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| Preface | |
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| The Origins of Scientific Cosmology | |
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| The Astronomy of Ancient Greece | |
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| The Motions of Stars, Suns, and Planets | |
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| Plato's Problem | |
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| The Aristotelian System | |
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| How Big Is the Earth? | |
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| The Heliocentric Theory | |
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| Modified Geocentric Theories | |
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| The Success of the Ptolemaic System | |
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| Copernicus' Heliocentric Theory | |
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| Europe Reborn | |
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| The Copernican System | |
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| Bracing the System | |
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| The Opposition to Copernicus's Theory | |
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| Historic Consequences | |
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| On the Nature of Scientific Theory | |
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| The Purpose of Theories | |
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| The Problem of Change: Atomism | |
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| Theories of Vision | |
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| Criteria for a Good Theory in Physical Science | |
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| Kepler's Laws | |
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| The Life of Johannes Kepler | |
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| Kepler's First Law | |
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| Kepler's Second Law | |
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| Kepler's Third Law | |
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| Kepler's Theory of Vision | |
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| The New Concept of Physical Law | |
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| Galileo and the New Astronomy | |
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| The Life of Galileo | |
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| The Telescopic Evidences for the Copernican System | |
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| Toward a Physical Basis for the Heliocentric System | |
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| Science and Freedom | |
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| The Study of Motion | |
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| Mathematics and the Description of Motion | |
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| Rene Descartes | |
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| Constant Velocity | |
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| The Concept of Average Speed | |
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| Instantaneous Speed | |
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| Acceleration | |
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| Oresme's Graphical Proof of the Mean-speed Theorem | |
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| Equations of Motion for Constant Acceleration | |
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| Galileo and the Kinematics of Free Fall | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Aristotelian Physics | |
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| Galileo's Two New Sciences | |
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| Galileo's Study of Accelerated Motion | |
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| Projectile Motion | |
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| Projectile with Initial Horizontal Motion | |
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| Introduction to Vectors | |
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| The General Case of Projectile Motion | |
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| Applications of the Law of Projectile Motion | |
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| Galileo's Conclusions | |
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| Summary | |
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| Newton's Laws and His System of the World | |
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| Newton's Laws of Motion | |
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| Science in the Seventeenth Century | |
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| A Short Sketch of Newton's Life | |
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| Newton's Principia | |
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| Newton's First Law of Motion | |
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| Newton's Second Law of Motion | |
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| Standard of Mass | |
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| Weight | |
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| The Equal-Arm Balance | |
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| Inertial and Gravitational Mass | |
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| Examples and Applications of Newton's Second Law of Motion | |
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| Newton's Third Law of Motion | |
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| Examples and Applications of Newton's Third Law | |
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| Rotational Motion | |
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| Kinematics of Uniform Circular Motion | |
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| Centripetal Acceleration | |
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| Derivation of the Formula for Centripetal Acceleration and Force | |
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| The Earth's Centripetal Acceleration and Absolute Distances in the Solar System | |
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| Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation | |
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| Derivation of the Law of Universal Gravitation | |
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| Gravitating Planets and Kepler's Third Law | |
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| The Cavendish Experiment: The Constant of Gravitation | |
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| The Masses of the Earth, Sun, and Planets | |
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| Some Influences on Newton's Work | |
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| Some Consequences of the Law of Universal Gravitation | |
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| The Discovery of New Planets Using Newton's Theory of Gravity | |
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| Bode's Law: An Apparent Regularity in the Positions of the Planets | |
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| Gravity and the Galaxies | |
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| "I Do Not Feign Hypotheses" | |
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| Newton's Place in Modern Science | |
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| Structure and Method in Physical Science | |
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| On the Nature of Concepts | |
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| Introduction: The Search for Constancies in Change | |
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| Science and Nonscience | |
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| The Lack of a Single Method | |
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| Physical Concepts: Measurement and Definition | |
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| Physically Meaningless Concepts and Statements | |
