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Preface to the Instructor
Introductory physics texts have grown ever larger, more massive, more encyclopedic,
more colorful, and more expensive. Essential University Physics bucks that trend—with-
out compromising coverage, pedagogy, or quality. The text benefits from the author’s three
decades of teaching introductory physics, seeing firsthand the difficulties and misconcep-
tions that students face as well as the “Got It!” moments when big ideas become clear. It
also builds on the author’s honing multiple editions of a previous calculus-based textbook
and on feedback from hundreds of instructors and students.

Goals of This Book


Physics is the fundamental science, at once fascinating, challenging, and subtle—and yet
simple in a way that reflects the few basic principles that govern the physical universe. My
goal is to bring this sense of physics alive for students in a range of academic ­disciplines
who need a solid calculus-based physics course—whether they’re engineers, physics
­majors, premeds, biologists, chemists, geologists, mathematicians, computer scientists,
or other majors. My own courses are populated by just such a variety of students, and
among my greatest joys as a teacher is having students who took a course only because it
was ­required say afterward that they really enjoyed their exposure to the ideas of physics.
More specifically, my goals include:
● Helping students build the analytical and quantitative skills and confidence needed
to apply physics in problem solving for science and engineering.
● Addressing key misconceptions and helping students build a stronger conceptual
understanding.
● Helping students see the relevance and excitement of the physics they’re studying
with contemporary applications in science, technology, and everyday life.
● Helping students develop an appreciation of the physical universe at its most
­fundamental level.
● Engaging students with an informal, conversational writing style that balances
­precision with approachability.

New to the Third Edition


The overall theme for this third-edition revision is to present a more unified view of
­physics, emphasizing “big ideas” and the connections among different topics covered
throughout the book. We’ve also updated material and features based on feedback from
­instructors, students, and reviewers. A modest growth, averaging about one page per
chapter, allows for expanded coverage of topics where additional elaboration seemed
­warranted. Several chapters have had major rewrites of key physics topics. We’ve also
made a number of additions and modifications aimed at improving students’ understand-
ing, ­increasing ­relevancy, and offering expanded problem-solving opportunities.
● Chapter opening pages have been redesigned to include explicit connections, both
textual and graphic, with preceding and subsequent chapters.
● The presentation of energy and work in Chapters 6 and 7 has been extensively
­rewritten with a clearer invocation of systems concepts. Internal energy is
­introduced much earlier in the book, and potential energy is carefully presented as
a property not of objects but of systems. Two new sections in Chapter 7 ­emphasize
the universality of energy conservation, including the role of internal energy
in ­systems subject to dissipative forces. Forward references tie this material to
the chapters on thermodynamics, electromagnetism, and relativity. The updated
­treatment of energy also allows the text to make a closer connection between the
conservation laws for energy and momentum.
7
8 Preface to the Instructor

● The presentation of magnetic flux and Faraday’s law in Chapter 27 has been
recast so as to distinguish motional emf from emfs induced by changing magnetic
fields—including Einstein’s observation about induction, which is presented as a
forward-looking connection to Chapter 33.
● There is more emphasis on calculus in earlier chapters, allowing instructors who wish
to do so to use calculus approaches to topics that are usually introduced a­ lgebraically.
We’ve also added more calculus-based problems. However, we c­ ontinue to empha-
size the standard approach in the main text for those who teach the course with a
­calculus corequisite or otherwise want to go slowly with more challenging math.
● A host of new applications connects the physics concepts that students are l­earning
with contemporary technological and biomedical innovations, as well as recent
scientific discoveries. A sample of new applications includes Inertial Guidance
Systems, Vehicle Stability Control, Climate Modeling, Electrophoresis, MEMS
(Microelectromechanical Systems), The Taser, Uninterruptible Power Supplies,
Geomagnetic Storms, PET Scans, Noise-Cancelling Headphones, Femtosecond
Chemistry, Windows on the Universe, and many more.
● Additional worked examples have been added in areas where students show the
need for more practice in problem solving. Many of these are not just artificial
­textbook problems but are based on contemporary science and technology, such
as the Mars Curiosity rover landing, the Fukushima accident, and the Chelyabinsk
­meteor. Following user requests, we’ve added an example of a collision in the
center-of-mass reference frame.
● New GOT IT? boxes, now in nearly every section of every chapter, provide quick
checks on students’ conceptual understanding. Many of the GOT IT? questions
have been formatted as Clicker questions, available in the Instructor’s Resource
Area in Mastering.
● End-of chapter problem sets have been extensively revised:
● Each EOC problem set has at least 10 percent new or substantially revised

­problems.
● More “For Thought and Discussion Questions” have been added.

● Nearly every chapter has more intermediate-level problems.

● More calculus-based problems have been added.

● Every chapter now has at least one data problem, designed to help students

­develop strong quantitative reasoning skills. These problems present a data ­table
and require students to determine appropriate functions of the data to plot in
­order to achieve a linear relationship and from that to find values of physical
quantities involved in the experiment from which the data were taken.
● New tags have been added to label appropriate problems. These include CH

(challenge), ENV (environmental), and DATA, and they join the previous BIO
and COMP (computer) problem tags.
● QR codes in margins allow students to use smartphones or other devices for i­mmediate
access to video tutor demonstrations that illustrate selected concepts while challenging
­students to interact with the video by predicting outcomes of simple experiments.
● References to PhET simulations appear in the margins where appropriate.
● As with earlier revisions, we’ve incorporated new research results, new applications
of physics principles, and findings from physics education research.

Pedagogical Innovations
This book is concise, but it’s also progressive in its embrace of proven techniques from
­physics education research and strategic in its approach to learning physics. C
­ hapter 1
­introduces the IDEA framework for problem solving, and every one of the book’s
­subsequent worked examples employs this framework. IDEA—an acronym for I­ dentify,
Develop, Evaluate, Assess—is not a “cookbook” method for students to apply mind-
lessly, but rather a tool for organizing students’ thinking and discouraging equation
hunting. It ­begins with an interpretation of the problem and an identification of the key
Preface to the Instructor 9

p­ hysics ­concepts involved; develops a plan for reaching the solution; carries out the math-
ematical evaluation; and ­assesses the solution to see that it makes sense, to compare the
­example with others, and to mine additional insights into physics. In nearly all of the
text’s worked ­examples, the Develop phase includes making a drawing, and most of these
use a ­hand-drawn style to ­encourage students to make their own drawings—a step that
­research suggests they often skip. IDEA provides a common approach to all physics prob-
lem solving, an approach that emphasizes the conceptual unity of physics and helps break
the ­typical student view of physics as a hodgepodge of equations and unrelated ideas. In
­addition to IDEA-based worked examples, other pedagogical features include:
● Problem-Solving Strategy boxes that follow the IDEA framework to provide
­detailed guidance for specific classes of physics problems, such as Newton’s ­
second law, conservation of energy, thermal-energy balance, Gauss’s law, or
multiloop ­circuits.
● Tactics boxes that reinforce specific essential skills such as differentiation, setting
up integrals, vector products, drawing free-body diagrams, simplifying series and
parallel circuits, or ray tracing.
● QR codes in the textbook allow students to link to video tutor demonstrations as
they read, using their smartphones. These “Pause and predict” videos of key phys-
ics concepts ask students to submit a prediction before they see the outcome. The
videos are also available in the Study Area of Mastering and in the Pearson eText.
● Got It? boxes that provide quick checks for students to test their conceptual
­understanding. Many of these use a multiple-choice or quantitative ranking format
to probe student misconceptions and facilitate their use with classroom-response
systems. Many new GOT IT? boxes have been added in the third edition, and now
nearly every section of every chapter has at least one GOT IT? box.
● Tips that provide helpful problem-solving hints or warn against common pitfalls
and misconceptions.
● Chapter openers that include a graphical indication of where the chapter lies in
sequence as well as three columns of points that help make connections with other
material throughout the book. These include a backward-looking “What You Know,”
“What You’re Learning” for the present chapter, and a forward-looking “How You’ll
Use It.” Each chapter also includes an opening photo, captioned with a question
whose answer should be evident after the student has completed the c­ hapter.
● Applications, self-contained presentations typically shorter than half a page,
­provide interesting and contemporary instances of physics in the real world, such as
bicycle stability; flywheel energy storage; laser vision correction; ­ultracapacitors;
noise-cancelling headphones; wind energy; magnetic resonance imaging; smart-
phone gyroscopes; ­combined-cycle power generation; circuit models of the cell
membrane; CD, DVD, and Blu-ray technologies; radiocarbon dating; and many,
many more.
● For Thought and Discussion questions at the end of each chapter designed for
peer learning or for self-study to enhance students’ conceptual understanding of
physics.
● Annotated figures that adopt the research-based approach of including simple
“instructor’s voice” commentary to help students read and interpret pictorial and
graphical information.
● End-of-chapter problems that begin with simpler exercises keyed to individual
chapter sections and ramp up to more challenging and often multistep problems
that synthesize chapter material. Context-rich problems focusing on real-world
­situations are interspersed throughout each problem set.
● Chapter summaries that combine text, art, and equations to provide a ­synthesized
overview of each chapter. Each summary is hierarchical, beginning with the
­chapter’s “big ideas,” then focusing on key concepts and equations, and ending with
a list of “applications”—specific instances or applications of the physics presented
in the chapter.
10 Preface to the Instructor

Organization
This contemporary book is concise, strategic, and progressive, but it’s traditional in its
organization. Following the introductory Chapter 1, the book is divided into six parts.
Part One (Chapters 2–12) develops the basic concepts of mechanics, including ­Newton’s
laws and conservation principles as applied to single particles and multiparticle s­ ystems.
Part Two (Chapters 13–15) extends mechanics to oscillations, waves, and fluids.
Part Three (Chapters 16–19) covers thermodynamics. Part Four (Chapters 20–29) deals
with e­ lectricity and magnetism. Part Five (Chapters 30–32) treats optics, first in the
­geometrical optics approximation and then including wave phenomena. Part Six (Chapters
33–39) i­ntroduces relativity and quantum physics. Each part begins with a brief descrip-
tion of its coverage, and ends with a conceptual summary and a challenge problem that
synthesizes ideas from several chapters.
Essential University Physics is available in two paperback volumes, so students can
purchase only what they need—making the low-cost aspect of this text even more attrac-
tive. Volume 1 includes Parts One, Two, and Three, mechanics through thermodynamics.
Volume 2 contains Parts Four, Five, and Six, electricity and magnetism along with optics
and modern physics.

