Gravity from the Ground Up

An Introductory Guide to Gravity and General Relativity

Bernard Schutz

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2003
• Print ISBN:
  9780521455060
• eBook ISBN:
  9780511251900
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Astronomy & Astrophysics

This book invites the reader to understand our Universe, not just marvel at it. From the clock-like motions of the planets to the catastrophic collapse of a star into a black hole, gravity controls the Universe. Gravity is central to modern physics, helping to answer the deepest questions about the nature of time, the origin of the Universe and the unification of the forces of nature. Linking key experiments and observations through careful physical reasoning, the author builds the reader's insight step-by-step from simple but profound facts about gravity on Earth to the frontiers of research. Topics covered include the nature of stars and galaxies, the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy, black holes, gravitational waves, inflation and the Big Bang. Suitable for general readers and for undergraduate courses, the treatment uses only high-school level mathematics, supplemented by optional computer programs, to explain the laws of physics governing gravity.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Background: what you need to know before you start
• 1 Gravity on Earth: the inescapable force
• 2 And then came Newton: gravity takes center stage
• 3 Satellites: what goes up doesn’t always come down
• 4 The Solar System: a triumph for Newtonian gravity
• 5 Tides and tidal forces: the real signature of gravity
• 6 Interplanetary travel: the cosmic roller-coaster
• 7 Atmospheres: keeping planets covered
• 8 Gravity in the Sun: keeping the heat on
• 9 Reaching for the stars: the emptiness of outer space
• 10 The colors of stars: why they are black (bodies)
• 11 Stars at work: factories for the Universe
• 12 Birth to death: the life cycle of the stars
• 13 Binary stars: tidal forces on a huge scale
• 14 Galaxies: atoms in the Universe
• 15 Physics at speed: Einstein stands on Galileo’s shoulders
• 16 Relating to Einstein: logic and experiment in relativity
• 17 Spacetime geometry: finding out what is not relative
• 18 Einstein’s gravity: Einstein climbs onto Newton’s shoulders
• 19 Einstein’s recipe: fashioning the geometry of gravity
• 20 Neutron stars: laboratories of strong gravity
• 21 Black holes: gravity’s one-way street
• 22 Gravitational waves: gravity speaks
• 23 Gravitational lenses: bringing the Universe into focus
• 24 Cosmology: the study of everything
• 25 The Big Bang: the seed from which we grew
• 26 Einstein’s Universe: the geometry of cosmology
• 27 Ask the Universe: cosmic questions at the frontiers of gravity
• Appendix: values of useful constants
• Glossary
• Index