This brief document (less than 10,000 words) provides an introduction to the special theory of relativity with ample use of diagrams. The approach is slow and deliberate, providing a nice contrast to the rushed, condensed presentation of college textbooks and professors.

Making statistical modeling and inference more accessible to ecologists and related scientists, Introduction to Hierarchical Bayesian Modeling for Ecological Data gives readers a flexible and effective framework to learn about complex ecological processes from various sources of data. It also helps readers get started on building their own statisti

While organic soils have the potential to contribute greatly to agricultural production, the irreversible processes that occur from draining organic soils need to be managed with caution. The wise use of peatlands must include the avoidance of unacceptable ecological effects on the contiguous and global environment. Organic Soils and Peat Materials

Celebrated for his brilliantly quirky insights into the physical world, Nobel laureate Richard Feynman also possessed an extraordinary talent for explaining difficult concepts to the general public. Here Feynman provides a classic and definitive introduction to QED (namely quantum electrodynamics), that part of quantum field theory describing the interactions of light with charged particles. Using everyday language, spatial concepts, visualizations, and his renowned "Feynman diagrams" inst...

This guide is essential for students or individual looking for Chemistry knowledge. The QuickStudy Chemistry guide includes information on: atomic structure, nuclear chemistry, atomic quantum numbers/orbitals, electronic atoms, types of matter/reactions, physical processes, nomenclature/stoichiometry, chemical interactions/bonding models, gasesthermodynamics/theories and much more!

Scientific American's daily Sixty-Second Science podcast was such an unexpected success, with millions of downloads, that a spin-off site was created around the concept of bite-sized science. This new series of books will tackle the biggest topics in science by breaking them up into quick and easy two- to four-page spreads. Topics in each book will take the light and accessible tone of the 60-Second Science podcasts and blog. INSTANT EGGHEAD PHYSICS will explore quantum physics, r...

Relativity and Quantum Mechanics are the two major pillars of 20th century physics. These theories, launched within five years of one another, revolutionized our understanding of nature. They utterly dismantled the conceptual basis of Newtonian physics that had been the gold standard of science for over 200 years, and introduced radically new concepts that defy human intuition. These theories may represent the greatest upheaval in the history of science. Both Relativity and Quantum Mechan...

This book explores the Micro-World of subatomic particles and forces, including the recently discovered Higgs boson. The pursuit of nature’s smallest parts is one of mankind’s oldest quests, beginning at least 26 centuries ago. But, just in our lifetimes it seems we’ve finally “hit bottom.” Each step deeper into the Micro-World has revealed surprises, and expanded our understanding of nature on all size scales. At the bottom, we see a remarkable unity — nature is the same everywh...

This book continues our exploration of the most profound theory of science, Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. We examine more carefully the properties of spacetime, the unity of space and time. We explore the major features of curvature, how to measure it, and how to reduce its complexity to finding distances between nearby points. We find a simple expression, 2M/r, which proves remarkably helpful as we explore the Schwarzchild metric, black holes, time d...

With this book you begin exploring the mysterious world of Quantum Mechanics — two words that have for over 100 years struck terror in the hearts of both physics students and the general public. As we shall see, the behavior of nature is remarkably surprising in the micro-world of molecules, atoms, and everything smaller yet. But this should be a surprise of wonder instead of terror. For most of us, nature is also surprising on the savannahs of Serengeti, but who wouldn't delight...

All of modern astrophysics and cosmology stands on the foundation of General Relativity that is best expressed in tensors. This book, and its sequel, General Relativity 4: Astrophysics & Cosmology, present the clearest, most comprehensible, and most complete introduction to the tensor calculus of differential topology, which Einstein used to explain the cosmos. Derivations that are difficult to find elsewhere, are all collected here and explained in detail. This book pr...

Perhaps the two most important conceptual breakthroughs in twentieth century physics are relativity and quantum mechanics. Developing a theory that combines the two seamlessly is a difficult and ongoing challenge. This accessible book contains intriguing explorations of this theme by the distinguished physicists Richard Feynman and Steven Weinberg. Richard Feynman's contribution examines the nature of antiparticles, and in particular the relationship between quantum spin and statistics. In...