cobalt-60, and watched as it electron and antineutrino. The W Proton Synchrotron (SPS) at CERN. ■
Chien-Shiung Wu Born in 1912, in Liuhe, near Yang received the 1957 Nobel
Shanghai in China, Chien-Shiung Prize in Physics for discovering
Wu developed a passion for parity violation; her contribution
physics after reading a biography was not acknowledged. She was
of Polish physicist and chemist finally honored in 1978, when
Marie Curie. She studied physics she received the Wolf Prize for
at National Central University in scientific achievement. Wu died
Nanjing, then moved to the US in New York in 1997.
in 1936, gaining her PhD at the
University of California-Berkeley.
Wu joined the Manhattan Key works
Project in 1944 to work on
uranium enrichment. After World 1950 “Recent investigation of
War II, she became a professor at the shapes of beta-ray spectra”
Columbia University and focused 1957 “Experimental test of parity
on beta decay. Wu’s collaborators conservation in beta decay”
Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen Ning 1960 Beta decay
260
NATURE IS
ABSURD
QUANTUM ELECTRODYNAMICS
T
he emergence of quantum that come into existence
IN CONTEXT mechanics, which describes momentarily and affect the motion
the behavior of objects of “real” particles as they are
KEY FIGURES
at atomic and subatomic scales, released or absorbed.
Shin’ichiroˉ Tomonaga
forced a transformation of many QED has been used to model
(1906–1979), Julian
branches of physics. phenomena that previously defied
Schwinger (1918–1994) Paul Dirac proposed a quantum explanation. One example is the
BEFORE theory of electromagnetism in 1927, Lamb shift—the difference in
1865 James Clerk Maxwell but models describing encounters energy between two energy levels
lays out the electromagnetic between electromagnetic fields and of a hydrogen atom. ■
theory of light. high-speed particles—which obey
the laws of special relativity—broke
1905 Albert Einstein down. This led to an assumption
publishes a paper describing that quantum mechanics and
special relativity. special relativity were not
compatible. In the 1940s, Shin’ichirō
1927 Paul Dirac formulates a Tomonaga, Richard Feynman, and
quantum mechanical theory Julian Schwinger proved that
of charged objects and the quantum electrodynamics (QED)
electromagnetic field. could be made consistent with
AFTER special relativity. In fact, QED was
1965 Tomonaga, Schwinger, the first theory to combine quantum
mechanics and special relativity.
and Richard Feynman share
In classical electrodynamics,
the Nobel Prize in Physics for
electrically charged particles exert
their work on quantum forces through the fields they
electrodynamics. produce. In QED, however, the Following his contributions to
1973 The theory of quantum forces between charged particles QED, Shin’ichirō Tomonaga received
chromodynamics is developed, arise from the exchange of virtual, the Nobel Prize in Physics, the Japan
with color charge as the source or messenger, photons—particles Academy Prize, and many other awards.
of the strong interaction
(strong nuclear force). See also: Force fields and Maxwell’s equations 142–147 ■ Particles and waves
212–215 ■ Quantum field theory 224–225 ■ The particle zoo and quarks 256–257
THE MYSTERY
OF THE MISSING
NEUTRINOS
MASSIVE NEUTRINOS
S
ince the 1920s, physicists
IN CONTEXT have known that nuclear
fusion causes the sun and
KEY FIGURE
other stars to shine. They went on
Masatoshi Koshiba (1926–)
to predict that this process releases
BEFORE particles called neutrinos, which Now that neutrino
1956 American physicists shower down on Earth from space. astrophysics is born, what
Clyde Cowan and Frederick Neutrinos have been compared should we do next?
Reines publish the results of to ghosts due to the challenge Masatoshi Koshiba
their experiment confirming of detecting them. They are
the existence of neutrinos. chargeless, almost without mass,
and do not interact through the
1970 “Homestake” experiments strong nuclear or electromagnetic
begin in the US, detecting only forces, allowing them to pass
one-third of the predicted through Earth unnoticed. Neutrinos
number of solar neutrinos. come in three types, or flavors: this problem. Observations of
electron, muon, and tau neutrinos. atmospheric neutrinos with the
1987 Researchers at locations In 1985, Japanese physicist detector proved that neutrinos
in Japan, the US, and Russia Masatoshi Koshiba built a neutrino can switch between flavors in
detect a record batch of detector in a zinc mine. Detectors flight, a process called neutrino
25 neutrinos, originating surrounded a vast water tank, oscillation. This means that an
from a supernova in the picking up flashes of light as electron neutrino created in the
Large Magellanic Cloud. neutrinos interacted with the sun may change to a muon or tau
nuclei of water molecules. Koshiba neutrino and so elude detectors
AFTER
confirmed that there seemed to be that are sensitive only to electron
2001 Scientists at Sudbury far fewer solar neutrinos reaching neutrinos. The discovery implied
Neutrino Observatory, Canada, Earth than predicted. In 1996, he that neutrinos have mass,
find further evidence for led the construction of an even challenging the Standard Model,
neutrino oscillation. larger detector (Super-Kamiokande), the theory of fundamental forces
2013 Results from the T2K which allowed his team to solve and particles. ■
experiment confirm the
neutrino oscillation theory. See also: Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle 220–221 ■ Particle accelerators
252–255 ■ The particle zoo and quarks 256–257 ■ Force carriers 258–259
262
I THINK
WE HAVE IT
THE HIGGS BOSON
T
he Standard Model, theory did not match reality. It
IN CONTEXT completed in the early implied that all electroweak force
1970s after decades of carriers are massless. While this is
KEY FIGURE
research, explained much about true for the photon, W and Z bosons
Peter Higgs (1929–)
particle physics with a handful of are conspicuously massive.
BEFORE fundamental forces and particles. In 1964, three groups of
1959 Sheldon Glashow in Questions remained, however. physicists—Peter Higgs in the UK;
the US and Abdus Salam in While two of the forces—the Robert Brout and François Englert
Pakistan propose that the electromagnetic force and in Belgium; and Gerald Guralnik,
electromagnetic and weak the weak interaction—could be C. Richard Hagen, and Tom Kibble
forces merge in intense heat. modeled as merging into a single in the US—had proposed that the
electroweak force at intense weak bosons might interact with a
1960 Japanese–American temperatures, one aspect of this field which gives them mass; this
physicist Yoichiro Nambu
conceives his theory of
symmetry breaking, which
can be applied to the problem Electroweak theory predicts that all force carriers (particles that
excite forces between other particles) have no mass.
of W and Z boson mass.
AFTER
1983 W and Z bosons are both
confirmed at the CERN Super
Proton Synchroton. Experiments show that
photons have no mass but W and Z bosons interact
1995 Fermilab discovers W and Z bosons (a type of strongly with the Higgs field.
the top quark with a mass of force carrier) are massive.
176 GeV/c², which matches
Higgs field theory predictions.
2012 CERN confirms
the discovery of the Higgs
The Higgs boson is the
boson in its ATLAS and The Higgs field gives
carrier particle of the
CMS detectors. particles their mass.
Higgs field.
See also: Quantum field theory 224–225 ■ Particle accelerators 252–255
■ The particle zoo and quarks 256–257 ■ Force carriers 258–259
The Higgs field, imagined in this

illustration, is a field of energy thought
to exist throughout the universe;
within it the Higgs boson interacts
continuously with other particles.
it, and the search continued,

influencing the design of the world’s
most powerful particle accelerator,
CERN’s Large Hadron Collider
(LHC), which started up in 2008. Peter Higgs
As physicists calculated that
only one in 10 billion proton-proton Born in 1929 in Newcastle
collisions in the LHC would produce upon Tyne, Higgs was the
a Higgs boson, researchers used son of a BBC sound engineer.
CERN’s detectors to sift through the Frequent house moves
remnants of hundreds of trillions of disrupted the boy’s early
became known as the Higgs field. collisions for hints of the particle. education, but at Cotham
According to this theory, the Higgs In 2012, CERN announced the Grammar School in Bristol he
field began permeating throughout discovery of a boson of mass around was inspired by the work of a
the universe soon after the Big 126 GeV/c ² (gigaelectron volts former pupil, the theoretical
Bang; the more a particle interacts divided by the speed of light physicist Paul Dirac. He then
went to King’s College
with it, the more mass it acquires. squared)—almost certainly the
London, and was awarded
Photons do not interact with the Higgs boson. CERN physicists were
his PhD in 1954. After various
field, allowing them to travel at light elated, while Higgs was moved to academic posts, Higgs chose
speed. Meanwhile, W and Z bosons tears at the validation of his 50-year- to stay at the University of
interact strongly with the field. At old theory. The Standard Model is Edinburgh. On one of many
ordinary temperatures, this makes now complete, but physicists walks in the Highlands, he
them heavy and sluggish with short continue to explore the possibility began to formulate his theory
ranges. As particles that interact that other types of Higgs bosons for the origin of mass, which
with the Higgs field accelerate, they exist beyond it. ■ gained him renown, although
gain mass and therefore require he readily acknowledged its
more energy to push them further, many other contributors.
preventing them from reaching the In 2013, Higgs shared the
speed of light. Nobel Prize in Physics with
François Englert. He remains
Near-mythical importance Emeritus professor at the
I never expected this to University of Edinburgh.
Scientists realized that the only
way to prove the Higgs field theory happen in my lifetime and
was to find an excitation of the will be asking my family to
field in the form of a heavy particle, put some champagne
known as the Higgs boson. The in the fridge. Key works
quest took on a near-mythical Peter Higgs
1964 “Broken symmetries, and
importance, gaining the boson
the masses of gauge bosons”
the nickname of “God particle” 1966 “Spontaneous symmetry
in the 1980s, which Higgs and his breakdown without massless
colleagues disliked. No particle bosons”
detector at the time could detect
264
WHERE HAS ALL THE

ANTIMATTER GONE?
MATTER–ANTIMATTER ASYMMETRY
P
hysicists have long puzzled preserved if spacetime extends
IN CONTEXT over why the universe is backward beyond the Big Bang
made up almost entirely into a mirror universe of antimatter.
KEY FIGURE
of matter. P (parity) symmetry, the In 1967, Soviet physicist
Andrei Sakharov (1921–1989)
idea that nature cannot distinguish Andrei Sakharov proposed instead
BEFORE between left and right, suggests that an imbalance of matter and
1928 Paul Dirac suggests a that the Big Bang should have antimatter could have evolved if
new form of matter with produced matter and antimatter CP violation occurred in the early
opposite charges: antimatter. in equal amounts. The first clue universe. It has to be sufficient to
came in 1956, when an experiment prompt asymmetry, or else physics
1932 In the US, Carl Anderson showed that electrons emanating beyond the Standard Model will
discovers “antielectrons” and through beta decay in a weak be required. Significant CP
calls them positrons. interaction had a preferred direction. violation has now been shown,
The following year, to maintain supporting Sakharov’s ideas. ■
1951 Julian Schwinger
symmetry, Soviet physicist Lev
hints at an early form of Landau proposed CP symmetry—
CPT symmetry. combining P symmetry with C
AFTER (conservation of charge) symmetry,
1964 American physicists so that a particle and its oppositely-
James Cronin and Val Fitch charged antiparticle would behave Physicists began to think
show that weak decay of like mirror images. that they may have been
neutral K-mesons (kaons) looking at the wrong
violates CP symmetry. Mirror universe or not? symmetry all along.
In 1964, when experiments showed
Ulrich Nierste
2010 Fermilab scientists that neutral K-mesons violate CP German theoretical physicist
detect a preference for conservation when they decay,
B-mesons to decay into muons, physicists made a last-ditch bid to
violating CP symmetry. save symmetry. They incorporated
time-reversal symmetry, giving
2019 CERN physicists detect CPT symmetry, which can be
asymmetry in D-mesons, the
lightest particle to contain See also: Antimatter 246 ■ Force carriers 258–259 ■ Massive neutrinos 261
charm quarks. ■ Mass and energy 284–285 ■ The Big Bang 296–301
STARS GET
BORN AND DIE
NUCLEAR FUSION IN STARS
T
he idea that stars are
IN CONTEXT endlessly powered from
the fusion of hydrogen into
KEY FIGURE
helium excited eminent physicists
Hans Bethe (1906–2005)
in the early 20th century. By the
BEFORE mid-1930s, they had demonstrated
1920 British physicist Arthur nuclear fusion in the laboratory.
Eddington suggests that stars Among the leading theorists was
primarily get their energy from German-born Hans Bethe, who
hydrogen–helium fusion. realized that the stars (including
the sun) release energy through
1931 Deuterium, a stable proton–proton chain reactions.
isotope of hydrogen, is Fusion occurs only in extreme
detected by American chemist environments. Positively charged The JET tokamak reactor in the UK
Harold C. Urey and associates. nuclei strongly repel each other but, is the world’s largest, most successful
with sufficient energy, they can be fusion facility. It is central to European
1934 Australian physicist pushed close enough together to research and the international ITER
Mark Oliphant demonstrates project advancing fusion science.
overcome this repulsion and fuse,
deuterium fusion, discovering forming heavier nuclei. As they
tritium, a radioactive isotope fuse, binding energy is released. electricity has proved more difficult,
of hydrogen, in the process. due to the immense temperatures
AFTER Toward controlled fusion required (around 40 million Kelvin)
In 1951, Bethe’s work in the US led and the challenge of containing
1958 The first tokamak (T-1)
to the successful testing of the first such hot materials. The leading
begins reactions in the Soviet
hydrogen bomb, in which fission candidate for a fusion reactor—
Union, but loses energy
was used to induce nuclear fusion the tokamak—confines the hot,
through radiation. and release a lethal blast of energy. charged gas using magnetic fields.
2006 The ITER agreement is Harnessing such power with The quest continues as fusion is
signed in Paris by seven ITER controlled fusion reactions that thought safer than fission, with less
members, funding a long-term gradually release energy for radioactivity and nuclear waste. ■
international project to develop
nuclear fusion energy. See also: Generating electricity 148–151 ■ The strong force 247 ■ Nuclear bombs
and power 248–251 ■ Particle accelerators 252–255
REL ATIVI
THE UNI
our place in
V
the cosmos
TY AND
ERSE
268 INTRODUCTION
The Greek philosopher Persian astronomer Galileo explains his Albert Einstein’s theory of
Aristotle describes a static Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi principle of relativity: the special relativity shows
and eternal universe makes the first recorded laws of physics are the how space and time
where a spherical Earth is observation of Andromeda, same whether a person change, depending on the
surrounded by concentric describing the galaxy is stationary or moving speed of one object relative
rings of planets and stars. as a “small cloud.” at a constant velocity. to another.
c. 150 CE 1543 1887
Ptolemy creates a mathematical Nicolaus Copernicus In the US, Albert Michelson

model of the universe, showing provides a model for a and Edward Morley prove
Earth as a stationary sphere heliocentric universe, that light moves at a
at the center, with other known in which Earth revolves constant speed regardless
bodies orbiting around it. around the sun. of the motion of the observer.
A
ncient civilizations During the Scientific Revolution, speed—it still travels at the speed
questioned what the physicists and astronomers began of light. Nature behaves strangely
movement of stars across to study the motion of objects and at close to the speed of light in
the night sky meant for humanity’s light through space. Space was order to impose a universal speed
existence and place within the imagined to be a rigid grid that limit. Establishing how this works
universe. The seeming vastness of spanned the universe, and it was required a drastic rethinking of
their planet led most to think that assumed that a length measured both space and time.
Earth must be the largest and most on Earth would be the same on any
important object in the cosmos, planet, star (including the sun), or Special relativity
and that everything else revolved neutron star (a small star created Early in the 20th century, space and
around it. Among these geocentric by the collapse of a giant star). time were discovered to be flexible:
views, Ptolemy of Alexandria’s Time, too, was thought to be a meter or a second have different
model from the 2nd century ce was absolute, with a second on Earth lengths in different places in the
so convincing that it dominated equivalent to one anywhere else in universe. German-born physicist
astronomy for centuries. the universe. But it soon became Albert Einstein introduced the world
The advent of the telescope in clear that this was not the case. to these ideas in his 1905 theory of
1608 showed that Polish astronomer A ball thrown from a moving special relativity. He explained how,
Nicolaus Copernicus had been right vehicle will appear to a person from the perspective of an observer
to question Ptolemy’s view. In Italy, standing on the roadside to have on Earth, objects moving through
Galileo Galilei observed four moons been given a boost of speed from space at close to the speed of light
orbiting Jupiter in 1610, and so the vehicle’s movement. Yet if light seem to contract, and how time
provided proof that other bodies is shone from a moving vehicle, the appears to run more slowly for these
orbited other worlds. light does not receive a boost in objects. Two years later, in 1907,
RELATIVITY AND THE UNIVERSE 269
Einstein publishes his theory British physicist Arthur In the US, Russell Hulse and
of general relativity to Eddington photographs Joseph Taylor find indirect
describe how time and starlight bent around evidence for gravitational
space curve for accelerating the sun in a solar waves when they observe
observers or those within eclipse—proof of the energy being lost from two stars
a gravitational field. curvature of spacetime. orbiting each other.
1915 1919 1974
1907 1916 1929 2017
Hermann Minkowski Karl Schwarzschild uses Edwin Hubble proves the LIGO scientists announce
explains special relativity general relativity to predict the universe is expanding, the first direct detection
in terms of four existence of black holes, the noting that distant galaxies of gravitational waves
dimensions of space gravity of which is so strong, are moving more rapidly from the merging of two
and time—spacetime. not even light can escape. than nearer ones. neutron stars.
German mathematician Hermann further, predicting the existence the Milky Way. But American
Minkowski suggested that special of extremely massive objects that astronomer Edwin Hubble’s
relativity makes more sense if time could curve spacetime so much discovery of another galaxy—the
and space are sewn together into a at a single point that nothing, not Andromeda Galaxy—in 1924 led to
single fabric of “spacetime.” even light, could move fast enough the realization that the Milky Way
The theory of special relativity to escape. Advances in astronomy is just one of billions of galaxies
had far-reaching consequences. have since provided evidence for that lie well beyond 100,000 light
The notion that energy and mass these “black holes,” and it is now years away. What is more, these
were simply two forms of the same thought that the largest stars galaxies are moving apart, leading
thing, as described by Einstein’s become black holes when they die. astronomers to believe that the
formula E = mc2, led to the universe began at a single point
discovery of the nuclear fusion that Beyond the Milky Way 13.8 billion years ago and exploded
powers stars, and ultimately to the By the early 1920s, astronomers forth in a so-called Big Bang.
development of the atomic bomb. were able to measure accurately the Astrophysicists today have far
In 1915, Einstein extended his distance to stars in the night sky to go in their quest to understand
ideas to include objects moving and the speed at which they are the universe. Strange, invisible dark
at changing speed and through moving relative to Earth. This matter and dark energy make up
gravitational fields. The theory of revolutionized how people perceived 95 percent of the known universe,
general relativity describes how the universe and our place within seeming to exert control without
spacetime can bend, just as a cloth it. At the start of the 20th century, showing their presence. Likewise,
might stretch if a heavy weight is astronomers believed that the workings of a black hole and the
placed upon it. German physicist everything existed within 100,000 Big Bang remain a mystery. But
Karl Schwarzschild went a step light years of space, that is, within astrophysicists are getting closer. ■
270
THE WINDINGS
OF THE HEAVENLY
BODIES
THE HEAVENS
S
ince time immemorial, Early humans linked objects in
IN CONTEXT humans have gazed at the the night sky with gods and spirits
night sky in awe, captivated on Earth. They believed heavenly
KEY FIGURE
by the motions of the sun, moon, bodies had an effect on aspects of
Ptolemy (c. 100–c. 170 ce)
and stars. One of the earliest their lives, such as the moon being
BEFORE examples of primitive astronomy is linked to the fertility cycle. Some
2137 bce Chinese astronomers Britain’s Stonehenge, a stone circle civilizations, including the Incas in
produce the first known record that dates back to about 3000 bce. the 15th century, assigned patterns,
of a solar eclipse. While the true purpose of these known as constellations, to stars
huge stones is not clear, it is that appeared regularly in the sky.
4th century bce Aristotle believed that at least some were
describes Earth as a sphere designed to align with the motion
Stonehenge, a prehistoric monument
at the center of the universe. of the sun through the sky, and in Wiltshire, southwest England, may
possibly also with the motion of the have been built so that ancient people
c. 130 bce Hipparchus
moon. Many other such monuments could track the motions of the sun
compiles his catalog exist around the world. through the sky.
of stars.
AFTER
1543 Nicolaus Copernicus
suggests that the sun,
not Earth, is at the center
of the universe.
1784 French astronomer
Charles Messier creates a
database of other star clusters
and nebulae in the Milky Way.
1924 American astronomer
Edwin Hubble shows that the
Milky Way is one of many
galaxies in the universe.
See also: The scientific method 20–23 ■ The language of physics 24–31
■ Models of the universe 272–273 ■ Discovering other galaxies 290–293
Epicycle
Planet
The planet
makes small
circles during
its orbit
Orbit
Earth
Ptolemy
Ptolemy believed that each planet orbits Earth while
at the same time moving around a sub-orbit, or epicycle.
Claudius Ptolemaeus, known
He thought that this explained the unpredictable
“retrograde” movements of the stars and planets.
as Ptolemy, lived from about
100 ce to 170 ce. Little is known
about his life, except that he
Watching the sky all, he concluded that heavenly lived in the city of Alexandria,
It was not just the motions of stars bodies moved in a range of in the Roman province of
and planets that so intrigued early complex circular orbits and Egypt, and wrote about a
astronomers, but also short-lived epicycles (“sub-orbits”), with variety of subjects, including
events. Chinese astronomers Earth stationary at the center. astronomy, astrology, music,
kept records of Halley’s Comet geography, and mathematics.
In Geography, he listed the
appearing in the night sky as far Earth-centered universe
latitudes and longitudes of
back as 1000 bce, denoting it a Ptolemy based many of his
many of the places in the
“guest star.” They also recorded calculations on the observations known world, producing a
supernovae, or exploding stars, of Hipparchus, a Greek astronomer map that could be duplicated.
most notably one that led to the from the 2nd century bce. In His first major work on
formation of the Crab Nebula in Ptolemy’s best-known work, the astronomy was the Almagest,
1054 ce. Reports from the time Almagest, which sets out his in which he cataloged 1,022
suggest the supernova was bright geocentric theory, he used stars and 48 constellations,
enough to be seen in the daytime Hipparchus’s notes on the motions and attempted to explain the
for about a month. of the moon and sun to calculate movement of stars and planets
In the 4th century bce, the Greek the positions of the moon, sun, in the night sky. His geocentric
philosopher Aristotle postulated planets, and stars at different model of the universe
that Earth was the center of the times, and to predict eclipses. persisted for centuries.
universe, with all other bodies— Ptolemy’s complex model of the Despite its inaccuracies,
such as the moon and the planets— universe, known as the Ptolemaic Ptolemy’s work was hugely
influential in understanding
revolving around it. In about 150 ce, system, dominated astronomical
how things move in space.
Ptolemy, an astronomer from thinking for centuries. It would take
Alexandria, furthered Aristotle’s until the 16th century for Polish
geocentric (Earth-centered) theory astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus Key works
with his attempt to explain in to suggest that the sun, not Earth,
mathematical terms the seemingly was at the center of the universe. c. 150 ce Almagest
irregular motions of stars and Although his model was initially c. 150 ce Geography
planets in the night sky. Observing derided—and Italian astronomer c. 150–170 ce Handy Tables
the back-and-forth movement of Galileo Galilei was put on trial in c. 150–170 ce Planetary
some planets, and the fact that 1633 for supporting it—Copernicus Hypotheses
others barely seemed to move at was eventually proved right. ■
272
EARTH IS NOT
THE CENTER
OF THE UNIVERSE
MODELS OF THE UNIVERSE
T
oday, the idea that Earth
IN CONTEXT The irregular movements of is flat seems comical. Yet
stars and planets cannot be early depictions of the
KEY FIGURE
explained simply with Earth at world, including in ancient Egypt,
Nicolaus Copernicus
the center of the universe. show that this is what people
(1473–1543)
believed. After all, Earth seemed to
BEFORE stretch into the distance, and from
6th century bce The Greek its surface it did not appear to
philosopher Pythagoras says curve. Earth was thought to be a
that Earth is round, based on circular disk floating on an ocean,
Earth may seem to be
the moon also being round. with a dome above—the heavens—
stationary, but it is in fact
rotating, which explains why and the underworld below.
3rd century bce Eratosthenes stars appear to cross the sky. It was not until the 6th century
measures the circumference of bce that Greek philosophers realized
Earth with great accuracy. that Earth was round. Pythagoras
first worked out that the moon was
2nd century ce Ptolemy of spherical, observing that the line
Alexandria asserts that Earth between day and night on the
is the center of the universe. Viewed from Earth, the moon is curved. This led him
AFTER other planets sometimes to suppose that Earth was also
1609 Johannes Kepler appear to be moving spherical. Aristotle later added
backward, but this is an to this by noting Earth’s curved
describes the motions of
illusion caused by the fact that shadow during a lunar eclipse,
the planets around the sun. Earth itself is moving. and the changing positions of
1610 Galileo Galilei observes constellations. Eratosthenes went
moons orbiting Jupiter. even further. He saw that the sun
cast different shadows in the cities
1616 Nicolaus Copernicus’s of Syene and Alexandria, and used
work De Revolutionibus Copernicus believed the sun is this knowledge to work out the
Orbium Coelestium (On the stationary near the center of circumference of the planet. He
Revolutions of the Heavenly the universe, and Earth and calculated it to be between 24,000
Spheres) is banned by the the other planets revolve and 29,000 miles (38,000 and
Catholic Church. around it. 47,000 km)—not far off its true
value of 24,901 miles (40,075 km).
See also: The scientific method 20–23 ■ Laws of motion 40–45 ■ Laws of gravity 46–51 ■ The heavens 270–271
■ Discovering other galaxies 290–293 ■ The Big Bang 296–301
Jupiter is now known to have

