| Description |
1 online resource |
| Contents |
Ch. 1. Musing -- ch. 2. Christian Doppler and his effect. 2.1. Waves, frequency and wavelength. 2.2. The Doppler effect and sound waves. 2.3. The Doppler effect and astronomy -- ch. 3. Measuring distances in the universe. 3.1. The parallax method. 3.2. Main-sequence stars. 3.3. Using cepheid variables. 3.4. Spinning galaxies. 3.5. Using supernovae as standard sources -- ch. 4. Edwin Hubble's expanding universe. 4.1. Galaxies, clusters and superclusters. 4.2. Hubble's law -- ch. 5. A weird and wonderful universe. 5.1. The classical universe. 5.2. The relativistic universe. 5.3. Missing mass and dark energy -- ch. 6. The nature of matter. 6.1. Atoms and molecules. 6.2. The discovery of electrons. 6.3. The atomic nucleus. 6.4. The elusive neutrino and antiparticles. 6.5. Quarks -- ch. 7. The Big-Bang hypothesis. 7.1. Origin of the Big-Bang hypothesis. 7.2. What happened in the Big Bang? -- ch. 8. How matter can clump together. 8.1. Gravitational instability. 8.2. The role of turbulence. 8.3. Cooling processes -- ch. 9. The universe develops structure -- ch. 10. The first stars are born, live and die. 10.1. The birth of stars. 10.2. The life of stars. 10.3. The final journey -- ch. 11. Making the sun -- and similar stars. 12.1. The ingredients for star formation. 12.2. Forming dark, cool clouds. 12.3. Forming protostars. 12.4. The rotation of stars. 12.5. Observation and theory relating to star formation. 12.6. The formation of binary systems -- ch. 13. A crowded environment. 13.1. Embedded clusters. 13.2. Interactions between stars -- ch. 14. Understanding the nature of the solar system. 14.1. Ptolemy's Earth-centred model. 14.2. The Copernicus heliocentric model. 14.3. Tycho Brahe. 14.4. Johannes Kepler. 14.5. Galileo Galilei. 14.6. Isaac Newton -- ch. 15. Introducing the planets. 15.1. An overall description of the planetary System. 15.2. The major planets. 15.3. The terrestrial planets -- ch. 16. Satellites galore. 16.1. The satellites of Jupiter. 16.2. The satellites of Saturn. 16.3. The satellites of Uranus. 16.4. The satellites of Neptune. 16.5. The satellites of Mars. 16.6. The moon -- ch. 17. 'Vermin of the sky' and other small bodies. 17.1. Bode's law. 17.2. Asteroids galore. 17.3. Meteorites. 17.4. Comets. 17.5. The Kuiper Belt -- ch. 18. Planets galore. 18.1. Detecting planets around other stars. 18.2. Imaging the effects of unseen exoplanets. 18.3. Images of exoplanets -- ch. 19. Making planets. 19.1. Embedded clusters, stars and protostars. 19.2. Interactions between stars and compressed regions. 19.3. Interactions between stars and protostars -- how many planetary systems? 19.4. What problems remain? -- ch. 20. Shrinking orbits and the survival of planetary systems. 20.1. Resistance and decaying orbits. 20.2. Viscosity. 20.3. Mass-dependent resistance. 20.4. The form of the resisting medium. 20.5. Simulations of orbital evolution. 20.6. Eccentric orbits. 20.7. Commensurate orbits. 20.8. The survival of planetary systems |
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Ch. 21. Now satellites form. 21.1. An outline of the solar nebula theory. 21.2. The formation of satellites -- ch. 22. What can be learnt from meteorites? 22.1. The origin of asteroids. 22.2. Aspects of radioactivity. 22.3. Melting of planetesimals. 22.4. Details of meteorite composition -- ch. 23. A little-bang theory and the terrestrial planets. 23.1. The problem of terrestrial planets. 23.2. The precession of evolving orbits. 23.3. A postulated planetary collision. 23.4. The composition of the colliding planets. 23.5. Temperature generated by the collision process. 23.6. Modelling the collision -- ch. 24. The moon -- its structure and history. 24.1. Ideas about the origin of the moon. 24.2. The planetary collision and the moon -- ch. 25. The very small planets -- Mars and Mercury. 25.1. The origin of Mars. 25.2. The origin of Mercury. 25.3. The moon, Mars and Mercury -- a summary -- ch. 26. Smaller bodies of the solar system. 26.1. Asteroid formation. 