This book is written for anybody who is curious about nature and motion. Curiosity about how people, animals, things, images and empty space move leads to many adven- tures. This volume presents the best of them in the domains of relativity and cosmology. In the study of motion – physics – special and general relativity form two important building blocks.
Special relativity is the exploration of the energy speed limit c. General relativity is the exploration of the force limit c4/4G. The text shows that in both domains, all equations follow from these two limit values. This simple, intuitive and unusual way of learning relativity should reward the curiosity of every reader – whether student or professional.
The present volume is the second of a six-volume overview of physics that arose from a threefold aim that I have pursued since 1990: to present motion in a way that is simple, up to date and captivating.
Table of Contents
1 Maximum Speed, Observers At Rest And Motion Of Light
2 Relativistic Mechanics
3 Special Relativity In Four Sentences
4 Simple General Relativity: Gravitation, Maximum Speed And Maximum Force
5 How Maximum Speed Changes Space, Time And Gravity
6 Open Orbits, Bent Light And Wobbling Vacuum
7 From Curvature To Motion
8 Why Can We See The Stars? – Motion In The Universe
9 Black Holes – Falling Forever
10 Does Space Differ From Time?
11 General Relativity In A Nutshell – A Summary For The Layman
