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Why Does E=mc2?: (And Why Should We Care?) Kindle Edition

by Brian Cox (Author), Jeff Forshaw (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.5 1,978 ratings

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The international bestseller: an introduction to the theory of relativity by the eminent physicists Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw

What does E=mc2 actually mean? Dr. Brian Cox and Professor Jeff Forshaw go on a journey to the frontier of twenty-first century science to unpack Einstein's famous equation. Explaining and simplifying notions of energy, mass, and light-while exploding commonly held misconceptions-they demonstrate how the structure of nature itself is contained within this equation. Along the way, we visit the site of one of the largest scientific experiments ever conducted: the now-famous Large Hadron Collider, a gigantic particle accelerator capable of re-creating conditions that existed fractions of a second after the Big Bang. A collaboration between one of the youngest professors in the United Kingdom and a distinguished popular physicist, Why Does E=mc2? is one of the most exciting and accessible explanations of the theory of relativity.

Print length

265 pages
Language

English
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On Kindle Scribe
Publisher

Da Capo Press
Publication date

July 14, 2009
File size

1872 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Product Description
The most accessible, entertaining, and enlightening explanation of the best-known physics equation in the world, as rendered by two of today’s leading scientists. Professor Brian Cox and Professor Jeff Forshaw go on a journey to the frontier of 21st century science to consider the real meaning behind the iconic sequence of symbols that make up Einstein’s most famous equation, E=mc2. Breaking down the symbols themselves, they pose a series of questions: What is energy? What is mass? What has the speed of light got to do with energy and mass? In answering these questions, they take us to the site of one of the largest scientific experiments ever conducted. Lying beneath the city of Geneva, straddling the Franco-Swiss boarder, is a 27 km particle accelerator, known as the Large Hadron Collider. Using this gigantic machine—which can recreate conditions in the early Universe fractions of a second after the Big Bang—Cox and Forshaw will describe the current theory behind the origin of mass.

From Publishers Weekly

British theoretical physicists Cox and Forshaw offer lay readers a fascinating account of modern scientists' view of the world, and how it got that way. Without using complicated mathematics, Cox and Forshaw show how the search for "mathematical consistency" can guide scientists in finding the "laws that describe physical reality." The authors provide the historical context that set the stage for Einstein's discovery, providing an easy-to-grasp explanation of counterintuitive experimental evidence, demonstrating how the speed of light acts as a "cosmic speed limit," the exception that proves the rule of relativity. The authors also clearly explain the tide shift that Einstein caused, transforming scientists' understanding of the world-"common-sense notions regarding space and time are dashed and replaced by something entirely new, unexpected, and elegant." Though the basics are covered in detail, there's plenty here for science buffs to ponder.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

Blogcritics.org, 8/22/10
“Cox and Forshaw make a good point in stating that space, time, and even nature are contained within the equation…Although the theory might be tricky, the authors show they understand readers are not on their level. By going one step at a time, the buildup ensures each chuck is absorbed slowly rather than all at once.”

Booktrade.info, 8/24/10
“This book takes the world’s most famous equation apart and puts it back together again in a way that is lively and understandable. We were delighted to find our knowledge of equations—long forgotten since leaving school for some of us—reinvigorated and felt ourselves rediscovering our enjoyment of mathematics.” Choice, September 2010 “Thorough, engaging.” New Scientist, 8/28/10 “Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw tackle the most famous equation of all time in a remarkable comprehensible way…The pair make some surprising points that I haven’t seen expressed in quite the same way…Well worth a read.” January, 8/16/10 “Particle physics professor Brian Cox and professor of theoretical physics, Jeff Forshaw are clearly trained to have the answers. But here's something that training as a physicist simply can not teach: they deliver their message not only clearly, but with a deep and resonant humor.” BiblioBuffet.com “[Cox and Forshaw are] good communicators overall (they find understandable ways of explaining most concepts) and they have important things to say…What’s important about this book is not that it says something new about science. It’s that it gives a primer for understanding how a certain type of scientist sees the universe.” New York Journal of Books “[An] easy-to-read little book…[Cox and Forshaw] very cleverly introduce all the ideas we will need to get to the world’s most famous equation, E=mc2. What is more, they focus on the most puzzling part: the question of what c, the speed of light, is doing in there…Their arguments are so presented so clearly…It is to their credit that they do not always hide the complexity nor the long history of ideas behind relativity…It is also to their credit that they make the case, as Feynman and others have done before them, that, at some level, the weirdness of the universe just has to be accepted…Will help school science teachers as much as it will their students.” The Guardian, 10/18/10 “The reader is in supremely capable hands with Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw…For anyone afraid of technicalities, Cox and Forshaw lead the reader by the hand through the complexity, adding in rest stops of wit and real-world examples. Even the hardest bits feel like being taken on an army assault course by the two friendliest drill sergeants in the world. You may have to read some bits twice but, boy, will you feel better for it once the insights become clear. In the process of exposing the science, the authors do a good job of showing how the hard end of research works: abandon all assumptions and re-build everything from scratch.”
London Daily Telegraph, 10/19/10 “[A] brilliant exposition of Einstein’s famous equation… [Gives] a fresh understanding of Einstein’s genius. A truly impressive achievement.”
The Independent, 10/20/10 “Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw take Einstein's description of the relationship between energy and matter, pull it apart and put it together again, with some detours into space and time along the way. Not an easy read, but not an easy subject.” Nature, 10/28/10 “Provide[s] an accessible explanation of Einstein’s iconic equation.” Cape Times (South Africa),11/5/10 “Fans of the physical sciences will undoubtedly enjoy this read…The true success of Why Does E=mc2? lies in Cox and Forshaw having made the most esoteric of ideas…accessible to the layman…The pair manage to hold their readers' hands as they skip through the figures and facts—without patronizing them—to create a logical map between theory and consequence.” Midwest Book Review, December 2010
“An easy survey of science for non-scientists.”
London Times (UK), 1/6/11 Name one of the “Top 10 Science Books of 2010.” The Scotsman (Scotland), 12/11/10 Named one of the “Top Reads of 2010.”

