Doing physics
Subtitle: how physicists take hold of the world
By: Martin H. Krieger
Edition: Second edition.
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: 2012
Language: eng
Number of pages: 218
ISBN-13: 9780253006073; 9780253006080
Subjects: Ethnology; Physicists; Social aspects; Science; Philosophy; Physics; Methodology
Description: This book makes concepts of physics easier to grasp by relating them to everyday knowledge. Addressing some of the models and metaphors that physicists use to explain the physical world, Martin H. Krieger describes the conceptual world of physics by means of analogies to economics, anthropology, theater, carpentry, mechanisms such as clockworks, and machine tool design. The interaction of elementary particles or chemical species, for example, can be related to the theory of kinship - who can marry whom is like what can interact with what. Likewise, the description of physical situations in terms of interdependent particles and fields is analogous to the design of a factory with its division of labour among specialists. For the new edition, Krieger has revised the text and added a chapter on the role of mathematics and formal models in physics.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.