79 moons, but when Galileo Galilei
first observed four moons orbiting the
planet in 1610, he proved Copernicus’s
theory that not everything orbits Earth.
The passage of time
has revealed to everyone Sun-centered universe
the truths that I The idea of a universe with the
previously set forth. sun at its center remained dormant
Galileo Galilei until the early 16th century, when
Nicolaus Copernicus wrote a short
manuscript, the Commentariolus,
and circulated it among friends. In
it, he proposed a heliocentric (sun-
centered) model, with the sun near
the center of the known universe,
Much study also went into working and Earth and other planets orbiting
out Earth’s place within the known in a circular motion around it.
universe. In the 2nd century ce, He also suggested that the reason
Ptolemy of Alexandria described why the sun rose and set was due
Earth as a stationary sphere at to the rotation of Earth. sun in not quite perfect circles,
the center of the universe, with The Catholic Church initially moving more quickly when they
all other known bodies orbiting accepted Copernicus’s work, but were closer to the sun and more
around it. Five centuries earlier, later banned it following Protestant slowly when they were further
the Greek astronomer Aristarchus accusations of heresy. Nonetheless, away. When Galileo Galilei spotted
of Samos had suggested that the the heliocentric approach caught four moons orbiting Jupiter, this
sun was the center of the universe, on. German astronomer Johannes was proof that other bodies orbited
but Ptolemy’s geocentric (Earth- Kepler published his laws of motion other worlds—and that Earth was
centered) view was the more in 1609 and 1619, which showed not the center around which
widely accepted of the two. that the planets moved around the everything revolved. ■
Nicolaus Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus was born Commentariolus), in which

on February 19, 1473, in Thorn he proposed that the sun, not
(now Torun), Poland. His father, Earth, was near the center of
a wealthy merchant, died when the known universe. Although
Nicolaus was 10 years old, but he finished a longer work titled
the boy received a good education De Revolutionibus Orbium
thanks to his uncle. He studied Coelestium (On the Revolutions
in Poland and Italy, where he of the Heavenly Spheres) in 1532,
developed interests in geography he did not publish it until 1543,
and astronomy. two months before he died.
Copernicus went on to work
for his uncle, who was the bishop
of Ermland in northern Poland, Key works
but after the bishop’s death in
1512, he devoted more time to 1514 Commentariolus
astronomy. In 1514, he distributed 1543 On the Revolutions of
a handwritten pamphlet (the the Heavenly Spheres
274
NO TRUE TIMES
OR TRUE LENGTHS
FROM CLASSICAL TO SPECIAL RELATIVITY
T
he ideas of relativity—
IN CONTEXT peculiarities in space and
time—are widely attributed
KEY FIGURE
to Albert Einstein in the early 20th
Hendrik Lorentz (1853–1928)
century. Yet earlier scientists had
BEFORE also wondered whether everything
1632 Galileo Galilei posits that they saw was as it seemed.
a person in a windowless room
cannot tell whether the room is Galilean relativity
moving at a constant speed or Back in 1632, in Renaissance Italy,
not moving at all. Galileo Galilei had suggested that
it was impossible to know whether
1687 Isaac Newton devises a room was at rest or moving at a
his laws of motion, using key constant speed if there were
parts of Galileo’s theory. objects moving within it. This idea Galileo used the example of a ship
is known as Galilean relativity, and traveling at a constant speed on a flat
AFTER others attempted to expand on it in sea. A passenger dropping a ball below
1905 Albert Einstein subsequent years. One approach deck would not be able to tell whether
publishes his theory of the ship was moving or stationary.
was to note that the laws of physics
special relativity, showing are the same in all inertial frames of
that the speed of light is reference (those that are moving at Lorentz’s work paved the way for
always constant. a constant velocity). Einstein’s theory of special relativity,
Dutch physicist Hendrik Lorentz in which he showed that not only
1915 Einstein publishes his
produced a proof for this in 1892. are the laws of physics the same
theory of general relativity,
His set of equations, known as the whether a person is moving at a
explaining how the gravity
Lorentz transformations, showed constant speed or not moving, but
of objects bends spacetime. how mass, length, and time change that the speed of light is the same
2015 Astronomers in the US as a spatial object approaches the if it is measured in either scenario.
and Europe find gravitational speed of light, and that the speed This idea brought a whole new
waves—ripples in spacetime of light is constant in a vacuum. understanding of the universe. ■
predicted by Einstein a
century earlier. See also: Laws of motion 40–45 ■ Laws of gravity 46–51 ■ The speed of light 275
■ Special relativity 276–279 ■ The equivalence principle 281
THE SUN AS IT
WAS ABOUT EIGHT
MINUTES
THE SPEED OF LIGHT
AGO
T
he speed of light has long that could split a beam of light
IN CONTEXT vexed humanity. In ancient in two, direct the two parts along
Greece, the philosopher different paths, and then recombine
KEY FIGURES
Empedocles thought that it must them. Noting the pattern of the
Albert Michelson
take a while for light from the sun returned light, he calculated the
(1852–1931),
to reach Earth, whereas Aristotle speed of light to be 299,853 km/s.
Edward Morley (1838–1923) wondered if it had a speed at all. In 1887, Michelson and fellow
BEFORE American Edward Morley set up
4th century bce Aristotle Measuring light speed an experiment to measure Earth’s
suggests that light is Isaac Beeckman and Galileo Galilei motion through the “ether” that
instantaneous. made the first serious attempts to light had long been thought to
measure the speed of light, in the travel through. They found no
1629 Dutch scientist Isaac 17th century. Both relied on human evidence of such an ether, but
Beeckman tries and fails to sight, and were inconclusive. In recorded increasingly precise
use an explosion and mirrors 1850, Hippolyte Fizeau and Léon values for a constant speed of light. ■
to measure the speed of light. Foucault independently produced
the first true measurements, using
1850 French rivals Hippolyte a rotating cog and a rotating mirror
Fizeau and Léon Foucault each respectively to chop, or interrupt, a
measure the speed of light. light beam. In Foucault’s case, he
AFTER calculated the speed of light from Light thinks it travels
1905 Albert Einstein declares the angle between the light going faster than anything
to and from the rotating mirror and but it is wrong.
that the speed of light in a
the speed of the mirror’s rotation.
vacuum is always constant. Terry Pratchett
In the early 1880s, American British novelist
1920 Interferometry is used to physicist Albert Michelson
measure the size of a star other improved Foucault’s technique by
than the sun for the first time. reflecting a beam of light off two
mirrors over a greater distance. He
1983 An official measurement built an interferometer, a device
of the speed of light is defined:
299,792,458 m/s. See also: Focusing light 170–175 ■ Lumpy and wavelike light 176–179
■ Diffraction and interference 180–183 ■ The Doppler effect and redshift 188–191
276
IN CONTEXT
DOES
KEY FIGURE
Albert Einstein (1879–1955)
BEFORE
OXFORD
1632 Galileo Galilei puts
forward his relativity
hypothesis.
1687 Isaac Newton sets out
STOP AT
his laws of motion.
1861 Scottish physicist James
Clerk Maxwell formulates his
equations describing
THIS TRAIN?
electromagnetic waves.
AFTER
1907 Hermann Minkowski
presents the idea of time as
the fourth dimension in space.
SPECIAL RELATIVITY 1915 Albert Einstein includes

gravity and acceleration in his
theory of general relativity.
1971 To demonstrate time
dilation due to general and
special relativity, atomic clocks
are flown around the world.
R
elativity has deep roots.
In 1632, Galileo Galilei
imagined a traveler
inside a windowless cabin on a
ship sailing at a constant speed
on a perfectly smooth sea. Was
there any way for the traveler to
determine whether the ship was
moving without going on deck?
Was there any experiment that,
if carried out on a moving ship,
would give a different result from
the same experiment carried out on
land? Galileo concluded that there
was not. Provided the ship moved
with a constant speed and
direction, the results would be the
same. No unit of measurement is
absolute—all units are defined
See also: From classical to special relativity 274 ■ The speed of light 275 ■ Curving spacetime 280 ■ The equivalence
principle 281 ■ Paradoxes of special relativity 282–283 ■ Mass and energy 284–285
that generated the current. Setting

An object’s velocity An observer who is out his “Principle of Relativity,”
is relative to the motion traveling at close he declared: “The same laws of
of other objects, but the to the speed of light electrodynamics and optics will be
speed of light is absolute will still record a light beam valid for all frames of reference for
and constant. arriving at the speed of light. which the laws of mechanics hold
good.” In other words, the laws of
physics are the same in all inertial
frames of reference. It was similar
to the conclusion that Galileo had
reached in 1632.
The faster a frame of
Observers in relative
reference travels through Light is a constant
motion to each other
space relative to you, the In James Clerk Maxwell’s equations
experience space and
more slowly you observe of 1865 for calculating the variables
time differently.
its time to pass. in an electromagnetic field, the
speed of an electromagnetic wave,
approximately 186,000 miles/s
(300,000 km/s), is a constant
relative to something else. In order object not being acted on by a defined by the properties of the
to measure anything, be it time, force. Inertial motion is motion in vacuum of space through which it
distance, or mass, there has to be a straight line at a uniform speed. moves. Maxwell’s equations hold
something to measure it against. Before Einstein, Newton’s idea of true in any inertial frame. Einstein
How fast people perceive an absolute motion—that an object declared that, while some things
object to be moving depends on could be said to be moving (or may be relative, the speed of light
their speed relative to that object. to be at rest) without reference to is absolute and constant: it travels
For example, if a person on a fast- anything else—held sway. Special at a constant velocity, independent
moving train tosses an apple to relativity would put an end to this. of everything else, including the
another passenger, it travels from motion of the light source, and is
one to the other at a few miles per Principle of Relativity not measured relative to anything
hour, but to an observer standing As was well known to scientists of else. This is what makes light
by the tracks, the apple and the the 19th century, an electric current fundamentally different from
passengers all flash by at a hundred is generated if a magnet is moved matter—all speeds below that ❯❯
miles per hour. inside a coil of wire, and also if the
coil is moved and the magnet stays
Frames of reference still. Following British physicist
The idea that motion has no Michael Faraday’s discoveries in
meaning without a frame of the 1820s and 1830s, scientists
reference is fundamental to Albert had assumed that there were two
Einstein’s theory of special relativity. different explanations for this If you can’t explain it simply,
The theory is special in that it phenomenon—one for the moving you don’t understand it
concerns itself with the special coil and one for the moving magnet. well enough.
case of objects moving at a Einstein was having none of it. Albert Einstein
constant velocity relative to one In his 1905 paper “On the
another. Physicists call this an Electrodynamics of Moving
inertial frame of reference. As Bodies,” he said it did not matter
pointed out by Isaac Newton, an which was moving—it was their
inertial state is the default for any movement relative to each other
278 SPECIAL RELATIVITY
of light are relative to the frame of Newton thought that time was According to special relativity,
reference of the observer, and absolute, flowing without reference the more quickly a person travels
nothing can travel faster than to anything else at the same through space, the more slowly
light. The consequence of this is steady pace wherever in the he travels through time. This
that two observers moving relative universe it was measured. Ten phenomenon is called time dilation.
to each other will always measure seconds for one observer is the Scientists at CERN’s Large Hadron
the speed of a beam of light as same as ten seconds for another, Collider, where particles are
being the same—even if one is even if one is standing still and smashed together at near light
moving in the same direction as the other is rushing by in the speed velocities, have to take the
the light beam and one is moving fastest available spacecraft. effects of time dilation into account
away from it. In Galilean terms, Newtonian physics states that when interpreting the results
this made little sense. velocity equals distance traveled of their experiments.
divided by the time taken to cover
A matter of time that distance—as an equation: Contracting space
The idea that the speed of light is v = d/t. So, if the speed of light, v, Einstein asked himself a question:
constant for all observers is central always remains the same, whatever if I held a mirror while traveling at
to special relativity. Everything else the other two values, then it follows the speed of light, would I see my
derives from this one deceptively that d and t, distance, or space, reflection? How would light reach
simple fact. Einstein saw that there and time, must change. the mirror if the mirror was moving
was a fundamental connection Time, Einstein argued, passes at light speed? If the speed of light
between time and the velocity of differently in all moving frames is a constant, then, no matter how
light. It was this insight that led of reference, which means that fast he was moving, the light going
him to the completion of his theory. observers in relative motion (in from Einstein to the mirror and
Even if an observer is traveling at different moving reference frames) back again would always be
close to the speed of light, she will will have clocks that run at different traveling at 300,000 km/s because
still record a light beam arriving at rates. Time is relative. As Werner the speed of light does not change.
the speed of light. For this to occur, Heisenberg said of Einstein’s In order for light to reach the
said Einstein, time for the observer discovery, “This was a change in mirror, not only does time have
has to be running more slowly. the very foundation of physics.” to be slowed down, but also the
Inside a spaceship moving at near light speed, an astronaut using a Astronaut’s

clock to measure the speed of light finds that it travels a relatively short view
distance in a short time. For a person watching the light in the spaceship
from Earth, the light appears to travel a longer distance in a longer time.
But both observers measure light moving at the same speed.
Traveling at close to the speed of light
To the observer on Earth,

the beam of light follows a
much longer, diagonal path To the astronaut,
the beam of light
The clock in the stationary follows a vertical
frame of reference ticks more path from the
Observer’s view quickly than the clock in the ceiling to the floor
from Earth moving frame of reference of the spaceship
nearest star would take around
five months in spaceship time.
However, for an observer back on
Earth, the trip would appear to take
more than four years.
Einstein, in the special
theory of relativity, proved Einstein’s equation
that different observers, One of the most famous equations
in different states of motion, in all of physics is derived from
see different realities. special relativity. Einstein published
Leonard Susskind it as a sort of short postscript to his
American physicist special theory. Known sometimes as
the law of mass–energy equivalence,
E = mc2 effectively says that energy Albert Einstein
( E) and mass (m) are two aspects
of the same thing. If an object gains Albert Einstein was born in
or loses energy, it loses or gains an Ulm, Germany, on March 14,
equivalent amount of mass in 1879. Allegedly slow to learn
distance traveled by the beam accordance with the formula. to talk, Einstein declared later
of light has to decrease. At For example, the faster an that “I very rarely think in
approximately 99.5 percent of light object travels, the greater is its words.” At age four or five,
speed the distance is reduced by kinetic energy, and the greater also Albert was fascinated by the
a factor of 10. This shrinkage only is its mass. The speed of light (c) is invisible forces that made a
takes place in the direction of a big number—squared, it is a very compass needle move; he said
motion and will only be apparent big number indeed. This means that it awakened his curiosity
about the world. He began
to an observer who is at rest with that when even a tiny amount
violin lessons at the age of six,
respect to the moving object. The of matter is converted into the
sparking a love of music that
crew of a spaceship traveling at equivalent amount of energy lasted throughout his life. The
close to the speed of light would the yield is colossal, but it also story that Einstein was bad at
not perceive any change in their means that there has to be an math is not true—he was an
spaceship’s length; rather, they immense input of energy to see able student.
would see the observer appear an appreciable increase in mass. ■ In 1901, Einstein acquired
to contract as they streaked by. Swiss citizenship and became
One consequence of the a technical assistant in the
contraction of space is to shorten Swiss Patent Office where,
the time it would take a spacecraft in his free time, he produced
to travel to the stars. Imagine there much of his best work. In
is a cosmic railroad network with 1933, he emigrated to the
tracks stretching from star to US to take up the position of
star. The faster a spacecraft travels, professor of theoretical physics
at Princeton, and was made a
the shorter the track appears to
US citizen in 1940. He died on
become, and therefore the shorter April 18, 1955.
the distance to be covered to reach
its destination. At 99.5 percent Key works
of light speed, the journey to the
1905 “On a Heuristic
Viewpoint Concerning the
Light travels at a constant speed, Production and
so the speed of light from a car’s Transformation of Light”
headlights will not increase when 1905 “On the Electrodynamics
the vehicle accelerates, nor will it of Moving Bodies”
decrease when the car slows down.
280
A UNION OF
SPACE AND TIME
CURVING SPACETIME
T
he world seems to conform cannot be accurately measured
IN CONTEXT to certain geometric rules. It using straight lines and angles, and
is possible to calculate the rely on detailed calculations called
KEY FIGURE
coordinates of a point, for example, non-Euclidean forms of geometry.
Hermann Minkowski
or map out a particular shape. This These can be useful when, for
(1864–1909)
basic understanding of the world, example, calculating distances on
BEFORE using straight lines and angles, is the surface of Earth. In Euclidean
4th century bce Euclid’s work known as Euclidean space, named space, the distance between two
in geometry shows how the after Euclid of Alexandria. points would be calculated as
ancient Greeks tried to apply With the dramatic evolution of though Earth’s surface were flat.
mathematics to physical space. physics in the early 20th century, But in non-Euclidean spaces, the
the need for a new way to curvature of the planet has to be
1637 French philosopher René understand the universe grew. accounted for, using what are
Descartes develops Cartesian German mathematician Hermann known as geodesics (“great arcs”)
coordinates—using algebra to Minkowski realized that much of to get a more accurate value. ■
calculate positions. the work of physicists was more
easily understood when considered
1813 German mathematician in four dimensions. In Minkowski
Carl Friedrich Gauss suggests “spacetime,” three coordinates
the idea of non-Euclidean describe where a point is in space,
spaces, which do not conform and the fourth gives the time at
to Euclidean geometry. which an event happened there. From this moment, space by
Minkowski noted in 1908 that itself and time by itself shall
AFTER sink into the background.
Earth, and the universe, are curved
1915 Albert Einstein develops Hermann Minkowski
and so do not follow straight lines.
his theory of general relativity Similar to how an aircraft follows a
with the help of Hermann curved path over Earth rather than
Minkowski’s work. a straight one, light itself curves
1919 Arthur Eddington sees around the universe. This means
curved spacetime in action by that coordinates in spacetime
noting the changed positions
of stars during an eclipse. See also: Measuring distance 18–19 ■ The language of physics 24–31
■ Measuring time 38–39 ■ Special relativity 276–279
GRAVITY IS
EQUIVALENT TO
ACCELERATION
THE EQUIVALENCE PRINCIPLE
A
lbert Einstein’s theory of In an accelerating spaceship,
IN CONTEXT special relativity describes a dropped ball would behave in exactly
how objects experience the same way as a ball dropped in
KEY FIGURE Earth’s gravitational field.
space and time differently,
Albert Einstein (1879–1955)
depending on their motion. An Ball drops
BEFORE important implication of special to ground
c. 1590 Galileo Galilei relativity is that space and time Spaceship
shows that two falling objects are always linked in a four- accelerating
accelerate at the same speed dimensional continuum called in space
regardless of their mass. spacetime. His later theory of general
relativity describes how spacetime
1609 German astronomer is warped by massive objects. Mass
Johannes Kepler describes and energy are equivalent, and the
what would happen if the warping they cause in spacetime
moon’s orbit were stopped creates the effects of gravity. If a person in a stationary spaceship
and it dropped toward Earth. Einstein based his 1915 general on Earth drops an object, the
relativity theory on the equivalence measured mass of the object will
1687 Isaac Newton’s theory of principle—the idea that inertial be the same as if that person is in
gravitation includes the idea mass and gravitational mass have an accelerating spaceship in space.
of the equivalence principle. the same value. This was first noted Einstein said it is impossible to tell
AFTER by Galileo and Isaac Newton in the whether a person is in a uniform
1964 Scientists drop test 17th century, and then developed gravitational field or accelerating
by Einstein in 1907. When a force through space using this approach.
masses of aluminum and
is applied to an object, the inertial Einstein went on to imagine
gold to prove the equivalence
mass of that object can be worked what a beam of light would look like
principle on Earth. out by measuring its acceleration. for the person inside the spaceship.
1971 American astronaut The gravitational mass of an object He concluded that powerful gravity
David Scott drops a hammer can be calculated by measuring the and extreme acceleration would
and feather on the moon to force of gravity. Both calculations have the same effect—the beam
show that they fall at the same will produce the same number. of light would curve downward. ■
rate, as predicted by Galileo
centuries earlier. See also: Free falling 32–35 ■ Laws of gravity 46–51 ■ Special relativity 276–279
■ Curving spacetime 280 ■ Mass and energy 284–285
282
WHY IS THE
TRAVELING
TWIN YOUNGER?
PARADOXES OF SPECIAL RELATIVITY
A
lbert Einstein’s theories of work, Langevin suggested
IN CONTEXT relativity have prompted the paradox based on a known
scientists to explore how consequence of relativity—
KEY FIGURE
light and other objects behave as time dilation. This means that
Paul Langevin (1872–1946)
they reach the extremities of time, any object moving faster than
BEFORE space, and motion—for example, an observer will be seen by the
1905 Albert Einstein posits when a moving object approaches observer to experience time more
that a moving clock will the speed of light. But they have slowly. The faster the object is
experience less time than also resulted in some interesting moving, the more slowly it will
a stationary clock. thought experiments that appear, be seen to experience time.
at first, to be unsolvable. Langevin wondered what might
1911 Einstein goes on One of the best-known thought happen if there were identical twin
to suggest that a moving experiments is the “twin paradox.” brothers on Earth, and one of them
person will be younger This was first put forward by was sent into space on a very fast
than a stationary person. French physicist Paul Langevin trip to another star and back. The
in 1911. Building on Einstein’s twin on Earth would say that
AFTER the traveler was moving, so the
1971 American physicists traveler would be the younger of
Joseph Hafele and Richard the two when he returned. But the
Keating prove that Einstein’s traveler would argue that the twin
theory of time dilation is on Earth was moving, and that
correct by taking atomic he was stationary. He would
clocks on board airplanes and Returning to Earth, therefore say that the Earth twin
comparing them with atomic having aged by two years, would be younger.
clocks on the ground. [the traveler] will climb out There are two solutions to
of his vehicle and find this apparent paradox. The first
1978 The first GPS satellites our globe aged by at least is that the traveler must change
are also found to experience two hundred years … his velocity in order to return
time dilation. Paul Langevin home, while the twin on Earth
2019 NASA launches an stays at a constant velocity—so
atomic clock designed to the traveler will be younger. The
be used in deep space. other solution is that the traveler
leaves Earth’s reference frame,
whereas the twin on Earth
See also: Measuring time 38–39 ■ From classical to special relativity 274
■ The speed of light 275 ■ Special relativity 276–279 ■ Curving spacetime 280
remains there, meaning that known as length contraction.

the traveler dictates the events However, from the pole vaulter’s
that will happen. frame of reference, the barn is
moving toward her at the speed
The barn-pole paradox of light; she is not moving. So the
In the “barn-pole paradox,” a pole barn would be contracted, and
vaulter runs through a barn at the pole would not fit.
nearly the speed of light, with a The solution is that there are
pole twice the length of the barn. some inconsistencies that enable
While the pole vaulter is inside the pole to fit. From the observer’s
the barn, both barn doors are point of reference, the pole is small Paul Langevin
closed simultaneously, and then enough to fit inside before the barn
opened again. Is it possible for the doors open again to allow the Paul Langevin was born in
pole to fit inside the barn while pole out. From the pole vaulter’s Paris on January 23, 1872. After
the doors are closed? perspective, the doors do not close studying science in the French
From the reference frame of and open simultaneously, but capital, he moved to England
someone watching, as something rather one after the other, allowing to study under J.J. Thomson
approaches the speed of light, it the pole to enter at one end and at Cambridge University’s
appears to shorten, in a process escape from the other. ■ Cavendish Laboratory. He
then returned to the Sorbonne
in Paris to get a doctorate in
physics in 1902. He became
Stationary observer’s Pole vaulter’s frame
professor of physics at the
frame of reference of reference
Collège de France in 1904, and
The pole is then director of the School of
twice as long 1 Physics and Chemistry in
as the barn 1926. He was elected to the
The barn Academy of Sciences in 1934.
contracts Langevin was best known
1 as it gets
closer to
for his work on magnetism,
the speed but also built on the work of
of light Pierre Curie at the end of World
War I to devise a way to find
submarines using echolocation.
He also helped to spread Albert
Einstein’s theories in France.
2 2 In the 1930s, he was arrested
The pole One door by France’s Vichy government
contracts as closes and for opposing fascism, and spent
it approaches opens after most of World War II under
the speed of the other,
light, so it fits so the barn
house arrest. Langevin died on
inside the passes over December 19, 1946, aged 74.
closed barn the pole
Key works
3 3
The space around a moving object contracts as the object 1908 “On the Theory of
nears the speed of light. A stationary observer watching the Brownian Motion”
pole reaching the barn would see it contract, allowing it to fit 1911 “The Evolution of Space
inside. For the pole vaulter, the barn contracts, but as the doors and Time”
do not open and close simultaneously, it can pass over her.
284
EVOLUTION
OF THE STARS
AND LIFE
MASS AND ENERGY
T
he famous equation the energy from a given mass and
IN CONTEXT E = mc2 has taken various work out any changes that have
forms over the years, and occurred in a nuclear reaction.
KEY FIGURE
its impact on physics is hard to
Arthur Eddington
overstate. It was devised by Albert Chain reaction
(1882–1944)
Einstein in 1905 and concerned the Einstein’s equation showed that
BEFORE mass–energy equivalence—that mass and energy were linked in
1905 Albert Einstein first energy ( E) is equal to mass (m) ways that had not been thought
devises the mass–energy multiplied by the square of the possible, and that a small loss of
equivalence, with the initial speed of light (c2). According to mass could be accompanied by a
equation being L/V 2. Einstein’s theory of relativity, the huge release of energy. One of the
equation can be used to calculate major implications of this was in
1916 Einstein titles an article
with the equation E = mc2.
AFTER
1939 German-born physicist The core of a star is subjected to huge
Hans Bethe produces a pressures and temperatures.
detailed analysis of the
hydrogen fusion chain that
powers stars such as the sun.
1942 The world’s first nuclear The deuterium atom Under these
reactor, Chicago Pile-1 (CP-1), fuses with another conditions, hydrogen
is built in Chicago. hydrogen atom to atoms merge together
produce helium. into a deuterium atom.
1945 Trinity, the world’s first
nuclear bomb, is tested by the
US army in New Mexico.
Mass The
2008 The world’s largest lost in the collision gamma rays travel
particle accelerator, CERN’s is converted into energy, to the surface, where
Large Hadron Collider (LHC) which is released as they are emitted as
in Switzerland, goes live. gamma rays. visible light.
See also: Energy and motion 56–57 ■ Light from the atom 196–199 ■ Nuclear
bombs and power 248–251 ■ The speed of light 275 ■ Special relativity 276–279
understanding how stars produce Today, knowledge of how mass can

energy. Until the pioneering work of be turned into energy has allowed
British physicist Arthur Eddington physicists to replicate it in nuclear
in the early 20th century, scientists reactors, which use the process of
were at a loss to explain how stars nuclear fission—the splitting of a
like the sun radiated so brightly. heavy atom into two lighter ones. It
When an unstable (radioactive) also led to the creation of the atomic
atom is hit by another particle, such bomb, in which an unstoppable
as a neutron, it can break apart into chain reaction occurs, releasing
new particles. These can hit other a powerful and deadly amount of
atoms and cause a chain reaction, energy. Particle accelerators such Arthur Eddington
in which some of the mass lost in as the Large Hadron Collider rely
each collision is converted into new on Einstein’s equation to smash Arthur Eddington was born
particles, and the rest is released particles together and create new in 1882 in Westmorland (now
as energy. In 1920, Eddington ones. The more energy there is in Cumbria), UK. He studied in
suggested that certain elements a collision, the greater the mass Manchester and then at
within stars could be undergoing a of the particles that are created. Trinity College, Cambridge,
similar process to produce energy. Physicists are now trying to winning honors for his work.
recreate the process of nuclear From 1906 to 1913, he was
Nuclear reactions fusion, which would produce more chief assistant at the Royal
Eddington proposed that hydrogen energy than nuclear fission but Observatory of Greenwich.
was being turned into helium and requires conditions so extreme that Eddington’s parents were
Quakers, so he was a pacifist
other heavier elements by stars— they are difficult to replicate. It is
during World War I. He made
a process that is now called nuclear hoped that in the coming decades
important contributions to
fusion—and that this could account nuclear fusion could be a viable science from 1914 onward,
for their energy output (the visible source of power on Earth. ■ and was the first to expound
light they produce). Using Einstein’s on Einstein’s relativity theory
equation, he described how the in the English language. In
The sun releases vast amounts of
intense heat and pressure at the energy by turning hydrogen into helium 1919, he traveled to Príncipe,
core of a star could enable nuclear in the process of nuclear fusion. It is off the west coast of Africa,
reactions to occur, destroying mass said to have enough hydrogen to keep to observe a solar eclipse and
and releasing energy. it shining for the next 5 billion years. prove the idea of gravitational
lensing (that large masses
bend light, as predicted in
Einstein’s theory of general
relativity) in the process. He
published articles on gravity,
spacetime, and relativity, and
produced his masterwork on
nuclear fusion in stars in 1926.
He died in 1944, aged 61.
Key works
1923 The Mathematical

Theory of Relativity
1926 The Internal Constitution
of the Stars
286
IN CONTEXT
WHERE
KEY FIGURE
Karl Schwarzschild
(1873–1916)
SPACETIME
BEFORE
1784 John Michell proposes
the idea of “dark stars,”
which trap light with their
intense gravity.
SIMPLY ENDS
1796 French scholar Pierre-
Simon Laplace predicts the
existence of large invisible
objects in the universe.
BLACK HOLES AND WORMHOLES AFTER

1931 Indian–American
astrophysicist Subrahmanyan
Chandrasekhar proposes a
mass limit for the formation
of a black hole.
1971 The first black hole,
Cygnus X-1, is indirectly
discovered in the Milky Way.
2019 A global team of
astronomers reveals the
first image of a black hole.
T
he idea of black holes and
wormholes has been talked
about for centuries, but
only recently have scientists begun
to understand them—and with
them, the wider universe. Today,
scientists are starting to appreciate
just how impressive black holes are,
and have even managed to take a
picture of one—indisputable proof
that they exist.
British clergyman John Michell
was the first to think about black
holes, suggesting in the 1780s that
there might be stars with gravity so
intense that nothing, not even light,
could escape. He called these “dark
stars,” and said that while they
would be essentially invisible, it
See also: Free falling 32–35 ■ Laws of gravity 46–51 ■ Particles and waves 212–215 ■ From classical to special relativity 274
■ Special relativity 276–279 ■ Curving spacetime 280 ■ The equivalence principle 281 ■ Gravitational waves 312–315
Even so, Schwarzschild’s work