About the Author

Brian Cox is a distinguished particle physicist and popular TV host who divides his time between Manchester, England, and Geneva, Switzerland.

Jeff Forshaw is a professor at the University of Manchester and a recipient of the Institute of Physics Maxwell Medal. He lives in Manchester, England.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B06XCS5CY8
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Da Capo Press; UK ed. edition (July 14, 2009)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 14, 2009
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1872 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 265 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #531,865 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #26 in Molecular Physics (Kindle Store)
- #70 in Relativity Physics (Kindle Store)
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Brian Cox
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Brian Cox, PhD, is a leading particle physicist and professor at the University of Manchester, as well as a researcher on one of the most ambitious experiments on Earth, the ATLAS experiment on the CERN Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. A Royal Society research fellow, professor Cox was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 2010. He is the author of Why Does E=MC² and is well known as presenter of the television series Wonders of the Solar System and Wonders of the Universe. He was also the keyboard player in the UK pop band D:Ream in the 1990s.
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Jaume Puigbo Vila

A readable book on XXth century physics

Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2009

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Francis Ford Coppola has said that happiness consists on learning new things every day. People like Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw help us to become happier. Scientists like these who devote part of their precious time to divulge scientific ideas are the real missionaries of the XXIst century helping to extend the gospel of science, which, contrary to other gospels, it is non dogmatic and subjected to possible disproval by experiment , a feature of science introduced by Muslim scientists (!) according to the book (page 40).
The book is not only, as it title suggests, an explanation of the famous Einstein formula but a very up-to-date and understandable review of XXth century physics, including cosmology, special and general relativity and the Standard Model with its awe inspiring master equation.
The book uses, sometimes, very simple mathematics, which the authors suggest the math averse reader to skip, if necessary, but with important results. For instance, making use of the very famous, old and simple Pythagorean theorem Cox and Forshaw prove that the half life of muons accelerated to 99.94% of the speed of light is extended, due to relativistic effects, 29 times, a fact that is verified experimentally.
There are also several examples of theoretical predictions confirmed experimentally which is one of the beauties of physics. Fred Hoyle's prediction of an energy level of the carbon nucleus which makes it crucially possible the synthesis of heavier elements in the stars, gravitational waves (whose existence has been indirectly confirmed studying a double pulsar) , the masses of the W and Z bosons (confirmed at CERN), the existence of the positron posited by Dirac or Chandrasehar's limit for the mass of white dwarves.
The story unfolds from Faraday's experiments and Maxwell's equations which lead to the constancy of the speed of light which, in turn, lead to the Special Theory of Relativity, to Minkowski's space time, the conservation of the energy-momentum vector and the famous E=mc2 formula (which is an approximation, by the way). The final chapters are devoted to General Relativity (and its clear effects on the GPS system), the Standard Model (with a good introduction to gauge symmetry) and the Higgs boson, the last particle, among the fundamental particles of the model, to be found experimentally (in the Large Hadron Collider hopefully when they get it working) .
There are also some curiosities such as that if the Earth was flat we would see a laser fired horizontally bending to its surface. To sum up: a very entertaining book that I hope will make you happier. It made me.