Instructor Supplements
NOTE: For convenience, all of the following instructor sup­ randomized values (with sig fig feedback) or solutions.
plements can be downloaded from the Instructor’s Resource This third edition includes nearly 400 new problems
Area of MasteringPhysics® (www.masteringphysics.com) as written by the author­explictly for use with
well as from the Instructor’s Resource Center on www.pearson ­MasteringPhysics.
globaleditions.com/Wolfson. ● Learning Catalytics is a “bring your own device”
student engagement, ­assessment, and classroom
● The Instructor’s Solutions Manual contains solutions
­intelligence system that is based on cutting-edge
to all end-of-chapter exercises and problems, written in
­research, ­innovation, and implementation of interactive
the Interpret/Develop/Evaluate/Assess (IDEA) problem-
teaching and peer instruction. With Learning Catalytics
solving framework. The solutions are provided in PDF
pre-lecture questions, you can see what students do and
and editable Microsoft® Word formats for Mac and PC,
don’t understand and adjust lectures accordingly.
with equations in MathType.
● Pearson eText is available through MasteringPhysics®.
● MasteringPhysics® (www.­masteringphysics.com) Users can search for words or phrases, create notes,
is the most advanced ­physics homework and highlight text, bookmark ­sections, click on ­definitions
­tutorial system available. This online homework and to key terms, and launch PhET ­simulations and video
­tutoring s­ ystem guides students through the toughest tutor demonstrations as they read. Professors also have
topics in physics with self-paced tutorials that provide the ability to annotate the text for their course and hide
individualized coaching. These assignable, in-depth chapters not covered in their ­syllabi.
­tutorials are d­ esigned to coach students with hints and ● The Test Bank contains more than 2000 multiple-
feedback specific to their individual errors. I­ nstructors choice, true-false, and conceptual questions in TestGen®
can also ­assign end-of-chapter problems from every and Microsoft Word® formats for Mac and PC users.
chapter, ­including multiple-choice questions, section- More than half of the questions can be assigned with
specific ­exercises, and general problems. ­Quantitative randomized numerical values.
­
problems can be assigned with numerical answers and
Preface to the Instructor 11

Student Supplements
● MasteringPhysics® (www.masteringphysics.com) problems can be assigned with numerical answers and
is the most advanced ­physics homework and tutorial ­randomized values (with sig fig feedback) or solutions.
system available. This online homework and tutoring
● Pearson eText is available through Mastering­Physics®.
­system guides students through the most important
Allowing students access to the text ­wherever they have
topics in physics with ­self-paced ­tutorials that provide
access to the Internet, Pearson eText ­comprises the
­individualized coaching. These assignable, in-depth
full text with additional ­interactive ­features. Users can
­tutorials are designed to coach students with hints and
search for words or phrases, ­create notes, highlight text,
feedback ­specific to their individual errors. Instructors
bookmark sections, click on ­definitions to key terms,
can also assign end-of-chapter problems from every
and launch PhET simulations and video tutor demonstra-
­chapter i­ncluding multiple-choice questions, section-
tions as they read.
specific exercises, and general ­problems. Quantitative

Acknowledgments
A project of this magnitude isn’t the work of its author alone. Jay Pasachoff of Williams College, whose willingness more
First and foremost among those I thank for their contributions than three decades ago to take a chance on an inexperienced
are the now several thousand students I’ve taught in calculus- coauthor has made writing introductory physics a large part
based introductory physics courses at Middlebury College. of my professional career. Dr. Adam Black, former phys-
Over the years your questions have taught me how to convey ics editor at Pearson, had the vision to see promise in a new
physics ideas in many different ways appropriate to your diverse introductory text that would respond to the rising chorus of
learning styles. You’ve helped identify the “­sticking points” that complaints about massive, encyclopedic, and expensive phys-
challenge introductory physics students, and you’ve showed me ics texts. Brad Patterson, developmental editor for the first
ways to help you avoid and “unlearn” the misconceptions that edition, brought his graduate-level knowledge of physics to a
many students bring to introductory physics. role that made him a real collaborator. Brad is responsible for
Thanks also to the numerous instructors and students from many of the book’s innovative features, and it was a pleasure
around the world who have contributed valuable suggestions to work with him. John Murdzek and Matt Walker continued
for improvement of this text. I’ve heard you, and you’ll find with Brad’s excellent tradition of developmental editing on
many of your ideas implemented in this third edition of Essen- this third edition. We’ve gone to great lengths to make this
tial University Physics. And special thanks to my Middlebury book as error-free as possible, and much of the credit for that
physics colleagues who have taught from this text and who happy situation goes to Sen-Ben Liao, who solved every new
contribute valuable advice and insights on a regular basis: Jeff and revised homework problem and updated the solutions
Dunham, Anne Goodsell, Noah Graham, Steve Ratcliff, and manual.
Susan Watson. I also wish to thank Nancy Whilton and Katie Conley at
Experienced physics instructors thoroughly reviewed ­Pearson Education, and Haylee Schwenk at Lumina Datamatics,
every chapter of this book, and reviewers’ comments resulted for their highly professional efforts in shepherding this book
in substantive changes—and sometimes in major rewrites— through its vigorous production schedule. Finally, as ­always,
to the first drafts of the manuscript. We list all these reviewers I thank my family, my colleagues, and my students for the pa-
below. But first, special thanks are due to several individu- tience they showed during the intensive process of ­writing and
als who made exceptional contributions to the q­ uality and in revising this book.
some cases the very existence of this book. First is Professor

Reviewers
John R. Albright, Purdue University–Calumet George T. Carlson, Jr., West Virginia Institute of Technology–
Rama Bansil, Boston University West Virginia University
Richard Barber, Santa Clara University Catherine Check, Rock Valley College
Linda S. Barton, Rochester Institute of Technology Norbert Chencinski, College of Staten Island
Rasheed Bashirov, Albertson College of Idaho Carl Covatto, Arizona State University
Chris Berven, University of Idaho David Donnelly, Texas State University–San Marcos
David Bixler, Angelo State University David G. Ellis, University of Toledo
Ben Bromley, University of Utah Tim Farris, Volunteer State Community College
Charles Burkhardt, St. Louis Community College Paula Fekete, Hunter College of The City University of
Susan Cable, Central Florida Community College New York
12 Preface to the Instructor

Idan Ginsburg, Harvard University Gregor Novak, United States Air Force Academy
James Goff, Pima Community College Richard Olenick, University of Dallas
Austin Hedeman, University of California–Berkeley Robert Philbin, Trinidad State Junior College
Andrew Hirsch, Purdue University Russell Poch, Howard Community College
Mark Hollabaugh, Normandale Community College Steven Pollock, Colorado University–Boulder
Eric Hudson, Pennsylvania State University Richard Price, University of Texas at Brownsville
Rex W. Joyner, Indiana Institute of Technology James Rabchuk, Western Illinois University
Nikos Kalogeropoulos, Borough of Manhattan Community George Schmiedeshoff, Occidental College
College–The City University of New York Natalia Semushkina, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
Viken Kiledjian, East Los Angeles College Anwar Shiekh, Dine College
Kevin T. Kilty, Laramie County Community College David Slimmer, Lander University
Duane Larson, Bevill State Community College Chris Sorensen, Kansas State University
Kenneth W. McLaughlin, Loras College Ronald G. Tabak, Youngstown State University
Tom Marvin, Southern Oregon University Gajendra Tulsian, Daytona Beach Community College
Perry S. Mason, Lubbock Christian University Brigita Urbanc, Drexel University
Mark Masters, Indiana University–Purdue University Henry Weigel, Arapahoe Community College
Fort Wayne Arthur W. Wiggins, Oakland Community College
Jonathan Mitschele, Saint Joseph’s College Fredy Zypman, Yeshiva University

The publishers would like to thank the following for their contribution to the Global E
­ dition:

Contributor Reviewers
Aparajita Bandyopadhyay, Ph.D. Wynand Dednam, University of South Africa
Stefan Nikolov, University of Plovdiv
Samrat Mukherjee, Birla Institute of Technology
Ayan Paul, Sapienza University of Rome
Sushil Kumar, University of Delhi
Preface to the Student
Welcome to physics! Maybe you’re taking introductory p­ hysics I have some specific advice for you that grows out of my
because you’re majoring in a field of science or e­ ngineering long experience teaching introductory physics. Keeping this
that requires a semester or two of physics. Maybe you’re advice in mind will make physics easier (but not necessarily
­premed, and you know that medical schools are increasingly easy!), more interesting, and, I hope, more fun:
interested in seeing calculus-based physics on your transcript.
● Read each chapter thoroughly and carefully before you
Perhaps you’re really gung-ho and plan to major in physics. Or
attempt to work any problem assignments. I’ve written
maybe you want to study physics further as a minor associated
this text with an informal, conversational style to make it
with related fields like math or chemistry or to complement
engaging. It’s not a reference work to be left alone until
a discipline like economics, environmental studies, or even
you need some specific piece of information; rather,
­music. Perhaps you had a great high-school physics course, and
it’s an unfolding “story” of physics—its big ideas and
you’re eager to continue. Maybe high-school physics was an
their applications in quantitative problem solving. You
academic disaster for you, and you’re approaching this course
may think physics is hard because it’s mathematical,
with trepidation. Or perhaps this is your first experience with
but in my long experience I’ve found that failure to read
physics. Whatever your reason for taking introductory physics,
thoroughly is the biggest single reason for difficulties in
welcome!
introductory physics.
And whatever your reason, my goals for you are similar:
● Look for the big ideas. Physics isn’t a hodgepodge of
I’d like to help you develop an understanding and appreciation
different phenomena, laws, and equations to memorize.
of the physical universe at a deep and fundamental level; I’d
Rather, it’s a few big ideas from which flow myriad
like you to become aware of the broad range of natural and
­applications, examples, and special cases. In particular,
technological phenomena that physics can explain; and I’d like
don’t think of physics as a jumble of equations that you
to help you strengthen your analytic and quantitative problem-
choose among when solving a problem. Rather, identify
solving skills. Even if you’re studying physics only because it’s
those few big ideas and the equations that represent
a requirement, I want to help you engage the subject and come
them, and try to see how seemingly distinct examples
away with an appreciation for this fundamental science and its
and special cases relate to the big ideas.
wide applicability. One of my greatest joys as a physics teacher
● When working problems, re-read the ­appropriate
is having students tell me after the course that they had taken
­sections of the text, paying particular attention to
it only because it was required, but found they really enjoyed
the worked examples. Follow the IDEA strategy
their exposure to the ideas of physics.
­described in Chapter 1 and used in every subsequent
Physics is fundamental. To understand physics is to under-
worked ­example. Don’t skimp on the final Assess step.
stand how the world works, both in everyday life and on scales
­Always ask: Does this answer make sense? How can I
of time and space so small and so large as to defy intuition. For
­understand my answer in relation to the big principles of
that reason I hope you’ll find physics fascinating. But you’ll
physics? How was this problem like others I’ve worked,
also find it challenging. Learning physics will challenge you
or like examples in the text?
with the need for precise thinking and language; with subtle
● Don’t confuse physics with math. Mathematics is a tool,
interpretations of even commonplace phenomena; and with the
not an end in itself. Equations in physics aren’t abstract
need for skillful application of mathematics. But there’s also
math, but statements about the physical world. Be sure
a simplicity to physics, a simplicity that results because there
you understand each equation for what it says about
are in physics only a very few really basic principles to learn.
physics, not just as an equality between mathematical
Those succinct principles encompass a universe of natural
terms.
­phenomena and technological applications.
● Work with others. Getting together informally in a room
I’ve been teaching introductory physics for decades, and
with a blackboard is a great way to explore physics,
this book distills everything my students have taught me about
to clarify your ideas and help others clarify theirs, and
the many different ways to approach physics; about the subtle
to learn from your peers. I urge you to discuss physics
misconceptions students often bring to physics; about the ideas
problems together with your classmates, to contemplate
and types of problems that present the greatest challenges; and
together the “For Thought and Discussion” questions at
about ways to make physics engaging, exciting, and relevant to
the end of each chapter, and to engage one another in
your life and interests.
lively dialog as you grow your understanding of physics,
the fundamental science.