The gravitational mass of an object warps spacetime. showed that black holes could
mathematically exist, something
that many scientists had not
thought possible. Astronomers
today use his equations to estimate
If an object is compressed beyond a certain point, it becomes the masses of black holes, albeit not
a black hole. This point is its Schwarzschild radius—the radius very precisely, since their rotation
of the event horizon. and electric charge cannot be
accounted for. Back in the early
20th century, Schwarzschild’s
findings allowed scientists to start
contemplating what might happen
near or even inside a black hole.
The gravity of a black hole, or singularity, warps spacetime to
such an extent that nothing can escape it—not even light. Mass limit
One important factor was working
out how black holes formed,
something set forth in 1931 by
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.
No one knows what happens beyond the boundary, He used Einstein’s theory of special
or event horizon, of a black hole. relativity to show that there is a
mass limit below which a star at
the end of its life will collapse into
a stable, smaller dense star known
should, in theory, be possible to even light could escape, with its as a white dwarf. If the remains of
see their gravitational effects on edge being what is called the event the star’s mass are above this limit,
other objects. horizon. Similar to Michell’s “dark which Chandrasekhar calculated
In 1803, however, British star” idea, this later became known as 1.4 times the mass of the sun,
physician Thomas Young as a “black hole.” it will collapse further into either
demonstrated that light is a wave, Schwarzschild produced an a neutron star or a black hole. ❯❯
rather than a particle, prompting equation that allowed him to
scientists to question whether it calculate the Schwarzschild radius
would be affected by gravity at all. (the radius of the event horizon) for
Michell’s idea was swept aside and any given mass. If an object is
largely forgotten about until 1915, compressed into a volume so dense
when Albert Einstein came up with that it fits within that radius, it will
his general theory of relativity—and warp spacetime to such an extent The final fate of massive stars
suggested that light itself could be that nothing can escape its is to collapse behind an event
bent by the mass of an object. gravitational pull—it will collapse horizon to form a ‘black hole’
into a singularity, or the center of a which will contain
No escape black hole. Schwarzschild, however, a singularity.
The following year, German did not think that a singularity Stephen Hawking
physicist Karl Schwarzschild took could really exist. He saw it as a
Einstein’s idea to its extreme. He somewhat theoretical point where
suggested that if a mass were some property is infinite, which,
condensed enough, it would create in the case of a black hole, is the
a gravitational field from which not density of the matter.
288 BLACK HOLES AND WORMHOLES
Black holes
Matter
Core of star Gravitational joining Matter
force Gas, dust, and accretion spiraling
disintegrated stars disk inward
may swirl around
the black hole in
an accretion disk
Singularity Event horizon

Gravity well Singularity
When a massive star dies, If the core that remains after the The singularity is now so dense
it collapses, unable to resist supernova is still massive (more than that it distorts the spacetime around
the crushing force of its own 1.4 times the mass of the sun), it it so that not even light can escape.
gravity. This causes a supernova keeps shrinking and collapses under This black hole is pictured in two
explosion, and the star’s outer its own weight into a point of infinite dimensions as an infinitely deep
parts are blasted into space. density—a singularity. hole called a gravity well.
In 1939, American physicists like the one Schwarzschild had occur on a microscopic level,
Robert Oppenheimer and Hartland proposed. Three years later, the attempts to draw up larger versions
Snyder put forward a more modern- term “black hole” was born during have so far been unsuccessful.
looking idea of a black hole. They a talk by American physicist John Nonetheless, the idea of them
described how the sort of body Wheeler. He had already come up persists today—and with it, the
Schwarzschild had envisaged with a term to describe theoretical very vague possibility that humans
would be detectable only by its tunnels in spacetime: “wormholes.” could traverse large distances in
gravitational influence. Others had Many physicists were, by now, the universe with ease.
already considered the peculiar considering the idea of wormholes.
physics that would take place The notion of a white hole, in Looking for proof
inside a black hole, including which the event horizon would While theories abounded, no one
Belgian astronomer Georges not stop light from escaping, had yet been able to detect a black
Lemaître in 1933. His “Alice and but rather stop it from entering, hole, let alone a wormhole. But in
Bob” thought experiment supposed progressed into an idea that black 1971, astronomers observed an odd
that if Bob were to witness Alice holes and white holes could be source of X-rays in the Cygnus
falling into a black hole, she would linked. Using exotic matter, which constellation. They suggested
appear to freeze at its edge—the involves negative energy densities these X-rays, dubbed Cygnus X-1,
invisible boundary called the event and negative pressure, it was were the result of a bright blue star
horizon—but she would experience suggested that information could being torn apart by a large and dark
something entirely different as she pass through a wormhole from one object. At last, astronomers had
fell within its bounds. end to the other, perhaps between witnessed their first black hole, not
It would take until 1964 for the a black and a white hole, or even by seeing it directly, but by seeing
next major development to come, two black holes, across vast its effect on a nearby object.
when British physicist Roger distances of space and time. From there, black hole theory
Penrose suggested that if a star In reality, however, the existence soared in popularity. Physicists
imploded with enough force, it of wormholes remains questionable. produced novel ideas about how
would always produce a singularity Although scientists think they may black holes might behave—among
them Stephen Hawking, who superheated dust and gas, which
in 1974 came up with the idea that can be seen even at great distances.
black holes might emit particles Around the supermassive black hole
(now known as Hawking radiation). believed to be at the center of the
He suggested that the strong Milky Way, astronomers have seen
gravity of a black hole could what they think are stars orbiting
produce pairs of both particles and it—the very idea suggested by
antiparticles, something that is Michell back in the 18th century.
thought to happen in the quantum The greatest moment in black
world. While one of the particle– hole theory’s history so far arrived
antiparticle pair would be pulled in April 2019, when astronomers
into the black hole, the other would from an international collaboration
escape, carrying with it information called the Event Horizon Telescope
about the event horizon, the (EHT) revealed the first-ever image Karl Schwarzschild
strange boundary beyond which of a black hole. Using multiple
no mass or light can escape. telescopes around the globe to Born in Frankfurt, Germany,
create a virtual super telescope, in 1873, Karl Schwarzschild
Supermassive black holes they were able to photograph the showed an early talent for
Black holes of different shapes supermassive black hole in a galaxy science, publishing a paper
and sizes were imagined, too. called Messier 87, 53 million light- on the orbits of celestial
Stellar black holes, such as Cygnus years away. The image lived up to objects when he was 16.
X-1, were thought to contain all predictions, with a ring of light He became a professor at
between about 10 and 100 times surrounding a dark center. the University of Göttingen
the mass of the sun squashed into When the universe ends in in 1901, and director of the
an area dozens of miles across. But trillions of years, it is thought that Astrophysical Observatory
at Potsdam in 1909.
it was also thought that black holes black holes will be the only thing to
One of Schwarzschild’s
could merge into a supermassive remain as entropy—the unavailable
main contributions to science
black hole, containing millions or energy in the universe—increases. came in 1916, when he
billions of times the mass of the Finally, they, too, will evaporate. ■ produced the first solution
sun packed into an area millions of Einstein’s equations of
of miles across. gravity from the theory of
In this illustration, the black hole
Nearly every galaxy is thought Cygnus X-1 is pulling material from a general relativity. He showed
to have a supermassive black hole blue companion star toward it. The that objects of a high enough
at its core, possibly surrounded material forms a red and orange disk mass would have an escape
by a swirling accretion disk of that rotates around the black hole. velocity (the velocity needed
to escape its gravitational
pull) higher than the speed
of light. This was the first
step in understanding black
holes, and ultimately led to
the idea of an event horizon.
Schwarzschild died from an
autoimmune disease in 1916,
while serving on the Russian
front in World War I.
Key work
1916 On the Gravitational

Field of a Mass Point after
Einstein’s Theory
290
IN CONTEXT
THE FRONTIER
KEY FIGURES
Henrietta Swan Leavitt
(1868–1921),
OF THE KNOWN
Edwin Hubble (1889–1953)
BEFORE
964 Persian astronomer Abd
UNIVERSE
al-Rahman al-Sufi is the first
person to observe Andromeda,
although he does not realize it
is another galaxy.
DISCOVERING OTHER GALAXIES 1610 Galileo Galilei proposes

that the Milky Way is made of
many stars after observing it
through his telescope.
AFTER
1953 Galaxies close to Earth
are found to be part of a
supercluster, called the Virgo
Cluster, by French astronomer
Gérard de Vaucouleurs.
2016 A study led by American
astrophysicist Christopher
Conselice reveals that the
known universe contains
two trillion galaxies.
A
fter the publication of
Copernicus’s heliocentric
model of the universe in
1543, which placed the sun rather
than Earth at its center, further
attempts to understand the size
and structure of the universe
made little progress. It was nearly
400 years before astrophysicists
realized that not only was the sun
not the center of the universe, as
Copernicus had thought, but it was
not even the center of our galaxy,
the Milky Way.
In the 1920s, the discovery by
Edwin Hubble that the Milky Way
is just one of many galaxies in the
universe marked a significant leap
forward in astronomical knowledge.
See also: The Doppler effect and redshift 188–191 ■ Models of the universe 272–273 ■ The static or expanding
universe 294–295
Their pulse period (period

Cepheid variables (a type Measuring the star’s period
of fluctuation in their
of star) can be used to helps calculate its true
brightness) is related to
measure distances. brightness.
their true brightness.
By measuring how much of

The Milky Way is Some stars are so far from
the star’s light reaches
Earth that they must be
not the only galaxy. outside our Milky Way.
Earth, its distance from
Earth can be calculated.
Key to this breakthrough was a Pickering, who ran the observatory, pulsates in a regularly recurring
new way of measuring distances had asked Leavitt to measure cycle, or period, dependent upon
in space made possible by the work the brightness of the stars on a physical changes within the
of American astronomer Henrietta collection of photographic plates star. Compressed by gravity,
Swan Leavitt in 1908. showing the Magellanic Clouds, the star becomes smaller, more
now known to be small galaxies opaque, and gradually hotter as
Determining distance outside the Milky Way. the light energy trapped inside the
In the early 1900s, establishing a In the course of this work, Leavitt star starts to build. Eventually,
star’s distance from Earth was no discovered a class of very bright the extreme heat causes the gas
easy task. Within the Milky Way, stars called Cepheid variables in the outer layers to expand
distances between objects could whose luminosity fluctuates as and the star becomes more
be measured using parallax, a they pulsate. Each of these stars transparent, allowing the light ❯❯
process that employs basic
trigonometry. By measuring the
Cepheid variable stars pulsate—expand and contract
angles of the sight lines to an object over a regular cycle—resulting in varying temperature and
from both sides of Earth’s orbit brightness. Astronomers can plot their changing brightness
around the sun, for example, over time on a light curve.
astronomers can calculate the
Hottest state Star expands and contracts Coolest Hottest
angle where the two sight lines (exaggerated here) state state
converge and thus the distance
to that object. However, for
distances greater than 100 light
years, and outside the Milky Way,
parallax is too imprecise. Early
20th-century astronomers needed
another method.
BRIGHTNESS
At the time, Leavitt was working

as a “computer,” the name given Period of one
to data processors at Harvard pulsation
College Observatory in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. Edward Charles TIME Light curve of Cepheid variable
292 DISCOVERING OTHER GALAXIES
luminosities had to be due to their
intrinsic brightness and not to how
far they were from Earth.
A new tool
Since the [Cepheid] variables Leavitt published her findings in
are probably at nearly the 1912, creating a chart showing the
same distance from the Earth, periods of 25 Cepheid variables,
their periods are apparently indicating their “true luminosity,”
associated with their actual and how bright they appeared from
emission of light. Earth, their “apparent luminosity.”
Henrietta Swan Leavitt The significance of Leavitt’s
discovery was that once the
distance of one Cepheid variable An image taken by the Hubble Space
had been calculated using parallax, Telescope shows RS Puppis, a Cepheid
the distance of Cepheid variables variable with a phenomenon known as
of comparable pewriod in stars a light echo—when light from the star
beyond the limits of parallax could is reflected from a cosmic dust cloud.
energy to pass through. However, be calculated by comparing the
as the star expands, it also becomes “true luminosity” established by
cooler, and gravitational forces its period with the “apparent Sciences in the US held a debate
eventually outweigh the outward luminosity”—the amount it had on the nature and extent of the
pressure of expansion. At this dimmed by the time its light universe. American astronomers
point, the star becomes smaller reached Earth. Heber Curtis and Harlow Shapley
and the process repeats. Within a year of Leavitt’s argued for and against the
Leavitt noticed that the cycles discovery, Danish astronomer Ejnar existence of other galaxies in what
of the stars varied between two Hertzsprung created a luminosity was known as “the Great Debate”
and sixty days, and the brightest scale of Cepheid variables. These or the “Shapley–Curtis Debate.”
stars spent longer at their stars were designated as “standard Shapley asserted that the Milky
maximum luminosity. Because candles”—benchmarks for working Way was a single galaxy and that
all the stars were in the Magellanic out the cosmic distances of objects. the “spiral nebulae” (spiral-shaped
Clouds, Leavitt knew that any Over the next decade, other concentrations of stars) such as
differences between the stars’ astronomers began using Leavitt’s Andromeda were gas clouds
and Hertzsprung’s work to calculate within our own galaxy, which he
the distance to stars. believed was much larger than
most astronomers thought. He
The Great Debate argued that if Andromeda was a
Using Cepheid variables was not separate galaxy, its distance from
a perfect method for ascertaining Earth would be too great to be
distance—it could not account for acceptable. He also contended that
light-absorbing cosmic dust, which the sun was not at the center of the
distorts apparent luminosity—but Milky Way, but on the outer edges
it led to a fundamental change in our of the Milky Way.
understanding of the universe. In Curtis argued that spiral
1920, the National Academy of nebulae were separate galaxies.
One of his arguments was that
exploding stars (known as novae)
Edwin Hubble uses the 100-inch
(2.5-meter) Hooker telescope at Mount in these nebulae looked similar
Wilson Observatory, California. In 1924, to those in our own galaxy, and
Hubble announced that he had used it there were a much larger number
to see beyond the Milky Way. in some locations—such as
Andromeda—than in others. galaxies, each containing millions
This suggested that more stars to hundreds of billions of stars. It is
existed and hinted at the presence currently estimated that there are
of separate galaxies, which he about two trillion galaxies in the
called “island universes.” At the universe, and that the first was
same time, Curtis placed the sun By the death of Miss Leavitt created just a few hundred million
at the center of our own galaxy. on December 12, 1921, years after the Big Bang, which
The Great Debate is a the observatory lost an occurred 13.8 billion years ago.
testament to how incomplete investigator of the The age of our own Milky Way is
our understanding of the universe highest value. thought to be almost as ancient,
was just 100 years ago, as is Harlow Shapley at around 13.6 billion years old.
Curtis’s incorrect theory about In 1929, Hubble also discovered
the sun’s position in the Milky that the universe appeared to be
Way. (Shapley’s theory that the sun expanding, and that almost all
is on the outer edges of the Milky galaxies are moving away from
Way is close to being correct.) each other, with increasing
velocity as the distances become
Hubble breakthrough and Shapley’s estimates for the greater. One notable exception is
In 1924, American astronomer perceived size of the Milky Way. Andromeda, which is now known
Edwin Hubble settled the Shapley- Curtis was therefore correct. to be moving on a collision course
Curtis Debate by taking some Hubble’s calculations proved that toward our galaxy—at a rate of
measurements using Cepheid not only was the Milky Way much 68 miles (110 km) per second. That
variables. During the debate, larger than thought, but Andromeda is relatively slowly compared to its
Shapley had surmised that the was not a nebula at all, but another distance, but it means that in
Milky Way was about 300,000 galaxy—the Andromeda Galaxy. It about 4.5 billion years, the Milky
light years across, ten times larger was the first discovery of a known Way and Andromeda will collide
than Curtis’s estimated 30,000 galaxy outside our own. and form a single galaxy, which
light years. Hubble, using Cepheid astrophysicists have nicknamed
variables that he had located Expansion and collision Milkomeda. This event will not
in Andromeda, calculated that Hubble’s discovery, made possible be too dramatic, however: even
Andromeda was 900,000 light years by the work of Leavitt, ultimately though the two galaxies will
away (now revised to 2.5 million led to the knowledge that the merge, it is unlikely that any
light years)—far beyond Curtis Milky Way is just one of many two stars will collide. ■
Henrietta Swan Leavitt Born in Lancaster, Massachusetts, group of women known as the
in 1868, Leavitt studied at Oberlin “Harvard computers” whose
College, Ohio, before attending role was to study photographic
the Society for the Collegiate plates of stars. Initially, she was
Instruction of Women (now called unpaid, but she later earned
Radcliffe College) in Cambridge, 30 cents an hour. As part of her
Massachusetts. She developed an work she found 2,400 variable
interest in astronomy after taking stars, and in so doing discovered
a course in the subject. Around Cepheid variables. Leavitt died
the same time, an illness led to of cancer in 1921.
hearing loss, which grew worse
over the course of her life. Key works
After graduating in 1892,
Leavitt worked at the Harvard 1908 1777 variables in the
Observatory, then led by Magellanic Clouds
American astronomer Edward 1912 Periods of 25 Variable Stars
Charles Pickering. She joined a in the Small Magellanic Cloud
294
THE FUTURE
OF THE UNIVERSE
THE STATIC OR EXPANDING UNIVERSE
W
hen Albert Einstein to the mass and energy moving
IN CONTEXT came up with his theory through it. But when he applied
of general relativity these equations to the universe, he
KEY FIGURE
in 1915, there was one problem. found it should be either expanding
Alexander Friedmann
He was adamant that the universe or contracting—neither of which he
(1888–1925)
was static and everlasting, but believed could be true.
BEFORE according to his calculations, this Instead, Einstein believed the
1917 Albert Einstein should mean that the universe universe was everlasting, and
introduces the cosmological would eventually collapse on itself added in his “cosmological
constant to suggest the due to gravity. To get around this member” (now known as the
universe is static. problem, Einstein proposed the cosmological constant). This
idea of a cosmological constant, allowed for a universe that could
AFTER represented by the Greek letter overcome the effects of gravity,
1929 American astronomer lambda (L). This was a measure and, instead of collapsing on itself,
Edwin Hubble proves the of the “vacuum energy” in space. would remain static.
universe is expanding—he Einstein’s general theory of In 1922, Russian mathematician
finds that distant galaxies are relativity laid out a set of “field Alexander Friedmann came to a
moving more rapidly than equations” that showed how the different conclusion. He showed
those closer to us. curvature of spacetime was related that the universe was homogeneous:
1931 Einstein accepts

the theory of an
expanding universe. There are three possible futures for the universe.
1998 Scientists from two
independent projects discover
the universe’s expansion
is accelerating. The universe
The universe is
2013 Dark energy is calculated The universe is open and
static—it will stop
is closed and will continue
to make up 68 percent of the expanding and
will eventually expanding
universe, and is closely linked will never
collapse on itself. forever—this is
to the cosmological constant. contract.
the current theory.
See also: From classical to special relativity 274 ■ Curving spacetime 280
■ Mass and energy 284–285 ■ The Big Bang 296–301 ■ Dark energy 306–307
The shape of the universe
Alexander Friedmann
If the density of the If the universe is If the universe is less
universe is exactly denser than a critical dense than a critical Alexander Friedmann was
the same as a critical value, it is positively value, it is negatively born in St. Petersburg, Russia,
value, it is “flat.” In a flat curved or “closed” and is curved or “open” and in 1888. His father was a
universe, parallel lines finite in mass and extent. therefore infinite. The ballet dancer and his mother
never meet. The 2-D The 2-D analogy is a 2-D analogy is a saddle- a pianist. In 1906, Friedmann
analogy of this model spherical surface where shaped surface where was admitted to the
is a plane (a flat surface). parallel lines converge. parallel lines diverge. St. Petersburg State University
to study mathematics. Here
it was identical wherever you were Although Einstein initially derided he also applied himself to
in the universe and whichever way Friedmann’s ideas in 1923, by the studying quantum theory
you looked, so the universe could following year he had accepted and relativity and earned his
master’s degree in pure and
not be static. All galaxies were them. However, it would be 1931
applied mathematics in 1914.
moving apart from each other, but before he truly accepted that the In 1920, after serving as an
depending on which galaxy you universe was expanding—two aviator and instructor in World
were in, all other galaxies would years after American astronomer War I, Friedmann began
also be moving away from you. Edwin Hubble had produced research based on Einstein’s
Therefore you might think you evidence that the universe was general theory of relativity. He
were at the center of the universe— indeed expanding. Hubble had used Einstein’s field equations
but any other observer in another noted the stretched light—or to develop his own idea of a
galaxy would believe the same redshift—of distant galaxies, dynamic universe, countering
to be true of their position. which could be used to measure Einstein’s belief that the
the distance of faraway objects. universe was static. In 1925,
Models for the universe He found that galaxies that were Friedmann was appointed
As a result of his work, Friedmann more distant were moving faster director of Main Geophysical
came up with three models for the than closer galaxies, proof that Observatory in Leningrad, but
died later that year, at the age
universe, varying according to the the universe itself was expanding.
of just 37, from typhoid fever.
value of the cosmological constant. Following Hubble’s discovery,
One model was that gravity would the idea of a cosmological constant
cause the expansion to slow, was deemed to be an error on
ultimately reversing and ending Einstein’s part. However, in 1998, Key works
in a “Big Crunch.” The second was scientists discovered that the
1922 “On the Curvature
that the universe would eventually universe was expanding at an
of Space”
become static once expansion accelerated rate. The cosmological 1924 “On the Possibility of a
stopped. A third model was that constant would become crucial to World with Constant Negative
the expansion would continue understanding dark energy and lead Curvature of Space”
forever at a faster and faster rate. to the term’s reintroduction. ■
THE COSMIC EGG,
EXPLODING
AT THE MOMENT OF
CREATION
THE BIG BANG
298 THE BIG BANG
IN CONTEXT
Hubble provides
KEY FIGURE Lemaître uses mathematics
experimental evidence that
to show that Einstein’s
Georges Lemaître galaxies are moving
theory of general relativity
(1894–1966) apart, and that those most
means the universe must
distant are moving
BEFORE be expanding.
the fastest.
1610 Johannes Kepler
surmises that the universe is
finite, because the night sky is
dark and not lit by an infinite
number of stars.
Cosmic microwave
1687 Isaac Newton’s laws of The universe must have background radiation
motion explain how things started from a single (CMBR) shows the residual
move through the universe. point—Lemaître’s heat left over after the
primeval atom. Big Bang, suggesting it
1929 Edwin Hubble discovers really did occur.
that all galaxies are moving
away from each other.
F
AFTER
1998 Leading astronomers or more than two millennia, universe. Today’s theory about the
humanity’s greatest minds origins of the cosmos dates from
announce that the expansion
have pondered the origins of the early 1930s, when Belgian
of the universe is accelerating.
the universe and our place within it. astronomer Georges Lemaître first
2003 NASA’s WMAP probe For centuries, many believed that suggested what is now known as
finds evidence for “inflation,” some sort of deity created the the Big Bang.
or the burst of expansion universe, and Earth was at its
just after the Big Bang, by center, with all the stars traveling Lemaître’s cosmic egg
mapping out tiny temperature around it. Few suspected that Earth In 1927, Lemaître had proposed that
fluctuations across the sky. was not even the center of its own the universe was expanding; four
solar system, which itself orbits one years later he developed the idea,
of hundreds of billions of stars in the explaining that the expansion had
Georges Lemaître Born in 1894 in Charleroi, Belgium, developing this idea in 1927.
Georges Lemaître served in World The 1931 theory that Lemaître
War I as an artillery officer, then is best known for—the idea that
entered a seminary and was the universe had expanded from
ordained as a priest in 1923. He a single point—was initially
studied in the UK at the University dismissed, but was finally
of Cambridge’s solar physics proven to be correct shortly
laboratory for a year, and in 1924 before his death in 1966.
joined the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology in the US. By 1928,
he was a professor of astrophysics
at the Catholic University of Key works
Leuven, in Belgium.
Lemaître was familiar with the 1927 “Discussion on the
works of Edwin Hubble and others evolution of the universe”
who discussed an expanding 1931 “The primeval atom
universe, and published work hypothesis”
See also: The Doppler effect and redshift 188–191 ■ Seeing beyond light 202–203 ■ Antimatter 246 ■ Particle accelerators
252–255 ■ Matter–antimatter asymmetry 264 ■ The static or expanding universe 294–295 ■ Dark energy 306–307
begun a finite amount of time ago who, on the radio in 1949, derided
at a single point from what he the competing theory of Hubble
called the “primeval atom” or and Lemaître as being a “big bang.”
“cosmic egg.” Lemaître, a priest, The catchy name stuck to describe
did not think this idea was at odds the ideas widely accepted today.
with his faith; he declared an equal It appeared to me that
interest in seeking truth from the there were two paths to Residual heat
point of view of religion and from truth, and I decided A year earlier, Ukrainian physicist
that of scientific certainty. He had to follow both of them. George Gamow and American
partly derived his theory of an Georges Lemaître cosmologist Ralph Alpher had
expanding universe from Einstein’s published “The origin of chemical
theory of general relativity, but elements” to explain conditions
Einstein dismissed the idea of immediately after an exploding
expansion or contraction for lack primeval atom and the distribution
of evidence of large-scale motion. of particles through the universe.
He had earlier added a term called The paper accurately predicted
the “cosmological constant” to his theory. In this model, the universe cosmic microwave background
field equations for general relativity had always existed. Matter formed radiation (CMBR)—the residual
to ensure that they allowed for a continually in the space between heat left over from the Big Bang.
static universe. other galaxies as they drifted apart, In 1964, the ideas received a huge
In 1929, however, American and the continuous creation of boost when Arno Penzias and Robert
astronomer Edwin Hubble made a matter and energy—at a rate of Wilson detected CMBR by chance
discovery that supported the idea one particle of hydrogen per cubic while attempting to use a large
of an expanding universe. By meter every 300,000 years—kept antenna to conduct radio astronomy.
observing the change in light as the universe in balance. The The presence of CMBR in the
objects moved away from Earth— hydrogen would form into stars and universe all but ruled out the
known as redshift—Hubble could thus give rise to heavier elements, steady-state theory. It pointed
calculate how fast a galaxy moves and then planets, more stars, and to a much hotter period in the
away and thus its distance. All galaxies. The idea was championed universe’s history, where matter
galaxies appeared to move away by British astronomer Fred Hoyle was clumping together to form ❯❯
from Earth, with those furthest away
moving the fastest. Lemaître, it
seemed, was on the right track.
The steady-state model

