Gravity : a very short introduction / Timothy Clifton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Clifton, Timothy, author.

Series:

Very short introductions ; 512.

Very short introductions ; 512

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gravity.

Gravity--Seasonal variations.

Gravitation.

General relativity (Physics).

Physical Description:

103 pages : illustrations ; 18 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford, United Kingdom : Oxford University Press, 2017.

Summary:

Timothy Clifton looks at the development of our understanding of gravity since the early observations of Kepler and Newtonian theory. He discusses Einstein's theory of gravity, which now supplants Newton's, showing how it allows us to understand why the frequency of light changes as it passes through a gravitational field, why GPS satellites need their clocks corrected as they orbit the Earth, and why the orbits of distant neutron stars speed up. Today, almost 100 years after Einstein published his theory of gravity, we have even detected the waves of gravitational radiation that he predicted. Clifton concludes by considering the testing and application of general relativity in astrophysics and cosmology, and looks at dark energy and efforts such as string theory to combine gravity with quantum mechanics.

Contents:

1 From Newton to Einstein 1

2 Gravity in the Solar System 16

3 Extrasolar Tests of gravity 35

4 Gravitational waves 46

5 Cosmology 58

6 Frontiers of Gravitational Physics 83.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 99-100) and index.

ISBN:

9780198729143

0198729146

OCLC:

950476061

Publisher Number:

99974970134