13
Detailed Contents
Volume 1 contains Chapters 1–19 5.3 Circular Motion  94
Volume 2 contains Chapters 20–39 5.4 Friction  98
Chapter 1 Doing Physics  19 5.5 Drag Forces  102
1.1 Realms of Physics  19 Chapter 6 Energy, Work, and Power  108
1.2 Measurements and Units  21 6.1 Energy  109
1.3 Working with Numbers  23 6.2 Work  110
1.4 Strategies for Learning Physics  27 6.3 Forces That Vary  114
6.4 Kinetic Energy  117
Part One
6.5 Power  119

Chapter 7 Conservation of Energy  127


7.1 Conservative and Nonconservative Forces  128
Essential University Physics 3e
Wolfson
Mechanics  32 7.2 Potential Energy  129
Benjamin Cummings
Pearson Education
9937202001
Fig Part1-UN-01
Pickup: 6969202000

Chapter 2 Motion in a Straight Line  33 7.3 Conservation of Mechanical Energy  133


Rolin Graphics
jr 5/9/14 44p0 x 20p9
jr 7/9/14
jr 8/18/14

2.1 Average Motion  33 7.4 Nonconservative Forces  136


2.2 Instantaneous Velocity  35 7.5 Conservation of Energy  137
2.3 Acceleration  37 7.6 Potential-Energy Curves  138
2.4 Constant Acceleration  39
Chapter 8 Gravity  147
2.5 The Acceleration of Gravity  42
8.1 Toward a Law of Gravity  147
2.6 When Acceleration Isn’t Constant  44
8.2 Universal Gravitation  148
Chapter 3 Motion in Two and Three Dimensions  50 8.3 Orbital Motion  150
3.1 Vectors  50 8.4 Gravitational Energy  153
3.2 Velocity and Acceleration Vectors  53 8.5 The Gravitational Field  156
3.3 Relative Motion  54
Chapter 9 Systems of Particles  162
3.4 Constant Acceleration  55
9.1 Center of Mass  162
3.5 Projectile Motion  57
9.2 Momentum  167
3.6 Uniform Circular Motion  61
9.3 Kinetic Energy of a System  171
Chapter 4 Force and Motion  69 9.4 Collisions  171
4.1 The Wrong Question  69 9.5 Totally Inelastic Collisions  172
4.2 Newton’s First and Second Laws  70 9.6 Elastic Collisions  174
4.3 Forces  73
Chapter 10 Rotational Motion  186
4.4 The Force of Gravity  74
10.1 Angular Velocity and Acceleration  186
4.5 Using Newton’s Second Law  76
10.2 Torque  189
4.6 Newton’s Third Law  78
10.3 Rotational Inertia and the Analog of
Chapter 5 Using Newton’s Laws  89 Newton’s Law  191
5.1 Using Newton’s Second Law  89 10.4 Rotational Energy  196
5.2 Multiple Objects  92 10.5 Rolling Motion  198
14
Contents 15

Chapter 11 Rotational Vectors and Angular Momentum  207 15.5 Applications of Fluid Dynamics  291
11.1 Angular Velocity and Acceleration Vectors  207 15.6 Viscosity and Turbulence  295
11.2 Torque and the Vector Cross Product  208
11.3 Angular Momentum  210 Part Three
11.4 Conservation of Angular Momentum  212
11.5 Gyroscopes and Precession  214

Chapter 12 Static Equilibrium  222 Thermodynamics  302


12.1 Conditions for Equilibrium  222 Chapter 16 Temperature and Heat  303
12.2 Center of Gravity  224 16.1 Heat, Temperature, and Thermodynamic
12.3 Examples of Static Equilibrium  225 ­Equilibrium  303
12.4 Stability  227 16.2 Heat Capacity and Specific Heat  305
16.3 Heat Transfer  307
Part Two 16.4 Thermal-Energy Balance  312

Chapter 17 The Thermal Behavior of Matter  321


 scillations, Waves, and
O 17.1 Gases  321
Fluids  239 17.2 Phase Changes  325
17.3 Thermal Expansion  328
Chapter 13 Oscillatory Motion  240
13.1 Describing Oscillatory Motion  241 Chapter 18 H
 eat, Work, and the First Law of
13.2 Simple Harmonic Motion  242 ­Thermodynamics  335

13.3 Applications of Simple Harmonic Motion  245 18.1 The First Law of Thermodynamics  335

13.4 Circular Motion and Harmonic Motion  249 18.2 Thermodynamic Processes  337

13.5 Energy in Simple Harmonic Motion  250 18.3 Specific Heats of an Ideal Gas  344

13.6 Damped Harmonic Motion  251 Chapter 19 The Second Law of Thermodynamics  352


13.7 Driven Oscillations and Resonance  253 19.1 Reversibility and Irreversibility  352
19.2 The Second Law of Thermodynamics  353
Chapter 14 Wave Motion  261
19.3 Applications of the Second Law  357
14.1 Waves and Their Properties  262
19.4 Entropy and Energy Quality  360
14.2 Wave Math  263
14.3 Waves on a String  265
Appendices
14.4 Sound Waves  268
14.5 Interference  269 Appendix A  Mathematics  373

14.6 Reflection and Refraction  272 Appendix B The International System of Units (SI)   381
14.7 Standing Waves  273 Appendix C Conversion Factors   383
14.8 The Doppler Effect and Shock Waves  276 Appendix D  The Elements   385

Chapter 15 Fluid Motion  283 Appendix E  Astrophysical Data   388

15.1 Density and Pressure  283 Answers to Odd-Numbered Problems   389


15.2 Hydrostatic Equilibrium  284
Credits  398
15.3 Archimedes’ Principle and Buoyancy  287
Index  401
15.4 Fluid Dynamics  289
16 Contents

Part Four 25.3 Kirchhoff’s Laws and Multiloop Circuits  536


25.4 Electrical Measurements  538
25.5 Capacitors in Circuits  539

Electromagnetism  434 Chapter 26 Magnetism: Force and Field  549


26.1 What Is Magnetism?  550
Chapter 20 Electric Charge, Force, and Field  435
26.2 Magnetic Force and Field  550
20.1 Electric Charge  435
26.3 Charged Particles in Magnetic Fields  552
20.2 Coulomb’s Law  436
26.4 The Magnetic Force on a Current  555
20.3 The Electric Field  439
26.5 Origin of the Magnetic Field  556
20.4 Fields of Charge Distributions  442
26.6 Magnetic Dipoles  559
20.5 Matter in Electric Fields  446
26.7 Magnetic Matter  563
Chapter 21 Gauss’s Law  455 26.8 Ampère’s Law  564
21.1 Electric Field Lines  455
Chapter 27 Electromagnetic Induction  577
21.2 Electric Field and Electric Flux  457
27.1 Induced Currents  578
21.3 Gauss’s Law  460
27.2 Faraday’s Law  579
21.4 Using Gauss’s Law  462
27.3 Induction and Energy  583
21.5 Fields of Arbitrary Charge Distributions  468
27.4 Inductance  589
21.6 Gauss’s Law and Conductors  470
27.5 Magnetic Energy  594
Chapter 22 Electric Potential  479 27.6 Induced Electric Fields  597
22.1 Electric Potential Difference  480
Chapter 28 Alternating-Current Circuits  605
22.2 Calculating Potential Difference  483
28.1 Alternating Current  605
22.3 Potential Difference and the Electric Field  488
28.2 Circuit Elements in AC Circuits  606
22.4 Charged Conductors  490
28.3 LC Circuits  610
Chapter 23 Electrostatic Energy and Capacitors  498 28.4 Driven RLC Circuits and Resonance  613
23.1 Electrostatic Energy  498 28.5 Power in AC Circuits  616
23.2 Capacitors  499 28.6 Transformers and Power Supplies  617
23.3 Using Capacitors  501
Chapter 29 M
 axwell’s Equations and Electromagnetic
23.4 Energy in the Electric Field  505 Waves  623

Chapter 24 Electric Current  512 29.1 The Four Laws of Electromagnetism  624

24.1 Electric Current  513 29.2 Ambiguity in Ampère’s Law  624

24.2 Conduction Mechanisms  515 29.3 Maxwell’s Equations  626

24.3 Resistance and Ohm’s Law  519 29.4 Electromagnetic Waves  627

24.4 Electric Power  521 29.5 Properties of Electromagnetic Waves  631

24.5 Electrical Safety  522 29.6 The Electromagnetic Spectrum  634


29.7 Producing Electromagnetic Waves  635
Chapter 25 Electric Circuits  529 29.8 Energy and Momentum in Electromagnetic
25.1 Circuits, Symbols, and Electromotive Force  529 Waves  636
25.2 Series and Parallel Resistors  530
Contents 17

Part Five 34.5 Matter Waves  737


34.6 The Uncertainty Principle  739
34.7 Complementarity  741
Optics  645 Chapter 35 Quantum Mechanics  747
Chapter 30 Reflection and Refraction  646 35.1 Particles, Waves, and Probability  748
30.1 Reflection  647 35.2 The Schrödinger Equation  749
30.2 Refraction  648 35.3 Particles and Potentials  751
30.3 Total Internal Reflection  651 35.4 Quantum Mechanics in Three Dimensions  758
30.4 Dispersion  652 35.5 Relativistic Quantum Mechanics  759

Chapter 31 Images and Optical Instruments  659 Chapter 36 Atomic Physics  764


31.1 Images with Mirrors  660 36.1 The Hydrogen Atom  764
31.2 Images with Lenses  665 36.2 Electron Spin  768
31.3 Refraction in Lenses: The Details  668 36.3 The Exclusion Principle  771
36.4 Multielectron Atoms and the Periodic Table  772
31.4 Optical Instruments  671
36.5 Transitions and Atomic Spectra  776
Chapter 32 Interference and Diffraction  679
Chapter 37 Molecules and Solids  782
32.1 Coherence and Interference  679
37.1 Molecular Bonding  782
32.2 Double-Slit Interference  681
37.2 Molecular Energy Levels  784
32.3 Multiple-Slit Interference and Diffraction ­Gratings  684 37.3 Solids  787
32.4 Interferometry  687 37.4 Superconductivity  793
32.5 Huygens’ Principle and Diffraction  690
Chapter 38 Nuclear Physics  800
32.6 The Diffraction Limit  693
38.1 Elements, Isotopes, and Nuclear Structure  801
38.2 Radioactivity  806
Part Six 38.3 Binding Energy and Nucleosynthesis  811
38.4 Nuclear Fission  813
38.5 Nuclear Fusion  819