Despite such evidence, Hubble
and Lemaître still faced stiff
competition from the steady-state
The best proof of the Big Bang

is cosmic microwave background
radiation (CMBR), seen here in an
all-sky image of the minute fluctuations
in the temperature of CMBR, taken by
NASA’s WMAP satellite between 2003
and 2006. The variations from dark blue
(cool) to red (hot) correspond to changes
in density in the early universe.
300 THE BIG BANG
galaxies, suggesting that the Big Bang theory holds that the universe evolved from
universe had not always been an infinitely dense and hot primordial “singularity”
the same. Its evident expansion (Lemaître’s “primeval atom”), which rapidly expanded,
giving off vast amounts of heat and radiation.
and the fact that galaxies were
once much closer together posed a Singularity Inflation ends and First atoms Present day
problem for steady-state theorists, point the first particles and form
antiparticles form
who believed that the density of
matter in the universe is constant
and unvarying over distance and
time. There were later attempts to
reconcile steady-state theory with
CMBR and other discoveries, but to
little avail. The Big Bang theory is
now the preeminent explanation for
how our universe began.
Inflation: First protons
The universe in infancy the universe and neutrons Earliest stars and
suddenly expands form galaxies form
Finding CMBR proved crucial
because it helped develop a picture
of how the universe probably to expand faster than the speed Still fractions of a second after
evolved, although Big Bang theory of light. Guth’s theory, though still the Big Bang, the electromagnetic
cannot describe the exact moment unproven, helps explain why the force and the weak interaction
of its creation 13.8 billion years ago universe cooled and also why it separated and the universe cooled
or what came before it (if anything). appears to be uniform, with matter enough for quarks and gluons to
American physicist Alan Guth and energy evenly distributed. bind together to form composite
was among the cosmologists who Immediately after the Big Bang, particles—protons, neutrons,
developed Big Bang theory in the physicists believe the universe antiprotons, and antineutrons.
latter parts of the 20th century. In was pure energy and the four Within three minutes, proton–
1980, he proposed that cosmic fundamental forces (gravity, the neutron collisions produced the
“inflation” occurred a tiny fraction electromagnetic force, the strong first atomic nuclei, some fusing into
of a second (10 –35 seconds, roughly force, and the weak interaction) helium and lithium. Neutrons were
a trillionth of a trillionth of a were unified. Gravity split away, absorbed in these reactions, but
trillionth of a second) into the life and matter and energy were in an many free protons remained.
of the universe. From its initial, interchangeable “mass–energy”
infinitely hot and dense point of state. At the start of inflation, the Opaque to transparent
“singularity,” the universe began strong nuclear force broke away, The early universe was opaque
and a huge amount of mass–energy and remained so for a few hundred
formed. Photons—particles of light thousand years. Hydrogen nuclei
primed with electromagnetic made up almost three quarters of
energy—dominated the universe. its mass; the rest was helium nuclei
Toward the end of inflation, still with trace amounts of lithium and
The Big Bang was not an trillionths of a second after the Big deuterium nuclei. Around 380,000
explosion in space; it was more Bang, a hot quark–gluon plasma years after the Big Bang, the
like an explosion of space. emerged—a sea of particles and universe had cooled and expanded
antiparticles that continually enough for nuclei to capture free
Tamara Davis
Australian astrophysicist swapped mass for energy in electrons and form the first
collisions of matter and antimatter. hydrogen, helium, deuterium, and
For reasons still unknown, this lithium atoms. Freed from their
process created more matter than interaction with free electrons and
antimatter, and matter became the nuclei, photons could move freely
main component of the universe. through space as radiation, and the
universe left its dark ages and Cosmic microwave
became transparent. CMBR is background “noise”
the residual light from this period.
In 1964, American astronomers
Stars and galaxies evolve Arno Penzias (pictured below,
right) and Robert Wilson (left)
Astronomers now believe that It wasn’t until we exhausted were working at the Holmdel
the first stars formed hundreds of every possible explanation for Horn Antenna at Bell
millions of years after the Big the sound’s origin that we Telephone Laboratories in New
Bang. As the universe became realized we had stumbled Jersey. The large horn-shaped
transparent, dense clumps of upon something big. telescope was designed to
neutral hydrogen gas formed and Arno Penzias pick up incredibly sensitive
grew under the force of gravity as detections of radio waves.
more matter was pulled in from The two astronomers were
areas of lower density. When the looking for neutral hydrogen
clumps of gas reached a high enough (HI)—atomic hydrogen with
temperature for nuclear fusion to one proton and one electron,
occur, the earliest stars appeared. which is abundant in the
Physicists modeling these stars the next generation of stars, which universe but rare on Earth—
believe they were so huge, hot, and contained heavier elements and but were hampered by a
strange background noise.
luminous—30 to 300 times as big were longer-lived, grouped together
Wherever they pointed the
as the sun and millions of times due to gravity, forming the first antenna, the universe sent
brighter—that they prompted galaxies. These galaxies began to back the equivalent of TV
fundamental changes in the grow and evolve, some colliding static. Having first thought
universe. Their ultraviolet light with each other to create more that birds or faulty wiring
re-ionized hydrogen atoms back and more stars within them of all could be the cause, they then
into electrons and protons, and shapes and sizes. The galaxies consulted other astronomers.
when these relatively short-lived then drifted further apart as the They realized they were
stars exploded into supernovae, universe expanded over the next picking up cosmic microwave
after around a million years, they few billion years. There were background radiation (CMBR),
created new heavier elements, such fewer collisions, and the universe residual heat from the Big
as uranium and gold. About one became relatively more stable, Bang, first predicted in 1948.
billion years after the Big Bang, as it is today. Filled with trillions The momentous discovery
of galaxies and spanning billions earned the pair the Nobel
Prize in Physics in 1978.
of light years, it is still expanding.
Some scientists believe that it will
expand forever, until everything
spreads out into nothingness.
An observable timeline
Big Bang theory has enabled
scientists to get a firm grasp
on the origins of our universe,
providing a timeline that stretches
back 13.8 billion years to its very
first moments. Crucially, most of its
predictions are testable. Physicists
The furthest known galaxy, can recreate the conditions after the
as seen by the Hubble space telescope,
was probably formed about 400 million Big Bang took place, while CMBR
years after the Big Bang. It is shown offers direct observation of an era
here as it appeared 13.4 billion that started when the universe
years ago. was a mere 380,000 years old. ■
302
IN CONTEXT
VISIBLE MATTER
KEY FIGURES
Fritz Zwicky (1898–1974),
Vera Rubin (1928–2016)
ALONE IS NOT
BEFORE
17th century Isaac Newton’s
theory of gravity leads some
ENOUGH
to wonder if there are dark
objects in the universe.
1919 British astronomer
Arthur Eddington proves that
DARK MATTER massive objects can warp
spacetime and bend light.
1919 Fritz Zwicky, a maverick
Swiss astronomer, puts
forward the existence of dark
matter for the first time.
AFTER
1980s Astronomers identify
more galaxies believed to be
full of dark matter.
2019 The search for dark
matter continues, with no
definitive results so far.
T
he universe as it seems to
be does not make sense.
Looking at all the visible
matter, galaxies should not exist—
there simply is not enough gravity
to hold them all together. But there
are trillions of galaxies in the
universe, so how can this be? This
question has plagued astronomers
for decades, and the solution is no
less vexing—matter that cannot be
seen or detected, better known as
dark matter.
The idea of invisible matter
in the universe stretches back to
the 17th century, when English
scientist Isaac Newton first put
forward his theory of gravity.
Astronomers around this time
See also: The scientific method 20–23 ■ Laws of gravity 46–51 ■ Models of matter 68–71 ■ Curving spacetime 280
■ Mass and energy 284–285 ■ Discovering other galaxies 290–293 ■ Dark energy 306–307 ■ Gravitational waves 312–315
In 1919, Arthur Eddington set out Other astronomers began to apply

to prove Einstein’s theory. He had the same methods to other galaxies
measured the positions of stars and clusters, and reached the same
earlier that year, before traveling to conclusion. There simply was not
the island of Príncipe, off the west enough matter to hold everything
There has to be a lot of coast of Africa, to view the same together, so either the laws of
mass to make the stars stars during an eclipse. He was gravity were wrong, or there was
orbit so rapidly, but we can’t able to work out that the positions something going on that they just
see it. We call this invisible of the stars had changed slightly could not see. It could not be
mass dark matter. as their light bent around the large something like a dark nebula,
Vera Rubin mass of the sun—an effect now which can be seen by the light
known as gravitational lensing. it absorbs. Rather, it had to be
More than a decade later, in something else entirely.
1933, Fritz Zwicky made a startling
discovery. While studying a cluster Galactic spin
of galaxies called the Coma Cluster, American astronomer Vera Rubin
he calculated that the mass of the was able to shed light on the
began to wonder if there could be galaxies in the cluster must be far problem. In the late 1970s, while
dark objects in the universe that greater than the observable matter working at the Carnegie Institution
reflected no light, but could be in the form of stars in order to hold of Washington, she and her fellow
detected by their gravitational the cluster together. This led him American colleague Kent Ford
effects. This gave rise to the idea of to reason there was unseen matter, were bemused to discover that
black holes, and the idea of a dark or dunkle materie (“dark matter”), the Andromeda Galaxy was not
nebula that absorbed rather than holding the cluster together. rotating as it should be. From ❯❯
reflected light was proposed in
the 19th century.
Real location
It would take until the following of the galaxy
century, however, for a greater
shift in understanding how things
worked. As astronomers began to Light path
study more and more galaxies, they without
started to have more and more gravitational
lensing
questions about how the galaxies
were able to exist in the first place.
Ever since, the hunt has been on for
mysterious dark matter and dark
energy (invisible energy driving the A telescope on
Apparent
expansion of the universe)—and location of Earth receives
astronomers today are getting close. the galaxy distorted images
of the distant
galaxy
Invisible universe
Albert Einstein’s general theory of
Light bends around
relativity was key to understanding the large mass of the
gravity and ultimately dark matter. galaxy cluster
It suggested that light itself could In gravitational lensing, the observed position of a
be bent by the gravitational mass distant galaxy is changed by the effect of the gravity of
of large objects, with such objects a nearer galaxy cluster, which causes light from the distant
actually warping spacetime. galaxy to travel past the galaxy cluster along a curved path.
304 DARK MATTER
was not concentrated at its center,
but was spread across the galaxy.
This would explain why the orbital 26.8%
speed was similar throughout the Ordinary
galaxy—and the best way to 4.9% matter
In a spiral galaxy, the ratio of explain this observation was if Dark
dark-to-light matter is about a there were a halo of dark matter 68.3% matter
factor of ten. That’s probably surrounding the galaxy and holding Dark
a good number for the ratio of it together. Rubin and Ford had, energy
our ignorance-to-knowledge. indirectly, found the first evidence
Vera Rubin for an invisible universe. Visible matter—the atoms that make
up stars and planets—represents a tiny
Hide and seek proportion of the universe. Most of the
Following Rubin and Ford’s universe’s energy density is composed
of invisible dark matter and dark energy.
discovery, astronomers started to
appreciate the scale of what they
were witnessing. In the 1980s, energy,” which makes up about
their observations, they found building on Eddington’s work 68 percent of the mass-energy
that the edges of the galaxy were showing that large masses could content of the universe.
moving at the same speed as the bend spacetime, many instances Together, dark matter and dark
center of the galaxy. Imagine an of gravitational lensing caused by energy make up 95 percent of the
ice skater spinning with her arms dark matter were spotted. From known universe, with visible
outstretched—her hands are these, astronomers calculated that matter—the things that can be
moving faster than her body. If a vast 85 percent of the mass in seen—accounting for just 5
the ice skater then pulls in her the Universe was dark matter. percent. With so much dark matter
arms, she spins faster as her mass In the 1990s, astronomers and dark energy present, it ought
moves toward her center. But noted something unusual about to be easy to find. They are called
this was not the case with the the expansion of the universe: it “dark” for a reason, however—no
Andromeda Galaxy. was accelerating. Gravity, as they direct evidence has yet been found
At first the two astronomers understood it, should have meant to confirm that either dark matter
did not realize the implications of that the expansion would at some or dark energy exists.
what they were seeing. Gradually, point slow down. In order to explain Astronomers are fairly certain
however, Rubin began to work this observation, astronomers came that dark matter is some sort of
out that the mass of the galaxy up with something called “dark particle. They know it interacts
with gravity because they can see
its effect on galaxies on a huge
scale. But strangely, it appears to
have no interactions with regular
The stars at the center of But stars at the edge of a matter; if it had, it would be
a spinning galaxy ought to galaxy move just as fast as
orbit faster than those possible to see these interactions
those at the center. taking place everywhere. Instead,
at the edge.
astronomers think that dark matter
passes straight through ordinary
matter, making it incredibly
difficult to detect.
Most galaxies seem to be That hasn’t stopped scientists
surrounded by a halo of The mass of the galaxy from trying to detect dark matter,
invisible dark matter is not concentrated at the however, and they believe they are
whose gravitational force center of the galaxy. getting closer. One of the candidate
acts on the outer stars. particles for dark matter is called a
weakly interacting massive particle
(WIMP), and while such particles It is not clear if dark matter is a
are incredibly difficult to find, single particle or many, nor if it
it is theoretically not impossible experiences forces like regular
that they exist. matter does. It may also be
composed of a different particle
The great unknown called an axion, which is much
In their search for dark matter, lighter than a WIMP.
scientists have tried building vast Ultimately, there is still much
detectors, filling them with liquid, to learn about dark matter, but it
and burying them underground. has clearly had a major impact on
The idea is that if a dark matter astronomy. Its indirect discovery
particle passed through one of has led astronomers to reason that
these detectors, as seems likely to there is a vast, unseen universe
be happening all the time, it would that simply cannot be measured Vera Rubin
leave a noticeable trace. Examples at the moment, and while that
of such efforts include the Gran might seem daunting, it is Vera Rubin was born in
Sasso National Laboratory in Italy, fascinating, too. The hope in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
and the LZ Dark Matter Experiment coming years is that dark matter in 1928. She developed an
in the US. particles will finally be detected. interest in astronomy at an
Physicists at CERN’s Large Then, in a similar way to how early age and pursued science
Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva, the detection of gravitational at college, despite being told
Switzerland, have also tried to find waves has changed astronomy, by her high school teacher to
dark matter, looking for any dark astronomers will be able to probe choose a different career. She
matter particles that might be dark matter and find out what it was rejected by the Princeton
produced when other particles are really is, and understand with University astrophysics
graduate program as it did
smashed together at very high certainty exactly what effect
not admit women, and instead
speeds. So far, however, no such it has on the universe. Until
enrolled at Cornell University.
evidence has been found, although then, everyone is in the dark. ■ In 1965, Rubin joined the
it is hoped that future upgrades to Carnegie Institution of
the LHC may result in success. Washington, where she opted
While mapping the Andromeda
Today the hunt for dark matter Galaxy’s mass, Vera Rubin and Kent for the uncontroversial field of
continues in earnest, and while Ford realized that the mass was spread mapping the mass of galaxies.
astronomers are fairly certain it across the galaxy, and so must be held She won numerous prizes for
is there, much remains unknown. together by a halo of invisible matter. the discovery that mass was
not concentrated at a galaxy’s
center, hinting at the
existence of dark matter. The
first woman to be allowed to
observe at the Palomar
Observatory, Rubin was an
ardent champion of women
in science. She died in 2016.
Key works
1997 Bright Galaxies, Dark

Matters
2006 “Seeing Dark Matter in
the Andromeda Galaxy”
306
AN UNKNOWN
INGREDIENT
DOMINATES
THE UNIVERSE
DARK ENERGY
U
ntil the early 1990s, no one Riess—set out to measure the rate
IN CONTEXT was really sure what the of expansion of the universe. Using
fate of the universe would powerful telescopes, they observed
KEY FIGURE
be. Some thought it would expand very distant Type 1a supernovae (see
Saul Perlmutter (1959–)
forever, others that it would become flowchart, below). To their surprise,
BEFORE static, and others still that it would they saw that the supernovae were
1917 Albert Einstein proposes collapse into itself. But in 1998, two fainter than they had expected,
a cosmological constant to teams of American astrophysicists— with a more reddish hue, and so
counteract gravity and keep one led by Saul Perlmutter, and the must be further away. The two
the universe static. other by Brian Schmidt and Adam teams reached the same conclusion:
1929 Edwin Hubble finds

proof that the universe
is expanding. If a white dwarf (the remnant core of a star) orbits a giant star,
accreting stellar material, it can cause a Type 1a supernova.
1931 Einstein calls the
cosmological constant his
“greatest blunder.”
AFTER A Type 1a supernova has a By measuring the brightness
2001 Results show that dark known brightness, so and redshift of each supernova,
energy probably makes up a its apparent magnitude its distance and speed
large portion of the energy– (brightness as seen from Earth) relative to Earth can
mass content of the universe. shows how far away it is. be calculated.
2011 Astronomers find indirect

evidence for dark energy in
the cosmic microwave
background (CMB).
The light from distant
2013 Models of dark energy are There is an invisible force supernovae has taken longer
refined, showing it to be very at work, pushing the than expected to reach Earth,
similar to Einstein’s predicted universe apart. so cosmic expansion
cosmological constant. must be accelerating.
See also: The Doppler effect and redshift 188–191 ■ From classical to special relativity 274 ■ Mass and energy 284–285
■The static or expanding universe 294–295 ■ The Big Bang 296–301 ■ Dark matter 302–305 ■ String theory 308–311
Saul Perlmutter Saul Perlmutter was born on of the universe. He had to

September 22, 1959, in Illinois, work hard to earn time on large
and grew up near Philadelphia, telescopes, but his efforts paid
Pennsylvania. He earned a off, and Perlmutter was awarded
bachelor’s degree in physics from the Nobel Prize in Physics in
Harvard University in 1981, and 2011, alongside Brian Schmidt
a doctorate in physics from the and Adam Riess.
University of California, Berkeley,
in 1986. He was made a professor
of physics there in 2004. Key works
In the early 1990s, Perlmutter
became intrigued by the idea 1997 “Discovery of a Supernova
that supernovae could be used Explosion at Half the Age of the
as standard candles (objects of Universe and its Cosmological
known brightness that can be Implications”
used to measure distances across 2002 “The Distant Type Ia
space) to measure the expansion Supernova Rate”
the supernovae were moving at a gravity and pushes matter away. Astronomers now believe that dark
faster rate than would be expected This mysterious force was named energy makes up a huge portion
if gravity were the only force acting “dark energy.” If there were such of the mass–energy content of the
on them, so cosmic expansion must an energy field pervading the universe—about 68 percent—
be accelerating over time. universe, Perlmutter, Schmidt, and which could have big implications.
Riess thought that it could explain It is possible that the universe will
Mysterious force the expansion. continue expanding at an ever-
This discovery went against the Albert Einstein had come up increasing rate, until galaxies are
idea that gravity should eventually with a similar concept in 1917. His moving apart faster than the speed
pull everything together again. It cosmological constant was a value of light, and eventually disappearing
became apparent that the overall that counteracted gravity and from view. Stars in each galaxy
energy content of the universe must allowed the universe to remain might then do the same, followed by
be dominated by something else static. But when the universe was planets, and then matter, leaving
entirely—a constant, invisible force shown to be expanding, Einstein the universe as a dark and endless
that works in the opposite way to declared that the constant was a void trillions of years from now. ■
mistake and dropped it from his
theory of relativity.
Today, dark energy is still
thought to be the most likely cause
of cosmic expansion, although it
has never been observed directly.
If you’re puzzled about In 2011, however, while studying
what dark energy is, you’re the remnants of the Big Bang
in good company. (known as the cosmic microwave
Saul Perlmutter background, or CMB), scientists
suggested that a lack of large-scale
The gravity of this white dwarf is
structure to the universe hinted at pulling material away from a nearby
the existence of dark energy, which giant star. When its mass has reached
would act against gravity to prevent about 1.4 times the current mass of the
large structures of matter forming. sun, a Type 1a supernova will occur.
308
IN CONTEXT
THREADS IN
KEY FIGURE
Leonard Susskind (1940–)
BEFORE
A TAPESTRY
1914 The idea of a fifth
dimension is touted to explain
how gravity works alongside
electromagnetism.
1926 Swedish physicist Oscar
STRING THEORY Klein develops ideas of extra
unobservable dimensions.
1961 Scientists devise a theory
to unify electromagnetism and
the weak nuclear force.
AFTER
1975 Abraham Pais and
Sam Treiman coin the term
“Standard Model.”
Edward Witten develops
M-theory, which includes
11 dimensions.
2012 The Large Hadron Collider
detects the Higgs boson.
P
article physicists use a
theory called the “Standard
Model” to explain the
universe. Developed in the 1960s
and 1970s, this model describes the
fundamental particles and forces
of nature that make up everything
and hold the universe together.
One problem with the Standard
Model, however, is that it does not fit
with Albert Einstein’s theory
of general relativity, which relates
gravity (one of the four forces) to the
structure of space and time, treating
them as a four-dimensional entity
called “spacetime.” The Standard
Model cannot be reconciled with
the curvature of spacetime
according to general relativity.
See also: Laws of gravity 46–51 ■ Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle 220–221 ■ Quantum entanglement 222–223 ■ The
particle zoo and quarks 256–257 ■ Force carriers 258–259 ■ The Higgs boson 262–263 ■ The equivalence principle 281
The Standard String theory Each of these

Model of particle presents elementary particles, according to
physics can explain particles as tiny strands of supersymmetry, has
everything energy, each with its own a corresponding
except gravity. distinctive vibration. superpartner.
This could be the The properties of

But string theory
missing link between one vibrating string
cannot be tested
Einstein’s theory of correspond to those of the
as the energy required
relativity and the graviton, the predicted
to do so is higher than
Standard Model. force carrier
we can create.
of gravity.
Quantum mechanics, on the weak force. Different bosons are known bosons is the force carrier for
other hand, explains how particles responsible for carrying the different gravity, leading scientists to come
interact at the smallest of levels— forces between fermions. The up with a hypothetical, yet-to-be-
on an atomic scale—but cannot Standard Model allows physicists detected particle called the graviton.
account for gravity. Physicists have to describe what is known as the In 1969, in an attempt to explain
tried to unite the two theories, but Higgs field—a field of energy thought the nuclear force, which binds
in vain—the issue remains that to pervade the entire universe. The protons and neutrons within the
the Standard Model is only able interaction of particles within the nuclei of atoms, American physicist
to explain three of the four Higgs field gives them their mass, Leonard Susskind developed the
fundamental forces. and a measurable boson called the idea of string theory. Coincidentally,
Higgs boson is the force carrier for American–Japanese physicist
Particles and forces the Higgs field. But none of the Yoichiro Nambu and Danish ❯❯
In particle physics, atoms consist
of a nucleus made up of protons Quark Each string has its own
and neutrons, surrounded by distinctive vibration
electrons. The electron—and the
Proton
quarks that make up the protons
and neutrons—are among the
Nucleus According to string theory,
12 fermions (matter particles): elementary particles—such
elementary, or fundamental, particles as electrons and the quarks
that are the smallest known that make up protons and
building blocks of the universe. neutrons—are strings or
Fermions are subdivided into filaments of energy. Each
quarks and leptons. Alongside string vibrates at a different
frequency, and the vibrations
these fermions, there are bosons Atom correspond to the speed, spin,
(force carrier particles) and four Neutron and charge of the particles.
forces of nature: electromagnetism, Electron
gravity, the strong force, and the Vibrating string
310 STRING THEORY
physicist Holger Nielsen find that three of the four forces of
independently conceived the same nature, namely electromagnetism,
idea at the same time. According the strong force, and the weak
to string theory, particles—the force, may have existed at the same
building blocks of the universe— energies at the Big Bang—a key
are not pointlike, but rather tiny, To build matter itself from step toward unifying these forces
one-dimensional, vibrating strands geometry—that in a sense in a Grand Unified Theory.
of energy, or strings, which give is what string theory does. Together, string theory and
rise to all forces and matter. When David Gross supersymmetry gave rise to
strings collide, they combine and American theoretical physicist superstring theory, in which all
vibrate together briefly before fermions and bosons and their
separating again. superpartners are the result of
Early models of string theory vibrating strings of energy. In
were problematic, however. the 1980s, American physicist
They explained bosons but not John Schwarz and British physicist
fermions, and required certain Michael Green developed the idea
hypothetical particles, known as When the Higgs boson, predicted that elementary particles such as
tachyons, to travel faster than light. by British physicist Peter Higgs electrons and quarks are outward
They also required many more in 1964, was eventually detected manifestations of “strings” vibrating
dimensions than the familiar four in 2012 by CERN’s Large Hadron on the quantum gravity scale.
of space and time. Collider, it was lighter than In the same way that different
expected. Particle physicists had vibrations of a violin string produce
Supersymmetry thought that its interactions with different notes, properties such as
To get around some of these early Standard Model particles in the mass result from different vibrations
problems, scientists came up with Higgs field, giving them their of the same kind of string. An
the principle of supersymmetry. mass, would make it heavy. But electron is a piece of string that
In essence, this suggests that the that was not the case. The idea of vibrates in a certain way, while a
universe is symmetric, giving each superpartners, particles that could quark is an identical piece of string
of the known particles from the potentially cancel out some of the that vibrates in a different way.
Standard Model an undetected effects of the Higgs field and In the course of their work,
partner, or “superpartner”—so each produce a lighter Higgs boson, Schwarz and Green realized that
fermion, for example, is paired with enabled scientists to address this string theory predicted a massless
a boson, and vice versa. problem. It also allowed them to particle akin to the hypothetical
Leonard Susskind Born in New York City in 1940, theory landscape.” This radical
Leonard Susskind is currently idea was intended to highlight
the Felix Bloch Professor of the large number of universes
Physics at Stanford University in that could possibly exist, forming
California. He earned his PhD a mind-boggling “megaverse”—
from Cornell University, New York, including, perhaps, other
in 1965, before joining Stanford universes with the necessary
University in 1979. conditions for life to exist.
In 1969, Susskind came up Susskind remains highly
with the theory for which he is regarded in the field today.
best known—string theory. His
mathematical work showed
that particle physics could be Key works
explained by vibrating strings at
the smallest level. He developed 2005 The Cosmic Landscape
his idea further in the 1970s, and 2008 The Black Hole War
in 2003, coined the phrase “string 2013 The Theoretical Minimum
Particles unable to devise an experiment
that can test string theory leads
scientists like Glashow to question
whether it belongs in science at all.
Others disagree, and note that
experiments are currently underway
Supersymmetric
to try to look for some of these
particles effects and provide an answer. The
Reflection (superpartners) Super-Kamiokande experiment in
turns particles Japan, for example, could test
into superparticles
aspects of string theory by looking
According to supersymmetry, every boson, or force carrier particle, has a for proton decay—the hypothesized
massive “superpartner” fermion, or matter particle, and every fermion has a massive decay of a proton over extremely
“superpartner” boson. Superstring theory describes superpartners as strings that long timescales—which is
vibrate in higher octaves, like the harmonics of a violin. Some string theorists predict predicted by supersymmetry.
that superpartners may have masses up to 1,000 times greater than that of their
corresponding particles, but no supersymmetric particles have yet been found.
Superstring theory can explain
much of the unknown universe,
such as why the Higgs boson is so
graviton. The existence of such a Key quantum theories such as light and why gravity is so weak,
particle could explain why gravity superposition and entanglement and it may help shed light on the
is so weak compared with the other also dictate that particles can be nature of dark energy and dark
three forces, as gravitons would in two states at once. They must matter. Some scientists even think
leak in and out of the 10 or so produce a gravitational field, which that string theory could provide
dimensions required by string would be consistent with general information about the fate of the
theory. Here, at last, appeared to relativity, but under quantum theory universe, and whether or not it will
be something Einstein had long that does not seem to be the case. continue to expand indefinitely. ■
sought, a theory that could describe If superstring theory can resolve
everything in the universe—a some of these problems, it might be
“Theory of Everything.” the unifying theory physicists have
been looking for. It might even be
A unifying theory possible to test superstring theory
Physicists hunting for an all- by colliding particles together. At
encompassing theory encounter higher energies, scientists think
problems when considering black they could potentially see gravitons
holes, where general relativity dissipating into other dimensions,
theory meets quantum mechanics providing a key piece of evidence
in trying to explain what happens for the theory. But not everyone
when a vast amount of matter is is convinced.
packed into a very small area. Under
general relativity, the core of a black Unraveling the idea
hole, known as its singularity, could Some scientists, such as American
be said to have essentially zero size. physicist Sheldon Glashow, believe
But under quantum mechanics, that the pursuit of string theory is futile
does not hold true because nothing because no one will ever be able to
can be infinitely small. According to prove whether or not the strings it
the uncertainty principle, devised describes truly exist. They involve
by German physicist Werner energies so high (beyond the
The walls of the Super-Kamiokande
Heisenberg in 1927, it is simply not measurement called Planck energy) neutrino observatory in Japan are lined
possible to reach infinitely small that they are impossible for humans with photomultipliers that detect light
levels because a particle can to detect, and may remain so for emitted by neutrinos interacting with
always exist in multiple states. the foreseeable future. Being the water inside the tank.
312
IN CONTEXT
RIPPLES IN
KEY FIGURES
Barry Barish (1936–),
Kip Thorne (1940–)
SPACETIME
BEFORE
1915 Einstein’s theory of
general relativity provides some
evidence for the existence of
gravitational waves.
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES 1974 Scientists indirectly

observe gravitational waves
while studying pulsar stars.
1984 In the US, the Laser
Interferometer Gravitational-
Wave Observatory Project
(LIGO) is set up to detect
gravitational waves.
AFTER
2017 Scientists detect
gravitational waves from
two merging neutron stars.
2034 The LISA gravitational
wave mission is expected to
launch into space in 2034 to
study gravitational waves.
I
n 2016, scientists made an
announcement that promised
to revolutionize astronomy:
in September 2015, a team of
physicists had found the first direct
evidence for gravitational waves,
ripples in spacetime caused by the
merging or collision of two objects.
Up to this point, knowledge of the
universe and how it works was
derived mainly through what could
be seen, in the form of light waves.
Now, scientists had a new way to
probe black holes, stars, and other
wonders of the cosmos.
The idea of gravitational waves
had already existed for more than a
century. In 1905, French physicist
Henri Poincaré initially postulated
See also: Electromagnetic waves 192–195 ■ Seeing beyond light 202–203 ■ From classical to special relativity 274
■ Special relativity 276–279 ■ Curving spacetime 280 ■ Mass and energy 284–285 ■ Black holes and wormholes 286–289
gravitational waves would move

