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e-book: The Evolution of Physics

I am currently studying this book by Einstein to get an insight into his thinking. This book was originally published in 1938 by Cambridge University Press. It was a popular success, and was featured in a Time magazine cover story.

Here is some information on this book from Wikipedia:

Background of collaboration

Einstein agreed to write the book partly as a way to help Infeld financially. Infeld collaborated briefly in Cambridge with Max Born, before moving to Princeton, where he worked with Einstein at the Institute for Advanced Study. Einstein tried to get Infeld a permanent position there, but failed. Infeld came up with a plan to write a history of physics with Einstein, which was sure to be successful, and split the royalties. When he went to Einstein to pitch the idea, Infeld became incredibly tongue-tied, but he was finally able to stammer out his proposal. “This is not at all a stupid idea,” Einstein said. “Not stupid at all. We shall do it.”

Book’s point of view

In the book, Einstein pushed his realist approach to physics in defiance of much of quantum mechanics. Belief in an “objective reality,” the book argued, had led to great scientific advances throughout the ages, thus proving that it was a useful concept even if not provable. “Without the belief that it is possible to grasp reality with our theoretical constructions, without the belief in the inner harmony of our world, there could be no science,” the book declared. “This belief is and always will remain the fundamental motive for all scientific creation.”

In addition, Einstein used the text to defend the utility of field theories amid the advances of quantum mechanics. The best way to do that was to view particles not as independent objects but as a special manifestation of the field itself: “Could we not reject the concept of matter and build a pure field physics? We could regard matter as the regions in space where the field is extremely strong. A thrown stone is, from this point of view, a changing field in which the states of the greatest field intensity travel through space with the velocity of the stone.”

Contents

Preface

I. THE RISE OF THE MECHANICAL VIEW

1. The great mystery story
2. The first clue
3. Vectors
4. The riddle of motion
5. One clue remains
6. Is heat a substance?
7. The switchback (roller-coaster)
8. The rate of exchange
9. The philosophical background
10. The kinetic theory of matter

II. THE DECLINE OF THE MECHANICAL VIEW

1. The two electric fluids
2. The magnetic fluids
3. The first serious difficulty
4. The velocity of light
5. Light as substance
6. The riddle of colour
7. What is a wave?
8. The wave theory of light
9. Longitudinal or transverse light waves?
10. Ether and the mechanical view

III. FIELD, RELATIVITY

1. The field as representation
2. The two pillars of the field theory
3. The reality of the field
4. Field and ether
5. The mechanical scaffold
6. Ether and motion
7. Time, distance, relativity
8. Relativity and mechanics
9. The time-space continuum
10. General relativity
11. Outside and inside the lift
12. Geometry and experiment
13. General relativity and its verification
14. Field and matter

IV. QUANTA

1. Continuity—Discontinuity
2. Elementary quanta of matter and electricity
3. The quanta of light
4. Light spectra
5. The waves of matter
6. Probability waves
7. Physics and reality

The third chapter (Field, Relativity) examines lines of force starting with gravitational fields (i.e., a physical collection of forces), moving on to descriptions of electric and magnetic fields. The authors explain that they are attempting to “translate familiar facts from the language of fluids…into the new language of fields.” They state that the Faraday, Maxwell, and Hertz experiments led to modern physics. They describe how “The change of an electric field produced by the motion of a charge is always accompanied by a magnetic field.”

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Please see Course on Subject Clearing

The starting postulates for Physics are the same as those for Metaphysics as stated in the reference above.

The theoretical ground state for this universe is inertia-less primordial field, which, when disturbed, gives rise to the electromagnetic phenomenon with inertia. Motion is not infinite because motion is defined by inertia. The universe is kept together only because there is inertia. We can walk only because there is friction. This earth can exist only because there is inertia.

These postulate are as workable as they produces observations consistent with reality. There are no absolute certainties. One can always come up with better postulates.

That is how science makes progress. Einstein declared the speed of light to be a universal constant. This is a certainty for now, but there may possibly be a wider context in which the speed of light is a special case.

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KHTK Postulate P1: At the physical level the disturbance in the inertia-less primordial field takes the form of undulating electric and magnetic fields of finite frequency, wavelength and period.

The familiar electromagnetic wave is understood to be transverse in nature. It is like the ripples formed on the surface of a pond when a stone is dropped. The particles of water move up and down in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the ripple.

On the other hand, the sound wave formed in air when we speak is longitudinal in nature. It is a pressure wave in which the particles of air move back and forth along the same direction in which the wave propagates.

The transverse wave seems to form at the interface of two different media, such as, between water and air while the longitudinal disturbance seems to form within a single media, such as, within air, or within water. The electromagnetic disturbance, being transverse in nature, seems to require an interface between two different media. We recognize this interface to be formed by electric and magnetic fields.

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KHTK Postulate P2: Increasing electromagnetic disturbance may be defined in terms of levels of doubling frequency.

These disturbance levels are defined in KHTK Postulate M-5 as DL0, DL1, DL2, etc. The frequency of disturbance level “n” (DLn) is defined as “2ⁿ”

The disturbance level for visible light may be approximated as DL49 (frequency 2⁴⁹). The disturbance level of radio waves may be approximated as DL27 (frequency 2²⁷). And the disturbance level of gamma rays may be approximated at DL65 (frequency 2⁶⁵).

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KHTK Postulate P3: The basic electromagnetic disturbance determines the characteristics of space, time, and inertia.

The disturbance, as motion, is made up of different states. The idea of different states provides the characteristic called space. The idea of the progression of such states provides the characteristic called time. The idea of structure due to these states provides the characteristic called inertia.

The ideas of space, time and inertia are inherent to disturbance (motion). This may seem counter-intuitive because we observe objects moving in space and time. But the solid objects are at a much higher disturbance levels than the background.

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KHTK Postulate P4: With increasing disturbance levels, the inertia of disturbance increases.

As frequency of the disturbance increases it provides greater rigidity to its structure, and therefore, the inertia also increases. This inertia is expressed as resistance. A measure of this inertia is provided by permittivity and permeability “of space”.

• Permittivity is the measure of the resistance that is encountered when forming an electric field in a medium. The permittivity of classical vacuum, or free space, is about 8.85 × 10⁻¹² Farads/meter.
• Permeability is the measure of the ability of a material to support the formation of a magnetic field within itself. The permeability of classical vacuum, or free space, is about 1.26 ×10⁻⁶ Henries per meter.

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KHTK Postulate P5: With increasing disturbance levels, space and time condense.

Increasing disturbance levels are accompanied by a shortening of wavelength and period. While increasing frequency indicates greater inertia, the shortening of wavelength and period indicate condensing space and time.

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Next: 

KHTK Postulates for Physics – Part 2

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