Newton's Clock: Chaos in the Solar System

Newton's Clock: Chaos in the Solar System

This is a history of human efforts to understand the mechanics of the solar system, reaching from classical Greece to the present. By the time of Isaac Newton, there was reason to hope that the stability of the solar system could be proven and that its mechanics could be reduced to the precision of clockwork. However, it gradually became clear that the basic equations could not be solved with absolute precision; we are still not assured that the orbits of the Earth and the other planets are stable. Further, there is a fundamental indeterminancy in solar system mechanics that cannot be avoided. Peterson, a science journalist, has told his story in a lively and very readable fashion. Necessarily, he has included a modest amount of technical detail, but the volume should be fully intelligible to lay readers with a bit of background in the physical sciences. Recommended for academic and public libraries.

Ivars Peterson

W H Freeman & Co (Sd)

September, 1993

Hardcover

nothing

PLA0200

716723964