Two massive objects in space, such as two black holes, particles as they passed by, which,
enter orbit around each other. in theory, could be detectable.
Scientists then set about devising
experiments that might be able to
measure these disturbances.
Over time, the two objects Eventually they collide and The earliest efforts at detection
start to spiral in closer and merge into a single object, were unsuccessful, but in 1974,
closer, orbiting faster producing a massive American physicists Russell Hulse
and faster. amount of energy. and Joseph Taylor found the first
indirect evidence for gravitational
waves. They observed a pair of
orbiting neutron stars (small stars
created by the collapse of giant
The waves arrive at Earth, stars), one of which was a pulsar
Most of this energy takes the (a rapidly spinning neutron star).
creating a noticeable form of gravitational waves,
signature in instruments, As they spun around each other
which travel across the and drew closer, the stars were
allowing scientists to work out universe at the speed of light.
where the waves came from. losing energy consistent with the
radiation of gravitational waves.
The discovery took scientists one
step closer to proving the existence
the theory that gravity was He returned to the idea in a new of gravitational waves.
transmitted on a wave, which paper on gravitational waves in
he called l’onde gravifique—the 1918, suggesting they might exist The wave machines
gravitational wave. A decade later, but that there was no way to ever Although such large and fast-moving
Albert Einstein took this idea to measure them. By 1936 he had masses as neutron stars orbiting
another level in his theory of general swung back again and stated the each other produced potentially the
relativity, where he proposed that waves did not exist at all. largest gravitational waves, those
gravity was not a force but rather a waves would produce an incredibly
curvature of spacetime, caused by Searching for the unseeable small effect. But from the late 1970s,
mass, energy, and momentum. It was not until the 1950s that a number of physicists, including
Einstein showed that any physicists started to realize that American–German Rainer Weiss ❯❯
massive object causes spacetime to gravitational waves might well be
bend, which can in turn bend light real. A series of papers underlined
itself. Whenever a mass moves and that general relativity had indeed
changes this distortion, it produces predicted the existence of the
waves that travel out from the mass waves, as a method of transferring
at the speed of light. Any moving energy via gravitational radiation.
mass produces these waves, even The detection of gravitational The wave is assumed
everyday things such as two people waves, however, posed huge to propagate with the
spinning in a circle, although such challenges for scientists. They were speed of light.
waves are too small to be detected. fairly certain that the waves were Henri Poincaré
Despite his theories, Einstein present throughout the universe,
wrestled with his own belief in but they needed to devise an
gravitational waves, noting in 1916 experiment sensitive enough to
that “there are no gravitational detect them. In 1956, British
waves analogous to light waves.” physicist Felix Pirani showed that
314 GRAVITATIONAL WAVES
and Ronald Drever, from Scotland, Mirror
began to suggest that it might
be possible to detect the waves Beam splits
by using laser beams and an into two
instrument called an interferometer.
In 1984, American physicist Kip
Thorne joined with Weiss and Drever Storage tube
Reflected beam
to establish the Laser Interferometer
Gravitational-Wave Observatory Laser beam Partially
(LIGO), with the aim of creating reflective mirror
an experiment that would be able Beam Photo
to detect gravitational waves. splitter detector
In 1994, work began in the
US on two interferometers, one
at Hanford, Washington, and the LIGO uses laser beams to detect gravitational waves. One beam is fired
other at Livingstone, Louisiana. at a partially reflective mirror, which splits the beam down two storage tubes set
Two machines were necessary to at a right angle. Each beam passes through another partially reflective mirror and
bounces between this and a mirror at the end of the tube, with some light from
verify that any detected wave was each tube meeting at the beam splitter. If there are no gravitational waves, the
gravitational rather than a random, beams cancel each other out. If waves are present, they cause interference
local vibration. The research was between the beams, creating flickering light that registers on a photo detector.
led by American physicist Barry
Barish, who became director of
LIGO in 1997 and created the LIGO direction, the tubes were built at and in September 2015 they were
Scientific Collaboration, a team of right angles to each other, in an turned back on, now able to scan
1,000 scientists around the world. L shape. In theory, a wave that a much greater area of space.
This global collaboration gave the distorts spacetime would change Within days, the new, more
project renewed impetus, and by the length of each tube, stretching sensitive instruments had picked
2002 scientists had completed the one and compressing the other up tiny split-second ripples in
two LIGO machines. Each consisted repeatedly until the wave had spacetime, reaching Earth from a
of two steel tubes, 4 ft (1.2 m) wide passed. To measure any minute cataclysmic event somewhere deep
and 2.5 miles (4 km) long, protected change, a laser beam was split in in the universe.
inside a concrete shelter. two, then shone down each tube. Scientists were able to work out
Because gravitational waves Any incoming gravitational wave that these gravitational waves had
interact with space by compressing would cause the beams of light to been produced by two black holes
and stretching it in a perpendicular reflect back at different times, as colliding about 1.3 billion light
spacetime itself is stretched and years from Earth and creating 50
shortened. By measuring this times more power than all the
change, the scientists hoped to stars in the universe at that
work out where the gravitational moment. Known as stellar black
waves were coming from and holes, they each had an estimated
Ladies and gentlemen, we what had caused them. mass of 36 and 29 times the mass
of the sun, forming a new black hole
have detected gravitational
Cataclysmic ripples that was 62 times the sun’s mass.
waves. We did it! Over the next eight years, no The remaining mass—three times
Professor David Reitze waves were recorded, a situation that of the sun—was catapulted
American laser physicist and
LIGO director complicated by the machines into space almost entirely as
picking up interference, such as gravitational waves. By measuring
wind noise and even the sound of the signals received from the two
trains and logging machinery. In LIGO sites—backed up by the
2010, it was decided to completely Virgo interferometer in Italy—
overhaul both LIGO machines, scientists were now able to look
back in time to the origin of the universe, revealing ever more
gravitational waves and study new about its origins and expansion,
portions of the universe that were and even, potentially, its age.
simply inaccessible before. They
could do this by matching the Pushing space boundaries
signals they detected with the Astronomers are also working on
patterns they expected to see new experiments that could probe
from different spacetime events. gravitational waves in even greater
Since the initial detection of detail. One of these is a mission,
gravitational waves in 2015 and the organized by the European Space
breakthrough announcement of Agency (ESA), called LISA (Laser
their discovery in 2016, many more Interferometer Space Antenna).
potential gravitational wave signals LISA, due to launch in 2034, will
have been found. Most have been consist of three spacecraft flown Kip Thorne
black hole mergers, but in 2017, in a triangle, each separated by
LIGO scientists made their first 1.5 million miles (2.5 million km). Born in Utah in 1940, Kip
confirmed detection of gravitational Lasers will be fired between the Thorne graduated in physics
waves produced from the collision craft and the signals produced from the California Institute of
of two neutron stars, around 130 studied for any evidence of Technology (Caltech) in 1962
million years ago. minuscule movement that could be before completing a doctorate
the ripples of gravitational waves. at Princeton University in
Signals from afar LISA’s observations over such 1965. He returned to Caltech
LIGO and Virgo continue to a vast area will allow scientists to in 1967, where he is now
detect gravitational waves on detect gravitational waves from a the Feynman Professor of
an almost weekly basis. The variety of other objects, such as Theoretical Physics, Emeritus.
Thorne’s interest in
equipment is regularly upgraded supermassive black holes, or even
gravitational waves led to the
as lasers become more powerful from the dawn of the universe.
founding of the LIGO project,
and mirrors more stable. Objects The secrets of deepest space which he has supported by
barely the size of a city can be may eventually be unlocked. ■ identifying distant sources
detected across the universe, being of the waves and devising
squashed together in dramatic techniques for extracting
When two neutron stars collide,
events that push the boundaries they release visible gamma rays and information from them. For
of physics. The discovery of invisible gravitational waves, which his work on gravitational
gravitational waves is helping reach Earth at virtually the same waves and LIGO, Thorne
scientists probe the very nature of moment millions of years later. was awarded the Nobel Prize
in Physics in 2017, alongside
collaborators Rainer Weiss
and Barry Barish.
Thorne also lends his
physics knowledge to the arts:
the 2014 film Interstellar was
based on his original concept.
Key works
1973 Gravitation
1994 Black Holes and
Time Warps
2014 The Science of Interstellar
DIRECTO
RY
318
DIRECTORY
A
s Isaac Newton himself memorably put it, in a letter to
Robert Hooke in 1675, “If I have seen further, it is by standing
on the shoulders of Giants.” Ever since its beginnings in
Mesopotamia, in the fourth millennium bce, the story of science has
been one of collaboration and continuity. From natural philosophers to
inventors, experimenters, and, more recently, professional scientists,
far more people have made important contributions to this story than
could possibly be explored in detail across the preceding chapters of
this book. The following directory therefore attempts to offer at least
an outline of some other key figures in our still-unfolding quest to
understand the way our universe works—from the tiniest nucleus
to the furthest galaxy.
much of his career in Cairo, Egypt. a range of fields, including physics.

ARCHIMEDES Little is known of his life but he initially He developed a theory of motion that
c. 287 bce–c. 212 bce worked as a civil engineer, and made recognized the concept later known as
contributions to medicine, philosophy, inertia and the influence of air resistance,
Born in the Greek colony of Syracuse and theology, as well as physics and and also set out an early argument that
on the Mediterranean island of Sicily, astronomy. Al-Haytham was one of the the speed of light must be finite.
Archimedes was one of the most important first proponents of the scientific method, See also: Laws of motion 40–45
engineers, physicists, and mathematicians devising experiments to prove or ■ The speed of light 275
of the ancient world. Little is known of disprove hypotheses. He is best known

his early life, but he may have studied at for his Book of Optics (1021), which
Alexandria, Egypt, in his youth. Although successfully combined various classical JOHANNES KEPLER
later acclaimed for his groundbreaking theories of light with observations of 1571–1630
mathematical proofs, particularly in the anatomy, to explain vision in terms of
field of geometry, in his lifetime he was light rays reflected from objects, gathered German mathematician and astronomer
famous mainly for inventions such as the by the eye, and interpreted by the brain. Johannes Kepler found fame in the
“Archimedes screw” water pump and the See also: The scientific method 20–23 1590s for a theory that attempted to
compound pulley, as well as his famous ■ Reflection and refraction 168–169 link the orbits of the planets to the
discovery—upon which he is said to have ■ Focusing light 170–175 geometry of mathematical “Platonic
shouted “Eureka!”—of Archimedes’ solids.” He became assistant to the
principle, which describes the great Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe,
displacement of water. When the Romans AVICENNA who was compiling the most accurate
invaded Sicily, Archimedes devised a c. 980–1037 catalog of planetary motions so far
number of ingenious weapons to defend attempted. After Tycho’s death in
his city. He was killed by a Roman soldier Ibn Sina (known in the West as 1601, Kepler continued and developed
despite orders that he be captured alive. Avicenna) was a Persian polymath his work. The success of his 1609
See also: The scientific method born near Bukhara, in present-day laws of planetary motion, which placed
20–23 ■ Fluids 76–79 Uzbekistan, into the family of a the planets on elliptical (rather than
well-placed civil servant of the Persian circular) orbits around the sun,
Samanid dynasty. He displayed a completed the “Copernican revolution”
HASAN IBN AL-HAYTHAM talent for learning from his youth, and paved the way for Newton’s
c. 965–1040 absorbing the works of many more general laws of motion and
classical as well as earlier Islamic universal gravitation.
Arabic scholar al-Haytham (sometimes scholars. Although best known today See also: Laws of gravity 46–51
known in the West as Alhazen) was for his hugely influential works on ■ The heavens 270–271
born in Basra, now in Iraq, but spent medicine, he wrote widely across ■ Models of the universe 272–273
DIRECTORY 319
in 1701, he trained as a merchant before telescopes of the time, and began

EVANGELISTA TORRICELLI pursuing his scientific interests and to systematically study the stars,
1608–1647 mixing with many leading thinkers assisted from 1772 by his sister
of the day, including Ole Rømer and Caroline. His discovery of the
Born in the province of Ravenna, Gottfried Leibniz. He lectured on planet Uranus in 1781 won him an
Italy, Torricelli showed his talent chemistry and learned how to make appointment to the role of “King’s
for mathematics at an early age, and delicate glass parts for scientific Astronomer” for Britain’s George III.
was sent to be educated by monks instruments such as thermometers. In 1800, while measuring the properties
at a local abbey. He later traveled to This led in 1724 to his concept of of different colors of visible light,
Rome, where he became secretary a standardized temperature scale he discovered the existence of
and unofficial student to Benedetto (though Fahrenheit’s own choice of infrared radiation.
Castelli, a professor of mathematics “fixed” temperature points was later See also: Electromagnetic waves
and friend of Galileo Galilei. Torricelli revised to make the scale that still 192–195 ■ The heavens 270–271
became a disciple of Galilean science bears his name more accurate). ■ Models of the universe 272–273
and shared many discussions with See also: The scientific method 20–23
Galileo in the months before his death ■ Heat and transfers 80–81
in 1642. The following year, Torricelli PIERRE-SIMON LAPLACE

published a description of the first 1749–1827
mercury barometer—the invention for LAURA BASSI
which he is best known for today. 1711–1778 Growing up in Normandy, France,
See also: The scientific method 20–23 Laplace showed an early talent for
■ Pressure 36 ■ Fluids 76–79 The daughter of a successful lawyer mathematics. He entered the university
in Bologna, Italy, Bassi benefited at Caen at the age of 16, and went on
from a privately tutored education, in to become a professor at the Paris
GUILLAUME AMONTONS which she showed an early interest Military School. Throughout a long
1663–1705 in physics. In her teens, she became career he not only produced important
fascinated by the still-controversial work in pure mathematics, but also
Paris-born Guillaume Amontons theories of Isaac Newton. After applied it to areas ranging from the
was the son of a lawyer. He devoted receiving a doctorate in philosophy prediction of tides and the shape of
himself to science after losing his at the age of 20, she became the first Earth to the stability of planetary
hearing in childhood. Largely self- woman to hold a university chair in orbits and the history of the solar
taught, he was a skilled engineer and the study of science. Working at the system. He was the first to suggest
inventor, devising improvements to University of Bologna, she met and that our solar system formed from
various scientific instruments. While married a fellow lecturer, Giuseppe a collapsing cloud of gas and dust,
investigating the properties of gases, Veratti, and the pair worked closely and was also the first to put the
he discovered the relationships throughout the rest of their careers. objects we now call black holes
between temperature, pressure, Bassi devised many advanced on a mathematical footing.
and volume, though he was unable experiments to demonstrate the See also: Laws of gravity 46–51
to quantify the precise equations accuracy of Newtonian physics and ■ Models of the universe 272–273
of the later “gas laws.” He is best wrote widely on mechanics and ■ Black holes and wormholes 286–289
remembered for his laws of friction, hydraulics. In 1776, she was appointed
which describe the forces of static as the university’s professor of
and sliding friction affecting bodies experimental physics. SOPHIE GERMAIN
whose surfaces are in contact with See also: Laws of motion 40–45 1776–1831
each other. ■ Laws of gravity 46–51
See also: Energy and motion 56–57 Born to a wealthy Parisian silk
■ The gas laws 82–85 ■ Entropy and the merchant, Germain had to fight the
second law of thermodynamics 94–99 WILLIAM HERSCHEL prejudices of her parents in order to
1738–1822 follow her interest in mathematics.
Initially self-taught, from 1794 she
DANIEL GABRIEL FAHRENHEIT William Herschel was a German-born obtained lecture notes from the
1686–1736 astronomer who moved to England École Polytechnique, and had private
at the age of 19. He read widely on tuition from Joseph-Louis Lagrange.
Born in Danzig (now Gdansk in acoustics and optics, and a permanent Later, she also corresponded with
Poland) to a German merchant family, musical appointment in Bath, from 1766, Europe’s leading mathematicians.
Fahrenheit spent most of his working allowed him to pursue these interests Although best known for her work
life in the Netherlands. Orphaned in earnest. He built the finest reflecting in mathematics, she also made
320 DIRECTORY
important contributions to the physics and made key contributions to the that uranium compounds emitted rays
of elasticity when she won the Paris design of the first transatlantic telegraph even if they were not phosphorescent.
Academy’s competition (inspired by cable, which was being planned in Becquerel was the first person to
the acoustic experiments of Ernst the 1850s. The project’s eventual discover the existence of “radioactive”
Chladni) to mathematically describe success in 1866 led to public acclaim, materials, for which he shared the
the vibration of elastic surfaces. a knighthood, and eventually elevation 1903 Nobel Prize with Marie and
See also: Stretching and squeezing to the peerage. Pierre Curie.
72–75 ■ Music 164–167 See also: Heat and transfers 80–81 See also: Polarization 184–187
■ Internal energy and the first law ■ Nuclear rays 238–239
of thermodynamics 86–89 ■ The nucleus 240–241
JOSEPH VON FRAUNHOFER ■ Heat engines 90–93
1787–1826
NIKOLA TESLA
Apprenticed to a glassmaker in ERNST MACH 1856–1943
Germany after being orphaned at 1838–1916
the age of 11, the young Fraunhofer A Serbian–American physicist
saw his life transformed in 1801 after Born and raised in Moravia (now and inventor, Nikola Tesla was
his master’s workshop collapsed and he part of the Czech Republic), Austrian a hugely important figure in the
was pulled from the rubble by a rescue philosopher and physicist Mach studied early establishment of widespread
party of local dignitaries. The Prince physics and medicine at the University electrical power. After proving his
Elector of Bavaria and other benefactors of Vienna. Initially interested in engineering talent in Hungary, he
encouraged his academic leanings the Doppler effect in both optics was employed by Thomas Edison’s
and ultimately enrolled him in a and acoustics, he was encouraged companies in Paris and later in
glassmaking institute, where he by the invention of Schlieren New York, before quitting to market
was able to pursue his studies. photography (a method of imaging his own inventions independently.
Fraunhofer’s discoveries allowed otherwise-invisible shock waves) to One of these, an induction motor that
Bavaria to become the leading investigate the dynamics of fluids could be powered by an alternating
center of glass manufacturing for and the shock waves formed around current (AC) system, proved hugely
scientific instruments. His inventions supersonic objects. Although best important to the widespread adoption
include diffraction grating, for known for this work (and the “Mach of AC. Tesla’s many other inventions
dispersing light of different colors, number” measurement of speeds (some of them ahead of their time)
and the spectroscope, for measuring relative to the speed of sound), he included wireless lighting and power,
the precise positions of different also made important contributions radio-controlled vehicles, bladeless
features in a spectrum. to physiology and psychology. turbines, and improvements to the
See also: Diffraction and interference See also: Energy and motion 56–57 AC system itself.
180–183 ■ The Doppler effect and ■ Fluids 76–79 ■ The development of See also: Electric current and
redshift 188–191 ■ Light from the statistical mechanics 104–111 resistance 130–133 ■ The motor effect
atom 196–199 136–137 ■ Induction and the generator
effect 138–141
HENRI BECQUEREL
WILLIAM THOMSON, 1852–1908
LORD KELVIN J.J. THOMSON
1824–1907 The third in a family of wealthy 1856–1940
Parisian physicists, which would
Belfast-born William Thomson was go on to include his son Jean, After demonstrating an unusual talent
one of the most important figures in Becquerel pursued joint careers in for science at an early age, Joseph
19th-century physics. After studying engineering and physics. His work John Thomson, who was born in
at the universities of Glasgow and involved studies of subjects such Manchester, UK, was admitted to
Cambridge, UK, the talented Thomson as the plane polarization of light, study at Owens College (now the
returned to Glasgow as a professor geomagnetism, and phosphorescence. University of Manchester) at the age
at the age of just 22. His interests were In 1896, news of Wilhelm Röntgen’s of just 14. From there he moved on to
wide-ranging—he helped establish discovery of X-rays inspired Becquerel the University of Cambridge, where he
the science of thermodynamics, to investigate whether phosphorescent distinguished himself in mathematics
calculated the great age of Earth, materials, such as certain uranium before being appointed as Cavendish
and investigated the possible fate salts, produced similar rays. He soon Professor of Physics in 1884. He is
of the universe itself. He found wider detected some kind of emission from chiefly known today for his discovery
fame, however, as an electrical engineer the salts, but further tests showed of the electron in 1897, which he
DIRECTORY 321
identified by careful analysis of the

properties of recently discovered EMMY NOETHER LAWRENCE BRAGG
“cathode rays.” A few months after the 1882–1935 1890–1971
discovery, he was able to show that
the particles within the rays could German mathematician Noether As the son of William Henry Bragg
be deflected in electric fields, and showed a gift for mathematics and logic (1862–1942), professor of physics
to calculate the ratio between their at an early age and went on to earn a at the University of Adelaide in
mass and electric charge. doctorate at the University of Erlangen, Australia, Lawrence Bragg took an
See also: Atomic theory 236–237 Bavaria, Germany, despite policies early interest in the subject. After the
■ Subatomic particles 242–243 discriminating against female students. family moved to the UK for William
In 1915, the mathematicians David to take a chair at the University of
Hilbert and Felix Klein invited her Leeds, Lawrence enrolled at the
ANNIE JUMP CANNON to their prestigious department at the University of Cambridge. It was
1863–1941 University of Göttingen to work on here, as a postgraduate student in
interpreting Einstein’s theory of 1912, that he came up with an idea
The eldest daughter of a US senator relativity. Here, Noether went on to for settling the long-running debate
for Delaware, Jump Cannon learned make huge contributions to the about the nature of X-rays. He reasoned
about the stars at an early age from foundations of modern mathematics. that if X-rays were electromagnetic
her mother, who subsequently However, in physics she is best known waves rather than particles, they
encouraged her interest in science. for a proof, published in 1918, that the should produce interference patterns
She flourished in her studies, despite conservation of certain properties (such due to diffraction as they passed
a bout of scarlet fever that left her as momentum and energy) is linked through crystals. Father and son
almost entirely deaf. She joined the to the underlying symmetry of systems developed an experiment to test
staff of Harvard College Observatory and the physical laws that govern them. the hypothesis, not only proving that
in 1896, to work on an ambitious Noether’s theorem and its ideas about X-rays are indeed waves, but also
photographic catalog of stellar symmetry underpin much of modern pioneering a new technique for
spectra. Here, she manually classified theoretical physics. studying the structure of matter.
some 350,000 stars, developing the See also: The conservation of energy 55 See also: Diffraction and interference
classification system that is still ■ Force carriers 258–259 ■ String theory 180–183 ■ Electromagnetic waves 192–195
widely used today and publishing 308–311
the catalogs that would eventually
reveal stellar composition. ARTHUR HOLLY COMPTON
See also: Diffraction and interference HANS GEIGER 1892–1962
180–183 ■ Light from the atom 196–199 1882–1945
■ Energy quanta 208–211 Born into an academic family in
Geiger was a German physicist who Wooster, Ohio, Compton was the
studied physics and mathematics at youngest of three brothers, all of
ROBERT MILLIKAN the University of Erlangen in Bavaria, whom obtained PhDs from
1868–1953 Germany, earning his doctorate and Princeton University. After becoming
receiving a fellowship at the University interested in how X-rays could reveal
Robert Millikan was born in Illinois of Manchester, UK, in 1906. From 1907, the internal structure of atoms, he
and studied classics at Oberlin he worked under Ernest Rutherford at became head of the physics department
College in Ohio, before being diverted the university. Geiger had previously of Washington University in St. Louis,
into physics by a suggestion from his studied electrical discharge through in 1920. It was here in 1923 that his
professor of Greek. He went on to earn gases, and the two men formulated a experiments led to the discovery of
a doctorate from Columbia University method of harnessing this process to “Compton scattering”—the transfer
and began work at the University of detect otherwise-invisible radioactive of energy from X-rays to electrons that
Chicago. It was here in 1909 that he particles. In 1908, under Rutherford’s could only be explained if the X-rays
and graduate student Harvey Fletcher direction, Geiger and his colleague had particle-like, as well as wavelike,
devised an ingenious experiment to Ernest Marsden carried out the famous properties. The idea of a particle-like
measure the charge on the electron “Geiger–Marsden experiment”—showing aspect to electromagnetic radiation
for the first time. This fundamental how a few radioactive alpha particles fired had been proposed by both Planck
constant of nature paved the way at thin gold foil bounce back toward the and Einstein, but Compton’s discovery
for the accurate calculation of many source, and thereby demonstrating the was the first incontrovertible proof.
other important physical constants. existence of the atomic nucleus. See also: Electromagnetic waves
See also: Atomic theory 236–237 See also: Atomic theory 236–237 192–195 ■ Energy quanta 208–211
■ Subatomic particles 242–243 ■ The nucleus 240–241 ■ Particles and waves 212–215
322 DIRECTORY
where he became fascinated by absorbing pairs of photons (later

