Free Physics Textbook (was: Re: REALLY OT: News Flash)
On Wed, Feb 28, 2007 at 04:37:06PM -0800, Andrew Sackville-West wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 28, 2007 at 05:46:15PM -0600, Cybe R. Wizard wrote:
> > hendrik@topoi.pooq.com said:
> > > It turns out that when you add the mass of the matter in the universe
> > > to the gravitational potential energy (which happens to be negative),
> > > that the sum of the two is "suspiciously close to zero" (to quota a
> > > famous physicist whose name I can't remember).
> >
> > Hmm, the universe as one of a pair of virtual particles on the event
> > horizon of a /whale/ of a black hole...
> > That has possibilities. I started to type, "real possibilities," but
> > what does that /mean/ in this context?
>
> I was thinking that too, but didn't have the guts. How about the
> universe as one particle of the two created in vacuum... can't
> remember what the term is but a particle and anti-particle randomly
> appearing and then anniahilating each other shortly thereafter.
pair creation and annihilation
> what
> is that called? null-point energy?
>
zero-point energy
For more fun, have a look at Motion Mountain, the free textbook of
physics:
http://www.motionmountain.net/
Yes, you need the math to understand *all* of it. But there are lots of
expository passages, even chapters, that explain the point of all the
rest, rather then presenting it in highly technical fashion. Though
there is the technical stuff, too, for those that want it.
Look at random chapters; they're diverse in style.
-- hendrik
> A
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