The Big Questions: Physics (33 page)

Quetelet, Adolphe
68
–70

quintessence
190
,
192

R

radar
14
–15

radiation
35
,
111
,
113

alpha
51
,
79
–80,
201

beta
184
–5,
201

cosmic microwave background
161
,
163
,
201

radioactivity
50
,
72

radium, radioactive decay
72
–3

Ramond, Pierre
155

random noise
69

randomness
66
–75

reality, true nature of
191
–200

refrigeration
64
–5

Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC)
81

relativity
30
,
71
,
83
,
87

general theory of
12
,
24
–6,
44
,
63
,
96
,
183
,
202

and gravity
43
–4,
96
,
183

and quantum theory
156
–7,
179

special theory of
12
,
20
–3,
27
,
103
,
120
,
149
–50,
184
,
203

resonance, stochastic
69

Romans
67

Rosen, Nathan
98
–9,
125

Royal Academy of Sciences
59

Rutherford, Ernest
50
–2,
79
–80

S

’s Gravesande, Willem
117
,
119

Sagan, Carl
20
,
98

Sakharov, Andrei
169

Salaam, Abdus
77
–9,
185

Saturn
138

Schrödinger, Erwin
28
–9,
124

Schrödinger’s cat
28
–37,
198

Schrödinger equation
29
–33,
73
,
165
,
203

Scott, David
39
–40

Second Life
177

Second World War
69

selectron
82

semiconductors
15
,
56

Shakespeare, William
75

Shannon, Claude
194
–5

Shaw, George Bernard
15

Siffre, Michel
17
–18

silicon technology
14
–15

Silicon Valley
15

simulation, living in a
172
–80

simulation games
177

sodium
108

solar power
147

solar storm
111

solar wind
110
–11,
113
,
203

solids
48
–56,
203

South Atlantic anomaly
106
,
108
,
110

space-time
24
–6,
43
,
63
,
89
,
99
–100,
158
,
163
,
183
,
203

special relativity
12
,
20
–3,
27
,
103
,
120
,
149
–50,
184
,
203

speed of light
9
,
20
–3,
120
,
148
–51,
194

spin
188
,
198

spontaneous symmetry-breaking
185
–6

squarks
82

standard model
155
,
203

Stanford Linear Accelerator Centre (SLAC)
53

Stanford Linear Collider (SLC)
81

statistics
67
–70,
73
–4

steam-powered engine
60
–1

stochastic resonance
69

Stonehenge
145

strange attractor
137
–8,
143

striatum
17

string theory
89
–91,
153
–61,
203

strong force
53
–4,
182
,
184
–7,
203
–4

SU(5)
187

sum over histories
130
–2

sun
110
–11,
150
,
167

sunspots
111

superconductor
55
,
203

superfluid
55
,
203

superforce
82
,
181
,
186
,
190

superposition
36
,
91
–2,
127

superstition
9
–10

superstrings
161

supersymmetry
82
–4,
188
–90,
204

T

technological revolution
14
–15

teleportation
126

Tevatron (FNAL)
81
,
84

theory of everything
16
,
154
,
156

thermodynamic arrow of

time
19
–20

thermodynamics
15
,
50
,
73
,
118
–19,
204

first law of
59
–60,
65

second law of
19
,
61
,
63
–5

zeroth law of
61
–2

Thomson, Joseph J.
50

Thorne, Kip
98
–9

time
17
–27

loops in
95
–8

lost
23
–4

thermodynamic arrow of
19
–20

universal
18
–19

see also
space-time time dilation
22
,
25
,
204

time travel
23
,
95
–103

Tipler, Frank
97

top quark
53
–4,
79
,
81
,
84

top-down cosmology
130
–2

twin paradox
103

U

uncertainty
71
–3

uncertainty principle (Heisenberg)
13
–14,
45
,
54
,
72

uniqueness
85
–94

universal time
18
–19

universe
9
,
16
,
85
–94

anthropic principle
173
–4,
201

Big Bang
26
,
63
,
75
,
87
–8,
90
,
130
,
158
,
160
,
162
–4,
169
,
173
,
201

changing with a single glance
123
–32

closed
118
,
174

and cosmological constant
90
–1

critical
174
–5

ekpyrotic
160

expansion of
88
–90,
158
,
163
,
190

as a multiverse
91
,
158
–9,
203

open
174

participatory
129
–30

pre-Big Bang state
130
–2,
160

precisely balanced for life
174
–6

size of
85
–7

and string theory
89
–91,
153
–61

as ultimate free lunch
63

uranium atoms
52
,
122

V

vacancies
56

vacuum energy
44
,
46
,
204

van der Pol, Balthasar
135

velocity
116
–17

Veneziano, Gabriele
153
–4

Vitruvius Pollio, Marcus
8

Viviani, Vincenzo
39

von Humboldt, Alexander
105
–6

Von Mayer, Julius Robert
59
–60

W

W and Z bosons
46
–7,
77
–8,
80
–2,
185
,
204

Watt balance
47

Watt, James
60

waves

gravitational
161

and interference
33
–6,
92
–3,
127
–30,
146

Schrödinger’s equation
29
–33,
73
,
165
,
203

wave/particle duality of light
12
,
32
–3,
92
,
144
–8,
152

weak force
77
–8,
84
,
169
,
184
–6,
204

weather

and chaos theory
142
–3

Weinberg, Steven
77
–9,
185

Wells, H.G.

The Time Machine
95,
97

Wheeler, John
27
,
126
–30,
200

Wilson, James
11

wormholes
98
–101,
204

Young, Thomas
32
–3,
92
,
144
,
152

Z

Zweig, George
53