26.2. Comets and the Kuiper Belt. 26.3. The Oort Cloud. 26.4. The dwarf planets. 26.5. The relationship of Pluto and Triton to Neptune -- ch. 27. The origin of isotopic anomalies in meteorites. 27.1. Magnesium. 27.2. Oxygen. 27.3. Carbon and silicon. 27.4. Nitrogen. 27.5. Neon -- ch. 28. The Earth settles down -- more-or-less. 28.1. The incandescent Earth. 28.2. An atmosphere forms -- ch. 29. What is life? 29.1. Defining life. 29.2. The characteristics of life -- ch. 30. Forms of life. 30.1. Bacteria. 30.2. Eukaryota. 30.3. Archaea. 30.4. An overview -- ch. 31. Nineteenth century genetics -- the survival of the fittest. 31.1. Mendel and his peas. 31.2. The discovery of the chromosome. 31.3. Lamarck's evolutionary ideas. 31.4. Darwin's evolutionary ideas. 31.5. A mathematical illustration of survival of the fittest -- ch. 32. Twentieth century genetics -- the alphabets of life. 32.1. Symbols and alphabets. 32.2. Proteins and the protein alphabet. 32.3. The DNA alphabet. 32.4. Determining the structure of DNA. 32.5. The role of RNA. 32.6. Sexual reproduction -- ch. 33. Life begins on Earth. 33.1. Early ideas on the origin of life. 33.2. The origin of the components of the molecules of life. 33.3. The origin of the molecules of life. 33.4. The source of life. 33.5. The creation of self-replicating DNA -- ch. 34. The restless Earth. 34.1. The jigsaw-puzzle Earth. 34.2. The evidence for continental drift. 34.3. The mechanism of continental drift. 34.4. Volcanism. 34.5. Earthquakes -- ch. 35. Oxygen, ozone and life. 35.1. The role of oxygen and ozone. 35.2. The first free oxygen is produced -- ch. 36. The evolution of life -- from Archaea to early mammals. 36.1. The Hadean era (4,500-3,800 My BP). 36.2. The Archaean era (3,800-2,500 My BP). 36.3. The Proterozoic era (2,500-543 My BP). 36.4. The Paleozoic era (543-251 My BP). 36.5. The Mesozoic era (251-65.5 My BP) -- ch. 37. Early mammals to man. 37.1. The Cenozoic era (65.5 My BP to present) -- ch. 38. Man and the Earth. 38.1. Environment, chance and evolution. 38.2. Man arrives and begins to manipulate nature. 38.3. The rules of the game change -- man modifies the environment -- ch. 39. Musing again |
| Summary |
The three greatest scientific mysteries, which remain poorly understood, are the origin of the universe, the origin of life and the development of consciousness. This book describes the processes preceding the Big Bang, the creation of matter, the concentration of that matter into stars and planets, the development of simple life forms and the theory of evolution that has given higher life forms, including mankind. There are many popular and excellent science books that present various aspects of science. However, this book follows a narrow scientific pathway from the Big Bang to mankind, and depicts the causal relationship between each step and the next. The science covered will be enough to satisfy most readers. Many important areas of science are dealt with, and these include cosmology, particle physics, atomic physics, galaxy and star formation, planet formation and aspects of evolution. The necessary science is described in a narrative form that general-interest readers should understand, without the use of equations or formulae. This 2nd edition includes several updates on the subjects that form the pillars of this book. They are: cosmology and astronomy, the features and formation of the solar system, the origin of life, and genetics and evolution. This book will appeal to readers with an interest in biology and those curious about the origins of the universe |
| Subject |
Big bang theory.
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SCIENCE -- Cosmology.
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Big bang theory
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| ISBN |
9781848169357 |
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1848169353 |
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9781283972154 |
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1283972158 |
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