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| Primary and Secondary Qualities | |
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| Mathematical Law and Abstraction | |
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| Explanation | |
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| On the Duality and Growth of Science | |
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| The Free License of Creativity | |
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| "Private" Science and "Public" Science | |
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| The Natural Selection of Physical Concepts | |
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| Motivation | |
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| Objectivity | |
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| Fact and Interpretation | |
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| How Science Grows | |
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| Consequences of the Model | |
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| On the Discovery of Laws | |
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| Opinions on Scientific Procedure | |
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| A Sequence of Elements in Formulations of Laws | |
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| The Limitations of Physical Law | |
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| The Content of Science: Summary | |
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| The Laws of Conservation | |
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| The Law of Conservation of Mass | |
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| Prelude to the Conservation Law | |
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| Steps Toward a Formulation | |
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| Lavoisier's Experimental Proof | |
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| Is Mass Really Conserved? | |
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| The Law of Conservation of Momentum | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Definition of Momentum | |
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| Momentum and Newton's Laws of Motion | |
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| Examples Involving Collisions | |
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| Examples Involving Explosions | |
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| Further Examples | |
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| Does Light Have Momentum? | |
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| Angular Momentum | |
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| The Law of Conservation of Energy | |
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| Christiaan Huygens and the Kinetic Energy (Vis Viva) Concept | |
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| Preliminary Questions: The Pile Driver | |
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| The Concept of Work | |
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| Various Forms of Energy | |
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| The Conservation Law: First Form and Applications | |
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| Extensions of the Conservation Law | |
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| Historical Background of the Generalized Law of Conservation of Energy: The Nature of Heat | |
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| Mayer's Discovery of Energy Conservation | |
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| Joule's Experiments on Energy Conservation | |
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| General Illustration of the Law of Conservation of Energy | |
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| Conservation Laws and Symmetry | |
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| The Law of Dissipation of Energy | |
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| Newton's Rejection of the "Newtonian World Machine" | |
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| The Problem of the Cooling of the Earth | |
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| The Second Law of Thermodynamics and the Dissipation of Energy | |
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| Entropy and the Heat Death | |
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| Origins of the Atomic Theory in Physics and Chemistry | |
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| The Physics of Gases | |
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| The Nature of Gases--Early Concepts | |
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| Air Pressure | |
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| The General Gas Law | |
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| Two Gas Models | |
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| The Atomic Theory of Chemistry | |
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| Chemical Elements and Atoms | |
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| Dalton's Model of Gases | |
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| Properties of Dalton's Chemical Atom | |
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| Dalton's Symbols for Representing Atoms | |
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| The Law of Definite Proportions | |
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| Dalton's Rule of Simplicity | |
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| The Early Achievements of Dalton's Theory | |
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| Gay-Lussac's Law of Combining Volumes of Reacting Gases | |
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| Avogadro's Model of Gases | |
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| An Evaluation of Avogadro's Theory | |
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| Chemistry After Avogadro: The Concept of Valence | |
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| Molecular Weights | |
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| The Periodic Table of Elements | |
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| The Search for Regularity in the List of Elements | |
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| The Early Periodic Table of Elements | |
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| Consequences of the Periodic Law | |
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| The Modern Periodic Table | |
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| The Kinetic-Molecular Theory of Gases | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Some Qualitative Successes of the Kinetic- Molecular Theory | |
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| Model of a Gas and Assumptions in the Kinetic Theory | |
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| The Derivation of the Pressure Formula | |
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| Consequences and Verification of the Kinetic Theory | |
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| The Distribution of Molecular Velocities | |
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| Additional Results and Verifications of the Kinetic Theory | |
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| Specific Heats of Gases | |
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| The Problem of Irreversibility in the Kinetic Theory: Maxwell's Demon | |
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| The Recurrence Paradox | |
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| Light and Electromagnetism | |
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| The Wave Theory of Light | |
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| Theories of Refraction and the Speed of Light | |
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| The Propagation of Periodic Waves | |
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| The Wave Theory of Young and Fresnel | |
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| Color | |