11 people found this helpful

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Mabus4444

Great Explanation of Time Dilation

Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2011

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I'm a big fan of Brian Cox, he's fantastic on video documentaries, so when I saw this book I jumped all over it. The focus of the book is quite explicitly an attempt to make relativity accessible to a lay audience, using nothing but the most simple mathematics, with as little mathematics as possible

At times it works, for example, he lays out complex mathematical equations and breaks them down into their individual parts to explain to the lay person what he's looking at, and what the different parts of the equation represent, and why. I didn't get a lot out of this, but it was fun to see the equations dissected in this way.

Where the book fails is when it attempts to tackle geometry. At that point the book's attempt to make relativity accessible falls to pieces. The geometry explanations are baffling to anyone who is not proficient in the field, and are clearly not intended for a lay audience. After reading through numerous chapters where it delves into this, I came away understanding absolutely nothing.

If you can get through the geometry sections, you do actually get something from the book. There are two key areas where the book absolutely shines. In the first, he explains time dilation using the analogy of a motorcycle rider cruising along a countryside. The analogy works brilliantly and clarifies a lot of things that other books (and i've read many) on the subject never really make clear.

Then the author builds on this (after confusing the heck out of you with several chapters on geometry), by dissecting carefully, and in great detail, the twin paradox. Everyone who has read anything about relativity is familiar with the famous twin paradox, one twin goes on a rocket and accelerates to near light speed, stops, turns around, and comes back. When he comes back he finds the twin has aged a great deal more than himself.

We all know that relativity says this happen, but I've never read a book before, which gave me any deep fundamental understanding of WHY it was so. This book explains it in luxurious detail, going over the different aspects of it over and over, from many different angles, making sure you get exactly what is happening and exactly why. That section of the book (to be read after the section on the motorcycle rider) is worth the cost of the book alone.

If you want a light begginers read about relativity, this book is NOT for you. If on the other hand, you are very well versed on relativity on a basic level, (you know what the twin paradox is for example) and want to get a fuller sense of WHY time dilates, and what time dilation means in a physical sense, then you may very well enjoy this book.

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Kindle Customer

For all the astrophysicists out there

Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2024

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This is a good read. A little complex if you aren't educated in physics, but you can still read a long pretty easily if not. I would recommend this to the aspiring physicist out there who want to know a little bit about the theory of relativity and Einstein's role in our understanding of modern physics.

5/5 from me!!

Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2022

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The Theory of Relativity isn't simple, yet somehow this book made it (mostly) easy to understand. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone without a scientific background that wants to understand modern physics (but keep in mind that understand the finner point of the theory will require some mental work).
Another thing I liked about this book is that it tells you how the story of modern physics continued beyond Einstein's theory - both by describing modern experiments that confirm the theory, and by explaining the basic ideas built upon the theory.

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Firstboomer

As a non-scientist and math flunky, I followed most of it…

Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2024

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I started out wondering why scientific equations are peppered with squares and square roots, i.e., what is it about them that make for satisfying answers. The simplest and ubiquitous formula is Pythagorus’s solution for the length of the hypotenuse in a right triangle. What led him to use the squares of the right angle sides to equal the square of the hypotenuse? It is certainly not intuitively obvious. This book did not answer that directly, but instead explains some of the math and scientific brilliance that led to E=Mc (squared). I planning to re-read the book to absorb more of this fascinating explanation of nature.

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Barbara

Informative and entertaining

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 12, 2024

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I loved the whole thing. Its well written, informative and entertaining at the same time.

Buckley

Très satisfait

Reviewed in France on May 23, 2022

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Très satisfait. Livraison parfaite, colis parfait.
Le produit est parfaitement conforme à la description et a été livré dans les délais.

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the big pen

beautifully explained

Reviewed in Australia on July 24, 2022

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I have a confession. I have a physics degree, I managed to understand Special Relativity, but have always struggled with General Relativity.

It was never the maths, you must have a good grasp of maths to obtain a physics degree, but the concepts were challenging. Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw do an excellent job of building the explanation of Special and General Relativity from the very basics in a clear and easy to follow narrative.

The ideas are still as challenging as when I first came across them as an undergraduate, but Cox and Forshaw have an ability to break down the physics into bite sized manageable issues and build a step-by-step explanation of one of the great achievements of science.

大顔連

一度紛失したので再購入

Reviewed in Japan on December 17, 2019

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中古本でしたが，状態もよく，価格も小さくてお買い得でした。前回は海外線で忘れてしまったので，非常にありがたいです。

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Francesc H.

Genial!

Reviewed in Spain on April 13, 2016

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Creo que por fin he encontrado el libro que me hará entender la teoria de la relatividad! Voy por la mitad y pinta genial. Llego en perfecto estado, de segunda mano, a un precio difícil de creer. Espectacular!

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Why Does E=mc2?: (And Why Should We Care?) Kindle Edition

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