Modern Physics  701 Chapter 39 From Quarks to the Cosmos  827


39.1 Particles and Forces  828
Chapter 33 Relativity  702
39.2 Particles and More Particles  829
33.1 Speed c Relative to What?  703
39.3 Quarks and the Standard Model  832
33.2 Matter, Motion, and the Ether  703
39.4 Unification  835
33.3 Special Relativity  705
39.5 The Evolving Universe  837
33.4 Space and Time in Relativity  706
33.5 Simultaneity Is Relative  712
Appendices
33.6 The Lorentz Transformations  713
Appendix A  Mathematics  847
33.7 Energy and Momentum in Relativity  717
33.8 Electromagnetism and Relativity  720 Appendix B The International System of Units (SI)  855

33.9 General Relativity  721 Appendix C Conversion Factors  857


Appendix D  The Elements  859
Chapter 34 Particles and Waves  727
Appendix E  Astrophysical Data  862
34.1 Toward Quantum Theory  728
34.2 Blackbody Radiation  728 Answers to Odd-Numbered Problems  863

34.3 Photons  730 Credits  872

34.4 Atomic Spectra and the Bohr Atom  734 Index  875


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1
2 3
Motion in a Motion in Two and
Straight Line Three Dimensions

Doing Physics

What You Know What You’re Learning How You’ll Use It


■ You’re coming to this course with ■ This chapter gives you an overview ■ Skills and knowledge that you
a solid background in algebra, of physics and its subfields, which develop in this chapter will serve you
geometry, and trigonometry. together describe the entire physical throughout your study of physics.
■ You may have had calculus, or you’ll universe. ■ You’ll be able to express quantitative
be starting it concurrently. ■ You’ll learn the basis of the SI system answers to physics problems in
■ You don’t need to have taken physics of measurement units. scientific notation, with the correct
to get a full understanding from this ■ You’ll learn to express and manipulate units and the appropriate uncertainty
book. numbers used in quantitative science. expressed through significant figures.

■ You’ll learn to deal with precision and ■ Being able to make quick estimates
uncertainty. will help you gauge the sizes of
physical effects and will help you
■ You’ll develop a skill for making quick
recognize whether your quantitative
estimates.
answers make sense.
■ You’ll learn how to extract information
■ The problem-solving strategy you’ll
from experimental data.
learn here will serve you in the many
■ You’ll see a strategy for solving physics physics problems that you’ll work in
problems. order to really learn physics.

Y ou slip a DVD into your player and settle in to watch a movie. The DVD spins, and a pre-
cisely focused laser beam “reads” its content. Electronic circuitry processes the informa-
tion, sending it to your video display and to loudspeakers that turn electrical signals into
sound waves. Every step of the way, principles of physics govern the delivery of the movie
from DVD to you.

1.1 Realms of Physics


That DVD player is a metaphor for all of physics—the science that describes the fun-
damental workings of physical reality. Physics explains natural phenomena ranging
from the behavior of atoms and molecules to thunderstorms and rainbows and on to
the evolution of stars, galaxies, and the universe itself. Technological applications of
physics are the basis for everything from microelectronics to medical imaging to cars,
airplanes, and space flight.
At its most fundamental, physics provides a nearly unified description of all
Which realms of physics are involved in the physical phenomena. However, it’s convenient to divide physics into distinct realms
workings of your DVD player? (Fig. 1.1). Your DVD player encompasses essentially all those realms. Mechanics, the
branch of physics that deals with motion, describes the spinning disc. Mechanics also
explains the motion of a car, the orbits of the planets, and the stability of a skyscraper.
Part 1 of this book deals with the basic ideas of mechanics.

19
20 Chapter 1 Doing Physics

Oscillations, waves,
Those sound waves coming from your loudspeakers represent wave motion. Other
and fluids Mechanics e­ xamples include the ocean waves that pound Earth’s coastlines, the wave of standing
spectators that sweeps through a football stadium, and the undulations of Earth’s crust
that spread the energy of an earthquake. Part 2 of this book covers wave motion and other
Modern Physics
Optics phenomena involving the motion of fluids like air and water.
physics When you burn your own DVD, the high temperature produced by an intensely fo-
cused laser beam alters the material properties of a writable DVD, thus storing video or
computer information. That’s an example of thermodynamics—the study of heat and its
Thermodynamics Electromagnetism
effects on matter. Thermodynamics also describes the delicate balance of energy-transfer
Figure 1.1 Realms of physics. processes that keeps our planet at a habitable temperature and puts serious constraints on
our ability to meet the burgeoning energy demands of modern society. Part 3 comprises
four chapters on thermodynamics.
An electric motor spins your DVD, converting electrical energy to the energy of mo-
tion. Electric motors are ubiquitous in modern society, running everything from subway
trains and hybrid cars, to elevators and washing machines, to insulin pumps and artificial
hearts. Conversely, electric generators convert the energy of motion to electricity, provid-
ing virtually all of our electrical energy. Motors and generators are two applications of
electromagnetism in modern technology. Others include computers, audiovisual electron-
ics, microwave ovens, digital watches, and even the humble lightbulb; without these elec-
tromagnetic technologies our lives would be very different. Equally electromagnetic are
all the wireless technologies that enable modern communications, from satellite TV to cell
phones to wireless computer networks, mice, and keyboards. And even light itself is an
electromagnetic phenomenon. Part 4 presents the principles of electromagnetism and their
many applications.
The precise focusing of laser light in your DVD player allows hours of video to fit on a
small plastic disc. The details and limitations of that focusing are governed by the princi-
ples of optics, the study of light and its behavior. Applications of optics range from simple
magnifiers to contact lenses to sophisticated instruments such as microscopes, ­telescopes,
and spectrometers. Optical fibers carry your e-mail, web pages, and music downloads
over the global Internet. Natural optical systems include your eye and the raindrops that
deflect sunlight to form rainbows. Part 5 of the book explores optical principles and their
applications.
That laser light in your DVD player is an example of an electromagnetic wave, but an
atomic-level look at the light’s interaction with matter reveals particle-like “bundles” of
electromagnetic energy. This is the realm of quantum physics, which deals with the of-
ten counterintuitive behavior of matter and energy at the atomic level. Quantum phenom-
ena also explain how that DVD laser works and, more profoundly, the structure of atoms
and the periodic arrangement of the elements that is the basis of all chemistry. Quantum
physics is one of the two great developments of modern physics. The other is Einstein’s
theory of relativity. Relativity and quantum physics arose during the 20th century, and
together they’ve radically altered our commonsense notions of time, space, and causality.
Part 6 of the book surveys the ideas of modern physics, ending with what we do—and
don’t—know about the history, future, and composition of the entire universe.

Conceptual Example 1.1 Car Physics


Name some systems in your car that exemplify the different realms of burning gasoline into the car’s motion. Electromagnetic systems
of physics. range from the starter motor and spark plugs to sophisticated elec-
tronic devices that monitor and optimize engine performance. Optical
Evaluate  Mechanics is easy; the car is fundamentally a mechanical principles govern rear- and side-view mirrors and headlights. Increas-
system whose purpose is motion. Details include starting, stopping, ingly, optical fibers transmit information to critical safety systems.
cornering, as well as a host of other motions within mechanical sub- Modern physics is less obvious in your car, but ultimately, everything
systems. Your car’s springs and shock absorbers constitute an oscilla- from the chemical reactions of burning gasoline to the atomic-scale
tory system engineered to give a comfortable ride. The car’s engine is operation of automotive electronics is governed by its principles.
a prime example of a thermodynamic system, converting the energy
1.2 Measurements and Units 21

1.2 Measurements and Units Application  nits Matter: A


U
“A long way” means different things to a sedentary person, a marathon runner, a pilot, Bad Day on Mars
and an astronaut. We need to quantify our measurements. Science uses the metric system, In September 1999, the Mars Climate Orbiter
with fundamental quantities length, mass, and time measured in meters, kilograms, and was destroyed when the spacecraft passed
seconds, respectively. The modern version of the metric system is SI, for Système Interna- through Mars’s atmosphere and experienced
tional d’Unités (International System of Units), which incorporates scientifically precise stresses and heating it was not designed to tol-
erate. Why did this $125-million craft enter the
definitions of the fundamental quantities.
Martian atmosphere when it was supposed to re-
The three fundamental quantities were originally defined in reference to nature: the main in the vacuum of space? NASA identified
meter in terms of Earth’s size, the kilogram as an amount of water, and the second by the the root cause as a failure to convert the English
length of the day. For length and mass, these were later replaced by specific artifacts— units one team used to specify rocket thrust to
a bar whose length was defined as 1 meter and a cylinder whose mass defined the kilo- the SI units another team expected. Units matter!
gram. But natural standards like the day’s length can change, as can the properties of
artifacts. So early SI definitions gave way to operational definitions, which are meas-
urement standards based on laboratory procedures. Such standards have the advantage
that scientists anywhere can reproduce them. By the late 20th century, two of the three
fundamental units—the meter and the second—had operational definitions, but the kilo-
gram did not.
A special type of operational definition involves giving an exact value to a particular
constant of nature—a quantity formerly subject to experimental determination and with a
stated uncertainty in its value. As described below, the meter was the first such unit to be
defined in this way. By the early 21st century, it was clear that defining units in terms of
fundamental, invariant physical constants was the best way to ensure long-term stability
of the SI unit system. Currently, SI is undergoing a sweeping revision, which will result in
redefining the kilogram and three of the four remaining so-called base units with defini-
tions that lock in exact values of fundamental constants. These so-called explicit-constant
definitions will have similar wording, making explicit that the unit in question follows
from the defined value of the particular physical constant.

Length
The meter was first defined as one ten-millionth of the distance from Earth’s equator to
the North Pole. In 1889 a standard meter was fabricated to replace the Earth-based unit,
and in 1960 that gave way to a standard based on the wavelength of light. By the 1970s,
the speed of light had become one of the most precisely determined quantities. As a result,
the meter was redefined in 1983 as the distance light travels in vacuum in 1/299,792,458
of a second. The effect of this definition is to make the speed of light a defined quantity:
299,792,458 m/s. Thus, the meter became the first SI unit to be based on a defined value
for a fundamental constant. The new SI definitions won’t change the meter but will reword
its definition to make it of the explicit-constant type:

The meter, symbol m, is the unit of length; its magnitude is set by fixing the nu-
merical value of the speed of light in vacuum to be equal to exactly 299,792,458
when it is expressed in the SI unit m/s.

Time
The second used to be defined by Earth’s rotation, but that’s not constant, so it was later
redefined as a specific fraction of the year 1900. An operational definition followed in
1967, associating the second with the radiation emitted by a particular atomic process.
The new definition will keep the essence of that operational definition but reworded in the
explicit-constant style:

The second, symbol s, is the unit of time; its magnitude is set by fixing the nu-
merical value of the ground-state hyperfine splitting frequency of the cesium-133
atom, at rest and at a temperature of 0 K, to be exactly 9,192,631,770 when it is
expressed in the SI unit s-1, which is equal to Hz.
22 Chapter 1 Doing Physics

The device that implements this definition—which will seem less obscure once you’ve
studied some atomic physics—is called an atomic clock. Here the phrase “equal to Hz”
introduces the unit hertz (Hz) for frequency—the number of cycles of a repeating process
that occur each second.

