The Nature of Science
Subtitle: An A-Z Guide to the Laws and Principles Governing Our Universe
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Published: April 14, 2003
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 434
ISBN-13: 9780618319381
First sentence: Galileo Galilei is one of those people who are famous for the wrong reason.
Description: "Cloning, black holes, Fermat's last theorem, genetic drift, the inflationary universe, Newton's laws of motion, string theories. With lively writing and whimsical analogies, science popularizer James Trefil leads a remarkable A-Z tour through the discovery, significance, and workings of the universe's major laws. Here are some two hundred essays on grand theories, such as Kepler's laws of planetary motion and Mendel's laws of genetics, and on more familiar phenomena, such as how airplanes fly and how polarized sunglasses work. Abundant cross-references make it easy to follow a law's connections across different fields, revealing a web of unifying theories that span the smallest cell and the largest galaxy. Timelines in each essay further spell out the evolution of each law, while biographical sidebars on scientists showcase the often quirky tales of discovery - the human stories behind nature's laws." "From atomic theory to Zeno's paradox, The Nature of Science makes understanding science a pleasure. For those who are familiar with the Big Bang (but maybe not the Big Crunch or the Big Splash), this book is essential reading - a key to unlocking the mysteries of the universe."--BOOK JACKET.
Table of contents: title: The Laws. Accelerated Motion, equations of -- Acid Rain -- Acids and Bases, theories of -- Allen's Rule -- Ampere's Law -- Angular Momentum, conservation of -- Animal Territoriality -- Anthropic Principle -- Antibiotics, resistance to -- Antiparticles -- Archimedes' Principle -- Argon, discovery of -- Atomic Theory -- Aufbau Principle -- Avogadro's Law -- Balance of Nature -- Band Theory of Solids -- BCS Theory of Superconductivity -- Beauty Criterion -- Bell's Theorem -- Bernoulli Effect -- Big Bang -- Biot-Savart Law -- Black Holes -- Black-Body Radiation -- Bohr Atom -- Bohr Explanation -- Boltzmann Constant -- Boyle's Law -- Bragg's Law -- Brewster's Law -- Brownian Motion -- Carbon Cycle -- Carnot's Principle -- Catalysts and Enzymes -- Cell Theory -- Centrifugal Force -- Chandrasekhar Limit -- Changes of State -- Charles's Law -- Chemical Bonds -- Cherenkov Radiation -- Chronology Protection Conjecture -- Circadian Rhythms -- Clausius-Clapeyron Equation -- Cloning -- Coevolution -- Cohesion-Tension Theory -- Competitive Exclusion, principle of -- Complementarity Principle -- Complex Adaptive Systems -- Compound Motion -- Compton Effect -- Copernican Principle -- Cope's Law -- Coriolis Effect -- Correspondence Principle -- Cosmic Triangle -- Cosmological Constant -- Coulomb's Law -- Curie Point -- Curie's Law -- Dalton's Law -- Dark Matter -- Davisson-Germer Experiment -- De Broglie Relation -- Determinism -- Deterministic Chaos -- Differential Resource Utilization -- Diffraction -- Dispersion, atomic theory of -- DNA -- Doppler Effect -- Drake Equation -- Early Universe -- Ecological Succession -- Electrical Charge, conservation of -- Electrical Properties of Matter -- Electromagnetic Spectrum -- Electron, discovery of -- Elementary Particles -- Equilibrium -- Equivalence Principle -- Evolution, theory of -- Exponential Growth -- Faraday's Laws of Electrolysis -- Faraday's Laws of Induction -- Fermat's Last Theorem -- Fermat's Principle -- Fermi Paradox -- Fibonacci Numbers -- Flame Test -- Fourier Analysis -- Free Electron Theory of Conduction -- Gaia Hypothesis -- Gauss's Law -- Genetic Code -- Genetic Drift -- Germ Theory of Disease -- Giant Impact Hypothesis -- Glycolysis and Respiration -- Godel's Incompleteness Theorems -- Goldbach Conjecture -- Graham's Law -- Green Revolution -- Greenhouse Effect -- Hall Effect -- Hardy-Weinberg Law -- Heat, atomic theory of -- Heat Transfer -- Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle -- Helium, discovery of -- Henry's Law -- Hershey-Chase Experiment -- Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram -- Hooke's Law -- Hubble's Law -- Human Genome Project -- Huygens' Principle -- Ideal Gas Law -- Immune System -- Inflationary Universe -- Interference -- Josephson Effect -- Kepler's Laws -- Kinetic Theory -- Kinship Selection -- Kirchhoff-Bunsen Discovery -- Kirchhoff's Laws -- Lamarckianism -- Lawson Criterion -- Le Chatelier's Principle -- Lenz's Law -- “Like Dissolves Like” -- Linear Momentum, conservation of -- Linnaean System of Classification -- MacArthur-Wilson Equilibrium Theory -- Magnetic Monopoles -- Magnetism -- Marginal Value Theorem -- Mass Extinctions -- Maximum Sustainable Yield -- Maxwell's Demon -- Maxwell's Equations -- Mendel's Laws -- Michelson-Morley Experiment -- Milankovic Cycles -- Miller-Urey Experiment -- Millikan Oil-Drop Experiment -- Mimicry -- Molecular Biology, central dogma of -- Molecular Clock -- Molecular Orbital Theory -- Molecules of Life -- Moore's Law -- Murphy's Law -- Mutuality, principle of -- Nebular Hypothesis -- Nerve Signals, propagation of -- Newton's Law of Gravitation -- Newton's Laws of Motion -- Nitrogen Cycle -- Nuclear Fusion and Fission -- Null Hypothesis -- Occam's Razor -- Octet Rule -- Oersted Discovery -- Ohm's Law -- Olbers' Paradox -- “Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny” -- Optimal Foraging Theory -- Ozone Hole -- Pauli Exclusion Principle -- Penicillin, discovery of -- Periodic Table -- Period-Luminosity Relation -- Perpetual Motion -- Phlogiston -- Photoelectric Effect -- Photosynthesis -- Planck Constant -- Plate Tectonics -- Predator-Prey Relationships -- Proteins -- Quantum Chromodynamics -- Quantum Mechanics -- Quantum Tunneling -- Quarks and the Eightfold Way -- Radioactive Decay -- Radiometric Dating -- Rayleigh Criterion -- Reflection, law of -- Relativity -- Reproductive Strategies -- Reynolds Number -- Robotics, the three laws of -- Rock Cycle -- Rutherford Experiment -- Rydberg Constant -- Schrodinger's Equation -- Shock Waves -- Snell's Law -- Social Darwinism -- Species-Area Law -- Spectroscopy -- Spontaneous Generation -- Standard Model -- States of Matter -- Steady-State Theory -- Stefan-Boltzmann Law -- Stellar Evolution -- Stem Cells -- Stern-Gerlach Experiment -- String Theories -- Superposition, law of -- Surface Tension -- Symbiosis -- Terminal Velocity -- Theories of Everything -- Thermal Expansion, law of -- Thermodynamics, first law of -- Thermodynamics, second law of -- Thermodynamics, third law of -- Titius-Bode Law -- Triune brain -- Turing Test -- Tyndall Effect -- Uniformitarianism -- Urea, synthesis of -- Van Helmont Experiment -- Vital Force -- Water Cycle -- Zeeman Effect -- Zeno's Paradox.