Seven Tales of the Pendulum
, by Baker, Gregory L.- ISBN: 9780199589517 | 0199589518
- Cover: Hardcover
- Copyright: 3/22/2011
Gregory L. Baker was born and educated in Toronto receiving his B.Sc. in mathematics and physics from the University of Toronto, and his M.Sc and Ph.D. in physics, also from the University of Toronto. He has taught physics and mathematics at Bryn Athyn College since 1970, retiring from fulltime involvement in 2007. His scholarly interests have included stochastic processes (as a consultant), chaotic dynamics, and the relationship between religion and science. He has authored or co-authored more than sixty publications, many of which have appeared in peer reviewed journals. His books include the best selling Chaotic Dynamics: an Introduction, a technical/cultural book on the pendulum The Pendulum: a case study in physics, and Religion and Science: from Swedenborg to chaotic dynamics. Baker is a member of the American Physical Society and the American Association of Physics Teachers, and is a recipient of the Glencairn award for scholarship at Bryn Athyn College.
Preface | p. ix |
Acknowledgments | p. xi |
List of Figures | p. xiii |
Introduction | p. 1 |
What is a Pendulum? | p. 3 |
Why the pendulum | p. 3 |
The motion of the pendulum | p. 8 |
Picturing the motion | p. 14 |
Seven Tales of the Pendulum | p. 21 |
Pendulums Measure the Earth | p. 23 |
Shape | p. 23 |
Density | p. 28 |
Rotation - the Foucault pendulum | p. 33 |
Frames of reference | p. 42 |
Foucault pendulums are tricky | p. 44 |
Starting the pendulum | p. 45 |
Finite swing size | p. 45 |
Asymmetry | p. 46 |
Energy dissipation | p. 51 |
Some modern solutions | p. 53 |
Pendulums go public | p. 56 |
Pendulums Keep Time | p. 62 |
Mechanical clocks pre-pendulum | p. 62 |
The development of the pendulum clock | p. 66 |
Galileo (1564-1642) | p. 66 |
Huygens (1629-1695) | p. 67 |
Time as a standard of length? | p. 74 |
Escapements | p. 76 |
Temperature compensation | p. 79 |
Pendulum clocks into the twentieth century | p. 82 |
Pendulums Measure Fundamental Forces | p. 87 |
The historical torsion pendulum | p. 91 |
Coulomb and the electrostatic force | p. 91 |
Cavendish and the gravitational force | p. 97 |
Modern torsion pendulums | p. 101 |
The universal gravitational constant | p. 101 |
The principle of equivalence (revisited) | p. 103 |
Pendulums Swing High | p. 107 |
A religious pendulum | p. 107 |
Yes, the period does depend on the amplitude | p. 111 |
Phase space revisited | p. 118 |
Parametric forcing | p. 123 |
Pendulum of horror | p. 128 |
Pendulums Go Chaotic | p. 131 |
Introduction and history | p. 131 |
The chaotic pendulum | p. 136 |
The geometry of chaos | p. 139 |
The state diagram | p. 139 |
Phase planes, Poincaré sections, time series | p. 142 |
Fourier analysis | p. 147 |
Bifurcation diagrams | p. 150 |
Fractals | p. 152 |
Information and prediction in chaos | p. 156 |
Pendulums Stick Together | p. 160 |
Synchronized pendulums | p. 160 |
Secure communication | p. 166 |
Control of the chaotic pendulum | p. 169 |
Large-scale synchronization | p. 171 |
Pendulums in the Small | p. 175 |
Potential energy | p. 175 |
A new physics | p. 178 |
Two simplified quantum systems | p. 180 |
The linearized quantum pendulum | p. 181 |
The free quantum rotor | p. 187 |
The nonlinear quantum pendulum | p. 188 |
Microscopic pendulums? | p. 191 |
The Stark effect | p. 191 |
Naturally librating molecules - ethane | p. 194 |
Does quantum physics partially wash out chaos? | p. 198 |
Conclusion | p. 201 |
Odds and the End | p. 203 |
The double pendulum | p. 203 |
The cradle pendulum | p. 206 |
The relativistic pendulum | p. 210 |
The Long Now clock | p. 213 |
Some final thoughts | p. 216 |
Further Reading | p. 219 |
Glossary of Terms | p. 221 |
Index | p. 225 |
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