IRÈNE JOLIOT-CURIE quantum physics. In the 1920s, demonstrated in 1961). In 1930, she
1897–1956 collaboration with Western colleagues married and moved to the US with
led to successes such as his description her American chemist husband, but
The daughter of Marie and Pierre Curie, of the mechanism behind alpha found it difficult to obtain an academic
Irène showed a talent for mathematics decay and radioactive “half-life.” position. From 1939, she worked at
from an early age. After working as a In 1933 he defected from the Columbia University, where she became
radiographer during World War I, she increasingly oppressive Soviet Union, involved in the separation of uranium
completed her degree and continued her eventually settling in Washington, isotopes needed for the atomic bomb
studies at the Radium Institute founded by D.C. From the late 1930s, Gamow during World War II. In the late 1940s,
her parents, where she met her husband- renewed an early interest in cosmology, at the University of Chicago, she
to-be, chemist Frédéric Joliot. Working and in 1948, he and Ralph Alpher developed the “nuclear shell model,”
together, they were the first to measure outlined what is now called “Big Bang explaining why atomic nuclei with
the mass of the neutron in 1933. They nucleosynthesis”—the mechanism by certain numbers of nucleons (protons
also studied what happened when which a vast burst of energy gave rise and neutrons) are particularly stable.
lightweight elements were bombarded with to the raw elements of the early universe See also: Nuclear rays 238–239
radioactive alpha particles (helium nuclei), in the correct proportions. ■ The nucleus 240–241 ■ Nuclear
and discovered that the process created See also: Nuclear rays 238–239 bombs and power 248–251
materials that were themselves radioactive. ■ The particle zoo and quarks 256–257
The Joliot-Curies had successfully ■ The static or expanding universe
created artificial radioactive isotopes, an 294–295 ■ The Big Bang 296–301 DOROTHY CROWFOOT HODGKIN
achievement for which they were awarded 1910–1994
the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
See also: Nuclear rays 238–239 J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER After learning Latin specifically to pass
■ The nucleus 240–241 ■ Particle
1904–1967 the entrance exam, Hodgkin studied
accelerators 252–255 at Somerville College, Oxford, before
New York–born Oppenheimer’s genius moving to Cambridge to carry out work
began to flourish during a postgraduate on X-ray crystallography. During her
LEO SZILARD period at the University of Göttingen, doctorate, she pioneered methods of
1898–1964 Germany, in 1926, where he worked with using X-rays to analyze the structure
Max Born and met many other leading of biological protein molecules.
Born into a Jewish family in Budapest, figures in quantum physics. In 1942, Returning to Somerville, she continued
Hungary, Szilard showed early talent by Oppenheimer was recruited to work on her research and refined her techniques
winning a national prize in mathematics calculations for the Manhattan Project, to work on increasingly complex
at the age of 16. He finished his education to develop an atomic bomb in the US. molecules, including steroids and
and settled in Germany, before fleeing to A few months later, he was chosen to penicillin (both in 1945), vitamin B12
the UK with the rise of the Nazi party. head the laboratory where the bomb (in 1956, for which she was awarded
Here, he cofounded an organization to would be built. After leading the project the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964),
help refugee scholars, and formulated to its conclusion at the end of World War and insulin (finally completed in 1969).
the idea of the nuclear chain reaction— II, when atomic bombs were dropped See also: Diffraction and interference
a process that harnesses a cascade of on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan 180–183 ■ Electromagnetic waves
neutron particles to release energy from with devastating results, Oppenheimer 192–195
atoms. After emigrating to the United became an outspoken critic of
States in 1938, he worked with others to nuclear proliferation.
make the chain reaction a reality as part See also: The nucleus 240–241 SUBRAHMANYAN
of the Manhattan Project. ■ Nuclear bombs and power 248–251 CHANDRASEKHAR
See also: Nuclear rays 238–239 1910–1995
■ The nucleus 240–241 ■ Nuclear
bombs and power 248–251 MARIA GOEPPERT MAYER Born in Lahore (which was then
1906–1972 part of India but is now in Pakistan),
Chandrasekhar obtained his first
GEORGE GAMOW Born into an academic family in degree in Madras (now Chennai) and
1904–1968 Katowice (now in Poland), Goeppert continued his studies at the University of
studied mathematics and then physics Cambridge from 1930. His most famous
Gamow studied physics in his home at the University of Göttingen in work was on the physics of superdense
city Odessa (then part of the USSR, but Germany. Her 1930 doctoral thesis stars such as white dwarfs. He showed
now in Ukraine), and later in Leningrad, predicted the phenomenon of atoms that in stars with more than 1.44 times
DIRECTORY 323
the mass of the sun, internal pressure some more controversial views, gravity. Hawking also became renowned
would be unable to resist the inward including his nonacceptance of as a science communicator after the
pull of gravity—leading to a catastrophic the Big Bang theory. 1988 publication of his book A Brief
collapse (the origin of neutron stars and See also: Nuclear fusion in stars 265 History of Time.
black holes). In 1936, he moved to the ■ The static or expanding universe See also: Black holes and wormholes
University of Chicago, becoming a 294–295 ■ The Big Bang 296–301 286–289 ■ The Big Bang 296–301
naturalized US citizen in 1953. ■ String theory 308–311
See also: Quantum numbers 216–217

■ Subatomic particles 242–243 SUMIO IIJIMA
■ Black holes and wormholes 286–289
1939– ALAN GUTH
1947–
Born in Saitama Prefecture, Japan,
RUBY PAYNE-SCOTT Iijima studied electrical engineering Initially studying particle physics,
1912–1981 and solid-state physics. In the 1970s, Guth changed the focus of his work
he used electron microscopy to study after attending lectures on cosmology
Australian radio astronomer Ruby crystalline materials at Arizona State at Cornell University in 1978–1979.
Payne-Scott was born in Grafton, New University, and continued to research He proposed a solution to some
South Wales, and studied sciences at the structures of very fine solid particles, of the big unanswered questions
the University of Sydney, graduating in such as the newly discovered “fullerenes” about the universe, by introducing
1933. After early research into the effect (balls of 60 carbon atoms), on his return the idea of a brief moment of violent
of magnetic fields on living organisms, to Japan in the 1980s. From 1987, he “cosmic inflation,” which blew up a
she became interested in radio waves, worked in the research division of small part of the infant universe to
leading to her work at the Australian electronics giant NEC, and it was dominate over all the rest, just a fraction
government’s Radiophysics Laboratory here, in 1991, that he discovered and of a second after the Big Bang itself.
on radar technology during World identified another form of carbon, Inflation offers explanations for questions
War II. In 1945, she coauthored the cylindrical structures of immense such as why the universe around us
first scientific report linking sunspot strength, now known as nanotubes. seems so uniform. Others have taken
numbers to solar radio emissions. She The potential applications of this new the idea as a springboard for suggesting
and her coauthors later established material have helped to spur a wave our particular “bubble” is one of many
an observatory that pioneered ways of of research in nanotechnology. in an “inflationary multiverse.”
pinpointing radio sources on the sun, See also: Models of matter 68–71 See also: Matter–antimatter asymmetry
conclusively linking the radio bursts ■ Nanoelectronics 158 ■ Atomic theory 264 ■ The static or expanding universe
to sunspot activity. 236–237 294–295 ■ The Big Bang 296–301
See also: Electromagnetic waves
192–195 ■ Seeing beyond light 202–203
STEPHEN HAWKING FABIOLA GIANOTTI
1942–2018 1960–
FRED HOYLE
1915–2001 Perhaps the most famous scientist of After earning a PhD in experimental
modern times, Hawking was diagnosed particle physics at the University of
Hoyle was born in Yorkshire, UK, and with motor neuron disease in 1963, Milan, Gianotti joined CERN (the
read mathematics at the University while studying for his doctorate in European Organization for Nuclear
of Cambridge before working on the cosmology at the University of Research) where she was involved
development of radar during World War II. Cambridge. His doctoral thesis in 1966 in the research and design of several
Discussions with other scientists on the demonstrated that the Big Bang theory, experiments using the organization’s
project fired an interest in cosmology, in which the universe developed from various particle accelerators. Most
while trips to the US offered insight an infinitely hot, dense point called a significantly, she was project leader
into the latest research in astronomy singularity, was consistent with general on the huge ATLAS experiment
and nuclear physics. Years of work relativity (undermining one of the last at the Large Hadron Collider, leading
led in 1954 to his theory of supernova major objections to the theory). Hawking the data analysis that was able to
nucleosynthesis, explaining how spent his early career investigating confirm the existence of the Higgs
heavy elements are produced inside black holes (another type of singularity), boson, the final missing element
heavyweight stars and scattered and in 1974 showed that they should in the Standard Model of particle
across the universe when they emit a form of radiation. His later work physics, in 2012.
explode. Hoyle became famous addressed questions about the evolution See also: Particle accelerators 252–255
as both an author and a popular of the universe, the nature of time, and ■ The particle zoo and quarks 256–257
scientist, although he espoused the unification of quantum theory with ■ The Higgs boson 262–263
324
GLOSSARY
In this glossary, terms defined atom was thought to be the smallest Constant A quantity in a
within another entry are identified part of matter, but many subatomic mathematical expression that
with italic type. particles are now known. does not vary—often symbolized
by a letter such as a, b, or c.
Absolute zero The lowest possible Beta decay A form of radioactive
temperature: 0K or –459.67°F decay in which an atomic nucleus Cosmic microwave
(–273.15°C). gives off beta particles (electrons background (CMB) Faint
or positrons). microwave radiation that is
Acceleration The rate of change of detectable from all directions.
velocity. Acceleration is caused by a Big Bang The event with The CMB is the oldest radiation
force that results in a change in an which the universe is thought to in the universe, emitted when
object’s direction and/or speed. have begun, around 13.8 billion the universe was 380,000 years
years ago, exploding outward old. Its existence was predicted
Air resistance The force that from a singularity. by the Big Bang theory, and it
resists the movement of an object was first detected in 1964.
through the air. Blackbody A theoretical object
that absorbs all radiation that falls Cosmic rays Highly energetic
Alpha particle A particle made on it, radiates energy according to particles, such as electrons and
of two neutrons and two protons, its temperature, and is the most protons, that travel through space
which is emitted during a form efficient emitter of radiation. at close to the speed of light.
of radioactive decay called
alpha decay. Black hole An object in space that Cosmological constant A term
is so dense that light cannot escape that Albert Einstein added to his
Alternating current (AC) An its gravitational field. general relativity equations, which
electric current whose direction is used to model the dark energy
reverses at regular intervals. See Bosons Subatomic particles that that is accelerating the expansion
also Direct current (DC). exchange forces between other of the universe.
particles and provide particles
Angular momentum A measure with mass. Dark energy A poorly understood
of the rotation of an object, which force that acts in the opposite
takes into account its mass, shape, Circuit The path around which an direction to gravity, causing the
and spin speed. electric current can flow. universe to expand. About three-
quarters of the mass–energy of
Antimatter Particles and atoms Classical mechanics A set the universe is dark energy.
that are made of antiparticles. of laws describing the motion of
bodies under the action of forces. Dark matter Invisible matter
Antiparticle A particle that is the that can only be detected by its
same as a normal particle except Coefficient A number or expression, gravitational effect on visible
that it has an opposite electric usually a constant, that is placed matter. Dark matter holds
charge. Every particle has an before another number and galaxies together.
equivalent antiparticle. multiplies it.
Diffraction The bending of
Atom The smallest part of an Conductor A substance through waves around obstacles and
element that has the chemical which heat or electric current spreading out of waves past
properties of that element. An flows easily. small openings.
GLOSSARY 325
Direct current (DC) An Element A substance that is inversely proportional to the

electric current that flows in cannot be broken down into other square of the distance from
one direction only. See also substances by chemical reactions. the source of gravity.
Alternating current (AC).
Energy The capacity of an object Force A push or a pull, which moves
Doppler effect The change in or system to do work. Energy or changes the shape of an object.
frequency of a wave (such as a light can exist in many forms, such as
or sound wave) experienced by an potential energy (for example, the Fraunhofer lines Dark absorption
observer in relative motion to the energy stored in a spring) and lines found in the spectrum of the
wave’s source. kinetic energy (movement). It sun, first identified by German
can change from one form to physicist Joseph von Fraunhofer.
Elastic collision A collision in another, but can never be created
which no kinetic energy is lost. or destroyed. Frequency The number of waves
that pass a point every second.
Electric charge A property Entanglement In quantum
of subatomic particles that physics, the linking between Friction A force that resists or
causes them to attract or repel particles such that a change in one stops the movement of objects that
one another. affects the other no matter how are in contact with one another.
far apart in space they may be.
Electric current A flow of Fundamental forces The four
objects with electric charge. Entropy A measure of the disorder forces that determine how matter
of a system, based on the number of behaves. The fundamental forces
Electromagnetic force One of the specific ways a particular system are the electromagnetic force,
four fundamental forces of nature. may be arranged. gravity, the strong nuclear force,
It involves the transfer of photons and the weak nuclear force.
between particles. Event horizon A boundary
surrounding a black hole within Galaxy A large collection of stars
Electromagnetic radiation which the gravitational pull of the and clouds of gas and dust that is
A form of energy that moves black hole is so strong that light held together by gravity.
through space. It has both an cannot escape. No information
electrical and a magnetic field, about the black hole can cross Gamma decay A form of
which oscillate at right-angles its event horizon. radioactive decay in which
to each other. Light is a form an atomic nucleus gives off
of electromagnetic radiation. Exoplanet A planet that orbits high-energy, short-wavelength
a star that is not our sun. gamma radiation.
Electromagnetic spectrum The
complete range of electromagnetic Expression Any meaningful General relativity A theoretical
radiation. See also Spectrum. combination of mathematical description of spacetime in which
symbols. Einstein considered accelerating
Electroweak theory A theory frames of reference. General
that explains the electromagnetic Fermion A subatomic particle, relativity provides a description of
and weak nuclear force as one such as an electron or a quark, gravity as the warping of spacetime
“electroweak” force. that is associated with mass. by energy.
Electron A subatomic particle Field The distribution of a force Geocentrism A historic model
with a negative electric charge. across spacetime, in which each of the universe with Earth at its
point can be given a value for center. See also Heliocentrism.
Electrolysis A chemical change that force. A gravitational field
in a substance caused by passing is an example of a field in which Gluons Particles within protons and
an electric current through it. the force felt at a particular point neutrons that hold quarks together.
326 GLOSSARY
Gravitational wave A distortion protons, but a different number Nuclear fusion A process whereby
of spacetime that travels at the of neutrons. atomic nuclei join together to form
speed of light, generated by the heavier nuclei, releasing energy.
acceleration of mass. Light year A unit of distance that Inside stars such as the sun, this
is the distance traveled by light in process involves the fusion of
Gravity A force of attraction one year, equal to 5,878 trillion miles hydrogen nuclei to make helium.
between objects with mass. (9,460 trillion km).
Massless photons are also Nucleus The central part of an
affected by gravity, which Leptons Fermions that are only atom. The nucleus consists of
general relativity describes affected by two of the fundamental protons and neutrons and contains
as a warping of spacetime. forces—the electromagnetic force almost all of an atom’s mass.
and the weak nuclear force.
Heat death A possible end state Optics The study of vision and
for the universe in which there are Magnetism A force of attraction the behavior of light.
no temperature differences across or repulsion exerted by magnets.
space, and no work can be done. Magnetism arises from the motion Orbit The path of a body around
of electric charges or from the another, more massive, body.
Heliocentrism A model of the magnetic moment of particles.
universe with the sun at its center. Particle A tiny speck of matter
Mass A property of an object that is that can have velocity, position,
Higgs boson A subatomic particle a measure of the force required to mass, and electric charge.
associated with the Higgs field, accelerate it.
whose interaction with other Photoelectric effect The emission
particles gives them their mass. Matter Any physical substance. of electrons from the surfaces of
Our entire visible world is made certain substances when light
Ideal gas A gas in which there are of matter. hits them.
zero inter-particle forces. The only
interactions between particles in Molecule A substance made of two Photon The particle of light that
an ideal gas are elastic collisions. or more atoms that are chemically transfers the electromagnetic force
bonded to one another. from one place to another.
Inertia The tendency of an object
to keep moving or remain at rest Momentum An object’s mass Piezoelectricity Electricity that
until a force acts on it. multiplied by its velocity. is produced by applying stress to
certain crystals.
Insulator A material that reduces or Neutrino An electrically
stops the flow of heat, electricity, neutral fermion that has a Plane A flat surface on which any
or sound. very small, as yet unmeasured, two given points can be joined by
mass. Neutrinos can pass right a straight line.
Interference The process whereby through matter undetected.
two or more waves combine, either Plasma A hot, electrically charged
reinforcing each other or canceling Neutron An electrically neutral fluid in which the electrons are free
each other out. subatomic particle that forms part from their atoms.
of an atom’s nucleus. A neutron is
Ion An atom, or group of atoms, made of one up-quark and two Polarized light Light in which the
that has lost or gained one or down-quarks. waves all oscillate in just one plane.
more of its electrons to become
electrically charged. Nuclear fission A process Positron The antiparticle
whereby the nucleus of an atom counterpart of an electron, with
Isotopes Atoms of the same element splits into two smaller nuclei, the same mass but a positive
which have the same number of releasing energy. electric charge.
GLOSSARY 327
Potential difference The Resistance A measure of how Supernova The result of the
difference in energy per unit of much a material opposes the flow collapse of a massive star, causing
charge between two places in of electric current. an explosion that may be billions
an electric field or circuit. of times brighter than the sun.
Semiconductor A substance that
Pressure A continual force per unit has a resistance somewhere between Superposition In quantum
area pushing against an object. The that of a conductor and an insulator. physics, the principle that, until it
pressure of gases is caused by the is measured, a particle such as an
movement of their molecules. Singularity A point in spacetime electron exists in all its possible
with zero length. states at the same time.
Proton A particle in the nucleus of
an atom that has positive charge. A Spacetime The three dimensions Thermodynamics The branch
proton contains two up-quarks and of space combined with a fourth of physics that deals with heat and
one down-quark. dimension—time—to form a its relation to energy and work.
single continuum.
Quanta Packets of energy that exist Time dilation The phenomenon
in discrete units. In some systems, a Special relativity Einstein’s whereby two objects moving relative
quantum is the smallest possible theory that an absolute time or to each other, or in different
amount of energy. absolute space are impossible. gravitational fields, experience
Special relativity is the result of a different rate of flow of time.
Quantum electrodynamics considering that both the speed
(QED) A theory that explains the of light and the laws of physics Uncertainty principle A property
interaction of subatomic particles in are the same for all observers. of quantum mechanics whereby the
terms of an exchange of photons. more accurately certain qualities,
Spectrum The range of the such as momentum, are measured,
Quantum mechanics The branch wavelengths of electromagnetic the less is known of other qualities
of physics that deals with subatomic radiation. The full spectrum ranges such as position, and vice-versa.
particles behaving as quanta. from gamma rays, with wavelengths
shorter than an atom, to radio Velocity A measure of an object’s
Quark A subatomic particle that waves, whose wavelength may speed and direction.
protons and neutrons are made from. be many kilometers long.
Voltage A common term for
Radiation An electromagnetic Spin A quality of subatomic electrical potential difference.
wave or a stream of particles particles that is similar to
emitted by a radioactive source. angular momentum. Wave An oscillation that travels
through space, transferring energy
Radioactive decay The process Standard Model The framework from one place to another.
in which unstable atomic nuclei of particle physics in which there
emit particles or electromagnetic are 12 fundamental fermions—six Wavelength The distance between
radiation. quarks and six leptons. two successive peaks or two
successive troughs in a wave.
Redshift The stretching of light String theory A theoretical
emitted by galaxies moving away framework of physics in which Weak nuclear force One of the
from Earth, due to the Doppler effect. point-like particles are replaced four fundamental forces, which acts
This causes visible light to move by one-dimensional strings. inside an atomic nucleus and is
toward the red end of the spectrum. responsible for beta decay.
Strong nuclear force One of the
Refraction The bending of four fundamental forces, which Work The energy transferred
electromagnetic waves as they binds quarks together to form when a force moves an object
move from one medium to another. neutrons and protons. in a particular direction.
328
INDEX
Page numbers in bold refer to main entries. atoms 66, 68–71, 110 Brattain, Walter 154, 155
light from 196–199, 217 Brewster, David 187
models 206, 216–217, 218, 220, 241, 242–243 Brout, Robert 262
A splitting 71, 248–251, 252, 253, 285

attraction
forces of 102–103
Brown, Robert 107, 237
Brownian motion 71, 106, 107, 110, 237
Brus, Louis 230
and repulsion 120–121, 122, 126 bubble chambers 244, 259
Abd al-Rahman al Sufi 268, 290 Avicenna 318 Bullialdus, Ismael 49
aberration, chromatic and spherical 174 Avogadro, Amedeo 67, 79, 85, 236 Bunsen, Robert 115, 180, 190, 197, 216
acceleration Buridan, Jean 37
energy and motion 56 butterfly effect 111
gravitational 35, 44, 49, 77
laws of motion 16, 32–34, 43, 44–45, 53
accretion disks 289
B Buys Ballot, C.H.D. 189–190
actions, and equal reactions 45

aeronautics 78
air pressure 83–84, 91, 106–107
B-mesons 264
Bacon, Francis 20, 23
C
air resistance 35, 42, 44, 45, 50 Baker, Donald 200
airflow 78 Balmer, Johann Jakob 197–198 Cabrera, Blas 159
al-Ghazali 70 Bardeen, John 152, 155, 228 Cajori, Florian 166
al-Khwarizmi, Muhammad Musa 26, 28 Barish, Barry 312, 314, 315 calculus 27, 29–30
Albert, Wilhelm 72 barn-pole paradox 283 caloric theory 86, 87, 88, 107, 108
algebra 28, 30–31 barometers 83, 84, 106 Cannon, Annie Jump 321
Allen, John F. 79, 228 Bartholin, Rasmus 163, 185 capacitors 253
alpha particles/radiation 234, 238, 239, 240–241, baryons 245, 256 Capra, Fritjof 223
243, 247, 252, 253 Bassi, Laura 319 Cardano, Gerolamo 29
Alpher, Ralph 299 batteries 120, 128, 129, 131, 134, 141, 148–149 Carnot, Sadi 13, 67, 86, 90, 91–93, 92, 96
alternating current (AC) electricity 150–151, 153 Becquerel, Edmond 208 carrier particles 224, 257, 259, 262, 309, 311
amber 120, 124, 125, 130 Becquerel, Henri 234, 238, 239, 320 cathode rays 195, 234, 242
Amontons, Guillaume 319 Beeckman, Isaac 82, 83, 275 cathodes 153, 195, 242
Ampère, André-Marie 121, 134, 136, 137, 144, Bell, Alexander Graham 135 Caton, Richard 156
146, 179, 187 Bell, John Stewart 207, 222, 223 Cauchy, Augustin-Louis 72
Ampère–Maxwell law 146–147 Bell Burnell, Jocelyn 163, 202, 203 Cavendish, Henry 130
amplitude 203 Berkeley, George 45 Celsius, Anders 80
amplitude modulation (AM) radio 153 Bernoulli, Daniel 36, 52, 53, 66, 76–79, 77, 106–107 Cepheid variables 291–292, 293
ampullae of Lorenzini 156 Bernoulli, Jacob 74 CERN 223, 235, 246, 264
anatomy 22 beta particles/radiation 234, 235, 239, 258–259 Gargamelle bubble chamber 259
Anderson, Carl D. 235, 245, 246, 247, 264 Bethe, Hans 265, 284 Large Hadron Collider (LHC) 252, 263, 278,
Andrews, Thomas 100, 101 Big Bang 255, 264, 269, 293, 296–301, 307, 310 284, 285, 305, 308, 310
Andromeda Galaxy 268, 269, 290, 292–293, Big Crunch 295 Super Proton Synchrotron 255, 258, 259, 262
303–304, 305 binary stars 190–191 Chadwick, James 216, 234, 235, 243, 248, 253
animals, bioelectricity 128, 129, 156 bioelectricity 128, 129, 156 chain reactions 249, 250, 251, 284–285
anodes 153, 242 Biot, Jean-Baptiste 85, 187 Chandrasekhar, Subrahmanyan 216, 286, 287,
anti-electrons 245, 246 birefringence 163, 185, 186 322–323
antimatter 127, 231, 246, 300 Black, Joseph 66, 80–81, 86, 91 chaos theory 111
matter–antimatter asymmetry 264 black holes 216, 269, 286–289, 303, 311, 312, Charles, Jacques 66, 82–84
antineutrinos 259 313, 314, 315 charm quarks 235, 256, 257, 264
antineutrons 300 blackbody radiation 67, 114, 115, 116, 117, 208–209 Chernobyl 248, 251
antiprotons 127, 246, 300 Bohr, Niels 196, 198–199, 199, 206, 207, 212, 216–217, Clapeyron, Benoît Paul Émile 67, 93
antiquarks 257 218, 220, 221, 222, 234, 240, 241, 243 Clarke, Edward 197
aperture synthesis 202, 203 Boltzmann, Ludwig 79, 96, 106, 107, 108–111, Clausius, Rudolf 67, 82, 86, 88–89, 96, 97–99,
Arago, François 182, 183, 187 109 108, 110
Archimedes 27, 77, 318 Bolyai, János 30 Clegg, Brian 231
Archytas 167 Bombelli, Rafael 29 clocks 38–39
Aristarchus of Samos 22 bonds 100, 102–103 cloud chambers 244–245
Aristotle 12, 20, 21, 22, 32–3, 34, 42, 43, 48, 70, Borelli, Giovanni 49 clusters, galaxy 303
164, 167, 212, 268, 270, 271, 272, 275 Born, Max 207, 217, 218, 251 Cockcroft, John 252–254, 255
Aruni 69 boron 85, 154, 253 collisions
Aspect, Alain 207, 223, 228 Bose–Einstein condensates 79 momentum 37, 54
Atkins, Peter William 96 bosons 225, 235, 247, 257, 258, 259, 262–263, 308, particles 127, 133
atomic bombs see nuclear weapons 309, 310, 311 color spectrum 114, 115, 117, 177, 182, 183,
atomic clocks 38, 39, 229, 282 Boyle, Robert 66, 68, 73, 74, 78, 82–84, 90, 106 192, 193
atomic decay 238, 239, 258–259 Boyle, William 176 compasses 122, 123, 135, 144
atomic mass 236 Bradley, James 188 complex numbers 29
atomic structure 13, 67, 123, 196, 198–199, 216, Bragg, Lawrence 321 compound microscopes 174–175
217, 218, 220, 240–243 Brahmagupta 26, 29 compounds 67, 71, 237
atomic theory 69–71, 85, 236–237, 240–243 Bramah, Joseph 36, 71 Compton, Arthur 206, 208, 211, 214, 245, 321
atomism 66, 69, 70–71 Brand, Hennig 196 computational fluid dynamics (CFD) 79
INDEX 329
computers decoherence 231 electricity 120–121

data storage 157 Democritus 66, 68–70, 69, 71, 236 electric current 121, 130–133, 140, 141, 149, 153
electronics 153–154, 155 Descartes, René 28, 37, 42, 43, 56, 176, 280 electric fields 127, 128, 132, 145–147, 149, 155,
quantum computing 207, 222, 223, 228, deuterium 265, 284, 300 156, 159, 163, 193, 210, 213, 244, 254
230–231 Deutsch, David 207, 228, 231 electric motors 136–137, 139
condensates 79, 228 Dewar, James 100 electric potential 128–129, 131, 137, 156
condensation 67, 102 Dhamakirti 70 electric vehicles 141
conduction 81 dichroic minerals 187 electrical resistance 131, 132–133
conduction bands 154 diffraction 163, 180–183 generating 87, 121, 148–151
conductors 131, 132, 133, 138, 141, 146 digital revolution 153 electrodynamics 137
Conselice, Christopher 290 diodes 152, 153, 253 electrolysis 126
conservation of charge 127, 264 Diophantus of Alexandria 28 electrolytes 131
conservation of energy 55, 66, 86, 87, 88, 89, dipole-dipole bonds 102 electromagnetism 13, 121
96, 109, 258 Dirac, Paul 31, 159, 219, 224, 234, 246, 260, 264 discovery of 134–135, 137
conservation of momentum 37, 54 direct current (DC) electricity 150, 153 electromagnetic fields 147, 224–225, 254, 260
convection 81 distance electromagnetic induction 138–141, 144–145,
Cooper, Leon 155, 228 measuring 18–19 149, 193–194
Copenhagen interpretation 207, 218, 219, 220, in space 291–293 electromagnetic radiation 114, 115, 116, 141,
221, 222 DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) 23 194, 195, 198, 202, 208
Copernicus, Nicolaus 12, 16, 20, 22–23, 33, 42, Dollond, John 174 electromagnetic spectrum 163, 192, 194–195, 209
48, 268, 270, 271, 272, 273, 290 doping 153, 154–155 electromagnetic waves 132, 138, 144, 147,
corpuscular model of light 177, 178, 181, 183, Doppler, Christian 163, 188–191, 189 179, 187, 210, 213–214, 276, 277
186, 187 Doppler effect 163, 188–191, 200 fundamental force 127, 159, 235, 247, 256, 257,
cosmic dust 292 double-slit experiment 178, 187, 206, 212, 258, 259, 261, 262, 300, 308, 309, 310
cosmic egg 299 213, 215 quantum theory 224, 260
cosmic microwave background radiation Drebbel, Cornelis 174 electron microscopes 229–230
(CMBR) 298, 299–301, 306, 307 Drever, Ronald 313–314 electron neutrinos 257, 261
cosmic rays 234, 244, 245, 246, 247, 256 du Bois-Reymond, Emil 156 electronics 152–155
cosmological constant 294, 295, 299, 306, 307 du Châtelet, Émilie 17, 54, 86, 87, 89, 96 electrons
Coulomb, Charles-Augustin de 120–121, 124–126, du Fay, Charles François 125 bonds 102
127 Dudgeon, Richard 36 cathode rays 195
Cowan, Clyde 235, 258, 259, 261 Dussik, Karl 200 Cooper pairs 228
CP symmetry 264 dynamos 140–141, 149–150 discovery of 126–127, 152–153, 198, 234, 240,
CPT symmetry 264 242, 256
Crab Nebula 98, 271 electrical energy 121, 133, 134, 140, 141
electronics 152–155
Crick, Francis 23
critical points 101, 102, 103
Cronin, James 264
E free 151, 154, 300
nuclear decay 258, 259
nuclear fusion 251
Crookes, William 240
orbits 198–199, 216–217, 218, 231, 234, 241
crystals 154–155, 184, 185, 186, 187, 195 electricity, electrical charge 120–121, 124–127, 131
particle theory 209–211, 212–215, 218, 221,
piezoelectric 201 Earth 224, 242–243, 257, 309
Ctesibius 90 age of 97–98 spin 157
cubits 16, 18–19 circumference 19, 272 superposition state 230–231
Curie, Jacques 200, 201 energy 97 superstring theory 310
Curie, Marie 201, 234, 238–239, 239, 248 geocentrism 22, 23, 48, 176, 270–273, 298 electroscopes 123, 125
Curie, Pierre 159, 200, 201, 238, 239, 248, 283 gravity 50 electrostatic discharge 125
Curtis, Heber 292, 293 magnetism 122–123, 134 electroweak force 224, 225, 258
cyclotron accelerators 254 orbit of sun 189 elements
Cygnus X-1 286, 288, 289 rotation on axis 53 basic 68–69, 70
spherical 268, 272, 273, 280 combination of 67, 237
echolocation 200, 201 formation of 71, 236, 237
D eclipses 269, 270, 271, 272, 280, 303

