Mechanics


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1 The foundations of mechanics.
2 Matter, mass, and atoms, the primary qualities of bodies.
3 The laws of motion, inertia, the measure of force, action and reaction.
4 Space, time, and motion.
5 Cartesian and Galilean coordinates.
6 The effect of uniform rectilinear motion on the concepts of space and time, the special theory of relativity and the Lorentz transformation.
7 The effect of nonlinear and rotary motion on the concepts of space and time, the general theory of relativity and Gaussian coordinates.
8 The logic and method of mechanics.
9 The role of experience, experiment, and induction in mechanics.
10 The use of hypotheses in mechanics.
11 Theories of causality in mechanics.
12 The use of mathematics in mechanics, the dependence of progress in mechanics on mathematical discovery.
13 Number and the continuum, the theory of measurement, Euclidean and non-Euclidean continua.
14 The geometry of conics, the motion of planets and projectiles.
15 Algebra and analytic geometry, the symbolic formulation of mechanical problems.
16 Calculus, the measurement of irregular areas and variable motions.
17 The place, scope, and ideal of the science of mechanics, its relation to the philosophy of nature and other sciences.
18 Terrestrial and celestial mechanics, the mechanics of finite bodies and of atoms or elementary particles.
19 The explanation of qualities and qualitative change in terms of quantity and motion The mechanistic versus the organismic account of nature.
20 The basic phenomena and problems of mechanics, statics and dynamics.
21 Simple machines, the balance and the lever.
22 The equilibrium and motion of fluids, buoyancy, the weight and pressure of gases, the effects of a vacuum.
23 Stress, strain, and elasticity, the strength of materials.
24 Motion, void, and medium, resistance and friction.
25 Rectilinear motion.
26 Uniform motion, its causes and laws.
27 Accelerated motion, free fall.
28 Motion about a center, planets, projectiles, pendulum.
29 Determination of orbit, force, speed, time, and period.
30 Perturbation of motion, the two and three body problems.
31 Basic concepts of mechanics.
32 Center of gravity, its determination for one or several bodies.
33 Weight and specific gravity.
34 Velocity, acceleration, and momentum, angular or rectilinear, average or instantaneous.
35 Theories of universal gravitation.
36 The equivalence of inertial and gravitational mass.
37 The relation of mass and gravitational force, the curvature of space.
38 Action-at-a-distance, the field and medium of force.
39 Fields of force, the ideal of a unified field theory.
40 The parallelogram law, the composition of forces and the composition of velocities.
41 Work and energy, their conservation, perpetual motion, their relation to mass, the principle of least action.
42 The extension of mechanical principles to other phenomena.
43 Light, the corpuscular and the wave theory.
44 The laws of reflection and refraction.
45 The production of colors.
46 The speed of light.
47 The medium of light, the ether.
48 The bending of light rays in a gravitational field.
49 The Doppler effect.
50 Sound, the mechanical explanation of acoustic phenomena.
51 The theory of heat.
52 The description of the phenomena of heat, the hypothesis of caloric.
53 The measurement and the mathematical analysis of the quantities of heat.
54 Magnetism, the great magnet of the earth.
55 Magnetic phenomena, coition, verticity, variation, dip.
56 Magnetic force and magnetic fields.
57 Electricity, electrostatics and electrodynamics.
58 The source of electricity, the relation of the kinds of electricity.
59 Electricity and matter, conduction, insulation, induction, electrochemical decomposition.
60 The relation of electricity and magnetism, the electromagnetic field.
61 The relation of electricity to heat and light, thermoelectricity.
62 The measurement of electric quantities.
63 Quantum mechanics.
64 Electromagnetic radiation as produced in indivisible quanta, the quantum-mechanical explanation of atomic structure, stationary states.
65 The mathematical expression of quantum relations, correspondence, probability functions, matrices, wave mechanics, the wave-particle duality of light and matter.
66 Limitations on the knowledge of quantum phenomena, the interaction of the observer and experimental phenomena, the principle of uncertainty or indeterminacy.
67 The interpretation of quantum phenomena, complementarity, the problems of being and causation in quantum mechanics, the sufficiency of quantum theory as an explanation of reality.
68 The relation of quantum mechanics to the theory of relativity and to other empirical sciences.


All text from the Outlines is Copyright ©1990 Encyclopedia Britannica Inc.; this electronic edition is Copyright© 2005 by Michael R. Lissack and reproduced by permission.