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| Electrostatics | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Electrification by Friction | |
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| Law of Conservation of Charge | |
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| A Modern Model for Electrification | |
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| Insulators and Conductors | |
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| The Electroscope | |
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| Coulomb's Law of Electrostatics | |
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| The Electrostatic Field | |
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| Lines of Force | |
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| Electric Potential Difference--Qualitative Discussion | |
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| Potential Difference--Quantitative Discussion | |
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| Uses of the Concept of Potential | |
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| Electrochemistry | |
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| Atomicity of Charge | |
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| Electromagnetism, X-Rays, and Electrons | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Currents and Magnets | |
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| Electromagnetic Waves and Ether | |
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| Hertz's Experiments | |
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| Cathode Rays | |
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| X-rays and the Turn of the Century | |
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| The "Discovery of the Electron" | |
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| The Quantum Theory of Light | |
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| Continuous Emission Spectra | |
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| Planck's Empirical Emission Formula | |
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| The Quantum Hypothesis | |
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| The Photoelectric Effect | |
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| Einstein's Photon Theory | |
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| The Photon-Wave Dilemma | |
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| Applications of the Photon Concept | |
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| Quantization in Science | |
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| The Atom and the Universe in Modern Physics | |
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| Radioactivity and the Nuclear Atom | |
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| Early Research on Radioactivity and Isotopes | |
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| Radioactive Half-Life | |
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| Radioactive Series | |
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| Rutherford's Nuclear Model | |
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| Moseley's X-Ray Spectra | |
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| Further Concepts of Nuclear Structure | |
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| Bohr's Model of the Atom | |
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| Line Emission Spectra | |
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| Absorption Line Spectra | |
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| Balmer's Formula | |
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| Niels Bohr and the Problem of Atomic Structure | |
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| Energy Levels in Hydrogen Atoms | |
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| Further Developments | |
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| Quantum Mechanics | |
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| Recasting the Foundations of Physics Once More | |
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| The Wave Nature of Matter | |
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| Knowledge and Reality in Quantum Mechanics | |
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| Systems of Identical Particles | |
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| Einstein's Theory of Relativity | |
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| Biographical Sketch of Albert Einstein | |
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| The FitzGerald-Lorentz Contraction | |
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| Einstein's Formulation (1905) | |
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| Galilean Transformation Equations | |
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| The Relativity of Simultaneity | |
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| The Relativistic (Lorentz) Transformation Equations | |
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| Consequences and Examples | |
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| The Equivalence of Mass and Energy | |
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| Relativistic Quantum Mechanics | |
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| The General Theory of Relativity | |
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| The Origin of the Solar System and the Expanding Universe | |
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| The Nebular Hypothesis | |
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| Planetesimal and Tidal Theories | |
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| Revival of Monistic Theories After 1940 | |
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| Nebulae and Galaxies | |
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| The Expanding Universe | |
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| Lemaitre's Primeval Atom | |
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| Construction of the Elements and the Universe | |
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| Nuclear Physics in the 1930s | |
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| Formation of the Elements in Stars | |
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| Fission and the Atomic Bomb | |
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| Big Bang or Steady State? | |
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| Discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Radiation | |
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| Beyond the Big Bang | |
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| Thematic Elements and Styles in Science | |
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| The Thematic Element in Science | |
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| Themata in the History of Science | |
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| Styles of Thought in Science and Culture | |
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| Epilogue | |
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| Appendixes | |
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| Abbreviations and Symbols | |
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| Metric System Prefixes, Greek Alphabet, Roman Numerals | |
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| Defined Values, Fundamental Constants and Astronomical Data | |
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| Conversion Factors | |
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| Systems of Units | |
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| Alphabetic List of the Elements | |
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| Periodic Table of Elements | |
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| Summary of Some Trigonometric Relations | |
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| Vector Algebra | |
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| General Bibliography | |
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| Credits | |
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| Index | |