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The Elements of Relativity David M. Wittman (Professor, Professor, University of California, Davis)

The Elements of Relativity By David M. Wittman (Professor, Professor, University of California, Davis)

The Elements of Relativity by David M. Wittman (Professor, Professor, University of California, Davis)


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Summary

This undergraduate textbook introduces relativity to a non-technical audience. The thinking tools approach allows readers to understand at a much deeper level than popular treatments, and end-of-chapter problems (always lacking in popular books) help build and cement that understanding.

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The Elements of Relativity Summary

The Elements of Relativity by David M. Wittman (Professor, Professor, University of California, Davis)

Relativity has much to offer for a well-rounded education. Yet books on relativity either assume a strong background in physics and math, aimed at advanced physics students, or, alternatively, offer a broad description with little intellectual challenge. This book bridges the gap. It aims at readers with essentially no physics or math background, who still find it rewarding to think rigorously. The book takes a thinking tools approach, by first making readers comfortable with a new thinking tool and then applying it to learn more about how nature works. By the end of the book, readers will have collected a versatile toolbox and will be comfortable using the tools to think about and really understand the intriguing phenomena they may have only heard about, including the twin paradox, black holes, and time travel. End-of-chapter exercises span a range of difficulty, allowing adventurous readers to stretch their understanding further as desired. Students who have studied, or are studying, relativity at a more mathematical level will also find the book useful for a more conceptual understanding.

The Elements of Relativity Reviews

The Elements of Relativity is unique: Wittman writes for students who lack a detailed physics background but who still wish to learn about the nature of space-time, black holes, and astronomical phenomena like gravitational lensing. The book successfully builds the necessary physics fundamentals at a reasonable pace to allow the reader to tackle the most sophisticated concepts by the end of the book. Highly recommended. * C. Palma, CHOICE *

About David M. Wittman (Professor, Professor, University of California, Davis)

David M. Wittman is a professor at the University of California, Davis. He has discovered millions of galaxies as co-PI of the Deep Lens Survey, which was awarded over 100 nights on 4-m telescopes to study a representative sample of the universe. But discovering millions of galaxies was just the easy part. He analyzed the galaxies' shapes to reveal subtle distortions caused by the gravitational fields of foreground masses, an effect called weak gravitational lensing. He was the first to detect cosmic shear, or weak lensing by the large-scale structure of the universe. He was also the first to detect a cluster of galaxies through its gravitational effects alone, and the first to combine source redshift information with lensing to probe structure in three dimensions (tomography).

Table of Contents

1: A First Look at Relativity 2: Acceleration and Force 3: Galilean Relativity 4: Reasoning with Frames and Spacetime Diagrams 5: The Speed of Light 6: Time Slow 7: Time Dilation and Length Contraction 8: Special Relativity: Putting it All Together 9: Doppler Effect and Velocity Addition Law 10: The Twin Paradox 11: Spacetime Geometry 12: Energy and Momentum 13: The Equivalence Principle 14: Gravity Reframed 15: Potential 16: Newtonian Gravity 17: Orbits 18: General Relativity and teh Schwarzschild Metric 19: Beyond the Schwarschild Metric 20: Black Holes

Additional information

CIN0199658641G
9780199658640
0199658641
The Elements of Relativity by David M. Wittman (Professor, Professor, University of California, Davis)
Used - Good
Paperback
Oxford University Press
20180606
324
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - The Elements of Relativity