Dynamics from Newton to Dirac

 

   Now available in paperback

 

1  Classical Mechanics

 

1.1  Newton's Proposition LXXI

3

1.2  Did Newton Answer Halley’s Question?

7

1.3  On Derivations of Kepler’s Laws

21

1.4  Centripetal and Centrifugal Forces

30

1.5  Inertial Forces and D'Alembert's Principle

40

1.6  Inverse-Square Forces and Orthogonal Polynomials

46

1.7  The Bulging Earth

52

1.8  Intrinsic Wobble of Spinning Objects

58

1.9  Newtonian Precession of Mercury’s Perihelion

60

1.10  Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Mechanics

68

1.11  The Virial Theorem

74

1.12  Noether's Theorem

80

 

 

2  Waves

 

2.1  Huygens’ Principle

86

2.2  Phase, Group, and Signal Velocity

96

2.3  Aberration of Force and Waves

103

2.4  Propagation of Pressure and Waves

109

2.5  On Diffraction

122

2.6  Interference or Refraction?

140

 

 

3  Thermodynamics

 

3.1  The Speed of Sound

148

3.2  Energy, Entropy, Enthalpy

154

3.3  Reversibility and Entropy

158

3.4  True, Equivalent, and Calibrated Airspeeds

165

3.5  Potential Flow and D'Alembert's Paradox

168

3.6  Reasoning with Reversibility

174

3.7  The Ergodic Hypothesis and Equipartition of Energy

180

3.8  Analytic Functions, The Magnus Effect, and Wings

189

 

 

4  Electrodynamics

 

4.1  The Curl of the Curl

204

4.2  Retarded and Advanced Potential

209

4.3  The Electric Potential of a Moving Charge

213

4.4  The Electric and Magnetic Fields of a Moving Charge

219

4.5  Lorentz Boosts and the Electromagnetic Field

225

4.6  Maxwell and Second-Degree Commutation

228

4.7  Electromagnetic Energy, One Way or Another

231

4.8  Transformation of Electromagnetic Amplitude

237

4.9  Magnetic Dipoles

240

4.10  Does an Accelerating Charge Radiate?

254

 

 

5  Quantum Theory

 

5.1  The Necessity of the Quantum

265

5.2  On the Origins of Quantum Mechanics

271

5.3  Magnetism and Earnshaw's Theorem

280

5.4  Hermitian Matrices

287

5.5  On Matrix Mechanics

292

5.6  Quantum Oscillator and Delannoy Numbers

309

5.7  Bras, Kets, and Matrices

319

5.8  The Hydrogen Atom

328

5.9  Higher-Order Wave Equations and Matter Waves

338

5.10  Dirac's Belt

343

5.11  Fourier Transforms and Uncertainty

353

5.12  Quantum Entanglement and Bell's Theorem

358

5.13  The Dirac Equation

373

5.14  On the Higgs Mechanism

391