Mass
Since 1889, the kilogram has been defined as the mass of a single artifact—the interna-
tional prototype kilogram, a platinum–iridium cylinder kept in a vault at the International
Bureau of Weights and Measures in Sèvres, France. Not only is this artifact-based standard
awkward to access, but comparison measurements have revealed tiny yet growing mass
discrepancies between the international prototype kilogram and secondary mass standards
based on it.
In the current SI revision, the kilogram will become the last of the SI base units to
be defined operationally, with a new explicit-constant definition resulting from fixing the
value of Planck’s constant, h, a fundamental constant of nature related to the “graininess”
of physical quantities at the atomic and subatomic levels. The units of Planck’s constant
involve seconds, meters, and kilograms, and giving h an exact value actually sets the
The angle u in radians
value of 1 s-1 # m2 # kg. But with the meter and second already defined, fixing the unit
s-1 # m2 # kg then determines the kilogram. A device that implements this definition is the
is defined as the ratio
of the subtended arc
length s to the radius watt balance, which balances an unknown mass against forces resulting from electrical
r: u = s .
r effects whose magnitude, in turn, can be related to Planck’s constant. The new formal defi-
s
nition of the kilogram will be similar to the explicit-constant definitions of the meter and
second, but the exact value of Planck’s constant is yet to be established.
u
r
Other SI Units
Figure 1.2 The radian is the SI unit of angle.
The SI includes seven independent base units: In addition to the meter, second, and kilo-
gram, there are the ampere (A) for electric current, the kelvin (K) for temperature, the mole
Table 1.1 SI Prefixes (mol) for the amount of a substance, and the candela (cd) for luminosity. We’ll introduce
Prefix Symbol Power these units later, as needed. In the ongoing SI revision these will be given new, explicit-
constant definitions; for all but the candela, this involves fixing the values of fundamental
yotta Y 1024
physical constants. In addition to the seven physical base units, two supplementary units
zetta Z 1021 define geometrical measures of angle: the radian (rad) for ordinary angles (Fig. 1.2) and
exa E 1018 the steradian (sr) for solid angles. Units for all other physical quantities are derived from
peta P 1015 the base units.
tera T 1012
giga G 109 SI Prefixes
6
mega M 10 You could specify the length of a bacterium (e.g., 0.00001 m) or the distance to the next
kilo k 103 city (e.g., 58,000 m) in meters, but the results are unwieldy—too small in the first case
hecto h 102 and too large in the latter. So we use prefixes to indicate multiples of the SI base units.
For example, the prefix k (for “kilo”) means 1000; 1 km is 1000 m, and the distance
deca da 101
to the next city is 58 km. Similarly, the prefix μ (the lowercase Greek “mu”) means
— — 100 “­micro,” or 10-6. So our bacterium is 10 µm long. The SI prefixes are listed in Table 1.1,
deci d 10-1 which is repeated inside the front cover. We’ll use the prefixes routinely in examples and
centi c 10-2 ­problems, and we’ll often express answers using SI prefixes, without doing an explicit
milli m 10-3 unit conversion.
When two units are used together, a hyphen appears between them—for example,
micro µ 10-6
newton-meter. Each unit has a symbol, such as m for meter or N for newton (the SI unit
nano n 10-9 of force). Symbols are ordinarily lowercase, but those named after people are uppercase.
pico p 10-12 Thus “newton” is written with a small “n” but its symbol is a capital N. The exception is
femto f 10-15 the unit of volume, the liter; since the lowercase “l” is easily confused with the number 1,
atto a 10-18 the symbol for liter is a capital L. When two units are multiplied, their symbols are sepa-
zepto z 10-21 rated by a centered dot: N # m for newton-meter. Division of units is expressed by using
the slash 1>2 or writing with the denominator unit raised to the -1 power. Thus the SI unit
of speed is the meter per second, written m/s or m # s-1.
yocto y 10-24
1.3 Working with Numbers 23

Example 1.1 Changing Units: Speed Limits


Express a 65 mi/h speed limit in meters per second. the conversion factor 3600 s/h to convert hours to seconds. Combin-
ing these two conversions gives
EVALUATE According to Appendix C, 1 mi = 1609 m, so we can 65 mi 1609 m 1h
multiply miles by the ratio 1609 m/mi to get meters. Similarly, we use 65 mi/h = a ba ba b = 29 m/s
h mi 3600 s

Other Unit Systems


The inches, feet, yards, miles, and pounds of the so-called English system still dominate
measurement in the United States. Other non-SI units such as the hour are often mixed
with English or SI units, as with speed limits in miles per hour or kilometers per hour. In
some areas of physics there are good reasons for using non-SI units. We’ll discuss these
as the need arises and will occasionally use non-SI units in examples and problems. We’ll
also often find it convenient to use degrees rather than radians for angles. The vast major-
ity of examples and problems in this book, however, use strictly SI units.

Changing Units
Sometimes we need to change from one unit system to another—for example, from Eng- 828 m
2717 ft
lish to SI. Appendix C contains tables for converting among unit systems; you should
familiarize yourself with this and the other appendices and refer to them often.
For example, Appendix C shows that 1 ft = 0.3048 m. Since 1 ft and 0.3048 m rep-
resent the same physical distance, multiplying any distance by their ratio will change
the units but not the actual physical distance. Thus the height of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa
(Fig. 1.3)—the world’s tallest structure—is 2717 ft or
0.3048 m
12717 ft2 a b = 828.1 m
1 ft
Often you’ll need to change several units in the same expression. Keeping track of the
units through a chain of multiplications helps prevent you from carelessly inverting any
of the conversion factors. A numerical answer cannot be correct unless it has the right
units! Figure 1.3 Dubai’s Burj Khalifa is the world’s
tallest ­structure.

Got It? 1.1 A Canadian speed limit of 50 km/h is closest to which U.S. limit ex-
pressed in miles per hour? (a) 60 mph; (b) 45 mph; (c) 30 mph

1.3 Working with Numbers


Scientific Notation
The range of measured quantities in the universe is enormous; lengths alone go from about
1/1,000,000,000,000,000 m for the radius of a proton to 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 m
for the size of a galaxy; our telescopes see 100,000 times farther still. Therefore, we
frequently express numbers in scientific notation, where a reasonable-size number is
­multiplied by a power of 10. For example, 4185 is 4.185 * 103 and 0.00012 is 1.2 * 10-4.
Table 1.2 suggests the vast range of measurements for the fundamental quantities of length,
time, and mass. Take a minute (about 102 heartbeats, or 3 * 10-8 of a typical ­human lifes-
pan) to peruse this table along with Fig. 1.4.
24 Chapter 1 Doing Physics

This galaxy is 1021 m across and Table 1.2 Distances, Times, and Masses (rounded to
has a mass of ∼ 1042 kg. one significant figure)
Radius of observable universe 1 * 1026 m
Earth’s radius 6 * 106 m
Tallest mountain 9 * 103 m
Height of person 2m
Diameter of red blood cell 1 * 10-5 m
Size of proton 1 * 10-15 m
Age of universe 4 * 1017 s
Earth’s orbital period (1 year) 3 * 107 s

1021 m Human heartbeat 1s


Wave period, microwave oven 5 * 10-10 s
Time for light to cross a proton 3 * 10-24 s
Your movie is stored on a DVD in “pits” Mass of Milky Way galaxy 1 * 1042 kg
only 4 * 10-7 m in size.
Mass of mountain 1 * 1018 kg
Mass of human 70 kg
Mass of red blood cell 1 * 10-13 kg
Mass of uranium atom 4 * 10-25 kg
Mass of electron 1 * 10-30 kg

Scientific calculators handle numbers in scientific notation. But straightforward rules


allow you to manipulate scientific notation if you don’t have such a calculator handy.

Tactics 1.1 Using Scientific Notation


Figure 1.4 Large and small.
Addition/Subtraction
To add (or subtract) numbers in scientific notation, first give them the same exponent and then add (or
subtract):
3.75 * 106 + 5.2 * 105 = 3.75 * 106 + 0.52 * 106 = 4.27 * 106

Multiplication/Division
To multiply (or divide) numbers in scientific notation, multiply (or divide) the digits and add (or subtract)
the exponents:
13.0 * 108 m/s212.1 * 10-10 s2 = 13.0212.12 * 108 + 1 - 102 m = 6.3 * 10-2 m

Powers/Roots
To raise numbers in scientific notation to any power, raise the digits to the given power and multiply the
exponent by the power:
213.61 * 10423 = 23.613 * 10142132 = 147.04 * 101221>2
= 247.04 * 10112211>22 = 6.86 * 106

Example 1.2 Scientific Notation: Tsunami Warnings


Earthquake-generated tsunamis are so devastating because the entire where we wrote 29.4 * 103 m2/s2 as 2.94 * 104 m2/s2 in the second line
ocean, from surface to bottom, participates in the wave motion. The in order to calculate the square root more easily. Converting the speed
speed of such waves is given by v = 1gh, where g = 9.8 m/s2 is the to km/h gives
gravitational acceleration and h is the depth in meters. Determine a
1.7 * 102 m 1 km 3.6 * 103 s
tsunami’s speed in 3.0-km-deep water. 1.7 * 102 m/s = a ba 3
ba b
s 1.0 * 10 m h
Evaluate  That 3.0-km depth is 3.0 * 103 m, so we have = 6.1 * 102 km/h

