Michael de Podesta

Understanding the Properties of Matter: 2nd Edition takes a unique phenomenological approach to the presentation of matter, materials, and solid-state physics. After an overview of basic ideas and a reminder of the importance of measurement, the author considers in turn gases, solids, liquids, and phase changes. For each topic, the focus is on "what happens." After a preliminary examination of data on the properties of matter, the author raises, then addresses a series of questions concerning the data. It is only in answering these questions that he adopts the theoretical approach to the properties of matter. This approach can reawaken in readers the fascination for the subject that inspired some of the greatest physicists of our age. Examples and extensive exercises reinforce the concepts. A supporting Web site furnishes for free download a plethora of additional materials, including: " Supplementary chapters on the band theory of solids and the magnetic properties of solids " Copies of all the data talbes used in the book, in PDF and spreadsheet formats " Enlarged copies of all figures " A simple molecular dynamics simulation " Animations uillustrating important featrues of key equations " Answers to the end-of-chapter exercises Understanding the Properties of Matter is an entertaining and innovative text accessible at the undergraduate level.

Understanding the Properties of Matter

Ian Stewart

David Fisher

Linda Geddes

Marcus Chown

Paul Davies

Michael Brooks

Jonathan Knight

David Harris

Jo Marchant

Nigel Henbest

Laura Spinney

NewScientist

Douglas Fox

Per Eklund

Valerie Jamieson

Rick A. Lovett

Andy Coghlan

Stephen Battersby

The writers behind New Scientist explore the baffling concept of nothingness from the fringes of the universe to our minds’ inner workings. It turns out that nothing is as curious or as enlightening as nothingness itself. What is nothing? Where can it be found? The writers of the world’s top-selling science magazine investigate—from the big bang, dark energy, and the void, to superconductors, vestigial organs, hypnosis, and the placebo effect. And they discover that understanding nothing may be the key to understanding everything: What came before the big bang—and will our universe end? How might cooling matter down almost to absolute zero help solve our energy crisis? How can someone suffer from a false diagnosis as though it were true? Does nothingness even exist if squeezing a perfect vacuum somehow creates light? Why is it unfair to accuse sloths—animals who do nothing—of being lazy? And more! Contributors Paul Davies, Jo Marchant, and Ian Stewart, along with two former editors of Nature and sixteen other leading writers and scientists, marshal up-to-the-minute research to make one of the most perplexing realms in science dazzlingly clear. Prepare to be amazed at how much more there is to nothing than you ever realized.

Surprising Insights Everywhere from Zero to Oblivion

Nothing

Michael de Podesta

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