Eddington, Arthur 265, 269, 280, 284, 285, 302,
303, 304
emission lines 180, 197–198, 199
Empedocles 176
empiricism 21–22
Edison, Thomas 121, 148–151, 151 energy 66–67
D-mesons 264 Egypt, ancient 16, 18–19, 21, 26, 273 concept of 88, 96
da Vinci, Leonardo 75 Einstein, Albert 13, 31, 98, 141, 211, 224, 279, conservation of 55, 66, 86, 87, 88, 89, 109, 258
d’Alembert, Jean Le Rond 56 282, 311 conversion of 87–88, 96
Dalton, John 67, 68, 84, 234, 236–237, 237, 241 atomic theory 236 heat engines 90–93
Daniell, John 128, 129, 149 Brownian motion 71, 106, 107, 110, 111, 237 heat and transfers 80–81
dark energy 235, 269, 294, 295, 304, 306–307, cosmological constant 294, 295, 299, 306, 307 internal 88–89
311 equivalence principle 281 kinetic 54, 57, 87, 137, 254, 279
dark matter 23, 235, 269, 302–305, 311 general theory of relativity 42, 44, 45, 48, 51, laws of thermodynamics 67, 86, 88–89, 96–99, 110
dark nebulae 303 269, 274, 280, 281, 287, 294, 298, 299, 303, mass-energy equivalence 279, 284
dark stars 286–287 308, 309, 311, 312, 313 and motion 56–57
data storage 157 light 198, 220, 275 potential 54, 57, 86, 87, 89
Davenport, Thomas 137 mass–energy equivalence 55, 249, 279, 284, 285 thermal radiation 114–117
Davidson, Robert 136 photoelectric effect 114, 206, 209–210, 214 energy quanta 208–211
Davisson, Clinton 214 quantum entanglement 222–223, 231 energy transfer 96
Davy, Humphry 139 special theory of relativity 48, 51, 144, 146, Englert, François 262
de Broglie, Louis 206, 212, 214, 215, 218, 220 147, 179, 219, 222, 223, 260, 268–269, 274, entanglement, quantum 207, 222–223, 228, 231,
de Forest, Lee 153 276–279, 281, 284, 287 311
de Groot, Jan Cornets 34 Ekimov, Alexey 230 entropy 67, 89, 96, 98–99, 111
de la Tour, Charles Cagniard 101 elastic modulus 72, 75 Epicurus 68, 70, 71
de Vaucouleurs, Gérard 290 elasticity 66, 73, 74, 75 epicycles 271
330 INDEX
equivalence principle 281 Fresnel, Augustin-Jean 163, 168, 179, 180, and universe 294, 295, 300, 301, 302–304, 307
Eratosthenes 19, 272 181–183, 182, 187 and velocity 42
ergodic hypothesis 109 friction 42, 43, 44, 45, 87 Gray, Stephen 130–131
Erlanger, Joseph 156 Friedel, Georges 184 Green, George 128
escape velocity 289 Friedmann, Alexander 191, 294–295, 295 Green, Michael 310
Essen, Louis 38, 229 Gregory, James 183
Euclid 16, 26, 27–28, 30, 162, 168, 280 Gribbin, John 210
Euler, Leonhard 17, 29, 52, 53, 57, 74, 75, 76,
77, 79
evaporation 101, 102
G Grimaldi, Francesco Maria 32, 35, 49, 180–181, 182
Gross, David 310
Grünberg, Peter 157, 158
event horizons 287, 288, 289 Guericke, Otto von 66, 91
Everett, Hugh 220 galaxies 269, 270, 289, 290–293, 294, 295, 298, 299, Guralnik, Gerald 262
exclusion principle 206, 217 300, 301, 302, 303–304, 307 Guth, Alan 300, 323
experiments 12, 20, 21, 23, 66 Galfard, Christophe 218
Galilei, Galileo 12, 22, 23, 33, 43, 72, 83, 164
F
falling bodies 16, 32–35, 42, 49, 50, 281
pendulums 17, 38–39, 52
relativity 268, 274, 276–277, 281
H
speed of light 175
telescopes and space 48–49, 162, 172, 173, Hafele, Joseph 282
Fahrenheit, Daniel 80, 319 268, 271, 272, 273, 290 Hagen, C. Richard 262
falling bodies 17, 32–35, 49, 50 thermoscopes 80, 81 Hahn, Otto 249
Faraday effect 147, 187 Galilei, Vincenzo 167 half-life 239
Faraday, Michael 101, 131, 139, 141, 197, 277 Galois, Évariste 30–31 Hall, Chester Moore 174
dynamos 140–141, 149 Galvani, Luigi 128, 129, 156 Halley’s Comet 271
electric motor 136, 138, 139 galvanometers 139, 140 Hamilton, William Rowan 42, 54, 56, 57
electricity 124, 126, 127, 128 gamma radiation 163, 195, 202, 234, 239, 243, hard-disk drives (HDD) 157
electromagnetic induction 121, 136, 144–145, 146 253, 284 harmonic motion 52–53
electromagnetism 121, 134, 138–141, 148, 187 Gamow, George 252–253, 299, 322 harmonics 166
magnetic fields 121, 147, 148 gases 70, 71, 76, 78 Harrison, John 38, 39
Faraday’s law 146, 149 changes of state and bonds 100–103 Hau, Lene 79
Ferdinando II de’ Medici 80 combination of 85 Hawking, Stephen 287, 289, 323
Fermat, Pierre de 29, 57, 162, 168, 169 forces of attraction 102–103 Hawking particles 289
Fermi, Enrico 235, 242, 248–250, 251, 258 gas laws 66–67, 82–85, 100 heat
fermions 257, 309, 310, 311 kinetic theory 79, 85 and color 117
ferromagnetism 123 liquefaction 100 conservation of energy 55
Fert, Albert 157, 158 Gassendi, Pierre 68, 70–71 dissipation 98, 99
Fessenden, Reginald 192 Gasser, Herbert Spencer 156 entropy 98–99
Feynman diagrams 225 Gauss, Carl Friedrich 61–62, 144, 146, 280 Joule heating 133
Feynman, Richard 147, 158, 207, 215, 222, 224, Gay-Lussac, Joseph 66, 67, 82, 83, 84, 85 laws of thermodynamics 86, 88–89, 96–99
225, 228, 230–231, 260 Geiger, Hans 198, 234, 240, 243, 321 and light 114–115
Fitch, Val 264 Geissler, Heinrich 197 and motion 90–93, 107, 114
Fizeau, Armand 190 Gell-Mann, Murray 235, 247, 256–257, 257 and temperature 80, 86
Fizeau, Hippolyte 275 generators, electrical 138, 141, 149 see also kinetic energy
Fleming, John Ambrose 140, 152, 153 geocentrism 22, 23, 48–49, 176, 270–273 heat death theory 98
fluids 36, 66, 76–79 geometry 27–28, 29 heat energy 67, 87, 93, 99, 114, 133, 249, 250
applied fluid dynamics 79 Georgi, Howard 159 heat engines 67, 90–93, 96, 97, 99
changes of state and bonds 100–103 geothermal energy 151 heat flow 96–97, 110
fluorescence 196–197 Gerlach, Walter 206 heat transfer 80–81, 89, 114
force carriers 224, 235, 258–259, 262, 309, 311 Germain, Sophie 319–320 heavenly bodies 270–271
force fields 145–146 germanium 154, 155 Heaviside, Oliver 144
forces Gianotti, Fabiola 323 Heisenberg, Werner 37, 207, 218–219, 220–221,
equal action-reaction 45 giant magnetoresistance (GMR) 157, 158 221, 246, 278, 311
fluids 76–79 Gibbs, Josiah 96 heliocentrism 22, 23, 33, 42, 48–49, 268, 271,
fundamental 127, 159, 225, 235, 245, 247, 259, Gibbs, Willard 106, 111 273, 290
261, 262, 300, 309, 310 Gilbert, William 120, 122, 123, 134, 136 Helmholtz, Hermann von 55, 86, 87, 88, 89, 96, 193
and motion 43, 44, 45 Glashow, Sheldon 159, 224, 235, 262, 311 Henlein, Peter 38
stretching and squeezing 72–75 gluons 225, 247, 255, 257, 300 Henry, Joseph 135, 136, 140
see also electromagnetism; friction; gravity; Goeppert-Meyer, Maria 217, 322 Heraclitus 68
magnetism; strong nuclear force; weak Gordon, James 141 Herapath, John 82, 106, 107
nuclear force Goudsmit, Samuel 157 Hero of Alexandria 90, 91, 162, 168, 169
Ford, Kent 303–304, 305 GPS navigation 191, 228, 229, 282 Herschel, William 114, 163, 192–193, 202, 319
fossil fuels 67, 87, 151 Gramme, Zenobe 149 Hertz, Heinrich 144, 147, 192–194, 193, 202, 210
Foucault, Léon 174, 275 Grand Unified Theory (GUT) 159, 310 Hertzsprung, Ejnar 292
Fourier, Joseph 52, 133 gravitational fields 269, 287, 311 Hess, Victor 234, 244, 245
Frahm, Hermann 52 gravitational lensing 303, 304 Hewish, Antony 203
frames of reference 26, 51, 274, 277, 278, 282–283 gravitational mass 287, 303 Higgs, Peter 262–263, 263
Franklin, Benjamin 120, 124, 125 gravitational waves 274, 305, 312–315 Higgs boson 225, 235, 257, 262–263, 308, 309,
Franklin, Rosalind 23 gravitons 309, 311 310, 311
Fraunhofer, Joseph von 183, 216, 320 gravity 32–35 Higgs field 262, 263, 309, 310
Fraunhofer lines 183, 190, 216 equivalence principles 281 Hipparchus 270, 271
free energy 96 fundamental force 159, 225, 301 Hippasus 27
free falling 32–35, 50 general relativity 30 Hiroshima 251
frequency 116, 117, 153, 164, 165, 188, 189, 190, laws of 46–51 Hodgkin, Alan 156
199, 208, 210, 228, 230 string theory 308–311 Hodgkin, Dorothy Crowfoot 322
INDEX 331
Hooft, Gerard ’t 159 Kepler, Johannes 31, 42, 48–49, 173, 209, 272, Lobachevsky, Nikolai 30
Hooke, Robert 51, 73 273, 281, 318 lodestones 120, 122–123
gravity 49 Kibble, Brian 60, 62, 63 Lomonosov, Mikhail 107
light 162–163, 177, 178, 180, 181 Kibble, Tom 262 London dispersion bonds 102, 103
microscopes 162, 174 Kilby, Jack 152, 158 longitude 39, 72
springs 66, 72–75 kinetic energy 17, 54, 57, 67, 87, 107, 137, 254, 279 Lorentz, Hendrik 144, 274
time 38, 39, 72, 73 kinetic theory of gases 67, 74, 77, 78, 79, 85, Lorenz, Edward 111
Hoyle, Fred 299, 323 106–110, 110, 145 Lovelace, Ada 29
Hubble, Edwin 191, 269, 270, 290, 292, 293, 294, Kirchhoff, Gustav 72, 114, 115–117, 115, 130, 180, Lovell, Bernard 202
295, 298, 299, 306 190, 193, 197, 216 Lucretius 100, 176, 212
Huggins, William and Margaret 190 Klein, Oscar 308
Hulse, Russell 269, 313 Kleist, Georg von 120, 128
Hund, Friedrich 229
Huxley, Andrew 156
Huygens, Christiaan
Knoll, Max 172
Köhler, August 172
Koshiba, Masatoshi 261
M
light 147, 163, 169, 177–178, 179, 181, 182, 183, 185
momentum 37 M-theory 308
time 16, 19, 38–39, 52, 73
hydraulics 36
hydroelectricity 151
L Mach, Ernst 109, 110, 111, 320
macrostates 109
Magellanic Clouds 261, 291, 292
hydrogen bonds 102–103 magnetic fields 53, 121, 127, 132, 157, 246
hydrogen fuel cells 151 Ladenburg, Rudolph W. 199 dynamos 141, 149
hydrostatic pressure 78 Lagrange, Joseph-Louis 17, 56, 57, 146 electromagnets 134–135
hypotheses 20, 21, 22 Lamb shift 260 force fields 144–147
lambda baryons 245 induction 138–140
Land, Edwin H. 184 light 163, 185, 187, 192, 193, 213
I Landau, Lev 264

Langevin, Paul 200, 201, 282–283, 283
Langsdorf, Alexander 244
motor effect 136–137
MRI scanners 230
nuclear fusion 251, 265
Laplace, Pierre-Simon 63, 286, 319 sun 203
Ibn al-Haytham, Hasan (Alhazen) 12, 22, 30, 176, 318 lasers 199, 230, 314, 315 superconductors 228
Ibn Sahl 12, 162, 168, 169 latent heat 81 magnetic induction 254
Iijima, Sumio 323 latitude 39 magnetic monopoles 159
induction, electromagnetic 138–141, 144–145, 149, Laue, Max von 195 magnetism 120–121, 122–123
193–194 Lauterbur, Paul 230 magnets
induction rings 139–140 Le Verrier, Urbain 48 making 134–135
inductive charging 141 Leavitt, Henrietta Swan 290, 291–292, 293 particle accelerators 254
Industrial Revolution 13, 66, 74, 81, 86, 90, 148 Lee, Tsung-Dao 259 magnification 172–175
inertia 43, 44, 53, 56 Leibniz, Gottfried 26, 28, 29, 42–45, 42, 54, 88, 169 Malus, Étienne-Louis 184–187, 186
inertial frames of reference 274, 277 Lemaître, Georges 288, 298–299, 298 Manhattan Project 225, 250–251, 259
infrared radiation 81, 114, 117, 163, 193, 194, 202 length contraction 283 Mansfield, Peter 230
Ingenhousz, Jan 80, 81, 96 Lenoir, Étienne 90 Marconi, Guglielmo 192
insulators 131, 154 lenses 172–175, 177 marine chronometers 38, 39
integrated circuits (ICs) 152, 155, 158 Lenz, Emil 140 Marsden, Ernest 198, 234, 240
interference, diffraction and 181–183 leptons 257, 309 mass
interferometry 275, 312, 314, 315 Leucippus 66, 69, 70, 236 laws of gravity 51, 281
internal combustion engines 90 Lewis, Gilbert 208 laws of motion 43, 44–45, 49
internal energy 88–89 lift 76, 78 mass-energy equivalence 55, 279, 284
interplanetary scintillation (IPS) 203 light 162–163 and velocity 37, 44, 54, 88, 214
ionization 125, 234, 245 bending 176, 177, 269, 280, 281, 287, 303 mass ratios 71, 236, 237
ions 129, 131, 149, 156, 244, 245 diffraction and interference 180–183 massive stars 287, 288
IPK (International Prototype Kilogram) 60, 61, 62, 63 Doppler effect and redshift 188–191 materials, strength of 66, 74, 75
ITER agreement 265 echolocation 200–201 mathematics 16, 17, 24–31
electromagnetic theory of 115, 144, 147, 260 matrix mechanics 207, 218–219
electromagnetic waves 192–195 matter 66, 235
JK focusing 170–175
from atoms 196–199, 217
and heat 114–115
Big Bang 300
changes of state and bonds 71, 100–103
fluids 76–79
nature of 212 gas laws 82–85
Jacobi, Moritz von 136 polarization 184–187 matter-antimatter asymmetry 264
Jansky, Karl 202 reflection and refraction 22, 162–163, 168–169, 172, models of 68–71, 196
Jeans, James 117, 209 176–177 stretching and squeezing 74–75
Joliot-Curie, Frédéric 243, 253 seeing beyond 202–203 visible 304
Joliot-Curie, Irène 243, 253, 322 speed of 147, 268, 274, 275, 277–278, 279, 282, 283 matter waves 214
Jordan, Pascual 218 wave and particle theories 212–215, 218 matter-antimatter annihilation 71
Josephson, Brian 228 light bulbs 133 Maupertuis, Pierre-Louis 56
Joule, James Prescott 17, 55, 67, 86, 87–88, 89, light quanta 210, 211 Maxwell, James Clerk 30, 60, 103, 137, 145
108, 114, 130 light waves 163, 176–179, 180–199, 212–215, 287, 312 electromagnetism 13, 56, 114, 121, 138, 141,
Jupiter 22, 23, 48–49, 268, 272, 273 lightning 125, 127 144–147, 159, 192–194, 213, 224, 260, 276, 277
K-mesons 264 Lilienfeld, Julius 152 kinetic theory of gases 76, 79, 85, 106, 108, 110
Kant, Immanuel 35 linear accelerators (linacs) 254 light model 163, 179, 187, 192–194, 213, 260
kaons 256, 264 Lippershey, Hans 173 Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution 110
Kapitsa, Pyotr 79, 228 Lippmann, Gabriel 201 Mayer, Julius von 55, 86, 87, 89, 96
Keating, Richard 282 liquefaction 100, 103 measurement 16–17
Kelvin–Planck statement 99 liquids 36, 70, 71, 76, 100–103 distance 18–19
332 INDEX
SI Units and physical constants 60–63 nanoelectronics 121, 158 137, 138, 144
in space 291–293 nanoparticles 230 oscillations
speed of light 147, 275 Navier, Claude-Louis 72, 79 electromagnetism 193, 194, 213, 254
temperature 80 nebulae 115, 191, 270, 271, 292 harmonic motion 52–53
time 17, 38–39 negative numbers 26, 29 light 163, 184, 185, 187, 213
mechanics, classical 48, 51, 57 nerve cells 156 neutrino 261
megaverse 310 neutrino oscillation 261 pendulums 17, 39
Meissner effect 228 neutrinos 235, 257, 258–259, 261 sound 165, 166, 167, 201
Meitner, Lise 242, 248, 249–250 neutron stars 203, 268, 287, 312, 313, 315 P (parity) symmetry 264
Mercury 48 neutrons 216, 225, 234, 235, 243, 247, 248, 250, Pais, Abraham 308
Mersenne, Marin 164 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 285, 300, 309 Papin, Denis 91
mesons 235, 247, 256, 264 Newcomen, Thomas 81, 90, 91 paradoxes 27, 214, 220, 282–283
Messier 87 289 Newton, Isaac 51, 106, 107, 109 parallax 291, 292
Messier, Charles 270 atoms 66, 71, 100 Parkin, Stuart 157
metallic bonds 74 calculus 26, 29 Parry, Jack 38
metric system 17, 18, 19, 60–61 fluids 76, 78, 79 Parsons, Charles 148
metrology 17, 62 laws of gravity 32, 48–51, 73, 126, 281, 302 particle accelerators 127, 235, 247, 252–255, 263, 285
Michell, John 286–287, 289 laws of motion 12, 17, 37, 42–45, 52, 53, 54, 56, particle physics 127, 234–235
Michelson, Albert 147, 268, 275 57, 108, 110, 274, 276, 277, 278, 298 antimatter 246
microprocessors 152, 155 light 163, 169, 177, 180, 181, 183, 185, 186, atomic theory 236–237
microscopes 162, 172, 174–175 192, 206, 212, 213, 216 Grand Unified Theory 159
microstates 109 telescope 174 Higgs boson 262–263
microwaves 147, 194, 254 vision of the universe 22, 31, 99, 107 magnetic monopoles 159
miles 19 Newtonian liquids 78 matter-antimatter asymmetry 264
Milky Way 202, 203, 269, 270, 286, 289, 290, Nielsen, Holger 310 neutrinos 261
291, 292, 293 Nierste, Ulrich 264 nucleus 240–241
Miller, William Allen 190 Nishijima, Kazuhiko 256 particle accelerators 252–255
Millikan, Robert 124, 127, 211, 321 Noddack, Ida 249 particle zoo and quarks 256–257
Minkowski, Hermann 269, 276, 280 Noether, Emmy 31, 321 Standard Model 31, 225, 235, 257, 261, 262,
Mirkin, Chad 121, 158 novae 292 263, 264, 308, 309, 310
mirror universe 264 Noyce, Robert 152 string theory 308–311
mirrors 162, 172, 174 nuclear decay 238, 239, 258–259 strong force 247
Misener, Don 79, 228 nuclear fission 242, 249–251, 252, 265, 285 subatomic particles 13, 242–245
molecular bonds 102–103 nuclear fusion 251, 285 particle zoo 256–257
molecular movement 79, 108 in stars 261, 265, 301 Pascal, Blaise 17, 36, 75, 76, 78, 82
Moletti, Giuseppe 32, 33 nuclear physics 234–235 Pauli, Wolfgang 206, 216, 217, 235, 258
Pauling, Linus 23
momentum 17, 37, 54, 87 force carriers 258–259
Payne, Cecilia 50
Monardes, Nicolás 196 nuclear bombs and power 248–251
Payne-Scott, Ruby 323
monopoles, magnetic 159 nuclear fusion in stars 265
pendulums 17, 38–39, 52
Moon 270, 271, 272 nuclear rays 238–239
Penrose, Roger 288
gravity 50 nuclear power 148, 151, 195, 235, 247, 248–251,
Penzias, Arno 299, 301
landings 35, 49 265, 284 Pepys, Samuel 73
orbit round Earth 48, 281 nuclear reactions 285 Peregrinus, Petrus 122–123
Moore, Gordon 158 nuclear waste 265 Perkins, Jacob 90
Morley, Edward 268, 275 nuclear weapons 235, 248, 250–251, 265, 284, 285 Perlmutter, Saul 306–307, 307
motion nucleons 247 Perrin, Jean Baptiste 71, 107
dichotomy paradox 27 nucleus, atomic 234–235, 240–241 phlogiston 107
energy and 54, 55, 56–57, 87 creation of first 300 phosphorus 154
falling bodies 32–35 discovery of 148, 198, 241 photoelectric effect 114, 179, 193, 206, 208,
harmonic 52–53 electrons orbit 216–217, 240, 241 209–210, 211, 214, 216
heat and 90–93, 107, 114 force carriers 258–259 photolithography 155, 158
hydraulics 36 model of 257 photons 179, 206, 208, 209, 211, 214, 215, 216,
laws of gravity 46–51 nuclear fission and fusion 249, 250, 251, 252, 220–221, 224, 230, 257, 260, 263, 300
laws of 12, 17, 40–45, 52, 53, 54, 56, 57, 108, 265 photovoltaic cells 151
110, 276, 277, 278, 298 particle accelerators 253 physical constants 60–63
measuring 17 subatomic particles 242–243, 309 Pickering, Edwin Charles 291, 293
momentum 37, 87 number 26–31 piezoelectricity 200–201
relativity 274, 276–279 pions 247
speed of light 275 Pirani, Felix 313
motors, electric 136–137, 139
Mouton, Gabriel 17
MRI scanners 228, 230
OP pitch 162, 164–177, 188, 190
Pixii, Hippolyte 137, 141, 148, 149
Planck energy 311
muon neutrinos 257, 261 Planck, Max 13, 206, 211, 220–221
muons 235, 245, 247, 257 observations 21, 22, 23 blackbody radiation 67, 114, 117, 214
music 52, 162, 164–167 Ohl, Russel 154 energy quanta 67, 179, 198, 208–211
Ohm, Georg Simon 121, 130, 132–133, 132 heat engines 99
Oliphant, Mark 265 Planck’s constant 62, 63, 199, 209, 214, 221
N Onnes, Heike Kamerlingh 100, 121, 130, 228

Oppenheimer, Robert J. 250, 251, 288, 322
orbits
planetary motion 42, 48–49, 167, 270–273
plasma 71, 251
Plato 12, 21, 70, 167
circular 271 Platz, Reinhold 76
Nagaoka, Hantaro 241 electrons 198–199, 216–217, 218, 231, 234, 241 Podolsky, Boris 220
Nagasaki 251 elliptical 48, 50 Poincaré, Henri 312–313
Nakano, Tadao 256 Oresme, Nicole 16, 34 Poisson, Siméon-Denis 128, 183
Nambu, Yoichiro 262, 309–310 Ørsted, Hans Christian 121, 122, 134, 135, 136, polarization 147, 163, 179, 180, 182, 183, 184–187
INDEX 333
poles, magnetic 123, 159 radio frequency (RF) waves 254 shock waves 110
Polyakov, Alexander 159 radio telescopes 202–203 Shockley, William 155
positrons 127, 234, 245 radio waves 114, 141, 147, 163, 191, 192, 193, SI (Système International) units 17, 18, 19, 60–63, 127
potential difference 129, 130, 131, 133, 138, 140 194, 202, 230 Siemens, Werner von 149
potential energy 54, 57, 86, 87, 89 radioactive beta decay 71 silicon 121, 153, 154, 155, 158
Power, Henry 84 radioactivity 98, 201, 238–239, 248, 249, 251, 265, 285 Simmons, Michelle Yvonne 228
power stations 121, 138, 141, 148, 150, 235, 248, 251 rainbows 187 singularities 287, 288, 300, 311
Preskill, John 159 Rankine, William 55, 86, 88, 89, 96, 97, 98, 110 Slipher, Walter 191
pressure 36 redshift 191, 295, 299 Smith, George E. 176
air 83–84 Reed, Mark 228 Smoluchowski, Marian von 106, 107, 110, 111
fluids 66, 77, 78, 100–101 reflected/refracted light 22, 162–163, 168–169, 172, Snellius, Willebrord 162, 169
primeval atom 299 174, 186–187 Snyder, Hartland 288
prisms 114, 177, 183, 187, 192, 213 Reines, Frederick 235, 258, 259, 261 Socrates 12, 21
probability, entropy and 96, 111 Reitze, David 314 Soddy, Frederick 239
probability waves 219, 229 relativity 141, 268–269, 274, 276–279 solar cells 208
Proclus 26, 30 Galilean 274, 276 solar neutrinos 261
protons 127, 225, 230, 234, 235, 243, 245, 247, general theory of 42, 44, 45, 48, 51, 269, 274, 281, solar power 87, 151
249, 251, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 265, 300, 309 287, 294, 298, 299, 303, 308, 309, 311, 312, 313 solar radiation 98
particle accelerators 252, 253, 254 paradoxes of special 282–283 solar system, models of 22, 23, 42, 48–49, 176, 268,
Proust, Joseph 236 special theory of 48, 51, 144, 146, 147, 179, 270–273, 298
Ptolemy 22, 168, 268, 270, 271, 272, 273 219, 222, 223, 260, 268–269, 274, 277–279, solid-state physics 154
pulsars 163, 203, 312, 313 281, 284, 287 solids 70, 71, 100
Pythagoras 26, 27, 162, 164–167, 167, 272 resistance 121, 131, 132–133 sonar 201
Riccati, Giordano 75 sound 162–163
Riccioli, Giovanni Battista 32, 35, 49 music 162, 164–167
QR Richardson, Lewis Fry 200–201 piezoelectricity and ultrasound 200–201