v = 1gh = 319.8 m/s2213.0 * 103 m24 1>2 = 129.4 * 103 m2/s221>2 This speed—about 600 km/h—shows why even distant coastlines
1>2
= 12.94 * 104 m2/s22 = 12.94 * 102 m/s = 1.7 * 102 m/s have little time to prepare for the arrival of a tsunami. ■
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If there be no one definite meaning to the geometrical relations of
distance, it is evident that the law of gravitation needs restatement.
For the formula expressing that law is that two particles attract each
other in proportion to the product of their masses and the inverse
square of their distances. This enunciation tacitly assumes that there
is one definite meaning to be ascribed to the instant at which the
attraction is considered, and also one definite meaning to be
ascribed to distance. But distance is a purely spatial notion, so that
in the new doctrine, there are an indefinite number of such meanings
according to the space-time system which you adopt. If the two
particles are relatively at rest, then we might be content with the
space-time systems which they are both utilising. Unfortunately this
suggestion gives no hint as to procedure when they are not mutually
at rest. It is, therefore, necessary to reformulate the law in a way
which does not presuppose any particular space-time system.
Einstein has done this. Naturally the result is more complicated. He
introduced into mathematical physics certain methods of pure
mathematics which render the formulae independent of the particular
systems of measurement adopted. The new formula introduces
various small effects which are absent in Newton’s law. But for the
major effects Newton’s law and Einstein’s law agree. Now these
extra effects of Einstein’s law serve to explain irregularities of the
planet Mercury’s orbit which by Newton’s law were inexplicable. This
is a strong confirmation of the new theory. Curiously enough, there is
more than one alternative formula, based on the new theory of
multiple space-time systems, having the property of embodying
Newton’s law and in addition of explaining the peculiarities of
Mercury’s motion. The only method of selection between them is to
wait for experimental evidence respecting those effects on which the
formulae differ. Nature is probably quite indifferent to the aesthetic
preferences of mathematicians.
It only remains to add that Einstein would probably reject the
theory of multiple space-time systems which I have been expounding
to you. He would interpret his formula in terms of contortions in
space-time which alter the invariance theory for measure properties,
and of the proper times of each historical route. His mode of
statement has the greater mathematical simplicity, and only allows of
one law of gravitation, excluding the alternatives. But, for myself, I
cannot reconcile it with the given facts of our experience as to
simultaneity, and spatial arrangement. There are also other
difficulties of a more abstract character.
The theory of the relationship between events at which we have
now arrived is based first upon the doctrine that the relatednesses of
an event are all internal relations, so far as concerns that event,
though not necessarily so far as concerns the other relata. For
example, the eternal objects, thus involved, are externally related to
events. This internal relatedness is the reason why an event can be
found only just where it is and how it is,—that is to say, in just one
definite set of relationships. For each relationship enters into the
essence of the event; so that, apart from that relationship, the event
would not be itself. This is what is meant by the very notion of
internal relations. It has been usual, indeed universal, to hold that
spatio-temporal relationships are external. This doctrine is what is
here denied.
The conception of internal relatedness involves the analysis of the
event into two factors, one the underlying substantial activity of
individualisation, and the other the complex of aspects—that is to
say, the complex of relatednesses as entering into the essence of
the given event—which are unified by this individualised activity. In
other words, the concept of internal relations requires the concept of
substance as the activity synthesising the relationships into its
emergent character. The event is what it is, by reason of the
unification in itself of a multiplicity of relationships. The general
scheme of these mutual relationships is an abstraction which
presupposes each event as an independent entity, which it is not,
and asks what remnant of these formative relationships is then left in
the guise of external relationships. The scheme of relationships as
thus impartially expressed becomes the scheme of a complex of
events variously related as wholes to parts and as joint parts within
some one whole. Even here, the internal relationship forces itself on
our attention; for the part evidently is constitutive of the whole. Also
an isolated event which has lost its status in any complex of events
is equally excluded by the very nature of an event. So the whole is
evidently constitutive of the part. Thus the internal character of the
relationship really shows through this impartial scheme of abstract
external relations.
But this exhibition of the actual universe as extensive and divisible
has left out the distinction between space and time. It has in fact left
out the process of realisation, which is the adjustment of the
synthetic activities by virtue of which the various events become their
realised selves. This adjustment is thus the adjustment of the
underlying active substances whereby these substances exhibit
themselves as the individualisations or modes of Spinoza’s one
substance. This adjustment is what introduces temporal process.
Thus, in some sense, time, in its character of the adjustment of the
process of synthetic realisation, extends beyond the spatio-temporal
continuum of nature.[7] There is no necessity that temporal process,
in this sense, should be constituted by one single series of linear
succession. Accordingly, in order to satisfy the present demands of
scientific hypothesis, we introduce the metaphysical hypothesis that
this is not the case. We do assume (basing ourselves upon direct
observation), however, that temporal process of realisation can be
analysed into a group of linear serial processes. Each of these linear
series is a space-time system. In support of this assumption of
definite serial processes, we appeal: (1) to the immediate
presentation through the senses of an extended universe beyond
ourselves and simultaneous with ourselves, (2) to the intellectual
apprehension of a meaning to the question which asks what is now
immediately happening in regions beyond the cognisance of our
senses, (3) to the analysis of what is involved in the endurance of
emergent objects. This endurance of objects involves the display of
a pattern as now realised. This display is the display of a pattern as
inherent in an event, but also as exhibiting a temporal slice of nature
as lending aspects to eternal objects (or, equally, of eternal objects
as lending aspects to events). The pattern is spatialised in a whole
duration for the benefit of the event into whose essence the pattern
enters. The event is part of the duration, i.e., is part of what is
exhibited in the aspects inherent in itself; and conversely the
duration is the whole of nature simultaneous with the event, in that
sense of simultaneity. Thus an event in realising itself displays a
pattern, and this pattern requires a definite duration determined by a
definite meaning of simultaneity. Each such meaning of simultaneity
relates the pattern as thus displayed to one definite space-time
system. The actuality of the space-time systems is constituted by the
realisation of pattern; but it is inherent in the general scheme of
events as constituting its patience for the temporal process of
realisation.
7. Cf. my Concept of Nature, Ch. III.
Notice that the pattern requires a duration involving a definite
lapse of time, and not merely an instantaneous moment. Such a
moment is more abstract, in that it merely denotes a certain relation
of contiguity between the concrete events. Thus a duration is
spatialised; and by ‘spatialised’ is meant that the duration is the field
for the realised pattern constituting the character of the event. A
duration, as the field of the pattern realised in the actualisation of
one of its contained events, is an epoch, i.e., an arrest. Endurance is
the repetition of the pattern in successive events. Thus endurance
requires a succession of durations, each exhibiting the pattern. In
this account ‘time’ has been separated from ‘extension’ and from the
‘divisibility’ which arises from the character of spatio-temporal
extension’. Accordingly we must not proceed to conceive time as
another form of extensiveness. Time is sheer succession of epochal
durations. But the entities which succeed each other in this account
are durations. The duration is that which is required for the
realisation of a pattern in the given event. Thus the divisibility and
extensiveness is within the given duration. The epochal duration is
not realised via its successive divisible parts, but is given with its
parts. In this way, the objection which Zeno might make to the joint
validity of two passages from Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason is met
by abandoning the earlier of the two passages. I refer to passages
from the section ‘Of the Axioms of Intuition’; the earlier from the
subsection on Extensive Quantity, and the latter from the subsection
on Intensive Quantity where considerations respecting quantity in
general, extensive and intensive, are summed up. The earlier
passage runs thus:[8]
8. Max Müller’s translation.
“I call an extensive quantity that in which the representation of the
whole is rendered possible by the representation of its parts, and
therefore necessarily preceded by it.[9] I cannot represent to myself
any line, however small it may be, without drawing it in thought, that
is, without producing all its parts one after the other, starting from a
given point, and thus, first of all, drawing its intuition. The same
applies to every, even the smallest portion of time. I can only think in
it the successive progress from one moment to another, thus
producing in the end, by all the portions of time, and their addition, a
definite quantity of time.”
9. Italics mine, and also in the second passage.
The second passage runs thus:
“This peculiar property of quantities that no part of them is the
smallest possible part (no part indivisible) is called continuity. Time
and space are quanta continua, because there is no part of them
that is not enclosed between limits (points and moments), no part
that is not itself again a space or a time. Space consists of spaces
only, time of times. Points and moments are only limits, mere places
of limitation, and as places presupposing always those intuitions
which they are meant to limit or to determine. Mere places or parts
that might be given before space or time, could never be
compounded into space or time.”
I am in complete agreement with the second extract if ‘time and
space’ is the extensive continuum; but it is inconsistent with its
predecessor. For Zeno would object that a vicious infinite regress is
involved. Every part of time involves some smaller part of itself, and
so on. Also this series regresses backwards ultimately to nothing;
since the initial moment is without duration and merely marks the
relation of contiguity to an earlier time. Thus time is impossible, if the
two extracts are both adhered to. I accept the later, and reject the
earlier, passage. Realisation is the becoming of time in the field of
extension. Extension is the complex of events, quâ their
potentialities. In realisation the potentiality becomes actuality. But the
potential pattern requires a duration; and the duration must be
exhibited as an epochal whole, by the realisation of the pattern. Thus
time is the succession of elements in themselves divisible and
contiguous. A duration, in becoming temporal, thereby incurs
realisation in respect to some enduring object. Temporalisation is
realisation. Temporalisation is not another continuous process. It is
an atomic succession. Thus time is atomic (i.e., epochal), though
what is temporalised is divisible. This doctrine follows from the
doctrine of events, and of the nature of enduring objects. In the next
chapter we must consider its relevance to the quantum theory of
recent science.
It is to be noted that this doctrine of the epochal character of time
does not depend on the modern doctrine of relativity, and holds
equally—and indeed, more simply—if this doctrine be abandoned. It
does depend on the analysis of the intrinsic character of an event,
considered as the most concrete finite entity.
In reviewing this argument, note first that the second quotation
from Kant, on which it is based, does not depend on any peculiar
Kantian doctrine. The latter of the two is in agreement with Plato as
against Aristotle.[10] In the second place, the argument assumes that
Zeno understated his argument. He should have urged it against the
current notion of time in itself, and not against motion, which involves
relations between time and space. For, what becomes has duration.
But no duration can become until a smaller duration (part of the
former) has antecedently come into being [Kant’s earlier statement].
The same argument applies to this smaller duration, and so on. Also
the infinite regress of these durations converges to nothing—and
even on the Aristotelian view there is no first moment. Accordingly
time would be an irrational notion. Thirdly, in the epochal theory
Zeno’s difficulty is met by conceiving temporalisation as the
realisation of a complete organism. This organism is an event
holding in its essence its spatio-temporal relationships (both within
itself, and beyond itself) throughout the spatio-temporal continuum.
10. Cf. ‘Euclid in Greek,’ by Sir T. L. Heath, Camb. Univ. Press, in
a note on Points.
CHAPTER VIII

