The Physics of Chance: From Blaise Pascal to Niels Bohr

Ruhla, Charles; Barton, G.

ISBN 10: 0198539770 / ISBN 13: 9780198539773

Published by Oxford University Press, USA, 1992

May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G0198539770I4N00

Synopsis:

This work offers a clear, much-needed introduction to the ideas of randomness that are central to modern physics. These are the concepts that have been instrumental in overthrowing the notion of the classical "clock-work" universe of earlier centuries. The author shows how the laws of probability and statistics were developed by such mathematicians as Fermat, Pascal, and Gauss, and how they received their first major application in physics in the kinetic theory of gases developed by Maxwell and Boltzmann. Here the use of statistics was necessary because the number of particles involved is too great for a deterministic calculation. But soon the mathematician and physicist Poincare demonstrated the unpredictability of certain systems containing only a small number of bodies, because of extreme sensitivity to initial conditions. He thus became a founder of chaos theory. Finally, with the advent of quantum theory, physics--and reality itself-- seemed to be based on an essential randomness, an idea that was debated by Bohr and Einstein until the end of their lives. Only recently, in the experiments of Alain Aspect, has a convincing demonstration been given the inescapable randomness of quantum theory is a fact of nature. The author skillfully guides the reader through these developments and provides mathematical details in appendices, offering an accessible introduction to the modern physicist's conception of the world of cause and chance. Of special interest to physics students and teachers, the book will also appeal to anyone seeking a better understanding of modern physics, quantum theory, and the concept of chaos.

About the Author: Charles Ruhla is at Claude-Bernard University (Lyons I). G. Barton is at University of Sussex.

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Physics of Chance: From Blaise Pascal to...
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Publication Date: 1992
Binding: Paperback
Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket