Schiller C. Motion Mountain. The Adventure of Physics. Vol. II. Relativity and Cosmology

29th edition. — Christoph Schiller, 2016. — 374 p.Maximum speed, observers at rest and motion of light
Aberration and the speed of rain
The speed of light
Can one play tennis using a laser pulse as the ball and mirrors as rackets?
Albert Einstein
An invariant limit speed and its consequences
Special relativity with a few lines
Acceleration of light and the Doppler effect
The difference between light and sound
Can one shoot faster than one’s shadow?
The composition of velocities
Observers and the principle of special relativity
What is space-time?
Can we travel to the past? — Time and causality
Curiosities about special relativity
Faster than light: how far can we travel?
Synchronization and time travel — can a mother stay younger than her own daughter?
Length contraction
Relativistic films — aberration and Doppler effect
Which is the best seat in a bus?
How fast can one walk?
Is the speed of shadow greater than the speed of light?
Parallel to parallel is not parallel — Thomas precession
A never-ending story — temperature and relativity
A curiosity: what is the one-way speed of light?Relativistic mechanics
Mass in relativity
Why relativistic snooker is more difficult
Mass and energy are equivalent
Weighing light
Collisions, virtual objects and tachyons
Systems of particles — no centre of mass
Why is most motion so slow?
The history of the mass-energy equivalence formula
4-vectors
4-velocity
4-acceleration and proper acceleration
4-momentum or energy—momentum or momenergy
4-force — and the nature of mechanics
Rotation in relativity
Wave motion
The action of a free particle — how do things move?
Conformal transformations
Accelerating observers
Accelerating frames of reference
Constant acceleration
Event horizons
The importance of horizons
Acceleration changes colours
Can light move faster than c?
The composition of accelerations
Limits on the length of solid bodiesSpecial relativity in four sentences
Could the speed of light vary?
Where does special relativity break down?Simple general relativity: gravitation, maximum speed and maximum force
Maximum force — general relativity in one statement
The meaning of the force and power limits
The experimental evidence
Deducing general relativity
Gravity, space-time curvature, horizons and maximum force
Conditions of validity for the force and power limits
Gedanken experiments and paradoxes about the force limit
Gedanken experiments with the power and the mass flow limits
Why maximum force has remained undiscovered for so long
An intuitive understanding of general relativity
An intuitive understanding of cosmology
Experimental challenges for the third millennium
A summary of general relativity — and minimum forceHow maximum speed changes space, time and gravity
Rest and free fall
What clocks tell us about gravity
What tides tell us about gravity
Bent space and mattresses
Curved space-time
The speed of light and the gravitational constant
Why does a stone thrown into the air fall back to Earth? — Geodesics
Can light fall?
Curiosities and fun challenges about gravitation
What is weight?
Why do apples fall?
A summary: the implications of the invariant speed of light on gravitationOpen orbits, bent light and wobbling vacuum
Weak fields
Bending of light and radio waves
Time delay
Relativistic effects on orbits
The geodesic effect
The Thirring effects
Gravitomagnetism
Gravitational waves
Production and detection of gravitational waves
Curiosities and fun challenges about weak fields
A summary on orbits and wavesFrom curvature to motion
How to measure curvature in two dimensions
Three dimensions: curvature of space
Curvature in space-time
Average curvature and motion in general relativity
Universal gravity
The Schwarzschild metric
Curiosities and fun challenges about curvature
Three-dimensional curvature: the Ricci tensor
Average curvature: the Ricci scalar
The Einstein tensor
The description of momentum, mass and energy
Einstein’s field equations
Universal gravitation — again
Understanding the field equations
Hilbert’s action — how does space bend?
The symmetries of general relativity
Mass in general relativity
The force limit and the cosmological constant
Is gravity an interaction?
How to calculate the shape of geodesics
Riemann gymnastics
Curiosities and fun challenges about general relativity
A simple summary of the field equationsWhy can we see the stars? — Motion in the universe
Which stars do we see?
How do we watch the stars?
What do we see at night?
What is the universe?
The colour and the motion of the stars
Do stars shine every night?
A short history of the universe
The history of space-time
Why is the sky dark at night?
The colour variations of the night sky
Is the universe open, closed or marginal?
Why is the universe transparent?
The big bang and its consequences
Was the big bang a big bang?
Was the big bang an event?
Was the big bang a beginning?
Does the big bang imply creation?
Why can we see the Sun?
Why do the colours of the stars differ?
Are there dark stars?
Are all stars different? — Gravitational lenses
What is the shape of the universe?
What is behind the horizon?
Why are there stars all over the place? — Inflation
Why are there so few stars? — The energy and entropy content of the universe
Why is matter lumped?
Why are stars so small compared with the universe?
Are stars and galaxies moving apart or is the universe expanding?
Is there more than one universe?
Why are the stars fixed? — Arms, stars and Mach’s principle
At rest in the universe
Does light attract light?
Does light decay?
Summary on cosmologyBlack holes — falling forever
Why explore black holes?
Mass concentration and horizons
Black hole horizons as limit surfaces
Orbits around black holes
Black holes have no hair
Black holes as energy sources
Formation of and search for black holes
Singularities
Curiosities and fun challenges about black holes
Summary on black holes
A quiz — is the universe a black hole?Does space differ from time?
Can space and time be measured?
Are space and time necessary?
Do closed time-like curves exist?
Is general relativity local? — The hole argument
Is the Earth hollow?
A summary: are space, time and mass independent?General relativity in a nutshell — a summary for the layman
The accuracy of the description
Research in general relativity and cosmology
Could general relativity be different?
The limitations of general relativityUnits, measurements and constants
SI units
The meaning of measurement
Curiosities and fun challenges about units
Precision and accuracy of measurements
Limits to precision
Physical constants
Useful numbers