Riemann, Bernhard 30 sound waves 162, 163, 164–167, 178, 188, 189, 200–201
Riess, Adam 306, 307 space
right-hand rule 140 measuring distance in 291–293
quanta 67, 117, 179, 198, 206–207, 208–211, 214, 216, 224 Rittenhouse, David 183 photoelectric effect in 210
quantum applications 226–231 Ritter, Johann 193 relativity 268–269, 274
quantum chromodynamics 260 Robinson, Ian 62 and time 43, 45, 268, 274, 277, 278–279, 280, 281
quantum computing 207, 222, 223, 228, 230–231 Röntgen, Wilhelm 192, 195 spacetime 269, 276, 280
quantum cryptography 223 Rosen, Nathan 220 black holes and wormholes 286–289
quantum dots 228, 230 rotation 53 curvature 269, 274, 280, 281, 287, 294, 302, 303,
quantum electrodynamics (QED) 225, 260 Rubin, Vera 302, 303–304, 305 304, 308, 313
dimensions of 269, 280, 308, 310, 311
quantum entanglement 207, 222–223, 228, 231, 311 Ruska, Ernst 172
gravitational waves 312–315
quantum field theory 224–225 Rutherford, Ernest 107, 234–235, 241
mirror universe 264
quantum gravity scale 310 atomic model 198, 242–243
Spallanzani, Lazzaro 200
quantum imaging 229–230 nucleus 240–241, 248, 252, 253
spectography 190, 191
quantum leaps 216–217 radiation 234, 238, 239, 248
spectral lines 183, 190, 199, 217
quantum mechanics 70, 117, 127, 157, 218–219, Rydberg, Johannes 198 spiral galaxies 304
222, 224, 241, 243, 260, 309, 311 Ryle, Martin 203 spiral nebulae 191, 292
quantum numbers 216–217 springs 72–74
quantum particles 220–221, 224, 229 squeezing 72–75
quantum physics 206–207, 208, 212, 221, 228
energy quanta 208–211
Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle 220–221
S SQUIDS (superconducting quantum interference
devices) 228
St-Venant, Jean Claude 72
matrices and waves 218–219 Standard Model 31, 225, 235, 257, 261, 262, 263,
quantum applications 226–231 Saint-Victor, Abel Niepce de 238 264, 308, 309, 310
quantum entanglement 222–223 Sakharov, Andrei 264 Stanley, William 150–151
quantum field theory 224–225 Salam, Abdus 224, 235, 262 stars 270–271, 312
quantum numbers 216–217 satellites 50–51, 53, 202, 210, 229 black holes and wormholes 286–289
wave-particle duality 212–215 Savery, Thomas 91 color 163, 188–190
quantum spin 206, 230 Scheele, Carl 80, 81, 96 distance from Earth 291–293
quantum theory 207, 211, 214, 220, 223, 231, Schmidt, Brian 306, 307 evolution of 284–285, 301
260, 295, 311 Schrieffer, John 155, 228 nuclear fusion 265
quantum tunneling 229, 253 Schrödinger, Edwin 56, 196, 207, 212, 218, temperatures 117
quark-gluon plasma 255, 300 219, 220, 222 see also galaxies; planetary motion; universe
quarks 224, 225, 235, 247, 255, 256–257, 259, 262, Schrödinger’s cat 218, 221 state, changes of 100–103
300, 309, 310 Schuckert, Sigmund 148 static electricity 123, 127, 146, 254
qubits 228, 230–231 Schuster, Arthur 246 statistical mechanics 104–111
radar 147, 191 Schwartz, John 310 statistical thermodynamics 109–110
radiant heat 81 Schwarzschild, Karl 269, 286, 287–288, 289 steam engines 66, 80, 81, 86, 90–93, 96, 106, 149
radiation 234–235 Schwarzschild radius 287 stellar black holes 314
blackbody 67, 114, 115, 116, 117, 208–209 Schwinger, Julian 225, 260, 264 Stenger, Victor J. 211
cosmic 244, 245 scientific method 16, 20–23 Stern, Otto 206
cosmic microwave background 298, 299–301, Scientific Revolution 16, 20, 22, 33, 42, 72, 268 Stevin, Simon 18, 19, 34
306, 307 Scott, David 32, 35, 49, 281 Stewart, Balfour 115–116
electromagnetic 114, 115, 116, 141, 194, 195, Sebastian, Suchitra 213 Stokes, George Gabriel 79, 197
198, 202, 208 Seebeck, Thomas 152 Stonehenge 270
energy quanta 208–211 semiconductors 152, 153, 154, 155, 229, 230 Stoney, George J. 124, 126, 242
nuclear 238–239 Shapley, Harlow 292, 293 strain 74, 75
thermal 112–117 shells, electron 216, 217, 241, 243 strangeness 235, 256
ultraviolet 193 Shen Kuo (Meng Xi Weng) 122 Strassmann, Fritz 249
334 INDEX
stress 74, 75, 78 dilation 278, 282 laws of motion 42, 44, 45
stretching 72–75 measuring 17, 38–39, 52 and mass 37, 44, 54, 88, 214
string theory 308–311 relativity 268–269, 274, 276–279 momentum 17, 37
strong nuclear force 159, 225, 235, 247, 256, 257, and space 43, 45, 277, 278–279, 280, 281 orbital 50, 51
259, 260, 300, 309, 310 thermodynamic arrow of 67, 99 Venus 49
Strutt, John (Lord Rayleigh) 117, 209 tokamak reactors 251, 265 Vesalius, Andreas 20, 22, 23
Sturgeon, William 135, 137, 138 Tomonaga, Shin’ichiro¯ 225, 260 Viète, François 28
subatomic particles 13, 71, 126, 198, 206, 224, 234, Tompion, Thomas 73 Vikings 184
242–247, 253, 256–257 top quarks 235, 255, 256, 257, 262
Villard, Paul 234, 238, 239
sun torques 137
Torricelli, Evangelista 36, 77, 82, 83, 84, 106, 319 viscosity 76, 78, 79
energy 261, 285
torsion 126 visible light 114, 193, 194, 195, 197, 238
gravity 49
Townes, Charles 196 Vogel, Hermann Carl 190
heliocentrism 22, 48–49, 268, 270–273, 290
magnetic field 203 Townley, Richard 84 volcanic activity 97
position of 292, 293 transducers 201 Volta, Alessandro 120, 121, 128, 129, 130, 131,
super-hot stars 199 transformers 139, 150–151 134, 149
Super-Kamiokande 261, 311 transistors 152, 153, 154, 155, 158, 229 W bosons 235, 257, 258, 259, 262, 263
superconductivity 103, 121, 132, 155, 228 Treiman, Sam 308 Wallis, John 17, 37, 54
superfluids 79, 228–229 triodes 153 Walton, Ernest 253–254, 255
supermassive black holes 202, 203, 289, 315 turbines watches 72–73
supernovae 261, 288, 301, 306–307 steam 141, 151 water 100, 101, 103
superposition 220, 221, 311 wind, wave and tide 151 Waterston, John 106, 107–108
superstring theory 311 Turing, Alan 231 Watson, James 23
supersymmetry 309, 310–311 twin paradox 282–283 Watt, James 66, 80, 81, 86, 91
surface tension 102 wave power 151
suspension bridges 75 wave–particle duality 179, 206, 210, 212–215, 220,
Susskind, Leonard 279, 308, 309, 310
symmetry breaking 262
synchrotron accelerators 254
UVW 221, 229–230
wave function 219, 220
weak nuclear force 159, 224, 225, 235, 245, 256,
Szilard, Leo 322 257, 258, 259, 262, 300, 308, 309, 310
Uhlenbeck, George 157
ultrasound 200–201 weather forecasts 111
ultraviolet catastrophe 117, 209 Weinberg, Steven 224
T ultraviolet light 117, 163, 179, 193, 195, 197, 208,

209, 210, 238, 301
uncertainty principle 207, 218–219, 220–221, 222
Weiss, Pierre-Ernest 122
Weiss, Rainer 313–314, 315
Westinghouse, George 151
universe 268–269 Wheeler, John 288
tachyons 310
accelerated expansion 188, 294, 298 white dwarfs 287, 306, 307
tau neutrinos 257, 261
Big Bang 296–301 Wien, Wilhelm 116
taus 257
black holes and wormholes 286–289 Wild, John 200
Taylor, Joseph 269, 313
curved 280 Wilkins, John 19
telescopes 13, 115, 162, 172–174, 191, 202–203, 268,
curving spacetime 280 Wilson, Alan Herries 152
289, 292, 301, 306 dark energy 306–307
temperature Wilson, Charles T.R. 244, 245
dark matter 302–305 Wilson, Robert 299, 301
changes of state 101, 102 discovering galaxies 269, 290–293
and heat 80, 86 WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles) 23,
energy of 97–98
and resistance 132 expanding 191, 269, 293, 294–295, 298, 299, 301, 304–305
stars 117 303, 306–307, 311 wind power 151
and thermal radiation 114–115 future of 98, 99, 289, 294–295, 301, 306 wireless telegraphy 194
temperature fields 145 gravitational waves 312–315 Witten, Edward 308
tensile strength 75 heavenly bodies 270–271 Wollaston, William Hyde 216
Tesla, Nikola 150, 320 Higgs field 262–263 work and energy 67, 88, 89, 96
Tevatron 255 models of 271, 272–273, 299–300 wormholes 286, 288
Thales of Miletus 12, 20, 21, 27, 120, 122, 124 origins of 255, 269, 298–301 Wren, Christopher 37
Theory of Everything 311 shape of 295 Wu, Chien-Shiung 258, 259
thermal radiation 112–117 Standard Model 308–309, 310 Wu Xing 69
thermodynamics 67, 91–92, 93, 111 static 268, 294–295
laws of 67, 86, 88–89, 96–99, 110 string theory 308–311
statistical 109–110
XYZ
uranium 238–239, 249, 250
thermoelectric effect 152 Urey, Harold C. 265
thermometers 80 vacuum tubes 152, 153, 154, 155, 195, 242
Thompson, Benjamin (Count Rumford) 54, 55, 66, vacuums
86, 87, 114 gas laws 66, 83 X-ray diffraction 23, 214
Thomson, George 214 heat engines 91 X-rays 114, 163, 195, 206, 208, 211, 234, 238, 239
Thomson, J.J. 124, 145, 153, 320–321 light in 274, 275, 277
atomic model 242–243 Yang, Chen Ning 259
valence bands 154 Young, Thomas 54, 72, 88, 102, 179
discovers electron 126–127, 198, 208, 212, 218, valves 153
234, 236, 238, 240, 242 light 163, 168, 176–179, 181–182, 186, 187, 192,
van der Waals, Johannes Diderik 67, 100, 102–103, 103
Thomson, William (Lord Kelvin) 320 van Leeuwenhoek, Antonie 172, 175 206, 212, 213, 215, 287
absolute zero 84, 107, 114 van Musschenbroek, Pieter 120, 128 modulus 75
magnetoresistance 157 vaporisation 101, 102 Yukawa, Hideki 235, 247
thermodynamics 67, 88, 89, 96–99, 108, 110 vector fields 146 Z bosons 235, 257, 258, 259, 262, 263
Thorne, Kip 312, 314, 315 velocity Zeilinger, Anton 222
timbre 165 constant 274, 277, 282 Zeno of Elea 27
time escape 289 zero, concept of 26, 28
atomic clocks 229 fluids 66, 77 Zwicky, Fritz 302, 303
335
UOTATIONS
The following primary quotations are attributed 130 A tax on electrical energy 246 Opposites can explode
to people who are not the key figure for the Helen Czerski, British physicist Peter David, American writer
relevant topic. and oceanographer
252 A window on creation
134 Each metal has a certain power Michio Kaku, American physicist
MEASUREMENT AND MOTION Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist
and chemist 260 Nature is absurd
Richard Feynman
18 Man is the measure of all things
Protagoras, Greek philosopher 156 Animal electricity
261 The mystery of the missing neutrinos
Luigi Galvani, Italian physicist
John N. Bahcall, American astrophysicist
20 A prudent question is one
half of wisdom 157 A totally unexpected scientific
262 I think we have it
Francis Bacon, English philosopher discovery
Rolf-Dieter Heuer, German particle physicist
2007 Nobel Prize Committee
24 All is number
Motto of the Pythagoreans 158 An encyclopedia on the head of a pin
32 Bodies suffer no resistance but

Richard Feynman, American theoretical
physicist
RELATIVITY AND THE UNIVERSE
from the air 275 The sun as it was about eight
Isaac Newton, English mathematician minutes ago
and physicist
SOUND AND LIGHT Richard Kurin, American anthropologist
38 The most wonderful productions 281 Gravity is equivalent to acceleration
of the mechanical arts 170 A new visible world
Robert Hooke, English physicist David Morin, American academic
Mary L. Booth, American journalist and physicist
55 Energy can be neither created 180 Light is never known to bend into
282 Why is the traveling twin younger?
nor destroyed the shadow
Ronald C. Lasky, American academic
Julius von Mayer, German chemist Isaac Newton
and physicist 286 Where spacetime simply ends
196 The language of spectra is a true
Abhay Ashtekar, Indian theoretical
58 We must look to the heavens for music of the spheres
physicist
the measure of the Earth Arnold Sommerfeld, German
Jean Picard, French astronomer theoretical physicist 294 The future of the universe
Stephen Hawking, British cosmologist
202 A large fluctuating echo
Bernard Lovell, British physicist and 302 Visible matter alone is not enough
ENERGY AND MATTER radio astronomer Lisa Randall, American theoretical physicist
76 The minute parts of matter are 308 Threads in a tapestry

in rapid motion Sheldon Glashow, American theoretical
James Clerk Maxwell, Scottish physicist THE QUANTUM WORLD physicist
80 Searching out the fire-secret 208 The energy of light is distributed 312 Ripples in spacetime
Thomas Carlyle, Scottish philosopher discontinuously in space Govert Schilling, Dutch science writer
Albert Einstein, German-born theoretical
86 The energy of the universe physicist
is constant
Rudolf Clausius, German physicist 212 They do not behave like anything
and mathematician that you have ever seen
Richard Feynman
100 The fluid and its vapor become one
Michael Faraday, British physicist 222 Spooky action at a distance
Albert Einstein
ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM

NUCLEAR AND PARTICLE PHYSICS
124 The attraction of electricity
Joseph Priestley, British philosopher 238 A veritable transformation of matter
and chemist Ernest Rutherford, New Zealand–born
British physicist
128 Potential energy becomes
palpable motion 242 The bricks of which atoms are
William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), built up
Irish–Scottish physicist J.J. Thomson, British physicist
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Dorling Kindersley would like to thank Rose Blackett-Ord, Nadalin (bl). 107 iStockphoto.com: Danielle Kuck Science Photo Library: Peter Menzel (tr). 225 Getty
Rishi Bryan, Daniel Byrne, Helen Fewster, Dharini Ganesh, (br). 109 Getty Images: Imagno / Hulton Archive (bl). Images: Bettmann (bl). 228 Science Photo Library:
Anita Kakar, and Maisie Peppitt for editorial assistance; 110 SuperStock: Fototeca Gilardi / Marka (tr). 111 Patrick Gaillardin / Look At Sciences (tc). 229 NIST: G.E.
Mridushmita Bose, Mik Gates, Duncan Turner, and Dreamstime.com: Victor Zastol`skiy / Vicnt (bl). 115 Marti / JILA (cla). 230 Alamy Stock Photo: Ian Allenden
Anjali Sachar for design assistance; Alexandra Beeden Getty Images: Science & Society Picture Library (bl). (tl). 231 Getty Images: Robert Wallis / Corbis (tr). 237
for proofreading; Helen Peters for indexing; and Harish NASA: Far-infrared: ESA / Herschel / PACS / SPIRE / Alamy Stock Photo: Science History Images (bl). Dorling
Aggarwal (Senior DTP Designer), Priyanka Sharma Hill, Motte, HOBYS Key Programme Consortium; X-ray: Kindersley: Science Museum, London (tr). 239 Alamy
(Jackets Editorial Coordinator), and Saloni Singh ESA / XMM-Newton / EPIC / XMM-Newton-SOC / Stock Photo: The Print Collector / Heritage Images (tr).
(Managing Jackets Editor). Boulanger (tl). 117 Getty Images: Mark Garlick / Science 241 Getty Images: Print Collector / Hulton Archive (tr).
Photo Library (tr). 123 Wellcome Collection http:// 243 Getty Images: Photo 12 / Universal Images Group
PICTURE CREDITS
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/: (tr). 125 (bl). 244 Getty Images: Print Collector / Hulton Archive
Dreamstime.com: Danielkmalloy (tr). 127 Alamy (bl). 245 Science Photo Library: (tr). 249 Alamy Stock
Stock Photo: Interfoto / Personalities (bl). 129 Alamy Photo: Everett Collection Historical (tr). 251 Alamy Stock
The publisher would like to thank the following for Stock Photo: Prisma Archivo (bc). Dreamstime.com: Photo: Science History Images (tl, tr). 255 © CERN:
their kind permission to reproduce their photographs: Ovydyborets (bc/background). Wellcome Collection Maximilien Brice (tc). Science Photo Library: Emilio
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/: (tr). Segre Visual Archives / American Institute Of Physics (bl).
(Key: a-above; b-below/bottom; c-center; f-far; l-left; 132 Getty Images: Science & Society Picture Library (bl). 257 Getty Images: Bettmann (tr). 259 Alamy Stock
r-right; t-top) 133 iStockphoto.com: choness (bc). 135 Alamy Stock Photo: Science History Images (bl). Science Photo
Photo: Granger Historical Picture Archive (tr); World Library: CERN (tr). 260 Getty Images: The Asahi
19 akg-images: Rabatti & Domingie (tl). 21 Getty History Archive (tl). 137 Wellcome Collection http:// Shimbun (crb). 263 Getty Images: Colin McPherson /
Images: DEA / A. Dagli Orti (tr). 22 Wellcome Collection creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/: (bl). 139 Corbis Entertainment (tr). Science Photo Library:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/: (tr). Alamy Stock Photo: Science History Images (tr). 145 David Parker (cla). 265 Getty Images: EFDA-JET /
23 Alamy Stock Photo: Science History Images (bl). 26 Getty Images: Corbis Historical / Stefano Bianchetti (bl). Science Photo Library (cr). 270 Pixabay: ciprianbogacs
Alamy Stock Photo: AF Fotografie (bl). 27 iStockphoto. 147 Alamy Stock Photo: World History Archive (tr). (br). 271 Alamy Stock Photo: GL Archive (tr). 273
com: Photos.com (br). 28 Alamy Stock Photo: Science 149 Alamy Stock Photo: Everett Collection Historical NASA: JPL / DLR (cra). Wellcome Collection http://
History Images (b). 31 Getty Images: Pictorial Parade (tr). (cla). 151 iStockphoto.com: querbeet (bc). Wellcome creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/: (bl). 274
33 Dreamstime.com: Georgios Kollidas / Georgios (tr). Collection http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ Alamy Stock Photo: Prisma Archivo (cr). 279 Alamy
34 Getty Images: De Agostini / G. Nimatallah (br). 39 by/4.0/: (tr). 153 Alamy Stock Photo: Pictorial Press Ltd Stock Photo: Granger Historical Picture Archive (tr).
Alamy Stock Photo: North Wind Picture Archives (tl); (cb). 155 Science Photo Library: Emilio Segre Visual iStockphoto.com: wodeweitu (bc). 283 Getty Images:
Science History Images (br). 42 Alamy Stock Photo: Archives / American Institute Of Physics (tl). 156 Getty Keystone-France / Gamma-Keystone (tr). 285 Alamy
North Wind Picture Archives (bl). 45 Alamy Stock Images: Ken Kiefer 2 (bc). 158 Getty Images: Roger Stock Photo: Archive Pics (tr). NASA: GSFC / SDO (bl).
Photo: Mark Garlick / Science Photo Library (br). 49 The Ressmeyer / Corbis / VCG (br). 166 Dreamstime.com: 289 NASA: CXC / M.Weiss (bl). Science Photo Library:
Metropolitan Museum of Art: The Elisha Whittelsey James Steidl (br). 167 Alamy Stock Photo: FLHC 80 (tl). Emilio Segre Visual Archives / American Institute Of
Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1959 (tl). 50 Wellcome Collection http://creativecommons.org/ Physics (tr). 292 Alamy Stock Photo: Pictorial Press Ltd
iStockphoto.com: Iurii Buriak (clb). 51 Wellcome licenses/by/4.0/: (tr). 169 Alamy Stock Photo: The (bl). NASA: ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI /
Collection http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ Granger Collection (bl). Unsplash: Michael Heuser / @ AURA)-Hubble / Europe Collaboration (tr). 293 Alamy
by/4.0/: (bl). 53 Getty Images: Heritage Images / Hulton gum_meee (cra). 174 Science Photo Library: (tl). 175 Stock Photo: GL Archive (bl). 295 Alamy Stock Photo:
Archive (tr, bc). 55 Getty Images: Science & Society Getty Images: Science & Society Picture Library (bc). FLHC 96 (tr). 298 Alamy Stock Photo: Granger Historical
Picture Library (cb). 57 Alamy Stock Photo: Heritage Wellcome Collection http://creativecommons.org/ Picture Archive (bl). 299 Science Photo Library: NASA /
Image Partnership Ltd (tr). 61 Bureau International des licenses/by/4.0/: (tr). 177 Getty Images: Science Photo WMAP Science Team (br). 301 Alamy Stock Photo:
Poids et Mesures, BIPM: (bl). Rex by Shutterstock: Library / David Parker (tl). 179 Alamy Stock Photo: Granger Historical Picture Archive (br). NASA: ESA, and P.
Gianni Dagli Orti (tr). 63 National Physical Laboratory: Science History Images / Photo Researchers (tl). 181 Oesch (Yale University) (clb). 305 Alamy Stock Photo:
NPL Management Ltd (bl). NIST: Curt Suplee (tr). 69 Alamy Stock Photo: Durk Gardenier (cra). 182 Getty Dennis Hallinan (bl). Science Photo Library: Emilio Segre
Alamy Stock Photo: Archive World (tr); The Print Images: De Agostini Picture Library (tl). 183 Unsplash: Visual Archives / American Institute Of Physics (tr). 307
Collector / Oxford Science Archive / Heritage Images Lanju Fotografie / @lanju_fotografie (tl). 185 iStockphoto. NASA: JPL-Caltech (br). Rex by Shutterstock: (tl). 310
(cla). 73 Department of Engineering Science, com: Darunechka (br). 186 Wellcome Collection http:// eyevine: Jeff Singer / Redux (bl). 311 Alamy Stock
University of Oxford: Modern painting by Rita Greer (tr). creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/: (bl). 189 Getty Photo: BJ Warnick / Newscom (br). 315 Alamy Stock
74 Alamy Stock Photo: Science History Images (tl). 75 Images: Imagno / Hulton Archive (tr). 191 NASA: ESA, R. Photo: Caltech / UPI (tr). Getty Images: Mark Garlick /
Alamy Stock Photo: Francois Roux (tl). 77 Alamy Stock Ellis (Caltech), and the HUDF 2012 Team (br). 193 Alamy Science Photo Library (bl)
Photo: Pictorial Press Ltd (tr). 78 NOAA: Rare Books and Stock Photo: Cola Images (cla). 195 Alamy Stock Photo:
Special Collections - Daniel Bernouli’s Hydrodynamica (bl). World History Archive (tr). 197 Science Photo Library: All other images © Dorling Kindersley
81 Alamy Stock Photo: Science History Images (bl). Mark A. Schneider (cla). 199 Alamy Stock Photo: Archive For further information see: www.dkimages.com
Dreamstime.com: Mishatc (tr). 83 Alamy Stock Photo: Pics (tr). 201 Alamy Stock Photo: Lordprice Collection
The Granger Collection (br). 85 Alamy Stock Photo: (tr). Pixabay: KatinkavomWolfenmond / 57 images (bc).
Impress (tr); Science History Images (tl). 87 Pixabay: 203 Alamy Stock Photo: Geraint Lewis (bl). Science
Benita5 / 37 images (cla). 88 Dorling Kindersley: Photo Library: Max-Planck-Institut Fur Radioastronomie
courtesy of Engineering Expert Witness Blog (bl). 89 (tr). 210 NASA: (tl). 211 Alamy Stock Photo: Science
Alamy Stock Photo: Artokoloro Quint Lox Limited / History Images (tr). 214 Alamy Stock Photo: Science
liszt collection (tr). 91 Wellcome Collection http:// History Images (bl). 215 Getty Images: ullstein picture
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/: (cra). 92 Dtl. (bl). 216 Getty Images: Encyclopaedia Britannica /
Science Photo Library: J-L Charmet (bl). 96 Getty Universal Images Group (br). 217 Science Photo Library:
Images: Bettmann (bl). 97 Getty Images: Stocktrek Emilio Segre Visual Archives / American Institute Of
Images / Richard Roscoe (br). 98 ESO: (bl). 99 Getty Physics (tr). 219 Getty Images: Bettmann (br). 221
Images: Alicia Llop (br). 103 Alamy Stock Photo: Alamy Stock Photo: Pictorial Press Ltd (cla). 223 Getty
History and Art Collection (tr). Dreamstime.com: Franco Images: Mark Garlick / Science Photo Library (bc).

The Physics Book

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Physics Book

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Physics Book

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

What is the book about based on the document text provided?

What is the book about based on the document text provided?

What are some of the roles of people involved in creating the book?

What are some of the roles of people involved in creating the book?

BIG IDEAS

THE ART BOOK THE MATH BOOK

18 Man is the measure 46 The frame of the system

72 As the extension, so 112 Fetching some gold from

192 These mysterious waves

157 A totally unexpected 188 The trumpeters and the

274 No true times or true 312 Ripples in spacetime

This is why I have always had a fascination with

classical physics, which was to thermodynamics. British physicist

3000 BCE 3RD CENTURY BCE 1543 1656

4TH CENTURY BCE 1361 1603

Aristotle develops the French philosopher Nicholas Galileo Galilei shows

1668 1687 1752 1845

1663 1670 1740 1788 2019

THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD rely on detailed observation,

An experiment is carried out to test the hypothesis.

Testing and observation

The scientific method in practice

Central to calculus is the idea of

Islamic scholars gather in one of

If gravity is the only force acting on a moving

In this fresco by Giuseppe Bezzuoli,

THE MOST WONDERFUL

IN CONTEXT A pendulum takes the same time to swing in each direction

Movement does not occur because of inherent, invisible

There is neither more nor

Objects move at a constant Unless it moves in a vacuum,

and a feather on NASA’s Apollo 15

Bernoulli’s earlier work and

Newton’s laws of motion It is very difficult to

Joseph-Louis Lagrange Joseph-Louis

IN CONTEXT Measurements used to be defined by referring to a

The IPK emerged between cylinders.

The Greek philosophers British physicist and

5TH CENTURY BCE 1704 1769 1798

1678 1738 1787 1802

English polymath Swiss mathematician Jacques Charles discovers Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac

Dutchman Johannes German physicist Max

1824 1844 1873 1900

1803 1834 1865 1874

of atomism on the idea that it must

The rejection of atomism

Oxygen atom Hydrogen atoms Water molecule The atom is divisible

STRETCHING AND SQUEEZING 1829 German miner Wilhelm

Metal wound as a coil Hanging a weight on a

Young’s measure strength of various materials to between a material’s stress

An increase in a fluid’s A decrease in a fluid’s

This principle is known as Daniel Bernoulli

Heat and temperature must be different.

Galilean thermoscopes are tubes

The heat which disappears

Gases (including air) have

When a gas When a gas is

molecules varies exactly with the

1853 “On the General Law of

The first successful steam engine