Preface
A Whimsical Prelude
1. The Founding Fathers: Galileo and Huygens
2. The Magic Mountain: Newton
3. What Is Light?
4. Electricity: From Thunder to Motors and Waves
5. Heat: Substance, Vibration, and Motion
6. Kinetic Theory: The Beginning of the Unraveling of the Structure of Matter
Conclusions
Appendix 1. Newton's mathematical principles (Section II): the determination of centripetal forces.
Appendix 2. Newton's mathematical principles (Section III): the motion of bodies in eccentric conic sections.
Appendix 3. Kepler's laws in modern standard derivation.
Appendix 4. Kirchhoff's law on heat exchange.
Appendix 5. The arguments of the "Newton of electricity."
Appendix 6. The measurement of the ratio of electrostatic to electromagnetic units of charge and the velocity of light.
Appendix 7. Plane waves from Maxwell's equations.
Appendix 8. The influence of pressure on the melting point of ice.
Appendix 9. The absolute scale of temperature and the gas thermometer.
Appendix 10. Maxwell's distribution of velocities of molecules in his own words.
Appendix 11. Boltzmann's epitaph.
Appendix 12. The essentials of Boltzmann's H-theorem.
Appendix 13. Dilemmas posed by the equipartition of energy.
Appendix 14. The marvelous equation of van der Waals and Clausius' virial theorem.
Bibliography
Name Index
Subject Index