THE QUANTUM THEORY

The theory of relativity has justly excited a great amount of public


attention. But, for all its importance, it has not been the topic which
has chiefly absorbed the recent interest of physicists. Without
question that position is held by the quantum theory. The point of
interest in this theory is that, according to it, some effects which
appear essentially capable of gradual increase or gradual diminution
are in reality to be increased or decreased only by certain definite
jumps. It is as though you could walk at three miles per hour or at
four miles per hour, but not at three and a half miles per hour.
The effects in question are concerned with the radiation of light
from a molecule which has been excited by some collision. Light
consists of waves of vibration in the electromagnetic field. After a
complete wave has passed a given point everything at that point is
restored to its original state and is ready for the next wave which
follows on. Picture to yourselves the waves on the ocean, and
reckon from crest to crest of successive waves. The number of
waves which pass a given point in one second is called the
frequency of that system of waves. A system of light-waves of
definite frequency corresponds to a definite colour in the spectrum.
Now a molecule, when excited, vibrates with a certain number of
definite frequencies. In other words, there are a definite set of modes
of vibration of the molecule, and each mode of vibration has one
definite frequency. Each mode of vibration can stir up in the
electromagnetic field waves of its own frequency. These waves carry
away the energy of the vibration; so that finally (when such waves
are in being) the molecule loses the energy of its excitement and the
waves cease. Thus a molecule can radiate light of certain definite
colours, that is to say, of certain definite frequencies.
You would think that each mode of vibration could be excited to
any intensity, so that the energy carried away by light of that
frequency could be of any amount. But this is not the case. There
appear to be certain minimum amounts of energy which cannot be
subdivided. The case is analogous to that of a citizen of the United
States who, in paying his debts in the currency of his country, cannot
subdivide a cent so as to correspond to some minute subdivision of
the goods obtained. The cent corresponds to the minimum quantity
of the light energy, and the goods obtained correspond to the energy
of the exciting cause. This exciting cause is either strong enough to
procure the emission of one cent of energy, or fails to procure the
emission of any energy whatsoever. In any case the molecule will
only emit an integral number of cents of energy. There is a further
peculiarity which we can illustrate by bringing an Englishman onto
the scene. He pays his debts in English currency, and his smallest
unit is a farthing which differs in value from the cent. The farthing is
in fact about half a cent, to a very rough approximation. In the
molecule, different modes of vibration have different frequencies.
Compare each mode to a nation. One mode corresponds to the
United States, and another mode corresponds to England. One
mode can only radiate its energy in an integral number of cents, so
that a cent of energy is the least it can pay out; whereas the other
mode can only radiate its energy in an integral number of farthings,
so that a farthing of energy is the least that it can pay out. Also a rule
can be found to tell us the relative value of the cent of energy of one
mode to the farthing of energy of another mode. The rule is childishly
simple: Each smallest coin of energy has a value in strict proportion
to the frequency belonging to that mode. By this rule, and comparing
farthings with cents, the frequency of an American would be about
twice that of an Englishman. In other words, the American would do
about twice as many things in a second as an Englishman. I must
leave you to judge whether this corresponds to the reputed
characters of the two nations. Also I suggest that there are merits
attaching to both ends of the solar spectrum. Sometimes you want
red light and sometimes violet light.
There has been, I hope, no great difficulty in comprehending what
the quantum theory asserts about molecules. The perplexity arises
from the effort to fit the theory into the current scientific picture of
what is going on in the molecule or atom.
It has been the basis of the materialistic theory, that the
happenings of nature are to be explained in terms of the locomotion
of material. In accordance with this principle, the waves of light were
explained in terms of the locomotion of a material ether, and the
internal happenings of a molecule are now explained in terms of the
locomotion of separate material parts. In respect to waves of light,
the material ether has retreated to an indeterminate position in the
background, and is rarely talked about. But the principle is
unquestioned as regards its application to the atom. For example a
neutral hydrogen atom is assumed to consist of at least two lumps of
material; one lump is the nucleus consisting of a material called
positive electricity, and the other is a single electron which is
negative electricity. The nucleus shows signs of being complex, and
of being subdivisible into smaller lumps, some of positive electricity
and others electronic. The assumption is, that whatever vibration
takes place in the atom is to be attributed to the vibratory locomotion
of some bit of material, detachable from the remainder. The difficulty
with the quantum theory is that, on this hypothesis, we have to
picture the atom as providing a limited number of definite grooves,
which are the sole tracks along which vibration can take place,
whereas the classical scientific picture provides none of these
grooves. The quantum theory wants trolley-cars with a limited
number of routes, and the scientific picture provides horses galloping
over prairies. The result is that the physical doctrine of the atom has
got into a state which is strongly suggestive of the epicycles of
astronomy before Copernicus.
On the organic theory of nature there are two sorts of vibrations
which radically differ from each other. There is vibratory locomotion,
and there is vibratory organic deformation; and the conditions for the
two types of change are of a different character. In other words,
there is vibratory locomotion of a given pattern as one whole, and
there is vibratory change of pattern.
A complete organism in the organic theory is what corresponds to
a bit of material on the materialistic theory. There will be a primary
genus, comprising a number of species of organisms, such that each
primary organism, belonging to a species of the primary genus, is
not decomposable into subordinate organisms. I will call any
organism of the primary genus a primate. There may be different
species of primates.
It must be kept in mind that we are dealing with the abstractions of
physics. Accordingly, we are not thinking of what a primate is in
itself, as a pattern arising from the prehension of the concrete
aspects; nor are we thinking of what a primate is for its environment,
in respect to its concrete aspects prehended therein. We are thinking
of these various aspects merely in so far as their effects on patterns
and on locomotion are expressible in spatio-temporal terms.
Accordingly, in the language of physics, the aspects of a primate are
merely its contributions to the electromagnetic field. This is in fact
exactly what we know of electrons and protons. An electron for us is
merely the pattern of its aspects in its environment, so far as those
aspects are relevant to the electromagnetic field.
Now in discussing the theory of relativity, we saw that the relative
motion of two primates means simply that their organic patterns are
utilising diverse space-time systems. If two primates do not continue
either mutually at rest, or mutually in uniform relative motion, at least
one of them is changing its intrinsic space-time system. The laws of
motion express the conditions under which these changes of space-
time systems are effected. The conditions for vibratory locomotion
are founded upon these general laws of motion.
But it is possible that certain species of primates are apt to go to
pieces under conditions which lead them to effect changes of space-
time systems. Such species would only experience a long range of
endurance, if they had succeeded in forming a favourable
association among primates of different species, such that in this
association the tendency to collapse is neutralised by the
environment of the association. We can imagine the atomic nucleus
as composed of a large number of primates of differing species, and
perhaps with many primates of the same species, the whole
association being such as to favour stability. An example of such an
association is afforded by the association of a positive nucleus with
negative electrons to obtain a neutral atom. The neutral atom is
thereby shielded from any electric field which would otherwise
produce changes in the space-time system of the atom.
The requirements of physics now suggest an idea which is very
consonant with the organic philosophical theory. I put it in the form of
a question: Has our organic theory of endurance been tainted by the
materialistic theory in so far as it assumes without question that
endurance must mean undifferentiated sameness throughout the
life-history concerned? Perhaps you noticed that (in a previous
chapter) I used the word ‘reiteration’ as a synonym of ‘endurance.’ It
obviously is not quite synonymous in its meaning; and now I want to
suggest that reiteration where it differs from endurance is more
nearly what the organic theory requires. The difference is very
analogous to that between the Galileans and the Aristotelians:
Aristotle said ‘rest’ where Galileo added ‘or uniform motion in a
straight line.’ Thus in the organic theory, a pattern need not endure in
undifferentiated sameness through time. The pattern may be
essentially one of aesthetic contrasts requiring a lapse of time for its
unfolding. A tune is an example of such a pattern. Thus the
endurance of the pattern now means the reiteration of its succession
of contrasts. This is obviously the most general notion of endurance
on the organic theory, and ‘reiteration’ is perhaps the word which
expresses it with most directness. But when we translate this notion
into the abstractions of physics, it at once becomes the technical
notion of ‘vibration.’ This vibration is not the vibratory locomotion: it is
the vibration of organic deformation. There are certain indications in
modern physics that for the rôle of corpuscular organisms at the
base of the physical field, we require vibratory entities. Such
corpuscles would be the corpuscles detected as expelled from the
nuclei of atoms, which then dissolve into waves of light. We may
conjecture that such a corpuscular body has no great stability of
endurance, when in isolation. Accordingly, an unfavourable
environment leading to rapid changes in its proper space-time
system, that is to say, an environment jolting it into violent
accelerations, causes the corpuscles to go to pieces and dissolve
into light-waves of the same period of vibration.
A proton, and perhaps an electron, would be an association of
such primates, superposed on each other, with their frequencies and
spatial dimensions so arranged as to promote the stability of the
complex organism, when jolted into accelerations of locomotion. The
conditions for stability would give the associations of periods
possible for protons. The expulsion of a primate would come from a
jolt which leads the proton either to settle down into an alternative
association, or to generate a new primate by the aid of the energy
received.
A primate must be associated with a definite frequency of vibratory
organic deformation so that when it goes to pieces it dissolves into
light waves of the same frequency, which then carry off all its
average energy. It is quite easy (as a particular hypothesis) to
imagine stationary vibrations of the electromagnetic field of definite
frequency, and directed radially to and from a centre, which, in
accordance with the accepted electromagnetic laws, would consist of
a vibratory spherical nucleus satisfying one set of conditions and a
vibratory external field satisfying another set of conditions. This is an
example of vibratory organic deformation. Further [on this particular
hypothesis], there are two ways of determining the subsidiary
conditions so as to satisfy the ordinary requirements of mathematical
physics. The total energy, according to one of these ways, would
satisfy the quantum condition; so that it consists of an integral
number of units or cents, which are such that the cent of energy of
any primate is proportional to its frequency. I have not worked out
the conditions for stability or for a stable association. I have
mentioned the particular hypothesis by way of showing by example
that the organic theory of nature affords possibilities for the
reconsideration of ultimate physical laws, which are not open to the
opposed materialistic theory.
In this particular hypothesis of vibratory primates, the Maxwellian
equations are supposed to hold throughout all space, including the
interior of a proton. They express the laws governing the vibratory
production and absorption of energy. The whole process for each
primate issues in a certain average energy characteristic of the
primate, and proportional to its mass. In fact the energy is the mass.
There are vibratory radial streams of energy, both without and within
a primate. Within the primate, there are vibratory distributions of
electric density. On the materialistic theory such density marks the
presence of material: on the organic theory of vibration, it marks the
vibratory production of energy. Such production is restricted to the
interior of the primate.
All science must start with some assumptions as to the ultimate
analysis of the facts with which it deals. These assumptions are
justified partly by their adherence to the types of occurrence of which
we are directly conscious, and partly by their success in representing
the observed facts with a certain generality, devoid of ad hoc
suppositions. The general theory of the vibration of primates, which I
have outlined, is merely given as an example of the sort of
possibilities which the organic theory leaves open for physical
science. The point is that it adds the possibility of organic
deformation to that of mere locomotion. Light waves form one great
example of organic deformation.
At any epoch the assumptions of a science are giving way, when
they exhibit symptoms of the epicyclic state from which astronomy
was rescued in the sixteenth century. Physical science is now
exhibiting such symptoms. In order to reconsider its foundations, it
must recur to a more concrete view of the character of real things,
and must conceive its fundamental notions as abstractions derived
from this direct intuition. It is in this way that it surveys the general
possibilities of revision which are open to it.
The discontinuities introduced by the quantum theory require
revision of physical concepts in order to meet them. In particular, it
has been pointed out that some theory of discontinuous existence is
required. What is asked from such a theory, is that an orbit of an
electron can be regarded as a series of detached positions, and not
as a continuous line.
The theory of a primate or a vibrating pattern, given above,
together with the distinction between temporality and extensiveness
in the previous chapter, yields exactly this result. It will be
remembered that the continuity of the complex of events arises from
the relationships of extensiveness; whereas the temporality arises
from the realisation in a subject-event of a pattern which requires for
its display that the whole of a duration be spatialised (i.e., arrested),
as given by its aspects in the event. Thus realization proceeds viâ a
succession of epochal durations; and the continuous transition, i.e.,
the organic deformation, is within the duration which is already given.
The vibratory organic deformation is in fact the reiteration of the
pattern. One complete period defines the duration required for the
complete pattern. Thus the primate is realised atomically in a
succession of durations, each duration to be measured from one
maximum to another. Accordingly, so far as the primate as one
enduring whole entity is to be taken account of, it is to be assigned to
these durations successively. If it is considered as one thing, its orbit
is to be diagrammatically exhibited by a series of detached dots.
Thus the locomotion of the primate is discontinuous in space and
time. If we go below the quanta of time which are the successive
vibratory periods of the primate, we find a succession of vibratory
electromagnetic fields, each stationary in the space-time of its own
duration. Each of these fields exhibits a single complete period of the
electromagnetic vibration which constitutes the primate. This
vibration is not to be thought of as the becoming of reality; it is what
the primate is in one of its discontinuous realisations. Also the
successive durations in which the primate is realised are contiguous;
it follows that the life history of the primate can be exhibited as being
the continuous development of occurrences in the electromagnetic
field. But these occurrences enter into realisation as whole atomic
blocks, occupying definite periods of time.
There is no need to conceive that time is atomic in the sense that
all patterns must be realised in the same successive durations. In
the first place, even if the periods were the same in the case of two
primates, the durations of realisation may not be the same. In other
words, the two primates may be out of phase. Also if the periods are
different, the atomism of any one duration of one primate is
necessarily subdivided by the boundary moments of durations of the
other primate.
The laws of the locomotion of primates express under what
conditions any primate will change its space-time system.
It is unnecessary to pursue this conception further. The justification
of the concept of vibratory existence must be purely experimental.
The point illustrated by this example is that the cosmological outlook,
which is here adopted, is perfectly consistent with the demands for
discontinuity which have been urged from the side of physics. Also if
this concept of temporalisation as a successive realisation of
epochal durations be adopted, the difficulty of Zeno is evaded. The
particular form, which has been given here to this concept, is purely
for that purpose of illustration and must necessarily require recasting
before it can be adapted to the results of experimental physics.
CHAPTER IX

SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY

In the present lecture, it is my object to consider some reactions of


science upon the stream of philosophic thought during the modern
centuries with which we are concerned. I shall make no attempt to
compress a history of modern philosophy within the limits of one
lecture. We shall merely consider some contacts between science
and philosophy, in so far as they lie within the scheme of thought
which it is the purpose of these lectures to develop. For this reason
the whole of the great German idealistic movement will be ignored,
as being out of effective touch with its contemporary science so far
as reciprocal modification of concepts is concerned. Kant, from
whom this movement took its rise, was saturated with Newtonian
physics, and with the ideas of the great French physicists—such as
Clairaut,[11] for instance—who developed the Newtonian ideas. But
the philosophers who developed the Kantian school of thought, or
who transformed it into Hegelianism, either lacked Kant’s
background of scientific knowledge, or lacked his potentiality of
becoming a great physicist if philosophy had not absorbed his main
energies.
11. Cf. the curious evidence of Kant’s scientific reading in the
Critique of Pure Reason, Transcendental Analytic, Second Analogy
of Experience, where he refers to the phenomenon of capillary
action. This is an unnecessarily complex illustration; a book resting
on a table would have equally well sufficed. But the subject had just
been adequately treated for the first time by Clairaut in an appendix
to his Figure of the Earth. Kant evidently had read this appendix, and
his mind was full of it.
The origin of modern philosophy is analogous to that of science,
and is contemporaneous. The general trend of its development was
settled in the seventeenth century, partly at the hands of the same
men who established the scientific principles. This settlement of
purpose followed upon a transitional period dating from the fifteenth
century. There was in fact a general movement of European
mentality, which carried along with its stream, religion, science and
philosophy. It may shortly be characterised as being the direct
recurrence to the original sources of Greek inspiration on the part of
men whose spiritual shape had been derived from inheritance from
the Middle Ages. There was therefore no revival of Greek mentality.
Epochs do not rise from the dead. The principles of aesthetics and of
reason, which animated the Greek civilisation, were reclothed in a
modern mentality. Between the two there lay other religions, other
systems of law, other anarchies, and other racial inheritances,
dividing the living from the dead.
Philosophy is peculiarly sensitive to such differences. For,
whereas you can make a replica of an ancient statue, there is no
possible replica of an ancient state of mind. There can be no nearer
approximation than that which a masquerade bears to real life. There
may be understanding of the past, but there is a difference between
the modern and the ancient reactions to the same stimuli.
In the particular case of philosophy, the distinction in tonality lies
on the surface. Modern philosophy is tinged with subjectivism, as
against the objective attitude of the ancients. The same change is to
be seen in religion. In the early history of the Christian Church, the
theological interest centred in discussions on the nature of God, the
meaning of the Incarnation, and apocalyptic forecasts of the ultimate
fate of the world. At the Reformation, the Church was torn asunder
by dissension as to the individual experiences of believers in respect
to justification. The individual subject of experience had been
substituted for the total drama of all reality. Luther asked, ‘How am I
justified?’; modern philosophers have asked, ‘How do I have
knowledge?’ The emphasis lies upon the subject of experience. This
change of standpoint is the work of Christianity in its pastoral aspect
of shepherding the company of believers. For century after century it
insisted upon the infinite worth of the individual human soul.
Accordingly, to the instinctive egotism of physical desires, it has
superadded an instinctive feeling of justification for an egotism of
intellectual outlook. Every human being is the natural guardian of his
own importance. Without a doubt, this modern direction of attention
emphasises truths of the highest value. For example, in the field of
practical life, it has abolished slavery, and has impressed upon the
popular imagination the primary rights of mankind.
Descartes, in his Discourse on Method, and in his Meditations,
discloses with great clearness the general conceptions which have
since influenced modern philosophy. There is a subject receiving
experience: in the Discourse this subject is always mentioned in the
first person, that is to say, as being Descartes himself. Descartes
starts with himself as being a mentality, which in virtue of its
consciousness of its own inherent presentations of sense and of
thought, is thereby conscious of its own existence as a unit entity.
The subsequent history of philosophy revolves round the Cartesian
formulation of the primary datum. The ancient world takes its stand
upon the drama of the Universe, the modern world upon the inward
drama of the Soul. Descartes, in his Meditations, expressly grounds
the existence of this inward drama upon the possibility of error.
There may be no correspondence with objective fact, and thus there
must be a soul with activities whose reality is purely derivative from
itself. For example, here is a quotation[12] from Meditation II: “But it
will be said that these presentations are false, and that I am
dreaming. Let it be so. At all events it is certain that I seem to see
light, hear a noise, and feel heat; this cannot be false, and this is
what in me is properly called perceiving (sentire), which is nothing
else than thinking. From this I begin to know what I am with
somewhat greater clearness and distinctness than heretofore.” Again
in Meditation III: “...; for, as I before remarked, although the things
which I perceive or imagine are perhaps nothing at all apart from me,
I am nevertheless assured that those modes of consciousness which
I call perceptions and imaginations, in as far only as they are modes
of consciousness, exist in me.”
12. Quoted from Veitch’s translation.
The objectivism of the medieval and the ancient worlds passed
over into science. Nature is there conceived as for itself, with its own
mutual reactions. Under the recent influence of relativity, there has
been a tendency towards subjectivist formulations. But, apart from
this recent exception, nature, in scientific thought, has had its laws
formulated without any reference to dependence on individual
observers. There is, however, this difference between the older and
the later attitudes towards science. The anti-rationalism of the
moderns has checked any attempt to harmonise the ultimate
concepts of science with ideas drawn from a more concrete survey
of the whole of reality. The material, the space, the time, the various
laws concerning the transition of material configurations, are taken
as ultimate stubborn facts, not to be tampered with.
The effect of this antagonism to philosophy has been equally
unfortunate both for philosophy and for science. In this lecture we
are concerned with philosophy. Philosophers are rationalists. They
are seeking to go behind stubborn and irreducible facts: they wish to
explain in the light of universal principles the mutual reference
between the various details entering into the flux of things. Also, they
seek such principles as will eliminate mere arbitrariness; so that,
whatever portion of fact is assumed or given, the existence of the
remainder of things shall satisfy some demand of rationality. They
demand meaning. In the words of Henry Sidgwick[13]—“It is the
primary aim of philosophy to unify completely, bring into clear
coherence, all departments of rational thought, and this aim cannot
be realised by any philosophy that leaves out of its view the
important body of judgments and reasonings which form the subject
matter of ethics.” Accordingly, the bias towards history on the part of
the physical and social sciences with their refusal to rationalise
below some ultimate mechanism, has pushed philosophy out of the
effective currents of modern life. It has lost its proper rôle as a
constant critic of partial formulations. It has retreated into the
subjectivist sphere of mind, by reason of its expulsion by science
from the objectivist sphere of matter. Thus the evolution of thought in
the seventeenth century coöperated with the enhanced sense of
individual personality derived from the Middle Ages. We see
Descartes taking his stand upon his own ultimate mind, which his
philosophy assures him of; and asking about its relations to the
ultimate matter—exemplified, in the second Meditation, by the
human body and a lump of wax—which his science assumes. There
is Aaron’s rod, and the magicians’ serpents; and the only question
for philosophy is, which swallows which; or whether, as Descartes
thought, they all lived happily together. In this stream of thought are
to be found Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant. Two great names lie
outside this list, Spinoza and Leibniz. But there is a certain isolation
of both of them in respect to their philosophical influence so far as
science is concerned; as though they had strayed to extremes which
lie outside the boundaries of safe philosophy, Spinoza by retaining
older ways of thought, and Leibniz by the novelty of his monads.
13. Cf. Henry Sidgwick: A Memoir, Appendix I.
The history of philosophy runs curiously parallel to that of science.
In the case of both, the seventeenth century set the stage for its two
successors. But with the twentieth century a new act commences. It
is an exaggeration to attribute a general change in a climate of
thought to any one piece of writing, or to any one author. No doubt
Descartes only expressed definitely and in decisive form what was
already in the air of his period. Analogously, in attributing to William
James the inauguration of a new stage in philosophy, we should be
neglecting other influences of his time. But, admitting this, there still
remains a certain fitness in contrasting his essay, Does
Consciousness Exist, published in 1904, with Descartes’ Discourse
on Method, published in 1637. James clears the stage of the old
paraphernalia; or rather he entirely alters its lighting. Take for
example these two sentences from his essay: “To deny plumply that
‘consciousness’ exists seems so absurd on the face of it—for
undeniably ‘thoughts’ do exist—that I fear some readers will follow
me no farther. Let me then immediately explain that I mean only to
deny that the word stands for an entity, but to insist most
emphatically that it does stand for a function.”
The scientific materialism and the Cartesian Ego were both
challenged at the same moment, one by science and the other by
philosophy, as represented by William James with his psychological
antecedents; and the double challenge marks the end of a period
which lasted for about two hundred and fifty years. Of course,
‘matter’ and ‘consciousness’ both express something so evident in
ordinary experience that any philosophy must provide some things

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