Al-Khalili Black Holes, Wormholes and Time Machines, Second Edition

2. Auflage 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4398-8560-4
Verlag: Taylor & Francis
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 206 Seiten

Bringing the material up to date, Black Holes, Wormholes and Time Machines, Second Edition captures the new ideas and discoveries made in physics since the publication of the best-selling first edition. While retaining the popular format and style of its predecessor, this edition explores the latest developments in high-energy astroparticle physics and Big Bang cosmology.

The book continues to make the ideas and theories of modern physics easily understood by anyone, from researchers to students to general science enthusiasts. Taking you on a journey through space and time, author Jim Al-Khalili covers some of the most fascinating topics in physics today, including:

- Black holes

- Space warps

- The Big Bang

- Time travel

- Wormholes

- Parallel universes

Professor Al-Khalili explains often complex scientific concepts in simple, nontechnical terms and imparts an appreciation of the cosmos, helping you see how time traveling may not be so far-fetched after all.

Zielgruppe

General public, popular science audience, and 14-16 year old school level physics students; undergraduate students taking a general physics course.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Al-Khalili, Jim

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Populärwissenschaftliche Werke
• Naturwissenschaften Astronomie Kosmologie, Urknalltheorie
• Naturwissenschaften Astronomie Astronomie: Sachbuch
• Naturwissenschaften Physik Angewandte Physik Astrophysik
• Naturwissenschaften Astronomie Astrophysik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

SPACE
The 4th Dimension
To do with shapes
What is space?
2Dworld and 2D’ers
Curved space
Is there really a 4th dimension?

Matters of Some Gravity
Apples and moons
Einstein’s gravity
Free fall
Rubber space
Twinkle, twinkle
Cooking the elements
Champagne supernova in the sky

The Universe
The night sky
How big is the Universe?
The expanding Universe
Hubble, bubble …
Space is stretching
Did the Big Bang really happen?
The edge of space
A closed universe
An open universe
What shape is the Universe then?
Invisible matter
1998: a big year in cosmology
Is the Universe infinite?
Why is it dark at night?
Before the Big Bang?
Summary

Black Holes
More to light than meets the eye!
Invisible stars
Beyond the horizon
A hole that can never be filled
Spinning black holes
Falling into a black hole
To see a black hole
Not so black after all
White holes

TIME
Times Are Changing
What is time?
Who invented time?
The first moment
Does time flow?
Something called entropy
Arrows of time
Stephen Hawking gets it wrong
A possible solution

Einstein’s Time
What is so special about special relativity?
The two faces of light
Thought experiments and brain-teasers
Slowing down time
Shrinking distances
Light—the world speed record
When time runs backwards
Little green men
Fast-forward to the future
Spacetime—the future is out there
Gravitational times

Time Travel Paradoxes
The Terminator paradox
Trying to save the dinosaurs
Mona Lisa’s sister
No way out?
Parallel universes
Where are all the time travelers?

TIME MACHINES
Wormholes
A bridge to another world
Alice through the looking glass
When science fact met science fiction
Wormholes—keeping the star gate open
Visiting a parallel universe

How to Build a Time Machine
Time loops
The Tipler time machine
Cosmic string time machines
A recipe for a wormhole time machine
Insurmountable problems?

What Do We Know?
The mother of all theories
The end of theoretical physics
What might new experiments tell us?
Astronomy versus astrology
The fascination of science

Suggestions for Further Reading

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Jim Al-Khalili is a professor of physics at the University of Surrey. While still an active researcher in theoretical physics, Dr. Al-Khalili has become a well-known science communicator in the UK, with regular appearances on television and radio science documentaries. He was awarded the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize for science communication in 2007 and the Institute of Physics Kelvin Medal in 2011. He became an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to science in 2008.