Economou E.N. A Short Journey from Quarks to the Universe

Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2011 — 146p. — (SpringerBriefs in Physics) — ISBN: 978-3-642-20089-2 (eBook).This book takes the reader for a short journey over the structures of matter showing that their main properties can be obtained even at a quantitative level with a minimum background knowledge. The latter, besides some high school physics and mathematics, consists of the three cornerstones of science presented in chapters 1 to 3, namely the atomic idea, the wave-particle duality, and the minimization of energy as the condition for equilibrium. Dimensional analysis employing the universal constants and combined with “a little imagination and thinking”, to quote Feynman, allows an amazing short-cut derivation of several quantitative results concerning the structures of matter. This book is expected to be of interest to physics, engineering, and other science students and to researchers in physics, material science, chemistry, and engineering who may find stimulating the alternative derivation of several real world results, which sometimes seem to pop out the magician’s hat.Introduction: The World According to Physics
The Atomic Idea
The Wave-Particle Duality
Equilibrium and Minimization of Total Energy
Dimensional Analysis: A Short-cut to Physics Relations
From Quarks and Gluons To Hadrons
From Protons and Neutrons to Nuclei
From Nuclei and Electrons to Atoms
From Atoms to Molecules
From Atoms (or Molecules) to Solids (or Liquids)
Planets
Stars Dead Or Alive
The Observable Universe